Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World

Launch of “Engagement Marketing” celebrates National Small Business Week: May 20-26

New Book from Constant Contact CEO Gail F. Goodman Helps Small Businesses Navigate Engagement Marketing to Create and Grow Customer Relationships

Small business owners now have a new resource to turn to with the release of Gail F. Goodman’s book, Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World.  A small business expert and visionary, Goodman is CEO of Constant Contact®, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT), which helps more than half a million small organizations connect with their customers through email marketing, social media marketing, local deals, event marketing, and online surveys tools.  She will be touring the country throughout National Small Business Week (May 20-26) to speak with small business owners about how Engagement Marketing can help create enduring and authentic customer connections.

Engagement Marketing is a how-to manual for small organizations looking to generate more positive referrals through online and offline marketing activities, including social media, email newsletters, events, and blogs.  The book discusses “why” and “how” small businesses, associations, and nonprofits should think about engagement as a key element of their marketing approach, and how today’s socially connected world makes engagement easier than ever before. 

“Owners of small businesses have an advantage over larger companies.  They make enduring and authentic customer connections,” said Goodman.  “While big companies might outspend them on marketing, small businesses can creatively out-engage large companies using their strong customer relationships and a few simple Engagement Marketing tools.”

Word-of-mouth referrals are the lifeblood of a small business, and Engagement Marketing builds on this marketing basic.  The book unveils the Engagement Marketing Cycle and how to use it to power socially visible endorsements that attract both repeat and new customers.  Through practical tips and proven insights from small business owners, Goodman demonstrates that, when done well, Engagement Marketing can become the single best source of new customers. 

Goodman also elaborates on six simple ideas for small business marketing:

Buyers trust comments and reviews (even from strangers)

According to a Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey, only 14 percent of people trust advertising, while 78 percent of people trust consumer recommendations.  When businesses interact with current customers online, these socially visible interactions feed their referral engine.

A customer’s friends are a business’s next best prospects

We all want to find a rich source of qualified new prospects.  Turns out every business already has one!  The social networks of your current customers are filled with people like them – people who might be interested in your products or services.

Rise above the ordinary in small and large ways that WOW customers

To create a connection, understand the experience your business delivers through a customer’s eyes…and find one or two spots to create something a little bit special.

They won’t join if they’re not asked. (Yes, they really have to be asked!)

People need to know why they should connect to an organization’s social media vehicles like Twitter and Facebook.  What are they going to get?  Ensure that it is easy and compelling for them to connect, and then ask them!

Engagement drives social visibility

Social proof is the concept that when we see our friends and colleagues take an action, such as eating at a particular restaurant, that action is an endorsement. Social proof happens through social visibility. When people engage with a business – especially online via social media – their networks see this engagement, and they are enticed to engage, too.

Engagement matters

Engagement cements a connection between a business and their current customers, and drives the social visibility that will motivate and inspire repeat and new business.  Engagement happens in small doses.

Engagement Marketing is available for sale at IndieBound, as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a- Million, and 800 CEO Reads.  All interested are welcome to attend a book signing and reception in New York City at Barnes & Noble, 555 Fifth Avenue, on Thursday, May 24, 2012 from 1 PM to 3 PM ET.  For more information, visit  www.engagementmarketing.com or follow the conversation on Twitter at #engmkt.