Cross-Channel Marketing Program

Cross-Channel Marketing Program

Submitting Creative Materials

Materials Due Date: Creative is due 3 weeks before the program goes live.

When submitting creative, please send the following items:

  • Asset
  • Logo(s)
  • Registration Page Description
CREATIVE SPECS

Asset: one asset in .pdf form

Logo(s): sponsor logo(s) and any partner logo(s). These are used for branding the registration page and advertising materials. High-quality images are preferred; if you have the original .ai, .eps or .psd of your logo(s), that is ideal.

Registration Page Description: 200 words or less. Abstract for the whitepaper. Be specific to attract relevant registrants and to reach your target audience. Bulleted lists have worked well for this.

Competitors: Please provide a list of direct competitors of your company, and we can work to exclude from receiving promotions.

Multi-Touch Email

Multi-Touch Email

Submitting Creative Materials

Materials Due Date: Creative is due 7 days prior to launch.

When submitting creative, please send the following items:

  • Asset
  • Logo(s)
  • Registration Page Description
  • Subject Line x3 (optional)
CREATIVE SPECS

Asset: one asset in .pdf form

Logo(s): sponsor logo(s) and any partner logo(s). These are used for branding the registration page and advertising materials. High-quality images are preferred; if you have the original .ai, .eps or .psd of your logo(s), that is ideal.

Registration Page Description: 200 words or less. Abstract for the whitepaper. Be specific to attract relevant registrants and to reach your target audience. Bulleted lists have worked well for this.

Subject Line: Option to provide 3 subject lines for each email ‘touch’.  If they are not provided, Questex will create the subject lines.  70 characters or less (including spaces). To avoid spamming issues, refrain from using exclamation marks, ALL CAPS, unusual characters, misleading descriptions, and spam triggering words, such as “Free” or “Guaranteed”.

Content Syndication

Content Syndication

Submitting Creative Materials

Materials Due Date: Creative is due 7 days prior to launch.

When submitting creative, please send the following items:

  • Asset
  • Logo(s)
  • Registration Questions
  • Registration Page Description
  • Listing Information
CREATIVE SPECS

Asset: in .pdf or .mp4 form.

Logo(s): sponsor logo(s) and any partner logo(s). These are used for branding the registration page and advertising materials. High-quality images are preferred; if you have the original .ai, .eps or .psd of your logo(s), that is ideal.

Registration Questions: Standard fields are Name, Email, Title, Phone, Company, City, State, and Country. Make a note of any additional fields. Max of 15 registration fields. Required fields should be marked.

Registration Page Description: 200 words or less. Abstract for the whitepaper. Be specific to attract relevant registrants and to reach your target audience. Bulleted lists have worked well for this.

Listing Information:

  • Image: 250px × 190px (.gif, .jpg – static image files only). Simple imagery with no text recommended, logo will be utilized if this is not provided.
  • Title: 64 characters or less (including spaces)
  • Byline: Proper client name. Also include day/time information if applicable. 64 characters or less (including spaces).
  • Body Text: 300 characters or less (including spaces)
  • URL: This is the landing page URL created by Questex; client will not need to provide.
  • Teaser Text: One sentence that will be displayed in the newsletter and should be written to grab the interest of your audience to want to read more.

Optional: additional promotional copy or images. Anything that could be used to enhance promotion – product images, ads, charts, etc. If you have any materials already on hand that could help to better understand and promote your asset, please include them.

Social Media Sponsored Posts

Social Media Sponsored Posts

Submitting Creative Materials

Materials Due Date: Creative is due 7 days prior to launch.

Social Media Ad Posts include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn:

FACEBOOK SPECS

Facebook Image

Image

  • File Type: JPEG, PNG
  • Image Ratio: 1.91:1 to 1.1
  • Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080px
  • Please only submit one image

Text

  • Character Limit: Unlimited but highly recommended 125 characters (including spaces) or less
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles: Example, “@AmericanSalon”
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Images with more than 20% text may experience reduced performance

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption, please ensure link is public. Link will be clickable and can be shortened by our team if too long but cannot be hyperlinked.

Facebook Video

Video

  • File Type: MP4, MOV or GIF
  • Video Ratio:
    • 9:16 (1080 x 1920) (Vertical) – Vertical videos with ratio taller than 4:5 may be masked to 4:5 
    • 16:9  (1920 x 1080) (Horizontal)
  • File Size: 4 GB Max
  • Video Settings: H.264 video compression, high profile preferred, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan

Text

  • Character Limit: Unlimited but highly recommend 50 characters (including spaces) or less
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles: Example, “@AmericanSalon”
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement:Placed in caption, please ensure link is public. Link will be clickable and can be shortened by our team if too long but cannot be hyperlinked.

