Sulemaan Ahmed

Sulemaan has long been involved in the digital marketing and e-commerce space, having the good fortune during his career to work in senior online positions with major brands such as Apple, Sears and Air Canada. He is the Director of Digital Marketing for Harlequin Enterprises

Sulemaan currently serves on the Board of Directors for the White Ribbon Campaign, and on the organizing committee for the annual CMA Digital Marketing Conference. He co-chaired the email task force for Sears Canada and has spoken at various Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) and industry e-commerce events.

He served as the Vice-Chair of the CMA Digital Marketing Council where he co-authored the CMA Guide to Email Marketing, second edition, and has been a significant contributor on the CMA blog since its inception.

Digital Wild West

I’ve had the fortune of blogging here since the inception of this blog and deliberately never wrote anything marketing-related with regards to my current employer. Today is one exception I hope you will grant me.

So I’m not accused of 'ambush shilling' or taking 5 minutes of your time that you will never get back - I’m warning you now. You can close this browser and get out of Dodge. I won’t take offense. I promise.

Still here? Thank you. So let’s saddle up ‘pardner’ and we’ll mosey on out for a little ride!

Some may know I have the fortune of working at Harlequin Enterprises. Yes, that Harlequin. The Harlequin that is one of the leading publishers of women's romance and fiction around the globe.

Recently we launched a new campaign promoting our HQN imprint series ‘The McKettricks’ by author Linda Lael Miller. So what's so special about this online marketing campaign?

Last fall our Creative Director Margie Miller teamed up with our Director of Digital Content & Social Media Malle Vallik to create a unique behind-the-scenes video that shows the making of a Harlequin cover. We had never done anything like this before. Take a look.

Now I’ll admit I’m not a big cowboy fan but I appreciate good content. And although I’m biased, I think this documentary is terrific. As Malle points out in her blog, it gives you a greater appreciation of the work that creative directors and photographers do on a regular basis.

How has the campaign done? We’re very pleased with the response so far. We took some excellent content and promoted it via various online marketing and social media channels by directing people to Take A Cowboy Home which features the video content, sample editorial, cool contest and (most importantly) where to buy the books.

We also got some great support from the fine folks over at MSN who created a unique section promoting this campaign. Not to mention many friends/fans/authors/bloggers who spread the word via various social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

So everything is perfect and we ride off into the sunset, right? Not so fast. There were a few things I learned from this campaign. Call them the '3 Cowboys' like the McKettrick brothers:

1. Many companies work in silos. Often campaigns are created and other teams such as Social Media, PR, IT and/or Legal are left out until the end and then added like a check-box. Do not make that mistake. Involve key groups from cradle (so they become stakeholders) to the grave (so they share in the successes and learnings).

2. It will not always be utopia. There will be hiccups. The issue is not ‘if’ they happen but ‘when’ they happen. And how your team reacts to quickly address them and ensure they don’t happen in future. We started creating a ‘list of oops’ so we include them in our campaign post-mortem report.

3. This is my biggest takeaway. Regardless if you sell books, lotion, laptops or luggage - it's my view you must have a good combination of strong content and promotion for your digital campaigns. They are not mutually exclusive and together make them all the more stronger. Especially in the digital wild west.

Take It

“There is an awesome marketing job that has recently come up. You would be perfect for it! Tell me your current salary and email me your resume asap. Sorry but I can’t tell you who the company is, where the job is located or the salary due to confidentiality reasons. I’m sure you understand. Talk soon. Bye."

Some people view headhunters, recruiters or executive search partners with suspicion or even a degree of resentment. When someone receives calls like that it’s not difficult to understand why. However I don’t immediately hang up on all recruiters. I take the call. Why?

I’ve gotten to know some recruiters over the years and quite a few are extremely professional people who take their craft very seriously. Many actively volunteer in their local communities. One of them I know took time off to volunteer for a summer in Africa which is more than can be said for most (including myself). Many have over the years given me pointers on my resume, interviewing tips and other invaluable career development advice.

I’ll also let you in on something else, I take calls or reply to emails from recruiters even when I’m very happy (as is currently the case) at work. Why on earth would I do that?

a. It’s always good to know what your relevant market value is.

b. If you have a firm relationship with your employer they won’t feel threatened by you getting unsolicited requests. If anything they should be flattered someone on their team is coveted. If they treat you well they should be confident they have nothing to worry about.

c. Someone in my network may be a free agent or looking for a change of scenery. If I can help a recruiter and another friend at the same time then I’ve helped two people in one stroke.

d. If I answer calls/emails from recruiters when they are looking for assistance, they’re more likely to answer mine when I am as well.

Now some may think “Well that’s all well and good when you know the recruiters or have experience dealing with them. What the heck do you do when you get contacted out of the blue from a complete stranger about a job? Or have never dealt with them before?" Indeed some people get nervous and don’t know what to do. I sure felt that way the first time a recruiter contacted me.

