Celebrating My 100th Post: Who Would Have Ever Thought…
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on May 23, 2012
I am excited to announce that today marks my 100th blog post on this website. As I look back over
the past year and a half since I started this blog (and my own business), many exciting things have happened. It truly is amazing to see how my small business has evolved as a concept and through relationships with new and existing customers. And I have so much more to look forward to in the future – all because I simply started a blog.
Because today is such a momentous occasion, I think it’s necessary to look back on what has been accomplished since my first post. Without trying to sound like I’m to0ting my own horn, here are the top five things that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by and am proud of having experienced since my very first blog post.
1. Meeting and connecting with amazing people in the Canadian digital media industry who share the same passion and drive for entrepreneurship and a better digital world. Again, I don’t want to brag but Canada has a remarkably close-knit community of startups, freelancers and consultants who all want to see our nation become a global leader in the digital economy.
2. Either discovering or being discovered by new customers who also share the same interests as I do and using my blog and their blogging platforms to share that enthusiasm and knowledge.
3. Being inspired to go back to school to get a Certificate in Freelance Writing at U of T to continue my new-found passion for writing and discussing digital media trends and key issues that shape my world.
4. Working with creative and intelligent Canadian startups, small businesses and small business supporters in the digital space who seek to tear down walls/barriers and replace them with their own unique solutions.
5. Continuously being pleasantly surprised that where I initially thought I’d be at this point in the game is much different from where I thought I’d end up. However, I am ecstatic and optimistic that where I am is exactly where I should be.
Thanks to everyone who reads my blog and for your encouragement via e-mail, Twitter/LinkedIn and in-person comments. I appreciate your support and will continue to share my thoughts, tips and ideas with you on this platform.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Should The Globe and Mail Adopt eMarketer’s Content Marketing Strategy?
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses, Random Thoughts, Storytelling on May 15, 2012
Last week, one of Canada’s most prestigious national newspapers, The Globe and Mail, announced 
that the business was moving to a “metered pay wall system this fall, asking online readers to pay if they read more than a certain number of articles each month.” This bold move by the Toronto-based publisher follows a trend that was started by the New York Times last year.
Many critics and loyal Globe and Mail readers were obviously outraged by the proposed changes. Some argued that they “would not pay unless the content is unique and valuable.” This got me thinking about successful strategies where publishers have provided some of their in-depth research and objective analysis for free, while also charging a premium for deeper, extended coverage. The best example that came to mind was eMarketer which offers research and analysis on Digital Marketing and Media from 4,000 sources worldwide.
eMarketer content is distributed to its customer base for free through newsletters and blogs – both of which have high readership and subscription levels. These free stories provide objective, analytical perspectives from eMarketer consultants and writers who cover hot trending topics or breaking news stories in the online marketing world. The blogs and newsletters often use research snippets from eMarketer’s premium, pay-per-download reports to help support the story.
Not only do these channels inform eMarketer customers of newsworthy trends and topics, they also spark the reader’s interest to then purchase reports which provide deeper coverage and context for the stories. The downloadable PDF reports can range in length from a few 8.5×11 printable pages to a mini e-book for which customers pay premium price.
The Globe and Mail is in a unique position to follow this model because of the popularity of their Report on Business (ROB) Magazine and Technology coverage. The heavy readership and quality content of these channels make The Globe and Mail a national resource for in-depth analysis on business and technology trends and issues in Canada. And the publication is already on its way to becoming an eMarketer-type service by hiring consultants, like Duncan Stewart from Deloitte Canada, to write about Canadian and global technology trends.
If The Globe and Mail was to provide even deeper analysis (i.e. custom research studies and eMarketer-style aggregated reports from partner consulting firms) on a particular tech or business trend, readers would very likely pay more money for access to that information.
Of course, the news must always be the news. And the Globe ROB and Tech (possibly even Politics) reports would have to be slightly more evergreen in style and content – providing context where needed for breaking news stories.
I do realize that my suggestion goes against traditional journalism values. But in a world where news breaks faster on Twitter and Facebook than the print publishers can cover the story, I think it’s time to re-think the news publication and reporting model all together. Perhaps the solution is not to charge your readers to pay to read a news story. Instead, consider opportunities to provide deeper insights and data that no one can truly get anywhere else.
This idea would ultimately transform a publication like The Globe and Mail into part consulting firm, part news resource. But the upside is that it could create a reporting service that business, technology and political analysts can use to do their jobs better. It also takes the burden away from relying solely on advertising and creates a product that The Globe’s already loyal readers might actually want to purchase.
I think that the pay wall model is a short term solution for an industry in serious distress. Long term, I think newspapers need to experiment with new business models that will provide a different kind of service to their readers – just like what eMarketer and GigaOm are already doing. Do you agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts on other ways that The Globe and Mail could charge their readers for content that is unique and valuable.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Coke’s Big Plan for Digital Storytelling
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts, Storytelling on May 9, 2012
Yesterday, I read a blog entitled “Ten Brands Doing Post-Advertising Right.” I recommend that you check it out to see how companies around the world are using digital storytelling platforms to spark conversations and generate awareness of their brands.
The example that I enjoyed the most was a series of videos from Coca Cola, describing their goals for global content excellence by 2020. I loved the storyboards that Coca Cola used to illustrate, rather than just tell their story about digital storytelling and conversations. It’s so simple, yet so creative. I’ve re-embeded the videos below for your viewing pleasure.
What I love about their strategy is that even though Coca Cola is a big, global brand, even a small business can easily adopt some of the tools and tactics that they are using. I also dig that they are being completely transparent about their plans, letting the world know their intentions to use technology to enable consumer empowerment, build emotional connections and meet the needs of an on-demand culture.
Check-out 2:45 in the first video (Chapter 3) for Coke’s rendition of “The Evolution of Storytelling,” and the different types of storytelling that Coke will use to build their brand in the next 8 years. But it’s also worth taking the time to watch both videos in their entirety, if you can. Enjoy!
Like this:
Will Advertising Ever Really Fit into the Social Media World?
Posted by The Running Start in Uncategorized on May 2, 2012
Yesterday, CNET posted a story entitled Frustrated advertisers to Facebook: Take our money — 
please! The article explains that many large advertisers are annoyed because (a) there aren’t bigger display ad opportunities available on Facebook (think homepage takeovers and big box banners), and (b) they do not always get the same level of service with Facebook that they currently experience with other large, more established media companies.
“The problem is that Facebook isn’t willing to do anything different for the client that wants to spend $10,000 versus $10 million,” said a NYC ad executive to CNET.
As a former Google sales employee, I think that Facebook is just at a place where Google was about five years ago. The company is growing so quickly and probably has to achieve a certain level of revenue to justify hiring more sales people to support their ads. So, I definitely feel for their growing pains. However, I still question whether advertising has a place in social media.
I don’t need to quote statistics to explain that people trust brand and product referrals from their friends and people they know and trust, over ads they see on a website. Facebook has been very careful so far to make sure the user experience is as “ad intrusive-free” as possible - knowing that users want to hear from the people in their lives, not advertisers, on their platform.
But if a brand is looking to engage in a dialogue with their customer on Facebook, that’s a different story. So far, the conversational approach has been somewhat successful as many people “like” their favourite brands and are willing to share feedback with companies when prompted on Facebook. But are all brands spending the advertising/marketing dollars they should to capitalize on that dialogue? Of course, that money wouldn’t currently go to Facebook but rather to people who manage those conversations. Still, those marketing dollars could be maximized by supporting the creation of engaging Facebook conversations all the same.
In a media world where niche targeting is everything, and algorithms are focused on helping people to refine the reach of those niches, it’s surprising that advertisers want to spend so much money on the website – just because it reaches 900 million people. Hasn’t the ad world been preaching targeted vs. mass reach advertising over the past 10 to 20 years anyhow?
Still, to make those mass reach advertisers happy, perhaps Facebook could offer more premium customization of their timeline profiles – similar to how YouTube provides advertisers with premium brand channel opportunities in exchange for a bigger ad spend. I also wouldn’t be surprised to soon see the opportunity for brands to pay for richer customer dialogue and analytics features in the near future. But when it comes to increasing big brand ad exposure alongside user-to-user dialogue, I think Facebook is wise to keep the user experience focused on the “social” rather than the “media.”
What do you think? I’d love to hear about your experience in advertising vs. engaging in customer dialogues on Facebook.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Why Writers, Musicians and Artists Need to Think Like Digital Entrepreneurs
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on April 26, 2012
I just got back from two invigorating days at Canada 3.0 2012 in Stratford, Ontario. During the 
keynote presentations and break-out sessions, I was inspired by two very important events:
- A Canadian indie rocker named Hannah Chapplain, who performed on the first night of the conference, competed in the Road to Banff startup pitch-off competition that was happening in tandem with Canada 3.0 2012. She was there because she considers herself a digital media entrepreneur. It makes sense since she is publishing and marketing her own content to promote her talents.
- A break-out session in the Content stream at Canada 3.0 2012, featuring GigaOm’s Sr. Writer, Mathew Ingram, and The Globe and Mail’s Editor-in-Chief, John Stackhouse, raised an important issue: just like with music, people might want to pay for access to certain writers in a newspaper. Apparently, the Globe and Mail has been researching the pay wall model – where people might be willing to pay on a per-article basis – just like a music download.
What this made me realize is that Canadian writers, musicians and artists should adopt a more entrepreneurial mindset. In the world of journalism, newspapers are struggling to develop a business model that attracts more viewership, and ultimately more premium advertising dollars. Right now, news publications are relying heavily on columnists and popular writers to help them do this. Whether they like it or not, journalists now need to learn how to market themselves online in order to attract a following.
The same is obviously happening in the music world. We already have great examples of Canadian musicians (think Justin Bieber) who have proven that this model works. Ms. Chapplain is very smart to be pitching herself like an entrepreneur as well.
This is the new world that we live in. Old business models, which relied heavily on distributors and corporate marketing to do the selling for musicians, writers and artists are slowly declining. The content marketing tools are there, at your disposal, for free. Your success lies in your own hands.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
The Final Countdown: One Week to Go Until Canada 3.0 2012
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on April 17, 2012
I’m very excited to be participating once again in the Canadian Digital Media Network‘s (CDMN) 
Canada 3.0 Digital Media Forum on April 24th and 25th in Stratford, Ontario. This year, CDMN is focusing on five key industry streams: Capital, Connectivity, Content, Productivity and Talent – all of which will help to achieve Canada’s Moonshot goal: To ensure that anyone can do anything online by 2017.
Over the past few months, I’ve written a series of blog posts which examine some of the key trends and issues surrounding each of the industry themes. You can read those posts on the CDMN and Canada 3.0 websites.
There are some amazing speakers scheduled to attend this year’s event, representing Canadian industry, government and academia. I hope that you can attend Canada 3.0 2012 and play your part in ensuring Canada’s place at the forefront of the global digital economy.
If you’re a startup, you might also want to take a look at the Road to Banff Pitch-Off Competition that is happening simultaneously with the conference. The winning team gets an all-expense paid trip to the Banff Venture Forum in October. Sweet!
I can’t wait to see you in Stratford!
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Being the Boss You’ve Always Wanted
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on April 10, 2012
As the sole proprietor of a small business, you get to be your own boss. But this privilege can also be a curse. It all really depends on
how hard you are on yourself. If you’re a bit of a type A personality (like I personally am), then you may start out being harder on yourself, as your employee, than you would be on anybody else.
Here are some tips that I’ve discovered about being the boss that I have always wanted for myself:
Be gentle on yourself
To be a small business owner, you have to be self-motivated and work hard. But that doesn’t mean that you need to work yourself into a frenzy (which I learned the hard way early on). It’s important to know your limits and seek support and help from others when you know that things are becoming too much for one person to handle. After all, you are the guardian of your own personal health and happiness – which leads nicely into my next point.
Reward yourself and celebrate your achievements
This doesn’t necessarily mean going out and spending a ton of cash when you win a big client or reach a new milestone. However, you should recognize that you have reached your goals and do something good for yourself – like treat yourself to a small indulgence. I sometimes take “my team” out for ice cream on a Friday if I have something to celebrate – or for a $20 pedicure. I also make sure to go to the gym regularly to keep up my spirits and motivation if I’ve had a tough day.
Continue to raise the bar
It can be easy to be satisfied with the way things have been rolling and get into a routine. But you need to remember that a good boss pushes you beyond your comfort zone. So, be sure to set goals for yourself to stretch to the next milestone.
Have a tip for being the boss you’ve always wanted? Please share in the comments section below.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Don’t be Afraid to Make a Turkey of Yourself
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on October 24, 2010
Second Harvest "Turkey Run" at the Toronto Scotiabank Marathon
I’ve been told that one of the secrets to successful networking is to show that you are vulnerable. If you don’t let people know that you need their help and ask for it, you’ll never get anywhere. I recently made the brave decision to become a freelancer. So, I’ve spent the past few weeks contacting people that I’ve previously worked with to find out how I can help them with their business and/or find out if they know anyone else who I might want to speak with? My goal is to talk to anyone who will listen and who might want to give me some advice.
So far, I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have offered to help by either sitting down to talk over coffee or by introducing me to someone else who might be a great contact. People truly do want to help you if you give them the chance. As a result, I have met some very interesting and inspiring people and I feel extremely grateful to all of them.
I used to shy away from networking because I was afraid of making a fool of myself but now my mantra is “always be networking”. What do you have to lose? You just never know who you might meet and everyone has a great story to tell. You might even make some new friends along the way. I figure, if I can dress up in a turkey costume and run 5K in front of thousands of people, I can definitely call someone up and ask them to go for coffee and chat. This week, I am staying open to all possibilities!
Inspiration: Why SmartBrideBoutique.com is a True Labour of Love
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on October 28, 2010
Andrea Lown (left) and Leah Andrew (right) from SmartBrideBoutique.com
I had the privilege of working with some remarkable women this summer who have shown me what it means to truly love your job. Andrea Lown and Leah Andrew from SmartBrideBoutique.com found their inspiration for starting their business while each planning the wedding of their dreams. They soon realized that it’s tough to find the ultimate wedding dress on a tight budget.
They knew that there had to be a better way to find a beautiful wedding gown for less and so they turned to the Internet to look for deals. However, what they found was that the shopping experience on sites like Kijiji and Craigslist is not conducive to easily browsing postings and searching for specific designers and sizes.
So, they decided to develop a way to make it easier for budget-savvy brides to shop online while also dreaming up a concept that was good for the environment. They ended up building an easy to use online platform that helps brides-to-be to save up to 50% on their wedding dress while helping recent brides to recoup some of the costs from their wedding by recycling their wedding dress, decor, accessories and more.
