DM Magazine July/August 2025

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Choosing Marketing with AI a Digital Fundraising Tools Platform PM 4 0 0 5 0 8 0 3

VOL. 38 • NO. 7 • JULY/AUGUST 2025

THE AUTHORITY FOR THE DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS

An Interview with Frans Riemersma, Founder, Martech Tribe

The Data You Need for More Growth & More Revenue More Consumers (200M) More Business Executives (15M)

DM MAGAZINE Data Driven Content Transforming Marketing For 36+ Years

More Movers (100K/week) More Donors (247M)

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Vol. 38 | No. 7 | July/August 2025

PRESIDENT Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca DESIGN / PRODUCTION Jennifer O’Neill - jennifer@dmn.ca

INTERVIEW

ADVERTISING SALES Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Paul St. Onge Gil Katz Vivian Tam Richard Schenker Stephen Shaw

The New MarTech landscape: An Interview with Frans Riemersma, Founder, Martech Tribe

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The Critical Distinctions Between B2C and B2B Loyalty

Choosing the Best Digital Fundraising Platform for Maximum Impact

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TECHNOLOGY ❯ 10

How to Automate Your Marketing with AI Tools

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Respecting the Divide:

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@DMNewsCanada

ENGAGE WITH DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESSES:

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Bringing the Brand Home: What the Toronto Blue Jays’ Home Run Jacket Can Teach Us About Ritual, Symbolism, and Loyalty

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talking points

New Survey by Queue-it: Consumers Choose Reliability Over Speed, Even Willing to Wait 53 Minutes Online.

For years, businesses have raced to shave milliseconds off page-load times. But a new global survey reveals a shift in consumer priorities: reliability, not speed, is what drives trust online.

According to Queue-it’s Age of Online Trust survey of more than 1,000 consumers worldwide, 87 percent would rather wait briefly for a smooth, reliable website than get instant access to one that’s buggy or slow.

On average, respondents said they’d wait 53 minutes in an online queue for a fair shot at purchasing a high-demand product.

Consumers are willing to wait 53 minutes on average for limited-inventory sales

These findings challenge the long-standing belief that speed is king in digital commerce, especially during product drops, ticket on sales, or government registrations.

Trust is hard to win & easy to lose The research also underscores how fragile online trust can be. It takes four positive experiences for consumers to trust a business — but only two negative ones to lose it. ❯ 74 percent say reliable websites and apps are key to winning trust ❯ 66 percent lose trust after experiencing overselling ❯ 64 percent lose trust after experiencing a crash “In today’s digital world, online trust has become the new currency,” said Jesper Essendrop, CEO of Queue-it. “Winning trust online isn’t about shaving off milliseconds — it’s about staying in control of your traffic and delivering flawless digital experiences that keep consumers coming back again and again. That’s the mission we work toward every day at Queue-it.”

Queue-it is the leading provider of virtual waiting room services, helping 1,000+ organizations manage online traffic peaks and deliver fair, reliable experiences to over 30 billion visitors annually. By controlling traffic during high-demand events, Queue-it prevents crashes, blocks bots, and safeguards customer trust.

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established footprint, a strong operational team, and a long-standing, diverse customer base across a range of industries. The business is well-positioned to meet the evolving demands of customers with up to 49 MW of capacity and a range of secure colocation, cloud, and managed services, delivered within a framework of Canadian data sovereignty and in-country cloud infrastructure.

This investment is firmly aligned to InfraRed’s Value-add approach to invest in companies that demonstrate longterm growth potential, supported by strong underlying fundamentals, and with experienced management teams.

Pilar Banegas, Partner, InfraRed, commented: “This investment represents an exciting opportunity for us to drive value in an established business, capitalising on the rising demand for secure and reliable data centre services, within one of the most attractive segments of the Canadian digital infrastructure market.

“We will leverage our knowledge of the market and our deep data centre experience, built from investments such as Nexspace, our European data centre platform, to help realise its potential. Furthermore, we can also draw on our owner Sun Life’s significant presence in Canada to inform our approach.”

Completion of the transaction is expected by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.

InfraRed is a leading international midmarket infrastructure asset manager. Over the past 25 years, InfraRed has established itself as a highly successful developer, particularly in early-stage projects, and an active steward of essential infrastructure. InfraRed combines a global reach, operating worldwide from offices in London, Madrid, New York, Sydney and Seoul, with deep sector expertise from a team of more than 160 people.

InfraRed is part of SLC Management, the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life, and benefits from its scale and global platform.

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“This flips the script on what many ecommerce teams assume,” said Jillian Als, CMO of Queue-it. “Speed is important, but reliability builds trust. Consumers would rather wait a few minutes than wonder if their order will fail or bots and scalpers had an unfair advantage.”

Reliability beats chaos — even if it means waiting The survey found that online queues are far more acceptable to consumers than site crashes or slowdowns: ❯ 87 percent prefer a short wait on a reliable site over instant access to a buggy one ❯ 84 percent would rather queue than face a crash or error page ❱ DMN.CA

MiL.k Launches USD1 Loyalty Hub on BNB Chain, Bringing Real-World Rewards On-Chain.

InfraRed Capital Partners to acquire data centre business from Rogers Communications.

InfraRed Capital Partners (“InfraRed”), a leading international infrastructure asset manager, and a part of Sun Life, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rogers Communications’ data centres business, on behalf of InfraRed’s value-add strategy.

With nine Tier 2 and 3 data centres across key Canadian cities, the business has an

MiL.k, the leading blockchain-based point integration platform operated by MiL.k Partners Co., Ltd., has announced the official launch of its on-chain rewards platform — USD1 Loyalty Hub — exclusively on BNB Chain.

This new initiative introduces a fully onchain reward infrastructure centered around USD1, a fiat-backed stablecoin, and marks a significant expansion of MiL.k’s Web3 utility footprint. Following MiL.k’s success in the Web2 space — boasting over 1.5 million users and collaborations with major enterprises — the USD1 Loyalty Hub represents a strategic JULY/AUGUST 2025

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step to expand real-use reward models within the Web3 ecosystem.

Designed to encourage real-world use and participation, the USD1 Loyalty Hub enables users to accumulate M-USD1 Points simply by holding or trading USD1 via PancakeSwap V3, particularly within the USD1-BNB and USD1MLK trading pairs. Points are calculated daily based on a UTC snapshot and distributed on a relative basis, with a minimum threshold of 50 points required to qualify for rewards.

Users who qualify can redeem their points for MiL.k’s native utility token, MLK. Full campaign details are available on MiL.k’s official social media channels.

BNB Chain is one of the largest blockchain ecosystems by on-chain activity, known for its high throughput, low fees, and robust dApp ecosystem spanning DeFi, gaming, NFTs, and beyond. By building on this foundation, MiL.k positions itself at the forefront of Web3 consumer adoption.

With the launch of USD1 Loyalty Hub, MiL.k aims to establish a core loyalty infrastructure within the BNB Chain ecosystem. This move is not only intended to strengthen MiL.k’s on-chain presence but also to unlock new cross-border engagement opportunities by leveraging reward mechanics familiar to millions of Web2 users.

“The USD1 Loyalty Hub is just the beginning of our on-chain loyalty vision,” said Jungmin Cho, CEO of Milk Partners Co., Ltd.. “We’re excited to scale user engagement in Web3 through reward mechanisms that drive real utility, and we remain committed to delivering long-term value for global users.”

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Plusgrade and ALL Accor, Accor’s loyalty program, partner to expand loyalty rewards exchange for ALL Accor Members.

Plusgrade, a global leader in ancillary revenue solutions for the travel industry, and ALL Accor, Accor’s booking platform and loyalty program, JULY/AUGUST 2025

are proud to announce a strategic partnership to introduce an enhanced loyalty exchange solution for members of ALL Accor. This partnership enables members to seamlessly convert points from other participating loyalty programs into Reward points, reinforcing ALL Accor’s commitment towards its members and more recognition in loyalty.

Loyalty members want more flexibility, simplicity and choice in how they use their points, and ALL Accor is making that a reality.

