Direct Marketing Magazine January 2016

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Customer Marketing to Reflections relationship Quebec on the year management ahead

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vol. 29 • No. 1 • January 2016

The Authority on Data-Driven Engagement & Operations

Top Women in DM ❱ 18

From left to right: Amanda Connon-Unda, Jannett Lewis, Jan Kestle and Emma Warrillow.

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Vol. 29 | No. 1 | January 2016 EDITOR Sarah O’Connor - sarah@dmn.ca PRESIDENT Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca DESIGN / PRODUCTION Jennifer O’Neill - jennifer@dmn.ca Advertising Sales Mark Henry - mark@dmn.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Shiv Narayanan Leigh-Ann Clarke Wilson Raj Bill Cole Stephen Shaw Nadine Evans Jim Green

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Q&A with four women making their mark on the Canadian direct marketing industry.

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Marketing to Quebec

Features

Targeting & Acquisition ❯❯14

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Customer-centric relationship management

Engagement & Analytics ❯❯6

CRM is much more than software

Joining the conversation

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Keys to success in 2016

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Industry news

Next issue

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Customer segmentation for a new digital experience

Operations & Logistics ❯❯10

CRM meets programmic advertising january 2016

Special Report

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Targeting & Acquisition

Customer-centric relationship management Why one of Canada’s top cloud software companies is doubling down with content-driven online education

By Shiv Narayanan

O

ne of the biggest corporate acquisitions over the past year was LinkedIn’s $1.5 billion purchase of Lynda.com—the online education giant offering courses and training to foster the development of a wide range of professional skills.

The scope of the Lynda.com acquisition isn’t surprising, as it comes at a time when online training and education are becoming fundamental to businesses in just about any industry or vertical you can think of.

Why is online training and education so hot right now? The answer is that, as never before, people now intuitively search the web before looking anywhere else to find the tools they need to solve the problems they need to solve. This insatiable demand for solutions is precisely what’s driving the content gold rush on the web.

What’s has been lacking for a long time, however, is the wide scale availability of trustworthy online information to actually solve those problems, particularly in a businessto-business environment.

However, the tide is beginning to turn. For instance, most business marketers know they can turn to Hootsuite to manage their company’s social media activities. But how do they learn about the best way to engage customers on Facebook? Or how will they learn about the best times to make posts to Twitter? Enter Hootsuite University—a portal where users can learn all the ins and outs of the software, be exposed to industry best practices and get certified in the process. The rationale is the same with Lynda.com—empower end users with the knowledge to succeed.

Simply, more people than ever are looking for online resources to show them how to do things. If, as a provider of a product or service, you’re not showing your customers how to get the most of your offering, someone else will... and they will capture the lifetime value of your customer in the process.

That’s why for Wild Apricot, providing online education to our

❱ DMN.ca

customers and prospects has become our most important strategic priority.

How we got this far Wild Apricot was founded in 2006 and, since then, we have amassed a client list of over 15,000 organizations that use our cloud-based software to manage their membership activities, including events, payments, marketing emails and more. Our steady growth has been achieved by predominantly two marketing channels: paid search and content marketing.

Search engine marketing (SEM) has always driven potential customers to our 30-day free trial offer, with automated email marketing being our core conversion tool to get them to a paid subscription. However, content marketing is the more interesting of the two channels. Our knowledge hub houses hundreds of articles on topics of interest to membership organizations such as volunteering, events, board meetings and sponsorships.

We began working closely with our long-time online lead generation, marketing automation and analytics partner Envoke.com, which has helped Wild Apricot since our earliest days to get the right people to find us through search engines, automate the online engagement process and measure the source of every lead.

Together, we began looking at how we could significantly build the number of new contacts entering our database through an education-based content strategy.

Listening to our customers One of the defining characteristics of Wild Apricot has always been to listen and respond to what our customers tell us they want from our product. In May of 2014, we began holding focus groups with our clients to glean insights on what we could do to help them succeed.

To our surprise, we discovered that while most customers had common concerns that could be solved by using our software, its features were not the primary focus of discussion. Rather, our customers made it clear that what they wanted most was to have easy and affordable access to trustworthy association management expertise to help them do their jobs better... and how they could implement the expertise using our software.

Launching expert webinars We wanted to give our customers exactly what they asked for: Access to expertise to help their organizations thrive.

To do this, we began holding webinars with the leading authorities in the association space on topics such as volunteering, social media engagement, membership incentives, procuring sponsorships and more.

One of our most recent webinars— how to raise more money through sponsorships—had almost 1,000 registrants and about 500 people (at least half being new prospects) actually attending the live online event, numbers that dwarfed our initial expectations.

The webinars have taken on a life of their own. The experts on each webinar deliver cutting-edge content to help our clients and non-clients’ organizations grow. It’s no surprise that they’re turned into a significant source of leads (nonWild Apricot clients who are interested in our software).

With Envoke’s help, all leads from the expert webinars are automatically invited to see a product demo and, when they agree, we have a new inside sales team in place to convert them to a paid subscriber of the software.

New marketing challenge Based on these interactions, we shifted our company focus to being the preeminent resource of trusted advice and expertise for small organizations to succeed.

Meeting the integration challenge The result of all this is we now need to capture, record and track a whole raft of new lead generation and conversion performance metrics, including who is attending our webinars, where they’re

coming from and how effectively we’re managing to convert them into customers.

To do this, we have to establish seamless integrations between our custom back end systems, our new CRM system, the de facto standard GoToWebinar tool from Citrix, Google Analytics and the Envoke marketing automation and lead management system.

The technical challenge to get this done is far from easy.

Fortunately, Envoke’s expertise in building integrated marketing technology stacks has really stepped to the fore for us in this area. Ultimately, everything from the initial webinar registration form to the confirmation process, multiple tracks of follow-up marketing automation emails, demo registrations, lead categorization, lead alerts with visitor timelines and CRM integration are automated by Envoke. They also provide completely customized closed loop tracking and reporting we need to determine how effectively our marketing campaigns and new inside sales force is working for us.

Although we’re not quite at the finish line with our CRM and GotoWebinar integration efforts, we believe we’re very close to having everything connected through Envoke’s lead management system for our inside sales team to be able to close new sales and upgrade existing customers.

This integrated marketing stack allows us to continuously fine tune our marketing strategy to make Wild Apricot the number one online resource for small membership organizations and to propel our business to new heights.

Shiv Narayanan is the head of the marketing and sales department at Wild Apricot. An expert in designing sales funnels, customer value optimization and copywriting, Shiv has led multiple global product launches (NA, EMEA, APAC, LATAM) with a diverse portfolio of products, verticals, business models and clients in mobile, SaaS, retail, eCommerce and mCommerce.

January 2016

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Coming Soon Your guide to the world of telematics in Canada

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Engagement & Analytics

CRM is much more than software The 50% failure rate demonstrates something is VERY wrong

By Leigh-Ann Clarke

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here are many fortunes being made on the purchase, licensing and consulting associated with CRM implementations.

Big brands in the category like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and NetSuite all promise great riches for their customers after heavy IT investments, training and database deployments. But are the only companies truly benefiting the CRM vendors themselves? While numbers differ depending on the sampling, respondents and methodology, research firms like Gartner, Merkle Group and AMR all cite CRM failure rates ranging from 30–70%.

