Blazon App Breaks New Ground in Building Databases and Capturing Customer Data from Social Networks
"Enter-to-win" contest platform builds your database and creates dynamic customer profiles and integrates them with the tools marketers already use.

SAN DIEGO, CA, July 05, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Chief Ingredient, Inc., a developer of online marketing solutions, announced today the general availability of its new Blazon app, which turns "enter-to-win" contests into an actionable customer profile database that integrates easily with email marketing and CRM products.

Blazon Solves a BIG Problem
Until now, companies could not leverage the tremendous amount of customer data available across social network communities. Restricted access and limited ability to communicate and interact with the customer prevented meaningful (or measureable) marketing efforts. While companies can build a significant following of customers within these systems, access to the customers is completely controlled by the social media networks. This is an unprecedented situation where one company dictates how another can communicate with its customers.

Blazon helps companies overcome that by providing a means to build, manage and gather public customer data available outside of social media networks, resulting in sales leads and producing brand awareness. Blazon easily filters customer data into tools companies are already using—such as email marketing—intelligently connecting the information and putting businesses back in control of communication.

Contests Drive Participation
The Blazon app uses contests to facilitate data collection. It requires only a contestant's name and an email address. Blazon then pulls the contestant's public social media data to create a full demographic profile. Filters within the application then group contestants and automatically build segments within external marketing solutions, such as email and CRM. Contestants are also urged to share the contest with friends in their social media networks and email using their own personal referral URL for additional chances to win, expanding the reach of the contest and making the resulting database of profiles more robust.

The Blazon dashboard gives companies quick overviews of a contest's performance, including contestant referral tracking, sponsorship advertising performance and other metrics, which can also be viewed in drill-down detail. The contestant profile database updates automatically, adding to existing profile information, rather than creating a new profile every time an individual registers for a contest. The database can also be exported.

"We're opening up a new type of online marketing service by tying existing technologies together," said Chief Ingredient founder and Blazon developer, Micah Johnson. "It's not difficult to find data collection tools, data filtering tools, agencies that specialize in online contests or social media marketing experts, but Blazon unifies the capabilities of those into a low-cost software solution that delivers similar features, functionality and automated components."

"This is exactly what we are looking for," said Tracy Johnson, EVP Audience Management at Triton Loyalty. "Our current system doesn't have the flexibility and wasn't designed with customer profiles in mind, like Blazon."

Blazon is available for trial, free of charge, at http://www.blazonapp.com. Pricing is tiered, based on database size starting at just $50 per month. Blazon even allows for campaigns to be controlled by date and budget, providing certainty of cost, and can be white-labeled for agency use, enabling the management of multiple contests at one time.

About Chief Ingredient, Inc.
Chief Ingredient Inc., located in San Diego, develops easy-to-use solutions that improve how technology and marketing strategies work together. Learn more at http://www.chiefingredient.com/.

Press Release Contact Information:

Alane Boyd
Chief Ingredient, Inc
VP of Business Operations
3060 University
San Diego, CA
USA 92104
Voice: 619-3997704
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