One To One Communication

Each Thursday at 11 a.m. 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.

They say that “two is better than one.” But when it comes to interactive marketing, I’d have to disagree.

I think that ONE is better than two.

We’ve all heard that siloed marketing is unsustainable and a thing of the past—if you keep your interactive marketing data separate from your social, website, point of sale, and other customer data,providing a cohesive brand experience for the end consumer seems further and further away. After all, your customers don’t silo their interactionswith your brand—why should you?

So, how can you unsilo your marketing and start functioning as ONE cohesive unit? 

Sta...

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.

During a recent #NexusCafe chat, we focused on email marketing tips that are often overlooked or missed. Our guest for the chat was Jody Freshwater, account director at MarketNet. Jody has spent many years working with ExactTarget for her client's interactive marketing campaigns. She has also volunteered help lead our 3sixty Live Dallas...

Today is a sad day and not because my Indiana Hoosiers didn’t make it to the final four. Today marks the end of March Madness. That’s right. It is officially over. The one month out of the year where colleges pull fans from all over the world to unite under one banner: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. And every year millions upon millions of people watch players from all over the nation fight for the chance to be crowned the champions of the tournament. We watched, cheered, cried, and shouted with emotion that only division one basketball could create. However, it is over and another...

Each Thursday at 11am EDT, marketers from around the world join theExactTarget 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.

Our guest for a recent #NexusCafe chat was Elizabeth Music Industry Marketing Manager, Retail here at ExactTarget.  Elizabeth has over 7 years of experience in the retail industry with a passion for helping retailers improve their digital marketing programs. We discussed how to meet the demands of a hyper-connected consumer. Here's a summary...

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.

Our guest for a recent #NexusCafe chat was Brian Shelton, eCommerce & Special Projects Manager at Gilchrist & Soames. Brian just completed a major website project at his company so content automation was top of mind. Brian is involved in the 3sixty Live Indianapolis user community and is a regular contributor to the weekly #NexusCafe chat.

He...

I'm under the belief that pure story-telling, personalized data, and integrated marketing systems are the pinnacle of success for any marketing professional. Or at least it should be. It is the humanization of marketing systems that defines the next generation of marketing. However, there is one thing that reigns true over all - at the end of the sales cycle we are still dealing with an individual, a human, not a business.

I was reminded of this while reading the current issue of Direct Marketing Magazine. Tim Peterson has an excellent article defining and detailing the transformation of Dell's...

The actual definition of online identity can vary based on who you are asking. In my opinion online identity surrounds everything you do, say, approve, and share on the social web. It varies based on what social services you are using (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc) and whether you are actually being authentic.

I stumbled across an Ev Williams' blog post about online identity in which he describes the five pieces of online identity - authentication, representation, personalization, communication, and reputation. Simply put, you have to authenticate the "representation" of your personality...

You’re busy, I’m busy, everyone is unbelievably busy these days. And that’s why NOBODY has time to sift through an email packed full of 5-10 news articles written straight into the message. However, you probably DO have an interested list of folks who want to hear from you. Want to increase engagement and performance right away? 

Here are a few steps you can take using ExactTarget Landing Pages to improve design and content and increase open and click-through rates, highlighted by Barbara Ryan and Church Pension Group (CPG):

1.      Scale back the content in each news article, so the email...

Here's what you MUST know about B2B Social Media and how to measure its effectiveness.
Social media use by B2B companies increased substantially in 2011. According to the Business Marketing Association (BMA), 89% of U.S. B2B companies are now using some type of social media to attract and engage buyers. But while some B2B companies are reaping huge benefits from social media, others are struggling.

Some B2B companies have found that professional networking sites like LinkedIn are an effective way to generate leads and influence decision-makers, while other companies find Facebook, Twitter...

• 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:...