Stuart Lewis, president & CEO of marketing and communications agency Clever Samurai™ believes there is a fundamental flaw in most programs stemming from the most forgotten aspect—the customer.

“CRM program design tends to focus around software rather than focusing on people, prospects and customers.

Implementations have the misplaced primary objective of tracking more customer information. The real objective should be how to apply and deliver relevant, personalized and contextual communications which create a positive connection with the customer.”

David Mack, vice president retail and e-commerce at SCI Logistics and a client of Clever Samurai, is no stranger to CRM. His objective is to help his customers effectively manage their supply chains in the context of selling more products to their customers.

Mack believes “this is all about the customer and that means listening to them and how they want to be communicated with. It’s not always what the customer tells you directly, as it’s often about tracking and understanding their behaviors online and offline.” ❱ DMN.ca

“We’re in a technological world, but that shouldn’t mean technology should drive the customer relationship. It’s the relationship that should drive the application of technology to support greater customer intimacy,” says Lewis. “This isn’t to say that technology isn’t a big enabler, but rather the technology should wraparound the company’s business objectives and a big effort should be directed upfront and ongoingly on how to define customer communication and interaction protocols.”

Lewis believes that CRM investments will be fundamental, particularly in certain business verticals in the next few years. Lewis cites financial sectors, IT services, CPG and telecom as important growth areas.

Investment on the rise Gartner research estimates that it was a $25 billion industry in 2014 and is growing, with cloud-computing representing 50% of that. “CRM will be at the heart of digital initiatives in coming years. This is one technology

area that will definitely get funding as digital business is crucial to remaining competitive,” said Joanne Correia, research vice president at Gartner.

Gartner’s Market Trends: CRM Digital Initiatives Focus on Sales, Marketing, Support and E-Commerce report highlights that marketing technology is a hot area for IT investment, but solution decisions are increasingly being driven by CMOs and the marketing organization, with little to no IT involvement. CIOs will

need to work more closely with CMOs and marketing leaders to adapt to the increasing technology demands emanating across the marketing organization. Mounting pressure on CMOs to drive growth, improve accountability and reduce costs is pushing marketing organizations to make significant marketing technology investments across a broad set of applications and functionality.

Betsy Cosper, vice president marketing at Icynene, also a Clever

“Implementations have the misplaced primary objective of tracking more customer information.

The real objective should be how to apply and deliver relevant, personalized and contextual communications which create a positive connection with the customer.”

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Engagement & Analytics

“This is all about the customer and that means listening to them and how they want to be communicated with.”

Samurai client, has the challenge of marketing spray foam insulation to homebuilders, commercial developers, architects and consumers. Cosper’s company sells through distribution, so her lens on CRM includes essentially a third-party sales force, whom she also needs to treat as somewhat of a customer.

“We started with a really clear understanding of what we were looking to achieve and a clear plan of what, who and when we planned to communicate.

We understood what assets we had at our disposal and what would be useful and relevant to our wide audiences,” comments Cosper, a seasoned marketer from CPG and the pharma industry.

january 2016

“It’s very simple to say, but most marketers forget to be consistent and clear in their messaging and ensure that they are touching the target audience that they are trying to convert consistently—without being overwhelming. Key is finding the right balance in providing useful, informative pieces of content while helping them along your cycle without being annoying or confrontational,” adds Cosper.

Collaboration is key In looking broadly at why CRM implementations fail and gaining an understanding of market data available, one thing is evident—

details aside, CRM was generally referred to as an IT project. And perhaps that’s the fundamental reason why failure is so common. Sure there are obvious variables like choosing the wrong vendor, having unclear goals or perhaps a lack of executive sponsorship. But since when did IT drive the relationship between the company and its customers?

Stuart Lewis believes that effective customer-centric CRM initiatives need to include a multitude of stakeholders who not only represent the customers’ interests but also are responsible for interactions with the customer. “Traditionalists might believe that marketing are the brains and sales teams simply need to execute. And customer service—what do they know? There is no question that a functional area of the business needs to lead the CRM initiative, and that might well be marketing, but without the input and commitment of other key stakeholders the initiative might be doomed to fail. That input may include that of customers, with some more advanced brands creating ongoing customer panels to provide feedback on a myriad of matters.”

When asked about how to successfully apply CRM, Dave Mack states, “build your strategy around test, learn and optimize. Far too often we focus on one strategy, tweak it slightly and tweak it when it doesn’t perform. This can lead to repeating the same mistake over and over without truly understanding why and hampering the maximization of an ROI from your CRM strategy. A/B test strategies have never been easier to implement.”

Cosper’s view aligns, as her team regularly reviews their KPIs to drive and understand what is working and what isn’t. “We always tweak the communication and the assets to better suit the needs of our audiences.”

Despite the complexity of CRM, Mack sums things up quite simply: “Put your customer at the centre of your plan… and get started.”

Leigh-Ann Clarke is director of sales, North America for 360 Leads. She has been with 360 Leads since 2014, following her progressive management career at Yellow Pages Group where she led their sales efforts in digital products, print, telephone sales and neighbourhood directories.

DMN.ca ❰

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Engagement & Analytics

Customer segmentation for a new digital experience

By Wilson Raj

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e’re reaching an era in marketing where grouping customers into segments is considered dated.

Or is it? Fueled by big data and powered by analytics, marketing solutions can now target specific activities to a single customer. This doesn’t mean traditional segmentation has reached its expiration date, but what shape will this emerging one-toone marketing take?

The underlying concept of customer segmentation is straightforward: brands don’t want to treat all their customers the same way. Different groups of customers have different needs and contribute differently to the bottom line. Consequently, marketers need to develop distinct and insightful strategies and messages for a diverse customer base.

Big data and customer analytics makes segmentation all the more valid and enables greater sophistication; however, many organizations struggle with modernizing their segmentation approaches in light of the immense, multi-channel sources of customer intelligence generated each day.

This is the era of big data, hyperconnected digital customers and hyperpersonalization. Segmentation is the cornerstone of customer insight and understanding across the modern digital business. The question is: Is your segmentation approach antiquated or advanced?

Your brand fine-tuned to customer segments You need a benefits-based approach that creates customer segments based on the appeal of product or service benefits to certain groups.

You definitely need to know which product benefits are of most interest to customers. But, this method may create groups in which behaviors are dissimilar in terms of brand usage or other quantifiable behaviors.

The result is that your message’s effectiveness will be diluted and unclear (or downright confusing) to some members of the segment.

A typical segmentation approach is to focus on brand usage patterns, demographics or media usage behaviors.

For example, consumers who are most concerned with a juice drink’s nutritional value are presumed to be different from other consumers who are seeking a product their toddlers will actually drink. So a marketer may segment the market into families with (or without) young children and develop marketing messages accordingly.

The drawback here is that demographics and brand usage patterns aren’t completely reliable predictors of which benefits are of the greatest appeal to customers. It’s more clustering (observing behaviors) than segmenting (understanding preferences).

Customer segmentation now and next: What should you do?

The tools will tell you the best approach. Customer analytics that

incorporate modeling and forecasting will enable you to better understand what each and every customer wants.