With Plusgrade’s industry-leading exchange technology, ALL Accor members can convert rewards earned from institutions such as Bilt, Capital One and Citi loyalty programs — into Reward points. Plusgrade’s loyalty business unit, Points, which specializes in powering loyalty commerce for the world’s leading travel brands, powers this solution.

“Giving loyalty members more ways to use their rewards makes their programs even more valuable,” said Ken Harris, Founder and CEO of Plusgrade. “At Plusgrade, we are dedicated to helping travelers maximize their rewards while driving ancillary revenue for our partners. By working with Accor, we’re bringing even greater flexibility and choice to ALL Accor members worldwide.”

ALL Accor continues to redefine what it means to be rewarded and recognized, offering members a seamless and rewarding experience across its vast global network of 45 hotels brands and 110+ partners.

Built on transparency, flexibility, and a clear, unchanging points scale, the program ensures members always know the value of their rewards. ALL Accor empowers its members to transform their rewards into meaningful and personalized experiences.

Mehdi Hemici, Chief Loyalty & Ecommerce Officer, Accor comments: “Our partnership with Points, a Plusgrade company, is a key milestone for ALL Accor. It answers our members’ desire for more than discounts by delivering unforgettable experiences. Leveraging Plusgrade’s cutting-edge technology alongside ALL Accor’s brand strength, we’re creating

innovative ways to recognize and reward our members while expanding value across industries and regions.”

This partnership is the latest example of ALL Accor and Plusgrade’s commitment to delivering innovative loyalty solutions that enhance member engagement while driving revenue growth for partners. By integrating its expertise in travel loyalty and exchange solutions, Plusgrade is shaping the future of customer rewards and experiences.

Plusgrade powers the global travel industry with its portfolio of leading ancillary revenue solutions. Over 250 airline, hospitality, cruise, passenger rail, and financial services companies trust Plusgrade to create new, meaningful revenue streams through incredible customer experiences. As the ancillary revenue powerhouse, Plusgrade has generated billions of dollars in new revenue opportunities across its platform for its partners, while creating enhanced travel experiences for millions of their passengers and guests. Plusgrade was founded in 2009 with headquarters in Montreal and has offices around the world.

ALL Accor is a booking platform and loyalty program embodying the Accor promise during and beyond the hotel stay. Through the ALL. com website and app, customers can access an unrivaled choice of stays from more than 45 Accor brands in 110 countries, always at the best price. The ALL Accor-loyalty program gives members access to a wide range of rewards, services and experiences, along with over 110 renowned partners. ALL Accor supports its members daily, enabling them to live their passions with over 7,000 events worldwide each year: local activities, chef masterclasses, major sports tournaments and the most eagerly awaited concerts. ALL Accor is the loyalty program preferred by travellers.

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Majority of Canadian workers are optimistic about AI but aren’t ready.

As AI becomes more embedded in the workplace, employees recognize its potential to boost productivity and support career growth. Yet, despite this optimism, many still feel underprepared to use AI effectively.

Insights from a TD Bank Group (“TD” or the “Bank”) survey reveals while the majority of Canadian workers see AI as a helpful tool, they lack the training and support needed to use it effectively.

According to the 2025 TD AI Insights Report, 56 percent of Canadians surveyed who use AI at work report it enhances their productivity.

Younger Canadians in particular, such as Gen Z (69 percent) and Millennials (59 percent) are more inclined to view AI as an enhancer of their work compared to Gen X (50 percent) and Boomers (38 percent).

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talking points

“AI is transforming the workplace and creating powerful new opportunities for growth, learning, and career advancement.” says Tina Robinet, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Shared Services at TD. “At TD, we see AI not just as a tool but as an opportunity to enable and empower employees. Our focus is on building colleague confidence around new technologies.”

Canadian workers see AI knowledge as a career asset. More than half (52 percent) of those who use AI at work believe AI expertise gives them a competitive edge over their peers in similar roles. At the same time, 27 percent admit to exaggerating their AI proficiency to colleagues, suggesting growing pressure to keep up.

Younger generations are leading the mindset shift. Nearly a third of Gen Z (32 percent) see AI as more of an opportunity than a threat to future jobs. They are followed

by Millennials (23 percent), while Gen X (18 percent) and Boomers are least likely to see AI as an opportunity (19 percent).

Room to Grow in AI Tool Adoption While more than half of Canadian workers (58 percent) say they use AI tools provided by their workplace, a much smaller proportion use these tools regularly. According to the survey, only 8 percent use companysponsored AI tools daily, 14 percent use them weekly and 13 percent claim they use them monthly. A significant portion of Canadian workers surveyed report they never use AI tools at work (42 percent).

“We know that adopting new technologies can feel daunting — for both the organizations themselves and colleagues,” ❱ DMN.CA

says Kirsti Racine, Vice President of the TD AI Technology Platform. “At TD, taking a targeted approach to delivering AI capabilities to colleagues has proven to be successful in helping us overcome this barrier. We are working with our lines of business and our colleagues to roll out solutions where they can see benefits in the near term – and as a result, we’ve seen a steady increase in engagement, adoption and excitement about our AI tools.”

Upskilling Remains Critical One of the top barriers cited by Canadian workers to wider AI adoption is a lack of training. Nearly two thirds (64 percent) of those workers using AI feel their employers have not provided adequate guidance on how to use AI effectively.

Over a quarter (27 percent) even strongly disagree that they have received adequate training from their employer on using AI in the workplace.

Moreover, many workers believe their colleagues, and even their managers, lack true understanding of AI’s capabilities and risks. When it comes to use of AI in the workplace, 58 percent say most of their colleagues have no idea what they are doing, and almost half (48 percent) think their boss is out of touch.

TD is actively working to help address the gap between potential and preparedness at the Bank. Among the targeted colleague populations who are using AI tools, TD has a colleague engagement rate of 80 percent with Microsoft Office 365 Copilot and 92 percent with GitHub Copilot and is receiving positive feedback about the capabilities that have been enabled including augmented code and document creation. In addition, through various learning and development programs like TD Thrive, colleagues can build skills at their own pace through a range of formats, including virtual sessions, in-person learning, coaching, and self-guided tutorials to support AI literacy and readiness.

“AI is transforming how Canadians work, but meaningful adoption requires more than just new tools. It takes trust, training, and thoughtful leadership,” says Luke Gee, Chief Analytics & AI Officer, TD Bank Group. “Behind every AI strategy at TD is the opportunity to make customer and colleague experiences smarter and more intuitive. From chatbots that help our colleagues work faster, to using AI to automate tasks to free up colleagues time, to providing training to help grow colleagues AI skills, our goal is to make banking simpler, safer and smarter.”

This approach is fostered by the Bank as part of TD Invent, its strategic umbrella effort to power purposeful innovation across the Bank. For more information, visit the TD Stories page or learn more about TD’s latest

expansion of its AI research and development center, Layer 6.

The 2025 TD AI Report was completed by Ipsos and conducted between March 17th and 31st, on behalf of TD. For this survey, a sample of 2,500 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval.

In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

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SquaredFinancial unveils referral program with rewards up to $1,000 per client.

Technology-driven trading platform, SquaredFinancial, has launched its referral program, to accelerate client growth, drive trading volume, and offer real value to its global community of traders.

SquaredFinancial harnesses advanced technology and client-first approach to boost customer retention rates by increasing clients’ revenue, while ensuring a seamless and rewarding experience.

Under the new program, existing clients can earn flexible payouts of up to $1,000 for every friend they refer who meets the program’s verification, funding, and trading criteria. This initiative presents traders with an additional way to grow their income alongside their trading activity.

The SquaredFinancial referral program is built on mutual benefits. Referrals are welcomed with incentive bonuses when they open their account and deposit, while referrers are rewarded for their endeavours, trust, and loyalty.

Thousands of traders trust SquaredFinancial. By referring friends, traders are helping them navigate the markets seamlessly while enhancing their own trading journey with added rewards.

