Brooke Summer 0:01 Hey, amazing business owners welcome back to another episode of Bold with Brooke. I'm so happy to have you here today. This is episode 112. I don't always know the numbers when I'm recording. But today I do because this is going live right away. I'm not even going to send it to my editor because this information needs to get out as soon as possible. I'm just going to be completely blunt. These are things that I don't want to do either. You're probably going to hear me say that several times today. But it is important. Today we are going to talk about all of the DMARC requirements that are going into effect for Google and Yahoo, starting February 1, 2024. Does it apply to you? What do I need to do? Why the hell are they even doing this? We're gonna talk about all of it in today's episode. If you love this podcast, I have recently lost about 20 of my podcast reviews on Apple, I don't know what happened. But I would love it if you would head on over and leave a review that can be done at boldwithbrooke.com/itunes quick and easy way to find it. And I am always so honored to bring this information to you and happy to help. I don't know why people don't ask for help when they need help and stuff like this. I'm literally telling you, I am happy to help you. We'll never get the help that you don't ask for. And I'm here to help you. So please, please, please, if you listen to this and like you're like, I still need help Brooke please ask come into the Facebook group. Let's get you taken care of. And without further ado, let's jump right in. Hello, they're gorgeous business owners. Welcome to Bold with Brooke, the podcast for creative business owners to learn the marketing and business skills they need to get more clients and design their lives on their terms. So we can actually make a living doing what we love, am I right? I am your host Brooke summer, and I'm an entrepreneur, educator and champion of women reminding them to embrace and step into their power. I'm bringing almost 20 years of business and marketing experience straight to you to help you get more clients and run a sustainable and successful business without burnout or overwhelmed. Let's jump into today's topic.

Brooke Summer 2:13 Hello, amazing business owners welcome back to another episode of Bold with Brooke, the podcast and place to be if you want to actually make a living doing what you love. Today's topic is probably not going to be the most fun one. But it is absolutely necessary. So don't tune me out just yet. We are going to talk all about the new requirements that are going to be in place as of February 1, 2024. When it comes to email marketing, or sending emails from a custom domain. I know you're probably like, oh, Brooke, do I have to do this. I feel the same way. I don't want to do it either. But there are certain things that we need to do to make sure that our message is seen by the people who need and want to see it most. And if we are using email for our businesses today, we need to listen in. So first, I want to tell you that if you are someone who wants this information, and you missed it somehow and you didn't even know something was happening on February 1, and you're like, Brooke, how do I make sure that I don't miss these things in the future. Go to boldwithbrooke.com/vip that will give you instant access to all of the freebies that I have created throughout the years. All of the calendars, the free templates, all the things that are in my freebies library plus, it means that you get first access to workshops, things that are coming up, and you'll get news like this. Basically the requirements, the changes the things you need to know when it comes to running a small business, and having to do all the things that we don't really want to do, right. I know, I feel you, I don't want to do it either. But here we go. Second, I wanted to let you know that the show notes for this episode are going to be super meaty. Basically, I am reading from the information that I put together in the show notes. Because so much research has gone into this episode, I have spent literally hours on this wanting to make sure that I'm bringing you the best of the best. So you can see those show notes at boldwithbrooke.com/112. So that's boldwithbrooke.com/112. And that will give you all the show notes plus some links that I have curated together, they kind of break things down. There's a resource that has a domain checker. So you can go in and make sure that you've done it right make sure that you have followed the instructions correctly and entered the record that you need to have because it will check it for you. It's free, totally free. So check out those show notes. And again, make sure to join the VIP list so that you get this news in the future. Buckle up. Here we go. This is going to be a lot more in depth than the typical episode because there's a lot to explain. and some steps that you need to take before February 1. And I'm going to tell you the requirements so you can see if it even applies to you. But spoiler alert, I really think you should do it, even if it doesn't apply to you right now. Because it will. Okay. So I want to preface this by saying that I have spent a lot of hours on this, I have read the information, I have gone through it. I spoken with other colleagues. And I'm doing my best to break it down in a very simple format. But I am not perfect. I am only human. So if you have questions, please reach out, I am happy to help. And if I don't know the answer, I'll do my best to find it for you. But if you find something incorrect, let me know that too, because I'm always happy to update if possible. Next, if you have a web person that is your go to for anything it related, even if it's not someone you hire, maybe it's just your brother, maybe it's your teenager, if you have someone that is your go to, for it, specific things, domains, emails, all of that fun stuff, you're going to want to have a conversation with them about this, and make sure that they are keeping you compliant to these rules, you might already be set for this, okay, this is not new, the requirement is new, but the protocol and the record is not new. So you might already be set for it. And again, those resources to check will be in the show notes at boldwithbrooke.com/112. You want to definitely have that conversation, though, I was telling my husband about this. He's an IT manager for an engineering firm. Now he works more in the hardware side, and compliance type side of federal laws. So he's not necessarily in the domain side. But he was looking at me like, really, really. So I shared this with him too.

