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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><title>Email Marketing Strategy - Blue Sky Factory Blog</title><link>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com</link><description>Email marketing insights from Blue Sky Factory</description><language>en</language><image><link>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com</link><url>http://thinkinginbox.com/bsf_blog_sm.gif</url><title>Email Marketing Strategy - Blue Sky Factory Blog</title><width>144</width><height>144</height></image><copyright>©</copyright><managingEditor>bsfblog@blueskyfactory.com</managingEditor><lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:15:55 PST</lastBuildDate><generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5</generator><sy:updatePeriod xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/">hourly</sy:updatePeriod><sy:updateFrequency xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/">1</sy:updateFrequency><itunes:keywords /><itunes:subtitle>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:category text="Society &amp; Culture" /><itunes:block>No</itunes:block><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="http://thinkinginbox.com/bsf_blog.gif" /><media:copyright>©</media:copyright><media:thumbnail url="http://thinkinginbox.com/bsf_blog.gif" /><media:keywords></media:keywords><media:category scheme="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">Society &amp; Culture</media:category><itunes:owner><itunes:email>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:email><itunes:name>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:name></itunes:owner><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheThinkingInbox" type="application/rss+xml" /><feedburner:emailServiceId>TheThinkingInbox</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><feedburner:browserFriendly>This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.</feedburner:browserFriendly><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com" /><item><title>And the Winner is…</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/184WD8dEPWc/</link><category>Blue Sky Factory News</category><category>Creative &amp; Design</category><category>contest</category><category>email creative</category><category>email design</category><category>email template</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:15:55 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4398</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p>Gary Chase from Nurses&#8217; Health Study, come on down!  You&#8217;re the winner of the Blue Sky Factory <a title="Blue Sky Factory Blog: Win a Holiday Email Template" href="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/general/win-a-custom-holiday-email-template/" target="_blank">Holiday Email Template Contest</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this fall the Blue Sky Factory team asked email marketers to submit the reason(s) why they should win a custom holiday template.  We received many responses, and the team voted on a winner.  The winning submission was:</p>
<blockquote><p>Why should we win?   We&#8217;re a poor non-profit operation that is using email to try to learn about the causes of cancer and other terrible diseases.   A vote for us is a vote against cancer.   A vote for someone else&#8230;well I guess then you&#8217;re pro-cancer.   I think the choice is simple.</p></blockquote>
<p>Persuasive, funny, and sarcastic.  Gary was so excited to win.  His reaction when he found out?  See for yourself:<br />
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4403" title="GaryChase" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/GaryChase.JPG" alt="WinnersReaction" width="306" height="229" /></p>
<p>All of the submissions were unique; it was very tough to choose a winner!  Because of this, we&#8217;d like to give a shout out to the honorable mentions (it was close!).</p>
<ul>
<li>BeyeNETWORK</li>
<li>Halifax International Airport Authority</li>
<li>1st Mariner Bank</li>
</ul>
<p>Congratulations to Nurses&#8217; Health Study, and thanks to everyone who entered!</p>
<p>Have you seen the Blue Sky Factory team showing how <em>we&#8217;d</em> react if <em>we</em> won?  If not, I recommend you <a title="Blue Sky Factory Reactions Video" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4W-mLJX_YU" target="_blank">view it now</a>.  It&#8217;s a goodie.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/creativeanddesign/and-the-winner-is/"><em>Click here to view the embedded video.</em></a></p>
<p><em>Amy Garland</em><br />
<em>Marketing Manager, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/184WD8dEPWc" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>Gary Chase from Nurses&amp;#8217; Health Study, come on down!  You&amp;#8217;re the winner of the Blue Sky Factory Holiday Email Template Contest.
Earlier this fall the Blue Sky Factory team asked email marketers to submit the reason(s) why they should win a custom holiday template.  We received many responses, and the team voted on a winner.  The [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/creativeanddesign/and-the-winner-is/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/creativeanddesign/and-the-winner-is/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>The Many Faces of Ann Handley</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/9yzt5g8nN5I/</link><category>Interviews</category><category>Social Media</category><category>blue sky factory tv</category><category>Ann Handley</category><category>BSFTV</category><category>interview</category><category>marketingprofs</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:24:10 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4377</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" style="padding: 1px" title="Ann Handley Cutout" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Ann-Handley-Cutout.png" alt="Ann Handley Cutout" width="118" height="133" /><img style="padding: 1px" title="Ann Handley" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Ann-Handley-.png" alt="Ann Handley" width="130" height="130" /><img style="padding: 1px" title="Ann Handley - Twitter Avatar" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Ann-Handley-Mugshot.png" alt="Ann Handley - Twitter Avatar" width="130" height="130" /><img style="padding: 1px" title="Ann Handley -Twitter Profile Pic" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Ann-Handley-Mug-Shot-2.png" alt="Ann Handley -Twitter Profile Pic" width="130" height="130" /></p>
<p>Ann Handley has many faces. One thing you&#8217;ll notice (see 4 pictures above) is that Ann&#8217;s face always seems to have a big smile on it.</p>
<h3>A Little More About Ann</h3>
<p>According to Ann Handley&#8217;s <a title="Twitter: Ann Handley" href="http://twitter.com/MarketingProfs" target="_blank">Twitter profile</a>, she is the the Chief Content Officer of <a title="MarketingProfs.com" href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/" target="_blank">MarketingProfs.com</a> (<em>Blue Sky Factory is a member</em>) and author of <a title="AnnHandley.com: Annarchy" href="http://www.annhandley.com/" target="_blank">Annarchy</a>.</p>
<p>Digging a bit into her past a bit &#8211; thanks to her <a title="Ann Handley: LinkedIn" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/annhandley" target="_blank">LinkedIn profile</a>, Ann was also:</p>
<ul>
<li> Co-founder &amp; President       at ClickZ</li>
<li> Freelance Writer &amp; Editor       at Many Different Publications</li>
<li> Correspondent (freelance)              at             <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/companies/the-boston-globe" target="_blank">Boston Globe</a></li>
<li> Associate Editor       at Banker &amp; Tradesman</li>
</ul>
<p>More on the personal side of things&#8230;I first connected with Ann over Twitter. We quickly moved from Twitter to email and email to phone. We discussed my passion (email marketing) and her passion (writing) as well as some other random topics (Volvos, Boston, chocolate, etc). I finally met Ann face to face in Boston during the <a title="Inbound Marketing Summit (Boston)" href="http://city.inboundmarketingsummit.com/boston/" target="_blank">Inbound Marketing Summit</a> and again in Chicago for the <a title="MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer" href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/events/8/conference" target="_blank">MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer</a>. Ann is even cooler (and smarter?) in person.</p>
<h3>Ann&#8217;s Blue Sky Factory TV Debut</h3>
<p>While in Chicago, I was fortunate to be able to secure 5 minutes and 42 seconds of Ann&#8217;s valuable time to talk to her about:</p>
<ul>
<li>The 2009 MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer &#8211; what is a mixer? a mixologist?</li>
<li><a title="MarketingProfs Get To The Point Emails" href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/news/email-marketing/archive.asp" target="_blank">Get To The Point</a> email marketing newsletters &#8211; what are they and why do they work</li>
<li>FTC disclaimers</li>
<li>A few other random facts (and some humor)</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope you enjoy the conversation with Ann as much as I did.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghLZ09plwIA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghLZ09plwIA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re having trouble viewing, <a title="Ann Handley: BSFTV" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/file/2867836/" target="_blank">try Blip.tv</a>.</p>
<p><em>DJ Waldow<br />
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p><em>________________</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/swyn/?utm_campaign=SWYN&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=BlogE" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; padding: 3px;" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/SWYN-Banner.png" alt="SWYN Banner" width="276" height="99" /></a></p>
<p>Speaking of sharing, have you seen our new, cool, powerful (fun?) Share With Your Network (SWYN) feature? If not, now would be a good time to <a title="Blue Sky Factory: Share With Your Network Feature" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/swyn/?utm_campaign=SWYN&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=BlogE" target="_blank">check it out</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/9yzt5g8nN5I" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>Ann Handley has many faces. One thing you&amp;#8217;ll notice (see 4 pictures above) is that Ann&amp;#8217;s face always seems to have a big smile on it.
