There
only can be one number one. The best. Número uno. That is the newly
stated goal of Indianapolis based email service provider,
ExactTarget - to be #1. CEO, Scott Dorsey, stated that
ExactTarget's goal for 2011 is to be best in breed for email,
social, SMS and mobile services. This news sent the a conference
room of over 2,000 ExactTarget user attendees buzzing with Twitter
tweets, text messages, Facebook fan posts and, of course,
old-school email messages.
A demo of ExactTarget's new Interactive Marketing Hub followed with
new software tools and toys that will be released in beta...
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At ExactTarget, we’ve built a
great business and an innovative, powerful email marketing
application and platform to create, send and track one-to-one
marketing messages via multiple modes (email, SMS, mobile, social).
Our original premise of being simple, easy to use and suitable for
use by any type of business has served us incredibly well. At the
same time, market demand and opportunity have prompted us to build
that messaging app/platform out to an extremely sophisticated,
robust, scalable, secure, highly available enterprise-ready system
today.
The investments in time, money, intellectual...
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It's been an amazing run in 2009 for the Embedded Channel at
ExactTarget. For those of you who don't know - the
Embedded channel works with software companies that utilize
ExactTarget's SOAP API's to go to market with their own email
or sms products.
As I look back I realized we've grown the number of Embedded
partners from 22 to 60 ISV's. We have Embedded
partners who offer Business to Business email marketing / campaign
management software in the Print, Auto, SMB, MRM, Voice, Medical,
Events, and eCommerce verticals (to name a few). It
feels like software companies are realizing that...
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Thinking about using mobile
coupons? If you are, here are 5 things you absolutely must know
about planning and managing a successful mobile coupon
strategy.
1. Make the Offer Relevant to the Consumer.
“Opt-in mobile marketing has an enormous potential if done
responsibly and is specifically focused on the stores/restaurants
that matter to each consumer,” said Alistair Goodman CEO of 1020
Placecast.
A recent study conducted by
Harris Interactive of more than 2,000
adults measured cell phone owner preference levels and receptivity
for opt-in mobile marketing messages from...
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Phrases like “drip campaign”, “automated email drip”, “drip email
program”, and “drip email” are thrown around ExactTarget a lot.
This is because ExactTarget is in the business of sending email,
especially automated email drips. However, everyone may not
understand what a drip campaign is. Let me tell you a little
bit about the basics of drip marketing.
Drip marketing comes from the phrase drip irrigation, which is
where crops are watered in small amounts over a long period of
time. This same concept is applied to marketing and is called drip
model marketing. Customers or potential customers...
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As one of the newest members of the ExactTarget Partner
organization, I am tasked with managing and growing relationships
with ExactTarget’s Embedded Partners.
On its surface, that sounds pretty straightforward.
However, for the past several months, I have been
trying to better define around what an “Embedded” partner truly
is.
There are multiple ways to define
the topic, depending on who you ask.
And, in my experience, most of the answers I
have heard are right in some way or another.
However, the official definition is that ExactTarget Embedded
Partners are typically ISVs that go to...
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As I am looking back over the 14 weeks that I have been here
this summer, one of the biggest things that has hit me is that
ExactTarget is not just an email marketing company. They are not
just an email service provider. They are truly a one to one
marketing company that has a full line of products to help increase
the marketing ROI for a company.
Yes, we do email. We actually send some
of the most intelligent and customer-driven email through our dynamic
content capabilities.
But what else is in our product line?
SMS: We have the ability to
develop and execute powerful SMS text message...
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One question I find that comes up all the time is: what
is embedded?
To begin to answer that question, you have to first know what
ExactTarget’s software does. ExactTarget is not simply an email
service provider, but a One-to-One Marketing software that services
permission based
email marketing, SMS
marketing, and
voice campaigns for companies throughout the world.
So what is embedded?
In the simplest form,
ExactTarget Embedded is a product integration
of the power of ExactTarget’s one-to-one marketing software with an
external application. Companies then build their own tools
and software on...
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ExactTarget
has a highly-talented team of people working with one objective in
mind: developing strategic partnerships with referral, consulting,
embedded, integrated, and reseller partners. 
Why?
These partnership strengthen the abilities of the companies we
work with and allow more people to utilize the power of
ExactTarget’s one-to-one marketing software through email, SMS, and
voice. ExactTarget is the perfect email marketing solution for many
businesses looking to send direct email marketing campaigns.
Our partner
page lists who we are currently aligned with and our program
guide gives you...
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I was eating dinner this week in a
local fast food restaurant in Anderson, IN and they had a giant box
sitting on the counter that encouraged customers to sign-up for
their email list.
Since I work for an email marketing
company: they got me.
I signed up.
What was good about
this?
1.
Subscribers are opting-in to the
communication.
2.
The database is going to be subscribers who want regular
communication.
How could this be
improved?
1.
Convert from paper to SMS. Instead of having me fill out a
slip of paper with my contact information, have me opt in by text
message.