Here are some things you need to do to inject potency, accuracy and efficiency in your segmentation: ❯❯ Integrate downstream and upstream customer data as a continuous process. You can do this now with data management tools and solutions. ❯❯ Identify three categories of customer data to build an allinclusive view of customers’ overt needs, preferences and unmet needs. The three customer data categories for deeper segmentation and analytics are: 1. Stated (or structured data): selfreported customer data, customer databases, CRM systems, transactional systems, etc.

2. Derived (or analyzed data): customer data through data analytics, modeling, aggregation, etc.

3. Inferred (or unstructured data): digital data from social web, mobile channels, public domain, etc. ❯❯ Create more holistic segmentation models with softer insights based on engagement levels (e.g. downloads, registrations, participation in forums, conversations on social media, etc.), and where consumers are in the customer life cycle. You should be on the lookout for those “moments that matter” and segment accordingly. ❯❯ Employ predictive segmentation techniques to provide differentiation based not only on customer needs but also on insights

In an era of big data, hyperconnected digital customers and hyperpersonalization, segmentation is the cornerstone of customer insight and understanding across the modern digital business. ❱ DMN.ca

into future reactions to the brand.

Predictive segmentation can result in positive responses to the brand such as growth in sales, market share, perception of the brand or other dependent variables critical to the business.

Don’t overlook big data and privacy As you rethink segmentation approaches, account for the value of big data and the delicate balance between data privacy and personalization.

Use big data and predictive analytics to create more experiences that matter to a segment. Big data and analytics capability will allow you to fully use the rich data available from the range of new digital touchpoints and turn this into individualized customer interactions. Big box stores are starting to personalize their mobile shopping experience based on the customer’s intent and history.

Be transparent with customers about data privacy and usage.

Consumers and employees alike are willing to give up data for value and that data will help you better segment your customers. Clear and concise disclosure on what data is being used for and why, as well as simple user controls to opt in and out of different levels of data sharing, are essential to establishing customer trust.

The upshot: In an era of big data, hyperconnected digital customers and hyperpersonalization, segmentation is the cornerstone of customer insight and understanding across the modern digital business. So ask yourself: Is your segmentation approach antiquated or advanced?

Wilson Raj is global customer intelligence

director at SAS. He is responsible for collaborating with industry leaders, customers and alliances, and sales, marketing and product teams to evangelize customer intelligence solutions. Follow Wilson @wilsonraj and visit SAS’ Customer Analytics blog for anyone who is looking for ways to improve the business of marketing and communicating with customers.

January 2016

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Operations & Logistics

CRM meets programmatic advertising

By Bill Cole

T

raditionally, the worlds of customer relationship management (CRM) and media buying have been almost entirely separate—each with its own unique data, techniques, tools and specialized expertise. However, recent trends in the data and technology landscape have caused a blurring of lines between these two areas of competency. In particular, the increasing use by media buyers of programmatic (or automated buying techniques) as well as data and tools that selectively target individuals rather than generalized demographic or behavioral targets, bears strong resemblance to methods that have been long established among CRM practitioners. It is natural to conclude that these two core facets of the marketing ecosystem may finally be in the process of coming together, and the emergence of CRM targeting may prove to be an important bridge that facilitates this integration.

The fundamental purpose of CRM is the intelligent orchestration and management of the customer experience to maximize customer engagement, loyalty and value.

Over the years, CRM programs have made significant strides in achieving integrated, multichannel customer engagement as the number of touch points connected to individual-level customer intelligence has expanded.

These advances have significantly enhanced the effectiveness of CRM programs in driving increased sales and generally resulted in a better customer experience. Nevertheless, CRM programs tend to remain confined to a discreet set of brand-owned direct and interactive touch points.

From the perspective of the CRM practitioner, being relegated to a narrow set of outbound and inbound ❱ DMN.ca

channels represents a fundamental barrier to proactively reaching out to stimulate interest and activity among mid-cycle customers, as well for reconnecting with customers whose engagement has waned or lapsed. Standard practice has been to send email to such individuals; however, for customers who are truly disengaged or with whom the product is not top-of-mind, the performance of email communications tends to be very low. In fact, many CRM programs are experiencing a decline in email engagement rates—particularly among the Millennial generation.

Additionally, there is the challenge of re-contacting anonymous customers because direct mail and email is not even an option for reaching them.

For these reasons, CRM marketers need additional tools and channels for proactively engaging certain types of customers. The extension of database-driven customer dialog into the digital environments in

represents the point at which CRM practice has met with the world of programmatic advertising. Site retargeting is a commonly applied strategy whereby display ads are programmatically served to recent visitors to a brand’s website or other brand assets. As consumers, most of us have experienced site retargeting firsthand when a casual website visit appeared to trigger a multi-week barrage of display ads from that very website. The offspring of site retargeting, CRM retargeting, is similar in that it involves the serving of display ads to select individuals; however, the selection of those individuals is driven by intelligence from a customer database. In other words, using retargeting technologies and services, online ad messages can be targeted and personalized with the same rigorous level of customer intelligence as email and direct mail communications.

Similar to other targeted or

is then extracted and transferred to a specialized intermediary where it is matched (or onboarded) and converted to anonymous online segments. The resulting onboarded file can then be deployed through any of the major ad networks or social media platforms to serve the customers contained with the display ads assigned to them.

As a capability, the buzz around CRM retargeting has been quickly gaining steam. It aligns well with the need of CRM marketers to proactively and intelligently engage customers through a broader set of channels and it has shown promise among early adopters. It is, nonetheless, a relatively new practice and most CRM programs are either gearing-up for initial experimentation or are actively engaged in the testing and learning phase of its application.

For those gearing up for initial experimentation and development, it is critical to enter the process with a clear strategic vision that articulates

CRM retargeting is similar to site retargeting in that it involves the serving of display ads to select individuals; however, the selection of those individuals is driven by intelligence from a customer database. which they live is a natural next step in the evolution of the CRM practice and the emergence of programmatic advertising platforms and retargeting tools has created a gateway for this evolutionary step.

CRM retargeting is an emerging capability that has grown out of the practice of site retargeting and

personalized communications, the CRM retargeting process starts with the customer database by selecting a universe of customers for communication and assignment of supporting information and scores to specify which customers should receive which content, creative version, offers, etc. The resulting file

exactly how this new capability will not only impact key performance indicator metrics (KPIs), but also how it will enhance the value of the program to the customer. One key question is how and when to apply it. Tactically speaking, the capability potentially opens a new channel for re-engaging lapsed customers and January 2016

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Operations & Logistics defectors. At a more strategic level, the capability potentially offers an opportunity to extend and enrich the overall consumer dialog. Regardless of those specific goals and objectives, it is essential that CRM marketers bear in mind that effective management of the overall customer experience remains the foundational driver of program success. Therefore, it’s vital the team responsible for developing, testing and establishing the practice of CRM retargeting understand how the capability is intended to enhance (or at least not harm) the customer experience and the rules of engagement are clearly defined.

The nature of the customer dialog enabled by CRM retargeting is fundamentally different than the communication driven by traditional site retargeting. The objective of site retargeting is typically to drive sales conversions among consumers who are actively researching or considering a purchase. As such, timeliness and frequency of ad impressions tend to be critical drivers of campaign performance. The key difference lies in the fact that messages delivered via CRM retargeting are being delivered

to a customer with an existing relationship with the company or brand, and that customer likely has a higher level of expectation regarding the nature, frequency and timing of such of communications.

