🔵Small Business Marketing Success Secrets w/CEO of Constant Contact Frank Vella🔵 | Ep. 485

0:01Welcome to Do This, Not That, the podcast for marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for what might be one of my favorite episodes that we are ever putting out there because we have an incredible human being here. We have a friend of mine here. So who is here? We have the CEO of Constant Contact, Frank Vela. Constant Contact is one of the most iconic platforms in the history of digital marketing. They help over a half a million businesses and nonprofits power their marketing since 1995.

0:45Now, when you hear 1995, like, oh, they've been around forever. What's the big deal? No, they are the wildest growth story. They got this injection of$400 million in private equity money from Clear Lake Capital and Sirius Capital. And Frank is leading this company into the future. And the platform is not just, oh, great, I know what they are. No, they do all this stuff on social media, but in email, they have 97 % deliverability. For a company at that scale, helping hundreds of thousands of companies, sending out billions of emails, have 97 % deliverability is bonkers. And Frank is also bonkers.

1:24His roots is from an immigrant family, a blue collar immigrant family. And this guy disappointed his family massively. They wanted him to be an accountant. He said, screw that. I'm going into sales. And he worked his way up the ladder and he had leadership positions at hp enterprise and xerox and ge capital and microsoft and now he's the ceo of this amazing growth engine i am so excited to have him here frank welcome to the show jay it's a pleasure uh you've been talking to my mother actually i know i have video i have video of it um it's an absolute uh pleasure to be here jay thanks for the warm welcome well okay i got to ask you the most random question ever because when i was digging into all things frank you've done all these wild things i want to know though uh what was actually your first job like were you like a paper boy or something like did you have a cool first job uh cool no but i had a first job uh probably simultaneously you talked about my background um we were hard-working uh family um that was primarily blue collar i need to go out and earn my own money and uh one summer when i was old enough to tell a lie about my age i i had two jobs um one was called a carny i worked at the carnival uh you remember when you would go to the carnival and uh you'd buy your kids or or you'd see uh orange juice in a little container shaped like an orange and apple juice so i did that i sold orange juice and apple juice out of a cart and and then i worked at a kfc brian chicken wow i love that oh my god if i were in trouble that is so good it is so good i got fired from kfc because i ate too much of what i cooked a true story that is incredible uh fired from kfc but here you are now you've done it all and you know when we say constant contact what i think of what the world thinks of is small businesses that is who you uh empower help all the things and the big thing going on in the planet right now is AI.

3:30And I have a hot take about AI and small business. I want to know what you think. Here's my hot take. I think that AI is the single biggest advantage small businesses have ever had to compete against big companies in the history of small businesses. Is this a ridiculous statement? Are all small businesses going to be wiped out by AI? Or do you think they have an advantage now? You're hitting it on the head. We know the same customer, and ai is the superpower for small business and and that might sound daunting right um because uh taking a line from your podcast do this not that the do seems to be well then i have to go and learn and teach myself how to use ai and vibe code and yeah the do not is do not do that use tools that empower you to do what you do best but now you can compete with anybody in the world regardless of their size because you can have leverage as a small business.

4:28And that leverage comes through the tools you use that use AI behind the wheel to get easy enough for you to use. So in your recent small business report that you released, it said 81 % of small businesses are using AI. I don't understand though. Is that like you said, they're studying, trying to figure out how to do everything in a sophisticated way? Or how are they actually, how is a small business owner out there actually using AI? Well, first of all, they're using with the tools they use. Constant Contact is a great example. You use Constant Contact. We just want some amazing recognition from Gartner, the highest moving in rank this year, or maybe for a long time, up 71 spots.

5:15And if you know G2, it's all user sentiment. And the biggest user sentiment is, you're so easy to use, for me, the unsophisticated, unsophisticated, technically, small business. So whether they know it or not, AI is empowering why it's easy to use. AI is empowering that their emails or their social campaigns get out there, get engagement. And so that's one way. The other is they are using it to leverage data about their customers or their market and just getting on a chat GPT or perplexity and asking it questions. And that's giving them leverage and depth of data they just never used to have access to.

5:57So, you know, along those lines, one of the things, you know, I've dug into your platform. It's really cool. And I'm not here making a commercial for constant contact. So I want to talk about platforms in general, right? Because you have this really big perspective. You have a half a million customers. And regardless of what any platforms anybody uses out there, there is a cohort of like 10 % of the peoples of using any platform, a company using any platform that are getting the most out of it, that are crushing it because they're using the platform a certain way. And then there's the other cohort, the other end that are not.

