A Level Playing Field

For years, small businesses were at a technological disadvantage. New tools are changing the dynamic, Constant Contact’s Frank Vella tells us.

Not long ago, the technologies that make business easier were available only to the big firms. Small businesses had access to some tech, of course, but it was dramatically different in scope and scale from what their larger competitors had on hand. The playing field has leveled, and those small businesses that take advantage gain a leg up.

“Today, there are tools that serve up exactly what your bigger competitors have in a way that’s tailored for consumption by a small business, smaller footprint, smaller technology need,” Frank Vella, CEO of Constant Contact, told Reboot. “A small business that has learned how to embrace those competitive tools does better. Advancing technology has made technology accessible and that continues to accelerate at a very rapid pace.”

These tools have helped small businesses persevere, as they always seem to do, through uncertainty.

A Cautious Approach

With the large-scale introduction of tariffs on imports and other market shakeups, small businesses have been taking a cautious approach in 2025.

“They have no other alternative than to be cautious right now,” Vella said.

He said through the first half of the year, SMBs had been pleasantly surprised with their fortunes. They were faring better than they anticipated in January, if not as well as projections based on 2024 might have indicated.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the last five years of surviving Covid, inflation, and recession fears have taught entrepreneurs valuable lessons in versatility and resilience. With tools like automation and marketing technology at their fingertips, they can focus on what they do well and get help with the things that aren’t their strong suits. It all adds to putting the customer first, an approach that has always been their hallmark.

“That’s what small businesses do impeccably well. As a small business owner, the more you embrace your customer, the better things generally go for you,” Vella said.

Small business owners have the tendency to operate as if times are hard even when things are going well, he said, because they don’t have the luxury of resting on their laurels. That attitude and the skills built up from it give them an edge when times do get tough. Part of that resilience is making the most of what precious time and resources they have.

Making Life Easier

Small business owners aren’t necessarily looking for AI tools, Vella said, they’re looking for whatever is going to make their lives easier. Any way they can have tedious tasks done for them, they’ll embrace.

“The practical outputs of AI in tools like the Constant Contact platform is the segmentation of customer bases, knowledge of customers,” he said.

What makes different consumers respond to different marketing strategies? How do you create campaigns based on that information? What’s the next step to take when a potential customer clicks through a marketing email or link and either buys something or downloads a coupon?

“Artificial intelligence has made that all available through dashboards and easily consumable viewables.”

Rather than having to create separate messages for email, their websites, and each individual social media channel, small businesses can build something once and deliver that content over multiple platforms. They can also get help in crafting their message and easily adding their logos and branding.

“That’s the part of AI that our customers love and say, ‘I get it now; I get what AI is doing,’” Vella said.

Building a marketing list is a major challenge for SMBs that comes much more easily for large corporations, but that’s a key area where technology is leveling the playing field. A QR code on the front door for those with a storefront – or on the side of the truck for mobile businesses – tied to a coupon can help assemble a large marketing list with much more valuable and actionable customer data than social media can provide.

“Americans say explicitly they’d rather do business with a small business, but their behaviors show a different pattern. Their behaviors say they default to big box, mall, or online,” he said. “What’s important is that the small business reminds their community, their customers of the great experience they have.”

‘Small Businesses Are Resilient’

It’s that sort of interactive content – things like brief surveys generated via QR code – that enable small businesses to learn about their customers and what they’re looking for in a product. That lets them deliver more value and potentially gain long-term loyalty. The technology gives the time and capacity to go that extra mile to serve customer needs.

“One thing is consistent over time, whether it’s a pandemic, whether it’s a recession, whether it’s changes or uncertainty in an economy, we see consistently that small businesses are resilient, and they make it through and they persevere. A lot of that is the grit and ethic that a small business owner has, and a lot of it is the connection to community and an audience that matter,” Vella said.

History has shown that small business inception goes up during uncertain economic times. People start side hustles that turn into something bigger, or they decide their dreams are worth pursuing. As Vella points out, there is no perfect time to start a business, so waiting around for one is an exercise in futility. New tech tools have made the growing pains far more manageable.

Americans want to buy from small businesses, but for various reasons don’t know how to find them or what more they have to offer. With advancements in marketing technology, those small businesses are now able to find them, and just maybe find a customer for life.