What I find so inspiring about watching Andrea and Leah work together is not only their great and often hilarious rapport with each other, but also their tireless efforts to make their company a success. What is also incredibly refreshing to see is that both the idea for their business and their willpower to succeed are born out of the same motivation – love. If it weren’t for love, they wouldn’t have had weddings and discovered a business opportunity. In addition, if they didn’t love what they do on a daily basis then they wouldn’t be so determined to grow their business.
Having worked with Andrea Lown in the past, I know that she is not one to settle for less than the best. After her honeymoon, she too was looking for a new job and realized that if the right one wasn’t out there, then she’d just have to go out and create it for herself.
These ladies have no idea how much they’ve inspired me. A Facebook “like” button on their site does not express how much I have enjoyed watching their online business grow and thrive. Facebook, please develop a “love” button!
Read more about Andrea and Leah’s business here: http://t.co/AUO841M
Watch Andrea and Leah talk about how to stretch your wedding budget:
Everyone Needs a “Career Yoda”
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration on October 25, 2010
I have been very fortunate to have found a number of people in my career who I can turn to for advice and inspiration. I like to call these people my “Career Yodas”. I am not implying that these people are small, wrinkly and hundreds of years old – but they do possess a certain level of wisdom that I am able to learn from and therefore I look up to them. This summer, I met my most important “Career Yoda” to date.
After I left a job that I felt was the wrong step in my career, I knew I needed someone to guide me back to the proper path. A former boss of mine recommended that I speak with her friend who had started up her own career coaching company. I was skeptical at first because I thought that I already had a lot of people to turn to for advice. However, I took a chance on her and have never looked back. What I have learned is that career coaches are not supposed to make you fill out questionnaires about your skills and help you to find out what colour your parachute should be. Instead, they are there to help you find out how to fit your career aspirations into your desired lifestyle and cheer you on to help you go after what makes the most sense to you in your life right now. They also challenge your way of thinking and are there as a sounding board when you are trying to make a tough decision.
I have coined my weekly career coaching sessions as “Wednesdays with Rachel”. I look forward to these meetings because I know that she is going to want a recap of all of the homework that she assigned to me in the previous week and is going to hold me accountable if I didn’t complete my assignments. Being the keener that I am, I get great satisfaction from telling her what I have accomplished and I can be completely honest about what I am thinking and going through. She also helps me to set goals for myself outside of my career to make sure that I am fulfilling other life aspirations as well. More importantly, she has taught me the power of patience in my career as I often like to race towards the next step without thinking through how it will impact my life as a whole.
Rachel has helped me to discover the “force” that was always strong in me but had just been buried for a while. I have learned a lot about myself through the process and am richer for having gone through the experience. Therefore, if you have ever thought that you needed some guidance in your career, I highly encourage you to work with a career coach (or Yoda – patato/potato). Believe me, you’ll never look back!
If you are interested in contacting Rachel, you can do so through her website: http://www.coach.weinstein.to/Home.html
The Rise of Niche Social Networks in Canada
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on November 1, 2010
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I feel that Canada and Toronto in particular,
is just ripe for start-ups. I wanted to share some proof of this statement. As Facebook
has inevitably become a verb for connecting with friends (i.e. “Facebook me”), niche
social networks seem to be the next phase in the social media evolution. There are
a number of start-ups emerging in this space in Canada right now.
Here’s a list of some of my favourite new Canadian niche social networks. These sites foster social networking in a more focused environment, rather than just creating a group or page on Facebook:
(1) Sprouter.com – This is a site based in Toronto that connects entrepreneurs worldwide. Entrepreneurs can tweet questions out to the online community and share advice on the Sprouter platform. Sprouter hosts frequent live chats with successful entrepreneurs to allow community members to learn from their peers online. A key ingredient to Sprouter’s growth has been their offline events called “SproutUps” that enable entrepreneurs to connect face-to-face and share best practices.
(2) WineAlign.com – Based in Ontario, this site is a free community-based service for reviewing, sharing and discovering wine. This site is ideal if you are trying to find the perfect bottle of wine to go with the meal that you are planning. Their site is synched up with the LCBO database to help you find the right wine at the right price at an LCBO near you. Site visitors can also connect and share information about their favourite wines and new wine releases.
(3) LoonLounge.com – This is a site dedicated to connecting new and prospective Canadian immigrants to various Canadian immigration services groups via an online community. LoonLounge was created by a Canadian immigration lawyer David Cohen, who realized that there was a missing link in the process of immigrating to Canada. The site’s mission is to “improve the Canadian immigration process for the millions of people involved: applicants waiting in the queue, new immigrants adjusting to life in Canada, Canadian employers waiting for skilled workers to arrive, and the many people around the world who dream of one day making Canada their home“.
(4) UrbanMoms.ca – This site was inspired by a woman whose friend Madeleine, a mother of 2 children, had recently lost her battle with cancer. This motivated the friend to raise money as a trust fund for the kids who were left without their mother. The support from mothers helping to raise money across the country was astounding and inspired the friend to create an online community for brave mothers to share advice, opinions and expertise on various motherhood topics. The site includes a collection of motherhood blogs, community postings, product reviews and contests.
(5) Vestiigo.com – This is a fairly new Canadian career site that makes jobs searching more social. Job seekers are able to contact the hiring manager directly when applying to postings. When you sign-up, you receive personal messages from the site owners to welcome you to the site. They also want to know how they can help you and welcome you to contact them directly – which makes you feel welcomed. Daily job postings are sent out to the community via a number of social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn Groups.
(6) Rypple.com – This Toronto-based start-up creates community-based software that helps managers to encourage a constant feedback loop for their teams. A major focus of the software is to encourage the idea of “giving thanks” to your peers. This site is inspired by the idea that employees need constant recognition in order to feel valued. This idea of providing constant feedback within the team also helps to make quarterly and annual reviews a breeze for managers.
(7) TeamPages.com - This B.C.-based social networking site provides a platform for sports teams and leagues to set-up their own pages/sites – making organization and communication a lot easier. Benefits of the site include: managing team and/or league schedules online, scheduling games and events, sending out e-mails and text messages to your team and/or league, displaying team scores and player statistics, and much more. There is a fee associated with managing your team page(s) – packages are based on the level of sophistication required.
(8) ShesConnected.com – Founded in Toronto by Donna Marie Antoniadis, this social networking website was created for busy women by women. The site allows women to manage both a personal and a professional social media profile in one place. The site also boasts a community database of over 400,000 bloggers and offers community management to help advertisers take a meaningful approach to spreading the word about their products and services to women online. ShesConnected.com just recently hosted their first social media conference in Toronto in October 2010.
Not many of these sites have advertising on them yet, but I feel that it is only inevitable that I will soon be targeted by Rogers for Small Businesses on Sprouter and Food/Lifestyle brands on sites like WineAlign very soon.
If you know of any other Canadian niche social media communities worth noting, definitely let me know and I’ll add them to the list.
The Race is on to be the Next Groupon Contender in Canada
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on November 4, 2010
You must have been hiding under a virtual rock this summer if you missed being bombarded online by Groupon ads that displayed photos of delicious food – enticing you to click and sign-up for their daily social deals. Once I became obsessed with Groupon, I started to notice a myriad of other daily social deal sites explode onto the Internet scene.
A lot of the original daily social deal sites were based in the US and just targeted Canadian cities. However, I’ve seen a number of Canadian sites launch in the past few months. Most recently, TorStar Digital launched WagJag.com. I heard from a source at the company that they recently sold almost 14,000 burgers in a “Buy $5 for $10 worth of Burgers” deal on behalf of South Street Burger Co. Man, had I known about that deal, I would have definitely bought-in!
So, how does one find out about all of these daily social deals in the frantic, busy lifestyle that we lead? The solution – daily deal aggregator sites. I’ve discovered two daily deal aggregator sites based in the US and one of them has just launched in Toronto – DealGator.com. Yipit.com is another daily deal aggregator of note but they have yet to launch in Canada. These sites aggregate daily social deals from other sites based on your specified interest in deals like restaurants, spa/beauty, travel and more. I guess that the race is on to see who aggregates all of the daily social deals in Canada first? I’m excited to see what other sites will evolve out of this mass daily social deal site frenzy.
I’ve read a lot of articles lately that talk about whether or not the business model for sites like Groupon is sustainable – especially when it comes to negotiating deals with larger retailers. I’m sure there will be an eventual shake-up in this newly developed industry. However, I will enjoy the fruits (or cupcakes if they’re the deal of the day) of their labour in the meantime 
4 Ideas for an Afterlife for the Sears “Zombie Shopper” Campaign
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on November 9, 2010
Who would have guessed that Zombies would turn out to be such excellent brand advocates? Recently, Sears.com created an Avatar called “ZombieShopper” on Twitter to promote their Halloween social media campaign. It was a great attempt at revitalizing their brand to speak to a younger audience. They succeeded at creating a lot of buzz from the campaign. Even though it was a short-lived campaign, the results seem strong enough to hint that there are opportunities to continue the dialogue – even if Halloween is over. The question remains – will Sears continue to innovate and build on the attention that they received? Sears.com has a unique opportunity to continue to ride the success of the “Zombie Shopper” campaign as popularity for vampires dies out and zombie interest rises in pop culture – for example via the mega movie hit Zombieland and the new AMC TV show The Walking Dead.
Here’s a review of the campaign’s online buzz to date – plus suggestions for keeping it alive:
(1) The Avatar “zombieshopper” Twitter account received almost 1,000 followers in the month that the campaign ran in October.
Their actual reach was over 8,000 followers according to TweetReach: http://tweetreach.com/reach?q=zombieshopper. That’s pretty amazing to get such a quick surge of followers in such a short period of time for an unknown brand/Twitter username. No Tweets have been sent since Halloween – did the Zombie just die? Why wouldn’t he continue to speak with us and live on? As I mentioned earlier, zombie TV shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead are gaining in popularity. This is a huge opportunity for Sears to continue the conversation with ZombieShopper aficionados.
(2) According to Google Insights for Search, the campaign received a 525% higher search volume relative to the search volume for the shopping category overall on Google during the peak of the campaign – just before Halloween on October 25, 2010. But search volume died off, no pun intended, because Sears didn’t continue the dialogue after October 31st.
3) Over 41,400 blogs and articles have been written about the campaign – based on recent search results for the term “Sears Zombie Shopper Campaign” on Google. Perhaps “ZombieShopper” should also have a blog to talk about what happened on Halloween night and where he went afterwards?
(4) Their uploaded YouTube viral videos received almost 200,000 views to date via their YouTube channel. Could they continue the videos to show what happened to the fitness instructor? Where did the zombies go after Halloween?
I am aware that some of my suggestions are purely selfish as I am already missing the Tweets from @ZombieShopper. Hopefully, his Tweets will be resurrected and we can continue our Twitter relationship. Please share your thoughts and insights about this campaign.
Here’s a link to my favourite viral video for the Sears.com “Zombie Shopper” campaign:
A List of 8 Great Canadian Mobile Apps
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on November 12, 2010
Canadians are doing amazing work in the mobile space. Just recently, Microsoft hired Toronto-based developer Polar Mobile to develop 500 mobile apps for their Windows 7 phone. After reading about that huge win for Canada, I thought it was worth digging around a little to see who else is doing interesting things in this space. Below is a list of some great Canadian apps and Canadian start-ups in the mobile space that I have discovered in the past few months.
(1) Simply Good Apps – This Canadian company considers themselves “more than an apps developer” as they use their proprietary point-of-interest and image processing platforms to redefine the way people navigate and participate with your brand. They recently signed a contract with Scotiabank to provide free mobile applications for their sponsored Toronto festivals. The app boasts the ability to share images using their proprietary Capturefy© technology, integrated GPS/Mapping, event-specific information and social connection, and location-specific mapping to events and public transit.
(2) Burstn – This made in Canada app is a simple tool to help you snap and share photos instantly on the web and via mobile devices. Burstn is also a social network of photos, people and places.
(3) Pushlife Mobile Media Player – This Toronto-based company has taken the experience of playing all of your music on your desktop media player (if you’re not an Apple user) and made it accessible on your Blackberry. According to their website, the Blackberry app features and “easy-to-use, interactive Media Carousel which gives you one finger control of playing a song, going to the next or previous song, seeking forwards and backwards in a song, accessing the Mobile Jewel Case, rating a song, posting acomment about the song on TwitterTM, editing playlists, editing track information and more.”
(4) iMock-ups – Endloop Studios is a Toronto-based start-up that has created iMock-ups as a downloadable app on iTunes for your iPad. This tool helps designers on the move to mock-up Websites and layouts by choosing from a menu of options that include device wireframes. The options include video and text icons that can be swept onto a digital whiteboard. Within the whiteboard, a designer can shrink, enlarge and move things about on the screen as clients sit next to them.
(5) Toronto Maple Leafs – This wouldn’t be a blog about Canadian apps without mentioning how they are helping hockey sports fans to stay connected to their favourite game. I thought it was worth mentioning Polar Mobile’s app for the Toronto Maple Leafs because I grew up in Toronto. This tool helps Leafs fans to stay connected to their favourite team on their smartphone. App users can get live game scores, past results, current roster stats, league standings, game schedules, and all the latest team news and updates.
(6) Nat Decants – This app is great for foodies and wine lovers as it is a comprehensive and delicious guide for the iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android, Nexus, Nokia, Palm Pre and other smartphones. This app is an evolution from Natalie MacLean’s original bestselling “Drinks Matcher” app. Basically, Natalie has developed ten wine apps rolled into one. The app will help you when you’re trying to figure out what wine to pair with what meal when you’re out shopping at the grocery and liquor store. The app also boasts wine reviews, winery listings, recipes, articles and more.
(7) TripIt – Created by Five Mobile Inc., this Blackberry app allows users to access their upcoming travel itineraries from their phone. The app boasts the ability to access calendar integration, flight monitoring and travel confirmations – making it a best in class travel application. Five mobile makes a whole slew of mobile apps worth noting – check them out here: http://www.fivemobile.com/portfolio
(8) The Score for iPad – Score media recently acquired 20% of NuLayer Inc., a developer of web, mobile and iPad applications. The Score recently launched an iPad version of their sports results app which was created by NuLayer Inc. This app allows sports fans to get the latest sports scores, stats, news and more about their favourite team or league.
If you know of any other interesting Canadian apps that should be added to the list, definitely let me know.
Related Articles:
Toronto: mobile app centre of the universe, Toronto Life, July 23, 2010
Apps born in Toronto, The Globe and Mail, May 28, 2010
Canadian Bloggers and Journalists Who Are Making Waves in the Digital Media Space
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration on November 18, 2010
Image by magnaen
In addition to sharing data and information on digital marketing trends, I am committed to blogging and tweeting about Canadian contributions to the digital space. I’ve read that the best way to learn how to blog and tweet like a professional is to follow people who are doing it well and iterate the best of what they do. So, over the past few weeks I have been following some Canadian bloggers who I now consider to be my social media mentors.
