The following questions have been asked recently by a few clients using Exact Target and may eliminate a screaming fit by you if you experience the same issue.

• “System is slow.”  Yes it can be.  I find that working in the Interactive Marketing Hub (IMH) instead of email directly alleviates some of this.  Cleaning up your ET account by removing unnecessary images, templates, etc and adding subscribers to a suppression list may add improvement as well.  For example, recently I had to move tracking history into sub folders for a client to be able to sort without my query timing out.  Since then, I’ve been able to sort tracking without a problem.

• “Functionality off or unavailable due to the browser.”  I too experience this often and always recheck my browser and if necessary, clean out my cache.  No excuses but this does happen with all software.   I’ve experienced it in other applications as well.  To double-check you are using the right browser, please go here >>.

• “Why do I have two fonts showing up and why can’t I change them?”  My first question is always, “did you import the text from Microsoft Word?”  99.9% of the time the answer is “yes.”  Copy and paste is an easy way to import content,  however please convert the copied text to “plain Text” first in a text editor such as TextEdit.  What happens when you copy-and-paste directly out of Microsoft Word into an ExactTarget content box, is all that extra code is added as well and conflicts the code you’re trying to set in ExactTarget.  If you look at the HTML version of that content box you will see many, many lines of unnecessary code.  It gets ugly!  Saving the content as plain text or .txt first will save yourself lots of headache.

• “The image I imported looks fine when I create the email but renders HUGE in Outlook.”  The “drag to re-size” concept does not work with any email service provider like it may when using a desktop software.  Importing the image to the size you need is a best practice OR if you need the image to be smaller, right-click on the image to edit within the content box and select image properties.  You will have options there that will change the image size effectively and render appropriately within all email venders.   Of course, TEST as much as you can to validate before hitting that send button.

• “Extra HTML characters are being added to my email campaign and Landing Pages.”  We see this when you take a custom HTML template and convert it to use the ExactTarget WYSIWYG editor (content boxes).  Good news is that changes are coming this fall to the ET email user interface and WYSIWYG editor however simply going into the HTML code and changing the code to what you intend it to be will take care of this problem.  Using paste HTML only or an ExactTarget template made for content boxes will eliminate this issue as well.   ExactTarget offers several custom HTML layouts in 3Sixty under the Design > Creative Library that can be edited to fit your needs.

As always, please call 859-552-5528 or email with questions or to trouble-shoot an issue.  There’s no need to kick the door or scream at the computer (speaking from experience).    Have a great weekend.

A second email went out last week, asking those who had not yet responded to visit the subscription center and define what type of material they would like to receive, or providing them the opportunity to opt out of further communication with PCAK. Based on the response rate to the first email send, we looked for a way to encourage a higher open rate. We decided to try an A/B split test, using the subject lines.

A/B testing is a method of market testing in which you send two versions of your communication to two test audiences from your subscriber list and track which version receives either the highest unique open rate or highest click-through rate. Exact Target has built-in A/B split functionality allowing us to test subject line, from name and date/time.

For our PCAK campaign, everyone on the list received the same email, but two different subject lines were used: part of the population saw “It only takes seconds” in the subject line, and the other saw, “Tell us.”

The results were surprising. We had predicted that “It only takes seconds” would engage more of our population, however the results showed that “Tell us” was more successful in getting our audience to open the email. Overall we had a 19% open rate, with a 4.8% unique click-through rate and a 6.2% overall conversion rate of subscribers taking action to update their preference.

The results are detailed in the image below:

If you would like to learn more about conducting an A/B split test in Exact Target, give Lisa Wester a call at 859-552-5528. You can also learn more at Exact Target A/B Split Testing.

Whether you’re in charge of your company’s blog, social media posts, or even larger content projects like a website re-write or producing printed marketing materials, your bound to struggle from writer’s block at some point. (When I can’t write, I tend to find myself watching ridiculous YouTube clips–that’s how I know it’s time to shake things up). Rather than spinning your wheels and wasting time and productivity, try a few of the following tricks for jolting your brain back into a content creating machine:

Step away: Go do something else. Anything else. Take a walk, clean your office, call a friend. Once you stop trying to be creative, your instincts will take over. When you find yourself phrasing ideas in your head and you’ll know it’s time to come back to your keyboard.

Read: Sometimes reading what others have written on a subject will spark just the beginning of an idea and lead to bigger and better content. I even find that looking at images on a particular topic will get my thoughts going.

