We as marketers sometimes get hung up on what to name things, especially in our multichannel world where there are many technology-based strategies and solutions, often with overlapping attributes, and a lot of these approaches seem to move through their lifecycles faster than doped riders in the Tour de France. Change is definitely a constant in our personal and business lives, the economy continues to keep us on our toes, and email is right smack in the middle of business—or should I say, your digital company?

I had the pleasure of presenting this week with Jeanniey Mullen from the eec and Zinio, David Daniels from JupiterResearch, and Des Cahill from Habeas. We came together with just under 200 attendees for a live Habeas Huddle webinar entitled “Your Digital Company, Today and in 2013: How to Leverage Email and Online Trust for Success.”

Some serious ground was covered in one hour with great data and insights from two studies from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Ipsos, as well as David’s ongoing work at JupiterResearch. We also discussed a number of case studies, best practices and takeaways, and Jeanniey helped bring it all together with a historical view of email and how to think differently about this proven, vibrant channel in our changing, digital world.

For the sake of grounding, the EIU provided this definition/food for thought: “The digital company is one in which the use of information and communications technology underpins virtually all processes and activities, as well as all efforts to improve competitiveness.”

One could argue that if your business has a data center, is using the internet to attract and retain customers, and you rely on hosted applications and services (i.e. web meetings, social networking, blogging, email service providers, etc.) for marketing, sales and customer service—then you’re working in a digital company. OK, enough with semantics. Bottom line: Business executives worldwide say email is their No. 1 communication channel today and in 5 years, and consumers feel the same way when it comes to interacting with preferred brands online. Your customers are also more empowered with technology and expect control and certainty (trust) when doing business online and with mobile devices.

Check out the complimentary webinar and whitepaper just published by the EIU entitled “The digital company 2013 – How technology will empower the customer.” The co-sponsors of the paper are AT&T, Concep Global, Habeas, Nokia, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SAP and WebEx.

Both webinar and white paper provide invaluable information that was packaged from quantitative and qualitative research (businesses and consumer trends) that I’m sure will stimulate a few great ideas and help you get ahead of the pack. Maybe it will even enable you build a strong business case for more budget and a promotion!

—Erick Mott of Habeas

the voice of email

Welcome to the Email Experience Council's blog, a forum for the email marketing industry's leading voices. On these pages, you'll find the opinions and thought-leadership that's driving the next evolution of email.

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the voices of email

The Email Experience Council's membership includes many of the brightest and most committed email marketing experts. We're pleased to have some of them share their insights here on these pages. Our blog contributors include:

Elie Ashery is the president and CEO of Gold Lasso, and is responsible for the company’s vision and strategy execution. Before joining Gold Lasso, he co-founded Newsletters.com in 1997, selling it to The Tribune Cos. in 2000. He then worked for IncenSoft, focusing on email marketing while there. Read more.

Amy Bills is the senior manager of field marketing at lead optimization company Bulldog Solutions. She is responsible for lead generation and the go-to-market execution of Bulldog's new products and initiatives. Amy was previously the editorial team leader of Freescale Semiconductor’s internal creative agency and a senior editor at Hoover’s Online. Read more.

Nicholas Einstein is director of strategic and analytic services at Datran Media. Specializing in email and CRM strategy, he helps some of America’s top brands leverage online channels to communicate more effectively with their customers and prospects.

Lisa Harmon is a principal at Smith-Harmon, a creative services consultancy dedicated to email marketing strategy and production. She works with marketers to increase clickthrough, maximize revenue, and infuse delight into their email creative. Lisa is also the blogger behind edm.smith-harmon.com, an ongoing commentary on the best (and worst!) in email marketing creative. Read more.

Chip House is ExactTarget's VP of marketing services, leading the teams responsible for client success. He was named to BtoB Magazine’s 2005 “Who’s Who in B-To-B,” for being a vocal proponent of legitimate commercial email and an active lobbyist regarding spam and privacy issues. Read more.

Spencer Kollas is the director of delivery services at StrongMail, helping maximize customers’ email deliverability rates. He was previously director of deliverability services for Premiere Global Services. Spencer is an active member in the Email Sender & Provider Coalition, Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group, the Anti-Phishing Work Group and, of course, the eec. Read more.

Stephanie Miller is VP of strategic services for Return Path, the leading email performance company. She works with marketers to earn a higher ROI and response from their acquisition and retention email programs—developing content, contact and segmentation strategies, along with testing, measurement and production programs. Read more.

Erick Mott is the director of marketing and corporate communications for Habeas, the leader in email reputation management services. He has a rich background in marketing and communications strategy and execution for such companies as Nokia, MarkMonitor, GlobalFluency, Cisco Systems, Creator Connection, Sun Microsystems, Philips NV, Elm Products and CBS Television. Read more.

Jeanniey Mullen is the Email Experiene Council's founder and the global EVP and CMO of global online publishing company Zinio. She is a thought leader and visionary in the email and digital marketing field. A columnist for ClickZ, she has published numerous papers and is a frequent speaker. Read more.

Charles Stiles is the VP of worldwide business development at Goodmail Systems. In his role, Charles is focused on helping generate a better understanding of the email environment and potential solutions for a better consumer experience. He currently serves as the chairman for the Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group. Read more.

Jeremy Swift is director of client relations for email service provider BlueHornet. He helped form BlueHornet’s founding team in 2000 and has been responsible for client services and marketing strategy since the company’s inception. Jeremy is known for his ability to articulate technical information in ways that clearly resonate with today’s online marketer.

DJ Waldow is an account manager at Bronto Software. He works with Bronto’s largest clients to help them achieve and surpass their marketing goals. An active member of the email marketing community, DJ posts regularly on the Email Marketer’s Club, publishes a bi-weekly email marketing best practices newsletter, and films BrontoFire.

Chad White is the Email Experience Council’s director of retail insights and editor-at-large. He founded and is the author of the Retail Email Blog, a blog dedicated to tracking the email marketing practices of the largest online retailers. Chad regularly writes major research reports on email marketing and is an Email Insider columnist for MediaPost. Read more.