I thought I’d share the names of some of the Canadian digital bloggers whom I have recently discovered. These are in no particular order of preference – other than alphabetical:
- Erin Bury – Erin is a community manager for Sprouter.com and is up-to-date on what’s hot in the Canadian digital start-up landscape. She writes about the latest and greatest tech trends on BlogTO.com.
- Mark Evans – Mark is a well-known and award-winning Canadian technology journalist who writes a number of blogs, including Mark Evans Tech and Twitterrati. He also writes a column for The Globe and Mail and is considered one of Canada’s leading social media experts.
- Jay Goldman – Jay Goldman hosts an online video series called “Status Update“ on Butterscotch.com which provides the latest and greatest tips, tools and advice on social media. You can check out Jay’s blog at JayGoldman.com.
- Mitch Joel – As President at Twist Image, Mitch Joel writes a blog called “Six Pixels of Separation” where he explores digital media, tech trends, personal branding insights and more.
- Amber McArthur – Amber is a new media journalist and web strategist who I first discovered on her TV show, Webnation on CP24. I now watch her online video podcast CommandN.tv.
Please share names of other Canadian digital media experts who you think are noteworthy.
5 Ways That Coffee Shops Could Become an “Anywhere Office” for Entrepreneurs
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on November 16, 2010
Even though I am focused on writing blogs about the Canadian digital landscape and emerging online trends, I wanted to share an idea that I have been kicking around in my head for a while. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I meet on Wednesdays with my “Career Yoda”, Rachel. We meet every week at a Second Cup where we discuss my assignments. I am always amazed by how many people are there working on their laptops and I have noticed that there are a number of regulars (sometimes teams of laptop workers) who are there every day. I believe that someone could write a book about the companies that these coffee shops have launched and I sense that there is an untapped market out there for coffee shops.
I recently discovered someone on Twitter who also had that thought and is already one step ahead of me. I recommend you check out @thecoffice to see what I mean. So, instead of writing a story about the entrepreneurs who now call coffee shops their “coffice”, I thought I’d outline some opportunities for coffee shops like Canada’s Second Cup and Starbucks (obviously an American chain) to tap into a new revenue stream by accommodating entrepreneurs beyond providing free wi-fi.
Here is a list of some of my ideas:
1. Private workbenches to rent by the hour – Toronto has already opened a few Centres for Social Innovation where entrepreneurs can rent a desk and chair or office space by the hour or for a short period of time. I believe that coffee shops have an opportunity to also offer this service if their shop is big enough. They could either have an upstairs area or an area in the back designated to entrepreneurs who are working out of their shop.
2. Private call rooms – If the coffee shop doesn’t have the space for full desks or tiny offices, another alternative (or addition to small offices) would be tiny phone booths or call rooms. They could have one or two tiny “phone booths” that just have a chair, tiny table and a phone that entrepreneurs could again rent for a small fee and would just pay the barista for a key to one of the booths, or book the room online in advance.
3. Conference call dial-in numbers – If small businesses are already there working for an hour or two, perhaps Starbucks or Second Cup could host a number of 1-800 dial-in numbers that they could rent to entrepreneurs for the day via an online service. This would likely involve a partnership with a Telco – I believe that Starbucks has already partnered with Bell on some web services. This could either be a separate fee or be built into the fee for renting a tiny space for the hour or day.
4. One or two private meeting rooms for teams – Again, this could be booked by the hour on some sort of web portal hosted by the coffee shop where entrepreneurs could book the room in advance when they know they will be working out of that “coffice”. The meeting room could be equipped with a projector and conference phone. Perhaps you could also pre-order coffee and treats to be set-up in the room when you get there?
5. Online Community for Entrepreneurs – Starbucks or Second Cup could tap into a community like Sprouter to have entrepreneurs share their stories about launching their business from their shops and also provide some coffee perks, no pun intended, to frequent users of their office services.
I suspect that there are additional opportunities for coffee shops to accommodate an “anywhere office” for entrepreneurs. Please share your ideas and I’ll add them to the list.
If You Build It, Technology Companies Will Come – GO Train is Expanding Rail Service in Ontario to Kitchener-Waterloo
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on November 23, 2010
Source: Google Maps
I was chatting with someone at a party about a month ago about what Ontario needs to help kick-start our already budding technology industry into high gear and make us even more like “Silicon Valley North”. We got on the topic of why there needs to be a GO Train service from Waterloo to Toronto – just like the Caltrain in California from Palo Alto to San Francisco. The distances between these cities in California and Ontario are very similar and having a train from Waterloo to Toronto would tie the cities closer together - with Waterloo as an R&D technology hub and Toronto as a major business center in Ontario.
Someone from Metrolinx must have been listening in on our conversation – or at least had the idea before we did. A week ago, I read the good news that GO Transit announced that it will be expanding rail service on the Georgetown line to Acton, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo by the end of 2011. Until this happens, you can only take the GO Train as far as Milton from Toronto and then you have to take a bus or drive from Milton to Waterloo (see the Google Maps image above).
Having just left a very large technology company that had offices in both Toronto and Waterloo, I am very much aware of the challenge in commuting between the two cities for meetings. I had a co-worker who lived in Waterloo and took a GO Bus to Toronto at 5am every morning to come in to work. I can’t even fathom what his commute must be like every day. We also had clients in Waterloo and we had to rent a car to drive there from Toronto every time we wanted to go for a meeting. It’s not that driving is so bad but having a train would be so much better for getting work done while commuting. It would also make for a much more enjoyable commute in harsh winter weather.
I believe that building this train is a major leap forward towards making Toronto/Waterloo a world-class technology and innovation center. A major parallel between Toronto/Waterloo and San Francisco/Palo Alto is their proximity to high-profile technology universities in Waterloo and Palo Alto (Stanford). I truly believe that building this train will attract more technology companies to set-up shop in Ontario.
Please share your thoughts on what else you think is needed to make us a true “Silicon Valley North”?
The Next Evolution in Canadian Peer to Peer Communities
Posted by The Running Start in Uncategorized on November 25, 2010
I mentioned in an earlier blog that niche social networks are steadily on the rise in Canada. I am seeing a similar splintering effect happening in the peer-to-peer classifieds space. Canadian start-ups are carving out niche sites that appeal to a very focused set of shoppers and are finding unique ways to monetize these sites – something that Craigslist will not do. Sites like Kijiji and eBay definitely make money off of their sites but they do not offer the niche targeted audience that advertisers are seeking. Another benefit to a niche classifieds site is the ability to build a community around that niche and position oneself as an expert in that audience’s set of interests.
Here are some of the top niche peer-to-peer classified sites/communities that I have discovered to date:
- iStopOver.com – Founded in Toronto, this international travel website helps travellers to save money and find a furnished apartment or house to rent when travelling abroad. Their services came in handy for two recent international sporting events, including the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. iStopOver’s competitive advantage is that they build trust with their users by holding the guest’s money on their behalf until confirmation of a reservation (i.e. the guest shows up and the place is to their satisfaction), and releases it directly to the renter/host once the guest approves to check-in.
- SmartBrideBoutique.com – This Toronto-based start-up is focused on helping brides to save money on their wedding by purchasing gently used wedding products (i.e. wedding dresses, decor, accessories, etc.) from recent brides. It’s a win-win situation where brides-to-be can save up to 50% on their wedding items and recent brides can recoup some of their wedding costs. Check out my previous post about how these ladies inspire me.
- CardSwap.ca – Have you ever been given a gift card to a store where you would never shop? CardSwap helps you to swap gift cards for other ones with other local Canadian users. Or, you can exchange the gift card for money.
- JobDeals.com – I just heard about these guys at last night’s Sprouter event. JobDeals is a local job help resource which allows users to post their needs for local services and allows job seekers to pitch/bid on the work opportunity.
- CommunityLend.com – This website must have been a savior to a number of people in the recent economic meltdown. CommunityLend is a destination where borrowers can lower their loan rates by auctioning off their loans to lenders who bid at the offered interest rate on your loan request until enough bids are made to cover the value of your loan. This service is currently only available in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
- 1DegreeBio – A reader just sent me some information on this site. You can’t get any more niche than hosting a marketplace for sourcing antibodies online! They have implemented an independent review process for scientists to rate and review products that are essential to their research. They are building a community to set a new quality standard in the raw materials that are the foundations of scientific research and discovery.
If I have missed any really important sites, definitely let me know.
Networking Advice From Some of Toronto’s Digital Media Entrepreneurs
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on November 30, 2010
In the past month or so, I’ve been out gathering advice on how to network effectively as a freelancer to grow my list of potential clients. I’ve received some truly invaluable advice from a number of digital media entrepreneurs in Toronto – you all know who you are! I figure that there must be others out there who are in the same position as I am. So, I thought I’d share some of the pearls of wisdom that I have received to date.
1) The 3 Feet Rule and/or Talk to Anyone Who Will Give You an Hour of Their Time
The first part of this tip is the idea that if anyone is standing within 3 feet of you at a party or an event, talk to them about what you do and what you are trying to accomplish. It’s so surprising how this sparks other people’s ideas and you’ll either get great new perspectives on what to do, or people will share names and contact info of other people with whom you may want to speak. The second part of this tip is that if someone is willing to give you an hour of their time to share their advice and insight, take it! They say that the best listeners get the best advice. So, if you don’t go out and listen to what others in your industry have to say, you’re not going to get any new leads, advice or ideas to move you on to the next step in your journey.
2) Social Media is the New Cold Call – Be Easy to Find Online
I’m still pretty new to the world of social media but I have read a lot lately about the notion that social media is the new cold call. If you are properly focused on who your target customer is and are sharing ideas and information that is of interest to them, they will eventually contact you. A great resource for learning how to do this properly and to get found online is a book called Inbound Marketing. I have already started to meet some really interesting and inspiring people through this platform and can already see how it is beneficial. The other piece of advice that I have learned is to definitely take your online social networking relationships offline and meet with these people face to face – this goes back to tip #1.
3) The Ripple Effect – Be Grateful and Help Others
I had a great conversation with someone today who told me that by constantly helping others with their business and seeking out new connections, you are building up a network of people who will help you in return. Of course, you should be doing this because you want to help – don’t do it just for the sake of wanting anything else in return.
4) Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch – Sometimes Your Chicken Will Cross the Road
I learned this rule the hard way when I met with one of my first potential clients. I thought I had a potential contract in the bag and so I slowed down on my networking for a while and focused on what I was going to do for that client. Two weeks later, when I still hadn’t heard back from the client, I followed up and discovered that he had left the company. I had counted on that chicken and was kinda blind-sided when I found out that he had crossed the road – lesson learned! This reminded me that a freelancer should always be networking – never slow down unless you have a contract in hand.
5) Learn From Others’ Mistakes
This again goes back to point #1. When you’re out talking to others who might be able to share tips and advice on how they have been successful in your field, definitely ask them about what mistakes they’ve made along the way. Again, one of the people who I spoke with recently told me that entrepreneurs should be comfortable with failure. However, he told me that there is no reason to be making the same mistakes that other people have already made – if you can avoid it. Find out how other people have failed and learn from them so that you don’t make the same mistakes.
If you come across this blog and have other pearls of wisdom that you’d like to share – definitely post a comment and let’s help each other out 
The Art of Thought Leadership for Small Business B2B Marketers
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on December 6, 2010
Having worked in B2B marketing for a number of larger online businesses, I thought I’d share some tips on how to generate new sales leads through thought leadership. One of the keys to success is by engaging your clients in an ongoing discussion and generating new sales opportunities by positioning yourself as an industry leader in your field.
Here are some examples of thought leadership tools and methods of distribution that I have seen work well in the past:
- Free Industry Research Studies/White Papers and Case Studies – Talk to your clients (listening is key) about their current challenges and understand what they need to learn from you in order to make future purchase decisions. Develop industry research studies, white papers, case studies relevant to your clients’ needs. If you want to take it another step further, involve your clients in the development of the research studies or white papers. That way, you are educating your customers on why your product is relevant and showing them how you are differentiating yourself in the industry where you function. Here is a link to tips on writing great whitepapers. If you don’t have a big budget to develop white papers, think about developing thought-provoking presentations on current trends in your industry. Try to tell a story about your industry using 3rd party data – in a way that no one else has approached the topic in the past.
- Free Industry Summits and/or Webinars – Once you have the results of an industry research study or have a thought-provoking presentation that you would like to share externally with clients and/or the media, look for creative ways to distribute that information to the masses. Hosting a breakfast seminar/summit or live webinar are great ways to share that information externally. Investigate 3rd party speakers who are subject matter experts on your industry topic to help set the tone for your event or webinar. These folks will also make your event more broad in scope and will encourage discussion around the topic vs. a direct sales pitch. The speakers will also act as an anchor to promote the event and generate a higher number of attendees. You can also record the webinar and host it on your website and/or on YouTube for future use by new visitors to your site. Here’s a great video hosted webinar about…webinars!
- Blogs – I recently read a statistic from HubSpot that indicated that small businesses that blog get 55% more web traffic that those that do not. That’s because the more frequently you blog, the more inbound links you will create for your site and you will eventually rank higher in SEO. Writing content around a topic that is of particular interest to your customers will help to position you as a subject matter expert in your field. Try to provide compelling, well researched blogs that keep your customers coming back for more information. Your blogs should not be a sales pitch. This goes back to point #1 – focus on providing useful information for your customers. I recently found a great eBook/whitepaper from Radian6 about The Art of Corporate Blogging.
- Twitter - Once you have created the content that is of interest to your customers, you need to find a way to let them know where to find it. By engaging in a dialogue with your customers on Twitter, you will build up trust and an ongoing relationship. Sharing new blog posts, information about events and other relevant resources/data related to your industry will provide your customers with ongoing value beyond your day-to-day account management services. The key is to be consistent and share information beyond what you sell – be more focused on trends in your industry as a whole. Here is a great blog about the 3 Keys to B2B Company Success With Twitter from FuelDog.
If you have a thought leadership tactic that has worked well in the past, please share your thoughts and insight.
If Facebook is Just Like “The Jersey Shore”, Then What TV Show Does Twitter Emulate?
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on December 9, 2010
I listened to Dan Zarrella from Hubspot‘s webinar today about The Science of Blogging. Throughout the webinar, he likened Facebook to the popular reality TV show The Jersey Shore. He made that reference because he said Facebook users have a very different way of sharing information than on social media platforms like Twitter. According to Zarrella, Facebook users are not interested in articles or updates related to words like “Google”, “social media”, or any other general technical jargon terms. So, if you are writing blogs to be posted on Facebook, you need to keep in mind that Facebook is more like a keg party and less like a university lecture hall. Therefore, you need to use words that simplify what you are saying when writing for Facebook (i.e. dumb it down).