Ask: If you’re really stuck, ask someone else to write up their thoughts on a subject. It doesn’t need to be strong writing–just have them get their ideas down. The hardest part of writing is always the first sentence and sometimes you just need a jumping off point. If someone else provides that point, you can fine tune, edit and add to the content until you’ve accomplished your goal.

What about you? Do you have any tips to share for overcoming a severe case of writer’s block?

For more on content curation, check out our webinar on creating content.

It started, as it always does, with a Derby pick. My horse was Creative Cause, an obvious choice for someone in my line of work. All that was left was to find a hat and we were off to the Kentucky Derby.

We parked on the backside and took a brief stroll near the barns before heading to the front. In the clubhouse we were impressed by beautiful people, gorgeous surroundings and incredible service. Mint Juleps in commemorative Derby glasses were the drink of the day, and celebrities mingled freely with those of us who were not so much the object the camera desired. I won’t lie, I was completely blown away when I realized I was casually hanging out on a balcony next to Andre Agassi, or when I walked past Tom Brady twice, like it was no big deal. (Oh, okay, I totally stopped and took a picture. I’m not that cool.)

Enjoying the day with my own personal star.

The highlight of the day, though, came when we met the trainer of Creative Cause and found out we were going to the paddock to greet the Derby horses. Standing in the Paddock, with crowds all around, watching as the horses paraded right by us–there aren’t words to describe it. Growing up in horse country, surrounded by all these beautiful farms and even more beautiful horses, you come to hold a certain amount of respect and pride for all that surrounds the sport. And the crowning glory of the sport, is of course, the Derby. To be in the middle of that is simply awe-inspiring.

I was already in a state of complete amazement, so when we all headed through the tunnel to the winner’s circle to watch the race, it was the pinnacle of an already perfect day. As I stood in the middle of Churchill Downs, looking back at the enormous crowd towering all around, singing “My Old Kentucky Home,” I was overcome with love for this great tradition.

It’s hard to get much luckier than I was at that moment, so I tried not to be disappointed when Creative Cause didn’t show. We celebrated a win for I’ll Have Another.

Meanwhile, back on the marketing front–because this is a marketing blog, remember?–our friends at Keeneland were excited to see the blanket of roses going to one of their own sales graduates. In fact, of the field of 20 horses running the Derby race, eleven were Keeneland graduates, including the top two.

Prior to the Derby, Keeneland sent subscribers an email introducing their Keeneland Select online wagering. They received many new members after launching this campaign, making it a significant success.

As soon as the Derby race ended, Keeneland immediately released an email campaign of congratulations, which was both relevant and timely:

A similar campaign went out the previous day following a win in the Oaks by Believe You Can, a Keeneland September Sale graduate:

So there you have it: A Derby Day worth remembering, for everyone.

In September 2011, Bluegrass Hospitality Group (BHG) redesigned their email marketing strategy and weekly email campaign to their BHG Rewards Members.  The redesign required an increase for landing pages to support ongoing activities within their family of restaurants.   As a secondary database used mainly to segment their audience and for reporting capabilities, Salesforce was integrated with ExactTarget.  The landing page feature, specifically Smart Capture was used as a means to acquire BHG Rewards member data to enroll in the program and store member information within Salesforce.

Today, BHG has expanded the use of landing pages to enhance workflow.  For example, Smart Capture is used as a means to collect data regarding missing points on a member’s card.

95% of their subscriber’s are BHG Rewards members and we’re able to take behavioral data from card usage and create relevant campaigns featuring the restaurant the BHG Rewards member visits the most.  To enhance engagement, content within the email campaigns are supported by a landing page, for example:

So much energy and passion goes into BHG Rewards and their Culture of Excellence. Attention to detail on the landing pages are just one part of a successful campaign.

The Opportunity:

Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky (PCAK) was sending out emails to a single mailing list which consisted of more than one target audience. With an open rate around 30%, PCAK realized that much of their information was missing the target audience and needed to be tailored toward the specific groups.

With such distinct segmentation among their audience, PCAK needed to develop separate lists so that targeted emails focus on the specific needs of the audience.

The Solution:

A re-engagement campaign was created to differentiate PCAK’s audiences.

An initial email was created using a clean, open design that incorporates the Prevent Child Abuse signature Pinwheel in a unique graphic way. Our team decided on the photos of young children and the handwritten message to capture the hearts and attention of our audience.