Cover Slideshow 

Showcase your brand by having your image pinned at the top of our channel.

Image

  • File Type: JPEG or PNG
  • Image Size: 815px by 315px
  • File Size: Less than 100 KB
  • Resolution: At least 1080px x 1080px

Text

  • Character Limit: Unlimited but highly recommended 50 characters (including spaces) or less
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles: Example, “@AmericanSalon”
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption, please ensure link is public. Link will be clickable and can be shortened by our team if too long but cannot be hyperlinked.
TWITTER SPECS

Twitter Image

Image

  • File Types: PNG, JPEG and GIF.
  • Image Size: 1200px x 627px or 1080px x 1080px
  • File Size: Max 20 MB

Text

  • Character Limit: 280 characters (including spaces) but recommend 71 – 100
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption (unable to hyperlink, be aware of character limit) please ensure link is public

Twitter Video

Video

  • File Type: MOV or MP4
  • File Size: Twitter recommends files under 1 GB but for optimal performance we strongly recommend keeping files under 30 MB.
  • Video Format:

  • Video Length: 15 seconds or less recommended. Up to 2:20 supported for website click campaigns.
  • Video Settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128kbps+

Text

  • Character Limit: 280 characters (including spaces) but recommend 71 – 100
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption (unable to hyperlink, be aware of character limit), please ensure link is public
LINKEDIN SPECS

Image Feed Posts

Image

File Type: PNG or JPG

File Size: 5 MB

Image Ratio: Recommended for clickable photos: 1200px x 627px 

  • 9:16 (1080px X 1920px) 
  • 1:1 (1080px X 1080px) 
  • 16:9 (1200px x 627px)

Text

  • Character Limit: 3,000 characters max (including spaces) but 200 or less highly recommend, 200 characters are readable before the reader needs to click to see more
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption

Video Feed Post

Video

  • File Type: MOV or MP4 
  • File Size: Between 75 KB and 200 MB 
  • Video Format:
    • Horizontal: 1920px x 1080px
    • Horizontal: 1200px x 675px 
    • Vertical: 720px x 920px 
  • Video Length: up to 30 minutes (Tip: most successful video ads are less than 15 seconds long) 
  • Video Settings: H.264 video compression, high profile preferred, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan 
    •  Codec format: H.264 or VP8 
    • Frame rate: Less than 30 FPS (frames per second) 

Text

  • Name This Ad (optional): Use up to 255 characters (including spaces) to name your video ad.
  • Introductory Text (optional): Use up to 600 characters (including spaces) for your intro text.
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Placed in caption
INSTAGRAM SPECS

Image Feed Posts

Image

  • File Type: JPG or PNG

  • Image Size:

    • Square: 1080px x 1080px

    • Landscape: 1080px x 566px

    • Portrait: 1080px x 1350px – Ideal  

  • Resolution: Maximum 1920px × 1080px

Text

  • Character Limit: Recommended 125 characters (including spaces) or less, caption will be truncated after 125 characters 
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Cannot be placed in caption, must be placed in Lnk.bio (Ensure link is public)

Video Feed Posts

Video

  • File Type: MP4, MOV or GIF 
  • File Size: 4 GB Max 
  • Video Dimensions: 1080px x 1920px (Aspect Ratio: 9:16) 
  • Video Settings: H.264 video compression, high profile preferred, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan 
  • Video Length: The feed video limit is 60 minutes 

Text

  • Character Limit: Recommended 125 characters (including spaces) or less, caption will be truncated after 125 characters 
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Placement: Cannot be placed in caption, must be placed in Lnk.bio (Ensure link is public)

IG Stories

Image or Video

  • File Type: MP4, MOV, PNG or JPG 
  • Image or Video Size: 1080px x 1920px (Aspect Ratio: 9:16) 
  • Maximum File Size: 30 MB 
  • Minimum Width: 500 pixels 
  • Aspect Ratio Tolerance: 1% 

*Leave roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and bottom of the image free from text, logos, or other key creative elements to avoid covering them with the profile icon or call-to-action. 

Text

  • Character Limit: Recommended 125 characters (including spaces) or less
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

  • Link Available – formerly known as swipe up

Reels

Video

  • File Type: MP4 or MOV
  • Video Dimensions: 1080px x 1920px (Aspect Ratio: 9:16)

*Leave roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and bottom of the image free from text, logos, or other key creative elements to avoid covering them with the profile icon or call-to-action. 