This statement got me thinking that Facebook is probably not the best place to be reaching a B2B audience – especially if you are marketing technology products. Zarrella pointed out that if you want to blog about technical jargon, your target audience is more likely going to exist on Twitter. Of course, there may be a way to engage with both audiences in a different fashion – especially if you’re a popular brand like Apple. However, I would assume that if you are just starting out and have a limited time to dedicate to social media, then it sounds like Twitter is the place to start as a B2B technology marketer.
Therefore, I’m left wondering – if Facebook truly is just like The Jersey Shore, then does that make Twitter more like The Big Bang Theory? The only trouble with that perspective is that two of the most popular Tweeps on Twitter are Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Please share your thoughts about what TV show you think Twitter most emulates?
Also, if you have any examples of great B2B technology campaigns or engagement initiatives that HAVE worked on Facebook, I’d definitely like to see them. Prove me wrong!
Discovering New Opportunities Through Twitter
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on December 13, 2010
I had coffee this week with an old colleague who I had lost touch with over the past few years. It was great to catch up with her and we got on the topic of keeping your eyes open for opportunities and the little signs that point you on a new path. It might sound a little cheesy but I have to say that a lot of people miss the little clues that might help guide them to the next step in their life or career – if they’d only lift their head up from their computers every now and then to see them.
I would like to share two personal examples with you on how Twitter can help you to keep your eyes open to new opportunities. These examples could not have been possible had I not been looking intently AT my computer screen. So, I guess this story is a bit of a paradox – but the lesson is still about taking those blinders off!
Here are two personal examples:
(1) Discovering new opportunities to follow interests
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with someone about the fact that I really enjoy blogging. I told them that I’d love to one day write blogs about digital media for someone other than myself (and the readers like you who happen to come across it) on my own blog. Literally that same night, I had just come home from an event and I thought I’d go online to check out what was happening in the world since I had last been online – at least 5 hours before To my very happy surprise, I saw a tweet from TechVibes.com saying that they were looking for new Toronto Tech bloggers and I just HAD to apply that very moment because I knew this was something I wanted to try.
Had I not started following TechVibes on Twitter and keeping my eyes open for new opportunities, I would have never discovered a new way to expand my hobby. They said yes to my application, and I am now able to share interesting stories about the Toronto technology scene with their community.
(2) Reconnecting with old friends
My second story is about how I came to be having coffee with my colleague – who I hadn’t been in touch with in about 3 years. I was on LinkedIn last week and saw a feed from her Twitter account in the LinkedIn “Network Activity” news feed. She mentioned that she was going to be participating in the new year’s day “Polar Bear Dip” on behalf of Habitat for Humanity. Since the “polar bear dip” is on my bucket list, I commented on her Tweet. She told me to join her because the Polar Bear Dip needs more crazy people like me – see her response below I’m still trying to work-up the courage to join her!
That same week, she e-mailed me to ask if I’d like to go for coffee to catch up. I of course said yes and had a great time chatting with her about the trials and tribulations of being a freelancer. We’re now helping each other out through a collaboration document to share the best tools and tricks we can find in social media – we’re both learning as we go. I’m so excited to be working with her again – even if it’s just a virtual collaboration.
Practical application for your business:
These examples are ways that Twitter has helped me to connect with people to advance my personal interests. If it can work to keep my eyes open for personal opportunities – the same can be applied to finding customer opportunities in business. The application of the tool works in the exact same way.
Please share your stories and ideas about finding new customer opportunities through Twitter.
My 2011 Wish List for Canadian Digital Media Entrepreneurs
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on December 21, 2010
It seems that everyone in the blogosphere right now either has a “re-cap” list of 2010 stories or a 2011 “predictions” list published. Since I have a serious case of the “FOMS” (a fear of missing something), I thought I’d add my own personal wish list blog to the mix. Starting my own business has been a serious learning process over the past few months.
While I’m slowly starting to navigate how to make a digital media focused start-up work in Canada, I thought I’d share my wish list for products and services that could make my life easier in 2011. I’m sure that there are other start-ups and entrepreneurs out there in the digital media space who share my sentiment and can provide additional requests.
(1) Small business pricing on digital media measurement and analysis tools like comScore and Hitwise in Canada
While there are many free tools out there like Google Analytics, Google Ad Planner and Alexa, I find it perplexing that small businesses are not able to access the industry-standard tools like comScore and Hitwise to help them properly position and sell companies in the marketplace. It would be amazing if some of the standard measurement companies developed a small business pricing model to help us to run our businesses like a larger company. Perhaps a pricing model of a quarterly cost for a limited number of data pulls would suffice?
(2) Small business discounts for conferences and events
If you are a small business, coughing up $500 to $1000 to attend one conference is a hefty price to pay. Again, perhaps larger conferences could have a “start-up” price that is similar to student pricing to attend larger conferences? Industry events are essential to help smaller businesses to network and learn to fuel their growth.
(3) Increased promotion of digital media start-ups in Canada and more forums to help them interact and share best-practices
Start-ups like Sprouter and TechVibes do a great job of promoting Canadian digital start-ups and work to unite the Canadian technology community. I’d love to see additional movement towards promoting and uniting Canadian digital media companies in 2011. Having recently sat in on some meetings with a few female-targeted digital media start-ups in the past few months, I definitely see an opportunity for uniting Canadian female-targeted digital media companies to help them cross-promote each others’ sites and products. I’m sure that there are other like-minded start-ups who could benefit from cross-promotion with each other as well.
Please share your thoughts on what could help make the lives of Canadian digital media entrepreneurs better in 2011?
Suggested Reading List – Books Published by Canadian Social Media Gurus
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on December 26, 2010
During my down time over the holiday season, I decided to finally sit down and read The Whuffie Factor written by Tara Hunt. Tara is a Canadian social media guru who was listed as one of the most influential women in technology in 2009 by Fast Company magazine and is CEO & co-founder of the Canadian social shopping start-up Shwowp. Tara’s book provides a lot of insight on ways to utilize the power of social networks to build up a company’s “whuffie” which is also known as “social capital” – the currency of the digital world. Tara shares stories about companies who have successfully built up their “whuffie” and also provides cautionary tales of companies who have failed in the social media space and have had to climb their way back up to restore their social capital. The same rules apply for building up one’s own personal “whuffie” or “social capital”. I really enjoyed reading The Whuffie Factor – it’s a great book for someone (like myself) who is trying to better understand the social media space.
As I was reading Tara’s book, I recalled a number of other notable Canadian authors in the past year or two who have written about the power of social media and how to harness community-building to grow your business. I thought I’d share a reading list to promote all of these Canadian gurus and hopefully discover more Canadian authors through feedback from others who might stumble upon this blog.
Here is my Canadian social media guru book reading list to date:
- The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt
- Power Friending by Amber McArthur
- Guerilla Social Media Marketing by Jay Levinson and Shane Gibson
- Wikibrands by Sean Moffitt and Mike Dover
- Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
Please share other notable books on social media written by Canadian authors to add to the list. Go Canada!
Placing Your Bets Online for B2B Technology Marketing Channels
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on December 29, 2010
In a previous blog post, I talked about whether or not Twitter was a better social media channel for promoting your brand as a B2B Technology marketer than Facebook. After recently reading the Online Marketing Opportunity Report produced by Hubspot, I now have some data to back up my assumptions.
The chart that I pulled from the free report below illustrates both the top online marketing channels for the keyword “software” and the top social media platforms where that keyword is most prevalently searched. Clearly, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top social media channels to target as a marketer promoting technology/software online.
The chart below also points out that blogs are a more popular channel for researching “software” related products online. According to the report, there is also less competition for that keyword on blogs, Twitter and via LinkedIn than there is via search engines. However, I will point out that although Facebook is only a tiny sliver in terms of popularity for searching for terms related to “software”, you’ll also find the least competition if you choose to promote your product there – at least according to the HubSpot report.
Since I like to place strategic bets, I would say that developing a strategy that incorporates blogs, social media (focused on Twitter and LinkedIn) and a some of your budget dedicated towards Search and YouTube would go a long way online as a Tech B2B marketer. Of course, one can never overlook the power of e-mail as a digital marketing channel as well!
Are your ears burning? Here’s a list of Canadian-made tools to help you listen to what your customers say about you online
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on January 3, 2011
It has been said that in business, good listeners get the best advice on how to move forward. In the emerging world of social media, this has never been more true. Many tools have been developed to listen to what your customers are saying about your brand and your industry online. If one of your company’s 2011 new year’s resolutions is to listen to your customers more, then you’re in luck. Canada is a hotbed for creating online tools to listen and engage with your customers online.
A few weeks ago, TechVibes reported that Radian6, a Canadian social media monitoring company in New Brunswick, was finishing the year as a market leader by tripling their revenue in 2010 from 2009. They weren’t the only Canadian social media monitoring tool/platform to make a huge impact on the Internet in 2010. Here is a list of some of the top Canadian web-based platforms for listening and engaging with your customers online:
- Radian6 – based in Fredericton, New Brunswick
Radian6 is a web-based platform which aggregates all of the relevant conversations that are happening online regarding your brand and products into one simple dashboard in real-time. The company was named by Forrester Research, Inc. as a “leader” in online listening platforms in Q3, 2010.
- Sysomos – based in Toronto, Ontario
Acquired in July 2010 by MarketWire, Sysomos has also achieved leadership status in the social media monitoring space. Sysomos sets themselves apart via their automated sentiment tool which analyzes billions of conversations online via blogs, social media, video and more to provide insight into consumer sentiment – segmented by gender, age and location.
- Syncapse – based in Toronto, Ontario
Syncapse Corp. also had a momentous year in 2010 – being named company of the year at the Canadian New Media Awards. Syncapse is now a global company and provides a platform for managing and monitoring all of your social media initiatives on one platform. The Syncapse platform also allows you to glean insights to help optimize your efforts, identify your key influencers and measure your ROI.
- HootSuite - based in Vancouver, British Columbia
HootSuite was the first social media dashboard chosen by Twitter in 2010 to exclusively test out their new in-stream ads. They also hit their
one Millionth user mark at the end of 2010. The HootSuite dashboard enables teams to manage multiple Twitter and other social media accounts, track specific keywords that are relevant to your brand, assign Tweets to multiple editors on your team and more.
If you know of other notable Canadian social media monitoring and/or customer listening tools, please post a comment on this blog.
Photo Source: iStockPhoto.com
Inspiration – Digital-Savvy Canadians to Watch in 2011
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Uncategorized on January 6, 2011
Image by magnaen
Since this is the first week back at work for everyone in 2011, I thought I’d share some inspiration for Canadian digital media companies and professionals who want to kick some serious butt this year. Here are links to blogs and articles about the Canadian digital media companies and professionals that we should keep an eye on in the digital space in 2011. I often come up with a blog post idea and discover that someone else has already covered it. In this case, I have decided to aggregate the lists of notable Canadians rather than write one myself. However, it is still very early in the year and I’m sure that there will be many more notable Canadians to brag about in a few months.
- Top 8 Web-Savvy Women of 2010 – written by Erin Bury, Community Manager at Sprouter.com
- Digital Media to People to Watch in Ontario in 2011 – written by Rob Lewis, Editor-in-Chief at TechVibes.com
- Canadians Look to Make Statement – written by Matt Hartley at the Financial Post
- Digital Media People to Watch in Alberta in 2011 – written by Sarah Blue, Community Outreach for Cardinal Media Technologies
- Digital Media People to Watch in Quebec in 2011 – written by Rob Lewis, Editor-in-Chief at TechVibes.com
Maybe these lists will inspire you or your company to become notable for 2012 – or even make the re-cap lists of the best digital media companies and professionals in Canada at the end of 2011. Good luck to all of the Canadian companies who are showcasing their products at CES in Las Vegas! Who else do you think needs to be added to these lists right now?
Influential Corporate Storytellers in the Digital Space
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration on January 10, 2011
For today’s post, I thought I’d tackle a big challenge. I’m going to tell you a short story about corporate storytelling. Corporate storytelling in the B2B technology and digital marketing space has often been referred to as thought leadership. However, that notion has evolved as new tools and channels have emerged to help you lead the way for new strategies and ideas in your industry.
In order to illustrate the idea of corporate storytelling for B2B Technology marketers, or marketers in any industry for that matter, I thought I’d tell you the story of a few very successful corporate storytellers in the digital media space today.
And so, my story begins. According to Seth Godin, a good story succeeds because it captures the imagination of the audience, is authentic, trusted, appeals to the senses and is rarely aimed at everyone.
There are many great storytellers in the digital space but the following storytellers have somehow managed to bubble up to the surface in my world. So, I would like to re-tell their stories (another sign of a good story is that it is sharable) to you – the audience who discovers this blog.
Gary Vaynerchuck – WineLibrary.TV
If you are a wine lover or social media marketing aficionado, I am sure that you have heard of Gary Vaynerchuk by now. Gary developed a very successful strategy to turn his passion for people and wine into a highly successful business. His story also illustrates the power of using social media to build personal and corporate brand equity. He developed WineLibrary.TV to bring the art of wine tasting to the masses. Over a few short years, Gary took his family’s wine business from obscurity to mass global awareness. As a result, he now shares his passion to help others succeed in a similar fashion through his book Crush It and by speaking at events all over the world. In addition, he has become so popular for sharing his passion that he has been asked to speak on a number of very popular TV shows including Dr. Oz and Conan O’Brien. One of my favourite examples of Gary’s passion and barrier breaking of wine tasting is his pairings for wine and popular cereal.
Alex Bogusky – FearlessRevolution.com
A recent hero in my world is Alex Bogusky – the big ad agency executive who abandoned his agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, to do the right thing after becoming disillusioned with the advertising world. Not only is his new business movement influential, the story about why he chose this path is also very inspiring. Alex co-founded the FearlessRevolution in the summer of 2010 as a new venture that takes a fresh approach to why and how we should be doing business and building brands. He told Fast Company that “the greatness that matters more is the greatness people achieve through helping each other, through collaborating.” Having already successfully impacted the change in the ad world through some of his famous game changing campaigns like Subservient Chicken, Alex Bogusky has now started a movement to influence people to do good in the world. His Fearless Cottage is almost like a drop-in center for people dedicated to setting aside their fears to do the right thing. Organic farmers and chefs, influential teachers, marketers and other fearless professionals participate in his movement through content on the website, via consulting projects and more. Alex Bogusky is, in essence, a storyteller about great corporate stories.
