ATC December, 2023

AROUND THE CHAMBER Holiday Edition, 2023

In This Issue 4 - Chamber Briefs 7 - 2023 Highlights 13 - Behind the Scenes (David Goddette) 17 - Member Spotlight (Evergreen Pre-School 23 - Best Practices (Constant Contact)

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CHAMBER BRIEFS CHAMBER MEMBERS CELEBRATE 2023 AWARD AND HALL OF FAME HONOREES Thursday evening October 26th saw nearly 100 Chamber members and their guests descend on the Vergennes Opera House for our 2023 Annual Awards Dinner and Hall of Fame induction.

Former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas was the keynote speaker and joined with the membership and our board to celebrate the honorees.

2023 Honorees Young Professional of the Year Sarah Audet Buster Brush Citizen of the Year Julie Basol Non-Profit of the Year Counceling Service of Addison County Business of the Year Otter Creek Engineering Hall of Fame Sue Ritter Angelo Lynn Bette and Pete Horton

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s e n e c S e h t Behind with ette David Godd

Each month, "Behind the Scenes" features an interview with a leader in our community designed to provide readers a glimpse into his/her interests and passions inside and outside of the workplace This month, "Behind the Scenes" sat down with David Goddette, VP of Sales for VOX AM-FM Digital Where did you grow up?

I’m a native Vermonter. Growing up in Vergennes until attending college in Johnson, Vermont where my wife and I settled for about 17 years. In 2018, we purchased a home in Essex, Vermont and is where my family and I currently reside.

Where did you go to school?

I attended Vergennes Elementary School and Middle School then onto Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, graduating in 1997. I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Johnson State College (Vermont State University) in 2002.

What's the greatest career risk you have taken?

I think the biggest risk was walking into a smalltown commercial radio station 22 years ago and submitting my resume and radio audition tape.

There were no guarantees but was lucky to have a few mentors early on that guided my passion and pointed me in the right direction.

First ever job?

Well, I think my first ever job was mowing my Uncle’s Lawn back in the late 80’s. However, officially, my first job(s) was washing dishes at TOGO’s Restaurant (now Rockers Pizza) in Vergennes and working summers at Rivers Edge Campground on Basin Harbor Rd in Ferrisburgh.

David Goddette

Who was your greatest inspiration growing up?

There was a radio station in my hometown that I visited during a field trip in Elementary School.

From that day forward, I was a fan of that radio station, of the music and DJ’s and eventually, in college, had the opportunity to explore this passion and never looked back.

Who do you most admire?

I was a volunteer Fire Fighter for about 17 years and worked with an incredible team. They would, at a moment’s notice, leave their families and respond to the aid of another no matter the time of day, what they were doing, the weather outside. I admire the individuals around us that are dedicated, selfless and passionate about keeping our communities safe and who are there when the call goes out.

es n e c S e h t d Behin with ette d d o G d i v a D

Favorite Vacation Spot?

As a child, my family would vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina every year. I have wonderful memories of spending time at the beach, playing several rounds of mini golf and eating plenty of seafood. It’s been a while since I’ve been back and hope to make that trip with my family soon.

Favorite movie, TV Show?

I usually find my self landing on old sitcoms from the 80’s and 90’s. I love “Fraiser.” I’m a big fan of movies written/directed

by John Hughes. Since we’re headed into the holiday season, “Home Alone” is always a top pick.

Favorite type of music?

I grew up in the 80’s and still remember the first-time putting Styx - Mr. Roboto on the record player, lining up the stylus and hitting the play button. I was blown away and became an instant fan of the music. In college, I hosted a radio show where I shared my love for 70’s and 80’s Rock Music and amassed a rather large collection of Records, Tapes and CDs. I still have them all today.

Typical work week?

There is no typical work week. Every day is different; however, I usually arrive at the office after dropping off the kids at school and daycare around 8am and leave the office at about 6pm. Sometimes weekend or evening events are planned but do my best to spend time with family as much as I can.

Biggest Career Challenge?

Well, the last few years have not been easy.