2.
Follow-u...
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Want to improve your marketing strategy? Need affordable email
marketing software? The Innovations Lab, commonly referred to as
iLab, is the perfect place to enhance your one-to-one marketing
efforts. We release our newest features to iLab first where
clients can access them in exchange for providing us with valuable
feedback. iLab is located in ExactTarget's 3sixty user
community--clients can login and view current, former, and future
innovations and sign up to have the available features
automatically enabled. During the test process, clients will
also be able to complete a short survey...
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Hey
all. Today I'll be discussing how to strengthen your e-commerce
kung-fu by utilizing ExactTarget's Landing Page technology.
As you might have realized from browsing some of the other posts on
our blog,
targeted email marketing is only
part of the story. A question to ponder is:
'Why
personalize a customer's email only to send them to a
non-personalized web page?'.
There often seems to be a disconnect in the minds of marketers when
it comes to the partnership between email and their website. If you
harness the power of
one to one marketing for email shouldn't
your website also present...
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I was walking through a department
store here in downtown Indianapolis the other day 
when I noticed a giant rack of clothes that were all discounted
75%. That is a good price, especially when many of these were
originally priced at $50-$75 each.
Then, I started to think about how
one would know about a sale like this. Maybe they have a mailing
list they send to. Maybe they do send emails to their subscribers.
But, I wonder if they have considered sending out text messages to
their shoppers.
Especially since I work just five
minutes from where the store is, a text message update that would
alert...
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According to an article
on Mashable.com by Adam Ostrow, a
new report from Forrester Research shows the number of U.S.
adults who use email on a monthly basis is pegged at 165.4
million.
By comparison, social networking
users have doubled since 2007. There are 55.6 million adults (about
1/3rd of the U.S. population) that visit a social networking site
at least once a month (up 15% from 2007 to 18% in 2009). 54.3
million adults use SMS for instant messaging (unchanged from 2008)
and 37.1 million read blogs (unchanged from 2008).
What this Means for Marketers
While email has solidified...
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Each year at the ExactTarget Connections conference we give out
awards to our clients that have demonstrated some of the best
programs, designs, list growth and results of the year. This year
is no different…but there is a new twist. This year we’re launching
the SUBSCRIBERS RULE! Awards.
There are 5 key awards and 3 grand prizes that go to those programs
that best honor the three main tenets of our SR! philosophy:
1. Serve the individual.
2. Honor their unique preferences for communication, content,
frequency and channel.
3. Deliver them timely, relevant content that improves their
lives
If...
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I hate it when events get rained
out or planes get delayed because of bad weather. What’s even worse
is when I drive all the way there and don’t find out about the
delay until I’ve already wasted an hour of driving and $10 in gas
money.
Those in the travel industry have
a real opportunity to take advantage of the power of SMS
campaigns to connect with their customers in a relevant way. From weather
updates to checking frequent flyer mile balances, SMS campaigns can
be a way to cut through the clutter and build a subscriber database
that is engaged.
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra uses ET’s...
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When I stopped into a popular gas
station convenience store this weekend in Anderson, IN, I noticed a
flyer by the counter that was advertising an SMS text messaging
program with exclusive discounts for their subscribers.
I sent the appropriate text to
their short code an instantly received a coupon for a buy one get
one free 20 oz. coffee. All I have to do is show the text message
when I check out to receive the discount.
I couldn’t help but think about the
same technology that ExactTarget can incorporate into their already
successful and popular email marketing automation software. This
SMS...
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ExactTarget’s one to one email
marketing automation software allows businesses to build
their subscriber lists with high-value individuals through SMS
campaigns that utilize
text capture.
Coming from someone that uses text
messages all the time, I strongly would recommend offering
something along these lines.
From in-store promotions, paper
catalogues, radio ads, and billboards you can engage with your
target market by inviting them to text into your business. You can
build your list with subscribers who want your content. They want
to stay informed.
Capture. Collect. Communicate.
Captivate.
Kyle...
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ExactTarget has an
excellent internship program that
is well developed and focused on providing worthwhile experiences
for both the student and the company.
I hear from many of my friends that
they just aren’t be utilized at their internships. They sit around
and surf the internet for 6 of the 8 hours they are on the clock
because they don’t have anything to work on.
That is not the case at
ExactTarget.
This is week #7 for me and I am
juggling a handful of meaningful projects. I have been able to work
with several different people and departments and take on work that
is significant and...
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Most of you who read my blogs know that ExactTarget Embedded is for
software companies, social networks and developers who want to
Embed ExactTarget Email into their Applications using our
SOAP API .
We have our first Embedded Partner that is not embedding email,
instead they are only going to embed SMS and Voice into their
platform using our Messaging Service.
What does
this really say about ExactTarget and the
marketplace?
I think it says that while everyone knows us for our email
capabilities, there is pent up market demand for implementing
mobile strategies. I am running into this...
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