Founded in 2005, SquaredFinancial is a fintech and multi-asset trading firm providing regulated, technology-driven investment solutions. The company serves a global client base, offering intuitive platforms for investors and professional-grade liquidity and technology services for brokers. With a focus on innovation, transparency, and long-term relationships, SquaredFinancial is built to support the future of finance.

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WestJet and RBC launched the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard‡ for Business, Canada’s first and only business travel credit card that instantly provides primary cardholders with top-tier airline status.

This business credit card promptly awards primary cardholders Silver status* with WestJet Rewards, offering them the fastest way to earn WestJet points and maximize travel rewards. As the only RBC business travel Mastercard, cardholders will also have access to a unique collection of extensive travel insurances including trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance*.

“Small and medium-sized businesses have supported WestJet from the day we started flying; that’s why we’re proud to introduce a card that not only rewards business spending but also enhances the travel experience from the moment cardholders arrive at the airport,” said Steve McClelland, Vice-President, Loyalty, WestJet. “With instant Silver status, free checked bags and access to WestJet Biz, this card is thoughtfully designed to help value conscious small and medium sized business owners turn everyday business expenses into meaningful travel rewards with greater flexibility, control and efficiency.”

“RBC and WestJet have built a longstanding partnership over many years, with an unwavering commitment to our shared customers,” added Athena Varmazis, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Commercial Credit Cards, RBC. “The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard for Business was created with unique features and benefits tailored for small and medium-sized business owners in Canada and we’re incredibly proud to add the card to our market-leading WestJet RBC credit card portfolio.”

The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard for Business makes earning and redeeming WestJet points simple and flexible. Points earned by secondary business cardholders automatically pool into the primary business cardholder’s WestJet Rewards account.

Furthermore, if the primary business cardholder also has a personal WestJet RBC credit card, they can seamlessly combine WestJet points earned with both their WestJet

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RBC credit cards, including points and Status Lift earn. These features enable an accelerated path toward their next personal or business trip and the ability to reach higher status faster.

Primary cardholders receive automatic Tier One membership in WestJet Biz, an online tool that makes booking and managing corporate travel easy. Designed to give small and medium-sized businesses greater flexibility and control, the program allows members to book through their travel management company, agency or online at WestJetBiz.com.

WestJet took to the skies in 1996 with just over 200 employees and three aircraft operating service to five destinations. Since then, WestJet has pioneered low-cost travel in Canada, cutting airfares in half, and increasing the flying population in Canada by more than 50 per cent. Following integration with Sunwing in 2025, more than 14,000 WestJetters support nearly 200 aircraft and connect guests to more than 100 destinations across North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. As a major Canadian employer that includes WestJet Airlines, Sunwing Vacations Group and WestJet Cargo, the WestJet Group is Canada’s leading low-cost airline and largest vacation provider, with a united purpose of providing affordable and accessible air and vacation travel to Canadians.

Since 1959 DCM has been meeting the marketing and communication needs of Canadian organizations.

Today our 2,500+ clients include 70 of the top 100 Canadian companies.

And we continue to be there for them, helping them simplify their marketing complexity, from highly personalized direct mail and triggered omnichannel campaigns to regulatory communications.

Looking for a Canadian communications partner you can trust to get the job done and delivered?

We’re here for you.

datacm.com

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FUNDRAISING

Choosing the Best Digital Fundraising Platform for Maximum Impact

BY PAUL ST. ONGE

G

iving is an emotional decision.

People support a cause because it speaks to their hearts, interests, and values. The start of a donor relationship begins by sparking those emotions. For example, the nonprofit Coast Guard Foundation set up an interactive campaign for their K-9 veterans (a team of highly-trained dogs that assist in water rescues). This page allows people to “pet” one of these brave rescue dogs to learn fun facts about them and send thank-you messages. After completion, the organization followed up with automated messages seeking support. This fundraising campaign exemplifies how using creative personalized content on digital platforms helped an organization reach a new dog-loving audience and fundraising goals. ❱ DMN.CA

The best fundraising platforms help organizations engage donors by developing and delivering compelling, gamified, and engaging content in a timely, personalized way. When choosing between a single digital fundraising platform and an optimized one, knowing which will fit an organization’s mission and financial goals is difficult. A comprehensive understanding of the pros and cons of the different platforms allows fundraisers to make the best decision.

Single platforms versus optimized platforms: how they work The two major types of digital fundraising ecosystems are either a mix of single-point solutions or all-in-one (optimized) digital solutions. Single platforms often do one or two things well, such as

platforms like FundraiseUp for donation forms and Mailchimp for email. Conversely, optimized solutions such as Engaging Networks, Blackbaud Luminate Online®, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud, bring more digital fundraising activities, including donation forms, emails, landing pages, peer-to-peer fundraising, and event ticketing, under one roof.

Single platform pros and cons A single fundraising platform (also known as a point solution) may be the right choice to fulfill an organization’s requirements.

Some optimized platforms are more challenging to manage and offer more features than an organization needs, while a single platform may be more intuitive for teams to operate and have a shorter learning curve. For example, Mailchimp’s

email automation platform is intuitive and user-friendly, which requires less time and training.

FundraiseUp’s donation form platform is straightforward to implement and deploy. Because point solutions provide a niche area of marketing or fundraising, they often excel at ensuring their email platform has the best email deliverability rates or donation forms convert at the highest percentage. Point solutions usually allow organizations to be fast and nimble because they are not slowed down by functionality and complexity from larger platforms.

On the other hand, a single platform needs to rely on data from other platforms to personalize and automate donor communications and touchpoints.

With single platforms, it’s critical for organizations to ensure that data processes between JULY/AUGUST 2025

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FUNDRAISING

customized and personalized.

Most all-in-one solutions allow complete customization of landing pages, emails, and donation forms based on the donor’s interests, which are identified by a survey or clicking behavior. ❯ Enhanced reporting. An integrated platform facilitates more accurate reporting on digital fundraising campaigns by capturing all aspects of a campaign in one platform, from opens to clicks to conversions.

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Despite their benefits, there are several challenges with all-inone solutions. The first hurdle is implementing the new software.

Some employees may find the new platform overly complex and difficult to navigate, which could require additional training.

Second, organizations with smaller teams may not have the capacity to create enough content. For example, if the team only has the bandwidth to develop campaigns for one audience segment, an allin-one platform may be overkill.

systems are intact to effectively communicate and steward donors.

For smaller organizations, relying on ad-hoc data processes between systems can do the job, but enforcing a formal integration between systems as organizations scale is vital.

Benefits and drawbacks of allin-one fundraising solutions Integrated fundraising platforms help nonprofits facilitate personalized cultivation and solicitations in one platform. This process works for annual fund donors all the way to major donors.

All-in-one solutions offer the following benefits: ❯ Convenience for teams.

Having everything in one place streamlines processes, enhances security, and makes it easier for teams to track every step of a constituent’s digital journey.

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There is no moving data between platforms using integration tools or spreadsheets, and just one platform for administrators to log into. ❯ Automated donor journeys.

Nonprofits can leverage automation to enhance every level of the donor’s journey, from initial email sign-up for a one-time donor to monthly or major donors. This enables nonprofits to personalize donor experiences and streamline fundraising efforts. For example, Children’s Wisconsin built an entire campaign page inside its fundraising platform, including a thermometer and donation form. Following a donation, new donors received an automated series of messages from the same platform. ❯ Customized experiences. The entire donor experience can be

Identifying the right platform The ideal all-in-one platform works when all stakeholders seek a more personalized and automated digital journey and want the ability to fully customize all aspects of the donor experience. Follow these steps to determine if an all-in-one platform is right for the organization.

1. Establish organizational goals. Start by answering some crucial questions. How is the audience segmented, and what are their interests? Does the organization have the capacity to increase digital engagement?

Would the audience benefit from customized emails, interactive campaigns, lead magnets, or automation?