There is also a sense of trust that is a vital aspect of customer engagement with a CRM program that is potentially jeopardized if the consumer perceives inappropriate use of anything they consider to be personal information, or if they feel annoyed with excessive frequency or communications they find overly intrusive or overbearing.

One potential aspect of concern is triggering the “creepiness” senses of the customer—creating the perception that one is being stalked or engaged in a manner that is overly familiar in the form of a display advertisement. Consumers experience display advertisements in environments they perceive as somewhat public; an overly personalized tone or reference to specific purchase history or profile information are obvious ways these negative senses can be triggered.

For CRM practitioners venturing

into the use of CRM retargeting, it’s also important to understand and appropriately leverage the unique dynamics of online media. For this reason it is typically best to work with the organization’s media department and agencies. Such experts can be extremely helpful in identifying the types of sites and environments that align best with CRM messaging objectives. Additionally, there may be significant cost benefits to integrating with the brand’s general media buys.

Optimizing the number of times an individual customer is served a particular message is another important aspect of CRM retargeting.

In a relationship context, excessive frequency behind a certain message is a bad thing; however, more than a single exposure is probably necessary. There really isn’t a firm number of impressions that qualifies as appropriate, it may depend on a number of factors—e.g. the customer’s tenure, the subject matter, the nature or value of an offer, etc.

For display advertising, a single exposure is suboptimal for achieving response—this dynamic stands in stark contrast to the email and direct

mail dynamics that CRM practitioners are accustomed to. Understanding and optimizing message frequency should be a key objective for the test and learn phase of retargeting applications.

In addition to optimizing frequency, there is much to learn. Aggressive testing, learning, refinement and optimization should be the primary objective of the initial year of CRM retargeting applications. Ultimately, CRM retargeting should result in improved engagement rates, customer value and customer retention; however, dialing in to the optimal targeting, timing and communications strategies takes significant trial and error, not to mention time and investment. But, of course, testing, refinement and optimization is core to the mindset and skill set of CRM practitioners.

Serving as the senior vice president of

analytics for Targetbase since 2008, Bill Cole is an experienced analytics leader, strategist and innovator with a 20-year track-record of driving better marketing decisions, performance and results.

Do you make decisions about your marketing operations?

Are you responsible for customer acquisition, retention or loyalty?

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january 2016

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Marketing to Quebec

Looking to enter the Quebec market? Consult the data first

By Jim Green

F

or most Canadians living outside the province, Quebec is both a source of pride and a bit of a mystery.

Canadians like the fact that the country is home to two strong cultural groups that, for the most part, are able to live and work together harmoniously. But for companies and organizations from outside the province looking to operate in Quebec, the differences in culture, law, customs and, of course, language can be challenging. How can organizations develop a solid understanding of Quebec’s unique markets and consumers so they can operate successfully?

For lifestyle-based insights, marketers can turn to segmentation systems like those developed by Environics Analytics (EA). Last spring, EA released rebuilt versions of its PRIZM segmentation products, including PRIZM5, which classifies all Canadians into 68 segments—17 of them francophone—and PRIZM5 QC, which focuses specifically on Quebec with 58 distinct consumer segments. With new data from nearly a dozen demographic, marketing and media sources, these segmentation systems can help organizations better understand what Quebec consumers are buying, doing and thinking—the better to reach them with the right products, media and messages.

How would a segmentation-based analysis actually work? Here’s a simplified example that illustrates the process.

An Ontario-based bicycle retailer is considering expanding into an underserved market in Quebec. To make sure the company’s expansion plans are viable, marketers would want to undertake the following: ❯❯ Quantify market potential; ❯❯ Identify the highest propensity customers; ❯❯ Develop lifestyle and lifestage information about these customers; ❯❯ Map the neighbourhoods where they live; and ❯❯ Document the media habits and online behaviour of the target market.

After classifying the postal codes of the bicycle retailer’s existing client base using PRIZM5, analysts would then identify the lifestyle segments that are home to the ❱ DMN.ca

highest propensity consumers in Quebec. For our hypothetical example, let’s say these segments are: Nouveaux Riches (well-off suburban families and couples), Beau Monde (older, middle-income city dwellers) and Mini Van & Vin Rouge (younger and middle-aged suburban and exurban families and couples).

Survey data indicate members of all these segments enjoy cycling as a leisure activity. And after ranking

markets across Quebec with high concentrations of these segments, analysts then produce the map (above) which shows the postal codes of the target group in and around the Montreal area. For the retailer, deciding where to locate a brick and mortar store becomes much simpler when he can see where his potential customers live.

PRIZM5 and particularly PRIZM5 QC also provide data for sizing the

market. The target group population totals 1,640,000, or nearly 20% of the Quebec total population; 950,000 live in the Montreal market.

Data also show that the retailer will have to compete with Sports Experts, already established within this target group, and take into consideration its locations.

PRIZM5 and PRIZM5 QC also offer important demographic information about Quebec’s cycling January 2016

Marketing to Quebec fans: it’s a group that’s well educated (24% have a university degree), affluent (average income is $96,000, 32% above the Quebec average) and employed in white collar and service sector jobs.

To communicate with them, the data show that, while a high proportion are bilingual, this group prefers French language media, especially magazines and television. Specifically, they enjoy watching Canal D, Le Reseau des Sport, Series+ and similar programming.

In terms of magazines, they favour publications that focus on gardening and home décor, touring and travel, and news; 7 Jours is especially popular among these consumers. They go online for specific purposes, such as shopping for groceries, reading consumer reviews and gathering news, but they do not tend to linger on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. And they’ve been slower than their anglophone peers to adopt smart phones, so mobile marketing is probably not an important element in the retailer’s strategy.

Finally, the retailer can also use segmentation data to gain insights into target customers’ values that help in crafting better advertising messages. This particular group is very environmentally conscious with a strong attraction to nature. They are very proud of their identity as Quebecois, and they strive to achieve work/life balance. As would be expected, this is a physically active group; when the cycling season comes to an end, they get out their cross country or downhill skis and skates—the retailer might want to consider extending its merchandise to include equipment for these sports. Just make sure the wool in the scarves comes from sustainable sheep farms and the packaging is recyclable.

And a blue and white fleur-de-lis design might not be a bad idea either.

For businesses considering entering the Quebec market, the information offered by the PRIZM segmentation systems can help answer many key questions, including the size of the market’s potential, the location of the best consumers and their habits, media consumption, lifestyle and values. All enable marketers to quantify their opportunity and reduce risk by more fully understanding the landscape and how to operate in it. But the last question may be most important: Are you ready for an exciting—and potentially lucrative—challenge?

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The francophone lifestyles of Canada Of the 68 lifestyle types in Environics Analytics’ PRIZM5 segmentation system, 17 are francophone segments, ranging from the wealthiest Nouveaux Riches (#7: welloff suburban families and couples) to the poorest (#67: Survivre en Ville (younger, low-income Quebec urban renters). One segment—Enclaves Multiethniques (#49: diverse, low-income, younger city dwellers)—features a significant presence of both francophones and culturally diverse groups. These lifestyle types, along with their colourful icons shown here, help businesses and not-for-profits better understand and connect with their francophone customers and markets.