I’m not suggesting this works for everyone but my rule of thumb when fielding a call or email from a recruiter I’m not familiar with is to ask the following questions:

1. How did you get my name? I view this as a litmus-test. It shows the degree of transparency on behalf of the recruiter. Even if they say they found me on Google or LinkedIn that is fine but any relationship must be based on trust. If they are evasive or can’t answer that question it should tell you something,

2. What is the salary range for this position? I ask this not because money is the only thing as work-life balance, corporate culture and career development are just a few of many other elements that are as important as salary in making an employment decision. But I also don’t want to waste the recruiter’s time, my time or that of others in my network. So let’s cut to the chase so expectations are aligned from the start.

3. Who is the company? I’m not about to refer my friends to a place that has a lousy reputation or is viewed as a sweatshop. Just like I’m not about to refer a lousy candidate in my network to a good recruiter either. (You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.)

4. Are you on contingency or retained? In my experience I’ve found contingency-based recruiters look for a quick placement and not always examine the longer terms implications of proper fit. Based on the commission structure of their compensation they are there to quickly place someone and move on. My tendency is to only deal with retained recruiters in most circumstances. This doesn't apply to everyone but it applies to me.

5. How do you feel about them? This isn't a question for the recruiter but for yourself. Is the recruiter really pushy or not? Are they trying to jam a square peg in a round hole or do they carefully assess if there is a fit between potential candidate and employer? Excellent recruiters determine that before the dance begins and tell you. Mediocre ones don’t.

In the end, it really comes down to trust. Usually your first instinct about a recruiter is the right one. If you feel good then continue the conversation. If you get the heebie-jeebies politely decline and move on. But don’t view all recruiters to be ‘scum-sucking leaches’ as one person recently opined to me. You do yourself a disservice by making broad stroke assessments like that.

So the next time you get a call or email from a recruiter? Take it.

Writer's Block Cured by Twitter

They say that confession is good for the soul. So I’ll admit something. I’ve had writer’s block for a while. I just couldn’t think of something interesting to write. Until Twitter helped me. I’m sure you’ve heard all about Twitter as it’s the latest and greatest social media sensation. Oprah’s on it. Ashton Kutcher is on it. Even Borat is on it.

So recently I read a terrific article in the Toronto Star (full disclosure: my employer is owned by Torstar which also owns the Toronto Star) by Ellen Grossman. She wrote about a situation where Aeroplan charged the widow of an Aeroplan member to transfer his accumulated Aeroplan points to her account as she wanted to take her grandchildren to Disney World. You read correctly. They wanted to charge the widow almost $2k to transfer her deceased husband’s Aeroplan points to her account. When the Toronto Star asked Aeroplan about it they had no comment.

I was so stunned I tweeted (posted) about the article in Twitter. The next thing I knew my tweet (post) got re-tweeted (re-posted) by at least ten other people. All of them very smart and talented people. Some of whom I’ve never met before. In fact a few of them are respected journalists for the Globe & Mail and La Presse respectively. None of my previous Twitter meanderings generated such a ‘viral’ effect. I now had something interesting to write about for my next post. And so here we are.

I’m an Aeroplan fanboy and I’ll admit it. The credit cards I use are because of it. The gas I buy at Esso is because of it. I buy Tropica orange juice because of it. I fly on Air Canada because of it. I have friends who work at Aeroplan and at agencies who represent them. A couple of years ago my wife’s Aeroplan account was de-activated because she hadn’t used it within the required amount of time and she was at risk of losing thousands of points. She missed the deadline by a matter of days so I emailed the President of Aeroplan, Rupert Duchesne, and he graciously re-instated her points without penalty. So as you can see, I’ve had a good relationship with Aeroplan over the years.

Which is why I’m torn by the article by Ellen Grossman. It really bothered me and based on the re-tweeting it bothered many others as well. I just don’t get why such a respected brand would act that way. The optics in this situation look nothing short of ridiculous from a marketing or branding perspective. As Mathew Ingram succintly tweeted “Stay classy Aeroplan – soak those widowers for all you can get.”

So is the morale of the story that spouses should tell their partners their Aeroplan account information? So in the event of an untimely demise their spouse/partner can still book reward tickets otherwise they will have to pay penalties to re-acquire Aeroplan points? (Naturally I would never do or advise such a thing as that would be a contravention of Aeroplan’s rules that members must agree to when they sign-up.)

It just doesn’t seem right Aeroplan. Even to a fanboy like me. Even if you did help me cure my writer’s block.

Sort of

Banks are under a lot of scrutiny these days especially south of the border. Candidly, I’d hate to work in the PR department for a US bank as it probably ranks right up there with being a defense attorney for Bernie Madoff or fertility doctor for the Octo-Mom. (The fact her last name is similar to my first name is purely coincidental.)

Now I’ve never hesitated to call out banks here in Canada where I’ve felt it’s warranted. Some of them are generous supporters of the CMA but that hasn’t stopped me either. But this time I’m going to compliment one. Sort of.