Brooke Summer 6:41 This is affecting all businesses, I really want you to hear me in this.

Brooke Summer 6:47 Even if you outsource this, even if you hire someone to handle this, you need to know what it is. And you need to have a basic foundational understanding of it. So that you can have a conversation with someone, Nothing's worse than going into a conversation and not knowing anything, right. So this will give you kind of a baseline understanding of it. There are services that will go in and update all of this for you as well. And if you Google this, you're probably going to find them. But as always Be careful. Hiring a service is amazing. I'm not saying they're all bad, by any stretch of the imagination. If they're reputable, that's amazing. Let them do it. But knowing what the heck is going on and knowing what they're talking about. Because you have listened to this episode, we'll help you weed through some of the scammers that just want to take your money and walk away. Okay. So, grab a cocktail, grab a coffee, whatever you gotta do. Let's start at the top. What is DMARC? It's D M A R C. It stands for Domain Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance. That does not sound like anything I want to be a part of, am I right? Can I get an amen? Okay. It basically means that email services like Gmail, and Yahoo, and Hotmail, and others will be checking incoming emails that are from domains to make sure they are who they say they are. This is for safety. I do understand why they're doing it's just a giant pain in the ass. It is important to note that demark itself is not new. It was actually published in 2012. So it's 12 years old now. And if it's not new, why the hell are we talking about it in 2024? Well, because email services like Google and Yahoo, and others are probably most likely going to follow suit are starting to require it for custom domains. Why is this happening? Well, to be blunt, they're trying to authenticate emails from brands to avoid scams and attackers that are just impersonating brands. Sidenote, here, the movie beekeeper actually shows some of these scams, not this one in particular, but it is wild how many scams are happening behind the scenes. And if you don't know anything about this, please, please, please talk to a trusted source because these things are real, and they happen a lot. So demark is being put into place and being required by Google and Yahoo, to help avoid that, to help their users stay safe. So have you ever had someone send you an email that looked like it was from a specific brand or domain, but it was spam, or phishing are a scam of some sort? It happens a lot. And the reality is that as your business gets larger and larger, and you're found more easily because you're doing amazing things, it's going to happen more and more. Before we go any further quick note on phishing because you're probably going to hear me say that a lot. Just in case you're like, why the fuck is broke fishing? No, I'm not hooking innocent fish for dinner y'all. When we are talking about fishing. Today, we're talking about the p h phishing, which is defined as the fraudulent practice of sending emails or other messages purporting to be from reputable companies, in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Basically, this is when a scammer sends an email or a message and makes it look like it's from the IRS asking for something like a social security number. So you respond with your information, because we all know when the IRS calls, we're like, yes, we're here. What can we do for you, we're going to comply. But it's really a scammer that's going to sell your information or do terrible things with that information. Phishing is the primary reason that all of this is going into effect. So that's some context. That's important to know. Right now, there's one going around specific to business owners from square, which is a merchant system that a lot of us use to collect credit card information from our clients. And so that's a big one that's happening right now. Google and Yahoo are requiring demark, for bulk emails from custom domains as of February 1 2024. So why are they doing this? Well, they will basically start authenticating the email to make sure that it is in fact from the brand that it says it's from, and not an impersonator. Almost 90% of email attacks are based on the sender showing a fake identity HMRC, which is Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Basically, the IRS in the UK, has seen that the number of phishing emails sent from their domain decreased by 500 million, just in 18 months since they implemented demark enforcement 500 million. That's how many emails are being sent out that look like they're real, but they're not. This is also an issue that can come up when it comes to different extensions, meaning the.com or the.org, or the dotnet, or the.co, or whatever your domain has on the end, so that someone can't send you an email from bold with burke.net. and have it look like it's from me when it's really not. So to explain how this works for you, and why you need to do this and what the hell you do with this, I'm going to first explain how a domain works. Okay, I know this is where your eyes might start to glaze over. But I promise this is important. And I will break it down for you. I've been teaching web stuff for like,

