Jim Bellar, Chapter President greeted members and guests; reviewed agenda for the meeting and welcomed new and returning members. He also introduced this year�s Board members: Meg Milam, Gary Boling, Lori LeBleu, and Lisa Beaty.

Jim presented outgoing Chapter President Kristen Tompkins with a gift from the membership. Kristen has served on the Board for several years, was President for the past two and has done a wonderful job representing the organization.

Meg Milam, Programs and Finances, gave chapter treasury update � total in treasury account is

$1158.63.

Jim highlighted the chapter�s 2006 initiatives:

1. Website � Chapter website has been established � please check it out at www.acptn.org
2. Community Service activity � please help us identify a community service activity that the chapter could assist with in 2006.  Please pass on any ideas that you have to Gary Boling or Lisa Beaty.
3. Conference �The Tennessee Chapter of ACP will be hosting an educational conference on July 20.  The conference will be held at Belmont University and Lori LeBleu is in charge of conference planning and is looking for volunteers to assist with planning, scheduling speakers and coordinating the conference.
4. Sponsorship � We are looking for sponsors who are interested in underwriting meetings, the conference and other ACP activities.
    

PROGRAM

 Speakers:

Sara McManigal, Senior Manager � Small Business Sales and Jim Hitch, Account Executive with Cold Feet Creative, the creators of the EMMA e-mail program

Overview:

Sara gave an overview of EMMA, a web-based service that helps customers manage e-mail marketing and communications.  As part of this service, the technical/creative EMMA staff helps with the design of a customized template for use in e-mail communications.  In addition to the creation of the template and general e-mail design, the EMMA program will track data and manage communications so that you�ll know where your e-mails are going, who is receiving them, who is opening them, etc. 

Demo:

Sara gave a demo of the site features.  She discussed the advantages of utilizing an e-mail marketing/ management system, including a more cohesive and professional image and the benefit of tracking your communication.  The tracking system allows customers to actually view response to the e-mails and create more customized, specific communication campaigns based on actual data.  It�s a way to manage the communication process so that your e-mails don�t end up as spam.

Case Study:

Sara presented a case study about The Greenbrier�s success in using an e-mail communications management program.  The resort was able to better target their customer base and actually tracked the financial results (in 05) that resulted from a more focused e-mail communication campaign.  A link provided to read more about this case study was:

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/greenbrier/sudy.html

Q&A:

Sara fielded questions from the group, including questions regarding the pros and cons of utilizing the type of program and the various levels and costs associated with it.  We also discussed technical support available and  the design process for the original template.

For more information on this specific e-mail marketing business, go to www.myemma.com

Jim presented Sara and Jim with gift cards for giving this informative presentation and reminded the group that the next meeting will be on March 16 at 11:30.

The meeting was adjourned.