Jim Green is vice president of sales for the Quebec Region at Environics Analytics.

january 2016

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Features

Joining the conversation In this age of uninhibited self expression, when almost everyone has something to say or share, marketing must modernize its communication model to have any chance of joining the conversation

By Stephen Shaw

F

orty thousand years ago, when our early ancestors drew pictures of the world around them on cave walls they were acting on a deep primal urge. Those primitive drawings are a reminder of what makes us human: an overwhelming compulsion to express ourselves. This irrepressible desire to communicate accounts for our progress as a civilization.

It has allowed us to imagine new possibilities, to continually learn from each other and to form broad networks of cooperation.

Every epoch in history has seen revolutionary changes in the way we communicate. Each advancement has made the spread of stories, ideas and knowledge easier and broader in reach.

The printing press ushered in mass literacy. The telegraph and telephone made the world a smaller place. The internet made it smaller still. Each leap forward has opened up richer avenues of expression while compressing the time required to create and send messages. We once slaved over manuscripts by hand; today, with a single click, a message can ricochet around the globe creating vast ripples of conversation.

In this new era of uninhibited self-expression, we use our devices every waking hour of every

Marketers must scrap their ready-aim-fire communication model, which has outlived its usefulness. ❱ DMN.ca

day—chatting, messaging, playing, transacting and creating. The combination of interconnectedness and hyper-sharing has changed the way we relate to each other. It has affected our use of language. It has thrown open the doors of knowledge and tilted the world toward a culture of immediacy and transparency. But what has not changed—nor will it, ever—is that prehistoric yearning for expression: the urge to describe the world as it is and how it should be. Today social media has become the metaphorical equivalent of those cave walls—a way for people to leave their mark.

Yet for many marketers still devoted to push messaging even as mass media collapses around them, the only communication goal that really matters is persuasion.

Much of what passes for market conversation remains either top-of-funnel advertising or social fluff, which is why people are no longer paying much attention to what brands have to say anymore. To have any chance at all of having a true conversation with customers in the eight seconds available to hold their attention, marketers must scrap their ready-aim-fire communication model, which has outlived its usefulness.

Making people care The arrival of broadcast media more than half a century ago made short form messaging (read: ad copy) the default marketing tactic. It forced a split in the advertising business along channel lines starting in the 1950s when Proctor and Gamble elected to make a distinction between “above the line” (mass advertising) and “below the line” (promotion). Each channel was assigned a specific role in a media

caste system, dictated by audience size and reach, affordability and prestige.

Brand budgets usually got swallowed up by TV and print advertising, with the rest of the dollars doled out reluctantly to more proletarian media.

Ever since those halcyon days of mass media advertising, the marketing communication model has been structured around funnel messaging, with most of the dollars directed toward awareness building.

It is only now, when audiences can no longer be found moving in large herds, that marketers are being forced to confront a crisis of their own making: people are weary of being chased.

They are ignoring ads, skipping them, blocking them or just disconnecting themselves from broadcast media.

In response to this rapidly cooling ad climate, the idea of “content marketing” has gone from being a buzzword to a budget line. Interest

has heated up considerably in the past year, especially with ad blocking and dubious viewability claims casting a doomsday shadow over the entire digital media business (which now accounts for almost one third of total ad spending). But quality content is rare, mainly because it is so hard to produce. As Seth Godin says, “real content marketing isn’t repurposed advertising: it is something worth talking about.”

Marketers are not schooled to be publishers. Their line of sight extends to the bill of sale. Creating meaningful content requires marketers to have the patience to work the long end of the conversational tail, counting on soft measures such as “social shares” to serve as a proxy for audience reach.

Instead of manufacturing content to suit their media choices, marketers find themselves in an inverse position: trying to find the best distribution January 2016

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Features channels for their branded content so that it can be found (which explains why social media networks are now morphing into publishing platforms).

Ultimately, brands must build their own audiences through organic search and that will only happen if marketers shift their attention from making people buy to making people care.

For people to care, they must believe the brand cares about something other than its own market share. So marketers need to ask themselves: What role does the brand play in the lives of customers? In what ways can it be more socially significant? How can it be seen by people as their champion?

If marketers can connect with the passions, concerns, interests and belief systems of customers, they can find the right entrance point to start a conversation. A compelling brand narrative can be created and shaped around a humanistic theme, but first marketers must define the core pillars of that thematic platform and set their sights on unifying all forms of customer communication, not just branded content.

be motivational—a rallying cry (“Just Do It,” “Think Different”). It has to be transformative (“Smarter Planet”).

Most of all, to have any credibility whatsoever, it has to be voiced with conviction.

People recoil at propaganda, at artifice, at hyperbole. They roll their eyes, more than ever, at vanity advertising. They much prefer to be told redemptive stories: morality tales, parables, rags-to-riches accounts, Homeric sagas of voyage and self discovery. These are the emotional ignition switches that evangelists have always relied upon to lift people out of their seats cheering and applauding.

The arc of that narrative—adversity, despair, hope, epiphany, resolution, joy—is tried and true. It lends itself to theatrical presentation, to transmedia storytelling, to serial publishing and to evergreen content.

These are the new storytelling tools of our time: they command sustained attention even in an age of perpetual distraction whereas ad copywriting, characterized by clever headlines and promotional offers (“Act Now!”), is

It is only now, when audiences can no longer be found moving in large herds, that marketers are being forced to confront a crisis of their own making: people are weary of being chased.

New storytelling tools It has become a viral marketing catchphrase—Simon Synek’s theory that customers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it (Start with Why). That simple insight immediately resonated with brand marketers wrestling with the catch-22 of content marketing: How do you give up bragging about your brand when your job depends on selling more products? But if a brand can figure out its purpose—why it matters to the world at large—it might lead to a more inspiring narrative, one that people can actually get excited about; however, it can’t be a parlour trick.

It has to come from the heart and be seen by customers as a genuine expression of the brand ethos. It has to january 2016

easy to turn your back on. Instead, the storyline needs to be centred around big ideas, bold predictions, emerging trends, innovative thinking, even iconoclastic points of view—the type of thought-provoking content found in journalism. The product is no longer the hero of the story: instead the focus is on conveying an eternal truth, exposing a social malaise or imagining a better way, told preferably through the dramatic struggles and triumphs of real people.

What’s critical is to avoid random acts of content. A brand must figure out its editorial plan and define the types of stories it is best positioned to tell, taking its cue from the brand purpose that serves as the thematic anchor.

The classic examples of that today are

IBM (smarter systems), Kraft (healthy meals), Apple (creative exploration), Google (satisfying curiosity), Patagonia (environmental sustainability) and Red Bull (free spirit), each brand investing massively in original content and owned media channels wrapped around healthier lifestyles, personal wellbeing, social advocacy and other topics that matter to people.

Typically, an editorial plan is organized into distinct content zones: ❯❯ Inspirational content intended to demonstrate thought leadership by editorializing on subjects of interest and concern to customers; ❯❯ Informational content which is designed to help customers progress through each stage of the relationship lifecycle, from initial orientation to continuing support and education; and ❯❯ Transactional content which spans all operational communications (such as billing statements and service notifications), all of which keep the customer continuously connected and engaged.

Producing and delivering all of this content demands a radically different approach to communications management, along with the platforms and systems to regulate the origination, modification and flow of content across various touchpoints.

