When most people think about marketing, they probably think of campaigns, advertisements, slogans or analytics. And while I’ve learned those are all very important to the marketing world, they all revolve around proficiency in one key skill — simply just listening.

As an intern, I’ve quickly learned that effective marketing starts long before content is created. It begins the moment you start to listen, in the very early stages of work. Listening to the client and their goals for their business, to team members who often have years and years of experience, to your feedback — both the good and the bad. The strongest strategies are not created by ideas or assumptions, rather understanding people, and listening to their needs.

Why Listening Matters

Listening is so easy to overlook in a world that’s always focusing on more. More posts. More emails. More ideas. But if we don’t pay attention to what real people are saying they need, these campaigns absolutely miss the mark leaving the client and consumer both unsatisfied. Listening requires slowing down, asking the important questions and being willing to pivot, adapt and change when necessary.

Lessons From My Internship

Through this internship so far, I’ve noticed that great marketers spend SO MUCH time listening and asking questions. They seek feedback. And they are always listening to the language of their clients. Learning the client’s language not only creates strong marketing, it creates a relationship built on trust.

Moving forward, this is an aspect of marketing that I think everyone can benefit from in their day-to-day life. Spend less time focusing on an answer or a desired result, and more time opening our ears to hear what people have to say.

Perhaps the most overlooked part of marketing isn’t having all the answers, it’s the willingness to listen for them.

I think everyone may have something we can learn — not just the intern.

This summer, we are welcoming Alexa Sims, our newest intern rocker, to our growing team. As with all our new team members we love to find out more! So we asked her a few questions to get to know her better. She’s a student at Baylor University in Waco majoring in economics and communications. Alexa is passionate about creating engaging content and building authentic connections with audiences. Way to go, Alexa!

What is the biggest misconception about marketing today?

I think a big misconception in marketing is that it is simply getting your product out there. In reality, marketing is about forming personal connections with customers and letting them see how your product would benefit them more than other available options.

What advice would Alexa Sims give to her younger self?

Don’t be afraid to try new things. Even if you don’t enjoy it, you learn something new about yourself!

What is one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned so far at school?

College has taught me the importance of the community you build and connections you form with those around you. Seemingly unimportant conversations can pave the way for lessons learned and opportunities given. 

What does good brand strategy look like?

Good brand strategy looks like personality, showing people who you are as a brand and the things that set you apart. It allows people to connect with and trust you as people behind a brand. 

If you could be anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

On the lake with my 3 younger siblings!

If you could go to dinner with one person living or dead who would it be?

I would love to be able to talk with C.S. Lewis! I grew up reading Narnia and some of his other works and I feel like I could rally learn a lot from a conversation with him.

If you could describe Alexa Sims in three words what would they be?

I would describe myself as compassionate, dependable, and creative.

Tell us about a major milestone in your life?

One of my most recent milestones was going overseas for the first time! I went to Italy for a week through Baylor and I had so much fun learning more about the history and culture and more about myself. 

From your perspective, how does Front Porch Marketing differentiate itself from other marketing companies?

What differentiates Front Porch Marketing is the relationships, both among those who work here and with our clients. There is an atmosphere of kindness, friendliness and helpfulness that cannot be found anywhere else.

What is a fun fact about you?

I do competitive gymnastics through Baylor!

Email marketing remains one of the most practical and profitable ways for small businesses and nonprofits to build relationships, drive repeat sales and stay visible. With email marketing you are not depending entirely on social media algorithms or paid ads.

While social platforms can help attract attention, email gives something more durable. It gives a direct line to the people who have already shown interest.

Why This Tool Matters for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

For small businesses and nonprofits, every marketing dollar needs to work hard. Email marketing is valuable because it is affordable, measurable and relationship-driven.

Instead of just hoping customers see a post in a crowded social feed, a business or nonprofit can also send targeted messages directly to subscribers, past buyers, leads and loyal clients.

• Higher return on investment: Email marketing consistently delivers strong ROI compared with many other digital channels.
• Ownership of the audience: Your email list is an asset you control, unlike followers on rented social platforms.
• Better customer retention: Newsletters, offers, reminders and follow-ups keep your business top of mind.
• Personalization: You can segment customers by interests, buying behavior, location or engagement level.
• Automation: Welcome sequences, abandoned cart emails, appointment reminders and re-engagement campaigns can run in the background.
• Measurable results: Opens, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes and revenue attribution help you understand what is working.

The Pros and Cons of Email Marketing

Pros

• Cost-effective: Most platforms offer affordable entry-level plans, making email accessible even for small teams.
• Direct communication: You can reach customers without relying on changing platform algorithms.
• Supports the full customer journey: Email can nurture leads, convert prospects, onboard new customers and encourage repeat purchases.
• Easy to test and improve: Subject lines, calls to action, offers and send times can be tested over time.
• Works across industries: Restaurants, retail shops, consultants, coaches, service businesses, nonprofits and ecommerce brands can all benefit.

Cons

• Requires consistency: A neglected list loses engagement quickly.
• List quality matters: Buying lists or sending irrelevant messages can damage deliverability and trust.
• Compliance is important: Businesses and nonprofits must follow email laws, consent requirements, unsubscribe rules and privacy best practices.
• Deliverability can be technical: Authentication, spam filters and sender reputation affect whether emails reach inboxes.
• Content still matters: A platform will not fix weak messaging, unclear offers or inconsistent branding.