  • Video Duration: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds
  • Maximum File Size: 4 GB
  • Video Settings: H.264 compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression at 128kbps+ 
  • Video Captions: Optional, but recommended 
  • Video Sound: Optional, but strongly recommended 

Text

  • Character Limit: Recommended 125 characters (including spaces) or less
  • CTA: Clear call to action highly recommended for performance
  • Handles
  • Hashtags: 5 max

Link

Targeted Emails

Targeted Emails

Submitting Creative Materials

Materials Due Date: Creative is due 7 days prior to launch.

When submitting creative, please send the following items:

  • HTML File and/or Plain Text Version File
  • Subject Line
  • Preferred send day and time
  • Suppression list of subscribers who have unsubscribed from your promotions
  • Your opt-out link

Creation Fee: If you prefer, we can build your HTML for an additional cost. Please contact your Marketing Services Coordinator and Sales Rep for more information and see the Creation Fee Materials section at the bottom of this page.

CREATIVE SPECS

HTML File:

  • Dimensions: Max width of 600px
  • Max File Size: 35k
  • Images: .jpg, .gif. All images should be hosted on your server. If you are unable to host images, they must be under 30k and provided to your Marketing Specialist.
  • If you are using click tags, they must be embedded.

Plain Text Version File: Plain text version of your HTML email. For plain text optimization, use clear headlines, bulleted lists, white space for scannability, and defined CTAs.

  • Why include a plain text alternative?
    • Multi-part MIME (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions) combines a plain text version of your email along with the HTML version.
    • HTML-only emails can trigger spam filters.
    • Some email clients do not support HTML-only emails. Having a plain text version of the email guarantees readability.
    • Some email clients allow for users to opt-in for receiving text only versions of all emails. Having a plain text version of the email guarantees the user will receive your email.  

Subject Line: 70 characters or less (including spaces). To avoid spamming issues, refrain from using exclamation marks, ALL CAPS, unusual characters, misleading descriptions, and spam triggering words, such as “Free” or “Guaranteed”.

BEST DESIGN PRACTICES

HTML email design is NOT the same as web page design. Below are some best practices for successful message delivery, display, and effectiveness:

Message Code and Content:

  1. HTML code should be W3C compliant. Some clients, especially AOL, MSN and Hotmail, reject messages with invalid code.
  2. Do not use style sheets. CSS renders incorrectly in many email clients, especially if the recipient tries to forward your email. If your email absolutely requires CSS, use inline styles by embedding the style between the two body tags. Never put style code into the header. Try to use HTML tags instead.
  3. Use outer tables in place of tags. Background colors may be defined using the bg color attribute within tags. Background colors and attributes will not render properly using tags.
  4. Avoid scripting. Most email systems strip out scripts due to security concerns, and some even reject the messages.
  5. Do not put anything important in the header. Some email clients truncate or strip out headers entirely.
  6. Avoid Microsoft Smart Quotes – they will show up as boxes. Use plain ASCII characters instead (double dashes instead of em-dashes, etc.).
  7. Avoid background images. Background images do not render in many email clients, in particular, Gmail and Outlook 2007 and 2010.
  8. If images are hosted on your web servers, use absolute URLs in the image tages (e.g., ). Be aware that a large email broadcast can result in a concentrated heavy load on your server.

Message Design:

  1. Rely on concise, compelling text with clear calls to action and prominent text links rather than excessive graphics. Our readers are information ready and respond best to short, informative emails rather than those that rely on extensive formatting and images.
  2. Avoid the use of background images as they cause rendering and formatting issues for emails in Outlook 2007.
  3. Create an email that works even without images loaded. Some email clients, like Gmail and Outlook 2007 and 2010, block images by default.
  4. Use image alt tags for all your graphics. Recipients with images disabled will see the alt text, so use alt text as you would any other promotional copy.
  5. Keep image file sizes small to minimize load times. Under 25k total is best. Images should be in GIF or JPEG format only.

Sample Emails:

CREATION FEE MATERIALS

If you have chosen to have your email coded by our team, you must send the following:

  • Text
  • Images
  • Basic Layout/Design Instructions
  • Subject Line
  • Preferred Send Day and Time

We can build your HTML for you from a wide variety of document types.

These include:

  • Microsoft Word (.doc) documents, including embedded images and colors
  • PowerPoint (.ppt) slides
  • Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf)
  • Adobe Photoshop format (.psd)


Conversion Limitations:

  • Limit use of special fonts. If you have to use a particular typeface, that text must be converted to an image, which will increase the email’s download time.
  • Keep layouts simple. Complicated designs may be difficult or impossible to attain within the limits of email compliant html. Your headlines/text may break unpredictably or not align as you expected.
  • Provide complete instructions. Specify all colors that you want for headlines, text, backgrounds, borders, etc., and important positioning information.
  • Test all links beforehand to avoid production delays.
  •