The trouble is that most businesses are handcuffed by stovepipe systems operated by different content owners who rule over their own data siloes.

Naturally this content fragmentation results in confused and frustrated customers. Before any real progress can be made in transforming the communication model, all content must be liberated and stored centrally where it can be tagged and controlled. Even more importantly, the unification of all customer communications must be a corporatewide priority with marketing in charge, given its role as the chief architect of the brand experience.

Taming the chaos Most content ecosystems today are an overgrown jungle of standalone interfaces, portals, digital experience platforms, customer engagement systems (CRM, marketing automation, voice of customer) and other point solutions used to create and manage different content types.

These include: structured content, primarily back-office forms (such as billing statements); variable

content (like personalized email); and triggered notifications (for instance, order confirmations). To provide the best possible customer experience, all of this content should be interactive (with links, drill-downs, animations), accessible on any device and contextually relevant, taking into account explicit communication preferences, geolocation, prior interaction history and point-in-time needs (e.g. price look-up).

To tame the chaos marketing must first define what an ideal communication experience looks like (ideally, by customer segment, mapped to the relationship lifecycle).

The guiding principle is to add value with every interaction, while avoiding information overload. Of course, it also means personalizing the content so that it speaks directly to individual needs. All of the content must be designed so that it is recognized by customers as coming from one company, in the familiar voice of the brand. Anything less undermines faith in the brand: “Why did I get an unintelligible service message when I am supposed to be a valued customer?”

Finally, the content must be adaptable to capitalize on the strengths of different touchpoints.

Ultimately, customers will force companies to accelerate the unification of all communications, since they are increasingly dictating the terms of engagement through preference centres, inbox filters and ad avoidance tools. Brands will be selectively invited by customers into their conversational circle based on the value of their total communication experience and those who abuse their access privileges will be quickly banished.

The time when marketers controlled the flow of information to customers is over. Thanks to social media and the pervasive use of mobile devices, a flood of content, most of it generated by people anxious to say what’s on their mind, has washed away any advantage brands once had. In the face of this uprising, marketing has a responsibility to modernize its communication model. The quality of branded content and the speed at which it is delivered have now become preconditions to joining the customer conversation.

Stephen Shaw is the chief strategy officer of Kenna Communications, a marketing solutions agency specializing in customer experience management. He can be reached via email at sshaw@kenna.ca.

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Features

Keys to success in

2016

By Nadine Evans

A

t the Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals (CAMP), marketing is our favourite topic. There’s nothing we love more than to ponder what’s next in the world of marketing. 2015 was a year of inbound marketing, with topics like content, big data, and integration dominating marketing chatter.

Now that it’s the beginning of a brand new year, we sat down with some of Canada’s leading marketers to gather advice and insights. Here’s our best advice for marketers to be successful in 2016: “Be helpful first. Sell second.”

This is a quote from Yoav Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Toronto’s own Uberflip, a platform for marketers to create, manage and optimize content experiences for every stage of the buyer journey. While Yoav was specifically talking about content, the mantra extends to all parts of your marketing strategy.

There is no question that today’s consumers are better informed and more educated than ever before.

We’re living in the age of digital, where unlimited information is a microsecond away.

The ‘new’ marketing is all about your customer, and we need to focus more on providing continuous value to customers in a way they want, which means less about the short term and more about a long-term commitment to the relationship with them.

This is particularly true of social media, where past priorities focused on driving sales. Sarah Zeldman, social media coach and owner of The E-Marketing Maven comments: “Many business owners simply focus on dilemmas such as, ‘Where do I click to make a post about what I have ❱ DMN.ca

to sell’ or ‘How can I use this new social media feature to sell my stuff?’

Businesses must remember that social media is not a machine that is separate from our human experience, rather, it is an extension of all of our human relationships. No matter what trend or new feature comes along, it’s important for professionals to remember that being successful with social media is really about making a connection with the people who are using social media—the people behind the computers.”

Unleash the power of your fans If you’ve been paying attention to 2016 marketing predictions, you’ll have noticed advocate marketing is on every list. It’s expected to explode this year, as more and more marketing teams begin to leverage their brand advocates. Mark Organ, CEO and founder of advocacy marketing software leader Influitive, simplifies things for marketers: “A decade ago, marketers needed to learn digital marketing in order to survive. Now, the next question is, how can a marketer effectively market indirectly?”

Not only are customers more educated and better informed but, as Organ elaborates, “they are bombarded with email messages and opening fewer of them. They’re no longer clicking on online ads and they aren’t relying on corporate websites,” forcing marketers to think of better ways to reach their audience.

The answer may be to focus on your advocates. It’s no secret that when people are contemplating a large or risky purchase, they approach the people they trust (like their peers and friends) first.

Influitive is a Canadian-based B2B software company that provides an advocacy platform allowing

companies to better mobilize their brands’ evangelists. With offices in Toronto, Boston, Palo Alto and San Francisco, Influitive has tripled its headcount in the last 12 months from, 50 to 150. Says Organ: “If we believe the social web will continue to increase in importance for the way buyers make decisions, then marketers need to excel at surrounding their buyers with social proof.”

But is advocacy just for the big guys?

Absolutely not, as it just might be a start-up’s or SME’s secret weapon.

Explains Organ: “Advocacy is the great equalizer. Any company that has managed to topple a giant has done so with the help of their advocates.”

Content lives forever (if you can prove ROI) If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that content is king and marketers need to invest in creating and publishing content that drives audiences to your brand.

Explains Schwartz: “Marketers en mass get the value of content at a high level—beyond figuring out how to create content, which was their biggest challenge a few years ago.”

While marketers are now firmly in the pro-content camp, this year will be all about proving to the C-suite the return on investment (ROI) of content.

“This year is not about creating content, but proving that it works.

Marketers will be held accountable for the investment in content, they will need to prove the value,” explains Schwartz. Marketers need to find the proper tools and processes to ensure that content is meeting the business objectives.

Quantitative first, then qualitative The past few years have reinforced the importance of quantifying marketing activities, and continues to be an

imperative piece of the future. Take “growth hacking,” which became part of a mainstream marketer’s lexicon in 2015, as large companies to start-ups approached technical talent with the skills to implement new and inventive ways to build digital audiences. This year will see growth hacking continue to build upon lead generation and user acquisition, but refining the processes so that it’s more accessible to the mainstream marketer.

Says Cristian Contreras, founder of Growth Collective and co-organizer of Growth Hacking Toronto: “With so many channels available to marketers today and with the unprecedented ability that we have to measure and test, it is all too easy to become fixated with the top of the funnel. Marketing though, is bigger than promotion and so is growth hacking. Marketers ought to focus instead on connecting with their audience first and attracting attention second. The idea is to use quantitative data to identify problems and opportunities, and to use qualitative data to try to solve them.”

What does this mean for marketers to be successful in 2016? Turns out, it’s a simple formula: be helpful, utilize your fans, measure and act.

Raised in a small town in Newfoundland, Nadine Evans headed west after graduating with a business degree and fell in love with the bustle of Toronto. Her true passion is marketing and she’s spent the last 15 years in marketing roles, and is the co-founder and CEO of the Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals (CAMP), a professional organization for the individual marketer.

