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eMarketer has an interview up with Bill Nussey of Silverpop in which he warns against badgering customers with email marketing that is too frequent or irrelevant to their interests.  The phrase he used is to describe this more tailored, moderate approach to email marketing is “keeping it in the green zone”.

The phrase resonated with me — perhaps because the “green zone” is how we visually depict customers who are likely to respond favorably to given email content in our new product.  

Read The Email Marketing Green Zone »

I’m a firm believer that SMS marketing as my blog posts such as Mobile Marketing - Five Steps to Start the Art and Master Targeted SMS and The Beginning of SSPs: SMS Finally Getting the Email Treatment attest. So I talk about it a lot as a great, new channel, even if only used as a higher form of email marketing. One thing I note to marketers is the fact that double opt-in gives you an automatically targeted audience. After all, the sheer work needed for a customer to double opt-in filters out - for the most part - those customers who will be offended by too many touches via their mobile phone. This, however, leads to the inevitable question: “Can you explain double opt-in to me? I’ve heard of it but I don’t exactly know what it is.” Understandable. Mobile marketing, after all, is still new. Well, today, you’re in luck. I’ll join the PacSun Mobile Alerts program and let you follow along so that you know exactly what double opt-in is…and what it looks like when initiated from a web site.

Read SMS Marketing: Double Opt-In Explained »

We pontificated Monday on what we perceived as the reluctance of the big Email Service Providers to hop aboard the SMS marketing train.  We pointed to ExactTarget as a prime example.  Boy, are our faces red.

Read Our Bad: ExactTarget in the SMS Biz After All »

One of the questions that we ponder daily at the Istobe HQ is why oh why email service providers (ESPs) like ExactTarget haven’t really jumped on the SMS marketing bandwagon. After all, it seems as though SMS marketing would logically be the next email and that the ESPs would be uniquely positioned to capitalize on this new market by leveraging their customer base to help establish the new marketing channel. Alas, it still hasn’t happened for major players like ExactTarget. Just the opposite. It seems that ExactTarget is actually trying to downplay the effectiveness of newer technologies (witness their new white paper that claims “Email Works Better than Social Networks”). But there are other ESPs out there that aren’t just trying to milk their lead in the email space and are instead embracing technological changes that are already afoot. Let’s take a look at two companies who are taking the ESP model and moving it into SMS marketing.
Read The Beginning of SSPs: SMS Finally Getting the Email Treatment »

First Black Friday - formerly known as the after-Thanksgiving sale - then Cyber Monday. Now Mobile Tuesday?

We all know the story behind Black Friday and Cyber Monday: two days devoted to the most price-sensitive, deal-hungry consumers out there. And this year, more than any year in recent memory, the entire nation has watched and waited, hoping that the consumers really were rarin’ to choke down some bargains. The economy, after all, depends on it. (Don’t believe me, just look at all the Twitter discussion about Cyber Monday deals courtesy of CheapTweet). Well, never fear Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you have a new sidekick this year to help with the economic recovery: Mobile Tuesday.

Read Will Retailers Really Buy Into Mobile Tuesday? »

First things first, no matter who you support, I hope all of you have either gone out to vote today, or are planning to go out to vote. Although I’m usually not this dedicated, I woke up at 6:30 this morning to try and make it to the polls by 7. I was hoping I might be able to get their before the crowds, but by the time I got there at 6:55, the line was already two blocks long. I’ve voted at the same polling station for over 10 years now, and I have to admit that I’ve never seen such an incredible turn out for any election thus far. It took me about an hour to make it through, which was actually less than what I originally thought, but glad I beat the long lines I know will be there later this evening.

Read Obama Leading in the Polls? Perhaps it’s Due to Better Marketing »