Mitch Joel

Marketing Magazine dubbed him the, "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and in 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image - an award-winning Digital Marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, community leader, Blogger, Podcaster and believer in doing the impossible. But mostly, he is a passionate Entrepreneur and Speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on Marketing, Communications, Personal Branding and the Digital Marketing space.

Joel is a Board Member for the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada and is active with the Canadian Marketing Association, where he judges the CMA Awards and is the Co-Chair of their National Convention and Trade Show. He is an executive for the National Advertising Benevolent of Quebec and an instructor of the CMA eMarketing professional certificate course.

Joel travels the globe speaking frequently to diverse groups like The Power Within, Canadian Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Shop.org, and has shared the stage with former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, Anthony Robbins and Dr. Phil. He is the founder/moderator of the Montreal Business Book Review and host of the HarperCollins Canada sponsored Podcast, Foreword Thinking: The Business And Motivational Book Review. Mitch is also a certified self-defense coach.

He co-launched Distort Entertainment, the only hard music label in Canada to have major label distribution (Universal Music) and whose roster features the platinum-plus and Juno Award and MuchMusic-winning acts, Alexisonfire and City And Colour.

Joel is frequently called upon to be a subject matter expert for CTV National News, CBC Newsworld, Marketing Magazine, Strategy, The Globe and Mail, The National Post and many other media outlets. He is presently writing his first book, Six Pixels of Separation - How Marketing Connects in a Connected World.

Canadian Marketing Association National Convention And Trade Show Is Right Around The Corner

While the CMA - Canadian Marketing Association would never use this Canadian Marketing Blog space to promote one of their own events, I have no shame or qualms about doing it myself. Yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the Co-Chairs of the upcoming CMA National Convention and Trade Show - Next : 2008. So, I feel like it's my duty to promote it and, more importantly, encourage you (and your staff) to join me in Toronto from May 12th - 14th, 2008 (under a month to go).

Bottom line, the 2008 CMA National Convention and Trade Show is the Mother of all Marketing conferences in Canada. It is the largest gathering for those serving the Marketing, Advertising and Communications industries - both client side, agencies and suppliers. It's a whole lot of Marketing. We've also done our best to secure some of the best and brightest Marketing minds to share, and I think that the keynote line-up alone should be enough to get you there.

Some of the speakers I just can't wait to see include:

Avinash Kaushik - known by those in the Digital Marketing space as the Blogger behind Occam's Razor, Avinash's work title is Analytics Evangelist, Google (best job title ever). He's the author of Web Analytics - An Hour A Day and has quickly become one of my favourite speakers on the topic of creating and demonstrating ROI in Marketing. If you think you're going to be staring at analytics reports in this session, you have another thing coming. Do not miss Avinash. Simply put, he rocks.

Seth Godin - widely recognized as the top Marketing speaker in the world, Seth has promised that he will deliver all new content based on the concepts from his latest best-selling book, Meatball Sundae (which is a must-read). If you haven't check out his previous books, Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside, Unleashing The Ideavirus, etc... you really should. Never has anyone made Marketing so much fun, insightful and personal. Seth is an amazing Marketing mind, and if you don't subscribe to his Blog, you really should. It's right here: Seth Godin's Blog.

Dan Ariely - many moths ago, I was asked to interview Dan for my other Podcast, Foreword Thinking - The Business and Motivational Book Review Podcast. The show is sponsored by HarperCollins Canada and Dan was getting ready for the launch of his first book, Predictably Irrational. Since its recent release, the book has shot to the top of The New York Times' Best-Seller list, and is toping most best-seller lists in Canada as well. Dan is an amazingly engaging Economist and Educator who will help Marketers understand just how predictable (and/or irrational) people really are - an important concept when it comes to pricing models and Marketing.

Penelope Trunk - I met Penelope when we both gave keynote addresses at BarCamp Nashville. Penelope is a well-known Blogger, and author of the book, Brazen Careerist. Both media outlets allow Trunk to share her insights on the world of HR, and how everyone from Gen Xers and Millennials affect the workforce. As one of the biggest challenges facing the Marketing industry, HR and the future of the workforce is explained by Penelope with insights that will, without a doubt, blow your mind.

W. Mitchell - for the past few years I've had the honour of being represented by a Speaker's Bureau. I've managed to share the stage at Power Within events with the likes of Bill Clinton, Anthony Robbins, Dr. Phil, Mark Burnett and many more. In all of the conferences I have attended and all of the speakers I have seen, no speaker has touched me more than W. Mitchell. If you've ever stopped and questioned the human condition - why we're here? what are we really supposed to do with our lives? My guess is you'll ask those questions in a whole different light after seeing W. Mitchell speak. Every time I have seen him speak, I am left speechless by his power, strength, passion and compassion. You will never be the same after meeting W. Mitchell.