Brooke Summer 12:25 I'm really old, like 20 years or so. Okay, first of all, a domain is the name that is attached to your website. So for me, it is bold with brooke.com. It is facebook.com. It is gmail.com. It is just the name, it is not the website itself. And that is a very common misconception. It is just the name, I have Brooke summer.com. I'm actually a little bit of a domain hoarder, I have about 85 domains total. So the domain is just the name. If you have your own domain, which I really, really hope you do. And we'll talk more about that in a second. In order for your domain and your website to work properly, you or your web professional had to set a DNS record. It's just a text line. That's all it is. And DNS stands for Domain Name System. And it is what tells Internet browsers where to find your website. So the internet kind of like GPS works based on a numbered system, your GPS coordinates for your house are very different from the address for your house. Can you use both to find it? Yes, you can. But what's easier to remember and easier to give to your friends, and easier overall is likely your address DNS is the same thing. Your website kind of like your house lives in a specific spot on the internet based on your hosting provider. That spot is defined by an IP address, which is a set of numbers that most people won't remember if they want to find you or your website or your information. When you purchase and host your domain name. You set up a DNS record for that domain that tells an Internet browser when this person types in this address, this is where you send them so that you can simply type in bold with brooke.com instead of 162. That two,

Brooke Summer 14:20 one 5.19 6.146. That's a lot of numbers, right? It's a lot easier to remember bold with brooke.com. And to find that, can you imagine trying to remember all of that. So every time you open up a browser, whether it's on your phone, or your computer or your tablet, and you type in a website address, your browser is checking the DNS record and saying she wants to go to this website. So we are going to take her to that website. Okay, so it's just a record that tells the browser what to do much like a DNS record based on these new rules. You are now going to be required to have a demark record in your domain records with your website. Post, again, just text lines. They're very, very simple lines. But it's kind of a bitch to know what the hell you're talking about when you're putting those lines in. Okay, so we're gonna go through that. But these are lines of text that go into your domain records with your hosting provider. With demark, we are basically outlining our practices and determining specific actions to be taken. If an email fails authentication or look specific, which in plain talk means that if I send an email to you user@gmail.com, from my domain bold with burke.com, Gmail will then check my build with Brook demark record, and make sure that the email is actually coming from me, instead of from someone trying to impersonate me. In order to do this demark uses two protocols or two sets of rules. The first one is called SPF, the second is DK I m. And it requires either one of these records, sometimes both depending on the circumstances, SPF is not sunscreen related, but instead is basically a list of servers and services that are authorized to send email through your domain. And DKM is a seal that is tamper proof that verifies the content of the email is unaltered. It's basically a fancy mathematical algorithm to check the content of the email and make sure that it's legit. So when you as a business owner from you, at your business.com, send an email to a potential client or an inquiry or even just your sister at vetti@gmail.com. the receiving server Gmail, because her email address is betty@gmail.com will perform a demark alignment test to verify that the from email address you at your business.com matches the return path, or that the sender's domain matches the domain the email was sent from there making sure that you are who you say you are. So what are the benefits of this? Like why the hell would we even do this other than just because they told us to well, making sure that your demark records and enforcement are in place should improve your email deliverability when it's implemented properly, and it will help to protect your brand reputation. And it's designed for scalability. So I know that you might not be thinking that this applies to you right now. Because well, I'm just small, I'm just newer in business. It matters, it really does. I always tell my students to make sure that something is small business appropriate, but Empire capable. K, we want to make sure that we're putting into system are putting into place systems right now that are scalable for growth, right. This also gives the domain owner you, hopefully, the opportunity to enforce policies, as well as reporting authentication. So you can actually see those demark checks to show what's happening behind the scenes. Now, I will tell you, those checks and reports are awful to remember in XML. So you might not use them often. But they are there. Those are the benefits for brands. But as a consumer, you will hopefully see less phishing, less spam, and hopefully fewer scams coming through. It sounds really complicated. It is kind of a pain in the ass at first, but these are the rules we're facing. And soon it won't be a choice. In October of 2023. Both Google and Yahoo announced requirements that bulk senders meaning anyone that sends emails to several people at once, like me, and you and any other brands or stores, or social media platforms, or anyone else must have demark in place as of February 1 2024. That means that any brand emails from custom domains that are sent to Gmail or Yahoo email addresses will be authenticated starting February 1, this is also going to affect you if you use a service for your email, like Google workspace acuity, a CRM, which is very common. For instance, I send emails from my domains using Gmail as the software. And so I have to make sure the records are in place for Google