She is currently serving on the Advisory Committee for Humber College’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Program, Humber’s Bachelor of Commerce Program, and an Advisor for ACCES Employment.

January 2016

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Industry news

Columbia House to resurrect as mail order vinyl record club The Toronto Star has reported that Columbia House, the once-great direct music marketing parent company of the Columbia Record Club, plans to return in 2016 as a mail order vinyl record club.

Pop music critic Ben Rayner reports: “In 1994, 15 per cent of all discs sold in the U.S. were moving through music clubs like Columbia House and BMG Music Club—including, as the Boston Phoenix noted in 2011, a whopping three million of the 13 million copies sold of Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1994 megahit Cracked Rear View.

“By 1996, the year I finally jumped ship, Columbia House was reporting peak annual profits of $1.4 billion.” Rayner reached out to John Lippman, who bought Columbia House at auction for roughly $1.5 million and declared his intentions for the company in the Wall Street Journal last December: “Lippman, reached via email this week at the offices of Columbia House’s parent company, Filmed Entertainment, Inc., begged off on providing any further details beyond what the Journal initially reported—including whether or not the resurgent operation will be available to Canadian consumers— with a promise that “we should have some more news on the club in the not too distant future” and that he would get in touch when “we have more to share.”

Source: Rayner, Ben. “What’s new in 2016? Mail-order vinyl.” The Toronto Star, January 11, 2016.

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Salesforce acquires quote and billing service provider Steelbrick On December 23, 2015, news broke that Salesforce.com Inc. had acquired quote and billing service provider SteelBrick Inc. for $300 million.

As the Wall Street Journal reports: “SteelBrick helps small- and medium-size companies create quotes, sign contracts and bill customers. The company runs on Salesforce’s app platform and already had received earlier funding from Salesforce’s venture capital arm, Salesforce Ventures.

“The deal has a total value of about $360 million, including $60 million in cash and after deducting Salesforce Ventures’ previous investments.

“In October, SteelBrick said it raised $48 million in series C funding, bringing its total raised to $78 million over the previous year and a half. The company said in September that it was buying Invoice IT, an England-based online billing company.

“Recently Salesforce has had to compete with startups that are challenging the sales-software company.

“The deal is expected to close in the April quarter.”

Source: Hufford, Austen. “Salesforce buys SteelBrick for $300 million.” The Wall Street Journal. December 23, 2015.

Direct Marketing’s 2016 Editorial Calendar

JANUARY

Customer relationship management + Quebec/bilingual marketing

FEBRUARY:

Mobile marketing + Workforce Management

MARCH

Direct mail prospecting + Marketing automation

APRIL

Email marketing + Marketing apps

MAY

Data analytics + Mailing logistics

JUNE

Ethnic marketing + Flyers, coupons & inserts

JULY

Loyalty + Supply chain management

AUGUST

Fundraising + Workforce Management

SEPTEMBER

Social media marketing + Dimensional mail

OCTOBER

Data analytics + The list business

NOVEMBER E-commerce + Social media metrics

DECEMBER Loyalty + In-store/event marketing

To send press announcements, please direct them to Sarah O’Connor, Editor, at sarah@dmn.ca

january 2016

Expert contributions welcome! If you are interested in writing for Direct Marketing, please contact Editor Sarah O’Connor at sarah@dmn.ca.

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Top Women in DM

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Top Women in DM We asked readers to nominate the top women in our industry, and you delivered! We are so pleased to present the following interviews with outstanding professionals from diverse corners of the direct marketing industry.

Four honourees were selected from an impressive pool of nominees based on their contributions to both the practice of direct marketing and their individual clients. We asked each of them five questions about their take on the evolution of the business, their success secrets and their plans for the coming year.

â?ą DMN.ca

January 2016

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Top Women in DM

Amanda Connon-Unda

Jannett Lewis

Amanda Connon-Unda is making a splash in the Toronto tech industry as senior marketing and communications manager at Rangle.io, a fast-growing software company that she has helped expand from six to 85 employees in less than three years with no outside investment. Her work, characterized by sharply focused digital strategies, has recently been recognized with a Marketer of the Year award in the small to mid-size enterprise category from the Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals.

A list business veteran, Jannett Lewis has been helping direct marketers connect with prospects for over 25 years. Her reputation for successfully tackling complex projects with her signature attention to detail is surpassed only by her warmth, patience and generosity to those less fortunate. Lewis is a consummate “people person” who naturally puts the customer first in all she does for her clients.

What does “direct marketing” mean to you, today?

Traditionally direct marketing fell under the domain of outbound marketing (like display advertising), but today, the distinction between inbound and outbound is blurring. Today, we can do remarketing or find clients and customers through social media, and participate in a conversation with them on all channels. Technology and automation enables us to drive various targeted messages across many channels and ensure we get only the most relevant messages out to the right people.

What does “direct marketing” mean to you, today?

Direct marketing has changed. This will be my 27th year. There are some positives and there are challenges of course; however our clients definitely are the ones that keep us going. That’s why I get up everyday. Direct mail, in particular, we want to make sure that it continues to thrive.

How do you measure your professional performance?

With a plethora of digital analytics tools across so many channels, we constantly evaluate our real impact in terms of conversions, while avoiding vanity metrics.

However, because the marketing landscape has become so diffuse it’s most effective to focus efforts around a particular performance area in a given quarter.

For both personal and organizational performance we focus, assess our specific objectives and key results and measure our improvement. As the business goals evolve, marketing can stay highly strategic, more relevant and effective.

The job of a direct marketer has never been more complex. How do you manage to stay at the top of your game?

The most important thing to achieving excellence is building a team that stays on top of their game. This requires larger marketing teams, with clear mandates and more specialization than most companies realize. Team members need to be extremely competent, have complementary skills and work well together. Building and communicating knowledge collectively throughout an organization can benefit everyone.

What advice do you have for new marketers trying to distinguish themselves?

Lead the marketing strategy with clear business objectives. Understand the outcomes you want, and not just how to execute. Be more than a project manager, and earn a seat at the table where decisions about the business are being made.

Don’t settle for playing a supportive marketing role where you’re being asked to do things without your strategic inputs being acknowledged. Make the effort to understand and learn about the business, the industry, and market trends that will affect your strategic path. Always look for quality and not just quantity in your efforts. Consider starting a blog about your work and this can become a tool to talk with other marketers and make new connections. If you work with clients, be sure to use the knowledge gained and apply it to the marketing of your own brand.

The beginning of a new year is a natural time of reflection. What was your greatest accomplishment of 2015 and what do you have your sights set on in 2016?

In 2015, with a small but mighty marketing team of four at Rangle, our initiatives were involved in 80% of all the revenue generated as the company’s revenue grew by 400%. Moving into 2016, our goal for marketing is to expand our capacity to generate more marketing leads at the top of the pipeline and assist in moving longer more complex deals though our sales pipeline. Our department will become an industry publishing house with detailed analytics that connect to all our activity.

To make this happen, we’ll hire new team members, come up with more creative content ideas and possibly launch a social employee advocacy program. We will continue to contribute to Rangle’s company-wide diversity hiring initiative by sponsoring events that connect us to more women who work in software. It feels like we’re just getting started and we have much to look forward to this year. january 2016

How do you measure your professional performance?