A Little More About Ann
According to Ann Handley&amp;#8217;s Twitter profile, she is the the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs.com (Blue Sky Factory is a member) and author of Annarchy.
Digging a [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/the-many-faces-of-ann-handley/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/TVYFQtg6xSo/ghLZ09plwIA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" fileSize="1046" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Interviews, Social Media, blue sky factory tv, Ann Handley, BSFTV, interview, marketingprofs</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/the-many-faces-of-ann-handley/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/TVYFQtg6xSo/ghLZ09plwIA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" length="1046" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.youtube.com/v/ghLZ09plwIA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Make a Good First Impression with Pre-Header Text</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/07vmVwQl-fA/</link><category>Best Practice</category><category>Creative &amp; Design</category><category>preheader text</category><category>preview pane</category><category>snippet text</category><category>view in browser</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:53:37 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4330</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img style="float: right; padding: 3px" title="Good First Impression" src="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/Joanna/firstimpression2.jpg" alt="Good First Impression" />We all know that first impressions are important when building face-to-face relationships.  The same  goes for email.  First impressions from an email campaign can determine whether your recipient opens your email, or simply passes you by.</p>
<p>Your email designs should incorporate an enticing pre-header text to lure your reader in and make this good first impression.  The pre-header text is the first line or two of plain text that should appear above the main header image of your email.  Even with images turned off, this pre-header text will be visible to your recipients in their preview pane, and depending on the email client used, may also show alongside the subject line in their inbox preview text.</p>
<h3>Start with Snippet Text</h3>
<p>The first line of your pre-header text is called the “snippet text”.  This snippet text should be a textual preview of your email.  Use this line of text to add to your subject line (i.e. do not just repeat your subject line).  The best use of this space is to outline the main call-to-action of your email.  If you are offering a discount on your product, state this promotional offer in your snippet text, and include the click-through link.  Readers will then be able to take action on your email without ever having to download images or scroll.  If you are sending an informational email like an e-newsletter, use the snippet text to highlight the main article, thus enticing your readers to scroll down to read more.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/Joanna/snippettextgmailbig.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; padding: 3px;" src="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/Joanna/snippettextgmailsmall.jpg" alt="Gmail Snippet Text" /></a></p>
<p>To see an example of what snippet text looks like to your recipients, <a title="Gmail Snippet Text" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/Joanna/snippettextgmailbig.jpg" target="_blank">click here</a> or on the image to the left.  This is an example of my Gmail inbox preview.  Notice the snippet text shows after the subject line of each email, thus providing a quick snapshot of the email content.</p>
<h3>Don&#8217;t Forget the View in Browser Link</h3>
<p>Also included in your pre-header text should be a link to view your email in the recipient’s web browser.  This is an old must-do for emails, but many are still missing this important link.  The “View In Browser” link allows your email recipients to view your full email intact in their web browser, with images turned on.  This is great for recipients who are wary of downloading images in their email client, or those that are not able to receive the full HTML version in their email program.</p>
<p>What’s changed over the years with this link, however, is the placement and wording.  In the past, email marketers have been placing this link as the first line of text in their pre-header area.  However, now that some email clients (Outlook and Gmail, for example) are using the first line of text as a summary of your email, the descriptive snippet text (as explained above) should have top placement in your email.  Your snippet text should make the first impression for your email.</p>
<p>Historically, the “View In Browser” text has been worded as:</p>
<ul>
<li>“Can’t see the images below?  Click here to view this email in your web browser.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> “Having trouble seeing our full email?  Click here.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> “If you are unable to see the images below, click here.”</li>
</ul>
<p>Don’t these all sound so negative?  Do you really want to start your email campaign out on a negative note?  Not if you’re trying to make a good first impression!  Instead, try wording this link in a positive light, maybe even incorporating humor.  Try something like:</p>
<ul>
<li>“Click here to see this full email in your web browser.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> “Don’t miss out on our images!  Click here to view this email.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> “Does this email look a little funky to you?  Check it out in your web browser.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Make that First Impression Count</h3>
<p>Start your email campaigns on a good note by using snippet text and a positively-phrased “View In Browser” link.  When well thought out, your pre-header text can be used to increase opens, entice recipients to take action on your email, and further build relationships with your subscribers.  After all, you never have a second chance to make a good first impression (well, at least not until your next email campaign!).</p>
<p><em>Joanna Lawson-Matthew<br />
Senior Account Manager, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p>Image credit: <a href="http://www.ehow.com" target="_blank">http://www.ehow.com</a></p>
<p>_________________</p>
<p><a title="Blue Sky Factory Webinar: The Anatomy of an Email" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/theanatomyofanemail_blueskyfactory.WMV" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3640" title="blue-sky-factory_-the-anatomy-of-an-email-dj-waldow-24-sep-09" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/blue-sky-factory_-the-anatomy-of-an-email-dj-waldow-24-sep-09.png" alt="blue-sky-factory_-the-anatomy-of-an-email-dj-waldow-24-sep-09" width="169" height="111" /></a>Want to learn more about the important elements of an email, from the header to the footer?  <a title="Blue Sky Factory Webinar: The Anatomy of an Email" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/TheAnatomyofanEmail_BlueSkyFactory.wmv" target="_blank">Watch the Blue Sky Factory webinar &#8220;The Anatomy of an Email&#8221;</a>, or simply <a title="Blue Sky Factory Webinar Slides: The Anatomy of an Email" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/TheAnatomyofanEmail_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" target="_blank">check out the presentation slides</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/07vmVwQl-fA" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>We all know that first impressions are important when building face-to-face relationships.  The same  goes for email.  First impressions from an email campaign can determine whether your recipient opens your email, or simply passes you by.
