Email Marketing Case Studies

Founded in 2006 by Davin Wentworth Thrasher, Tori Jacobs and Sam Hartman, the Ecology Center of San Francisco (ECO-SF) was developed to educate the community about ecological and sustainable ways of living on this planet. “We were college students learning about terrible problems and horrible things going on with the environment,” says Sam. “We weren’t content with learning about doom, so we said let’s do something about it!”

As a busy mom with two children, Sarah Green knows firsthand how difficult it is for moms with young kids to take time out for some relaxing “me” time. Seeing a unique business opportunity in the highly saturated salon and spa market, Sarah opened the doors of Yummy Mummy Hair and Beauty in early 2011.

Salem Animal Rescue League (SARL) rescues and finds homes for approximately 800 dogs and cats per year in the Salem, NH, area. Its mission is to save the lives of abandoned, neglected and injured animals by providing them a safe haven, compassionate care and new permanent homes.

One of the biggest challenges that small businesses – especially independent professionals – face is how little time they have to commit to marketing and staying in touch with contacts. Omaha, Neb.-based Vyral Marketing hopes to change all that. Formed in 2009, the agency helps small companies and independent service providers stay top of mind by helping them manage their marketing, so they can dedicate their time to other aspects of their business.

December 4, 2010, was a life-changing day for Violet Tremblay and her husband, Chris. That morning, the couple swung open the doors of Painting and Pinot, a fully equipped creative studio where one can unleash his/her inner artist with a glass or two of wine. It was also the day they found out Violet was pregnant with their first child.

After spending 20 years working for others as an employee, Johnny Shelby made a big decision. An avid exercise enthusiast his entire life, he decided to make the move and become a self-employed coach, fitness consultant and metabolic specialist. His goal? To help competitive cyclists, marathon runners, swimmers and triathletes perform at their peak. In 2008, Johnny opened his full-time, one-man business, Third Coast Training.

BigContacts is a software company that was formed with a singular focus on developing affordable and easy-to-use Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) software for small businesses. They realized they had a need to provide a more robust self-service email marketing tool to its customers, particularly for larger email marketing campaigns.

Terran Bayer grew up in a barn, on horseback, with dogs underfoot, in a family of artists. She opened Westway Studio, a San Diego, Calif.-based graphic design and fine art pet photography studio, in 2006 as a freelancer while also holding down a corporate job. Word got out, more side projects rolled in, and a year later she took the leap, leaving the world of big business to become a full-time small business owner.

Peter Langenstein was always a wine man – not as a producer, but as a consumer. He decided to pursue the grape full-time and in 2005 opened the virtual doors of BRIX26.com, an e-commerce company that sources a tightly edited portfolio of limited-edition California wines and sells them direct to consumers.