workspace as well in my admin account, and they do have instructions for how to do that. They are also linked in the show notes. Because I know a lot of us are in that boat. Brooke, what the hell does all of this mean? What should I be doing before February 1? I don't have time for this. This is crazy. This sucks. Look, I know I'm there with you. But we're gonna we're gonna work on it. Okay, I got you. We're gonna work on it together. What do you need to do before February 1? First, I want you to make sure that all of your contact forms on any of your websites have an alternate way to contact people in case an email isn't going through. Now this is not just for demark. Okay, this is what if something does doesn't work properly. And can I just take a moment to say you should be testing your contact form monthly, at the very least, to make sure that it's going through properly. Okay. We want to make sure that if something isn't working, we have a backup. I know you guys have heard me talk about backups before but this is another spot where we definitely want to make sure to have a backup. So in your contact form you want to be me, excuse me, you want to be asking for both an email and a phone number for texting or calling someone just in case they're not going through. Okay? Number two, get a custom domain. If you don't have a Why stop sending from Gmail, or Yahoo, or Hotmail, or Comcast or infinity or whatever. custom domains are easier to remember, they're more professional, they protect your copyright. They build credibility, they add for search, they add benefits for search engine optimization, and positioning and professional email addresses scalability, brand awareness, all the things, there are so many reasons, you really should have a custom domain. And if you're a professional, it's time, Kate. Number three, you need to add a demark record for your domain within your hosting platform. If you host with an all in one spot, like Wix, or Squarespace or Kajabi, they have likely sent you details on how to set up these records within their system, read through the details, actually do it. Don't just leave it to be done later. Again, I know I feel you I don't want to do it either. But we're gonna work through this together. Okay, I have so many systems, I need to do this for talking about a pain in the ass, but it's alright, we're gonna grab a cocktail and get it done. Okay, number four, add demark records for any specific domains or software that you use to send email. So this could include your Gmail and Google workspace, or email software such as Outlook as well as any CRMs. Number five, you need to connect your verified sending domain with your email service provider. So these are things like ConvertKit, or MailChimp, or flow desk, or any other software that sends email using your domain on your behalf, they need to have these records as well. And again, they have all been sending emails about this, and how to do it. So look in your email. And worst case scenario, if you're like, I didn't get an email, I swear, I looked at my spam and everything. Just Google ConvertKit demark setup, they have all the steps written out for each specific system, I cannot possibly cover all of them in one podcast episode, that would be like days long. But all of your systems have been sending out notifications to get this done, because they know it's coming. Number six, work with your CRM to make sure that emails are being delivered properly. I use and love Pixifi, I've been with them for 13 years, and I absolutely love them. But this will affect that as well. Now my Pixifi actually goes through my Gmail. So fortunately, I don't have to set that up and Pixifi but depending on how your CRM is set up, you might need to add records for that as well. Again, check with your CRM, you want to make sure your emails are being delivered properly. And this could cause problems, okay? This will also mean testing yourself. So set up a test lead for yourself, you could also use this time to test your contact form, right? Okay, set up a test lead and inquiry. And then make sure that those emails are going through properly, just use your own email address, use a friend's email address, a partner or whoever. But you need to be making sure that those emails are going through and contacting support if something is not working properly, and they will have those steps already laid out for you. Again, I know it's not fun, quite frankly, I don't want to do it either. There's a million other things I could be doing right now. But I also know how imperative email is for my business. So I will absolutely be working on this as well. I've been working with a lot of providers to learn more about what this actually means as far as from our perspective, our stats, our data, things like that. And they have noted that you might see your open rates temporarily drop or improve. So they might change a little bit. Because the mailbox providers like Gmail, or Yahoo will reevaluate your sender reputation when something is changed or updated. It doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong, though. So make the changes, keep an eye on it, and make sure that it starts to level off. This is also another reason why sending emails regularly really helps. I am not very good at this. I should be I know how much it serves my business when I do it properly. Sometimes I just forget, but we're gonna work on this and bold Marketing Academy coming up. So if you're like, Brooke, I need help with that. I need someone to like, hold my hand and talk to me the next day be like did you do that thing? So that I can go Yes, I did the thing. Go to bold marketing academy.com so that I can be that person to go did you do that thing?