Blendtech – Will It Blend
This example is such a simple one but identifies how to tell a very authentic, sticky and imaginative story that can be told over and over again. The Will It Blend video channel on YouTube illustrates the Blendtech brand promise in a highly engaging, entertaining and sticky fashion. The series of videos highlight the power of the Blendtech blender in a hilarious fashion as they show how their blender truly can blend everything and anything. The videos on YouTube have become so popular that users now contact the company to request products for them to blend on their channel. Below is a video of them blending an iPhone (insert gulp here).
HubSpot – Inbound Marketing Resources
This story may not sound as sexy as the other stories that I have told so far. However, my blog couldn’t be focused on B2B marketing without giving an example of a brand that tells great stories in the B2B marketing space. HubSpot is a digital agency that focuses on helping businesses of all sizes to get found online via Inbound Marketing. HubSpot hosts countless webinars, educational videos and more – where they give away a ton of useful online marketing resources FOR FREE. Giving away free research, tips and insight builds trust with the user and entices others (like myself) to spread the word about their brand. I would highly recommend that you check out their site to learn more about the science of marketing through search, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more.
There are so many more examples that I could share but these are the stories that have stuck with me lately – even though they are each so very different. So, now that you know how some of the best influential corporate storytellers do it, you may be asking how to get started? Based on suggestions from some of the top storytellers in the business, including Seth Godin, Chip & Dan Heath, and HubSpot, here are some thoughts on where to begin.
Start by listening
In order to understand what kinds of stories will resonate with your audience, start by listening in on their needs and pain points. There are many tools that you can use including the usual Twitter, Facebook, comments on blogs, analytics, and more. Not only should you listen to potential customers, but you should also listen and learn from other storytellers and of course your competitors.
Begin by making your long story short
Mark Twain was once quoted as saying “I would have written you a short letter but I didn’t have time.” This quote is important because it takes a long time to develop your story which will likely be re-told to others in a quick, 1 minute synopsis. If you want to make sure that your customers get who you are, you need to first identify what your message is going to be and then go to step two to figure out how you are going to tell that story. Before you tell your long, never-ending story, test out your short story first. Test it out internally on employees, friends, etc. Make sure that they can tell it back to you in a way that you would want it to be shared and repeated externally.
Craft your sticky sound bytes
Identify key data points and value propositions that will help you differentiate yourself from competitors and work as a the foundation of your never-ending story. Develop a unique approach to telling that story and determine how can you illustrate your sticky sound bytes in a way that will stay with your audience. A great book which illustrates how to make your story stick is ironically entitled Made to Stick, written by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Remember that your story will be told and re-told in small, snack-size pieces of information online via blogs, video and more (hence the nerdy reference earlier to bytes).
Identify the tools and channels that you are going to use to tell your story
A few weeks ago, I posted a list of online channels that might work best for telling your B2B marketing story. Determine which channels will illustrate your story and value propositions (i.e. sticky story sound bytes). Don’t forget to include offline story channels including presentations, sales meetings, conferences, PR – and your biggest channel of all which is your employees. Make sure that your employees are aware of the story and are able to share it with their friends and peers.
Develop an editorial calendar and distribution plan
Many experts have said that you don’t necessarily want to plan years in advance in this space as tools, marketing channels and strategies may change. However, planning a few months out is probably a good idea to keep you motivated to keep telling your story. Kate Trgovac, a great Canadian corporate storyteller in Vancouver, recently posted her blog plan for 2011. I thought that this was a great example of planning out your strategy in advance to ensure that you will stick to it. Also, here is a great example from FlowTown on how to schedule your tweets to promote your small business blog.
Test, measure, learn and tweak
You’ve probably heard this a lot now as online marketing is a truly measurable medium. Nothing changes in the world of corporate storytelling. Determine which metrics you will use to track your success and make sure that measures are put in place to monitor and learn from those successes or failures. The only outcome will be an improved product as you hone your craft.
This is the end of my first story on influential corporate storytellers. However, I hope that this post inspires you to start crafting your own corporate story today.
Don’t Buy Your Friends – Avoiding the Groupon Pitfalls
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses on January 11, 2011
A few months ago, I posted a blog about how everyone is competing to become the next Groupon in Canada. After speaking to a few e-commerce veterans in Canada who are cautious about getting into this space, I still stand behind my belief that this is a potentially dangerous business model. The challenge in offering such large discounts to consumers is that we (as the consumer) are being taught to only like a brand if they are giving us a huge discount. Yes, the economy has been tough and we are all out to save money and find a good deal, but what ever happened to paying someone for what their product or service is really worth?
Of course, there are some companies who may be marking up the price of their products too much and taking consumers for a ride. However, if the price is not too ridiculous for a really great product that I believe in, I will most certainly pay full price for it. If we’re going to help struggling businesses out of a recession, wouldn’t paying them what they’re worth be part of the solution?
Yesterday, I received a re-cap of the most popular marketing charts of 2010 from MarketingProfs that highlighted the fact that the number one reason why people “like” brands on Facebook is because that brand offered them a deal or discount in order to “like” them. Again, I am the first to go to a good sale to find a bargain but I see a lot of danger in enticing fans/consumers/users to “like” your brand just to get 20% off your product at purchase.
Google insights for search shows that during the start of the recession, Canadians were going online to find deals and coupons because they were concerned about saving money. Retailers jumped on this trend and offered serious discounts just to get people to buy in their stores – and I can totally support that cause. However, I do fear that all of this mass discounting via Groupon, Facebook, etc. (I bet you can name 5 other group discount websites right now) is training consumers to like you for the wrong reasons. The chart below shows that the search behaviour for coupons and deals has sustained the same level of interest in the past few years. This is likely partially due to the fact that people are still staying conservative due to the strain on the economy. However, it is also likely due to the Groupon craze and the fact that we are being trained to seek out discounts.
As a result of this trained behaviour, I have one question for retailers. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that no one will buy the cow if they can get the milk for free? Why would you then ask people to like you online – just to buy a piece of you at a discounted price? MarketingProfs.com recently published an article about the fact that coupons cheapen your brand in the long run. They argue that “discounts train customers to think your regular prices are too high, and to wait for the next coupon before they shop again. They might eventually refuse to make any purchase without a coupon.” This is definitely a word of caution about the sustainability of a business model based on heavy discounts.
Of course, there will always be good business reasons to offer sales and discounts, I would just caution brands to be aware that it’s always better to build customer relationships based on quality and substance, rather than simply buying your friends online.
5 Cost-effective Ways to Promote Your Tech Event Online
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on January 18, 2011
There’s no doubt that events are a great way to promote thought leadership in your industry and drive sales leads if you are a Tech B2B Marketer. If you are just starting up your business and have a limited budget, here are some cost-effective ways to plan and promote your event online.
1. Online guest list applications
There are some great online guest list applications that make it easy for you to manage your RSVPs and sell tickets. There’s a great Canadian web tool ironically called GuestListApp which is free if you are hosting a free event. Otherwise, if you are selling tickets, they just take a small % cut of your ticket sales.
2. Twitter
If you haven’t already built up a Twitter following of your top current and prospective clients, you might want to get started now so that you have an audience to send your event announcements out to when you’re ready to start promoting. Generally, you can expect about 30% of people who you follow will follow you back. You should also create what is known as a hashtag (“#” symbols) for your event and promote it in advance so that people can start talking about your event and find others who are attending your event before the big day. I’d recommend that you Tweet the announcement out at least once a week leading up to your event to ensure that people don’t miss it. Twitter is also a great way to let customers know when you are presenting at a trade show and where people can find you just before and after your presentation.
3. Promotion on blogs
If you have a blog on your website, make sure to let people know about it through that channel. You can also post your event on popular technology blogs to expand your reach if you are trying to get a big turnout. Some popular Canadian Tech blogs are Techvibes and Sprouter.
4. LinkedIn
If you have a company page on LinkedIn, make sure to promote your event through that profile. You can also create a LinkedIn Group for your event to have people follow and comment on your event before, during and after the event has happened. In addition, you should share an update that includes a link to your event website that will be sent to all of the people in your network via your profile news feed. Make sure that all of your employees in your company who have LinkedIn profiles do so as well.
5. E-mail Invitations
This sounds like the simplest and most obvious option for promoting your event but I thought I’d still mention it because it’s much more cost-effective than printed invitations. Plus, most people are used to getting e-mail invitations by now – unless you are hosting an extremely high-profile event for c-level executives or more of a gala type event. There are numerous e-mail marketing tools on the market, including ConstantContact. Just remember to follow Canadian e-mail anti-spam laws when sending an invitation out to a guest list.
If you have other ideas for cost-effective ways to promote an upcoming event, please send me a comment.
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Listen to your gut – you already know the answer
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on January 20, 2011
While I am dedicated to writing about digital media and online advertising trends in Canada, I had to share this personal story with you. Last week, I went for coffee with a former colleague of mine who is currently at a crossroads in her career. She wanted some honest input and advice on what I thought about her situation. I told her that the one thing that she must ultimately do is listen to her gut.
Too many people ignore their instincts and end up disappointed with their decisions because they did not listen to their gut in the first place. I had to learn this lesson the hard way about a year ago when I made a decision to take a job that I knew was the wrong step in my career. I’m glad that I took the chance but soon realized that I had ultimately ignored what I knew was a wrong step. I made the bold move to quickly get out of that situation – a decision that my gut was very happy with in the end.
Looking back, the hard lesson that I needed to learn was ultimately necessary for me to move on to another path that I had never even considered. I have also learned to never ignore my gut again because it definitely knows more than I give it credit. Although I am taking a big chance to become a freelancer and explore a few avenues that I am passionate about, my gut is truly happy with the risk that I am now taking. Therefore, I know that it is the right decision because my “all and powerful gut” is happy.
My wish for anyone who comes across this blog is that you make the same decisions that satisfy your instincts as well. You are wiser than you think!
What’s Your Story in Six Words?
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on January 25, 2011
A friend of mine recently sent me an article from Etsy – the online community for buyers and sellers of handmade goods. The focus of
the article was to teach their artisan sellers how to tell a good story about the products that they sell on Etsy.com. If you haven’t heard Etsy’s story, then you should know that they built up their user base by empowering their sellers to help tell the Etsy story on their behalf. They also share frequent stories about their sellers on their blog.
What was really inspiring about the Etsy article that I read was the idea of summing up one’s story in six words. Apparently, Hemingway was once asked to write a short story in six words. This idea was recently picked up by Smith Magazine who challenged their readers to write their own story in six words.
I also believe that it’s important to make your long story short before telling your ongoing story to customers. Therefore, I feel that it is my duty to write my own short story. After all, if I can’t make my own long story short then I shouldn’t be advising others to do the same.
So, here is my six word story for the world to hear: Passionate Canadian digital media trend storyteller
Now that I have shared my story with you, I’d love to hear yours!
Canadian Crowdsourcing Superheroes
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on February 1, 2011
Many people have heard of popular crowdsourcing businesses like Threadless and CrowdSpring. However, you may not have heard of some of Canada’s budding companies in this arena. I thought it was worth noting some of the Canadian superheroes who are leading the charge in developing crowdsourcing technologies to support market research efforts.
The benefits of why a brand may want to crowdsource for future marketing and product innovations are simple. Companies are able to harness the wisdom of the social web and engage with groups of people to define and refine what they need to do next as a brand. Here’s an outline of two emerging Canadian crowdsource-focused research companies.
1. Chaordix – Chaordix is an enterprise-based crowdsourcing software platform and service. According to their website, the Chaordix platform was developed out of their own crowdsourcing research efforts – with input from a 50,000 member crowd. Their enterprise platform helps companies to uncover product innovations and consumer insights. Chaordix’s definition of crowdsourcing is ”a way of engaging groups of people to submit, discuss, refine and rank ideas and submissions for a specific question posed by an organization.” Here is a link to a video produced by Chaordix which explains why crowdsourcing matters.
2. TrendHunter - TrendHunter.com boasts that they are the world’s most popular trend website. They gather hot trend information from the “collective insight of 42,000 crowdsourced trend experts.” With millions of views of data, TrendHunter is able to identify which trends are about to take off. Their founder, Jeremy Gutsche, recently published an award-winning book entitled Exploiting Chaos. This book helps to explain how companies can spark innovation during times of change.
Here’s a video from TrendHunterTV which explains how their platform works to help companies to identify the hot trends in their industry:
Both of these companies were listed as part of Canada’s top 20 hottest technology companies last year by the Canadian Innovation Exchange. It will be interesting to see where they both end up in a year from now.
Ontario organizations focused on supporting Canadian digital media growth
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on February 10, 2011
I apologize for not writing as frequently on my blog as I would like to in the past two weeks. I’ve been in the process of moving and it’s been quite an ordeal. I promise to get back up to more frequent posts in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to share some really inspiring government and non-profit organization websites that are supporting technology innovation in Ontario. I couldn’t find an extensive list anywhere, so I thought I’d start my own. It’s exciting to see all of the growth and innovation that’s happening in the digital media and technology industries in our own backyard.
Here are some of the organizations that I have discovered to date:
- Canadian Digital Media Network – a Canadian non-profit organization focused on supporting digital media entrepreneurs and the organizations that help them to succeed.
- Communitech - A non-profit organization supporting technology companies in the Waterloo region
- Interactive Ontario – A not-for-profit organization committed to growing the digital content industry in Ontario
- Maple Leaf Digital Lounge – an organization focused on bringing together North American venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, global customers and technology leaders
- MaRS - A charitable organization focused on connecting and improving the Canadian world of science, technology and innovation
- Ontario Media Development Corporation - An Ontario government organization focused on advancing the province’s media cluster
- Ryerson Digital Media Zone - A non-profit organization which provides training, support and a collaborative environment for digital media entrepreneurs
If you know of other organizations worth following, please share them and I’ll add them to the list!
Canadian E-Commerce Innovators
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on February 16, 2011
I have read countless articles about how Canada is falling behind in E-Commerce in terms of usage and innovation. The situation in Canada has always been
a chicken and egg scenario where Canadian retailers are hesitant to invest in E-Commerce because there is not enough online shopping volume happening here and vice versa. However, I mentioned in a previous article on Techvibes that there is an emerging interest by Canadian retailers to increase their investment in online shopping platforms.
While not all of our retailers are jumping on board just yet, there is a sense of urgency by others to catch-up with what US retailers are doing or risk losing businesss. With the Canadian dollar at par with the US, Canada’s retailers know that they might lose business to US websites because of better deals and better selection online. However, perhaps the solution is not to mimick the US but to find innovative ways to compliment or enhance the online shopping experience to suit Canadian online behaviours.
I thought it was worth highlighting some Canadian E-Commerce startups who are innovating in the retail space in Canada right now. This list is in no particular order of preference.