Prior to the campaign launch, the re-engagement campaign was submitted to Litmus.com to test for proper rendering.  The first email was sent on April 19th, explaining that PCAK is cleaning up their mailing list and encouraging the recipient to choose their correct category for engagement. (see sample at left) Recipients could select to continue receiving updates about parenting education and resources, or they could select to continue receiving updates about events and training opportunities. A third selection allowed recipients to opt out of receiving any further emails from PCAK.

A Welcome Campaign is triggered for each subscriber who responds to the email. There are 4 welcome campaign landing pages in all, one for each of the three segmented lists and one for subscribers who join on the web.

We know we can do much better and will conduct a second A/B test, this time on the subject line, prior to the second campaign launch.  To differentiate from the original, the message and heartfelt photo changed slightly in the second campaign (see sample at right).  The third and final email will follow approximately one week later.

We’ll keep you posted on the results!

sample welcome campaign landing page for PCAK

In the last post we talked about the importance of branding across all your properties, including social media. Today we are going to focus on Facebook and in particular the new timeline view and the advantages your company can gain from it.

Consistency in your branding is paramount, but that doesn’t mean everything has to look identical. One way to think about your social media is as separate parts of an advertising campaign. Just as you wouldn’t necessarily have a magazine ad and a TV spot show the same things, what you put on Facebook shouldn’t be identical to your company website or another social media site.

The new timeline view went active on all business and brand pages at the end of last month and as you can see, it gives more screen real estate to advertise your brand. Here’s InboxOrange’s new Facebook page; You can see that we have used all the main components of our branding and included some additional items customized just for Facebook. Our Facebook page now flows with our branding and as future events or holiday’s come up, we will be changing the main graphic to highlight them.

Cover Photo

Now you might be thinking, this is a great way to offer discounts or perks to your Facebook visitors or advertise special prices or sales on your website. But you shouldn’t jump to conclusions too soon, while this prime real estate is great, Facebook does have some restrictions.

Image Size

850px by 315px (100kb or less) – This is massive space that allows you to be creative with you branding and make your Facebook page feel even more special and cared for.

Restrictions
Every gift of free advertising always comes with some caveats, and Facebook’s timeline is no exception. Here are some things you can’t have in your cover photo:

• Calls to action
• Promotions and Sales
• Price or Purchase Information
• Website promotion
• Contact Information
• References to Facebook site features (e.g. Like or Share)

Profile Pic

This hasn’t changed from its previous iteration, but it’s placement has moved to the bottom left of your Cover Photo. So this is a great opportunity to tweak your profile pic or integrate it into the design of your cover photo.

Apps/Tabs

Some of you might have had custom landing pages and tabs in the old Facebook pages; these are gone in timeline. You can still have your custom tabs and apps, they have just been moved to the top of the page under your Cover Photo and can no longer be the default view of your page.

These can be organized and ordered so you can highlight which ones are more relevant. The only one that can’t be changed is the photos tab. Also note, if you had a custom icon for any of your apps/tabs you will want to update them to match the new size and layout; the new dimensions are 11px by 74px.

Custom Tabs
If you had a custom landing page or custom tabs on your old Facebook page, you’ll want to update them to take advantage of the new screen real estate Facebook has given them. Since the left side menu bar is no longer with us, navigating to a custom tab/app now allows that content to fill up the entire content area. The old widths of custom tabs were 520px, now they can be 810px wide. You will want to update your custom tabs to take advantage of the extra space; if you don’t update them just yet, the old 520px wide content will still be shown centered in the content area.

Content

With the disabling of landing pages, Facebook is forcing brands and businesses to focus on their content. After all, this is really the power of social media – the engagement with your fans or customers.

Pins

This enables you to focus on an important post by pinning it to the top left of your timeline view. If you use WordPress, think of this as a stickie or featured blog post. Once you click “Pin to Top” the post will get a ribbon in the corner and stay at the top of your timeline until you un-pin it. Only one post can be pinned at a time, so choose wisely.

Highlights

Highlighting a post changes it so that it is the full width of the content area. You can have as many highlighted posts as you want and is a great way to draw attention to milestones or older posts that are still important.

Hiding

Just like the old “wall”, you can hide posts on your timeline. You might have never had the need to use this before, but with timelines new “show everything” style you might want to take a closer look at hiding certain things. For example you might want to hide certain comments or re-posts from your fans. As your page becomes more popular you will discover that you are using the hide feature much more often to curate your page. Get used to hiding posts as you will be doing a lot of it in the future.

Final Thoughts

The opportunities for your brand are numerous with the new timeline view but it also presents new ways for you to go off the rails as well. Your branding is pushed to the forefront and you need to ensure that the look and feel of your Facebook page meshes with your other properties. Some great examples of companies that have taken advantages of this are below:

So if you haven’t already, go customize your facebook timeline view and make sure you take advantage of all the free advertising space it has to offer.