2. Identify content goals and evaluate staff capacity.

Can the staff create enough content to truly personalize the organization’s communication across multiple segments and groups? For small teams, publishing one article a month might be a stretch, and asking that team to create multiple tailored pieces per audience may be next to impossible. Even with

artificial intelligence (AI), human emotion and creativity are the most inspiring aspects that encourage donors to give. Hiring an agency or freelancers helps companies that lack the capacity for this approach.

Boosting donations with personalized content Giving is an emotional decision.

People have distinct reasons for supporting a cause. Understanding what donors care about is the first step to reaching potential donors and fundraising goals.

Organizations can leverage data to identify audience segments based on behavior and interests to form personalized content such as interactive lead magnets, splashy landing pages, quizzes, surveys, and other useful resources. A lead magnet (free downloadable assets such as e-books, guides, templates, or checklists) can be offered in exchange for a potential donor’s contact information. The best lead magnets provide value and help to build trust with your audience.

Another example of personalized content is interactive quizzes, like the “Guess This Park” page at the National Park Foundation, which allows potential donors to learn about the National Parks.

The future of digital fundraising Digital fundraising will continue to evolve with new and emerging technologies. Integrating AI and adopting other technologies will enable better audience personalization and safer, more secure donations. For example, there are emerging AI platforms to help with data integration, such as Dataro, which recently developed processes to integrate data between customer relationship management (CRM) programs, email, and donation forms, combined with AI analysis to facilitate better personalization.

Adapting to innovations helps nonprofits remain competitive, but don’t forget the real reason the organization exists: the people it serves and the company’s mission to help them.

PAUL is CEO of Doing Good Digital. He specializes in digital fundraising for nonprofits.

He emphasizes the importance of blending creative content with nonprofit technology.

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TECHNOLOGY

How to Auto Marketing w

BY GIL KATZ

M

arketing is currently going through monumental changes as AI enables enhancing, optimizing and automating many steps in the process. Following is a summary of the types of marketing activities that AI tools can help with.

Each one has many providers with subtle feature variations.

Looking for the best tools for your needs can become overwhelming and so a useful approach can be to: ❯ Register for free trial accounts to try multiple providers per feature ❯ Look for “Lifetime Deals” from upcoming providers to avoid monthly fees

1

Brainstorming Tools

Topics - based on market trends, AI suggests ideas for specific audiences ❯ Creative Concepts - recommends themes and slogans based on campaign goals ❯ Headlines - title variation ideas using engagement and click data ❯

2

Content Creation

2.1. Text Writing Using prompts, keywords and data feeds, AI can write draft content for: ❯ Website pages ❯ Blog posts ❯ Article research ❯ Advertising copy and calls to action ❯ Social media posts promotional, seasonal or other theme-based content ❯ Email newsletters - using data from your website or other sources ❯ Product descriptions - for eCommerce sites ❯ Summarize long-form text into shorter segments 2.2. Text Optimization Branding - align text with a specific brand style guide, voice and tone ❯ Translation - generate a draft version in any language for a human translator to review

Localization - align text with unique local cultures and demographics ❯ Multi-platform - adapt text for each platform’s format (for example, short text on X) ❯ Re-phrase - re-write the same message in different words ❯

2.3. Image Creation Image Generation - from text prompts to any mix of photos, illustrations and styles ❯ Image Enhancement - from low to high-res quality, or detect / add / remove / edit elements in an image (for example, remove a background or part of an image and generate realistic replacement fill-in instead) ❯ Brand Identity - generate logo design ideas, typography options, colour schemes ❯ Social Media Images - with specific dimensions as required for each platform ❯

2.4. Video Content Video Generation - from a mix of settings, content elements, scripts and prompts ❯ Product Videos - turn product photos into videos (for example, jacket photos generating a video of a model wearing it) ❯ Edit Videos - tools for enhancing footage, adding transitions, captions and more ❯ Video Scripts - optimized for each platform’s algorithm to maximize views ❯

2.5. Audio Content Voiceovers - narration audio in any language, voice and matching talking avatars ❯ Singing - beyond narration, actual singing in multiple voices for making music ❯ Background Music - generic music from any musical style ❯ Featured Music - create full songs to accommodate AI singers ❯ Intro/Outro - script and audio for podcasts, adjusted for specific audiences ❯

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2.6. Interactive Content Surveys - generate form questions as a quiz or poll for social engagement ❯ Chatbots - generate leading ❯

questions to manage chat conversations ❯ AR/VR - include face recognition, augmented reality filters and virtual reality content

3

Content Optimization

3.1. Content Conversion & Extraction ❯ Extract text from an image -

even if the text is stylized within the image ❯ Turn a few photos into a video - to create a product demo or walk-through ❯ Generate text captions for a video - save dictation effort and time ❯ Compress image and video file sizes - by extrapolating with minimal visually identifiable differences ❯ Personalize Images - auto-adjust JULY/AUGUST 2025

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TECHNOLOGY

omate Your with AI Tools

3.4. Content Analysis for Optimization ❯ Pre-Publishing Analysis estimate potential views and clicks on specific heading or text ❯ Post-Publishing Analysis compare content views with competing content and generate insights on how to improve it for better results ❯ A/B Testing - generate several versions of content to find out which works best

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3.2. Text Optimization Grammer - fix errors and improve writing style ❯ Readability - optimize the text for specific audiences ❯ Plagiarism - check that the text is not copied from anywhere ❯

JULY/AUGUST 2025

available online 3.3. Content Personalization ❯ Personalized Messages - unique text based on user preferences and behaviour ❯ Segmented Messages - unique text based on general user personas ❯ Real-Time Messaging - change content based on user interaction

Lead Generation

Smart Chatbot - that knows the website content, can answer questions and direct chats to capture lead details for next steps ❯ Identify Prospects - list web visitors and use data to identify anonymous visitors ❯ Visitor Intent - once a visitor is identified, study their web searches, page visits, time spent and more to tailor direct outreach to them via automated chat messages, emails or other methods ❯ Lead Scores - compares visitors to the optimal target market and shortlist leads ❯ Automate Prospecting - autosend messages across multiple channels including emails, Linkedin connection requests, SMS, phone calls, WhatsApp and more ❯ Targeted Videos - generate personalized video messages per lead ❯ Lead Magnets - generate eBooks and other content to attract engagement ❯ Social Media Promos - generate social promos that lead to engagement ❯ Sales Forecasts - use past data to predict campaign lead conversion ❯ Influencer Outreach - autoidentify influencers and contact them ❯

images in promos for each user based on data (for example, if the user likes the colour blue show them that image in blue)

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5

Content Scores - analyze your content and suggest updates to improve SEO ❯ Meta-Data Updates - autoimprove image alt tags, descriptions and more ❯ Schema Generation - for web pages to tell Google about them ❯ Voice Search Results - analyze Google voice searches and optimize for that ❯ Auto-Refresh Content - identify old content and auto-update it for SEO optimization ❯

SEO Optimization

Keywords - identify and analyze high ranking content and improve based on it

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Analysis & Insights

Optimal Timing - recommend the best times for social posts or email campaigns ❯ Optimize Email Delivery - avoid emails going to spam with advanced tools (checking for spam words, rotate email servers and more) ❯ Competitor Analysis - identify keyword opportunities and autoupdate content ❯ Find Influencers - for your target market and product or service ❯ Public Sentiment - find out what people think about brands and topics ❯ Optimize Prices - compare competitor pricing to identify opportunities ❯ Detect Ad Fraud - to minimize paying for fake clicks ❯ Customer Insights - analyze and segment your and competitor’s data ❯ Estimate Ad Results - analysis for ad result prediction based on input ❯ Listen to Social Media - analyzes competitor social content to find trends ❯ Analyze Images - ability to identify brands, people, locations and more in an image ❯

There are incredible opportunities and challenges in this new AI-based marketing environment and as the proverb says “the early bird gets the worm” - the sooner your organization embraces AI tools, the more competitive it will be. Good luck!

GIL KATZ is Director of Operations at Giant Step and MentorEase mentoring software.