Your email designs should incorporate an enticing pre-header text to lure your reader in and make this good first impression.  [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/creativeanddesign/make-a-good-first-impression-with-pre-header-text/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">2</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/8dRCs-Qtvk8/theanatomyofanemail_blueskyfactory.WMV" fileSize="37285456" type="video/x-ms-wmv" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Best Practice, Creative &amp; Design, preheader text, preview pane, snippet text, view in browser</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/creativeanddesign/make-a-good-first-impression-with-pre-header-text/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/8dRCs-Qtvk8/theanatomyofanemail_blueskyfactory.WMV" length="37285456" type="video/x-ms-wmv" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/theanatomyofanemail_blueskyfactory.WMV</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Chris Brogan: 49 Out Of 60 Days On The Road</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/0W_cCEJQadA/</link><category>Interviews</category><category>Social Media</category><category>blue sky factory tv</category><category>BSFTV</category><category>chris brogan</category><category>DJ Waldow</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:32:50 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4302</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://tv.blueskyfactory.com/tv/" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; padding: 3px;" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Chris-Brogan-Cutout.png" alt="Chris Brogan Cutout" width="168" height="198" /></a>I just spent <a title="Social Cruise" href="http://socialfresh.com/cruise/" target="_blank">4 days on a boat</a> with Chris Brogan. While this post is not about the <a title="Blue Sky Factory Blog:Social Fresh &amp; Jason Keath: What’s With The Orange?" href="../social-media/social-fresh-jason-keath-whats-with-the-orange/" target="_blank">Social Fresh Cruise</a>, it is about Chris Brogan.</p>
<h3>Who Is Chris Brogan?</h3>
<p>If you are a regular reader of anything Blue Sky Factory related, you likely know who Chris Brogan is. If you follow anything in the social media space, you probably have heard of Chris Brogan. If you peruse the New York Times Bestseller list, you may have come across Chris Brogan (see <a title="ChrisBrogan.com: Where To Buy Trust Agents" href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/where-to-buy-trust-agents/" target="_blank"><em>Trust Agents</em></a>). Chris Brogan is a client/partner of Blue Sky Factory. He&#8217;s also a friend.</p>
<h3>Chris On Blue Sky Factory TV</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m certain that the 4 minute, 35 second video speaks for itself, but to give you an idea of what you are getting yourself into, a few Chris Brogan quotes &#8211; from the video &#8211; to whet your appetite:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;great appetizer to a delicious meal.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;&#8230;the Greg behind the blue.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;This is an ADD crowd.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;&#8230;getting pressure to do &#8216;multi-track&#8217;&#8230;&#8221;<br />
&#8220;&#8230;49 out of 60 days on the road.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;&#8230;face to face still matters.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>As well as a gem of a quote from Greg Cangialosi: <em><strong>&#8220;&#8230;working at the speed of Chris.&#8221;</strong></em></p>
<p>So&#8230;enjoy.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TjAgRUsekkA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TjAgRUsekkA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>Can’t see the video? <a title="Chris Brogan on Blip.tv" href="http://www.blip.tv/file/2860083" target="_blank">Try viewing on Blip.tv</a>.</p>
<h3>More Blue Sky Factory TV</h3>
<p>In case you just watched the Chris Brogan video and shouted, &#8220;Awesome. Where can I check out more of these cool Blue Sky Factory videos?!&#8221; &#8230; a few links that may be helpful in answering your question:</p>
<ul>
<li>View <a title="Blue Sky Factory TV" href="http://tv.blueskyfactory.com/tv/" target="_blank">all Blue Sky Factory TV</a> (#BSFTV) episodes.</li>
<li>Read a <a title="Blue Sky Factory TV Blog Posts" href="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/tag/blue-sky-factory-tv/" target="_blank">few of our blog posts</a> which highlight Blue Sky Factory TV.</li>
<li>Subscribe to the <a title="Blue Sky Factory YouTube Channel" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/blueskyfactoryinc" target="_blank">Blue Sky Factory YouTube channel</a> and/or view our <a title="Blue Sky Factory Blip.tv archive" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&amp;nsfw=dc" target="_blank">Blip.tv archive</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>More Chris Brogan</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/chrisbrogan/?utm_campaign=Brogan_Landing_Page&#038;utm_medium=Blog&#038;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; padding: 3px;" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Chris-Brogan-Landing-Page-Offer.png" alt="Chris Brogan Landing Page Offer" width="359" height="103" /></a></p>
<p>Can&#8217;t get enough of Chris Brogan?</p>
<p>Why not take advantage of the &#8220;Brogan Discount?&#8221; We&#8217;re offering 25% off a custom-designed email template. All you need to do is <a title="Chris Brogan Landing Page" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/chrisbrogan/?utm_campaign=Brogan_Landing_Page&amp;utm_medium=Blog&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">complete the form on the right of this page</a>.</p>
<p><em> DJ Waldow<br />
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/0W_cCEJQadA" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>I just spent 4 days on a boat with Chris Brogan. While this post is not about the Social Fresh Cruise, it is about Chris Brogan.
Who Is Chris Brogan?
If you are a regular reader of anything Blue Sky Factory related, you likely know who Chris Brogan is. If you follow anything in the social media [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/chris-brogan-49-out-of-60-days-on-the-road/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">2</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/JHHuYNUKaTs/TjAgRUsekkA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" fileSize="1045" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Interviews, Social Media, blue sky factory tv, BSFTV, chris brogan, DJ Waldow</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/chris-brogan-49-out-of-60-days-on-the-road/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/JHHuYNUKaTs/TjAgRUsekkA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" length="1045" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.youtube.com/v/TjAgRUsekkA&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Email Marketers: Get On Board the Inbound Train (Choo Choo!)</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/wqQCBPO3XGM/</link><category>Best Practice</category><category>Factory Direct</category><category>Industry Trends</category><category>inbound marketing</category><category>permission-based email marketing</category><category>segmentations</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:53 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4288</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" title="Train" src="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/train_old.jpg" alt="" width="172" height="129" />Who shot JFK?  (I don’t know.)  Was Paul really the Walrus?  (I think so.)  Is email marketing inbound or outbound marketing? (Inbound)</p>
<h3><strong>Email marketing is inbound, not outbound.</strong></h3>
<p>Recently Blue Sky Factory hosted a webinar with our partner, <a title="HubSpot" href="http://www.hubspot.com" target="_blank">Hubspot</a>, an inbound marketing company.  In the webinar, <a title="Blue Sky Factory Webinar: Inbound &amp; Email Marketing: So Happy Together" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/InboundandEmailMarketing_SoHappyTogether_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" target="_blank">“Inbound &amp; Email Marketing: So Happy Together”</a>, Hubspot talked about inbound marketing methods versus outbound marketing methods.  Guess which category included a picture of an inbox (hint: it was NOT inbound).  I have to agree with Hubspot when we’re talking about spam or sending emails to people who haven’t asked for them, but I strongly believe effective email marketing is truly inbound.    As an online marketer, I believe in the success and power of inbound marketing – getting customers to come to you.  Email marketing done right is when your customers and prospects ask to hear from you.  Other inbound methods can also be coupled with email to drive results.</p>
<h3>Push &amp; Pull</h3>
<p>This is the third time I’ve written about inbound marketing.  In my first article,<a title="Inbound Marketing: How Sweet It Is" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/fd/090204-Inbound-Marketing-How-Sweet-It-Is.aspx" target="_blank"> “Inbound Marketing: How Sweet It Is”</a>, I talked about inbound marketing and what methods there are for marketers to take advantage of.  I wrote about one of my favorite places to shop, J.Crew.  I <em>want</em> to hear from J.Crew, whether it’s about an upcoming sale or a new product they’re introducing.  That’s why I signed up to receive their emails. I asked <em>them</em> to contact <em>me</em>.  In no way do I consider that push communications; this is a true example of inbound marketing.</p>