We look at partnerships, that’s important for what we do. We are always looking for new partners to partner with us. Each year we contact all our clients to find out how successful their campaigns were.

If their campaigns were successful, that was a successful year for us.

Right now, first week back, we’re analyzing everything from 2015, looking at campaign results and planning for the new year.

The job of a direct marketer has never been more complex. How do you manage to stay at the top of your game?

It’s challenging. For our clients to have success and our business to grow we need to have new lists. That’s the list business. Successful campaigns require new list sources; as over time it will have a negative impact on the campaign if we continue to market to the same list sources. You need to include new blood, new contacts to increase the success rate of the campaigns. With that kind of challenge we’re constantly trying to find new lists, new sources out there and that’s always a challenge. We continue to have discussions and conversations with our clients with regard to what direction they are going and how we can help them to improve their business. If a campaign isn’t doing well, we have to find ways to make it become successful and that’s where we partner with them and anything we can do to help them to grow their business, that’s what we’re here for. It’s a tough business though, as everyone knows.

What advice do you have for new marketers trying to distinguish themselves?

Have a passion. They’ve got to be passionate about it, that’s the key. Stay focused and always put your clients first.

The beginning of a new year is a natural time of reflection. What was your greatest accomplishment of 2015 and what do you have your sights set on in 2016?

For most of our clients, in terms of the highlights, their numbers were ok in terms of their results. Based on economics we thought it would have been a lot different. I think the second half turned around for a lot of our clients, which is a good thing. It was a tough year for all marketers, and direct marketers especially.

In terms of new lists, that’s always something that we’ve got to look at and make sure there are new data coming on the market because that’s what will make [our clients’] campaigns successful.

And we can only hope that the economy gets better, but then that’s not in our hands. A lot of these campaigns really rely on the economy and consumers.

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Top Women in DM

Jan Kestle Environics Analytics (EA) Founder and President Jan Kestle has been helping her clients use data to solve business problems for over 30 years. 2015 saw EA increasing revenue and staff by 23% and acquiring two direct marketing companies while relaunching both the PRIZM5 segmentation system and the ENVISION5 business platform. In addition to leading her team of 100, Kestle is a member of the National Statistics Council, several CMA committees and the Verity Women’s Club, where she mentors young women.

What does “direct marketing” mean to you, today?

Direct marketing means connecting with your individual customers and prospects. The technology and data are available to identify key subsets of the population, craft a message that resonates with different types of consumers, select the media choices that they prefer and build an ongoing relationship with them. We used to think of direct mail, direct TV or email marketing as the foundation of direct marketing. But every touchpoint is now part of the direct strategy—call centres, in-store screens, web content, online advertising—as the consumer experiences a brand’s position in many ways. Marketers have many opportunities to connect, engage and delight their customers.

How do you measure your professional performance?

I think we are successful when we make our customers lives easier or better.

For Environics Analytics, that means providing best quality data, offering tools and expertise to solve business challenges and helping marketers implement insights across their organization. In simple business terms, it means business growth, happy customers who come back year after year, new products and a productive and engaged team who love what they do.

We had a great 2015 and we are even more excited about 2016; there is no better time to be helping marketers better engage their customers.

The job of a direct marketer has never been more complex. How do you manage to stay at the top of your game?

I know a lot of people in the industry and I work hard to stay connected. I want to hear about the challenges marketers are facing and how we can help. Our company’s Customer Advisory Board members are a great source of input and we hear a lot from our customers all year long. Plus the CMA committees and events I participate in help keep me from being too inward focused. Industry gatherings are a great way to find out what’s happening today and what’s on the horizon. And I enjoy going through my inbox every morning for newsletters—just to read the latest buzz. In the past year, we have also promoted a number of young people at EA and created a “second layer” of leadership. They are vocal, smart and are always happy to tell “the old guard” what we need to be thinking about. I love it!

What advice do you have for new marketers trying to distinguish themselves?

Keep a balanced perspective—we are in a state of constant disruption, innovation and change—and don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

Learn from the past and adapt to the future. These are clichés, but they’re also so true, especially in this industry’s fast-moving environment.

The beginning of a new year is a natural time of reflection. What was your greatest accomplishment of 2015 and what do you have your sights set on in 2016?

We started our business 13 years ago. Last year we served 500 customers and hired our 100th employee. My greatest accomplishment is having both clients and employees tell me every day that they appreciate what we are doing. In the great scheme of things, data and analytics may not be changing the world. But we are doing good work and still having fun in the process.

For 2016, my goal is to build on that spirit and momentum by creating new products and expanding into new service areas. ❱ DMN.ca

Emma Warrillow Emma Warrillow is well known in the direct marketing industry for her analytics expertise as well as her knack for building great teams, first as Emma Warrillow and Associates and, since 2011, as the Data Insight Group. Clients rave about her ability to take very complex data and distill it down to insights that make a real difference for their business.

What does “direct marketing” mean to you, today?

To me, “direct” means trackable, measurable, targeted communications through both online and offline channels. The key is targeted—you know who you are talking to and can track if they are listening; that’s what I love about direct today—there are so many ways to measure what is working and what’s not. Direct is about constant innovation and learning.

How do you measure your professional performance?

At Data Insight Group (DiG) we are focused on our clients first and foremost; I measure our success through their success. The greatest testament to our performance is the accolades I receive from clients. Of course, revenue and profit are important (as is recognition like this), but I am proudest when clients see our team as their essential partners.

The job of a direct marketer has never been more complex. How do you manage to stay at the top of your game?

There is no question that this is what keeps me up at night; however, there are a number of things that help me stay on my toes: 1. My relentless curiosity: I am passionate about this industry and where it is going, so I seek out information all the time; 2. My team: I have a strong, dynamic team who help me stay current through their knowledge and questions; 3. My clients: We are in the privileged position with many of our clients to be invited along for the ride. They challenge us to help them stay ahead and to try new things – and they give us permission to learn alongside them; and 4. That, and I hate not knowing something!

What advice do you have for new marketers trying to distinguish themselves?

Wow, that’s a tough question. For me, the marketers of today—and tomorrow—need to be agile and to surround themselves with experts.

Marketers need to be able to adapt to the changes that are happening every day. What will the Internet of Things mean for marketers, for example? How about the next privacy crackdown?

But it is difficult to be an expert on everything—marketers will need to be able to build an advisory team of experts in specific fields. They’ll need to be able to talk to IT, to analysts, to vendors; I believe those that will distinguish themselves will be those that can truly leverage these partners most effectively.

The beginning of a new year is a natural time of reflection. What was your greatest accomplishment of 2015 and what do you have your sights set on in 2016?

2015 was a great year for DiG; we achieved some financial milestones and we plan to continue growth in 2016. Personally, however, I am proudest of the team we have built. As I look back at the work we did in 2015, I see a strong, smart, passionate group of people with our clients’ interests at heart. Our team challenges me—and our clients—to be better every day. Our growth in 2016 will depend partially on finding more great people to join us on our journey—and that excites me!

January 2016

// 21

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// 22

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to advertise Contact Mark Henry, mark@dmn.ca

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// 23

Resource Directory LIST SERVICES

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bellhowell.ca © 2014 Bell and Howell Canada Ltd. All rights reserved.

to advertise in

Direct Marketing Resource Directory Contact Mark Henry, mark@dmn.ca