Email Application

Social media has been described in a lot of ways--but when done properly, it can become an art.

Just a few years ago, a simple presence on Facebook meant a company was "doing social media." Without much strategy, rhyme, or reason, a company was “hip” if they were on the one social media channel. Now companies that are serious about social media have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vine, and more. But with more and more companies entering these channels, brands have to do more than just "be there" to be successful. It takes some social creativity to break through...

Facebook continues to grow its user base each and every day – with countries outside of the USA growing fastest. In fact, less than 200 million of Facebook’s 1.1 billion+ users live in the USA or Canada (based on Facebook’s official numbers at the end of Q1 2013).

So, how relevant are you to your global audience?

Here are three steps to consider in globalizing your Facebook presence:

1. Know Your Audience:
   Check your Facebook Insights data to understand the different segments of your Facebook fan base.  Look for the top languages spoken and top countries of residence – for your total fan base as well...

In just about a week, the Direct Selling Association (DSA) will be holding their annual meeting in Phoenix, AZ. It looks to be a very interesting event and I am excited to learn more about the direct selling industry. From where I stand, it looks like this market is growing. More and more people want to take their career into their own hands. People can do this (people including friends and relatives of mine) by joining one of these direct selling organizations and selling the products they believe in and enjoy themselves.

We at ExactTarget are looking forward to attending the DSA event to...

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...

Each Thursday at 11am ET, marketers from around the world join the ExactTarget user community on Twitter for a conversation about trends and campaign ideas across the interactive marketing industry.  We call this virtual coffee chat the ExactTarget Café. 

During a recent chat we hosted the Smarter Remarketer team for a discussion on managing email campaign hierarchy. Smarter Remarketer powers marketing automation and analysis for top online retailers with data-driven campaign management applications for interactive marketers to remarket website visitors through personalized messaging. Smarter...

While the potential to generate high-quality leads through webinars has become more widely recognized over the past few years, the importance of pre- and post-webinar promotion is often underemphasized. Marketers can certainly accelerate their lead conversions using webinars, but without a promotional strategy in place, the webinars that they’ve worked so hard to create will just fall flat.

Here’s a quick rule of thumb when it comes to webinar promotions: to keep your hard work from going to waste, plan to start promoting four to six weeks before the actual date of the webinar. After the...

Email is the foundation of online communication—after all, according to recent studies, more than 90% of online consumers subscribe to a brand via email. (Stats come from the 2013 Global Executive Summary, part of the SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS research series that compares and contrasts the digital marketing habits of international consumers.)

But what are consumers hoping to receive in their inboxes when they subscribe to a brand’s email program? What brand messages are they most likely to open and read? When we look at the top “Motivations to Subscribe” across various countries, there...

Have you noticed the growing trend of subject line symbols in your inbox (also referred to as emoji)? I have! Within the last couple weeks, I have received a few emails containing a ❤, and honestly, that caught my attention--especially on my mobile device.

Have you formed an opinion yet on the use of subject line symbols? They can be a great way to grab your subscribers’ attention (if used properly, of course). You wouldn’t want to insert a symbol just because you can if it doesn’t relate to your message at all. The key is to have the symbol enhance and differentiate your message, not distract...

Each Thursday at 11am EST, marketers from around the world join the ExactTarget user community on Twitter for a conversation about trends and campaign ideas across the interactive marketing industry.  We call this virtual coffee chat the ExactTarget Café. 

During this week's chat, we were happy to have to have Simms Jenkins (@SimmsJenkins) founder & CEO of BrightWave Marketing (@BrightWave) join us. Tied to the launch of his second book, The New Inbox, the focus of this week's chat was around the future of email, how to truly integrate social and mobile, and what trends and disruptions are...

I usually know whether or not I’m going to hire someone in ten minutes or less.

It’s not a superpower, and it’s also not a coincidence. After interviewing countless job applicants over the years as CMO of ExactTarget, Vice President of Worldwide Interactive Marketing for Coca-Cola, and even a call centermanager at a bank, I can gauge an applicant’s skill and potential almost immediately.

If you’re a recent graduate, I want to congratulate you. You’ve spent years studying hard, interning for long hours, and absorbing the valuable knowledge that will transition your life from college to career....

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...

Summer is heating up here at our Indianapolis headquarters, and our May product release delivered a few new features with plenty of sizzle over the weekend. Whether aimed to save you time, optimize your marketing efforts, or just make our interface easier to navigate, we think you’ll really like these new enhancements.

And don’t forget—we have free training on product release features via 3sixty. It’s interactive, and takes less than 30 minutes.

1. It’s Here! Send to Multiple Data Extensions
This long-requested new feature gives you the ability to save time by sending to a large data set in one...

When people talk about the basic elements of a successful email marketing campaign, there are a lot of facets to consider—responsive design, relevant messaging, personalization, pertinent send time, and beyond. But one facet of a successful email campaign that many marketers regrettably overlook is deliverability. After all, no matter how great the email, if it doesn’t reach the inbox, it can’t be effective.

Which brings us to Sky Angel.

Sky Angel came to ExactTarget in 2007 after experiencing deliverability issues sending emails from their internal servers. As a faith and family television...

When it comes to email marketing in the B2B space, one of the hottest new trends is drip-nurturing campaigns created with marketing automation. With the adoption of marketing automation reaching as high as 76% in the most progressive industries, it is easy to see why nurturing is the new “black”. So let's look at one of the biggest mistakes people make when creating lead nurturing emails.

First, let's talk about what a nurturing program actually is. Whatever term you use--drip-nurturing, lead nurturing, email nurturing, etc.--a nurturing campaign is an email program that executes automatically...

We’re excited to announce the launch of ExactTarget’s new partner program, the ExactTarget Orange Partner Network, at Connections 2012!

The ExactTarget Orange Partner Network draws on ExactTarget’s entrepreneurial spirit, innovative technology, and commitment to client success—helping extend our Orange culture beyond the walls of our offices. The goal of the Orange Partner Network is to build and promote a world-class ecosystem of partners who deliver global expertise, comprehensive services and innovative technology to help ExactTarget's clients design, manage and deliver highly targeted...

The ExactTarget Nexus team invites you to participate in our #NexusCafe Twitter chat tomorrow and every Thursday from 11am-12pm ET, where we discuss emerging topics and trends from across the digital marketing world. The virtual coffee chat is held directly on Twitter, hosted by @ETNexus. Follow the #NexusCafe hashtag in CoTweet or other Twitter application and add the hashtag to your tweet in order to participate.

On August 25 at 11am EST, we're hosting a Twitter chat using the #NexusCafe hashtag. Our featured guest will be Ken Moorehead from Compendium.

Here is a preview of the questions that...

ExactTarget provides our customers the ability to market through email, mobile, social, and sites—but why is that combination so powerful? The answer is the data and connectivity—which provides marketers the ability to communicate in a consistent, targeted, and branded manner across channels, while honoring consumer preferences.

There are many companies out there who specialize in Landing Page marketing—but ExactTarget Landing Pages are different because they are integrated with the same data and technology customers use to power the rest of the interactive marketing campaigns.

Consider taking...

If you didn't see it already, ExactTarget and Email Data Source announced a partnership in November.  Check out the press release.

Since then, I have been getting questions about how to use competitive intelligence to improve your email program.  Here are just a few of the ways we use competitive intelligence.
 

1. In strategic planning, use competitive intelligence to monitor what appears to be working for your competitors.  Email Analystallows us to look at the email messages that competitors are sending and it provides insight on the traffic that those emails may be driving through an overlay...