<p>In my second article, I asked readers to <a title="Stop Sending So Many Emails!" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/fd/090902-Stop-sending.aspx" target="_blank">“Stop Sending So Many Emails!”</a>.  With the economy in its current state, email marketers started to send, send, send!  I asked marketers to slow down on the sending, and instead, email smarter.  One of the suggestions I had was to focus on other inbound strategies that will complement existing email campaigns.</p>
<p><img class="alignright" title="No CAN-SPAM" src="http://goodkarmahost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2255499619_99d5e0f7371.jpg" alt="" width="107" height="107" /></p>
<h3>Get it?</h3>
<p>I will admit, there are marketers out there that still don’t “get it”.  They love “blasting”, buying lists, and get hungry when they hear the words “CAN-SPAM”.  (Get it?  They don’t know what the<a title="CAN SPAM Act" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003" target="_blank"> CAN-SPAM Act</a> is.  Anyway&#8230;) These people are obviously using email as an outbound tool.</p>
<p>So, conscientious email marketers, do you want to effectively use email as an inbound tool?   Okay then &#8230;</p>
<h3>Ask yourself these 3 questions:</h3>
<h4><strong>1.    Do you send emails to people who haven’t asked for them?</strong></h4>
<p>Please, please, please don’t send emails to people who have not asked to receive them!  (Note: technically, sending unsolicited email does not break any CAN-SPAM laws; however, it is far from best practice).  Your subscribers should want to receive this communication from you, so make sure they specifically opt-in to receive your emails.  Again, while not illegal, my opinion is that pre-checked opt-in boxes are a “Don’t”.  Let your subscriber actually check the box themselves.  (This is often a highly-debated topic in the world of email marketing.)  If you meet someone at a tradeshow, don’t just add them to your list.  Send them a personal email with a link to your subscription center, so they can sign up if they want to.  Subscribers need to explicitly ask to receive emails from you.</p>
<h4><strong>2.    Are you segmenting your list?</strong></h4>
<p>I’m a female who lives in Baltimore and likes to run.  Why would I want to receive emails for men’s clothes, emails about upcoming events in New York, or emails meant for hockey fanatics?  Correct – I don’t.  When I signed up to receive your emails, I told you I was a female, Baltimore-dwelling runner.  This means I want emails that have to do with this information.  So ask your subscribers information about themselves, and only send them communication that is relevant to them.  If not, you might lose them as subscribers.  Think about it this way: if you are only sending emails to subscribers who ask for them (see #1), then why would you send irrelevant emails to these people?  You’d then be “pushing” your emails to these recipients.</p>
<h4><strong>3.    How are you promoting your email campaigns?</strong></h4>
<p>Do you have opt-in forms on your website?  Do you ask people if they want to sign up for your emails when they purchase something from you?  Do you promote your email campaigns on your website or social media profiles?  Inbound marketing means getting found online.  If you want to get found, then put yourself out there.</p>
<h3>Email like it&#8217;s 2009</h3>
<p>Email marketing is not an old school, outbound method.  Help give email marketers a good name by treating it with a little respect.  Offer compelling content to people who ask for it.  Make this communication relevant, and come up with a plan to promote your email campaigns.  Let people know you’re offering this method of communication, and make sure you’re easy to find online.  Do this, and your customers and prospects will be asking to receive your messages, or in other words, coming to you.  (Sounds a little like inbound marketing, huh?)<br />
<em><br />
Amy Garland<br />
Marketing Manager, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p><em><br />
</em></p>
<p><em>&#8220;Train&#8221; image source found <a href="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/train_old.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>. &#8220;CAN-SPAM&#8221; image source found <a href="http://goodkarmahost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2255499619_99d5e0f7371.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>___________________</em></p>
<p><em><a title="Blue Sky Factory: Factory Direct Signup" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/subscribe.aspx?utm_campaign=Subscribe&amp;utm_medium=Blog&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2287" title="blue-sky-factory-subscription-center" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/blue-sky-factory-subscription-center.png" alt="Subscription Center" /></a>P.S. This article is brought to you straight from the <a title="Factory Direct: November 2009" href="http://click.bsftransmit1.com/ViewInBrowser.aspx?pubids=967|4839|7537&amp;digest=UAowzZ9rz4r43fvHZvg8kQ" target="_blank">November issue of Factory Direct</a>.  If you don’t currently receive our email newsletter, <a title="Blue Sky Factory: Factory Direct Signup" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/subscribe.aspx?utm_campaign=Subscribe&amp;utm_medium=Blog&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">sign up now</a> to have next month’s edition delivered directly to your inbox.</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/wqQCBPO3XGM" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>Who shot JFK?  (I don’t know.)  Was Paul really the Walrus?  (I think so.)  Is email marketing inbound or outbound marketing? (Inbound)
Email marketing is inbound, not outbound.
Recently Blue Sky Factory hosted a webinar with our partner, Hubspot, an inbound marketing company.  In the webinar, “Inbound &amp;#38; Email Marketing: So Happy Together”, Hubspot talked about inbound [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/best-practice/email-marketers-get-on-board-the-inbound-train-choo-choo/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/BvRFGGWQsBc/InboundandEmailMarketing_SoHappyTogether_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" fileSize="6275965" type="application/pdf" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Best Practice, Factory Direct, Industry Trends, inbound marketing, permission-based email marketing, segmentations</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/best-practice/email-marketers-get-on-board-the-inbound-train-choo-choo/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/BvRFGGWQsBc/InboundandEmailMarketing_SoHappyTogether_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" length="6275965" type="application/pdf" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/InboundandEmailMarketing_SoHappyTogether_BlueSkyFactory.pdf</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Top Ten Ways to Accelerate Your Email Marketing Strategies in 2010</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/xkbO0h76wKI/</link><category>Best Practice</category><category>General - Misc.</category><category>Strategy</category><category>A/B split test</category><category>blue sky factory</category><category>call-to-action</category><category>email marketing strategy</category><category>email planning</category><category>email solution</category><category>Email Strategy</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:33:51 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4259</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<h3>5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … Happy New Year!<img class="size-full wp-image-4272 alignright" title="Happy New Year" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/happy_new_year_fireworks-20091113-114120.jpg" alt="Happy New Year" width="220" height="149" /></h3>
<p>Well, not quite yet, but before you know it, 2010 will be here!  If you haven’t already, now’s the time to start planning your email campaigns for the coming year.  After all, the key to a successful email marketing strategy is a well thought out roadmap.</p>
<p>Last week, DJ Waldow, our Director of Community, and I presented a webinar entitled “Shake &amp; Bake your Email Campaigns into 2010”, during which we presented some tips and tricks to help you get started with your email planning.  Check out the <a title="Shake &amp; Bake Your Email Campaigns Into 2010" href="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/ShakeandBakeYourEmailCampaignsInto2010_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" target="_blank">webinar slides</a> here.</p>
<p>As DJ and I explained, email is not and should not be a last-minute marketing effort. As an email marketer, you know all the work that goes into an email campaign – from the initial brainstorming to the creative design to segmenting your list to the copious amounts of email testing and finally to finding the optimal date/time for launch.</p>
<h3><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-4275" title="Let the Wild Rompus Begin!" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/where-the-wild-things-are-20091113-115838.jpg" alt="where-the-wild-things-are-20091113-115838" width="176" height="109" /></h3>