Kennelwood Pet Resorts is an organization that proves people make all the difference. It doesn’t matter the size of the corporation, the number of employees or the amount of funds or resources available.  It is how you “treat” your customer.

Recently we adopted a puppy and happily named her Messi after the talented soccer player Lionel Messi.  Personally, I agreed to name her Messi because I knew I was in for a mess!  With a new puppy in the house came the need for dog training.  Many of our friends recommended Kennelwood Pet Resorts and with a location right around the corner in Chesterfield, so we gave it a try.

After talking with the trainer Kim Hyde on the phone, I felt reasonably comfortable that little puppy dog would be in good hands.  To my surprise, on Messi’s first day of training she was wagging her tail to Kim’s happy squeaks as she welcome her to “school.”  Each staff member greeted us with a smile and ensured me she would be taken care of.  They were correct.  Messi returned the following four days wagging her tail each time.  It was obvious the staff generally cared and enjoyed what they did.

Several days later I receive a call inviting Messi to a complimentary four hour puppy play date that included a bath and squeaky toy!  One thing we’ve learned about this pooch is that she loves to socialize and when offered a free day to play… who wouldn’t?

Messi - bottom right / black puppy

A little teary-eyed leaving our baby one week later for a vacation, we incorporated several play dates and treats throughout the weekend and arranged for another week of training with Kim while we were away.  Once again, Messi ran to the entrance wagging her tail.  It was obvious she was excited and we could leave for vacation with peace-of-mind.

I write this blog post not only because of our positive experience up until this point but what happened during our vacation.  Kim is an amazing trainer but she also knows how to provide exceptional service and go the extra mile.  Throughout the week, I received several text messages with photos and video updating us on Messi’s progress.  My family had satisfaction their beloved puppy was being taken care of and security knowing at the end of the week our baby would’ve learned all the important commands to keep her safe and make our lives easier.

Arriving home a little earlier than expected, I sent Kim a text asking if we could pick Messi up early and have her skip that last day of training.  “Not a problem,” she responded, and the next day we received a text an hour earlier than our scheduled time indicating she was ready.  When we arrived, our baby was smiling, smelling sweet and showing off her pink polished nails.  She was wearing a pretty gingham bandanna around her neck and a little bow on her behind.  Picture all of this on a 33 lb. black Lab/German-Shepherd mix.  Quite adorable and totally out-of-character.

We left Kim and the staff of Kennelwood Pet Resorts knowing we would return and that they have our loyalty.  Our experience has been 100% positive, which I indicated in the follow-up survey I received a few days later.  Since our visit, Kim has sent several text messages to check on Messi and insure we continue the training.  Yesterday I received a call inviting Messi to another complimentary play date.  Of course she’ll be there!

Investing in the right people to nurture a culture that incorporates relevant, meaningful customer touch points will drive loyalty and success.

Often, much of what we want to convey to our audience through email marketing is the same, or similar. For example a restaurant chain might be offering a new/different special, but the overall message–”Come on in and dine at our restaurant”–remains the same. How do you ensure that your audience doesn’t lose interest and tune your messages out?

The trick, of course, is to mix it up. You know this. But in the middle of all you have going on, it can be easy to get ‘stuck’ on creating fresh content. The great idea you had last week might be preventing you from coming up with something new and different. Writer’s block is often the worst after a big success. There’s a feeling of being ‘tapped out’ of good ideas.

The solution is often found in your thesaurus. Simply writing down a list of key words, even those you’ve already used a hundred times before in your marketing, then hit the thesaurus for a list of possible replacements. You may not even end up using any of the words you find, but inevitably this exercise will get your creative ideas flowing. Just seeing the combination of words on paper will lead to key phrases and eventually spark a new idea for communicating your message.

It’s simple, yes. But it’s an easy and effective way to generate new ways to connect with your audience.  And that is the ultimate goal.

Can marketing get any more complex? In short answer, yes. With the advent of all of the social tools available and the web’s amazing ability to track usage, clicks and interactions–it is only going to get worse. The answer lies in news feed optimization.

Just think, a few years ago marketing was somewhat simple (in comparison). You had your budget for print, radio/TV, direct, promotional and so on. Pretty standard, time proven techniques to measure, research and adapt. And we had been doing it that way for years. A lot of decisions were based on gut feeling–unless you had a brand with a lot of resources and were able to measure and then adapt and measure again.

