Reminder: DCC Members receive a 20-25% discount on Constant Contact! If you haven’t opened an account yet, you can start with a 60-day free trial. To begin your trial click here. If you already have a Constant Contact account and would like your discount, please send an email to chamber@constantcontact.com with your user name telling them you are a member of the Darien Chamber of Commerce.

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EMAIL MARKETING: OVERVIEW

–> What it is: relationship-building; an opportunity to create engagement with customers and prospects that will build trust, increase sales, loyalty and referrals, and provide value beyond their initial interaction with your brand or business. A great example: local grocery case study.

–> Other local business Success Stories: Yoga Studio, Restaurant, Wine & Spirits

–> What it is NOT: a tool for prospecting (i.e. emailing people who have not ‘opted-in’ to receive emails from your business), or inundating subscribers with information that it not relevant either to their interests or your business.

–> Permission-Based/ List-Building Best Practices

–> IMAGES: The “Right-Click” Trick — to insert an image that is already online somewhere else into your email, locate the image; move mouse pointer over the image, and “right-click;” select “Copy Image Location.” You can then paste this URL into the Image location, edit its size, give it a caption, assign it a click-through URL, etc.

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CONSTANT CONTACT/ EMAIL TUTORIALS

View All Tutorials

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What is Nutshell Mail?

Well, in a nutshell, it creates an email digest of all of your social media touchpoints, delivered to you once daily. It combines all updates/comments/posts from your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace accounts into a SINGLE email, allowing you to save time and monitor, at-a-glance, all of your social media activity, follow-ups required, etc.

Here’s how to get started

Additional community information:

AllAboutDarien.com, The Insider Guide

Darien Community Information Network

Business Links

Local Tourist Information:
Coastal Fairfield County Convention & Visitor Bureau

ConnectiCare Health Insurance Information:
Chamber Insurance Trust

Small Business Workshops and Taxpayer Assistance

Internal Revenue Service
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service, Hartford, CT – Phone (860) 756-4655

US Department of the Treasury
Taxpayer Education Office, 135 High Street, Stop 116, Hartford, CT 06103-1185 – Phone (860) 756-4655

Small Business Federal Tax Responsibilities
What Business Owners Need to Know. As a business owner, you need to know your federal tax responsibilities.

Small Business Resources
This section offers links to a broad range of resources across federal and state agencies.

On-Line Classroom
View a streaming video of an IRS Small Business Workshop, take an IRS course or complete an online self-directed version of a workshop taught live around the country.

Small Business Tax Workshops
Throughout the country various non-profit and government organizations offer small business workshops.

Employment Taxes for Small Business
If you have employees, you are responsible for Federal Income Tax Withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes and Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA).

IRS Withholding Calculator
This easy-to-use calculator can help you figure your employees’ Federal Income Tax Withholding so you can withhold the correct amount from their pay.

Retirement Plans for Small Businesses
Are you looking for information on employee retirement plans in order to provide better service to all your employees?

Contact My Local Office
IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers are your one-stop resource for face-to-face tax help and solutions to tax problems, every business day.

Local Media

Darien Patch

Darien News
Darien Times
New York Times
Stamford Advocate

Other Resources

• Better Business Bureau
• Connecticut Dept. of Revenue Services
• Connecticut Economic Resource Center
• Connecticut Info Server
• Library of Congress
• Small Business Administration
• U.S. Census Bureau
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Center
• U.S. Dept. of Commerce
• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• White House
• SCORE