Hitachi Data Systems, ExactTarget Develop Online Marketing Campaign Management

INDIANAPOLIS--ExactTarget announced today that Hitachi Data Systems continues to reduce its global email marketing costs while boosting brand governance and accountability following the implementation of its Online Marketing Campaign Management platform.

“with high satisfaction scores and online community, ExactTarget can successfully meet marketers’ complex business needs.”

Seamless integrations between technology providers ExactTarget and Webtrends, made possible by ExactTarget’s Extensions Network, allowed the California-based corporation to create an online marketing platform to support its global network of field marketing offices and sales representatives who had previously managed their own digital marketing campaigns.

“In the economic downtown, we have greater pressure to demonstrate marketing accountability and deliver ROI,” said Sean Mattson, Hitachi Data Systems’ director of global web marketing. “Our integrated system allows us to track results for each business unit while also regulating the design and implementation of each unit’s marketing efforts to create one comprehensive global campaign.”

Using ExactTarget’s Lock and Publish feature, Hitachi Data Systems’ corporate marketing team created a global email template that was locally customized and translated into as many as 18 foreign languages. Regional marketing managers share marketing materials and successful campaign content across the company’s global network through ExactTarget’s enterprise content library.

As part of Hitachi Data Systems’ international deployment, the company turned to ExactTarget’s professional services team to create a solution to ensure customers across Europe and Asia did not receive duplicate messages from multiple business units. Implementing the global subscriber list boosted overall email performance and reduced SPAM complaints.

ExactTarget’s services team also helped Hitachi Data Systems create a training program to educate its global sales and marketing teams to maximize the return on its investment. The training program, which provided tips on account administration and content creation, also included education and development of a custom lead nurturing campaign.

“ExactTarget provides marketers the sophisticated platform required to connect with customers around the globe,” said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer. “From Asia to California, global companies are choosing ExactTarget for our unmatched ability to automate and deliver the world’s most complete one-to-one marketing solution.”

Designed to provide software developers a venue to build, test and prove integrations with the ExactTarget platform, ExactTarget’s Extensions Network has grown to one of the industry’s largest collection of certified integrations between an email service provider and supporting technologies including CRM, Web analytics, Web content management, on-site search, surveys and product recommendations.

The news of Hitachi Data Systems’ success comes less than a month after Forrester Research named ExactTarget a “leader” in email marketing and awarded the company a perfect 5 of 5 in the Customer Category of “The Forrester Wave^TM: Email Marketing Service Providers Q4 2009” (December 2009) report. The independent research firm found ExactTarget to be the only email service provider to score a perfect score in the Customers Category, noting “with high satisfaction scores and online community, ExactTarget can successfully meet marketers’ complex business needs.” To download the report, visit www.ExactTarget.com/Wave09.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions. The company’s software as a service technology provides organizations a single platform to connect with customers via triggered and transactional email, integrated text messaging, voice messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget’s software powers permission-based multi-channel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Aurora Fashions, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.