<h3><strong>Let the Wild Rompus Begin!</strong></h3>
<p>It’s important that all marketing efforts, including email, are carefully thought out, as they serve as representations of your company and brand.  With that in mind, it is time to shake and bake your 2010 email marketing strategies into a well thought out roadmap. Here’s my ‘countdown’ of the top ten tips for your 2010 email marketing planning  (in no particular order):</p>
<h3>Top Ten Email Marketing Strategies for 2010</h3>
<p>10. There is valuable information in your 2009 email campaigns.  Review all campaigns deployed this past year. Analyze your performance to determine what worked and what didn’t work for your subscribers.  Use your campaign metrics (opens, clicks, shares, opt-outs, complaints) to determine each campaign’s success.  Apply this information to your email strategy plan for 2010.</p>
<p>9.  If you aren’t already subscribed to your competitor’s emails, do so now.  It’s important for you to know what others in your industry are emailing to their subscribers.  This will help you to plan your 2010 email content and frequency.</p>
<p>8.  Determine what types of emails you will send in 2010 and at what frequency.  The four main types of emails to consider are: sales/promotion, alert/notification, survey and informational/newsletter.</p>
<p>7.  Build a calendar to plan your schedule of email campaigns.  Be sure to include other departments in this schedule as well so there is no overlap and to ensure proper email frequency is being met.</p>
<p>6.  Develop a schedule of emails leading up to the holidays.  Build your email schedule around the busiest email days so your email does not get lost in the clutter.  Don’t forget the smaller holidays throughout the year, and use them to further build relationships with your subscribers.</p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-3965 alignright" title="Call-to-Action" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/call_to_action-20091029-181524.jpg" alt="Call-to-Action" width="185" height="126" />5.  Build an A/B split test strategy into your plan for 2010.  You can test various aspects of your email campaigns, including launch date/time, subject line, email creative, call-to-action, targeting/segmenting, and landing pages.</p>
<p>4.  Considering shaking things up in 2010 with a creative revamp.  Be sure to use a rendering tool, like <a title="Pivotal Veracity" href="http://www.pivotalveracity.com/" target="_blank">Pivotal Veracity’s</a> Inbox Preview or <a title="Return Path" href="http://www.returnpath.net/" target="_blank">Return Path’s</a> Campaign Preview, to ensure your email renders well across all major ISPs.</p>
<p>3.  Review your email marketing strategy to ensure you are sending timely, targeted, and relevant emails to subscribers you have received explicit permission from.  Be sure you are sending a welcome email to these subscribers to start the relationship off right and set proper expectations from the beginning.</p>
<p>2.  Become an even better email marketer in 2010 by attending industry conferences, tradeshows, and webinars.  Push the limits of your ESP, making sure you are taking full advantage of all the application’s tools and building strong relationships with your account manager.  Continue to educate yourself by subscribing to industry blogs, e-newsletters and webinars.  Use the information that you learn throughout the year to constantly improve upon your email campaigns.</p>
<p>1.  Review and improve upon the other important aspects of your email marketing plan, including your opt-in process, welcome email, transactional emails, landing pages and opt-out process.  Make sure all processes are in working order, and that all aspects are optimized for best performance.</p>
<p><strong>You&#8217;re Ready, Let&#8217;s Get Started!</strong></p>
<p>With those ten tips in mind, it’s time to start planning!  Feeling a little overwhelmed?  Don’t feel like you have to plan out the whole year now.  Start with the first quarter, and work from there.  Plans can always be tweaked, and should be flexible to accommodate any company or industry changes.</p>
<p>______________________________</p>
<p><em>Joanna Lawson-Matthew<br />
Senior Account Manager, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p><em><br />
</em></p>
<p><img style="float: left; padding: 7px" title="Super Savings on Email Strategy" src="http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/joanna/supersavings.jpg" alt="Super Savings on Email Strategy" width="246" height="72" />Need some help planning for 2010?  Blue Sky Factory is offering a 50% discount off a customized 2010 email strategy plan.  <a title="50% discount off a customized 2010 email strategy plan" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/strategy2010/c1.htm" target="_blank">Take advantage of this offer here</a>, but hurry because this offer expires on November 18, 2009.  (If you’re not currently a Blue Sky Factory client, sign up before November 18 and we’ll apply this offer to you too!)</p>
<p>Fireworks image <a href="http://journeyhomeburke.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/happy-new-year-fireworks.jpg" target="_blank">source</a><br />
&#8220;Where The Wild Things Are&#8221;  image <a href="http://dontloseyourdayjob.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/where-the-wild-things-are.jpg" target="_blank">source</a></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/xkbO0h76wKI" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … Happy New Year!
Well, not quite yet, but before you know it, 2010 will be here!  If you haven’t already, now’s the time to start planning your email campaigns for the coming year.  After all, the key to a successful email marketing strategy is a well thought out roadmap.
Last week, [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/general/top-ten-ways-to-accelerate-your-email-marketing-strategies-in-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/jpp457FVWak/ShakeandBakeYourEmailCampaignsInto2010_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" fileSize="2656359" type="application/pdf" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Best Practice, General - Misc., Strategy, A/B split test, blue sky factory, call-to-action, email marketing strategy, email planning, email solution, Email Strategy</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/general/top-ten-ways-to-accelerate-your-email-marketing-strategies-in-2010/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/jpp457FVWak/ShakeandBakeYourEmailCampaignsInto2010_BlueSkyFactory.pdf" length="2656359" type="application/pdf" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/AmyG/ShakeandBakeYourEmailCampaignsInto2010_BlueSkyFactory.pdf</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Be Your Own Yoko: Start an Email Marketing Movement</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/3d4WYYxpUA4/</link><category>Industry Trends</category><category>Social Media</category><category>Strategy</category><category>community</category><category>movement</category><category>share with your network</category><category>SWYN</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:56:33 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4235</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" title="community" src="http://www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/LCC/INTERNET/RESOURCES/IMAGES/CommunityConsultation.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="197" />We all want our marketing efforts to be as boring as possible, right?   Who needs inspiration and passion anyway?</p>
<h3>Communities and YOUR Brand</h3>
<p>Communities aren’t new.   They’ve existed for as long as anyone can remember, but recently a new type of community began: online communities.   No matter the forum used, they’re out there, and they exist for fans of certain hobbies, brands, and basically anything else you can think of.   It’s time that we, as marketers, embrace these communities, start interacting with them, and encourage them to continue talking about our companies and brands.</p>
<p>After all, at the <a title="2009 PRSA International Conference" href="http://www.prsa.org/IC2009/" target="_blank">2009 PRSA International Conference</a> session titled, “People Are the Killer App: How to Grow Word-of-Mouth Movements With Your Brand Fans”, I learned that almost 90% of communities are dead on arrival.   Almost 90%!   <a title="Twitter: Geno Church" href="http://twitter.com/genochurch" target="_blank">Geno Church</a>, word of mouth inspiration officer of <a title="Brains on Fire" href="http://www.brainsonfire.com/" target="_blank">Brains on Fire</a> and the presenter of this session, said this happens because there is no conversation happening and no content.</p>
<h3>It&#8217;s Time to Start a Movement</h3>
<p>Church talked about creating movements as part of your marketing strategy.   Movements, not campaigns.   He said that campaigns are boring, but movements are full of inspiration and passion, and these movements involve your communities.   These are the people spreading the word about you, so it’s time to put some focus on them.</p>
<h3>10 Characteristics of a Movement (according to Church):</h3>
<ol>
<li>Movements are built on passion.</li>
<li>Movements begin with the first conversation.</li>
<li>Movements have inspirational leadership.</li>
<li>Movements have a barrier to entry.</li>
<li>Movements empower people with knowledge.</li>
<li>Movements encourage ownership.</li>
<li>Movements have powerful entities.</li>