Managing a team during a pandemic, an eventual shut down and the turbulent return to what we’re calling a “new normal” has been a challenge. I don’t think I’m alone when saying that the pandemic impacted everyone. However, the last few years have also been a real opportunity to learn, look for efficiencies and make thoughtful changes on how we do business.

What's the one thing you would like to see change in your business/industry?

Radio is celebrating 100 Years of Broadcasting in Vermont, in 2023, and is an amazing milestone. A lot has changed over the last Century, however our mission to serve the community hasn’t wavered.

Nationally, listenership of Radio has remained steady. Nielsen reports, in 2023, that AM/FM Radio reaches 91% of U.S. 18+ Adults weekly, which is a huge number. It is one of the most powerful promotional mediums in the United States and is also one of the most trusted. I feel perception, by some, is that we are no longer a leading communication platform. This is far from the truth.

We need to, as an industry, do a better job sharing our strengths and abilities as a promotional platform. That our mission to support our local community hasn’t changed and as listener habits evolve, radio too will evolve to meet those demands. A Century of Broadcasting in Vermont has proven this.

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Join the Addison County organizations below and advertise in 2024 at the Addison County Visitor Center For complete information visit us HERE

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Evergreen Preschool Evergreen Preschool’s program is funded through a combination of private tuition from families, state funded Universal Prekindergarten program, childcare financial assistance and various fundraisers. The largest fundraiser is the Annual Spring Raffle, held each April. Businesses generously donate items to create themed baskets that anyone can purchase tickets for a chance to win. Often the most popular items are Boston Red Sox tickets or a local staycation package.

Needless to say, all traditions don’t look quite the same as they did pre-Covid. Previously, fundraisers and school had been in person. But like everyone, Evergreen had to shift to more creative ways to keep school open. Nonetheless, everyone remained supportive of Evergreen.

“Keeping our doors open throughout the pandemic meant we spent a lot of time outside. This drastically changed the rhythm and needs of our program but the benefits we saw firsthand were incredible!” according to Ashley Bessette, Program Director. The teachers at Evergreen figured out new and creative ways to spend all day outdoors.

“We are able to be thoughtful and think outside the box in ways that are freeing and liberating...not only for us as educators, but also the children we spend time with and help flourish. This flexibility allows us to delve deeply into the children's interests and follow their leads in unique and innovative ways. I love that.” says Amanda. Recently, the school has added an outdoor kitchen area with a fire pit, a butterfly/pollinator garden and two additional raised gardening beds. They are currently working toward building a large pavilion structure for meal time, shade and refuge from the weather.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Evergreen Preschool

The impact of Evergreen Preschool’s program in Vergennes is clear. There are current and former families and community businesses that love coming to the school to share their knowledge with the children, from bee keeping to tapping trees for sugaring season. There are also a number of alumni students who are now starting their own families and enrolling their own children as a second generation of preschoolers who started their educational foundation at Evergreen.

Evergreen Preschool runs two separate programs. One is for 3-4 year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The second is for 4-5 year olds on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Both programs run from 8am-1:15pm and with the option of Aftercare hours from 1-4pm. For more information about the program or the Board of Directors, visit www.EvergreenPreschoolVt.com.

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Best Practices "Best Practices" is our new recurring feature designed to give your organization helpful advice for maintaining efficient operations

Constant Contact Tips and Tricks Constant Contact is a digital and email marketing platform that helps businesses create effective email marketing and other online marketing campaigns to meet their goals. As a member of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, your business can get up to 25% off a Constant Contact subscription. Constant Contact can be a very powerful and useful tool when used effectively, so here are a few tips and tricks to help you make the most of your Constant Contact subscription: Don’t Experiment with the Sender Field: The first thing a reader will look at before they open your email is who it is from. They want to see familiar names, so it’s best if you keep your sender field consistent. It will help to increase the number of people who open and read your emails.

Make Your Subject Line Memorable: The next thing readers pay attention to before they open an email is the subject line. You want it to be something people will want to open, so be original and enticing while keeping it short and snappy.

Make it Personal: Write as if you are addressing only one person and use the Constant Contact software to automatically include their name in the email. You should make sure your emails sound like they are coming from you directly, not through an automated mailing list.

