In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, Phil Szomszor of Firefly Communications shares his thoughts.

B2B Social Media Comes of Age

A recent eConsultancy survey found that 67% of marketing decision makers agreed that social media is integral to their marketing mix (and only 11% disagreed). But when I speak to B2B marketing and PR leaders, the received opinion is that social media is a “consumer...

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Soccer. The mere mention of the word creates division amongst sports fans in the United States, but its global popularity is unparalleled. Regardless of your feeling on the sport itself, soccer may have helped inspire an evolution of social media.

In an effort to provide a web application that gives soccer fans access to “Stats worth Sharing,” Squawka.com created a second-screen channel that provides fans with real-time data, coupled with social chat capabilities. Through a combination of unmatched data analysis and the appeal of social media, the London-based company has taken the consumption...

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The NFL is struggling to entice the consumer. Hard to believe, right? More like impossible to believe. In fact, the NFL is actually more profitable and popular now than ever before.

According to USA Today and The Boston Globe, the NFL was responsible for 23 of the 25 most-watched telecasts in the fall of the 2011-12 season. Want more? How about the record-setting nine-year television deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC worth $3.1 billion annually that Roger Goodell and company signed last December.

Clearly the NFL is paying the bills.

However, consumption of the NFL has changed, and with this change...

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Breakout Day Was Phenomenal!

There’s no doubt about it—Day 2 of Connections filled the JW Marriott with an energy that can only be described as ORANGE!

 

With more than 8 educational tracks, 40+ breakout sessions covering topics from design to data management, and Forrester CEO George Colony’s insightful morning breakout presentation, Four Technology Thunderstorms, marketers of all backgrounds and industries were able to connect, engage, and inspire one another.

 

Plus, we kicked off our Industry Meet-ups for the first time in Connections history. With dozens of marketing professionals from various...

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What’s the last big must-go session at Connections before cocktails and the Fray? New this year—Industry Meet-ups! On Wednesday, October 17^th from 4:30 – 5:25pm you can connect with other marketers in YOUR industry. You can discuss common challenges and best practices with other interactive marketers in your space. We’ll host meet-up sessions for each of the following groups:

• Financial Services – Third Floor – Grand Ballroom 2
• Retail and eCommerce – Third Floor – Grand Ballroom 3 & 4
• Travel and Hospitality – Third Floor – Grand Ballroom 7 & 8
• Technology and Manufacturing – Third Floor – Grand...

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With the right marketing automation solution, you can automate both simple and complex marketing activities with just a few clicks from one-off to batch messaging, data movements, integrations, and report delivery.

No matter what your industry, marketing automation can simplify repetitive marketing tasks and drive more sophisticated uses of your customer data. For example:

• Financial services: Back-end operations like account statements, low-balance alerts, and lifecycle marketing campaigns
• Technology: Subscription renewal programs, interactive account reminders, and product updates
• Manufacturing:...

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

A recent #NexusCafe chat featured our partner, Metrics Marketing, talking about targeted marketing campaigns during and after the holiday shopping season. Here's a snapshot of the conversation we had about smart strategies for interactive marketers to leverage this season.

@ETNexus: Tis the Season (soon)! Let’s first identify the most... Read More »

We know that everyone has loved our Subscirbers, Fans, and Followers Research. But, because marketers are short on time, we’ve reduced more than 100 pages of social media research from the first seven SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS reports into this digestible summary, which includes only the key social marketing tips and takeaways.

The SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS 2010 Executive Summary includes Graphical statistics, visually-appealing charts, and limited copy making the key findings easy to understand—especially for individuals who are short on time.

Here is a peek at what is inside:

• Why...

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The email marketing question of the day isn’t "Should we be sending email?" anymore. Instead, what you’ve got to answer for your business today is “What emails should we be sending?” That is, what emails are directly essential to the success of the business, and just how important to that business are they?

If you can answer that, you’ve defined your Mission Critical sends.

In some industries, it’s simple to define what’s Mission Critical. Financial services have a pretty clear directive on this - it’s account alerts and updates – the email alerting a customer they’ve reached their credit limit...

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Why am I excited for Connections 2010? Well, for one, I’ve never been to Connections before. (pause for gasps) I know, I know – it’s the largest interactive marketing conference in the world! It might also be because the first day of Connections is my birthday. (Go ahead, write it down.) But my being a Connections first-timer is probably the biggest reason why I’m so pumped. Here’s why you should get excited too:

5. Volunteer Day – NEW!
Before you start fueling the conversation, you can join in powering the communitytoo. With so many of our friends in town (i.e. you), we couldn't think of a...Read More »

Last Friday, my fellow Catapult Rotational Associates and Slingshot Interns from ExactTarget had the opportunity to meet with Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s CMO. We knew there was a lot to be learned from Tim, particularly considering the successful career he has achieved at such a young age. His experiences leading interactive marketing and advertising teams at Procter and Gamble and Coca-Cola, as well as serving as the CMO of WebTrends were certainly inspiring to our group of young professionals.