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The New MarTech La An Interview with Frans Riemersma, Founder, Martech Tribe

❱ DMN.CA

JULY/AUGUST 2025

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andscape:

BY STEPHEN SHAW

T

he story of marketing automation over the past three decades or so has largely been one of rapid adaptation to technological change.

With each defining era of technology — whether it was the launch of the Web and email in the early 1990s, the mass adoption of smartphones and social media platforms through the mid-2000s, or the transition to cloud computing and software-as-a service in the 2010s — new MarTech solutions always emerged to make it easier for brands to connect with people across channels. As channels multiplied, so did the need for more and more specialized apps.

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Frans Riemersma is the Founder of the marketing technology consultancy Martech Tribe, author of “A Small Book on Customer Technology”, and the co-producer of the “State of Martech Report”.

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INTERVIEW Today the industry is facing a new era of technological change unlike anything that has come before it. Ever since ChatGPT was unveiled in 2022, the pace of innovation has been frantic.

Almost overnight it seemed generative AI was being embedded into every software platform and tool. All of the established MarTech providers rushed to make AI a standard feature of their platforms. And lately a swarm of AInative startups have jumped aboard, changing the contours of the MarTech landscape.

Today all parts of the marketing value chain — from ideation to design to content creation to channel activation to measurement — is being transformed. And no sooner have marketers begun to wrap their heads around this first ferocious wave of AI-led innovation when along comes an even more disruptive force: agentic AI which will upend how marketers actually go about their work.

We’ve certainly come a long way from just over a decade or so ago when email software applications (like ExactTarget or Eloqua) and programmatic ad platforms (like The Trade Desk) were the go-to MarTech tools of performance marketers. Back then marketers felt proud of themselves just for pulling off a multi-channel campaign, incorporating email, social media, and maybe mobile messaging.

With the shift in marketing strategy from flooding inboxes with promotional email to anywhere-anytime personalized engagement, the “marchitecture” has kept expanding to accommodate new forms of connectivity.

MarTech stacks have grown to become a motley assortment of “best-of-breed” point solutions, all with their own databases, using APIs to shuttle data back and forth. Even the bundled marketing automation and CRM suites still struggle to fully integrate their closed systems with external apps, forcing marketers to use middleware (like Zapier) to automate their workflows. In fact, the number one problem facing the marketing operations group in charge of the infrastructure is integration. Too many data siloes, too many apps, too many interfaces, too many overlapping and conflicting workflow rules — too many chances for something to go wrong.

Today the entire constellation of MarTech solutions across all categories has swollen to more than 15 thousand vendors (up from a paltry 150 in 2011), according to the latest ❱ DMN.CA

“State of MarTech” report, produced by industry thought leaders Scott Brinker and Frans Riemersma. Much of the past year’s growth in this ever expanding universe is attributable to the AI-centric start-ups.

As Scott and Frans say, the market is “insanely crowded”. And it is likely to keep growing, maybe at an even faster pace, as businesses ramp up their spending on marketing automation from 20 percent of the marketing budget today to 31 percent over the next five years1. But the MarTech stack of the past — a bunch of niche applications loosely bolted to a central marketing automation or CRM platform — will slowly give way to a more “composable” ecosystem of interoperable software components, orchestrated on the back end through AI agents. Hard to say what that marchitecture might look like exactly, other than a unified customer data layer at the center, but certainly it promises to be more streamlined, efficient and less siloed than now.

Frans Riemersma figures that ownership of this complex MarTech ecosystem might eventually be transferred from marketing ops to IT because the entire infrastructure will be deemed too important to be left in the hands of marketers due to security and compliance risks. Marketing’s job at that point?

Spend more time thinking about the customer experience and less about getting the next campaign out the door.

Stephen Shaw: What’s the origin story behind your consultancy?

Frans Riemersma: I was working as the VP R&D for a German MarTech vendor, now called Uptempo2, and I wanted to broaden my horizon.

So what I did was start looking at the MarTech Landscape of Scott Brinker3 and just started clicking logos. At the time there were not a lot of European vendors on the map. So I started collecting data on what was out there. I think in 2 to 3 years time I added two to three thousand tools to the landscape, just from Europe. So I shipped the data over in an Excel spreadsheet to Scott on a LinkedIn direct message. He asked me how I did it and I started to explain how I set up my MarTech data warehouse. He said maybe we could do this together.

I’d been doing a lot of software selection in the MRM (marketing resource management) space and DAM (digital asset management) space. But you really need to know whether the tools work well together. That was my trigger to start collecting, not just information on the types of tools, but the typical sets of tools in a stack. Is a stack a set of tools or maybe it’s a set of buttons which happen to sit in different tools? Because you never really use an entire tool. I mean it’s just like playing the piano, you don’t hit all the keys all the time. So you are looking for those buttons that really make a

difference. And that led me to another database I started to build which was all about RFIs, RFPs. I collected a vast body of requirements, over a thousand. And that gave big insights into what specific industries are using and need in terms of tools and capabilities.

SHAW: I know that the MarTech tool selection process can be pretty bewildering — I’ve been through it a few times in my career.

RIEMERSMA: Yes, indeed. It is not so much about having the best tool either. You have to know how to operate it. The technology is only as advanced as the person operating it. We are so focused on technology but we forget about the driver, let alone the destination. You don’t need all the features and all the data points and all the integrations — “We need everything!”.

No, you don’t need everything. You don’t need that Ferrari — by the way, I love them, love to have one, but that doesn’t mean I need one.

SHAW: Is the typical ask of you then “Help me understand what’s the best stack to build?” Or is it “How do I optimize what I’ve already got?”.

RIEMERSMA: It’s a very interesting question because marketing, marketing ops and IT, they all seem to have a different view on MarTech.

IT says the tools need to scale and perform: “We have a truck and it’s working”. But what marketing needs is maybe a motorbike instead.

Both have an engine and wheels, but they’re used in a completely different way. So IT, especially when they are reporting to CFOs, is focused on making sure everything works.

And they’re absolutely right. But marketing is there for future revenue and that is all about experimentation — so that leads to what we know as “shadow IT4”.

SHAW: What does a typical marketing stack looks like? How many moving parts are there?

What are the main parts of the engine, to borrow your metaphor? What’s at the center of the stack?

RIEMERSMA: Stacks behave like solar systems.

There is usually a hub — the “sun” if you will — defined as having more than 50 percent of all the other tools integrated with it. And that’s different between B2B and B2C. We see in B2B it’s mainly CRM and marketing automation/ engagement platforms, as opposed to B2C where it’s more often a cloud data warehouse and CDP [Customer Data Platform]. That’s because in B2B you sell to buying committees so you have a few contacts you need to know a lot about. Whereas in B2C, you need to know a bit about a lot of people.

SHAW: In the past a lot of the CRM and marketing applications stored their own version of the data. So you had all of these disconnected islands of data. Are you seeing applications now pulling data directly from the cloud data warehouse?

RIEMERSMA: Yes is the short answer. Now JULY/AUGUST 2025

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INTERVIEW in the past CDPs have typically been owned by marketing, almost as a way of saying to IT: “We need customer data. And if you can’t provide it, we’ll make a copy of it”. Now in our recent report5 that Scott Brinker and myself published, we saw that CDPs are becoming less the center of the stack. Much less. Especially in B2C, where it went from number one to number four. We had a conversation with David Raab6 and he was on the money when he told us, “Listen, CDPs are not going away, but their functions are being redistributed.” So to your point, yes, the cloud data warehouse becomes more and more important as customer data becomes more important to companies.

SHAW: I think I read at one point, this is a few years ago, that there were minimum of 17 different applications in a typical marketing stack.

RIEMERSMA: So in company stacks they’re easily a couple of hundred. In my marketing stack data warehouse we see on average between 30-40 but that’s the tip of the iceberg.

With some clients it can be double that due to redundancy. Sometimes you have two systems that do the same thing. We found that 82 percent of companies maintain duplicate applications on purpose before moving one of them over to the main stack.

SHAW: When you’re doing an assessment of a company’s marketing stack, what kinds of things are you looking for specifically to optimize?

