This week we had the privilege to run a very cool workshop in Boston. For the 9th year in a row, swissnex boston, Consulate of Switzerland, ran its Venture Leaders Program. This entrepreneurial “bootcamp” brings to the Boston area 20 entrepreneurs from Switzerland to visit local high tech companies, attend courses with Babson College professors, interact with experts and, most importantly, network with local entrepreneurs, investors and other members of the high-tech community. The program is in collaboration with several partners, including venturelab (a national entrepreneurship platform) and CTI (an area innovation agency).

We were asked to run a program aimed at helping the entrepreneurs gain insight into growing a web services company in the US, with a focus on email marketing, social media and partnerships. All of the entrepreneurs in our group have launched companies in the broad areas of social networking and software. They’re all young, smart and energized! The two-hour workshop could have lasted four hours or more and they still would have kept the questions coming. Some have just launched their concept and are seeking early funding, while others have secured some early funding and are quickly building out their teams and go-to-market strategies. Check out their bios and company profiles here.

It was very interesting to learn about some of the similarities and differences between our two cultures. They live in the same internet-crazed world that we do, benefiting tremendously from email marketing and the growing social networks. Yet their business culture is much more laid-back, and polite personality types and an almost inherent shyness drive a different marketing style. It’s definitely not a lack of confidence or intellect, as these are sharp, driven entrepreneurs. But their comfort level with self-promotion or outward expression of expertise doesn’t come as naturally to them as it does to Americans. Fascinating to observe and learn!

Much like in the US, they see the potential for social networking tools to help their business, and while they have yet to weave them into the fabric of their companies, I think they left with some good ideas on where to begin. We discussed the importance of just getting started, focusing on engagement and creating fresh and interesting content to help build awareness and interest. They loved the insights we provided on email marketing as the glue and foundation for their online marketing/sales efforts.

Before they leave on June 26th, we’ll join them one more time tonight for Transatlantic Pitching Session, where they’ll join local entrepreneurs from TechStars and be given an opportunity to hone their pitching skills before a live group of friends, colleagues and potential investors. Hats off to swissnex Director Pascal Marmier and Project Manager Thomas Buehler for running a terrific program!

Remember when beer ads used to be all about consumption and the fun that was sure to follow? Then, about five years ago, the companies shifted the message to a more “moderation” focused closing. The ads now all end with “Drink Responsibly” or “Enjoy Responsibly”. Sure the lawyers made them do it, but it occurred to me a few days ago while reading a short newspaper column, “The Power of Downtime”, that there’s a connection between our hectic lives today and the new message in beer ads. Sure it’s a stretch, but not too much. Social media, and the growing addiction we all have with it, can be analogous to the new moderation message from the beer companies: Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, or less is sometimes more.

To read more about the importance of downtime, and how social media can contribute to downtime in your daily routine, click here (brought to you straight from the May issue of Factory Direct).

SMS (short message service), or text-messaging (as most people call it), is one of the fastest-growing marketing channels with the most reach worldwide. Marketers find this interactive channel ideal because it is immediate, direct, and two-way.

Companies are now using text-messaging as a marketing tool in a variety of ways, including: mobile reply channel (text to receive more information, clickable URL, coupon, etc), mobile search, mobile alerts, text-to-win sweepstakes, and mobile voting and polling.

Join Blue Sky Factory as we discuss:

• Benefits of incorporating text-messaging into your marketing plan
• Strategies for using text-messaging to create brand awareness and generate new leads
• Why text-messaging is a perfect complement to your email marketing programs

Taking place Tuesday, April 28 from 2:00 to 2:45 PM, Steve Nye and I will be presenting “Mobile Marketing 101: Integrating SMS Into Your Marketing Plan”.

Click here to register. Hope to see you there!

Yesterday we announced that Blue Sky Factory will serve as the Premier Corporate Sponsor for the upcoming NEDMA Awards Show, the annual event by the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA). The NEDMA Awards Show recognizes members’ achievements in creative excellence. This is our second year as the event’s premier sponsor, and we’re excited to be back!

We have a strong and growing presence here in New England, and it’s great to be surrounded by so many talented direct marketing organizations and professionals in the area. The NEDMA Awards Show honors marketing achievements ranging from new marketing initiatives to more traditional methods, and it’s so beneficial to have an evening together to network and celebrate the outstanding work that NEDMA does.

Hats off to Bruce McMeekin, vice president and awards show chairman; Beth Drysdale, managing director; and the entire NEDMA team for their hard work and success. We are very committed to remaining an active part of this great organization, and helping to provide unique and valuable programs for the membership.

For more information on our sponsorship of the 2009 Annual NEDMA Awards for Creative Excellence, click here.

