Alberta Business Marketing

Ahhh – the beauty of procrastination. We all do it. Things get busy, and what was once important to us gets pushed to the bottom of the list. Particularly things that don’t bring immediate impact… It’s not that it doesn’t matter anymore, it just gets easier every day to push it into the background and focus on what matters most on that particular day.

For many (if not most) organizations – social media engagement tends to land in that procrastination bucket more often than not. We all know it is important. We all know the long term gains that ongoing engagement can provide. But if we just skip today – will it really matter? And then, just one more day? And then eventually, we realize 2 months have gone by and it has become too easy to keep it on the bottom of the list.
I am a huge advocate for all organizations – both for those in the non-profit and for-profit sectors – to stay actively engaged in the social media space. And I believe it’s critical for all of us in the marketing sector to do so on a personal level as well. How can we improve our business success if we don’t know what the consumer sentiment is out there, if we don’t understand where our consumers are engaging, and if we aren’t playing in the space that our customers are living every day? And how can our organizations gain consumer belief that we are engaged with them, if we take long spells off… and yet, here I am, 2 months into a new job and new routines, and realizing that the busy-ness of my life has gotten in the way of this important part of the business of my life. My active engagement first slowed, and then stopped over the past 2 months, as I justified to myself every day that I would “get to it tomorrow”. Luckily – “tomorrow” came today. And as I jump back into it, and get myself back into a routine that keeps active engagement a daily part of my life, I thought I would write a quick post to urge all of you to do the same. …. Unfortunately it’s also been a couple of months since this blog made it up to the top of my list, so figured I’d correct that at the same time.

So please, remember – no matter what industry you are in – stay active in what is happening with your company, your competitors and your customers. Know where people and businesses important to you are, and what they are saying. And structure your day in such a way that it doesn’t make it to the procrastination bucket. It doesn’t need to take too much time, but it does need to be consistently acted upon.

Now if you’ll excuse me – I’m feeling a need to tweet.

Vicki Waschkowski

Tags: Not-for-Profit, social media
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As I write this I am overwhelmed with emotion, from the incredible outpouring of true community that I have recently been a part of – that deep down I feared no longer existed in such an intrinsic way. Much of what I do for a living surrounds the idea of leveraging community from a social marketing perspective –and using it to rally people behind a cause, or a company, or a movement for change. That is social media at its finest. The whole idea of social media in fact brings us back a couple generations to the small-town lifestyle where everyone knew everyone else in their community, where there was a constant social engagement, and everyone intrinsically helped their neighbours in times of need. Those days have sadly changed in most neighbourhoods today…. Or at least I thought they had. Gladly, I was proven wrong.

My young son attends a daycare, a part of a network of 3 childcare centres in a suburb outside of Toronto. About 2 weeks ago, we were told about a little 3-year-old boy who attends one of the 3 centres, who had been diagnosed with cancer and was immediately rushed to SickKids for surgery, and is now starting chemotherapy. It was every parent’s nightmare becoming reality for this boy’s family. I had never met, and will likely never know, this boy or his family – and yet they are a part of our community. The daycare is a core part of our life – where my little boy, just like theirs, spends a majority of his waking hours. His daycare is a part of our daycare network, and therefore a part of the extended family. As I’m sure with every parent, his story really hit home, his pictures bringing tears to my eyes, and my compassion immediately reaching out to his parents. While life as they knew it stopped for this family, to tend to their boy, the daycare staff at the 3 centres immediately jumped into action to develop a fundraiser to help them out. They hosted a dance-a-thon where all the children of the 3 centres went out into the May sunshine and danced. For almost 90 minutes, the children had fun outside dancing, with contributions from their family and friends through purchases of cancer-society bracelets for the kids and donations to the family.

I must admit – at first I hesitated on what (if anything) to give as a donation. I didn’t know these people. There are lots of causes out there. Did they really need financial support? Were there more “worthy” choices? My son is too young to collect donations… all of the typical barriers to action every non-profit faces. But of course I knew that this was a family, just like my own, whose lives had just been stopped in time. A family whose only focus right now was on saving their little boy. We are their community – and of course we should help. I wondered though if others in the daycare network would feel the same? They did.

This brings me back to the start of my story. Where I am sitting here in tears as the understanding of community truly washes over me, and the realization that it still exists in the real world, in this day and age, and in an off-line way. The parents of my son’s small daycare, families just like mine who are struggling with huge daycare payments of their own (on top of mortgages, commuting, etc), donated $6,200 to the fundraiser. The parents of the location that the boy himself attended, not surprisingly, raised even more. And the total of the small network of parents from the 3 centres, donated an incredible $26,000 to help this boy and his parents through a very difficult time.

So why am I writing about this on a CMA blog? Because it proves that the sense of community is alive and well, even with time-stressed young parents in Toronto. As marketers for organizations with a strong cause – we need to leverage this sense of community. We need to think about how to bring communities together (both online and offline), and to hit home in people’s hearts in a powerful way. And we need to teach our children (and ourselves) the power of compassion. I hope that all of the children in these 3 daycares were taught a very valuable lesson – that when someone needs our help, we help. That every person, no matter how small, can make a real difference in someone’s life.

My son understands that his dancing made this other little boy happy. His Mom knows that the togetherness of community made a real difference to this boy’s parents. As a person, my faith in the intrinsic goodness of humanity has been restored, and I have developed a strong connection to a family who I will likely never meet thanks to the power of compassion. As a marketer, I have become even more committed to the idea of developing and leveraging community in its truest sense for my cause-marketing clients.

I hope you will take the same lessons.