For the little guy, the new social landscape has leveled the playing field in terms of reaching customers. It has flipped the advantage from the huge brand to those brands in touch with their customers–which is often easier in smaller companies.

The problem is, as smaller companies introduce themselves through the social channels, they play copycat to what the big brands are doing. Plus, smaller companies don’t have the staff/resources to manage each channel appropriately as well as stay up to date with all of the changing technology and terminology.

So I’m on Facebook, now what?

When Facebook took off as a force a number of years ago, everybody, including brands, said “I need to have a page on there.” Then they resorted to what they’ve been trained to do in traditional marketing channels: “Let’s get a lot of people to LIKE our page.” What happened? Well, the audience started getting overwhelmed with everything from status updates from high school friends and long-lost relatives to invitations to become part of their Farm garden or Mafia Wars.

Facebook had a problem. It needed to allow people to filter out some of this noise, so its platform would be a good place to receive your personal news feed. Facebook has always had the ability for users to control what they wanted to see, but most users aren’t technically savvy enough to look for or even have the patience to find those settings.

So instead of having users control their own news feeds, Facebook is now trying to ‘help’ people by controlling what people see in their news feed. Facebook is now using a secret formula for determining importance of what you should see in your feed called Edgerank.

How to make sense of Edgerank

Developers and marketers were given a peek under the hood for Facebook’s news feed optimization (NFO) algorithm at the F8 developers conference last fall. Facebook won’t reveal all of the details of its formula but it did give some guidance to best practices:

• Affinity. It is based on the closeness of the person posting content and the person reading or interacting with that content. So every time you comment, like or interact with a post of one of your friends or ‘liked’ pages, Facebook tracks that interaction and assigns an affinity level to you based on your behavior. Key takeaway: Improve engagement with your fans and friends.

• Weight. This has to do with the type of content uploaded. Is it a link? a photo? or just a status update. Facebook gives different importance to users commenting on a photos vs. commenting on status updates or even posted links. It will weight comments much more than ‘likes’ and in turn think that the content has relevance to others, based on overall interaction levels. Key takeaway: Post different kinds of interesting content that incites action (engagement) from your fans or friends. Encourage comments.

• Time Decay. This one is pretty obvious. The older posts are rated different that recent ones. But if you have a comment from a previous day with a lot of engagement, the formula will find that the information might still be relevant to people and keep it higher in their news feed. Key takeaway: Gotta post good stuff–and often if you want people to see it.

The most important takeaway is to not just post passive content that isn’t relevant or engaging. Post photos, ask for comments and respond. The snowball effect of engaging and interactions with your friends and customers will add to your affinity and increase your reach.

Your branding is sometimes as important to your business as the end results you deliver. It is typically the first thing your customers see and can speak volumes about how your company does business. If you have a hodge-podge of looks and logos, your audience isn’t going to be as trustworthy of your brand. Branding your web and social properties should be as important to your company as the content that goes into them.

While your branding should be consistent across all media, it doesn’t mean you have to make everything identical, though.

Each social site on the web has its own look and feel and you want to design to the limits and style of each of them. Whether it be twitter, Facebook or any of the other social sites on the web its important to keep the feel of those sites while being true to your own brand at the same time. A great example of this is the venerable stalwart of iconic branding, Coca-Cola. If you visit their corporate website, you get a feel for their current branding and marketing; now if you visit them on twitter or Facebook, you can see that they have kept their brand consistent while conforming to each sites own look and feel. Customers visiting these sites will know immediately that they are interacting with Coca-Cola and the consistency is what they would expect from a company that spends $millions each year on marketing.

You don’t have to spend $millions to get the same results as Coca-Cola. You can ensure your branding is consistent across all your web properties – not to mention those in the physical world – and garner the same goodwill from it that a large corporation does: trust in your company. It’s not something that is always put front and center for a small business, and we are guilty of not being good shepherds of our online properties as well. While we have changed our own branding recently, we’ve been so busy working with our customers that we haven’t had time to ensure our own brand is consistent.

Over the upcoming weeks we will be consolidating Inbox Orange’s own brand presence and ensuring that we are consistent across all our properties, from our own website to social media all the way to our email signatures. Check back here as I update you on our progress and give you tips to manage your own branding along the way.

Congratulations to the Kentucky Wildcats!

As you may know by now, ExactTarget has taken the initiative to protect all its customers with advanced security measures that will keep your customers’ data even more secure. So what does this mean for you? Change can be scary, but we promise this will be pain-free and we’ll walk you through the process, so you’ll be ready to make the switch.

