MobileConnect Provides Self-Service Application to Enable Marketers
to Easily Create, Manage, Measure and Integrate SMS with Email, Social
Media and Websites
INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 12, 2012--
Global interactive
marketing provider ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) launched its new
MobileConnect application today, providing marketers a cloud-based
application to power SMS alerts and mobile marketing messages worldwide.
Available as a standalone application or fully integrated into the ExactTarget
Interactive Marketing Hub, MobileConnect is the next generation of
ExactTarget’s mobile marketing application and features intuitive
message templates, easy-to-use reporting, advanced enterprise management
of short/long codes and keywords and cross-channel integration with
campaigns across email, social media and the web.
“With the launch of MobileConnect, ExactTarget is democratizing mobile
marketing, providing a new approach that makes mobile more accessible
and easier to use than ever before,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget
co-founder and chief executive officer. “Our revolutionary approach to
mobile enables marketers across all segments of the market to easily
create and integrate SMS into interactive campaigns across email, social
media and the Web – all through an intuitive user interface that serves
both beginners and highly technical marketers.”
Key features of ExactTarget MobileConnect include:
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Self-Service Interface: Easy-to-use application provides a wide
variety of SMSmessaging templates, real-time tracking, shortcode and
longcode management and easy-to-use step-by-step message and campaign
creation.
-
Cross-Channel Integration: Seamless integration into the
Interactive Marketing Hub allows marketers to associate SMS programs
with ExactTarget-powered email, social media and Web campaigns to
create a single view of each customer’s interactions and message
preferences.
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Enterprise-level Scalability: Built on ExactTarget’s FUEL
software as a service platform, MobileConnect easily scales to meet
enterprise messaging needs from delivering relevant marketing messages
to powering highly transactional mission-critical messaging, including
real-time data-driven SMS alerts such as travel updates, banking
alerts and order confirmations.
Launched at the Mobile
Marketing Association Forum in New York City, MobileConnect is
generally available to all ExactTarget clients starting today. The
application is the next generation of the company’s mobile marketing
solution, which debuted in 2007.
"Just as marketers focused on the 30-second spot when consumers flocked
to their TVs en masse, now is the time to embrace mobile phones as the
next marketing frontier," wrote Melissa Parrish, senior analyst at
Forrester Research, Inc. in the February 2012 report entitled “Mobile
Marketing: Three Principles For Success”. "More people own
smartphones than ever before, and they're using them more often too.
This makes a mobile marketing strategy crucial for any interactive
marketer."
Nearly 70 percent of U.S. online consumers use text messaging weekly and
of those 16 percent have made a purchase after receiving a text (SMS)
marketing message, according to ExactTarget’s recent 2012
Channel Preference Survey. The survey of nearly 1,500 consumers
also found a quarter of consumers prefer text messaging over all other
channels for real-time channel alerts. To download the research, click here.
MobileConnect is the latest interactive marketing application launched
by ExactTarget. In the past year, the company has introduced new
innovations across its cross-channel interactive marketing suite,
including:
-
SocialEngage – Provides next generation social media
management functionality for Twitter and Facebook with
expanded capabilities including outbound editorial workflow, RSS
integration, exporting conversations, SSL security and cross-channel
integration.
-
SocialPages - Provides Facebook page
publishing and analytics with integrated real-time engagement
features, such as polling and email acquisition.
-
Audience Builder – Provides a powerful solution to consolidate,
analyze and take action on customer data in real time through an
intuitive drag-and-drop interface to create targeted audiences for
campaigns across email, mobile, social media and the Web.
-
Automation Studio – Provides drag and drop automation to plan
and power messages across email, mobile, social or Web campaigns based
on consumer behavior, time or custom attributes.
The MobileConnect launch follows the Mobile
Marketing Association naming ExactTarget Chief Marketing Officer Tim
Kopp to its North America board of directors. MMA, the leading
global trade association for the mobile industry, named Kopp to the
board alongside experts from leading global companies to help shape the
future of mobile marketing.
About ExactTarget
ExactTarget is a leading global provider of email marketing and
cross-channel interactive marketing software-as-a-service solutions that
empower organizations of all sizes to communicate with their customers
through email, mobile, social media and websites. ExactTarget’s powerful
suite of integrated applications enable marketers to plan, automate,
deliver and optimize data-driven interactive marketing and real-time
communications to drive customer engagement, increase sales and improve
return on marketing investment. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana
with offices across North America and in Europe, South America and
Australia, ExactTarget trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbol “ET.” For more information, visit www.ExactTarget.com.
Source: ExactTarget
Media Contact:
Finn Partners
Margaret Hoerster,
312.329.3980
MediaRelations@ExactTarget.com
