I recently returned from Phoenix, Ariz. where I attended my first Direct Selling Association’s (DSA) Annual Meeting. Over 1,000 people gathered for three days of 110 degree weather for keynotes, breakout sessions, and networking. 

The overall theme for this year’s meeting was celebrating the direct selling industry. Executives from all over the world gathered together to celebrate both the achievements and opportunities of the direct selling industry. And there was a lot to celebrate this year! US direct sales increased 5.9 percent in 2012 to $31.63 billion. In addition, the number of direct...

A recent article by Allie Freeland, "Four Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Yoga," elegantly outlines how yoga concepts like simplicity, small gestures of kindness and a clean mental state apply to marketing. As a yoga enthusiast, I found the piece very insightful and thought of even more lessons we marketers can learn from the ancient art.

1. Find your center
A central tenet of yoga, "finding your center" typically means an awareness and acceptance of yourself - your mental state, your body, your being. In marketing, this translates to a sense of realism about the nature of your organization....

It’s a common misconception that SEO, social media, email, and other content distribution channels should reside in silos. There are numerous synergies to be had by launching campaigns that affect multiple channels of distribution. Strategic earned media is just one way to influence these channels simultaneously. When executed properly the social sphere lights up with buzz, landing page conversions increase and search engines take notice.

What a Strategic Earned Media Campaign Looks Like
Earning media has been a public relations (PR) goal for many decades – targeting newspapers, magazines and...

This is one in a series of columns exploring the examples and trends highlighted in The Best of the Email Swipe File.

IVCi

Type: Promotional email
Send date: Q2 2013
Subject line: IVCi conversation

“While most emails work best as HTML emails, we’ve found that drip emails are the most successful when they’re in a rich text format, which makes them appear as though they’re a one-to-one communication between a sales rep and a prospect. This email from IVCi is short, conversational, and includes a personalized signature to enhance the impression that the email is coming directly from a sales rep.”
—Mathe...

I'm excited to start a new series on the ExactTarget blog centered around the hottest digital marketing stories and trends of the past week. We will publish a new list at the beginning of every week. Just to be clear, this is a blatant rip-off of the BBC series. 

1. The Power Behind Waze and Mapping: Waze was on the tip of many tongues last week with rumored bids from Apple and Google. Why is there so much buzz about Waze? The company, which initially launched in Israel, provides crowd-sourced information. Users can wave their hands over their mobile device while driving to vocally report...

My colleages and I have dispensed a lot of deliverability tips on this blog throughout the years. But wouldn't it be nice to have the most useful nuggets of delivery-related wisdom compiled for easy reference? Well, your wish is our command.

Over the next few posts, we will, ahem, "deliver" the top ten tips to get your email campaigns to subscribers' inboxes in today's email ecosystem Let's start it off with the first two tips ...

Tip #1 - Subscriber Engagement Is Critical to Email Success
In years past, permission was seen as the key to having mail accepted. But we know things are changing. As...

The ExactTarget team invites you to participate in our #ETCafe Twitter chat this Thursday (and every Thursday) from 11am - 12pm ET, where we discuss emerging topics and trends from across the interactive marketing world. This virtual coffee chat is hosted directly on Twitter by @ExactTarget using the hashtag #ETCafe.

This week, we're excited to have Simms Jenkins (@SimmsJenkins) founder & CEO of BrightWave Marketing (@BrightWave). Tied to the launch of his second book, The New Inbox, this week's chat will discuss the future of email, how to truly integrate social and mobile, and what trends and...

Over the next several weeks, we will be sharing guest articles from experts in the realm of content marketing. This week, Jeb Banner writes.

Jeb is CEO of SmallBox, an Indianapolis web design and marketing company. He is also a co-founder of the Speak Easy, a local co-working space. He is happily married to his wife, Jenny, and they have three amazing daughters.

I attended a local tech panel recently and was starting to space out when ExactTarget's CMO Tim Kopp said something that caught my attention: "Serving is the new selling." It reminded me of something my buddy Kevin Bailey from Slingshot...

As I write this, 93% of UK online consumers are email subscribers and 40% of these subscribers are opening, reading and responding to email on their mobile phones or tablets. If you think these statistics suggest UK consumers prefer email above all channels for receiving offers and information from brands, you are absolutely correct!

A new report from eMarketer confirms why more marketing budget is flowing to permission-based email and why email has become “The Linchpin” of integrated digital marketing strategies.