Here’s the basic run-down:

The new security measures will use a multi-layered approach to protect your data and the most immediate change involves Two-Factor Authentication.

What this means: Two-Factor Authentication prevents unauthorized access to the ExactTarget application by requiring more than a user name and password at login. The two factors are:

Click HERE to access the tutorial.

The fact is, Pinterest is growing in popularity and driving traffic to company websites in record numbers. The question is, should you add it to your brand’s mix of social media presence? Or is it just another passing fad?

(Need a better definition of Pinterest? Learn more Here)

Before you get pin happy, consider this:

• Are your customers on Pinterest? Research the demographics and see if the audience is a good fit for your brand. Current research shows that Pinterest users are mostly female, between 25-54 years old.
• What will you pin?  Sure, you may put up beautiful photos of your product, but what else will bring value to your customer? Think about pinning relevant news or tips your audience will find interesting.
• Are you Pinterest savy? Start a personal account first, to get a lay of the land. Once you know the ins and outs of Pinterest, you’ll be more efficient at creating a successful brand presence on Pinterest. Just beware of becoming addicted!

A couple of tips from the pros:

Sample pin board. Photo courtesy of Pinterest website.

Well, I’m bringing up the rear which makes my post a little bit more difficult. Not only do I have to tell you about my personal brand, but I have to wrap up the series with a big finish.

What I do

Perhaps fitting for the last post, what I do often involves taking the work of the others and enabling it to be presented to the end consumer. Most of my time is spent behind the scenes fitting their vision into standards compliant code for web and email viewing.

Why I do what I do

This is part of my latest foray into life’s great adventure. I have always been a bit of a nerd when it comes to science and technology and have always had a passion for great design. Working with Inbox Orange allows me to feed both of these areas while helping some great clients at the same time. Besides, sometimes there is nothing more zen than writing a structured piece of code to combat our hectic modern lives.

Favorite service offered

Whether it be creating an email that is faithful to the original design and yet still renders on 99% of email clients or creating a script to allow for a more engaging web page, I truly enjoy helping clients to find new and unique ways to get their message across.

Words to describe me

CSS ninja, designer, code monkey, standards nazi, political junkie, perfectionist, friend and loyal compatriot are perhaps the words that are most over heard when people think I can’t hear them talking about me. While these defiantly aren’t the only words ever uttered about me, these are the only ones we need to worry about for this exercise.

My weakness

It seems to be the elephant in the room, but alas I too suffer from the Procrastination Monster. I like to tell people that it isn’t procrastination, that it just takes time to create excellence. In reality, it’s that I’m often in my head thinking of a project and mulling the numerous possibilities and don’t start to put those ideas into motion until the last-minute. While it may appear that nothing is happening, in fact the bulk of a project happens in my head; the visible work is just merely a physical manifestation of this thought process.

On a personal note

In my former life I was about all things government; as a former Legislative Aide for a State Representative and Public Affairs Director for a State Attorney General I could truly be classified as a policy wonk. Design and coding was a hobby during my political life, now politics is the hobby in my design and coding life. In fact, to this day I still enjoy digging through the line items of a state budget.

As a native to Southern Ohio I grew up surrounded by nature and while most of my adult life has been spent in large cities – we’ll give Lexington the benefit of the doubt for this – there is still nothing better than to see a true night sky ablaze with millions of stars. Prior to Lexington I lived in Columbus, Ohio and am still adjusting to Lexington’s undue interest in basketball; you would think they would know that BigTen football is the sport they should be concerned about – GO BUCKS!

My favorite quote

Infamous ad man George Lois said, “Creativity can solve almost any problem.” I truly believe this. Creativity is the key to everything from a tricky bit of code to our societies most complex problems.

A perfect example of how giving back is part of the BHG brand came in the wake of the tornadoes that hit Kentucky early in March. Not only did BHG make a tremendous difference in the lives of those affected by the tornadoes, but they saw terrific engagement with their subscribers and a real benefit in public relations with the entire community.

“Coach Cal originally said, ‘I’m donating $10,000 and I challenge anyone else to donate $10,000.’ We stepped up and matched his donation of $10,000 and then challenged our rewards members to donate through a link that we set up on our online store,” explains Elise Menold, Marketing Director at BHG. As an added bonus, BHG gave members one reward point for every dollar they donated on their BHG Rewards Card, a loyalty program. Donations were tracked through the online store so rewards points could be distributed and donors were given one week to make a donation that received matching rewards points.