Keep it Short and Sweet: Most people receive dozens of emails a day, and their goal is to keep unread emails under control, which isn’t easy. With that many emails to go through, they don’t want a novel in their inbox. Keep your emails short and sweet – it shouldn’t take longer than a minute or two to read and absorb.

Make the Links Obvious: If you want your reader to click through to your links, you need to make them obvious. Make them stand out by putting them near the top of the page, changing their color, or bolding them.

Add Contacts from Your Social Media Platforms: The more contacts you have, the more effective your email marketing campaign will be. Make use of the Constant Contact feature that allows you to add contacts directly from your social media platforms.

Segment Your Subscriber List: Collect as much information about your subscriber list as possible, so you can segment your email list to send targeted messages. The more targeted the message, the better your results. Plus, people will appreciate only receiving messages that matter to them.

Best Practices Constant Contact Tips and Tricks

Make Sure Your Email is Mobile-Friendly: About two-thirds of emails are opened on a smartphone or tablet, so if your design doesn’t work for mobile devices, most of your audience will be put off.

Test, Test, Test: Make sure all your links work, your images are correct, and there are no typos or glaring errors. You should even send yourself multiple test emails prior to sending a mass message.

Try out Split-Testing: Sometimes, the smallest difference can have a significant impact.

Split-testing is when you send slightly different versions of the same email to a sample of subscribers to see how they respond. You can easily compare the results of split-testing in Constant Contact and send the better performing version to the rest of your subscribers.

Understand Metrics like Open and Click Rate: One of the most important things to understand when using Constant Contact for digital marketing is what the metrics they use mean and how valuable they are. After all, understanding metrics allows you to know what works and what doesn’t. Two crucial metrics are open rate and click rate.

Open rate is the percentage of your email recipients that open your email and is calculated by dividing the number of unique opens by the number of emails sent, excluding the number of bounces. Unique opens are counted as the number of distinct recipients that opened your email, so people who open it multiple times only count once.

While this metric is still important, it is becoming unreliable. In 2021, Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection feature made it possible for people to hide whether they have opened an email or not, so it may be better to rely more heavily on other metrics, like click rate.

Click rate refers to the percentage of email recipients who click a link within your email.

The average click rate for emails across all industries is 8.74%. A higher click rate tends to mean that the content in your email resonated with your audience, while a lower click rate means you might need to make minor adjustments to your campaign.

Use Surveys and Polls: While metrics can be very helpful in inducing how your audience received your email, and are quite important, Constant Contact is also survey and pollfriendly, so you can hear directly from the audience what their thoughts are. Surveys and polls can help you gather meaningful, actionable data to help you make your next campaign even more successful.

Email marketing remains one of the best marketing techniques for reaching your audience, and it doesn’t have to be tricky. Constant Contact can be a powerful tool, but it’s important to use it effectively. Make use of the features and metrics it provides and keep track of how successful your campaigns are so you can continuously improve. For more information and tutorials on how to use Constant Contact, visit constantcontact.com.

Addison County

CHAMBER

of Commerce

After NETWORKING MIXERS Hours Attention Members!

Sign up to host a 2024 Networking Mixer Dates will be available on a first come, first serve basis. Currently, January, May, June and September are booked

For details and to register go HERE

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HERE

HERE

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Officers Robert Feuerstein, Kennedy Brothers (Chair) Megan Mandigo, Marble Trail Financial (Treasurer) Nancy Foster, Champlain Valley Properties (Secretary) Phil Summers, ACCOC (Executive Director) Directors Dickie Austin, Black Sheep Bistro Amy Carlin: Middlebury College Doug Dewitt, Bristol Financial Services Meaghan McLaughlin, National Bank of Middlebury Ned Horton, Otter Creek Bakery and Deli Marty Kulczyk, Robert Frost Mountain Cabins Ben Fuller, The Richards Group Article IV, Section D Designate Directors Open, Better Middlebury Partnership Renny Perry, Addison County Economic Development Corp.

Renny Perry, Vergennes Partnership Bill Sayre, Addison County Regional Planning Commission Alicia Standridge - Bristol Core