<li>Movements live online &amp; offline.</li>
<li>Movements make advocates feel like rockstars.</li>
<li>Movements get results.</li>
</ol>
<h3>I&#8217;m an Email Marketer.  So What?</h3>
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2205" title="Email Marketing Inbox" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/email-marketing-inbox.jpg" alt="Email Marketing Inbox" width="162" height="91" />It&#8217;s time to break out your inner Yoko and start an email marketing movement.  Why do movements, communities, and word of mouth matter for email marketers?   How can you, as an email marketer, take this information and apply it?</p>
<h4>1.  Because it’s two-way</h4>
<p>Email can and should be interactive.   Rather than just sell, GIVE to your subscribers through your emails.   Make your emails benefit them.   Offer compelling content, direct them to your website, take a survey to get feedback from them – the possibilities are endless.   It’s also necessary to monitor your reply to address.   No one wants to be ignored, so if subscribers have something to say, it’s imperative that you listen and respond.   Excellent customer service is non-negotiable.   If you offer poor service, no one will want to be your brand ambassador anymore.   Keep your email as open communication.</p>
<h4>2.  Allow subscribers to SWYN</h4>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-2203 alignleft" title="Blue Sky Factory Inbox" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/swyn_graphic.jpg" alt="Blue Sky Factory Inbox" width="164" height="152" />Online communities are now using social networking sites as their forum.  By allowing your subscribers to share your email content with their social networks, you are enabling them to easily share information within their community.  When people gather – on or offline – to talk about a common interest, they want to share, interact, and engage.   By making it easy for them to do so, they are more likely to spread the word for your company.   With many <a title="Blue Sky Factory's SWYN" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/swyn.aspx?utm_campaign=SWYN&amp;utm_medium=Link&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">Share With Your Network</a> (SWYN) tools, you can view who shared your email and how many views your email received based on who shared, allowing you to pinpoint influential subscribers and reward them or even offer incentive to share future emails.</p>
<h4>3.  It’s all about cross-pollinating</h4>
<p>This is a topic Blue Sky Factory’s CEO Greg Cangialosi <a title="Blue Sky Factory Webinar: The Intersection of Email, Mobile &amp; Social Media" href="http://www.slideshare.net/gregcangialosi/the-intersection-of-email-mobile-social-med" target="_blank">talks about often</a>.   Promote your email campaigns through your social media efforts, and promote your social media efforts through your email campaigns.   Let your subscribers know that you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, and tell your online communities about your email campaigns.    With more and more people signing up for your emails or becoming fans on Facebook every day, it’s important to keep this information out there so everyone knows where they can find you.   Make it as easy as possible for your brand ambassadors.   Let them talk about you where they’re most comfortable &#8211; they just need to know what’s available.</p>
<h4>4.  Give them what they want</h4>
<p>As the 10,000 Maniacs once said, &#8220;Hey, give &#8216;em what they want&#8221;.  Segment your audience, make your communications relevant to subscribers, allow them to choose what they receive and when they’ll receive it.   Keep them happy and they’ll be more willing to talk about you.</p>
<h3>Why does all of this matter?</h3>
<p>Because people listen to people.   Church said, “It’s not about HOW you do it.  The killer app is YOU and WHAT you do with it”.   A couple of other inspiring gems from Church – and more reason to start a movement with your community:</p>
<p>“We want more than people just to talk about us, we want people to fight for us.”</p>
<p>“Give people the power to crank it up.  Allow people to participate.”</p>
<p>While many companies are hiring people to manage communities (see <a title="Blue Sky Factory Blog: Blue Sky Factory's New Director of Community Position" href="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/bsfnews/blue-sky-factorys-new-director-of-community-position/" target="_blank">DJ Waldow</a>), it’s your job as an email marketer to extend that community to your subscribers.   Email can be such an effective tool when building, managing, and growing your community, so use it that way.   Listen, respond, engage, and GIVE to your subscribers.   Remember: it’s all about them.   They’re the ones passing talking about you, spreading the word about you and your brand, whether it be good or bad.   Which do you want it to be?</p>
<p><em>Amy Garland</em><br />
<em>Marketing Manager, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p><em>*Image source can be found <a href="http://www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/LCC/INTERNET/RESOURCES/IMAGES/CommunityConsultation.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>________________</em></p>
<p><em><a title="Share with Your Network" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/swyn/?utm_campaign=SWYN&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3440" title="bsf-swyn" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/bsf-swyn_234x60.jpg" alt="SWYN" /></a></em>Want to learn more about starting an email marketing movement?  <a title="Share with Your Network" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/swyn/?utm_campaign=SWYN&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">Click here</a> for more on SWYN. <em><br />
</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/3d4WYYxpUA4" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>We all want our marketing efforts to be as boring as possible, right?   Who needs inspiration and passion anyway?
Communities and YOUR Brand
Communities aren’t new.   They’ve existed for as long as anyone can remember, but recently a new type of community began: online communities.   No matter the forum used, they’re out there, and [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/industrytrends/be-your-own-yoko-start-an-email-marketing-movement/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/industrytrends/be-your-own-yoko-start-an-email-marketing-movement/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Social Fresh &amp; Jason Keath: What’s With The Orange?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/UQXUPZ84nt8/</link><category>Interviews</category><category>Social Media</category><category>blue sky factory tv</category><category>events</category><category>greg cangialosi</category><category>Jason Keath</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:15:25 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4071</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://socialfresh.com/" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; padding: 3px;" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/the-social-fresh-logo.png" alt="Social Fresh Logo" width="187" height="95" /></a>Yeah. What <strong>is</strong> with the orange slice?</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll have to keep reading (&amp; watch the video for the answer), but first let&#8217;s answer the following question:</p>
<p><strong><em>If Blue Sky Factory is an Email Service Provider (ESP), why do we spend so much time thinking, talking, and writing about Social Media? </em></strong>The short answer is that we believe email marketing and social media work hand in hand. Taking it a step further, email is what holds social media together.</p>
<h3>Integration: Social Media and Email Marketing</h3>
<p>Blue Sky Factory&#8217;s CEO, Greg Cangialosi, often talks about email marketing being the digital glue. In a presentation he gave at the first Social Fresh event in Charlotte (August, 2009), Greg stated that &#8220;email is a key driver of social content&#8230;now more than ever before.&#8221; Check out the entire presentation on Slideshare for more details.</p>
<div id="__ss_1908230" style="width: 425px; text-align: left;"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" title="Social Media Integration" href="http://www.slideshare.net/gregcangialosi/social-media-integration">Social Media Integration</a><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="355" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=socialfreshsocialmediaintegration809-090826081829-phpapp01&amp;stripped_title=social-media-integration" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=socialfreshsocialmediaintegration809-090826081829-phpapp01&amp;stripped_title=social-media-integration" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<div style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/gregcangialosi">Greg Cangialosi</a>.</div>
</div>
<h3>Jason Keath, Founder Of Social Fresh</h3>
<p>All of this talk of social media leads to the real motivation behind this post: Jason Keath, Social Fresh, and oranges. For this edition of Blue Sky Factory TV, we were able to track down the aforementioned <a title="Twitter: Jason Keath" href="http://twitter.com/jakrose" target="_blank">Jason Keath</a>, Founder of <a title="Social Fresh" href="http://socialfresh.com/" target="_blank">Social Fresh</a> at the 2009 <a title="Blogworld Expo &amp; New Media" href="http://www.blogworldexpo.com/" target="_blank">Blogworld &amp; New Media Expo</a>. Jason answers many questions in this 5 minute, 19 second interview including the ones listed below&#8230;all while playing with a Blue Sky Factory beach ball. Enjoy!</p>