RIEMERSMA: It depends on which of the three buying groups approach me, namely marketing, marketing ops, or IT. IT wants something scalable and secure whereas marketing is always on the lookout for new technology, i.e. influencers or loyalty or attribution or what have you.

Marketing ops is normally the smallest team and they are looking to optimize the main platform, just making sure the nuts and bolts are working and they can at least deliver the minimum required automation flows and support the new tactics and campaigns. Each group really has different requirements and priorities depending on their roles and responsibilities.

SHAW: The knock on these “frankenstacks” is that they go underutilized.

RIEMERSMA: The word “utilization”, frankly I don’t understand it, I don’t know what it means.

If I’m behind the wheel of a car, am I driving it well enough? Who cares? Where are you going? Very often the core customer journeys, like replacing your credit card, updating your subscription, is not even well designed. Why don’t we have our basics in place? And why do we focus so much on generating new leads while the current customers have a suboptimal experience?

SHAW: In terms of how you manage the stack, who should be in charge? Is that a cross functional team? Is it just marketing JULY/AUGUST 2025

David Raab… was on the money when he told us, “Listen, CDPs are not going away, but their functions are being redistributed.” So to your point, yes, the cloud data warehouse becomes more and more important…

ops? What should the optimal organizational structure be?

RIEMERSMA: The optimal ones — and those are rare — are the cross functional teams. But I think marketing ops is best equipped because they are both tech and business savvy while marketers are business savvy, IT is tech savvy, and so they bridge the gap. I really like what Scott Vaughan, former CMO from Integrate7 said: that marketing ops done in a good way is telling the customer story at the boardroom table.

SHAW: On average around 20 percent of the marketing budget is being spent on MarTech and now companies are thinking of spending upwards of 40 percent. What are you seeing and who should control the purse strings?

RIEMERSMA: Yeah, this is a very good question. I’m a big fan of follow the money, because then you know who’s calling the shots.

But the allocation has grown organically for two good reasons: one is protecting revenue, the other is creating new revenue.

SHAW: In your latest report you state that MarTech has reached a tipping point. What do you mean?

RIEMERSMA: AI is changing the game.

Software helps humans execute a task. We’re the plumbers. But now AI executes the task on behalf of us. So that is a game changer. And now suddenly we are no longer plumbers, we are maybe choreographers. And that is, for me,

a tipping point. Now you don’t have to think about a tool or certain features. You just work with an AI agent to complete a certain task.

Some people call it “micro SaaS”. That’s why I think it’s a tipping point. The dynamics are going to change.

SHAW: It’s a massive paradigm shift — it’s not just flipping a switch.

RIEMERSMA: In my mind, it’s almost like switching from silent movies to sound. So we’re still in a very early age of generative AI. And I think this is also a movement towards customer first, rather than technology or marketing first.

SHAW: Let’s talk about the latest MarTech report. There are 15,384 solutions in the market. What are some of the changes that have occurred that are driving this exponential market growth?

RIEMERSMA: Human creativity combined with software costs coming down. That’s the short answer. Often we hear people say that so many tools can’t be good, there has to be consolidation. Only the quality products should survive. But in producing our report, we look at G2 ratings8. A lot of the tools that went out of business — 1,200 in the last year — had a rating of 4 or higher in a scale of 5. I’m not trying to put as many logos as I can on the landscape, I’m not making up logos. It’s what we find, it’s what we see. These companies want to outperform each other and deliver the best DMN.CA ❰

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INTERVIEW product possible to marketing people. Like, in Amsterdam, we have a lot of restaurants here.

Nobody complains about too many restaurants.

Can’t we just have McDonald’s and Chinese food? No! Variety is a good thing.

SHAW: What are the categories that you’re seeing the fastest growth in? I know product management was a big one.

RIEMERSMA: There are 6 categories in the landscape and 49 sub-categories. Everything on the Landscape has a price tag, has a demo, has a subscription page or a login. But there’s many tools that you don’t see that fill in the gaps to make sure that a unique customer experience is possible. If you look at all the tools out there — those 15,000 or so — how often do they show up in stacks? We looked at not only product management, but also at integration platforms, at mobile apps, CMS even, and those four categories are all booming — even CMS [Content Management System] which is already at 70 percent prevalence. But product management outperformed by far all the other 49 categories. These product management lifecycle tools are really focused on supporting and building software.

RIEMERSMA: HubSpot is a particularly good example because what they do is integrate with a lot of other parties natively. Or they integrate with tools like Zapier and Make.com9. So you need to be able to integrate. And this is why the likes of Zapier is so successful. What suites have been trying to deliver is that they are basically a stack to go. So you have multiple modules, all supposedly integrated, and that comes with a lot of costs because you need to buy a lot of modules. And these integrations from big platforms are not always a guarantee for success.

So then maybe it’s better to integrate through a third party platform.

SHAW: MarTech is in this transitional state as you stated earlier. In marketing, what are some of the more common use cases that are really driving the business case for AI adoption? I think about Jasper10 with content creation being an obvious one. Chatbots clearly. Automated workflows.

RIEMERSMA: I try to keep it simple. There are two avenues where AI makes it’s way into companies, “outside in” and “inside out”. So “outside in” is generative AI based tools. You might call it “indie tools”, just hacked and

This is a new digital transformation wave where AI executes agentically for us. I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know where it’s headed, but we do need guardrails and oversight. That involves of course governance and privacy.

SHAW: Maybe you can help me understand this idea of composable marketing stacks.

RIEMERSMA: I can give you one word and you will understand what it means: Lego. It’s just like Lego blocks. Software is always built out of plugins, components, libraries, classes, objects.

It’s composable by nature. You can plug and play.

stacked together and then commercialized. The other one is through embedded automated workflows in your Eloqua, your Marketo, your HubSpot or what have you. And then of course there’s a completely different avenue - I call it “inside out” where we’re using AI assistants, co-pilots, AI workflows, AI agents, and now MCP integration.

SHAW: I think of a platform like HubSpot which has all of these APIs linked to hundreds of applications that fill a particular function of some kind. Is that what we’re talking about?

Or is it that HubSpot has natively constituent features which you can plug in or not?

SHAW: Explain MCP to me.

RIEMERSMA: MCP is a protocol that helps you integrate different tools. So AI agents are separate from any other tools, mainly predefined, and they can look stuff up online. Now you want to natively

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integrate those agents to certain other tools, like HubSpot. Well, that is where you use MCP. SHAW: Is it a means of orchestrating across the different agents?

RIEMERSMA: Yeah, it’s integration. And so in essence, you can now build your own platform.

The only limitation is your imagination. And that is something else. I have seen a growth hacker that created a tool with AI, one or two days, made $150,000 in that month. This is the new normal.

SHAW: With respect to the MarTech function, do you foresee an eventual absorption into the IT group because of the importance now of data and CX? RIEMERSMA: Yeah. This is a new digital transformation wave where AI executes agentically for us. I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know where it’s headed, but we do need guardrails and oversight. That involves of course governance and privacy. So who should manage AI and that technology? I think we have to work together as IT, marketing ops, and marketing to make that happen.

SHAW: What’s the headline going to be on your next report, do you think?

RIEMERSMA: Oh, that’s a very difficult question. But software costs are coming down.

And with AI replacing the tough work, the stuff that makes you face your customer with your back and not with your face, I think a lot of the technology burdens have been removed. So now it’s all about being experience led. Do you understand what the customer really wants?

So I think being experience led is maybe one of the most important things for us to focus on. In many conversations we’re so technology focused. What tool should I have? What type of features? Do we need the latest, greatest? I’m not sure how much longer that conversation will be needed.

1. The CMO Survey, Fall 2024.

2. Uptempo is a martech vendor specializing in marketing operations and resource management (MRM) solutions.

3. Scott Brinker’s Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic visually depicts the landscape of MarTech solutions.

4. “Shadow IT” refers to the unauthorized use of technology within an organization.

5. “The State of MarTech Report”, 2025 6. David Raab is Founder of the Customer Data Platform Institute.