You see I’ve been an RBC customer since I was four-years old. So for over 20 years I have been a loyal customer. (Banks aren’t the only ones good at creative accounting.) Pretty much anything financial I have is locked-up with RBC. They have made a fair amount of money off me over the years. Don’t even get me started on service charges but I digress.

Last week I got a voicemail from them saying I should call their fraud/security department. Don’t you just love those calls? I spoke to them and they advised me that my bank card was used at a location where 'skimming' had previously occurred before and therefore as a protective measure they were disabling my bank card. I’d have to go to any RBC branch and get a new one.

Slight inconvenience but I’d rather take that over some punk enjoying a brand new entertainment system or trip to the Bahamas on my nickle. Nothing fraudulent had occurred yet so I was appreciative of their efforts. I then had to go in during business hours and get a temporary bank card until a new one was mailed to me. With me so far?

I get the temporary bank card from the RBC employee and then ask her the following question: “Can you tell me where the suspected fraud happened? That way I can avoid that establishment in the future and not have to see you again for another temporary bank card.”

“Unfortunately our fraud department doesn’t give us those kinds of details Mr. Ahmed.”

Right. So now I automatically get suspicious of anyone I’ve used my bank card with in the past week? So now I just pay by cash everywhere I go? The financial experts love that idea. I suspect the folks at Interac (the processing company that facilitates bank cards) do not. Maybe the bank doesn’t want to name the firm where the suspected fraud occurred for fear of legal implications? I’m not sure what to think.

I explained my rationale to the RBC employee and she agreed with me. But there was nothing she could do. Oh and I had to enter a new PIN code as the one I used for the past 16 years was no longer valid. Security measures and all of course. And if it happens again? “It's unlikely but in such event we’ll be happy to replace your card for you Mr. Ahmed.”

So thanks for looking out for me RBC. Sort of.

Who is Brent Bauer?

Just last Friday I got home from work and there was a voicemail left on the phone. "Would Sulemaan Ahmed please call Brent Bauer at (905) 416-2008." Brent Bauer? I knew of a Jack Bauer but I highly doubt he would ever call me. I sure didn't know of any Brent Bauer.

My wife wondered was it yet another telemarketer? I called and it was a pager number. My wife wondered if it was some kind of scam? Candidly, the same thought crossed my mind. So I entered my phone number at the pager prompt (been years since I've done that) like I was typing in nuclear launch codes. I wondered who this Brent Bauer guy was.

Minutes later the phone rang. "Brent Bauer here." I identified myself and said he left a message for me. He said he was a paralegal and said that I had a court date today where I was supposed to fight a traffic ticket. Damn. I had forgotten all about it. Now I would have to pay a fine and my insurance premiums would go in the opposite direction of my stock portfolio.

Rewind to about 10 months ago and I was up late for a product launch. I made the mistake of driving home while sleep deprived. I got into an accident and it was entirely my fault. I made no excuses and took full responsibility. To this day I feel bad for inconveniencing the other driver who was very gracious about the whole thing.

Upon the advice of one of Peel's finest, the police officer on the scene suggested it wouldn't hurt to fight the ticket in order to avoid increased insurance premiums. So I enlisted X-Copper Legal Services to fight the ticket on my behalf. Good decision, right? Unfortunately no and I was now out $250 and hadn't had my day in court yet.

Fast forward to the present. I'm on the phone with Brent Bauer and he asks me about my court hearing that I missed. I was expecting him to say something like "Well you should have hired me pal" or "Well if you pay me $x I can fight it on appeal." Instead, he tells me that he is a para-legal and he was in court today defending other clients when my name got called up.

The good news was that the police officer and other witnesses didn't show up. The bad news was that neither did I. So Brent (he insisted on the phone I called him Brent as "Mr. Bauer is my father") asked the prosecutor to see my file. When he saw that I was supposed to be represented by X-Copper and I was not there he agreed to represent me pro-bono. He got the charge dismissed. Therefore no fine. Therefore no insurance premium increase. I was stunned.

He had simply called me to tell me so that I could notify my insurance company so my premiums didn't go up. I asked if I could pay him. He declined and said he did it pro-bono. I asked Brent if I could buy him dinner. He declined again as that would be akin to payment. He said that he wanted people to know not all para-legals were bad since so many people were burned by X-Copper.

I asked if he had a favorite charity and he said the Toronto Food Bank. I told him I'd make a donation in his name as it was the least I could do. He said to make any donation in both of our names.

I told Brent that I planned to write this post and asked if he had an email or website which I could refer others to. Not much but the least I could do. He said he was old school and didn't have a computer. He went about building his business the old fashion way through referrals.

So I'm happy to provide one for him here as well. If you ever need to fight a traffic ticket please contact Brent Bauer in the evenings at home at (905) 832-3948.

The man is a true professional and we all (myself included) could learn a thing or two from him. That is who Brent Bauer is. And let me tell you Jack Bauer has got nothing on him.