<ul>
<li>How is Blogworld different than South By Southwest?</li>
<li>What is Social Fresh? What is next? What&#8217;s the &#8220;multi-city tour?&#8221; What about &#8220;secondary markets?&#8221;</li>
<li>What is with the orange slice?</li>
</ul>
<p><em>(Don&#8217;t let the beach ball distract you from the great interview).</em></p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AwhzXoJ-hgo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AwhzXoJ-hgo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>Can&#8217;t see the video? <a title="Blue Sky Factory TV: Jason Keath" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/file/2834247/" target="_blank">Try viewing on Blip.tv</a>.</p>
<h3>The Social Fresh Cruise</h3>
<p>Oh yeah. As you are reading this, about 100 of us &#8211; including me and Greg &#8211; will be en route to Miami for the <a title="Social Fresh Cruise" href="http://socialfresh.com/cruise/" target="_blank">Social Fresh Cruise</a>. You can learn more about the cruise on the <a title="About Social Fresh Cruise" href="http://socialfresh.com/cruise/about/" target="_blank">About page</a>, but below is the gist:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Who: </strong>The Who’s Who of Social Media</p>
<p><strong>What: </strong>The best parts of a conference, on a cruise</p>
<p><strong>When: </strong>November 12th to 16th</p>
<p><strong>Where:</strong> Miami to Cozumel and back</p>
<p><strong>What is the Social Fresh Cruise?</strong></p>
<p>It is a match made in heaven…Social Media and Cruising, the most social form of vacationing.  <span lang="EN">Imagine joining 100 of the top leaders in social media on a 4 day cruise vacation with fresh social media content being driven by Chris Brogan, Greg Cangialosi, Jason Keath, and others. The value of strengthening key relationship, generating ideas, and creating future partnerships in the ultimate social environment is evident.  Carnival Cruise Line is the FUN ship and the social media leader of all the cruise lines. </span></p></blockquote>
<p>Bon Voyage! Enjoy the oranges while we&#8217;re gone&#8230;</p>
<p><em>Photo credit: <a title="Flickr Photo: Jason Keath" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonkeath/3908081271/" target="_blank">jasonkeath</a></em></p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p><em>DJ Waldow</em><br />
<em>Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/UQXUPZ84nt8" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>Yeah. What is with the orange slice?
You&amp;#8217;ll have to keep reading (&amp;#38; watch the video for the answer), but first let&amp;#8217;s answer the following question:
If Blue Sky Factory is an Email Service Provider (ESP), why do we spend so much time thinking, talking, and writing about Social Media? The short answer is that we believe [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/social-fresh-jason-keath-whats-with-the-orange/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/8zNtirFbfho/ssplayer2.swf" fileSize="121655" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Interviews, Social Media, blue sky factory tv, events, greg cangialosi, Jason Keath</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/social-fresh-jason-keath-whats-with-the-orange/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/8zNtirFbfho/ssplayer2.swf" length="121655" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=socialfreshsocialmediaintegration809-090826081829-phpapp01&amp;amp;stripped_title=social-media-integration</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>C.C. Chapman: Active, Friendly, Helpful</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/b2MbIVg8t4c/</link><category>Interviews</category><category>blue sky factory tv</category><category>events</category><category>greg cangialosi</category><category>Inbound Marketing Summit</category><category>interview</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:45:09 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=4062</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img style="float: right; padding: 3px" title="C.C. Chapman - Cardboard Cutout" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/cc-chapman-cardboard-cutout.png" alt="C.C. Chapman - Cardboard Cutout" width="160" height="213" />The picture to the right is a cardboard cutout of <a title="Twitter: C.C. Chapman" href="http://twitter.com/cc_chapman" target="_blank">C.C. Chapman</a>. It was on display last month at the <a title="Inbound Marketing Summit (Boston)" href="http://city.inboundmarketingsummit.com/boston/" target="_blank">Inbound Marketing Summit</a> in Boston. If you&#8217;ve ever met C.C. in person, you know that the cutout gets it right on the smile. C.C. is always smiling.</p>
<p>I was trying to think of the best way to describe him. Thanks to our friends at Google, I stumbled upon the iMedia Connection bio (<a title="C.C. Chapman iMedia Connection Bio" href="http://www.imediaconnection.com/profiles/iMedia_PC_Bio.aspx?ID=24396" target="_blank">full bio</a>) which paints a very accurate picture of C.C.:</p>
<blockquote><p>As a life long New Englander, C.C. is one of the most active, friendly and helpful people you’ll ever meet. He produces a variety of content including the hit podcasts Managing the Gray and Accident Hash. He is an avid freelance photographer with his photos having graced the pages of Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal. He is a dedicated family first entrepreneur and recently  launched the parenting focused site Digital Dads.</p></blockquote>
<h3>More About C.C. Chapman</h3>
<p>A few other details about C.C.:</p>
<ol>
<li>He&#8217;s an incredible photographer who openly shares his work (<a title="CC Chapman's Flickr photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cc_chapman/" target="_blank">see Flickr collection</a>).</li>
<li>He&#8217;s an active dad (more details below).</li>
<li>He&#8217;s always giving back (see his <a title="C.C. Chapman - Movember" href="http://us.movember.com/mospace/83334/" target="_blank">Movember campaign</a>).</li>
</ol>
<p>I was fortunate to finally meet C.C. Chapman face to face in Boston last month (October, 2009) and was blown away by his kindness. Greg Cangialosi &#8211; Blue Sky Factory CEO &#8211; was able to borrow 10 minutes of C.C.&#8217;s time while in Boston for a quick conversation.</p>
<h3>C.C. On Blue Sky Factory TV</h3>
<p>In this week&#8217;s edition of Blue Sky Factory TV, C.C. discusses:</p>
<ul>
<li>His company (The Advance Guard) and their <a title="    * Home     * Services     * Clients     * Team     * Press     * Location     * Subscribe via RSS  S’mores, Storytelling &amp; Social Media" href="http://www.theadvanceguard.com/2009/the-advance-guard-acquired-by-campfire/" target="_blank">recent sale</a> to Campfire.</li>
<li>His new blog, <a title="Digital Dads" href="http://www.digitaldads.com/" target="_blank">Digital Dads</a>, which talks about being a dad and being a guy. In C.C.&#8217;s works, there are &#8220;not enough dads writing content, content for guys.&#8221; In the interview, C.C. also states, &#8220;A good dad is an active dad.&#8221; (Personally, I love that!).</li>
<li>His 8 year-old daughter, Emily, who is a following in the footsteps of her dad with her blog, <a title="Emily Explains It" href="http://www.emilyexplainsit.com/" target="_blank">Emily Explains It</a>. Emily recently got her first sponsor, Ben &amp; Jerrys.</li>
</ul>
<p>So sit back, relax, and enjoy the 9 minute, 32 second conversation between Greg Cangialosi and C.C. Chapman.</p>
<p><object width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZ2A367cCy8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZ2A367cCy8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></object></p>
<p>Can&#8217;t see video? <a title="C.C. Chapman BSFTV interview on Blip.tv" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/file/2826472/" target="_blank">Try it on Blip.tv</a>.</p>
<p><em>DJ Waldow<br />
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<br />
<a href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/goblue/?utm_campaign=Go_Blue&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; padding: 3px;" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bsf-go-blue-banner.png" alt="Blue Sky Factory - Go Blue" width="247" height="98" /></a></p>
<p>Speaking of being helpful, how can we &#8211; Blue Sky Factory &#8211; help you?</p>
<p><a title="Blue Sky Factory - Go Blue" href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/goblue/?utm_campaign=Go_Blue&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">Connect with us now</a> to learn more.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?a=b2MbIVg8t4c:AQLYIRCVM3U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?a=b2MbIVg8t4c:AQLYIRCVM3U:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?a=b2MbIVg8t4c:AQLYIRCVM3U:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/TheThinkingInbox?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/b2MbIVg8t4c" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>The picture to the right is a cardboard cutout of C.C. Chapman. It was on display last month at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston. If you&amp;#8217;ve ever met C.C. in person, you know that the cutout gets it right on the smile. C.C. is always smiling.
