Organization - The Key to Successful Canning and Successful Email Marketing - Small Business. Big Results.

I am one of those people who plant a vegetable garden. Keep in mind that gardening is supposed to be a stress reliever. Instead, every year I have more of something than one family can possibly eat. So then I have a tendency to become stressed about what to do with the abundance of veggies taking up space in my refrigerator. One can only give away so many tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. So I can - yes I am one of those people.

This year I was better prepared than in my previous attempts at homesteading. There are many who think that canning is a lost art known only by our grandmothers with their super-secret recipes. In truth, it really isn't hard. And, it occurred to me that the key to a successful day of canning and a successful email marketing campaign have something in common - planning and organization.

You have to have your kitchen ready. You can't go into a day of canning without a plan or you end up with vegetables, jars, lids, pots and gear everywhere. Not to mention a huge mess to clean up after all is said and done. The very same thing can be said for email and interactive marketing campaigns. You can't just decide to send an email this day, post some information on Facebook the next, answer some Tweets and push SMS messages after that. Oh right, don't forget the new landing page you need for said unplanned email/social/mobile campaign. You will end up with a huge interactive marketing messaging mess to clean up - nothing gells (a very bad thing when making jelly), no cohesion, and potential brand damage.

How can you possible track your success when you're not sure where to start? Need some help getting prepped? Take a few minutes to download ExactTarget's One-toOne Marketing Field Guide. It could be the first step in planning your multi-channel campaign with email, social, mobile and sites. Then you can be one of those people - a marketer with a plan.