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How confident are you in your ability to create or find festive holiday images? As a webinar designer and presenter for Constant Contact, one of the most frequently asked questions I heard was how to create images fast. The good news is you don’t need to be a graphic designer to create festive holiday images. There are plenty of easy-to-use tools and resources to help you create quality images quickly and affordably — or even for free. So grab a pen and paper or bookmark this post — you’re going to need it for your holiday marketing. Here are the must-have resources for holiday graphics and images this season: 7 resources for free holiday images 1. PowerPoint for quick holiday graphics Perhaps you’re familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint from presentations you gave to your boss or employees. Regardless of how you encountered PowerPoint, the best part about it is that most

Whether it’s for a blog, a social media post, a YouTube video, or a web article, a solid headline can always catch a reader’s attention. Not everyone has the time to dive into the details of every story, which is why it’s important to learn how to write better headlines — the kind that draws readers in.  Data gathered by the American Press Institute found that up to 60% of Americans simply read headlines to get a sense of what’s going on rather than investigate topics further. In the heyday of print newspapers, catchy headlines were essential to spark the imagination of readers. These days, headlines are a critical component of virtually any type of marketing strategy, whether you’re starting a blog, a video channel, or an email list. Why knowing how to write better headlines matters The purpose of a headline is to summarize a piece of content in the

Learning how to write a thank-you email is more than just good manners. It’s smart practice for any small business that wants to improve customer loyalty. A little acknowledgment goes a long way to inspire repeat business or donations. When you show partners and patrons just how much you appreciate them, they’re more likely to invest in the relationship. You may have mastered the art of gratitude in your personal life, but the small business thank-you email is slightly different. It can be hard to strike the right balance between personal and professional. Here’s how to do it well. When should a small business send customers a thank-you email? Small businesses depend on the goodwill of the community. You have to show appreciation to get it. Thank-you emails should celebrate new relationships and honor old ones — whether you’re a nonprofit or for-profit business. This means thanking customers after their first

Your digital marketing strategy is built around getting noticed online. And, just like you wouldn’t try to get everyone’s attention in a crowded stadium by yelling without a microphone, you won’t draw attention to your digital platforms with just one type of content. That’s where curated content comes in. Curated content goes beyond reposting and sharing from other social feeds. It involves strategy and finesse. To get the most out of content curation, it’s not enough to know how to curate content. You need to know the best practices for curating content and how you can use content curation to boost your credibility and enhance your social media presence.  What is curated content?  You’re probably sharing content from other brands and people you follow on social media to offer your followers a richer experience. Curated content takes this idea a step further. Instead of sharing engaging posts you’ve stumbled upon in

The excitement that can be created by a simple announcement email is often overlooked by small businesses. Of course, we’ve all seen the big product launches created by the likes of Apple and Nike but what can a small business do when they have a new product? Or what about just when something new and exciting is happening with their business? That’s where the announcement email can come into play. Whether you have a new digital update to your app, there’s a new employee behind your counter, or you’re starting a new annual fundraising event, an announcement email is the best way to share that information with your contacts. What is an announcement email? An announcement email is a marketing tool used to announce anything that is new to your business or nonprofit. And while that’s pretty self-explanatory, i.e. something new should be announced, announcement emails can, and often do

Storytelling marketing is all about engaging your audience and deepening their relationship with your brand.  The power of storytelling is timeless. As a marketing strategy, it probably dates back to the cavemen. Gronk persuaded Zug to trade for his bearskin by telling the heroic tale of how he felled the animal. People want to hear a good story. In some ways, they need it. Stories help us make sense of ourselves and our worlds.  Storytelling is an important skill — and it’s one that you already have hard-wired into you. You just need to activate and refine it. What is storytelling marketing? Storytelling marketing is the art of communicating your brand’s goals and engaging your audience through a story. If you break the term down into its elements, each one tells you something important about how to make it work for you: Story. Give an account of significant moments, aspirations, outcomes, and