Among the key findings in the report are these:

• Econsultancy and Adestra’s Email...

What are you doing with your Facebook presence right now? While many companies are spending big dollars and lots of time on results-driven social media marketing, many others are doing nothing.

Fortunately, there are strategies you can employ to drive results regardless of the time and resources you have on hand. 

1. Good
   Passive List Growth: Create a new Facebook Tab where Facebook users can sign up to receive your email campaigns. You won’t see a hockey-stick growth curve on Day 1, but this is a super easy, cost-effective way to increase email subscriptions and improve results in the email...

This week I head to Knoxville to attend Social Slam and participate on a great panel discussing strategies to attract and energize an online audience. In preparation for our panel discussion, my esteemed panelists (meet them below!) and I wanted to provide attendees (and those who aren't able to attend #soslam) some actionable tips to help you better engage with your social audience.

Dino Dogan, our fearless leader and moderator. Founder of @Triberr. Lousy martial artist. Recovering engineer. Singer/songwriter. Blogger. Quiet reader. Loud speaker. Global force for badassery. Hi.

Follow Dino: http...

You can have a massive subscriber list and a powerful subject line ready to impress, but without the right email designer, your subscribers will be deleting your email long before they notice the CTA.

A highly skilled email designer is a crucial member of your email marketing team, as ExactTarget Regional Manager, Services (Central Region) Chris Studabaker points out. In a recent column for MarketingLand, Chris argues for six required skills that marketers should consider when hiring a designer for an email marketing campaign.

Be sure your next email designer is the best you’ve ever hired...

The mobile inbox is a powerful tool if used the right way. We know that smart phone penetration in the US has reached 55% and mobile email open rates are over 40%. Almost half of your database is opening email via their mobile phone. Are you designing your emails to display correctly?

You could be leaving money on the table by not designing effective mobile email. Actually, you ARE leaving money on the table. Here are four design tips to help you design for the mobile inbox. Need more tips? Check out our Designing for the Mobile Inbox white paper.

1. Design for Your Audience

Know your...

Last week, ExactTarget had the opportunity to participate in one of our first tradeshow events in Stockholm, Sweden, home to our newest office location. Webbdagarna was a two-day event attracting more than 1,500 of the Nordic region’s interactive and web marketers--all keen to understand more about the future of cross-channel, how to implementeffective programs, and where to start in bridging the gap between offline and online channels.

ExactTarget Nordics recently opened its doors in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Östermalm business district. We’re excited to have a local team led by Henrik...

Permission-based email has become the foundation of successful one-to-one marketing, and a company's database of email subscribers is one of its most valuable assets.

And with good reason! As our 2012 Channel Preference Survey revealed, 66% of US online consumers report making at least one purchase that was triggered by an offer received via email. And for BtoB marketing, nothing tops email for aiding the customer’s buying decision. In a 2012 article, BtoB Magazine reported that 59% of BtoB marketers say email is their most effective channel for generating revenue.

At the recent 2013 MarketingShe...

Cross-channel marketing is a key focus for many brands right now. But when it comes down to it, how do you put together a really successful cross-channel campaign?

Our advice? Build one campaign across email, mobile, and social media!

ExactTarget client eBags recently executed a highly successful cross-channel campaign called "Bag an iPad." In this series of blog posts, I'll share the three easy steps they followed:

1. Create a Sweepstakes
2. Get a Committment and Follow Through
3. Measure, Refine, and Repeat!

Ready to get started?

Step 1: Create a Sweepstakes

Your current email subscribers are some of your...

As a follow-up to the article I wrote for ClickZ the other day, I wanted to talk a bit more about the use of technology and the adoption of best practices in large B2B organizations.

My research for the ClickZ article looked at B2B companies on the Fortune 500* and their adoption of modern marketing tools. But when you look at the raw data, it becomes clear that there are three easy lessons for any B2B marketer.

Lesson 1: Technology is only the beginning

When adopting radical new technologies, the technology itself is often only part of the story. The other part is a shift in thinking or action....

For the past three years, our SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS research series has taken an in-depth look at consumer preferences as they relate to email, mobile, and social channels. This time, however, we decided to turn the tables—to look in the mirror at our marketing peers. Are there channels that marketers use disproportionately more or less than consumers? Are we more permissive with technology in our own homes? Are we less concerned about the privacy implications of marketing today? Have all our years as early adopters—internet explorers, if you will—impeded our ability to relate to...