Audrey Rawnie Rico

Postcards, like coupons, event invitations, sales announcements, and real estate postcards, are a tried-and-true way of marketing small businesses, especially if you’re marketing to your local community. Even in the digital age, postcards are still a credible, well-established marketing strategy—even more so with ads and screens on every corner. The key to making them work…

Every small business owner should have a good business card. But you don’t always need to spend a fortune on it. Fortunately, there are ways to get free business cards from online platforms, whether through free trials or free sample kits. Some even offer 100% free custom business cards with no strings attached. Below, I’ve…

An email blast (sometimes called an e-blast or eblast) is an email you send to hundreds or thousands of recipients at once (hence why it’s called a “blast”). It’s often used to send general announcements or messages to your entire subscriber base quickly and easily, like store announcements, seasonal greetings, or event invitations. Email blasts…

Remember when email was new and you had the most fun thinking up creative and unique email addresses? Those were fun times. But if you’re in the business world, your emails must be professional and polished (not many people will open a sales pitch from punkrockfan91@hotmail.com). But don’t worry: Learning how to create a professional…

GoDaddy is one of the top web hosts and site builders I recommend to many beginners and small business owners for many reasons. For one, it’s free to start (for the website builder) and one of the easiest platforms overall. But I won’t lie: GoDaddy isn’t perfect and has some notable drawbacks as a web…

If you’re looking to get a free email domain, you’ve come to the right place. But first, a disclaimer: very few platforms provide a 100% free domain for email addresses with no strings attached. They’ll mostly come as freebies with your email host, website builder, or even your domain registrar, so there will likely still…

Is there a publicity stunt that has particularly stuck out in recent memory? By nature, publicity stunts are meant to be a little (or a lot) disruptive, extraordinary, and surprising. They’re meant to make audiences stop and really take notice. While they can be notoriously high-risk (and high-budget), the potential reward is a lot of…

One of the biggest benefits of AI’s recent rapid developments is website building. In my opinion, it’s also the area where generative AI has been most reliable and accurate. Like most of the world, I’m generally new to AI, only using an AI website generator for the first time about a year and a half…

If you’ve ever been convinced to try a product after seeing an influencer you love post about it on social media, whether on Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn, you’ll know just how powerful influencer marketing can be. Influencers, while not particularly new, are only now proving just how impactful they can be in driving brand awareness,…

You may have your Gmail business account all done and set up, but are you really leveraging it to the best of its ability? Gmail can do much more than sending and receiving emails, which is why it’s one of the world’s favorite business email platforms—myself included. Below, I’ve listed some of the best Gmail…

There are many different types of emails in marketing, each with its purpose. Some drive product sales, while others are only meant to promote brand awareness. All of them play a key role in your email marketing ecosystem. It’s all a matter of choosing the right email at the right time, because, as any email…

GoDaddy is one of the most reliable site builders around, but it has its shortcomings. As a website builder, it’s not the most design-forward and lacks the most advanced features and best-in-industry security. I find GoDaddy most valuable if you’re a beginner at website building and hosting. If you’re looking for something more advanced, secure,…