6:31What are companies, what are small businesses that are finding the most success on a platform like yours doing with their platforms? And what is it that the ones that are not successful, what should they be saying we need to do immediately? Yeah. So small businesses think it's their job to be great marketers. They look around and I have to market. I have to get my story told and I have to get out there. And the mistake is trying to take the entire burden of marketing upon yourself because the biggest constraint they have is time. Our surveys actually show, and if you're a woman-owned business, you're 35 % higher in saying time is a scarcity for you.

7:17So you don't have the time, you don't have the budget, you don't have the know-how. And so the mistake is trying to figure it all out. Leveraging a tool, any tool, that lets you do your job better. But you got to start with interacting with it. If I use marketing as an example, one of the stumbling blocks is, where do I start? What do I say? What am I going to put on my social post? What am I going to put on my email? Now AI can do that for you. we used to have this moniker that I pushed away, not because it was wrong, but because the times are different. And it was, we'll help make you a better marketer.

7:58I've been a small business owner. I grew up in small businesses and not once has my friend or my family or my relative who has a small business says, Frank, make me a better marketer. They've said, make me a better restaurateur, make me a better accountant, make me a better lawyer, make me a better gardener. And so leveraging the tools to just do for you. But you got to start in a simple saying, can you create a campaign that tells my staff that I have the best roses 10 days before Valentine? Sure. The machine will do the rest. And now you can't stop there. You have to approve it. It has to have your look and feel.

8:33It has to have your voice. Otherwise, it's just generic and people and systems are getting smart enough to weed out what sounds or feels like it's created by a bot. But it's the kickstart to really get you going. You know, what you just said, I think, is a really important framing, especially for small business owners that are out there, which is small business owners aren't marketing. They're not marketers. They have to do marketing because you're so right. When I talk to somebody that owns a small business, I say, what do you do? They're like, oh, I'm a lawyer, I'm a real estate agent, I own a pizza parlor, I own a bike shop.

9:11They don't say, I'm a marketer. So is that what we're trying to solve for here? Is that you're trying to allow these small business owners to do marketing, but not be marketers? Yes. Simply yes. And when you change the dialogue with a small business owner, and I'll sit across panels of customers and I'll use the word marketing. So you have to market. You see the tents up. I don't have the money or the know-how. You say, how about telling your story? Can you tell your story? Do you like to tell your story? Oh my goodness. Tell my story. Let me tell you my story, Jay. I'm a baker. I'm a third generation baker in my family.

9:55And I've done this. And my specialty is that. And I've learned this way. And I trained under And you get it. Oh, tell your story. Well, that is your marketing. And you're connecting with a community and an audience that is relevant to you. So that's what marketing is for the small business. And so when they shake that fear, now they need a tool to help them tell their story. And that's an important step. and tools that were never available to the small business are now ubiquitously available to everybody. And that's where we come back to the original question. AI, is it relevant? Heck yeah, it's the superpower for small business that's going to let them look and feel and sound like anybody else out there.

10:40So the stat that blew my mind the most, and we'll put it in the show notes, you guys released this thing recently called the Small Business Now Report. and it said 68 % of small businesses are expected to increase their budget in 2026. Now, here's the thing I want to ask you. You've had a lot of important jobs, you know, high up in all these organizations, all this stuff. And invariably, when you've had these jobs and small businesses are out there, sometimes the economy goes up and down and sideways, whatever. Uh-oh, revenue's not looking good. And what unfortunately a lot of companies do is the first thing they say, okay, we got to cut back.

11:19Let's cut our marketing budget because you're not firing people. So that seems like an easy thing to cut. But you all are seeing marketing budget spend go up for small business. Is this surprising to you? Why do you think this is? Yes. I will bluntly say it was surprising. And that's why it's the headliner. We call it the counterintuitive boom. What's happening? You cited some stats. The first stat is 41 % of the small businesses we polled said they're afraid of inflation and their biggest concern is higher costs. And so now you counter that with, so your biggest concern is higher costs and inflation.

12:03And then 68 % of them say they have or are planning to increase their marketing spend. And they know that they need to tell their story. They know that it was hard to get customers. They want to keep them. They want to stay in touch with them. They want to know that as a small business, they're part of a community. Remind that community. Most often, a consumer has a better experience with a small business than a large business. Remind them of that. And we all know that as human beings, right? You walk into a coffee shop and you get a blank stare and what are you having? Versus, hi, Jay, same as yesterday, regular order?

12:43Yes. And then a conversation on whatever it is next, the weather, the kids, the car race, whatever. And that's a much better experience. And so how you enable your business to communicate and connect with that audience is the difference. And the smart small businesses are figuring that out. The opposite. it of, but is it really surprising? And where the answer to that is no, is if you just look back at the start of the pandemic, 2020, 2021, what we saw was resilience that, and then we look further back. Every time there was a downturn in an economy, every time things got tough, small businesses did better.