Brooke Summer 24:40 All right, the bottom line? Really? Do you have to do this? No. Technically you don't. I always say you're the business owner. You make the rules. And unlike paying your taxes, ignoring this isn't going to send you to prison. I always tell my husband I'm too cute for prison. That's not an option, but it could affect your deliverability for any emails from your domain, not just bulk emails right now, the requirements and guidelines say that it only affects anyone that sends over 5000 emails daily. And those are the people that must comply, you might think that this doesn't apply to you. And that particular rule may not. But Google's FAQ specifically states that eventually it will be a senator requirement for all senders. So it's coming. Do it now. Well, how you're thinking about it, maybe this is your slow season. If you're a wedding photographer, and you're not in the thick of things, right now, it's not August or September, and you're pulling your hair out, or family photographer, maybe this is a slower time of year for you Do it now. So that it's done, it's in place, and you don't have to worry about it, when in another year, they come back and say, Okay, now it's gonna apply to everyone, just get it done. All right, once it is put into place as the sender requirement for all senders, and not just bulk email. Anyone who has a Gmail or Yahoo email address won't get emails from your domain, meaning you at your business.com until this has updated the evidence and the research that they've been doing. This shows over and over again, that deliverability rates rise significantly, after publishing that demark record, and making sure that your records and services are verified and compliant. Some have shown those deliverability rates rising from 10 to 30%, higher than what they were, meaning those emails are actually going where they need to go to the clients that want to work with you most and how many of us have been complaining about people not seeing our emails, that is real. Technology is constantly changing. And as business owners, if we are using that technology in our businesses, we have to be aware of the changes. If we don't want to see negative effects of those changes, we need to comply where necessary. I realize this might seem overwhelming. I'm here to help. If you have any questions, please reach out. The show notes for this episode are going to be at bold with brooke.com/ 112. And they are MIDI. Like all of the things that I have just said are in the show notes. Because it's a full blown article, basically the episode and text all that the transcript will be there as well. But I'm going to include links for domain checkers. So you can see if demark is already done, maybe your web guy already took care of it for you, as well as Google postmaster settings, Google workspace instructions, all of these things that you might need to change or update. So there will be a ton of links in there as well. There's also a resource to check potential deliverability issues connected to your domain. So you can see Have you been marked for spam a lot? Are you a red flag? Is your email a walking red flag when you send something to clients? All of these things really matter? If you want to use email in your business? I know I sure is I'll do because guess what, even the social media accounts require an email address to set one up. I'm just saying that matters. Okay. If you loved this content, and you're like, Brooke, this is amazing. I was so lost. I didn't know what the hell you were talking about. And now I feel like at least I have a clue. How can I thank you, I would be absolutely honored if you would head over to iTunes and leave a review. For a quick and easy way to find it, you can go to bold with brooke.com/itunes. Go ahead, you can pass oh wait, just take a drink of my water while you write that awesome review. Because those reviews are what allows us to bring in amazing guests and keep producing the content to help more people. I'm so happy to have been one of Amazon's featured podcasts, along with being one of the top 3% of podcasts on marketing in the world. And I'm so passionate about helping you move your own business forward. This podcast is free, as always. And those reviews are like a little bit of podcast currency. Thank you. And we so appreciate all of them. I would love to know some of your biggest aha moments and I embedding you're gonna have some questions to maybe some takeaways. You can share them in the community and build with brooke.com/community, which is our cozy little corner of Facebook. Or you can take a screenshot of watching or listening this episode and tag me on social media at Build with Brooke, I would love to hear back from you. I want to know exactly what you're having trouble with. And if this really helped you and you know someone else that needs to do this as well, please forward this please share it to them. It is an honor for me to help you move your business forward. It's just one of those ways that you can move through the world right we can affect people in so many ways with our our actions. And the way that we treat people in everyday interactions in our business is another way that we can impact the world and the people around us in the way that we choose. So it's time to step into that power and own it including me marketing your business to get the clients you want and need to reach your biggest goals. I can't wait to see what you do with your business and how you change the world because what you do matters. Have an amazing rest of your day. Thank you so much for joining me today and listening in. You can find all of the show notes for this and every episode over at bold with brooke.com/podcast where you can also find all of the links or resources mentioned. I can't wait to work with you have an amazing rest of your day.