7. Scott Vaughan is a well known marketing advisor and consultant.

8. A G2 Score is a standardized metric used to rank products and vendors.

9. Zapier is a tool that helps automate repetitive tasks between two or more apps without coding. Make is a no-code automation platform that allows users to connect apps and services to automate workflows and tasks.

10. Jasper is an AI-powered software platform designed to help marketers create content.

STEPHEN SHAW is the Chief Strategy Officer of Kenna, a marketing solutions provider specializing in delivering a more unified customer experience. He is also the host of the Customer First Thinking podcast.

Stephen can be reached via e-mail at sshaw@kenna.ca

JULY/AUGUST 2025

COMING IN NOVEMBER OBA CONFERENCE CENTRE 20 Toronto Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, Ontario.

Attend and Discover Insights on the Future of Loyalty & Rewards Programs, Perks and Points Campaigns, Customer Experience Offers and all aspects of customer retention and engagement.

An All-Keynote Senior Executive summit, located in the heart of Toronto, leaders in all aspects of data-driven loyalty and rewards will examine the workings of today’s consumer engagement and reveal the near-future in the ever-expanding, analyticspowered C-Suite. The universal torrent of data available today has become the foundational tool of informed decision making for marketers in all sectors, but none more than loyalty programs and rewards platforms. Data and the evaluation of data connects across department and functions. Each Keynote presentation and panel discussion will explore and reveal real-world, actionable paths to enable all aspects of the transformative power of million-member loyalty brands and consumer rewards.

See the full speaker roster and sign up now to save with Early Bird Registration discounts for single, dual or team registrations.

To Register or Get More Information

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STAFFING

Navigating the Hiring Process and Avoiding Bad Hires

BY VIVIAN TAM

T

he hiring landscape is complex and continues to evolve in ways that present new and unexpected challenges for businesses, including those in the marketing and creative field. Despite larger ongoing economic uncertainty, businesses continue to have important functions that require skilled talent, and projects and objectives that are moving forward. Though job postings and interviews continue, the path from vacancy to offer has grown longer and more complex, and this is impacting marketing and creative departments and professionals alike. Delays in approvals, evolving expectations, and added scrutiny have all made it harder for companies to move quickly and confidently.

New research from Robert Half shows that 95 percent of marketing and creative hiring managers say their hiring process now takes longer than it did ❱ DMN.CA

just two years ago. And it’s not just one step slowing things down; evaluating applications to determine who to interview, conducting thorough reference checks, and writing and posting job applications have all become more time-consuming.

At the same time, 84 percent of M&C managers say they’re still struggling to find the skilled talent they need to support key business priorities. And even when they do, mistakes are still being made that lead to compounding repercussions. The most common mistakes they report making in the hiring process that led to bad hires are failing to communicate clear job descriptions and role duties (71 percent) and not properly assessing technical skills and qualifications (58 percent).

Our latest research shows that when they make a bad hire, it takes marketing and creative managers more than 3 weeks on average to recognize their mistake, and the

subsequent performance issues are resulting in an average of 12 hours of wasted productivity every week that the wrong hire stays in the position. Beyond that, and because of it, more than 6 in 10 managers surveyed reported that one of the biggest costs of a bad hire is that it led to turnover on their teams, thereby starting the long hiring cycle all over again.

The risks of both rushing through the process and taking too long are real and harmful. When due diligence is compromised either because of lack of time and resources for thorough assessments or because businesses have critical roles they need filled immediately, major mistakes can happen. Yet when hiring takes too long, remaining employees often absorb the extra workload, which can lead to burnout, lower morale and delayed project timelines.

The longer a role remains open, the more pressure builds, and, in some cases, top candidates walk

away in favour of faster-moving opportunities. In addition, projects may have gaps, new initiatives can lose momentum, and revenue might even be lost, especially if the open role is needed to fill a core skills gap on the team.

Why is this happening? In part, it’s a response to economic uncertainty. To reduce risk, some companies are adding more approval layers, stricter compliance protocols, and multiple stakeholder interviews, all of which slow down the process. At the same time, businesses are being increasingly selective as they feel the leverage shifting more in their favour after a few years of an extremely tight labour market, and are waiting for the “perfect” candidate, even if it means losing valuable time and talent in the process.

These interconnected challenges are forcing many marketing and creative organizations to rethink their hiring strategies. To navigate today’s hiring cycles and still make JULY/AUGUST 2025

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STAFFING

strong talent decisions that are thorough without compromising efficiency, companies should focus on these core strategies: ❯ Streamline decision-making.

Involving too many voices can stall momentum. Clearly define hiring timelines, identify essential decision-makers, and align must-have criteria, including job expectations and compensation, before launching the search. This includes determining hiring managers’ availability and blocking off windows for interviews ahead of time where possible, to avoid endless scheduling back-andforth. It also means determining maximum compensation abilities to help speed up negotiations after an offer has been made. Structured interviews and consistent evaluation frameworks can improve speed and confidence. ❯ Reframe what the ideal candidate looks like. Don’t let JULY/AUGUST 2025

pre-evaluated skilled candidates that fit your business and its needs. With access to top talent, including those passively open to new opportunities and not actively applying, they can be the gateway you need to find the right fit.

perfection get in the way of progress. Look for high-potential candidates who demonstrate agility, curiosity, and strong interpersonal skills. A balanced interview approach, mixing technical and behavioural questions that also assess soft skills and company cultural fit, can help hiring managers avoid these common pitfalls. ❯ Build flexibility into your workforce model. Contract and consulting professionals are a

powerful resource to engage with. They bring specialized skills, help ease workloads on permanent staff, and keep projects moving. Contract roles also offer a low-risk opportunity to assess long-term fits, while giving professionals the chance to build experience and expand their networks. ❯ Consider working with a trusted talent solutions firm.

Specialized recruiters and talent solutions firms can provide

Ultimately, companies need to strike a balance between due diligence and decisiveness. Waiting too long can be just as costly as hiring the wrong person. By refining the hiring process and embracing agility, businesses can reduce risk, maintain momentum, and build stronger teams ready to take on what’s next.

For job seekers, flexibility is equally important. In a slower hiring market, contract roles, new certifications or adjacent industries can open doors and strengthen your long-term career path.

VIVIAN TAM is Practice Director, Marketing and Creative at Robert Half, Canada.

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LOYALTY

The Critical Distinctions Between B2C and B2B Loyalty

ISTOCK/ MARIUSZ_PRUSACZYK

Respecting the Divide:

BY RICHARD SCHENKER

T

oo often, loyalty professionals with deep experience in B2C make the mistake of assuming that the design principles that apply to consumer programs will easily translate to B2B environments.

While there are surface-level similarities between the two, such as the desire to influence behaviour, build emotional connection, and drive repeat engagement, the underlying mechanics, motivations, and structures are materially different. Respecting those differences is essential if the goal is to design a solution that performs well in context.

B2C loyalty centres around the individual. It typically involves a high volume of customers making lower-value transactions and is driven by emotional triggers, personal identity, convenience, and a combination of rational and aspirational rewards. In this environment, segmentation, personalization, and brand storytelling are paramount. It is a landscape shaped by impulse, brand affinity, and lifestyle alignment.

Value is often expressed through experiences, perks, and statusbased benefits. And there is a well-defined toolkit such as points, tiers, gamification, and surprise and delight that is broadly understood and, when executed well, generates positive return on investment.

B2B loyalty is far more complex and multi-layered. The decisionmaker is rarely the end user, and motivations are often tied to job performance, financial metrics, and long-term relationship building. A single customer in B2B can consist of multiple stakeholders with competing interests including procurement, operations, finance, and executive ❱ DMN.CA

leadership, each of whom plays a role in shaping outcomes. Transactions are fewer but higher in value, and the sales cycle is measured in months or years rather than days.

Relationship capital matters more than brand affinity, and loyalty is as much about reducing friction and risk as it is about adding value.