Doug Broujos and I recently attended Marketing Sherpa’s Email Summit ‘09. Here are my top three takeaways from the event:

Twitter is where it’s at.
Two years ago at this event, I heard someone say that they were going to “tweet” about their upcoming speaking session, and several people around me looked at each other a bit cross-eyed. “Huh?” (we all said silently) Well things have changed. This year Twitter has firmly established itself as THE go-to social marketing tool to share thoughts, organize events or “tweetups” as they’re called, announce any and everything, recite key session findings, stay in touch with colleagues, ask questions - and I suspect a whole lot more. It’s a bit odd for someone like me - who has yet to jump on board the Twitter-train - to be surrounded by so much collective tweeting in one relatively small area. “Harness this energy” is all I kept thinking!

The industry is alive and well.
This is quite interesting. Despite the absolute worst economic conditions of our lifetimes (past and likely future), there was a real buzz at the event! Everyone’s message seemed to be very similar to our own here at Blue Sky Factory: the economy is no doubt in bad shape, but in general, business is still strong as companies continue to see the value of email marketing. In fact, on some levels the economic crisis has been good for business, forcing companies to accelerate decisions to move into online marketing – a decision that they previously delayed. I’ve always said that the best businesses to be in during a recession are anything having to do with alcohol/liquor sales and education (particularly online education today). But maybe good online marketing companies will be able to stake a claim in this exclusive group as well, as companies are almost forced to shift focus to a more affordable and profitable channel to drive sales!

New industry trends from the experts.
Putting on a conference is hard work; there’s nothing easy about it. Particularly hard is finding the right professional to speak about the right topics. You need to appeal to a broad audience without being too basic (may bore some) or too advanced (may frustrate others). Overall the Sherpa crew did a great job. Here are a few of the speakers that stood out for me:

Stefan Tornquist, Research Director at MarketingSherpa. Stefan always impresses me. He once again provided research updates with his now-familiar slide format that packs great information into such a small space. He and his team at Sherpa have their finger on the pulse of email marketing like no other. His five or so slides have an immediate impact and catch everyone up on the state of affairs.

Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, MarketingExperiments, speaking on landing page optimization. Dr. Flint is a dynamic speaker with many good things to say and teach, but what’s really cool is that he’s a philosopher and theologian who’s become one of the leading experts on testing and optimization - the ultimate blending of left and right brain skills!

Brooks Bell Interactive, presenting a case study from their client, AARP. This was a great session because they did a very well run, comprehensive year-long testing program. The speaker explained what they did in a clear, teachable manner, highlighted some real world lessons that all of us can use, and gave away a testing spreadsheet sample sure to make testing easier for everyone.

Dan Flanegan, Brand Anywhere, presenting a case study on mobile email marketing. We’re about to launch our new SMS/Mobile Marketing service ourselves, so it makes sense that this one would make my list. Dan had a great presentation, outlining a very practical marketing program that was very easy to implement. He combined that with several key tips for mobile marketers, and taught me some key time savers and guaranteed ROI builders for our clients. Best news of all is that the case study showed the program to be very effective - good news as we get ready to launch!

So Sherpa’s come and gone for another year. Hat’s off to Aimee Croke, Sherpa’s event coordinator, for a job well done!

Time to take another look at video email.

Will 2009 be the year for video email marketing to catch fire? A few years ago, video email was the highly anticipated “next big thing” in email marketing. Then it faded away, as ISP and email client security issues dashed the hopes of streaming video into the inbox, much to everyone’s dismay. Even the “click to play” video options couldn’t gain momentum, as formatting trouble and high production costs killed any opportunity to gain popularity.

But now a new momentum is building for video email, and it’s driven by the increasing popularity of video online, a shifting culture around online interaction, increased ease-of-use, and new technologies continuing to lower production costs. While streaming video email may still be viable in some cases (click here to read more), the early buzz that’s more likely to catch on is adding video content to an email that’s just a click away! It’s still early, but we’re catching the wave because we believe the time it will be commonplace is coming soon.

We recently announced a new partnership with Flimp Media, a very cool rich media tech company that gives us a powerful one-two punch for our email marketing customers. Click here to read more about the relationship. Flimp Media has a slick marketing platform that allows users to quickly build fully trackable video email into their marketing campaigns. The emphasis here is on easy and trackable - previously two major disadvantages when adding video into emails. Flimp makes it easy and fast to set up a video, include it in an email marketing campaign, and track all of the activity (who watched, how long they watched, if they came back, if they forwarded the video email, etc) with amazing detail. Their results for increased ROI around conversion events are impressive, and once you see it you realize how critical this will become to your own marketing campaigns.