Tags: Not-for-Profit, social media
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...A lesson learned from a local charity with a big heart

I have spent most of my career on the agency-side of marketing, working with large corporations in the financial, automotive, and B2B sectors. When I first began immersing myself in the not-for-profit space a couple of years ago, it was an incredibly refreshing change. And while I still balance clients in both for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, my serious passion is in helping the charitable sector succeed. I think there is tremendous value in bringing for-profit business strategies to the not-for-profit space. And certainly in today’s marketing world of engagement and social media integration – what better space to play and experiment, than with a charitable organization – who inherently brings with it a passionate base of people who care personally about the cause. These are the people who will become the ambassadors, and ultimately the fundraisers, for the organization.

In partnering with MacLaren Kiindrid, a new division of MacLaren McCann focused on the non-profit and social good space, I have recently begun working with an incredible local charity – Camp Oochigeas. “Ooch” is a magical place – where kids with cancer can come to just be kids. The work they do with these children is truly phenomenal, and the stories are incredibly heart-warming. But more than that, Ooch is a great example to the many non-profits out there at demonstrating how incredible success can be achieved by leveraging a great cause through an integrated campaign/event. Big budgets aren’t required to make a big impact. A great lesson not only for all you NFPs, but for an agency girl typically accustomed to big budgets.

Starting this week, the CMA Not-For-Profit council will be publishing NFP case studies, to be released throughout the year. (CMA members can view the full case study and video here.) Camp Ooch has the honour of being the first case study in this process. I encourage all NFP’s out there, and corporations seeking a case study in social good, to have a look. It shows how some sound strategic thinking, a strong creative theme, and a whole lot of passion can drive some solid event success. Despite a difficult environment (immediately following Haiti, and in the midst of a recession), the case study shows how Ooch was able to exceed their $500,000 fundraising goal for a single bi-annual event by over $75,000 – in the course of 2 weeks.

… and in typical DM fashion, I’ll finish with a small call-to-action to encourage you to follow Ooch online as they lead up to the upcoming launch of the camp’s newest addition – bringing Ooch to downtown Toronto with a year-round indoor camp for children battling childhood cancer. Those of you in Toronto – keep an eye out for some amazing local market activity in the coming months.

Vicki Waschkowski

Tags: Not-for-Profit
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...A lesson learned from a local charity with a big heart

I have spent most of my career on the agency-side of marketing, working with large corporations in the financial, automotive, and B2B sectors. When I first began immersing myself in the not-for-profit space a couple of years ago, it was an incredibly refreshing change. And while I still balance clients in both for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, my serious passion is in helping the charitable sector succeed. I think there is tremendous value in bringing for-profit business strategies to the not-for-profit space. And certainly in today’s marketing world of engagement and social media integration – what better space to play and experiment, than with a charitable organization – who inherently brings with it a passionate base of people who care personally about the cause. These are the people who will become the ambassadors, and ultimately the fundraisers, for the organization.

In partnering with MacLaren Kiindrid, a new division of MacLaren McCann focused on the non-profit and social good space, I have recently begun working with an incredible local charity – Camp Oochigeas. “Ooch” is a magical place – where kids with cancer can come to just be kids. The work they do with these children is truly phenomenal, and the stories are incredibly heart-warming. But more than that, Ooch is a great example to the many non-profits out there at demonstrating how incredible success can be achieved by leveraging a great cause through an integrated campaign/event. Big budgets aren’t required to make a big impact. A great lesson not only for all you NFPs, but for an agency girl typically accustomed to big budgets.

Starting this week, the CMA Not-For-Profit council will be publishing NFP case studies, to be released throughout the year. (CMA members can view the full case study and video here.) Camp Ooch has the honour of being the first case study in this process. I encourage all NFP’s out there, and corporations seeking a case study in social good, to have a look. It shows how some sound strategic thinking, a strong creative theme, and a whole lot of passion can drive some solid event success. Despite a difficult environment (immediately following Haiti, and in the midst of a recession), the case study shows how Ooch was able to exceed their $500,000 fundraising goal for a single bi-annual event by over $75,000 – in the course of 2 weeks.

… and in typical DM fashion, I’ll finish with a small call-to-action to encourage you to follow Ooch online as they lead up to the upcoming launch of the camp’s newest addition – bringing Ooch to downtown Toronto with a year-round indoor camp for children battling childhood cancer. Those of you in Toronto – keep an eye out for some amazing local market activity in the coming months.

Vicki Waschkowski

Tags: Not-for-Profit
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Together with my colleagues on the CMA Not-for-Profit Council, we've customized these FAQs for charities that clarify the rules governing the use of the National Do Not Call List Service (NDNCL) and other telemarketing regulations.

The key message is that as a registered charity, you do not need to use the National DNCL for your own telemarketing activities. However, you do need to maintain numbers on your own do not call list for a period of 3 years and 31 days from anyone requesting not to be called. Additionally, you still must comply with all other telemarketing regulations (see FAQs) and be aware of and comply with additional registration and regulations that each province may have.

While the regulatory framework may seem restrictive and maked it more challenging to raise money for important causes, the rules benefit both consumers and businesses. The telemarketing regulations are the best practices that a reputable agency or charity would want to follow any way. After all, these are your donors we are talking about. They deserve to be treated with these common sense courtesies.

By following the rules and best practices that help maintain a “clean” market place, our goal should be to improve telemarketing so that it is generally accepted as having a positive and helpful conversation with your donors.

P.J. VanAuken
Vice President of Client Services, Wyers Direct Communciations

Tags: Ethics / Legal, Not-for-Profit
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