Regarding industry best practices, Tim lives by “Subscribers Rule” – and knows that consumers are the...

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Looking to “go green” and dive into the world of email, or simply want to make your emails more effective? Here are some basic recommendations when designing marketing programs for the financial services industry.

Brand Synergy
It’s crucial to stay true to your brand and ensure that all media channels and programs have a consistent look and feel. With solid brand synergy in place, the rest revolves around delivering appropriate content that your subscribers want to read.

Transactional Design Recommendations

• Position content front and center – keep it simple.
• Don’t include too much cross-sell...

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The best thing my bank has ever done for me is provide me with online banking. Sure it’s nothing new, but it is the epitome of the accessibility and visibility that I want from my bank. It endows me with the ability to be directly in touch with my financial information whenever I want and wherever I want. As the financial services industry and surrounding competition continue to evolve, any development in convenience or transparency will be deeply appreciated.

ExactTarget Sites offer a variety of ways to develop in both of these areas:

1.       Be Dynamic: You know a lot about your customers—use...

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As marketers, we often look for industry specific marketing benchmarks and examples. As a consultant, one of the first questions I often get is, “What experience do you have working in our industry?” To which I generally reply, “Some, but my experience working with clients across a broad range of industries is more beneficial to you.”

Why? By knowing what works in one industry vertical we gain an understanding of the rules that govern our customers’ behavior that can be applied to other industry verticals.

Take financial services as an example. Here are three statistics we have uncovered in our...Read More »

Bailouts, Big Bonuses and Fees… The financial industry has been plagued over the past couple of years with negative press. As a result, many financial institutions are or should be focusing on rebuilding their brands. Some have even reinvented themselves by creating a new brand (like GMAC has done with Ally). Here are some tips for financial institutions to rebuild their brands, take control and improve retention through leveraging the power of the following digital communication channels:

Email: During the financial crisis, many customers switched banks and moved deposits creating a huge demand...

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Maximizing your deliverability can be tricky for somebody in the financial services space. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding best practices, what things you must do, or must avoid, to promote consumer confidence and prevent security or phishing issues.

My thoughts here are by no means going to be comprehensive for every single scenario; there are a lot of moving parts and different financials have different issues. But, at a high level, here are a few things that I think companies in this space should keep in mind when sending marketing or transactional email messaging.

Avoid Lead Gen or... Read More »

My greatest frustration with my bank right now is that I can't set-up custom alerts.  I want to know when my balance is low, when a large check clears, when I'm about to go into overdraft-fee-land.  All I have right now is a daily balance email.  Sure:  that works;  but not the way I want it to. 

You're probably going to recommend that I switch banks.  But it's not that easy, is it?  With auto-billpay and direct deposits, I feel locked into my current bank. . .else deal with a bunch of new forms and paperwork that surround the financial industry.  For now, I'll have to stick with my...

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How do you communicate with your customers about relevant and new products or services offered at your organization? I receive postal mail from every Financial Services company I have a relationship with on a weekly basis that I quickly turn around and recycle. Alternatively, I don’t receive any postal mail from any of my favorite retailers – instead, they send me emails.

Are you communicating with your customers via the best email marketing channel they prefer? If not, there are a lot of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities you may be missing out on. Consider the following:

1. Do you have an... Read More »

Marketing in the financial industry is not about cool commercials, bold advertising or slick emails.  Rather the most powerful marketing from banks, investment firms and insurance providers give customers a reason to remain engaged.  Let’s face it, the financial industry is part of the fabric of our lives.  We work, we get paid, money gets deposited, money is withdrawn, and we then start the cycle all over again.   Those financial firms that make that vicious cycle easier and more efficient are the ones that drive positive word of mouth marketing and create an immersive brand presence that...Read More »

eCommerce Marketer 1: “Well, the Mortgage group sends out a weekly newsletter and they do NOT match our corporate brand!”

eCommerce Marketer 2: “Is it true that they are only text and don’t include any HTML?!”

eCommerce Marketer 1: “Pretty much. Also, I’ve noticed our unsubscribe rate has went up ever since they launched.”

eCommerce Marketer 2: “How do we at least understand who they are sending to? We can’t bombard our customers even if they have signed up for multiple types of information – they don’t get that we’re on different sides of the business.”

eCommerce Marketer 1: “I have no idea.”

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