Flimp Media has been a client of ours for a long while now, and we’ve watched as they’ve built, tested, and then built some more - until they got it right! We’re glad they did, and we’re excited to be working together to bring video email marketing into the mainstream.

For more information on how Blue Sky Factory and Flimp Media can accelerate your email marketing campaigns, join us for our “Web Video Meets Email Marketing” webinar on February 3 at 1 PM EST. Click here to register.

People are still saying email is dead. Well I’m here to tell you that email is NOT dead, and in fact, is truly the Internets most dominant application. According to a recent survey from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, email is the most popular online activity. About three-quarters (74.2%) of U.S. adults are using email, up 5.2% from fall 2007.

Sure, with the introduction of social media we have other ways to communicate online, but social media actually complements email. How many times do you see an email address attached to a blog post, or how many times do you take a Twitter conversation to email so you can talk in over 140 characters? Once the initial contact or relationship is made via the social web, email then allows you to develop and build upon those relationships. Besides, social media is still making its way into the mainstream, while most people already have and use email addresses. Raise your hand if you check your email several times per day. That’s what I thought - you can all put them down now. Most business professionals are connected to email 24/7 via mobile devices allowing them anytime, anywhere access to email.

With the economy in its current state, many retailers are taking full advantage of email to reach customers with special incentives, and I know many consumers look forward to those emails for discounts and other news.

Other top Internet uses from the study include obtaining the latest news/current events (46%), paying bills online (39.6%), and making a purchase for personal use (37.2%). None of these even come close to email. Email is not dead, and is not going anywhere anytime soon.

*Source: MRI’s Fall 2008 and Fall 2007 Survey of the American Consumer

Need another reason why email marketing’s awesome? How about because it helps save the environment, or it at least extends its healthy existence a little longer.

Do you remember the ‘old days’ before email communication was widely available - all the way back to the dark ages of the mid 90’s? We communicated with snail mail and the dreaded fax machine. Then email emerged, and if you’re like me you now try to avoid the fax machine at all costs. I’d like to say it’s because I’m trying to save trees and the world, but it’s mostly because faxing is just a real pain. But the reality is that email has, by default, allowed us to cut back on the amount of paper we use. I’m not sure any of us spend too much time thinking about it, but maybe we should.

I don’t have any hard facts to report, but I do promise to try and find some. I’m particularly interested to find out if the overall amount of standard printing paper we use as a society has actually decreased in the last 10-15 years. The weed-like growth of Staples and similar stores would at first glance lead me to say probably not, but that may be because we just buy more, well, staples than we used to. But then what are we stapling if we don’t use as much paper?

I’ve noticed more and more emails I receive having a message at the end of the email about saving the environment. Things like “Think twice before printing this email to help save the environment” or “Save a tree, don’t print me!”. I’m confused - do people need to be reminded about this? If I need to print an email, it’s likely a document that has to be hard-copied  for signature or fax (although I try to avoid the latter at all costs as I mentioned). Otherwise, are people actually taking their normal emails and printing them out on a regular basis? If so, then what’s the point of emailing? Why can’t we all keep these messages that we’re printing as emails and stop the madness?

Irreverence aside, the point is that email is a good thing. It’s effective, it’s efficient, and it’s good on the environment. The more you use email over alternative paper options, the more you help save trees. Besides, nowadays people rely on email to stay connected to family, friends, co-workers, clients, etc. They are either connected to email 24/7 or log in to check it multiple times per day. I know I am much more likely to open an email than read a direct mail postcard sent to my office. So the next time you want to reach your clients or subscriber base, send an email. It’s easy, inexpensive, and the trees will thank you.

Next time maybe I’ll talk about ink.

Used properly, prospect and customer data is one of the most valuable assets a company owns.  All companies have the same goal with their data: increase customer acquisition rates, maximize customer retention, and increase sales (at the lowest cost possible). As more and more communication and commerce take place online, there’s no better time to use this data to help accomplish their goals. Online marketing continues to prove itself as the most profitable channel available. Yet many companies continue to struggle in their efforts to collect, organize and leverage their data.

For the companies that do take the time to explore their options and commit to doing more, they will learn that the process doesn’t have to be complex. With today’s impressive marketing technologies, it doesn’t have to be expensive either. It represents the best chance to maximize marketing’s return on investment. Click here for tips on utilizing data.

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A question that we hear over and over from our clients is, “How can I grow my email list?” Industry-wide, email marketers will agree the best way to grow your list is organically. While this process takes some time and planning, it is certainly worth it in the end, as you will be left with a high-quality list of true opt-in subscribers that have specifically requested to receive your emails. To learn more about growing your email list organically, click here.

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