Selina Jane Eckersall

Selina is a self-proclaimed culture junkie and direct marketer who began her marketing career at a technology company and has continued to make technology a focus throughout her career, adopting early many of the platforms that are widely used today.

Having worked for companies including HMV Canada and Carlson Marketing, Selina has a wealth of brand & client experience. While at Carlson Marketing, Selina worked on the BMO (Bank of Montreal) account managing a National employee incentive program called Bravo as well as on the Ford of Canada account managing several data-driven programs and projects, including their National used vehicle program; Quality Certified.

Selina is educated in Marketing, holds a Direct Marketing accreditation with the CMA and continues to be an active member in the Direct Marketing community.

Leverage Your Data With 1-to-1

Let’s take a magic carpet ride through the space-time continuum.

Fast-forward ten years from now. Will anyone be doing mass advertising? Will there be any value in Television advertising, unless it’s targeted to each household or individual. The future of marketing can only be as good as the technology available, and considering where it’s at now; we’re in for some hardcore one-to-one marketing.

Right now, personalization is where TV was 40 years ago. Everybody knows it’s there, but no one quite knows what to do with it yet.

Early response rates on personalization have been very promising – three times the industry average, with many running higher – but there’s not enough of a track record to make accurate predictions. Marketers like to go with what works, and having an X factor can be intimidating. That enchanting unknown territory of “potential ROI” is like the land of OZ.

It seems like a lot of people are getting into personalization, including companies as diverse as Xerox and Canada Post. These companies offer complete conception through production one-to-one services. There are other companies such as Lift Agency that specialize in personalization and have been pulling in impressive results for clients such as Telus and Mercedes.

Personalized mailings aren’t in any way new. Variable print technology has been around for many years. But advancements in client databases and increasing awareness with one-to-one marketing is starting to perk up some ears to the idea of leveraging available data to really speak to customers in a way that resonates and promotes stronger relationships.

So if you have the data, why not use it?!

The Shameful Art of Greenwashing

You stroll through your local supermarket to pick up a few items. Out of the corner of your eye you catch a rack with attractive and reasonably priced $0.99 reusable shopping bags, usually featuring the company logo, and Green imagery such as grass or a leaf. You look into your basket, smile and pick up a couple of reusable bags, feeling better about yourself for doing something positive to help our environment.

Well, that’s great, but are the environmental claims being made by the company actually being put into practice? Are they advocating disuse of plastic bags by not offering them or making consumers pay? An entire town in Manitoba did just that, and banished plastic bags from being sold or distributed, enforcing hefty fines for ignoring the ban.

Plastic bags, clearly aren’t the only source of landfill waste, and are not the only item that marketers and companies can eliminate in order to become more eco-friendly.
Today, more than ever going Green means big money for corporations, and winning over consumer opinion, but consumers must be wary about those organizations who claim to be Green vs. those who truly are.

Organizations who falsely claim to be environmentally conscious, when in fact they are misleading consumers about the environmental practices they employ are referred to as “Greenwashers”.

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing issued a report in November 2007 entitled “The 6 Sins of Greenwashing” a study of environmental claims in the North American consumer market.

The six sins are:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade Off
This is when a company emphasizes one environmental factor, while hiding a trade-off between other issues.

2. Sin of No Proof
When an environmental claim is made, yet no evidence or certification of this claim is made available.

3. Sin of Vagueness
When a claim fails to explain itself rendering itself too vague or meaningless. Popular vague terms include; non-toxic, “all natural”, and environmentally friendly.

4. Sin of Irrelevance
Making a claim that all other products in this category could also make, or simply making a statement that is irrelevant but intended to sound eco-friendly.

5. Sin of Fibbing
Falsely claimed environmental certifications, either third-party or completely non-existent. Usually easy to detect with a little bit of research.

6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
When a company aims to make a consumer feel environmentally conscientious about a product that has questionable environmental benefits.

As marketers and consumers, it is our responsibility to ensure that the companies we represent don’t make false claims about being eco-friendly, and don’t try to capitalize on the “Green Movement” with a sole mandate to increase profits.

We need to be conscientious about the stores we shop at and the brands we endorse. Check out their environmental claims. Are they true? Are they in fact being proactive about protecting our environment?

This is our earth. We need to protect it… Not just “say” that we are.

Employment Branding: What’s Your Proposition?

In order to attract and retain top talent, a lot of companies often lose sight of the fact that they need to give their company (not just the products & services that they offer) a brand identity. Many fortune companies do a great job at this and have comprehensive marketing strategies in place specifically for recruitment and brand awareness. They spend millions ensuring that the integrity of their organization is communicated through various marketing vehicles specifically designed to attract potential employees and broadcast positive organizational messages.

You don’t have to be a multi-million dollar organization to do an exceptional job at communicating your employment proposition. By considering a few key tactics, you can be well on your way to appearing on one of those “best companies to work for” lists.

Culture.
Prospective employees are interested in more than just a pay cheque these days. They want to know what the corporate culture is like. Is there flexibility, opportunity to grow, career development, employee perks…? Is there an employee lounge with a TV and a Playstation…? Is employee teambuilding big at your organization?

Cultural fit is extremely important to employees, especially well educated ones… They’re not looking for a sweat shop, especially when there are plenty of companies around who believe strongly in work/life balance.