- Well.ca – You might have already heard of this online retail start-up as they have been making a lot of noise and gaining a lot of ground lately. Ali Asaria, who has been profiled in many Canadian publications including The Globe and Mail and Sprouter, started the online health and beauty store in his father’s basement. Well.ca takes a very personable and Canadian approach to running an online shopping site. They include hand-written notes in all of their boxes that are shipped to customers for free. They also ship to the US, which reverses the trend that we see for many Canadian retailers. Well.ca has also been part of a grass roots initiative called ECommerceCamp to try and impact the growth of the online retail industry in Canada.
- Wishabi.ca - Wishabi is a Canadian online comparison shopping startup that provides Canadian shopping intelligence from over 500 stores across Canada and the US. They help online shoppers to review multiple merchants at a glance, find deals and helpful recommendations, shop both sides of the border with all fees included, and discover unique products with personalized shopping profiles. Their website takes a fresh approach to the Canadian shopping trend of researching online and purchasing in-store. They make it easy for Canadian online shoppers to get all of the information they need in one place.
- ClipMobile – This Canadian mobile startup has developed a location-based mobile coupon application that enables Canadians to download coupons for free directly from their smartphones. The fee is covered by merchants who pay a yearly subscription based on the number of locations at which they wish to offer coupons. Again, this business compliments the Canadian tendency to research products and deals online and then buy in-store.
- Recarter.com – This Canadian E-Commerce innovation tool is launching soon and will help online retailers to recoup some of their lost sales from abandoned shopping carts. The shopping cart abandonment issue is a global issue and Recarter’s solution could not only help retailers in Canada but any retailer who would like to recover lost sales. Who wouldn’t want that?
- SmartBrideBoutique.com – SmartBride is a premium classifieds website that enables recent brides to recoup up to 50% of their wedding costs while helping brides-to-be to save on their upcoming wedding. It is both a budget-savvy and eco-friendly concept for online shopping in Canada and the US. SmartBride is also taking a very unique approach to helping Bridal store retailers to sell off unsold inventory online.
- Trimirror.com - triMirror is a website where users can upload photos of themselves via their smartphones to share pictures and fashion ideas, get fitting advice and styling tips in real-time. You can ask their community for advice, or customize your audience to folks with similar fashion tastes.
- WagJag.com – This wouldn’t be a blog about online shopping if I didn’t mention at least one group buying website. WagJag launched during the height of the group buying craze that has happened in the last 12 to 18 months. They are a member of the TorStar Digital family of properties and have had tremendous success in the group buying market in Canada to date.
This is just a short list of websites that I have heard about recently and is not, by any means, complete. If you know of other Canadian E-Commerce or online shopping startups worth mentioning, please let me know and I will add them to the growing list.
A star-studded agenda is set for the Art of Marketing Conference in Toronto
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on February 23, 2011
I am really excited to attend the Art of Marketing Conference in Toronto on March 7th on behalf of Techvibes. The event will feature prominent Marketing gurus including:
- Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It and Wine Library TV celebrity
- Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist and author of Web Analytics 2.0
- Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Apple Evangelist, Twitter celebrity and author of Enchantment
The entire agenda for the event can be found here: http://www.theartofmarketing.ca/agenda. I will be profiling some of these speakers on Techvibes in the next week or so. Stay tuned for those posts!
If you’d like to attend the conference, the event organizers have provided a discount code for the event which saves attendees $50.00 per ticket or $100.00 per ticket in groups of 3 or more. The promo code is TRS23 and you can also use this link: https://www.theartofmarketing.ca/register?url=register&promo=TRS2.
Will AOL’s ‘Project Devil’ change the online display advertising game?
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on February 24, 2011
I read on AdAge.com yesterday that AOL is going to roll-out their ‘project Devil’ onto the newly acquired Huffington Post. It’s an interesting name
for
something that they hope will change the online display advertising world for good. Perhaps ‘Angel’ would have been a better name but maybe it was already taken. The ad format is intended to bring in a higher average CPM than typical display ad units on AOL websites. AOL’s hope is that other websites will adopt this format as well in the future.
Many journalists have said that AOL is trying to force this new ad format down the Huffington Post’s throat. However, I don’t see this as such a bad thing. It seems that AOL wants to make online display advertising more attractive, less cluttered and appear more like print advertising. Doesn’t this seem more like moving back to more traditional journalistic endeavors, rather than trying to move away from them?
In a world where new digital platforms like the iPad might help to change the game for newspapers and print media for the better, AOL’s new strategy seems like a good idea. It could enable all media ad formats to eventually have similar monetary values. A preference for CPC advertising has driven down the cost of display ads online and has inevitably hurt the print world. AOL’s strategy is a first step in moving towards getting advertisers to pay for the true value of great online content.
While AOL may have to swim upstream for a while, I definitely like the direction in which they are headed. Yes, their little ‘Devil’ will require websites to re-design their layouts in order to accommodate new advertising units. However, if it means making web pages more appealing to users in the end and helping content producers to make a decent living then this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Will this attempt to jumpstart a new display advertising era work? We’ll just have to wait and see. Please share your thoughts on what you think about AOL’s new ‘Project Devil?’
iPad 2 – Thank Goodness for the Best Buy “Buy Back” Program
Posted by The Running Start in Random Thoughts on March 3, 2011
I know that this blog is off topic from my usual theme of digital media trends in Canada and B2B Marketing advice but I had to share my frustration. You had to be hiding under a virtual rock yesterday not to see at least one Tweet, article or e-mail about the new iPad2 coming out soon. When I first read the announcement, I was slightly annoyed as my siblings and I had recently pitched-in to buy our dad an iPad for his birthday. We were all pretty proud of ourselves as we had been searching for weeks for the perfect gift for a milestone birthday. He was very excited about his shiny new toy when we gave it to him and we were glad that we had chosen that gift.
However, a week after we gave the new iPad to him it is already obsolete. Blurg! I immediately thought about the Best Buy commercial below and realized that Best Buy is likely going to be very busy fulfilling their promise. This example has made me hesitant to ever buy the first or even second iteration of any technology product. In fact, I think I’ll wait at least two years after a product has come out before I buy it. This experience has made me wonder if consumers will ever catch on to this trend and start to hold back? I know that I am always going to wait.
If you recently bought an iPad and are now kicking yourself for not waiting for the next version, you’ll definitely enjoy the commercial below. I feel your pain.
Stratford – a small Ontario town with big technology dreams
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on March 8, 2011
Ontario’s small town of Stratford was recently chosen as one of the top 7 intelligent communities of 2011 from around the world. It might surprise many
Canadians to learn that the town that is well-known for attracting a large amount of tourists to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival every year is now becoming a technologically advanced community.
Although Stratford’s population is just roughly 32,000 people strong, the town is a glowing example of what’s possible for Canada’s digital future.
Stratford has recently undergone significant changes in order to boost the local economy and create new jobs and opportunities in the information technology space. Not only has the University of Waterloo recently opened up a campus in Stratford to offer a Masters of Business Entrepreneurship and Technology program but the city has also laid 60 km of optical fibre to provide a public Wi-Fi network. In addition, a digital media “think tank” centre, the Stratford Institute, was recently developed to host seminars, workshops and presentations led by some of the brightest minds in the digital media industry today.
What is most impressive is the fact that Stratford’s family physicians have been experimenting with an e-health portal to manage their patients’ health records and after-hours care. This has enabled the town to make-up for the shortage of local family doctors and has made Stratford a leading city in the e-healthcare industry.
Stratford has also played host to the Canada 3.0 conference in the past two years. I am excited to be a part of this conference in 2011. The agenda for this three-day event starting on May 2nd will explore many of the current trends and challenges that Canada faces in order to become a leader in technology innovation on the world stage.
The conference will bring together leading industry experts, policy makers, Academia, decision makers and Government representatives to discuss and collaborate on the current issues that will help Canada reach a “moonshot goal” – that anyone can do anything online in Canada by 2017. I will explore some of these issues over the coming weeks to find out what other Canadians think it will take for Canada to reach this goal.
There are many challenges to overcome in order to achieve the “moonshot” goal in such a short time. Therefore, Canada requires anyone with a strong voice and the willingness to collaborate to participate in the conference and in the efforts required to elevate Canada’s global status as an innovator in technology.
This year’s conference will cover keynotes, breakout sessions, expert panels, and open dialogue regarding current digital media-driven productivity gains in the Education, eHealth, Media & Entertainment, Natural Resources, Public Sector, Research and Telecommunications & Distribution industries. If you have suggestions for current Canadian technology trends and issues in those sectors that are worth exploring, definitely let me know and I will consider writing about them. Let’s get the conversation started now. I hope to see you in Stratford in May to help build the roadmap for Canada’s digital future.
For more information about the Canada 3.0 conference in Stratford, visit www.canada30.ca.
Canada’s slow IPv6 adoption reflects our lagging leadership in digital media innovation
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on March 10, 2011
Canada is a world leader in terms of broadband Internet usage and consumption of digital media communications tools like Search, Social Networking and
Video. Web research firm comScore was quoted in a recent Globe and Mail article as saying that “Canadians spend 43.5 hours a month online – almost twice the world average of 23.1 hours.” However, when it comes to resolving Internet technology issues like the impending IP address shortage, we are currently sitting in the middle of the pack.
A recent article from TheRecord.com discussed the fact that Canadian ISPs have been slow to collaborate and adopt IPv6 as a resolution for the coming IP address shortage. I spoke with a few industry leaders in this space to find out more about this issue and what it means for the perception of Canada on the global Internet stage.
Hélène Joncas, Chief Strategy Officer at CANARIE, told me that “there just doesn’t seem to be the same sense of urgency in Canada that there has been in other countries to implement IPv6.” The implications for Canada are that if other countries upgrade their IP networks and protocols sooner, we run the risk of Canadian systems not functioning properly with networks and protocols in other jurisdictions. Joncas likened the situation to the “rest of the world developing a new dialing system for their phones while Canada’s phones are still on the old dialing system.”
However, Joncas said that many Canadian businesses and government funded organizations have actually already been slowly adopting IPv6. So, we may not be as far behind as TheRecord.com article suggests. Canarie, for example, is now IPv6 enabled and is working with their Optical Regional Advanced Network partners (ORANs) like Orion and BCNET to get them IPv6 enabled as well. Joncas and other members of CANARIE will discuss the issue further at the Canada 3.0 Conference (www.canada30.ca) on May 2nd to 4th in Stratford, Ontario. Members of the federal and provincial governments will also be on hand to speak about the work that is underway.
Marc Blanchet, President at Viagénie – a consulting company that is working with Canadian ISPs to help them deploy IPv6, is vice-chair of the Canadian ISACC IPv6 task group that was put in place by the Canadian government to resolve the coming IP address shortage. He told me to rest assured that “the government and ISPs are working hard to resolve the issue.”
Blanchet said that big players like the Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA) have already done a lot of work to ensure that domain name owners can get new names over IPv6 already. He explained that “Canada may not have been the pioneers of IPv6 adoption, but we were certainly not the late comers – we’re somewhere in the middle.” Blanchet shared a link to a publicly available report which outlines the awareness of the issue by major Government organizations, industry players and ISPs and their commitment to be completely IPv6 enabled.
He explained that of course ISPs do not want to publicly share all of the information about the IP address shortage solution with the public yet. There is a lot at stake from a competition perspective. However, Canadian ISPs are, in fact, collaborating and now have incentive to resolve the issue. The challenge was that Canadian ISPs were not previously pressed to resolve the issue because there was no financial benefit in doing so.
So, perhaps there may not be as much of a looming “IPocalypse” in Canada as many reporters have chosen to label the situation. However, one might compare this current issue to Canada’s performance at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Once Canada decided to attempt to “own the podium” and invest in the success of our athletes, we kicked some serious butt and won more gold medals than any other host nation had ever won in the past.
Similarly, as soon as there was incentive to adopt IPv6, Canadian ISPs have jumped on the bandwagon and have made a commitment to fix the problem before it becomes an issue for our economy.
Other countries like Japan incentivized their businesses and ISPs to resolve the issue a lot sooner. Therefore, according to Hélène Joncas, Japan is already 21% IPv6 enabled. She also implied that this is perhaps due to the fact that they may be running out of IP addresses at a much faster rate than in Canada.
Regardless of whether Canada may not be running out of IP addresses as quickly as other countries, we still need to ensure that our networks and protocols work with other countries’ systems. Likewise, we are missing the opportunity to position ourselves as global leaders in technology and digital media innovation. If the Canadian government pressed harder to become a global leader and invested even more in Canadian businesses to “own the technology and digital media innovation podium” then who knows what might be possible?
We’re already leaders in digital media usage. Why not lead in innovation as well?
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Canada’s leadership in technology and innovation relies on brainpower
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on March 15, 2011
Brainpower is at the root of Canada’s future success in the digital economy. According to a recent report by the Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow’s ICT Skills
(CCICT), one of the keys to growing the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry in Canada is to attract more skilled professionals to the trade.
The ICT Brainpower Challenge
A lack of awareness of the opportunities available in the industry has caused a decrease in enrolment for ICT-related university programs. The digital economy is caught in a chicken and egg scenario where the industry lacks growth due to a decrease in availability of local talent and young people are not interested in going into ICT-related fields due to a lack of awareness of where the job opportunities exist.
A recent report called Canada: The Go‐to Country for Brainpower Resources in the Global Digital Economy found that only 9% of boys and 4% of girls in high school currently view ICT-related careers as appealing. The industry is still only roughly 25% comprised of females. The report explained that many young females perceive ICT-related jobs as “geeky, boring desk jobs.”
I spoke with Dave Ticoll, Executive Director of CCICT last week about new initiatives that the CCICT is developing to entice young Canadians at the high school level to learn about all of the exciting careers that are possible in the ICT industry. Ticoll will be speaking at the Canada 3.0 conference (www.canada30.ca) in Stratford, Ontario in May.
Ticoll told me that the brainpower challenge also stems from the current ICT-related technology programs that are available in schools today. He said that there is a “huge misalignment between the skills that we are creating in the post-secondary system and the needs of the digital economy.” For example, the healthcare system cannot find enough Canadians with health informatics skills. In addition, there is a lot of focus being placed on building smart power grids, yet there are very few Canadians with green energy technology skills.
According to Ticoll, we are faced with a conundrum where we now have “jobs without people and people without jobs.” A recent report by the OMDC claimed that there are 2,900 students enrolled in game design programs at Ontario Colleges and Universities. Yet, Ticoll says that “many of those students have to seek work outside of the province or country because the job opportunities don’t match-up with their skills.”
Ticoll told me that there is also a black hole in terms of what the actual job opportunities are in ICT-related fields. He said that “when students in high school go to choose their future careers, they are not able to get access to information about the exciting ICT jobs available to them.” Therefore, they are not aware that they can actually use technology skills to solve business problems and make a change in the world.
