Video Email Campaign

At ExactTarget, we’re passionate about our clients—they’re some of the best brands we know, and we’re often inspired by their dedication to the work they do. And Von Maur is an excellent example! From the company’s start in the late 1800s until now, Von Maur has always put their customers first.

If you’ve visited one of the retail chain’s stores, you know what I mean—impeccable service, inviting décor, musical ambiance, and top-notch products. And while the company’s perfected their signature “above and beyond” service in stores, Von Maur wants customers to experience the same great service...

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...

Over the next several weeks, we will be sharing guest articles from experts in the realm of content marketing. This week, Steven Shattuck writes.

Steven is VP of Marketing at Bloomerang. He is a featured contributor to Social Media Today, and has been published in Search Engine Journal, Business2Community and the Content Marketing Institute. Steven has spoken at national and local conferences, and is frequently interviewed by traditional media outlets in Indianapolis for his expertise in social media marketing.

There's no shortage of content marketing advice out there. Now that most marketers...

In my last post, "Are you Leaving Money on the Table by Manually Merchandising Your Site?", I explained how retailers can take a staggered approach to migrate from manually merchandising their ecommerce site to using automated recommendations.

Also in this last post, I mentioned the importance of not relying on “free” ecommerce platform add-ons. Today we’ll take this idea a step further and focus on how sophisticated product recommendations engines incorporate real-time customer insights with merchant rules to create a truly personalized experience for your customers. 

#5 Way Retail Marketers...

The rapid changes continue for Facebook as they recently launched a new look for user timelines that began rolling out to individual users as of March 13. Facebook notes: “We’ve updated the timeline on profiles to give people a cleaner view of their content, bigger images, and a more visual way to share the things they do. It’s easier for people to discover music, movies, tv shows, and books they care about, fitness activity, as well as business Pages they like.”

All in all, it seems like the update primarily seeks to better organize content on users’ profiles by giving them specific places to...

I recently had the chance to sit down with Charlie Shin (@CRMinSports), CRM & Fan Engagement Leader for Major League Soccer, at MLS league offices in New York. MLS just launched its 18th season on Saturday, March 2, and arguably has more momentum than at any time in the league’s history. With 19 teams currently taking the pitch and rumblings of expansion teams in markets like Miami and New York (would be a second team), this season is poised to be full of headline making moves.

Charlie shared the primary objective of his role is to build the fan base and increase engagement through utilization...

Last week, ExactTarget had the opportunity to participate in one of our first tradeshow events in Stockholm, Sweden, home to our newest office location. Webbdagarna was a two-day event attracting more than 1,500 of the Nordic region’s interactive and web marketers--all keen to understand more about the future of cross-channel, how to implementeffective programs, and where to start in bridging the gap between offline and online channels.

ExactTarget Nordics recently opened its doors in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Östermalm business district. We’re excited to have a local team led by Henrik...

The Positive Coaching Alliance teamed up with High Five Marketing to fulfill the mission of providing a positive youth sports experience for thousands of kids across the United States. Their success led them to be recognized as a 2012 finalist for the ExactTarget Power of One Awards at Connections 2012.

THE POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE STORY
Seventy percent of kids lose interest in youth sports by the time they reach age 13. Volunteer coaches often don’t know how to teach beyond the Xs and the Os of the game to keep kids motivated and engaged.

That’s where the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA)...

The process of buying a home can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. National home builder Clayton Homes is using ExactTarget’s Automation Studio, SocialPages, and email applications to transform the buying experience.

Clayton Homes launched a custom Facebook tab inviting fans to enter a weekly giveaway, and offering homebuyers the opportunity to subscribe to personalized emails featuring custom tips and professional advice based on their individual stage in the buying process. By offering personalized information, Clayton Homes is alleviating buyers' stress and improving the buying...

If a company is serious about video marketing, they might need the services of Wistia, a fast-growing online video hosting company.

Wistia hosts videos for companies so that prospects don't have to leave the site to view it or watch ads. By using Wistia, marketers get analytics on user behavior and interactivity with the video. If the video was a hit, and most people watched it straight through, perhaps the company will produce another one like it. If it wasn't successful, it's time to come up with a new concept.

Over the next several weeks, we will be 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. Today, Matt Blumberg of Return Path shares his thoughts.

Consumers Will Fall in Love with Email (Again)

In 2013, consumers will start discovering what industry insiders are already seeing—email is cool again. For the record, it’s always been cool. But it’s been a long time since so many new ideas about email came to light. This burst of new development offers a glimpse into the...

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. 

Last week, more than 4,000 of the world’s best marketers gathered in Indianapolis for ExactTarget’s annual user conference: Connections.  My personal favorite part of the event is always the product keynote – where our President of Strategy and Technology, Scott McCorkle, announces all of the latest and greatest technology we have built for our customers.

This year was no different – and some of the most exciting announcements centered around ExactTarget SocialPages™.  SocialPages allows anyone to build, design, and publish Facebook tabs with ease to engage users, grow loyalty, and...

That's right. Facebook hit a BILLION users. That is BILLION with a B. Staggering is an understatement but with staggering figures like these, marketers cannot afford to ignore Facebook. Regardless of size or marketing budget, brands can benefit from an effective Facebook strategy.

Consumers are more active on social media than ever before, and not surprisingly, many marketers are struggling to keep up. It seems that, with an ever-evolving sea of data and technology, marketers don’t know where to start. Marketers are told what they need to do, but no one’s telling them WHY these tactics are...

Today is World Alzheimer's Day. To drive awarness and replicate the pain of losing one's memory, Alzheimer's Disease International worked with digital agency Grey Sinapore to create a Facebook app that causes all of the information on your Timeline to vanish for the day. Photos and messages will be relaced with a message that reads,

"Imagine your life without memories. For 36 million people living with Alzheimer's disease, this is a reality."

The message and the promo video resonates with me. My mother suffers from Alzheimer's. But I wonder, did the campaign drive the results it expected? It...

We are all really busy, so its important to leverage skills, content and data to be more efficient and productive. SocialPages was built from the ground up to integrate with ExactTarget Email, so you can leverage logos, images, videos and other content to build a brand presence on Facebook:

1. If you can build an email, you can build a Facebook Tab: SocialPages provides intuitive tools to create, design and publish. You’ll never have to worry about the Facebook UI changing, how to ensure your iFrame loads and renders properly, or any of those tricky aspects of navigating the developer site....