Also slated is Dr. Sherry Cooper (Executive Vice-President, Global Economic Strategist, BMO Financial Group, Chief Economist, BMO Capital Markets) on Global Growth -Canadian Opportunities, Sylvia Reynolds (Chief Marketing Officer, Wells Fargo & Company) on Navigating Toward Marketing Mastery - Guideposts for a New Marketing Era, and Bryan Segal (President & CEO, Rogers Publishing Limited) on Engaging Customers in a Multi-platform World... and that is just the keynote sessions.

There's also plenty going on in the concurrent sessions, on the trade show floor, in the lobby, at the hotel bar and... you get the picture.

Get psyched (as you can tell, I already am), get your tickets, and get your staff to the Marketing event of the year.

More information is available here: Canadian Marketing Association - National Convention And Trade Show - Next : 2008.

I'll see you there.

Teaching Marketing Is Getting Tougher And Tougher

I'm pretty certain people like Professor Kenneth Wong will have their say, but the more time I spend with University students, the more concerned I am about the health of Marketing education.

There's no denying that young people today live in a world where wikis, YouTube, Facebook and text messaging are as prevalent in their lives as electricity was in ours. Take a look at the recent news item where a student at Ryerson University faces expulsion for using a Facebook Group to enable a virtual study group for a chemistry class (which the university saw as cheating) - Globe And Mail - Ryerson Student Cheered At Expulsion Hearing. Companies are going to be facing some serious challenges as the students become the workforce of the future.

On one side, it's challenging to have classes at the University level on topics like Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Email Marketing and Digital Media buying, because there are few teachers available with the knowledge and insight... and even fewer approved textbooks. It's an area of study that is truly organic - constantly changing and evolving. Even some of the best Marketing companies out there still struggle with these competencies as agencies scramble to build them as centres of excellence within their own organization.

Strangely enough, on the other side, most students studying Marketing and Advertising at the University level are lured to the more traditional marketing agencies (working creative for 30-second spots, etc...).

Where's the disconnect?

Is Digital Marketing still not a large enough segment of the Marketing pie to get the attention? Is it a lack of education? Or, do young people not see the opportunity going forward as more and more ad dollars shift into the Digital side?

Whatever the answer - and, my guess is it's a combination of all three, the shift is happening.

While Marketing is never recession proof (usually the exact opposite), when dollars do get pulled, it's looking like they are getting shifted to cheaper and more strategic channels (like Search Engine Marketing and Email programs) than being entirely yanked from the Marketing line of business.

Bottom line, we need more Marketers understanding the Digital side of advertising. And, if you don't believe me (after all, I'm heavily vested in this area), just take a look at the statistics.

Viral Is Not A Strategy

Marketers have to deal with a lot of tough questions like "how much will this cost?", "can you guarantee it will be successful?" and "what's the point in Marketing, shouldn't we be focusing on sales?" Lately, there's an even tougher hill to climb. More often than not I'm hearing a statement - in client, business development and at seminars/conferences - that goes something like this: "we need our program to go viral."

Viral is not strategy. Viral is an outcome. You can plan for it all you want. You can implement the right hooks that makes something go viral. You can even trick components of it to get passed along, but in the end, you don't decide if something goes viral... everyone else does.

Viral is the effect of doing everything right - strategy, design, content, creative and marketing it in the right channel - the added layer that makes something "go viral" comes through community acceptance and embrace. Stuff we think should go viral never does, and the stuff we think nobody would ever care to play with always goes viral.

If a Marketer claims that they can make something go viral, be sure to steal their crystal ball on the way out of the meeting.

This is not an anti-Viral Marketing post. Not in the least bit. If I could make everything I touch go viral, I would (including this post). All a Marketer can do is their best. Typically, if you're really doing your best stuff, the outcome will be viral - it will get passed along, it will spread, people will talk about it, and people will do something about it.

Last thought on viral: adding in a prize can help. It will get passed along more and create more awareness , but Marketers need to understand that it's the prize that went viral, and not the product/service. The brand takes second fiddle. Never the sexiest part of the orchestra.

Podcasting Should Be A Marketer's New Best Friend

It is exactly how I feel.

Yes, I've been doing my own Podcast - Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast - for a while now (over eighty episodes in the can) and yes, I may be biased due to my passion of all things Social Media. Regardless, this new type of media will, without a doubt, challenge Marketers like no media channel before it.