The Proposed Solution
The CCICT has been working with Canadian universities and corporations to develop a new undergraduate university program called Business Technology Management (BTM). It is a program designed to improve the quality and quantity of business professionals capable of taking on ICT roles to achieve productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship and competitive advantage for the Canadian digital economy. The BTM program is part of a mandate to increase Canadian ICT-related college and university enrolments by 20% by the year 2017.
In addition, the CCICT plans to implement an ICT job awareness program which involves:
- An annual ICT national career week which will be held in major cities across Canada
- A Web 2.0 style “digital jobs of tomorrow hub” where Canadian students can go online to learn about all of the job opportunities in ICT-related fields
Finally, due to the lack of data surrounding the actual size and opportunity of the ICT market in Canada, the CCICT is working on developing a “skills data mart.” This will help to quantify the actual number of jobs in the ICT market, broken down by fields such as healthcare, green energy, business technology and more.
Advice for startups on how to make money from online advertising
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on March 21, 2011
Over the past few months, a number of Canadian online media startups have asked me for advice on how to make money from online advertising. The
most common question I get is “when does it make sense to start selling ads on my website and how do I do that?”
Since so many digital startups want to know, I thought it would make sense to provide some helpful steps to take and options to consider:
1. Determine your monthly unique visitor traffic
Typically, advertisers (and their agencies) won’t be interested in buying premium ads on your website until you’ve hit a certain traffic threshold. That threshold may vary depending on how niche your content is. However, I would suggest that 50,000 unique monthly visitors is likely a good benchmark.
Until you reach that threshold, I recommend thinking about alternatives like sponsorships, content integration, affiliate partnerships, barter deals, and Google Ad Sense instead. See my notes below on these opportunities.
Advertisers usually want to see data from third-party online media measurement companies, rather than your back-end data from Google Analytics or Omniture. In Canada, they typically look to comScore Media Metrics for that data. In the US, they will look to comScore, Neilsen or Compete. If you cannot afford to purchase reports from these companies, DoubleClick Ad Planner gives you a good third-party estimate of your traffic.
2. Calculate what your traffic is worth
I would recommend that you calculate the potential advertising revenue of your website before deciding whether it’s time to start selling ads directly to advertisers. This will help you to determine the cost benefit of putting a lot of resources behind selling, managing and reporting on ad campaigns versus selling sponsorships, working with Google Ad Sense or being represented by an ad network.
A quick way to do this is to look at the total number of pageviews that you have on your website. Then, estimate the number of ad units that you will have on most of your pages. A good estimate is roughly 1.5 ad units per page (because you may have one or two premium ad units on a page, plus one or two additional ad units that may not be in a premium position).
A lot of publishers use an average CPM of around $12.00 to do their estimates. That is because there will be some ad inventory on your website that could be worth $30.00 per thousand impressions (CPM). However, a lot of it will only be worth $3.00 – $5.00, depending on placement.
Also, be aware that when you are starting out, there will be a ramp up period for getting advertisers to pay premium dollars to be on your website. Be prepared that you may not get your desired premium CPM until there is enough demand for your content.
So, the formula should look like this: (X number of pageviews x 1.5 x 12) / 1,000. This gives you a rough estimate of what your inventory is likely worth and is a good starting point for figuring out your next move.
3. Flat fee sponsorships
If your traffic is currently below the suggested traffic threshold, you may want to consider selling a flat fee sponsorship. That’s because it will likely end up costing you more to do the work to manage the ad campaigns that you sell, than what the advertiser will ultimately be willing to pay for your inventory. I recommend that you charge a flat fee for a sponsorship for all or a particular segment of the content on your website. That way, you can leave it up on your website for a set period of time and not worry about as much manual labour.
If you are planning a special feature or promotion for your website, I recommend that you seek out an advertiser who would be interested in co-branding or sponsorship opportunities, or even possible barter deals. In addition, eNewsletter sponsorships can get you a decent CPM. However, the key is to have a big distribution list. So, start building up an e-mail user base now and get people to opt-in for future e-mail messages from sponsors.
4. Google Ad Sense
There are pros and cons to putting Google Ad Sense ads on your website. The pro is that you can start to make money right away from the inventory on your website.
The con is that it makes it tougher for you to convince advertisers to buy premium ads with you. That’s because they can buy ads via the Google Content Network on your website for a cheaper CPM. You need to decide what works best for you. However, it often makes sense to put your remnant, or unsold advertising inventory into an ad network or ad exchange.
5. Affiliate partnerships
Another option that you can consider is making money for sending traffic and leads to other websites to help them drive sales. This is called affiliate partnerships. If you have very niche content that caters to a specific type of customer (i.e. beauty tips, mortgage rates, etc.), then certain related businesses may be interested in developing an affiliate program with you.
This means that you can potentially share revenue with them from the sale on their website. Or, they might pay you on a cost-per-lead basis. It’s worth investigating potential affiliate partners in the industry in which your website is serving.
6. Ad Network Representation
When you are just starting out, it can be tempting to seek out advertising network representation. Ad networks will also want to know if you’ve met a certain traffic and page view threshold before they decide whether they will want to represent your website. In terms of page views, you’re likely going to be appealing to a direct sales ad network if you have reached roughly 500,000 monthly page views or more (even better if it’s closer to 1 million).
Once again, there are pros and cons to having a larger ad network handle the advertising sales on your behalf.
The pro is that if you do not have the expertise or resources to go out and sell the inventory yourself, you can have someone else handle it while you focus on growing your business and the traffic to your website.
The con is that you will likely have to share up to 50% of the revenue with the ad network. This is because you do not have enough traffic volume at this time to justify a bigger revenue share model for yourself. The ad network will also likely want to sell your inventory along with other similar websites in their network in order to get you onto the advertising buy. This means that they may sell your inventory at a lower CPM as part of a larger advertising deal.
If you do choose to go down this route, it is worth your time to shop around a little to see what is out there.
There are no right or wrong answers for choosing one advertising sales channel over another. These are just some recommendations and guidelines about how you might get started.
I’d love to know what other questions that digital startups have about making money from online advertising. Please leave a comment if you have a question.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Canada’s “moon shot” goal – to become a digital nation by 2017
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on March 22, 2011
In 2010, the Canada 3.0 Conference brought together nearly 2,000 delegates including cabinet ministers, business leaders, scholars and students to
Stratford, Ontario to discuss Canada’s future as a digital society. After a 2-day discussion, a call-to-action was developed: Canada must set an ambitious goal to become a fully digital nation by 2017 – the year we celebrate our country’s 150th birthday. This “moon shot” goal would enable Canadians to do anything online, from anywhere, at a reasonable cost.
I spoke with Ian Wilson, Executive Director at The Stratford Institute (a not-for-profit technology think-tank in Stratford, Ontario) about what it will take to achieve the 2017 “moon shot.” Wilson said that this ambitious goal requires “unprecedented collaboration” from Canada’s government, universities and private sector. He explained that there has been a lot of commitment from these institutions in the past but there has been very little measurable action to date. Wilson described the situation by saying that “vision without implementation is hallucination.”
Wilson told me that “a lot of people in Canada are worried that we are falling behind” in regards to digital leadership on the global stage. He and the other board members at the Stratford Institute aim to act as provocateurs to encourage action at the political level and to stimulate and help the unprecedented collaboration required across government, universities, NGOs and the private sector.
The Call to Action
Canada is lacking a vehicle to mobilize and sustain the efforts of all organizations and individuals concerned about our digital future. We cannot rely on just the technological experts and specialists to resolve the current challenges that we face. Ian Wilson says that in addition to involving the technology sector, we need to “engage businesses, entrepreneurs, and people in the creative arts to take action.” The digital jobs of the future require Canadians with skills that cross all of these sectors.
To inspire action, a participative and inclusive strategy has been developed to engage Canadians in a discussion and get our government mobilized. Ian Wilson outlined some of the key tactics that will help to inspire Canadians to get involved.
Some of these tactics include:
- A National Digital Video Contest
The Stratford Institute, along with Canadian Digital Media Network is inviting all Canadians to submit a video that profiles their vision of what Canada will look like in 2017. The video can be a webcam monologue, a presentation, a story or a short film of 5 minutes or less. Select entries will be featured on the Canada 3.0 website (www.canada30.ca) and profiled at the Canada 3.0 venue on May 2 to 4, 2011. Three winning entries will each be awarded a $500 prize to be announced at the Canada 3.0 conference closing celebrations and showcased on the Canada 3.0 website.
- An Annual “National Digital Report”
It will be necessary to establish key metrics to assess how Canada, its governments and institutions are doing in advancing toward the “moon shot” goal compared to the rest of the world. The Stratford Institute is currently working on their first annual report that will be released at the Canada 3.0 Conference in May. They will be asking the Canadian academic, government and private sector community to help provide ideas on what those key metrics and benchmarks should look like (i.e. the percent of public content available online; trends in consumption of paper’; availability of public access to tech in libraries and community centres; technological literacy; access to high speed connections). They will also poll Canadians via a new website to get a reading of attitudes and perspectives on how we’re doing so far. The key metrics and the polling information will be developed through consultation with experts from organizations like the OECD and CRTC.
So, will Canada meet the “moon shot” goal by 2017? Ian Wilson says we can check back in with him at that time to see where we stand. Let us know what you think it will take to get there?
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Preparing the Canadian cultural workforce for the digital sea change
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on March 24, 2011
In the new digital economy, the Canadian cultural sector needs workers with a hybrid of technology, management and creative skills. The Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) of Canada is conducting a major national study with Nordicity to measure the “Impact of Emerging Digital Technologies on the
Cultural Sector.” I spoke with Susan Annis, Executive Director of CHRC this week to learn about the challenges that the Canadian cultural workforce faces in acquiring new digital skills and what programs the CHRC is planning to help address those challenges.
According to Annis, “the Canadian cultural sector is going through a digital sea change. As a result, it is the hybrid cultural worker who will rise to the top.” The Canadian cultural industry is broken-out into eight sub-sectors including Live Performing Arts; Writing and Publishing; Visuals Arts and Crafts; Film, Television and Broadcasting; Digital Media; Music and Sound Recording; and Heritage.
Annis says that every cultural sub-sector is being impacted by the growing need for computer literacy and digital expertise.
Critical digital expertise challenges in the Canadian cultural sector
One of the biggest challenges that the Canadian cultural workforce faces is the issue of managing digital copyrights. The proposed Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-32) will attempt to address this issue. However, there are steps that the CHRC can take to help educate Canadian cultural workers about digital rights management and provide them with the skills to retain and grow revenue for their work.
Another challenge brought about by the sea change of digital technology is managing and marketing cultural exports. Annis explained that many new artists and cultural producers are now managing their own product distribution. She says that there will always be a need for large organizational infrastructures (i.e. the book publishers and record labels). However, Canadian cultural producers also need digital distribution skills at the individual level – as the cultural sector “shifts from a hierarchy to a broader base of distributed materials.”
Many Canadian artists are already on the cutting edge of digital technologies. However, Annis says that there are cultural producers in certain sub-sectors who will require more digital technology training than others – especially when it comes to managing, retaining and distributing the digital rights to their work.
CHRC training programs
The CHRC is developing pilot training programs to help address some of the digital rights and distribution challenges that the industry currently faces. Once the content is perfected, the CHRC plans to roll-out the courses to major digital media and professional associations across all of the provinces. These training programs will initially be provided online.
Some of the new CHRC training programs include:
- Rights management in the music industry
- Export marketing – developed at the cultural industry sub-sector level
- Project management for the digital media industry
Annis explained that it has been difficult to quantify where the biggest gaps are for training the Canadian cultural workforce to date. She said that the CHRC is working to develop measurable data points to help get stronger support and funding in the future. However, the courses outlined above are where the CHRC currently sees the most demand for education.
Ultimately, Annis says that we need to “create standards of excellence where the arts and technology can grow together.” She believes that training needs to start at the high school level, where the arts can be integrated with technology in the classroom. The CHRC is currently putting together a list of recommendations on how to reach these cultural standards of digital excellence.
If you want to hear from Susan Annis and participate in the conversation about what digital training is required for the Canadian cultural workforce, you can meet her at the Canada 3.0 (www.canada30.ca) Conference in Stratford in May.
How do you think the CHRC can prepare Canadian cultural workers for the digital future?
Timing is everything
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses on March 30, 2011
Yesterday, I listened to Dan Zarrella from HubSpot‘s webinar about the “Science of Timing.” As a blogger and as a social media participant, I thought it would be worthwhile to share some of the insights that he provided. Here’s just a taste of what was discussed:
Timing for social media
Zarrella shared a slide which identifies the best time of day to get Re-Tweets. Content that is Tweeted in the afternoon and evening is much more likely to be Re-Tweeted than in the morning. I’ve seen this same trend happen with my own content. See the HubSpot slide below for scientific proof:
When it comes to Facebook sharing, it appears that weekends are the best time to share content with your “fans”.
Timing for blogs
Zarrella has done a lot of research on when people are most likely to read blogs. He showed data that indicated that blogs are more likely to be read in the morning and during the day. However, when it comes to gender differences, men are more likely than women to read blogs at night. Therefore, if your blog is targeted to male readers, you may want to alter your blog publishing strategy slightly.
Zarrella showed a slide that indicated that weekends are when you are more likely to receive comments from your readers. While most bloggers (myself included) prefer to blog during the week, there is definitely some merit in also blogging on the weekend. See Zarrella’s slide about comment timing below:
There were even more valuable insights presented in the HubSpot webinar yesterday. In case you want to see all of the data, here’s a link to Dan Zarrella’s webinar slides on SlideShare.
Developing Canadian market insight reports on a budget
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on April 6, 2011
I recently worked on a market insights report for a client that required me to analyze Canadian digital media trends. Because I am a small business owner, I
couldn’t afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars on multiple reports from consulting and market research companies. So, I used my super Internet detective skills to find alternate sources of free data and information.
I figure that there are thousands of other small technology businesses out there that need to find the same kind of data to help them put together market insights and business intelligence reports.
Here are some of the best Canadian digital media industry reports and sources that I found for free online:
- PwC Canada’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2010–2014
- Mary Meeker & Matt Murphy’s Top Mobile Internet Trends 2011 – find market data that compares Canada to other countries
- eMarketer Newsletters – there’s tons of free Canadian eMarketer data in those newsletters for those of us with shallow pockets
- comScore’s Canadian 2010 Digital Year in Review – just fill-in your business information to download the whitepaper
SlideShare.net is a great way to search for presentations created by your industry peers who may have already created a similar document. In addition, I found that Twitter was more useful to me than Quora for crowd sourcing information. I guess it depends on your follower numbers on these tools.