Here’s how the campaign worked:

Email sent to subscribers explaining the campaign.

First, an email was sent out explaining the donation match and reward point bonus. The email was designed using mostly text and was not graphically overwhelming. Subscribers who clicked on the link were taken to a landing page, which gave more detail.

“We had amazing public relations along with the campaign,” says Elise. “The day after the email went out we talked on air with WKYT and 98.1 The Bull, two partners with Kentucky Cares, the organization set up to help the communities affected by the tornadoes.” In addition, the campaign was visual through social media, including Twitter and Facebook promotion. “Coach Cal tweeted it; Kentucky Restaurant Association retweeted it; so did IMG sports marketing. That helped build the buzz.”

The results were amazing. “Within that week, our subscribers donated $22,056,” says Elise. A total of over $32,000, plus the $10,000 from Coach John Calipari with the University of Kentucky Wildcats, was donated to victims. That’s over $42,000 grand total. The Kentucky Cares campaign is ongoing, and on March 15th employees at Drakes and Harry’s wore Kentucky Cares shirts while serving customers in those restaurants. “We want people to know that even though our campaign is over, the need is still there,” explains Elise.

It has truly been one little campaign with big results.

BHG team members wore Kentucky Cares shirts while serving guests at Harry's in Lexington. All Harry's and Drake's employees wore Kentucky Cares t-shirts on March 15 to keep the campaign top of mind.

Kentucky Cares is not the only venue through which BHG promotes a culture of giving. “Giving back is a core part of our culture,” says Elise. In fact, the company just rolled out a new program, called BHG Family Fund which essentially allows all employees to contribute toward a fund to help fellow employees should the need arise. “We really do think of our team members as family,” she says.

Click Here to view the BHG Family Fund Poster to learn more about the program.

When it comes to giving back to the community, BHG sets up charity VIP nights at Drakes, and on opening nights of new restaurants offers a contest where customers can compete to win money for their favorite charity. Elise sums it up best:  ”That’s our thing. We want to be a partner in the community.”

First thing to know about me is that I don’t take myself too seriously, but I do take the work I do seriously. I am by nature a people person who enjoys having a 10 minute conversation in about 5 minutes.

My strength is in the details, but that is also where my weakness lies. I love solving problems and getting to the bottom of challenges. Like most creative people, I am distracted easily, which is a superior strength in the brainstorming process, but can hinder you when writing code.

To avoid this detail dilemma, I surround myself with a talented team of people.

What I do

I choreograph creative solutions, which often are technical issues in what I’m working on at the moment. So, in essence, I am a problem solver–which is what I love. When I first started out of college as a designer and production artist I was THE creative person and technical expert. People came to me for the creative or technical solution. Cutting my teeth on this allowed me to be a better ‘art director’ and I occasionally will still pick up the pencil (or mouse) to design, but more often than not I am working with a team of people to solve the problem.

Why I do what I do

I think I’m good at what I do because I am a tough sell. I consider every purchase I make with utmost care and try to avoid one of the few terms that stick out to me from marketing class: “cognitive dissonance.” Cognitive dissonance is when you have that second thought that it might have been better to ‘not buy’ something. Sometimes the rush of buying something creates an artificial euphoria that wears off–and when it does, will create regret for the purchase.

This over-analysis of my personal buying decisions allows me to come up with well-crafted, non-manipulative messaging that works–and that I love.

Favorite service offered

Learning and teaching. Sounds corny and cliché, but I really like helping people. I feel that with the sophistication of the tools available, if I can help one of my clients learn how to use and maximize that tool, then I have been successful. Then my job is to learn about how all the new tools can make things better for my clients. And that is what I spend my time doing–learning.

Words to describe me

Problem solver. Goof-off. Great father. Good husband. Out-going. Talkative. Passionate.

My weakness

Like Christina, I also procrastinate. I feel that I do my best work under pressure, so for some reason I am always waiting ’til the last hour to come through.

Thanks to all those who joined us Tuesday for the webinar: Data Driven Campaigns.  You’ll find a list of resources below on how to use customer data to create engaging, targeted messages. In case you missed the webinar, we’ve also included a recorded version for your review.

“Listen to your audience. Creativity and determination will guide you to the data.  Using it is the fun part.”