This difference in structure has profound implications for loyalty design. In B2C, the marketer controls the brand and the experience, and the customer responds. In B2B, the loyalty program must navigate ecosystems of influence, long-standing vendor agreements, legacy systems, and performance-based key performance indicators. You are not just trying to make someone feel good about buying from you again. You are often trying to make them look good to their boss, hit their budget targets, or justify renewal to a board. The loyalty mechanic must support those realworld needs without undermining commercial integrity or triggering compliance concerns.

For example, B2C programs often include discounts, upgrades, or early access to products. In B2B, similar constructs might exist but under different names such as volume rebates, strategic partnership tiers, or co-branded marketing funds. These are all loyalty mechanisms, just in disguise. What matters is not what they are called but how they are structured to influence desired behaviours. And critically, how they respect procurement rules, channel relationships, and the complexity of attribution.

A B2B program that behaves like a B2C program will almost

certainly fail. That is not to say emotional loyalty does not matter in B2B. It absolutely does. But it is expressed differently. It comes through recognition of partnership, bespoke service levels, access to decision-makers, and co-created value. It is the supplier who solves an urgent problem over a weekend, not the one who sends birthday emails. It is loyalty built on trust, not just frequency.

B2C loyalty is increasingly shaped by data science, real-time decisioning, and orchestrated omnichannel experiences. These tools are equally powerful in B2B but must be applied differently.

Understanding buying patterns across regions, tracking engagement across functions, and linking behaviour to downstream business outcomes can create powerful insight. But data collection and use must be more nuanced and often require direct human relationship management to validate and interpret what is happening.

Loyalty professionals approaching B2B for the first time should resist the instinct to replicate B2C playbooks.

Instead, they should begin by mapping the commercial value chain, identifying key influencers and decision-makers, and understanding what success looks like for each of them. Program

mechanics should then be tailored to align with both the customer’s business objectives and your own. The reward structure must support this shared success, not detract from it. And measurement must go beyond participation and redemption to include business impact, relationship depth, and contract longevity.

In both worlds, loyalty is about more than retention. It is about preference, advocacy, and emotional affinity. But the path to get there diverges sharply depending on whether your customer is a person or a business. Professionals who understand these differences and honour them in their design will be the ones who build loyalty solutions that endure.

RICHARD SCHENKER is a highly accomplished customer engagement thought leader, loyalty practitioner and partnership curator who has designed, renovated, and managed some of the world’s leading customer loyalty programs.

He has an impeccable track record of success at enriching transactional and emotional relationships between iconic brands and their customers, across multiple business sectors.

Richard has spent the first half of his career in senior loyalty roles with the Hudson’s Bay Company and Shoppers Drug Mart and the remainder of his career in leadership roles with leading loyalty agencies, Air Miles and Bond Brand Loyalty. Currently he is the Founder & Chief Customer Engagement Officer of Loyal Strategy Consulting, a consulting firm focused on enriching customer loyalty for leading brands. Richard can be reached at: rschenker@loyalstrategyconsulting.com or visit: loyalstrategyconsulting.com JULY/AUGUST 2025

Reach marketers & financial executives Our magazines are must-reads for key executives in core corporate competencies.

Can you help our readers: • Create a strong financial structure and healthy economic ecosystem to ensure capital and cash flow keep their engines running?

• Determine who their customers should be, how they can reach them most effectively, and how they can turn data-driven marketing into profitable sales?

• Build efficient and effective financial systems to enhance payments and billings between their companies and their customers and vendors?

• Convert all the data and information they collect from every contact point into tangible benefits that increase revenue and reduce costs?

• Equip their companies with the tools, technology, systems and hardware needed to manage their operations, to create new services or products, and deliver them to their market?

• Manage their customers with smoothly functioning support departments that are properly staffed and equipped to solve problems, foster loyalty and retain customers?

• Make any or every step in that chain better, faster, cheaper, and more profitable?

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// 22

ISTOCK/ BALKANSCAT

LOYALTY

Bringing the Brand Home:

What the Toronto Blue Jays’ Home Run Jacket Can Teach Us About Ritual, Symbolism, and Loyalty

BY RICHARD SCHENKER

A

s a lifelong Toronto Blue Jays fan, I’ve experienced all the highs and lows this team has delivered over the decades. But beyond the box scores and batting averages, what keeps us connected to our team runs far deeper than just wins and losses. It’s the moments, the symbols, and the traditions that create emotional meaning. One of the more recent and powerful examples of this is the Blue Jays’ now-iconic home run jacket.

First introduced in 2021, the home run jacket quickly became more than just a quirky celebration.

Each time a Jays player hits one out of the park, they are welcomed back to the dugout and draped in the custom-designed jacket, which features the names of all the players’ home countries. It is part celebration, part camaraderie, and part unspoken pact between teammates and fans. For those watching, it is a moment that reinforces our shared identity as part of something bigger. It is not just a team. It is a brotherhood, and a source of national pride for fans coast to coast. ❱ DMN.CA

The ritual of the jacket taps into something primal and symbolic.

It transforms an individual achievement into a collective triumph. Players are not just rounding the bases. They are being honoured by their peers. For fans, it is a powerful visual cue that captures the energy and unity of the team. It builds a shared emotional narrative that extends well beyond the highlight reel.

The Toronto Blue Jays are not alone in this approach. Across Major League Baseball, teams are leaning into their own post-home run rituals. The Padres snap Polaroid photos to memorialize the moment. The Angels use a Samurai helmet to crown their sluggers. The Orioles have become famous for their quirky “Homer Hose.” Each of these brand rituals is more than a gimmick. They are expressions of team culture, values, and identity.

They turn fleeting moments into lasting impressions.

So what can brands outside of sport learn from this?

Too many brands still try to earn loyalty through promotions, points, and price. But real,

emotional loyalty comes from symbolic actions that create meaning and anticipation. Brand rituals are powerful because they tell customers they belong.

Take, for example, a fashion retailer that rewards frequent shoppers with a personalized “first look” appointment each season.

Instead of simply sending an email with new arrivals, the experience could be elevated with a physical invitation, a personal note from a stylist, and a signature in-store toast. Done well, it becomes a brand ritual of recognition, not just a sales event.

Even in financial services, a client reaching a savings milestone could trigger a ritualistic experience. It might be a personalized digital message from their advisor, a branded achievement badge in the app, or even a mailed letter of congratulations. It is not about extravagance. It is about relevance and resonance.

The Toronto Blue Jays did not invent celebration. But they did show us how intentional, repeatable moments can deepen connection. The home run jacket is a reminder that symbolic gestures,

when grounded in team culture, can ignite emotional loyalty and inspire storytelling that lasts well beyond the baseball stadium.

For marketers, the lesson is clear. If you want your brand to matter more, create moments that mean more. And if you are not sure where to start, I would be happy to help you discover your brand’s next great ritual.

RICHARD SCHENKER is a highly accomplished customer engagement thought leader, loyalty practitioner and partnership curator who has designed, renovated, and managed some of the world’s leading customer loyalty programs.

He has an impeccable track record of success at enriching transactional and emotional relationships between iconic brands and their customers, across multiple business sectors.

Richard has spent the first half of his career in senior loyalty roles with the Hudson’s Bay Company and Shoppers Drug Mart and the remainder of his career in leadership roles with leading loyalty agencies, Air Miles and Bond Brand Loyalty. Currently he is the Founder & Chief Customer Engagement Officer of Loyal Strategy Consulting, a consulting firm focused on enriching customer loyalty for leading brands. Richard can be reached at: rschenker@loyalstrategyconsulting.com or visit: loyalstrategyconsulting.com JULY/AUGUST 2025

// 23

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Ratio of Website Visitors to In-Store Visits s Augu

6.0

t ‘20

h Marc

‘21

h Marc

5.0

‘22

4.7

4.0

3.0

2.0 1.9

2.0

1.0 1.0

2019

Nigeria

Retailer A

Toronto CSD by Dissemination Area

2020

2021

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India

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China, People’s Republic of

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0.0

Dominant Country of Origin

2022

Retailer B

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People know well enough to ask favour (none)

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Close relatives in same city (0-2)

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29.9% Index:107

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