First off, a little clarification: if you have audio or video on your site, it is not a Podcast unless it has a RSS feed. Meaning, if your Users can subscribe to the audio/video feed, then you're Podcasting (be sure to make it available via iTunes and other Podcast Directories as well). If you have streaming video or downloadable audio clips... sorry, those ain't Podcasts.

Now, the challenge for Marketers: how will you keep Consumers engaged in a media channel that they choose to subscribe to, they download to their computer, it can be ported to multiple devices (like an iPod or other portable media players), it can be paused, fast-forwarded, etc... How do we create engaging Marketing messages for a media channel that is so controlled by the Consumer? If you think of traditional media - TV, Radio, Magazines, etc.. they were created for Advertisers... there is a passive relationship between the Consumer and the Media. With Podcasting, there is much more engagement and portability... a true Marketing challenge to be sure.

The next issue (which I'm sure you're thinking about) is how accessible Podcasting is, and does it even have a chance to grow to the size of the more common mass media channels. While I'm not sure if we'll always be calling this new type of media "Podcasting," I can't imagine consumers going back once they experience the freedom of this channel. I think that Podcasting will - eventually - have some kind of paid model and that because the content hits such rich and deep niches, that the value to Marketers will be too high to ignore.

I know, it's still early days when it comes to Podcasting, but the market is primed and healthy. Last year Apple sold their 100th million iPod (and, trust me, millions more have been sold since). We're not even talking about the other manufacturers of portable media. We're seeing sharp inclines in Consumers' appetites for specialty programming, and more and more people are getting comfortable with the idea of downloading media.

My guess is we're approaching a perfect storm where Consumers are soon going to wonder why they ever waited until Sunday night at 7:00 pm to sit through commercials while watching 60 Minutes, instead of just downloading it and watching it where (and when) they choose.

In the meantime, as a Marketer, why not head over to iTunes, check out the Podcasts area? There's a category called "Business", and within there you'll find another sub-category called "Management and Marketing". They're all free, and will make your commute to work or time at the gym fly by. If you're curious to know what's at the top of the cue in my iPod, feel free to head over to my personal Blog, Six Pixels of Separation, and look at the "Listen To These Podcasts" on the left-hand side navigation.

I think it will inspire you to get your clients (or company) thinking about how you too can create compelling content for this new media channel, and what the ramifications might be to Marketers if we ignore this on-demand channel.

Why del.icio.us Is Becoming My Default Search Engine For Research

That's what occurred to me during my latest presentation on Social Media Marketing for the IAB Canada. For all research, del.icio.us is becoming my default search engine. Before explaining why, let's take a quick look at what del.icio.us is.

Most people simply know del.icio.us as an online social network for bookmarking. I know, it sounds like a lot of Web 2.0 hyperbole. del.icio.us allows you to not just save your favorite Websites, but any single web page, article or piece of content. It allow allows you to tag the content (which makes it easy to find) and it does act as an online social network as you can link your account to other people you know who have del.icio.us accounts, or to others who are tagging content that you find relevant. This last point is the main reason why del.icio.us has become my default search engine for any and all research.

Google is, without a doubt, a powerful Search Engine. However, Google's organic search results are based on a computer algorithm that looks at things like relevancy, links, keywords, etc... It's a system that is constantly being gamed by Search Engine Optimization professionals. Technorati is a social media search engine (one that I use to search and see what people are saying in Blogs about our clients and their products). Technorati provides an amazing landscape of what people are saying right at this moment in time.

del.icio.us is most powerful because the content that is being tagged and stored is stuff that individuals have chosen and flagged. A real human being. So, when I am looking to do market research on something like email open rates in the United States, and I see a report, Website, web page or article that someone has tagged, my feeling is that it must be of value (one of my favorite features of del.icio.us is that for each item you can see how many people have tagged that specific piece of content). That is respect.

Respect is a huge factor in deciding what content lives (or dies) to the individual (are you listening Marketers?). Knowing that a group of people have identified the same piece and tagged it for themselves, is a completely different search spirit.

I think most people who use del.icio.us always saw it as a selfish way to have their bookmarks with them wherever in the world they may be. I see del.icio.us as the ultimate test in deciding whether or not a piece of content has value. It is a live trust barometer of the Web and something Marketers need to be paying attention to.

You can feel free to see what content/information I'm tagging over here: http://del.icio.us/mitchjoel. You can also subscribe to my del.icio.us tag by RSS which means that any time I tag an item, you will be notified in your Reader. Lastly, if you're a Facebook fan you can also add your del.icio.us page to your profile - enabling all of your friends to see what you're tagging too.

Happy Bookmarking!