Awareness.
It’s one thing to have a well-kept secret; it’s another to try to get the right people to discover your secret. Brand awareness is absolutely imperative to maintaining an attractive employment proposition in the marketplace.

Engage in marketing, advertising and public relations ventures to increase the perceived value of working for your organization. Advertising your company as a great place to work will ensure that those resumes keep flowing.

Knowledge.
Arm prospective employees with as much knowledge as possible for them to make an enlightened decision about whether your company is right for them. It’s not just about finding the right candidates; it’s about ensuring that the candidates feel mutual about the relationship. People don’t like changing jobs often, and are quite happy to stick around if you make it worth their while.

Simply posting job openings on your website (especially when they are severely outdated) isn’t enough. Why not set up a separate recruiting site? Allow employees to upload their resumes directly to your site. Let them create alerts, letting them know when new positions become available. Set up social networking sites to foster dialogue and create conversations about what it’s like to work for the company. Take out ads, participate in career fairs, partner with recruiting sites. It is things like these that create positive perceptions and valuable word of mouth ambassadors.

Keeping employees happy and inspiring them to do their best, can not only lead to greater profits and increased morale, but it can push the boundaries of possibility and open many new doors.

Human Marketing

Web 2.0… I’ve heard this term so much that I feel slightly ill and cringe every time I hear it. When driving automatic cars suddenly became an option did we start calling it “the automobile 2.0?” No… it was still just the automobile, only more evolved.

Just like the internet. It has (and will continue to) evolve throughout the years. How many versions are we going to track the next several decades?! Will there be a Web 5.9?

The internet these days is about making connections, making the world a less scary place, and providing a platform in which to find, research, and evaluate information while engaging in meaningful dialogue with others.

As marketers, we are often guilty of creating labels and buzzwords… After all, that is our job sometimes. But, the internet now is more human, less about the companies and products, more about the people.

This “web 2.0” thing, (which I am going to refer to simply as the internet) isn’t for sale. Consumers don’t want to be marketed to in traditional ways, regardless of whether you have a blog or not. What they want is information that doesn’t feel like a hard sell. They want to have an opinion; they want the freedom to voice that opinion, and to feel as though they are making decisions based on their own research, emotions, and rationale.

So what is a marketer to do? Simple. What would you do if you saw an old man carrying a heavy bag of groceries struggling to open the door? You would hold the door open for him right?! (I hope so anyway). Apply this same rationale to your marketing efforts. Try the human approach, thinking more like a human, and less like a marketer.

Offer your customers and consumers information, tools, and resources that will help them, make them a better person, or make their life easier in some way. Try to touch their hearts, make them aware of their own humanity, and allow them to open up to you. Build a connection, a good old fashioned human connection.

Once you do this, web 2.0, 3.4 and 5.9 will miraculously be there to back you up. You won’t need to do anything. You’ll have an army of bloggers, columnists, and social-savvy tech surfers willing to spread the word for you. Brand ambassadors scattered throughout the globe with powerful opinions. Unbiased advocates who will spread the good word to others about what you do and how you do it.

Human connection. If you build it… they will come!

Do ya DIGG?

Fifteen of the world’s largest interactive marketing firms were recently asked which emerging technologies will have the greatest impact on the future of their design practices. The results put forth in a Forrester Research study were recently released in a report entitled "The Emerging Technologies That Matter Most to Interactive Agencies". The results, although not surprising, give marketers a heads up on where to focus their efforts.

Mobile Devices made the top of the list, as being the most important area of focus and growth for interactive agencies. All you have to do is look around to get a sense of how influential mobile marketing can be. From sponsored shows like American Idol, where voters text in their vote for the candidate they want to win, to grassroots experiential mobile campaigns, mobile is here to stay and is increasing in influence and reach.

Online Video was next on the “what matters most” list. It’s no secret that viral video campaigns can be highly effective. Look at the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, or the Philips Shave Everywhere campaign. These are hugely successful examples of how a strong video campaign can launch a brand into super stardom. Another CNN YouTube debate has now been scheduled for just after Thanksgiving, proving further that video is a beloved medium for the masses.

AJAX was another area of importance for interactive marketers, topping the RIA list, beating out Flash. Next month the AJAX World Conference & Expo will take place in Santa Clara and is being touted the i-technology conference of the year. In less than 18 months, the AJAX World event has grown from a single day seminar to a 4 day international conference.

Social Networking technology naturally made the list. Internet apps like Facebook and DIGG are changing the way we interact on the internet and demonstrating our willingness as a culture to share and exchange information freely. A new social networking site called Sk*rt was launched this week, which is in essence a DIGG of sorts for women. The site, which was launched by four female bloggers, is a social ranking platform that acts as a portal for women to discover cool ideas, articles, information, and products that are female relevant.

Marketers are already discovering that Social Networking campaigns don’t follow the same traditional marketing protocol. Successful campaigns in this arena mean developing a personal intimate relationship with the end users and allowing them to have a voice, which can sometimes be scary for marketers, but gives brands a more human face resulting in a deeper connection.

With all of these emerging technologies floating around in the ever-changing world of marketing, it’s a daunting (but necessary) task to keep on top of the trends that are shaping our world. Even if you are focusing on just one of these four areas, you are on the right track.