You might have noticed some big changes at Constant Contact.

In case you didn’t already know, we’re not just an email marketing company anymore. For some time, we’ve been providing our customers with a platform with all the online marketing tools and guidance they need to grow their ideas in one place. That includes not only email, but also websites, ecommerce tools, social media marketing, logos, Google ads, and more — everything it takes to market a business in the 21st century.

Our business has changed to meet our customers’ needs and provide them with the best online marketing solutions. And now it’s time for our brand to change as well.

So we’re rebranding. With that comes a new logo, new colors, and a new look and feel. But it’s also a lot more than that.

I sat down (virtually of course) with John Orlando, Constant Contact’s Chief Marketing Officer, to talk about the Constant Contact brand — what’s changed, what’s the same, and why we’re rebranding now.

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The role of branding for a company

Jake Link: Before we get into the details of our rebrand, I’d like to help readers understand your role at Constant Contact. How do you describe what you do?

John Orlando: I am the Chief Marketing Officer, so I oversee all our advertising and marketing efforts. And a big part of that is our brand story and the channels in which we tell that story. 

So I’m thinking about things like — Who is Constant Contact as a brand? What story are we telling? And how are we perceived through the eyes of our customers and prospective customers?

I think that a lot of people when they hear the word “brand,” think just of a company’s logo. What else falls under “brand?”

Brand, to me, is based in people’s perception — what they think of when they think of that company. That includes the logo and the name of course, but it also includes so much more: How it makes you feel, what you associate with it, and who you see as the typical customers. All of that goes into how people perceive a brand.

A person’s perception of a brand is experienced in literally every touchpoint that they might have with a company. That could include seeing an ad, talking to one of our Marketing Advisors, seeing posts on social media, or even using the company’s product. All of those experiences come together to make up somebody’s perception of a brand.

Importantly, no matter how much we do as marketers, the brand, to me, exists in people’s minds. We can do a lot of work to convey what we believe the brand to be, but ultimately, it’s really about the consumer’s perception.

Why Constant Contact is rebranding now

My next question is the big one — why is Constant Contact rebranding?

I think that any brand that has been around for a while is aware that you need to keep evolving. The marketplace changes. People change. People’s needs change. A lot of it just has to do with adapting to changes in the environment. 

As a company that operates in the always-evolving digital marketing space serving small businesses and nonprofits, we’re continuously adapting to fit our customers’ needs and give them access to the best, latest tools to grow their ideas. 

We started out as an email marketing company, and as time went on and the world of online marketing changed, we added tools to help people with things like ecommerce, social media marketing, Google ads, SEO, and building a website. Alongside those tools, we also filled a customer need for guidance and professional support in making the best use of those tools.

These changes to our platform have been natural. We’ve simply grown to better address the same need that we’ve always addressed: Helping small businesses and nonprofits to market themselves as effectively and efficiently as possible. 

In the same way that our platform has evolved over the years, our brand must evolve along with it.

2020 hasn’t been a business-as-usual year. Can you talk about the timing of the rebrand? Why is Constant Contact rebranding right now?

2020 has been a challenging year. It has been challenging for small businesses, for individuals, for the United States and the world, and for our culture. I can certainly see someone asking, “Is this the right time to rebrand?” 

My response to that is something that a lot of business owners already know — that businesses need to continue to evolve especially when times are hard. 

There are always going to be difficulties and challenges that you face as a business owner or the manager of a brand. We do need to find ways to continue to grow and adapt in those times. 

We’ve continued to learn a lot about our customers, their businesses and their needs this year and in response, have only accelerated the evolution of our platform to help them overcome this year’s unique challenges. We understand that it’s more important than ever for small business owners to be able to market and run their businesses online. It’s important that our customers know that we’re here for them and we can help support them with the right tools and resources for their business — now and in the future, despite the uncertainties we might face together. 

We’ve been working closely with many of our customers, and they’ve inspired us with their resilience and creativity as business owners navigating this difficult time. Just like them, we’re powering on and continuing our journey to being the best business we can be.

See what our customers are doing to power on and sustain their businesses.

Introducing the new Constant Contact

Tell me about the new brand — what’s changed, and what’s stayed the same?

The core of who we are has not changed. We have been supporting our customers for more than 20 years as the place with the right tools and guidance they need to grow their business or nonprofit. That’s still who we are and what we care about.

In many ways, this new look and feel is the manifestation of all the changes we’ve been working on for years, that have become exponentially more crucial to small business owners this year. 

Not only is it important for small business owners to be able to send great emails, but also to sell their products online quickly and easily, to build clear and informative websites, and even create or refresh their logo. Now more than ever, they need these tools, along with the support and guidance to use them properly to grow their business.

The visual aspect of our rebrand serves to better reflect these things — who we are today, what our customers’ needs are, and our commitment to helping them find success, whatever that looks like for them. 

At the heart of our visual rebrand is our new logo. The double C of course represents the Constant Contact brand name, with the two letters nestled together reflect our team’s support of our customers. 

The ripple symbolizes effective, efficient communication and the power of sharing your ideas with the world. Our new logo is a reflection on our growth as a brand and the momentum we’re building together with our customers. 

We’re also evolving how we communicate and making sure people know we offer a lot more than email marketing. Constant Contact has been synonymous with email marketing for so long, and it is still a tentpole of our product, but we want to make sure that people know they can come to us for all of their online marketing needs and questions.

As we work on the way we talk about Constant Contact, we’re also emphasizing that our level of personal customer service has not changed, but has expanded. We have people who are available to talk to you about your business, who have expertise in your specific industry, and who can provide valuable marketing advice tailored to you and your goals. We know how important it is for our customers to talk to someone who really understands their business and their unique challenges.

We also have professionals ready to help our customers who’d prefer that we do their online marketing alongside them, or even for them. It’s really about just being better at giving each customer exactly what they need and expanding our commitment to personal service.

A customer-focused brand

What do you hope people think about when they encounter our brand? What do you want their experience to be?

I really want every person who has an interaction with Constant Contact to feel that level of personal connection. I want them to feel the degree to which everybody here is absolutely invested in their success as a small business owner. It’s the commitment that we make to making our customers successful.

Anything else you want to say about the Constant Contact brand?

For us, the customer is at the center of everything we do and every decision we make. It’s the answer to the question “Who are we for?” 

In our case, we’re for people looking to grow their ideas. We’re here for you when you’re just getting started building your business and your brand. We’re here when you are ready to grow your customer base and reach more people. And we’re here when you’re ready to start selling online. We have people with expertise in all of these areas, across many different industries, who are invested in your success and ready to help you. 

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Explore the new Constant Contact

We’re excited to share these updates with you and to embark on the next phase of our journey as a brand committed to helping people grow their ideas. I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look behind-the-scenes of the thought process behind our rebranding, and that you can use our example to think about your own branding.

Get the full picture of our new look and feel, and explore our new logo, colors, and identity.

The post Introducing the New Constant Contact: Why We’re Rebranding appeared first on Constant Contact.