I was trying to think of the best way [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/events/cc-chapman-active-friendly-helpful/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">2</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/5m0R420tras/GZ2A367cCy8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" fileSize="1044" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Interviews, blue sky factory tv, events, greg cangialosi, Inbound Marketing Summit, interview</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/events/cc-chapman-active-friendly-helpful/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/5m0R420tras/GZ2A367cCy8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;" length="1044" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.youtube.com/v/GZ2A367cCy8&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><item><title>Chris Penn: One of the Smartest People on the Planet</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~3/yjuLtpQwOOI/</link><category>Interviews</category><category>Social Media</category><category>blue sky factory tv</category><category>BSF TV</category><category>Chris Penn</category><author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc (Blue Sky Factory, Inc)</author><pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:44:09 PST</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/?p=3988</guid><content:encoded xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><img style="float: right; padding: 3px" title="Chris Penn" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/chris-penn.png" alt="Chris Penn" width="229" height="184" />I said it in the title of this post and I&#8217;ll say it again.</p>
<p><em><strong>Chris Penn is one of the smartest people on the planet.</strong></em></p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve ever interacted with him at all &#8211; in any capacity &#8211; you&#8217;ll quickly realize that he operates at a much higher level then the average person. His mind is a machine. He&#8217;s always on the move and always thinking. I first met Chris a few weeks ago at the <a title="Inbound Marketing Summit (Boston)" href="http://city.inboundmarketingsummit.com/boston/" target="_blank">Inbound Marketing Summit</a> in Boston. (Disclosure: Chris is a Blue Sky Factory client and partner.) Prior to our face to face meeting, I had a few exchanges with Chris over email, Twitter, and the phone. However, meeting him in person was an entirely new experience. Read a few of<a title="Chris Penn Blog" href="http://www.christopherspenn.com/" target="_blank"> Chris&#8217;s posts</a> on his blog to get a sense of what I&#8217;m talking about.</p>
<h3>Chris Is A Data Junkie</h3>
<p>Chris can talk about email marketing with the best of them. He can carry on an engaging conversation about Twitter. He can blog about <a title="Chris Penn Blog: Samurai swords for home defense" href="http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/09/17/samurai-swords-for-home-defense/" target="_blank">Samurai Swords</a>. But what I think gets Chris jazzed the most is data. He loves analytics. He loves numbers. Chris is truly a data junkie.  Check out our <a title="BSF TV: Chris Penn" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/file/2811653/" target="_blank">latest installment of Blue Sky Factory TV</a> with Chris Penn as he chats with Greg Cangialosi and discusses ways to utilize the social web. (Chris also talks a bit about data.)</p>
<p><script src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2009070701" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&amp;posts_id=2831500&amp;source=3&amp;autoplay=true&amp;file_type=flv&amp;player_width=&amp;player_height=" type="text/javascript"></script></p>
<div id="blip_movie_content_2831500"><a onclick="play_blip_movie_2831500(); return false;" rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v"><img title="Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v.jpg" border="0" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" width="506" height="284" /></a><br />
<a onclick="play_blip_movie_2831500(); return false;" rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v">Click To Play</a></div>
<p>Can&#8217;t see the video, <a title="BSF TV: Chris Penn" href="http://blueskyfactory.blip.tv/file/2811653/" target="_blank">try this</a>.</p>
<h3>Questions? Feedback?</h3>
<p>Do you have any questions for Chris? Please post your thoughts below and we&#8217;ll be sure to pass them along. Also, as mentioned last week (<a title="Blue Sky Factory Blog: Steve Garfield Unleashed" href="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/events/steve-garfield-unleashed/" target="_blank">Steve Garfield Unleashed</a>), we&#8217;d love to hear what you think about the new, improved Blue Sky Factory TV. So, what do you think?</p>
<p>Photo credit: me</p>
<p><em>DJ Waldow<br />
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory</em></p>
<p><em>____________</em></p>
<p><a title="Save Trees. Send Email." href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/savetrees/?utm_campaign=Save_Trees&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"></a></p>
<p><a title="Save Trees. Send Email." href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/savetrees/?utm_campaign=Save_Trees&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; padding: 3px" title="bsf-save-trees" src="http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/bsf-save-trees_234x60.jpg" alt="bsf-save-trees" width="257" height="70" /></a>It&#8217;s November. How about saving a few trees this month. Send more email.</p>
<p><a title="Save Trees. Send Email." href="http://www.blueskyfactory.com/savetrees/?utm_campaign=Save_Trees&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_source=Blog" target="_blank">Find out more</a> about how Blue Sky Factory can help you be a little more green.<em><br />
</em></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~4/yjuLtpQwOOI" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded><description>I said it in the title of this post and I&amp;#8217;ll say it again.
Chris Penn is one of the smartest people on the planet.
If you&amp;#8217;ve ever interacted with him at all &amp;#8211; in any capacity &amp;#8211; you&amp;#8217;ll quickly realize that he operates at a much higher level then the average person. His mind is a [...]</description><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/chris-penn-one-of-the-smartest-people-on-the-planet/feed/</wfw:commentRss><slash:comments xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/">0</slash:comments><media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/t7h0cic97hI/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v" fileSize="130326953" type="video/mp4" /><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:author>Blue Sky Factory, Inc</itunes:author><itunes:summary>EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Interviews, Social Media, blue sky factory tv, BSF TV, Chris Penn</itunes:keywords><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/social-media/chris-penn-one-of-the-smartest-people-on-the-planet/</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheThinkingInbox/~5/t7h0cic97hI/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v" length="130326953" type="video/mp4" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://blip.tv/file/get/Blueskyfactory-ChrisPennOnBlueSkyFactoryTV628.m4v</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item><media:credit role="author">Blue Sky Factory, Inc</media:credit><media:rating>nonadult</media:rating><media:description type="plain">EMAIL MARKETING INSIGHT</media:description></channel></rss>