13:24And what's the why behind that? The why behind that is, well, it's always tough for a small business. It's always a grind. And I'm always running lean and I'm always feeding my family and employing friends and my customers or friends. And so they just hunker down and resilience is the pure definition of small business. They get through it. Oh my God. Resilient. That actually is the word because it's not easy. It's just not. It's a grind. And I'm so glad that your report is showing that small businesses are still growing their marketing spend. Because for my entire career, I've never understood, oh, things are tough.

14:04Let's cut our marketing budget. How is that possibly going to get you more sales? Like, does that frustrate you as much as it frustrates me? In small companies or big companies, you know, sometimes I'll have this discussion with a financial guy. and say, so let me get this right. Your path to growth is saving your way to growth. You don't have to say anything else, right? The sarcasm around that embraces the truth and you can't save your way to growth. Now, let's continue this thread though. And what they're finding is smarter money, not harder money. You have to get smarter at how you deploy your money and where and how it's concentrated.

14:51And that's what they're figuring out better than they ever have. Okay, that's good. I like that. I'm going to use everything you just said. All right, before we run out of time here, I want to completely switch gears somewhere else. So you have thousands of employees. You've hired a zillion people in your career, all the different things. Let's talk about, I want to talk career advice for a minute here. You're out there. Maybe you are a small business owner. Maybe you're a marketing manager. You're trying to get to that next level. Maybe you're out there, you're looking for a job, you got laid off, you're trying to break in.

15:24What is Frank's secret career advice? What should people be doing that they're not doing? What would you tell some young person out there, do more of this and less of that? Just do it. If I use me as an example, I didn't have the luxury of mentors and pedigree. And I'm not the smartest guy in any room, but I knew through my upbringing, if there was an opportunity, you had to seize upon that opportunity and capitalize on it. Whether it was through hard work, whether it was having the right skill sets, whether it was asking the right questions and getting the right help, you capitalize on opportunities.

16:09And so, you know, as a CEO, I get asked a lot, well, can we review your five-year strategy? Sure you can, but if you don't know my this quarter's plan and I can't do that, what I tell you about two and three and four years from now doesn't matter. And it's the same for a small business and it's the same for somebody running a career. I had a mentor say, Frank, you want that promotion? We'll start acting like you're in that job today. And that's career advice I give everybody. And by default, you will rise through the ranks and your work will be seen. I love it. I love all this inspiring stuff.

16:45And listen, Frank can't say this, but I can. Constant Contact is a ridiculous platform, especially for what it costs. If you are a small business out there, you have not looked at Constant Contact, you are literally missing the boat. If you're a nonprofit, you are missing the boat. I have a special discount code thingamabob. You go to constantcontact.com slash J, J-A-Y, constantcontact.com slash J. I asked Frank to hook me up. You hook that up. And the other thing, if you like Frank, get excited. He doesn't even know it yet, but he's gonna be on stage at Guru Conference, okay? The world's largest email marketing event in November.

17:25It is free, it is virtual. If you wanna tap into Frank's brain about all things small business, you wanna go to guruconference.com and register for this thing. And also everybody connect with Frank on LinkedIn. The guy shares the best stuff, Frank Vela. We're gonna put it all in the show notes. Frank, what else do you got for the world before we wrap up here? Well, first, thanks, Jay. It's a pleasure to be here. You're right. We are friends. I feel like I know you better than you know me because I get to watch your podcasts. But we share a passion for the small business. And I think if you get acquainted with constant contact in any way, the reason we're successful is our sincerity around making the small business successful, successful, whether it's through great support online or telephone support, whether it's through great product.

18:14But it's all sourced through great people. And we're an amazing organization. I'm proud of the people and the product we have. And I know we have to do a lot of things better. And we have the same struggles as a small business. We didn't talk about this much, but yeah, you mentioned my career through some big companies. That was the stereotypical go get a job, go to a big company, but my roots are small business. And, and, and before I even started working in tech, I was setting up constant contact for my relatives, restaurants and, and, and carwash. And I saw what it did for their business. So, so this is a calling it's, it's a match.

18:54And I'm so, I'm just so happy to be here. And, and, and it's a pleasure to talk to you. Amazing. All right. Well, we're going to run this back. There's going to be a round two. Thanks for being here, Frank. We'll see you at the next one. Cheers. Wait, the party is not over. Go to jayschwedelson.com because I want to do stuff with you. I want to partner with you. When you click on the button partner with Jay, you let me know what you got going on. Work with my agency. Work with me directly. Get access to all of my free resources at jayschwedelson.com. And I got a book coming out this April. It's called Stupider People Have Done It.

19:32And all of the net proceeds are going to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Go on Amazon, buy stupider people have done it. That way you can help kick cancer's butt with me. And if this podcast wasn't the worst podcast you've ever listened to, it might've been, leave it a review, follow the show. You are awesome. Go out there and crush it.