Email Marketing Best Practices for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

The best email marketing tool for you depends many variables. Consider your business model, budget, technical comfort level and whether you need simple newsletters or a full sales and marketing system.

• Start with a clear goal: Decide whether your emails should drive bookings, purchases, referrals, reviews, event attendance, or education.
• Build your list ethically: Use website forms, lead magnets, checkout opt-ins, QR codes and in-person signups with permission.
• Segment early: Separate leads, customers, VIPs, inactive subscribers and different interest groups.
• Send consistently: A monthly email is better than disappearing for six months.
• Automate the basics: Set up a welcome sequence, follow-up sequence, review request and re-engagement campaign.
• Write like a human: Keep emails helpful, concise and relevant instead of overly promotional.
• Track the right metrics: Look beyond opens and focus on clicks, replies, bookings, purchases and unsubscribes.

Email marketing is not just another marketing task. It is a long-term business asset. For small businesses and nonprofits, the right email strategy can turn casual visitors into leads. Then it turns leads into customers. And finally it turns customers into repeat buyers or referral sources.

Build your list, serve it well and use email as a steady engine for relationships, revenue and growth. Want to learn more? Not sure what the right email platform for your small business or nonprofit might be? We are happy to meet with you to discuss.

You might have a love/hate relationship with summer when you’re in marketing. Either you’re working six months ahead and now is your busy season ramping up for the holidays. Or, your clients are on vacation, you’re on vacation, your kids are at home with you and it feels like nothing is getting done. Time to manage everyone’s expectations.

If you’re in the latter camp, then you’re probably looking for ways to do less but still be effective while everyone is most definitely not on a regular schedule. At Front Porch Marketing, most of us are this person. So we’ve gotten really good at being efficient AND effective in the summer. So we’ve rounded up all our summertime tips from the past few years for you, and hopefully this will help.

Summer-fying Your Brand

Maybe you want to change things up slightly for the summer? Make your brand colors lighter and brighter, or brand voice more laid-back? Try this article for tips on making your brand have more summer feels.

And hey, you’ve done A LOT of work, visually and verbally, on your brand this year. So we’re thinking “What can you re-use, re-work and re-up for the summer?” One way to do more with less in summer marketing, is to rework the assets you already have into something fresh, instead of starting from scratch. Who has time for that!

Reaching Your Audience in the Summer

It’s not just you and your clients that are in a summer frame of mind, your customers are too! Whether that’s a B2B customer or a consumer, it helps to put yourself in their shoes when planning your marketing in the vacay months. There’s definitely a psychology to summer shopping so keep that in mind.

If you’re in PR, your audience is the media and believe it or not, this is a hot time to pitch your PR stories. And you’ve probably got more time to do it, and less competition. Fine tune your strategy in the summer time to get the most response from your efforts.

And for service-based businesses, we’ve got a whole cheat sheet of summer strategy tips to keep right on growing your business right through this season and into fall. You can never go wrong focusing on your customers’ needs and answering their summertime questions.

Keep it Steady, Rockin’ the Summer Season

Ready for a successful summer of marketing? Slow down, get done what you have to, and if you need help with any of it, let us know!

Need to polish up your social media? Want to get started on LinkedIn to help reach customers for your small business? We’ve got you covered! Front Porch Marketing handles social for several B2B businesses to help them build their brand. We help then reach new and old customers and grow their bottom line.

Often, this marketing endeavor is a lot to figure out, so here is a cheat sheet of some of our tips and tricks. Get started using a marketing channel that is cost-effective, targeted and can help make a difference.

Social Media Beginnings

How to Create an Audit: Start by taking stock of your current digital situation. Then set up your next steps. This article walks you through an audit.

Social for Small Business: First, we advise you to start small and use this article to help you assess the assets you already have. Repurpose them and figure out a game plan to optimize with less.

Where and What to Post

The Best Platforms for Your Business: Focus on your goals, your audience and what you are willing to create. Read this article to pick the right platform.

Post That Perform Best: Top 5 for Social Media: Don’t know what kind of content to create? There’s a tutorial article that can help you decide and tackle your next step.

Making Your Digital Efforts Efficient

Automating Your Social Media: Why & How to Do It: Work smarter, not harder. Use automation to help you get more done. When done properly, it saves your valuable time.

Spring Cleaning Your Social Media: Much like an audit, a good spring cleaning helps you focus your business intentions on social media.

Extras to Build Your Brand

How Social Media PR Works: Combining the efforts of digital and PR is a dynamic duo. Take advantage of this marketing partnership with tips from this article.

Team Activation: Elevate Your Social Media Engagement to Benefit All: Finally, when your business team is involved, you make your company’s social media stronger.

There’s No Better Time to Start Than Now

Overall, social reaches your audience whether your business is direct to consumer, a service or B2B. So if you’ve always wanted your small business to have more presence, strong messaging, clear goals and connection with customers, consider social media as a great channel choice. With the articles we share every week, gathered here, we hope that you’ll be able to take some of this insight into building your company’s voice in the digital world. And of course, if you need more guidance or help getting it done, let us know!