- Lisa Wester, Intelligence Director at Inbox Orange

Based on our own experience, we’d like to share a few helpful tips:

• Utilize the 200 attributes within your ExactTarget account.  That is a minimum of 200 ways to segment your audience!
• Integrate external data sources into your account using a unique identifier (Email or Subscriber ID)
• Listen to your team.  Incorporate insight from the front line.
• Update Profile Center.  Ask questions over time to understand interest, history, demographics, etc.
• Map touch points from your audience point-of-view.  What is missing?  Where can you close the gap?
• Create personalized campaigns and experiences throughout the product life cycle that add value.
• Measure results. Track trending with key performance indicators (KPI) over time within a spreadsheet or online dashboard.
• Tweak, tweak and tweak.  Continue to listen through all aspects of the life cycle and always follow best practices.

Helpful Resources within the Industry

• ExactTarget > From B2B to B2C You are Still Dealing with An Individual
• Book > Managing the Customer Experience
• Marketing Profs > How to Create an Actionable Marketing Dashboard (and Why You Need One)

Excellent Hands- On Tutorials within ExactTarget 3Sixty

Sorry….ExactTarget customers only:

• Learn > Search > Groups Tutorial
• Learn > Search > Simple Automated Send Tutorial
• Learn > Search > A/B Testing Tutorial
• Learn > Search > Profile and Preference Management Tutorial

Inbox Orange Recorded Webinars & Resources

• Writing to the Point Content >>
• Email Design Tips for 2012 >>

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way.

As you can imagine, Lisa is a tough act to follow. She brings energy and enthusiasm to every project–something that inspires the rest us on a daily basis. Capturing that passion and delivering results to our clients is what we’re all about–and it’s why I’m proud to be part of the Inbox Orange team.

What I do

I write. It seems simple enough. But actually I spend a good part of my day inside my head, before my fingers even touch the keyboard. I brainstorm ideas, assist with strategy, and compose headlines, blog posts and marketing materials. Much of the time, I help my team members fine tune messages to ensure we’re on target.

Why I do what I do

I can’t imagine doing anything else. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to get to my trusty old Mac and start writing. In a way, it’s like working a puzzle–another one of my favorite pastimes. I take pieces of information that may not be effective as they standalone, and fit them together in a way that engages readers and  inspires them to action. The entire process is extremely gratifying.

Favorite service offered

I particularly enjoy writing for the blog and then disseminating the information through social media. However, when it comes right down to it, there is nothing as thrilling as creating an email subject line on a moment’s notice, and realizing that the right combination of words will directly affect the open rate and results of the campaign.

Words to describe me

I think the “about me” page on my personal blog says it best: Creative writer, avid reader, excessive talker, bourbon drinker, lucky wife and delighted mother of three.

My weakness

Procrastination. I often say that I do my best work under pressure, and it seems to be true. Luckily, I have access to my office at all hours of the day. Sure, it can be stressful to wait until the last-minute to work on a project, but I just can’t seem to come up with anything worthwhile unless I’m under the gun. Shhh, just don’t tell my clients.

It may be coincidental but prior to writing this post I participated in an interview with a prospect.  The conversation was casual, friendly and enjoyable but in the process of “selling” the services of Inbox Orange, LLC, I realized I was unintentionally describing my personal brand.  It’s something we do every day without ever realizing it.

What I do

Wow.  This is hard to describe because on paper I am a marketing consultant.  In reality this position is so much more.  It includes entrepreneur, consultant, email marketing strategist, ExactTarget expert, loyalty marketer, project manager and brand manager.  I work with B2B and B2C clients in a variety of industries, company size and geographic location.

Why I do what I do

I love what I do plain and simple!  This probably sounds hokey but I enjoy a challenge and knowing that at the end of the day, I made a difference.  My experiences have built a strong foundation resulting in the desire to grow as an individual, a professional and surround myself with superior resources.   It has been and remains a fun journey and I am ever-so appreciative of the projects I’ve had the luxury to be a part of.

Favorite service offered

Each client presents a unique opportunity and exciting challenge to explore and resolve.  At this point-in-time, I would have to say Customer Profiling is my newest passion.  Being able to upload a segment of email addresses into a database that is linked to over 50 billion data-points such as demographics, purchase behavior, hobbies, interests, etc. is exciting.  Studying that data to produce a report to help my client understand their audience is just a thrill.   Having them act on that data, incorporate purchase data for relevant communication then measure the results on a dashboard over time, well…I can’t even explain the joy in that!

Words to describe me

• wife
• mother
• team member
• lifelong student
• mentor
• educator
• passionate
• perfectionist
• honest
• driven
• positive
• process oriented
• research driven
• spiritual
• “bull-dog” as described many times by my business partner Bill Powell