Do you have a favourite free resource for Canadian digital media trends? If so, please share and I’ll add it to the list!
How to stay motivated: Find someone to hold you accountable
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on April 12, 2011
I recently finished my last session with my amazing career coach Rachel. In the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out what I want to do next in my
career. I went from being extremely unhappy in a well-paid job to being extremely enthusiastic and motivated to start my own small business. Throughout my journey, I had my career coach there to check-in on my progress and make sure that I was sticking to my goals.
In my final session, my coach asked me what the one thing was that made working with her so worthwhile. For me, it was having someone to hold me accountable for my actions. When you work for a large company, you usually have to set quarterly and annual goals for you and your boss to use as a benchmark to measure your performance. When you’re running your own business, there is no one there to tell you whether you are on track.
Now that I am moving on from my coaching sessions, I need to find someone new to hold me accountable. Otherwise, it’s easy to forgive myself for not following through on my intended actions. Apart from asking friends and family members to hold me accountable, I thought it might also make it extra tough for me to slack off if I made some of my 2011 goals known to the readers of my blog.
That way, if I don’t follow through on my goals then my readers will know when I check-in at the end of the year to review what I have achieved.
Let’s face it, fear is a great motivator. I am motivated by the fear of ever letting someone down – and I certainly don’t want to let down my readers.
So, I’m asking you, the readers of my blog to hold me accountable for the following small business goals:
- Have at least 5-10 phone calls or meetings with new contacts every day (my motto is always be networking)
- Have 3-5 repeat clients by the end of 2011
- Host at least 2 group presentations about B2B digital corporate storytelling by the end of 2011
- Help at least 3 small websites to put together an integrated media sales strategy by the end of 2011
- Work with 3-5 businesses to help them profile Canadian digital media trends and online user behaviours (via blogs, market insights reports, presentations, etc.) by the end of 2011
- Pitch a Canadian digital media news story to 3-5 print publications where I’d like to be published
So, there you have it. Those are some of my business goals for the rest of 2011, sans career coach. If you are a small business owner and happen to read this blog, I’d love to hear some of your goals. Perhaps we can help each other to stay motivated and inspired.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Road trip! Heading to Edmonton to check out the tech scene
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on April 14, 2011
I’m very excited to be heading to Edmonton next week to learn about the different ways that the city is innovating in the technology sector. As part of my trip, I will be
attending the EEDC annual luncheon to find out how the city of Edmonton will capitalize on emerging technology growth and become more competitive in the global economy. This is something that many Canadian cities are trying to figure out.
According to Candace Brinsmead, VP of Technology Advancement at the Edmonton Research Park, “creating a knowledge-based economy is the new black.”
Just last week, the city of Toronto released a report declaring itself as the technology hub of Canada. While I do believe that Toronto is a leader in technology innovation, I think that it’s perhaps a little too early for any Canadian city to claim itself as the hub of Canada. Ideally, major cities across Canada should be working together to elevate Canada’s leadership in technology and innovation as a whole.
That’s why I am very excited to find out what the Edmonton Economic Development Council is doing and how they are going to make an impact. While I am there, I will also be touring the Edmonton Research Park (ERP) to learn first-hand how Edmonton supports its local technology entrepreneurs.
In advance of my trip, I thought it would make sense to speak with a few people who know a thing or two about what makes Edmonton such a hotbed for technology. I spoke with entrepreneurs Ken Bautista, CEO and Co-founder of Rocketfuel Games and Chris La Bossiere, Co-CEO of Yardstick Software to get an idea of what’s going on in Edmonton from a startup perspective. In addition, I spoke with Candace Brinsmead, VP, Technology Advancement at the Edmonton Research Park and Stuart Cullum, Executive Director at novaNAIT to get a better understanding of what the municipal government and research institutions are doing to support technology SMEs.
Here is what I have learned so far from my conversations with them:
The Edmonton startup community is an extremely passionate yet humble, creative and tight-knit group
Chris La Bossiere explained to me that there are a number of grassroots initiatives happening in Edmonton. Their mission is to build a supportive ecosystem that links the arts and technology communities together. This will help to create a very unique knowledge-based economy.
Ken Bautista, who started-up artScene Edmonton two years ago, shared some insight about some of the grassroots initiatives taking place. For example, Startup Edmonton was formed around the same time as artScene Edmonton in order to marry the arts and technology sectors together. In addition, he explained that the very first Canadian Startup Weekend event took place in Edmonton.
Another new program that has recently launched is called the “Edmonton Champions Project.” This initiative will help to empower a new generation of creative entrepreneurs, startups and projects in Edmonton. It’s part of the city’s plan to make Edmonton a creative and entrepreneurial hub that connects local talent with the world.
According to Bautista, “the grassroots focus is less about attracting large companies to set-up head offices in Edmonton, but rather to fuel the growth of independent entrepreneurial shops that may one day become large headquarters.” He says that Edmonton aspires to one day “be like Austin, Texas – where the technology and cultural sectors are nicely integrated.”
The municipal government is putting SMEs first
Candace Brinsmead believes that in order to succeed, key stakeholders need to collaborate and “leave their egos at the door.” Ensuring that the city has “one united voice” helps to improve Edmonton’s chances for prosperity.
According to Brinsmead, the city of Edmonton now has the “perfect storm” of support from municipal, provincial and federal governments to ensure its success in the technology sector. She explained that by creating a knowledge-based economy in Edmonton, the city can help to supplement the resource-based economy in the rest of the province in the near future.
What’s important is to stay laser-focused on areas where they see the most potential. Brinsmead says that “we cannot be all things to all people and to all sectors.” Some of the winning sectors in Edmonton so far are:
- Nanotechnology – with businesses like Microline and Quantum technologies leading the way
- Biotechnology and Life Sciences – to find cleaner ways for Alberta’s oil & gas industry to extract oil from the ground & improve waste management
- Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) – with businesses like Empire Avenue, Bioware, Rocket Fuel Games and Yardstick Software as some of the leaders
Research services in Edmonton breed innovation
Research facilities at the Edmonton Research Park and novaNAIT can help technology entrepreneurs with funding and mentorship. Stuart Cullum, Executive Director at novaNAIT says that his institution “facilitates applied research and development,” which helps entrepreneurs to build commercially-relevant products and services. NAIT also provides incubator programs, can help students to apply for grants and find strategic partnerships for their small businesses.
These are just some of the opportunities and services that I’ve learned about so far. I will report on my experience in Edmonton next week on Techvibes.com and will share some of my photos and experiences on this blog as well. Stay tuned!
Top 5 things that you probably don’t know about Edmonton
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on April 20, 2011
So, I’m back from my whirlwind trip to Edmonton and I had a blast! I spoke with a lot of local entrepreneurs and tech industry leaders while I was there. It
was very inspiring to learn about all of the efforts under way to make Edmonton a world-class mid-sized global city. There is definitely a lot of passion and energy driving the transformation.
Here’s my list of the top 5 interesting things I thought you should know about Edmonton’s arts and technology scene:
5. The arts and tech communities are working together to build a better future for Edmonton as a knowledge-based economy.
Check out a photo of their new art gallery on my Flickr site. Also, I went to an awesome Bluebird North concert with @omar_aok featuring local songwriters and was blown away by some of the musical talent in the city.
4. Edmonton just received a $400,000 grant from IBM as the first Canadian city to win the IBM smarter cities challenge. The city will work with IBM consultants on strategic projects.
3. You can explore a virtual version of the city of Edmonton in Second Life.
Chris Moore, the CIO for the city of Edmonton’s IT branch had the model created for future social media initiatives.
2. The Edmonton Research Park is home to a number of up-and-coming startups.
Check out their website for more information about some of the businesses housed at Edmonton’s research park.
1. The tech and entrepreneurial community in Edmonton are extremely passionate and enthusiastic about the city’s future.
A big thank you goes out to the following people for teaching me all about what their city has to offer: Crystal McPhee, Jenifer Christenson, Ken Bautista, Neil Kaarsemaker, Chris LaBossiere, Mack Male, Chris Moore, Omar Mouallem, and Kevin Swan.
Three of Edmonton’s small technology businesses were awarded at the EEDC annual luncheon on Monday. A popular evangelist for technology in Edmonton, Mack Male, covered the event on his blog. Here’s a list of the winning businesses:
- Innovation Excellence Award – Cleankeys Inc.
- Leadership Excellence Award – Master Flo Valve
- Recognition Excellence Award – Stantec
For more information about the city’s growing technology industry, check out my post on Techvibes today. Also, visit the Canada 3.0 blog tomorrow to read about my interview with Chris Moore, CIO of the IT branch for the city of Edmonton. Chris taught me all about how municipal governments can use technology to drive innovation and cultural change.
What do Justin Bieber and Canada 3.0 have in common?
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on April 21, 2011
I’m very excited to be heading to Stratford on May 2nd – 4th for the 3rd annual Canada 3.0 Conference. This event will be hosted by the Canadian Digital Media
Network and their many proud sponsors.
Check out a recent blog featured on the Wired magazine website about Canada 3.0. Yes, it is important to note that Stratford IS the birthplace of one of Canada’s most prominent Internet superstars – Justin Bieber. So, if that doesn’t get you excited about this conference, I don’t know what will! You just might run into his mom at a coffee shop in town
Last year, a moon shot goal was developed at the conference – that anyone in Canada should be able to do anything online by the year 2017. This year, speakers and conference attendees will discuss how to make that goal a reality. Just think, if Justin Bieber didn’t have YouTube to show off his musical talent when he was starting out then who knows where he’d be today?
I’ve been covering some of the hot topics that will be discussed at the conference on the Canada 3.0 blog.
There will be representatives from the Canadian government, academia, technology industry and entrepreneurs at the event. Some of the exciting presentations and break-out sessions that I cannot wait to see are:
- The debate between professor Tim Pychyl and professor Aimee Morrison about the role of social media in schools
- A panel discussion hosted by Kevin Newman about mobile platforms and the evolution of digital content
- A report card on Canada’s clean tech industry
- Discussions about e-Health and how technology can transform Canada’s health care system
- Mobile education, and much more
I hope to see you there!
Great corporate storytelling is like a performance
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on April 27, 2011
Last week, I visited Edmonton to learn about how the city is working to become the technology hub of Alberta. When I was there, I had a few drinks with a
local writer and musician. He told me that he had just joined Twitter a few months ago and was still figuring out the best way to use the tool to promote his articles, new book and music through social media.
We got on the topic of how telling your story through social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is like a performance. There is definitely an art to effectively communicating your message through these channels. This “performance art” requires a lot of strategy and practice in order to deliver an engaging story to your target audience.
It got me thinking a lot about the different types of performers that I follow every day and how they measure and perfect their craft.
Measuring your performance
One might argue that tools like Klout and TwitterGrader are the new tabloids of the social media world. After all, they do tell us how well we are being received by our followers and help us to determine how to increase our influence and popularity. They also tell us when our followers are losing interest so that we can figure out how to adjust our message to improve whatever bad behaviour had turned them away.
Learn from the masters to perfect your craft
Many great actors study with masters to teach them how to be the best that they can be. Regardless of what industry you are in, there are likely a number of “master performers” who you can learn from. All you have to do is start following them through the social media platforms on which they perform. Social media listing sites like Twellow and WeFollow are great resources for finding the top performers in your industry. They also help like-minded performers to find you.
For more information about this topic, check out my previous blog about some of the influential storytellers that I follow in the corporate space and why I think they matter.
If you have suggestions on how to better perform a corporate story in front of an online audience, I’d love to hear about it.
A note on speed
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on May 5, 2011
Today, I witnessed just how fast technology development is moving as competition heats up in the digital media space. Within a matter of hours, I not only
Tweeted about a recent article from GigaOm saying that tablets are already replacing traditional devices (i.e. laptops and netbooks) but then discovered a news release Tweeted by Interactive Ontario (IO) about a new technology that has just been invented by Queen’s University and Human Media Lab. The new “PaperPhone” technology is being touted as the next potential smartphone and tablet killer.
According to the IO news release, tablets and smartphones, the killers of the devices that we use today are already projected to be obsolete in the next 5 to 10 years.
This week, I attended the Canada 3.0 conference in Stratford, Ontario. One of the biggest issues discussed at the conference was that Canada needs to step up its game in the digital media technology space or get left behind. It was great to hear that a new potential “tablet killer” has been invented in Ontario. However, speakers at the conference were adamant that the Canadian government invest more into an ecosystem to support Canadian entrepreneurs and help them to get the funding and support they need to meet the lightning speed demands of the market.
To read more about what is required to make Canada a leader in the digital media space, check out my summary from Canada 3.0 here: http://www.canada30.com/Blog/?p=325
Buckle your seat belts Canada, it’s gonna be a wild ride!
Free business classes for startups in Toronto
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on May 11, 2011
In the past few months, I have dropped in on a number of free classes for startups and entrepreneurs in Toronto. I know that there must be others out there who need to pick up a course here and there to help improve their business. The great thing about these classes is that you don’t have to have won a pitch-off competition or be selected for an incubator program in order to get the benefit of investor advice and training. The drop-in courses are great for learning some basic skills – no matter what stage your business is in.
Here is a list of some of the courses and events that I have discovered to date:
1. MaRS “Entrepreneurship 101“ – free seminars held at the MaRS building on Wednesdays at College and University
2. Venture Deli “Minimum Viable Everything” Workshops – a 6-week course happening on Mondays right now at the Yorville Media Centre
3. LeanCoffeeTO - This is a free weekly MeetUp group that discusses key trends and issues around starting your own business
4. SproutUp TO – A monthly event that Sprouter hosts at the CourtHouse to showcase new startups and offers Q&A and networking
5. TeamBiz.ca - They have a lot of networking events plus they have a listing that includes some EntrepriseTO events
Do you know of a great free workshop for small businesses in Toronto? If so, please add a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll add it to the list.
Can bloggers take a vacation?
Posted by The Running Start in Random Thoughts on May 16, 2011
So, next week will be the first time that I will not be posting a blog on my personal site since launching in October, 2010. I’ve read all of the stats that say that it’s important to post a blog every week – every day is even better. But bloggers are people too and sometimes that means taking a much needed vacation.
I’m happy to announce that I will be away until May 30th on my honeymoon I do hope that you stop by again in June to continue reading my updates. In the meantime, please do send me suggestions for future posts or request for more information on specific topics via e-mail. I will follow-up when I get back!
Have a great long weekend everyone (if you are Canadian) and I’ll see you soon. In the meantime, enjoy what I think is the funniest wedding scene ever to happen on television (thanks to the Internet’s influence):
Lead generation: the best way to predict the future is to create it
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on June 1, 2011
Earlier this week, I read an article from the Harvard Business Review which talked about the fact that our economy’s growth is reliant on the tools that are
available to measure its success. To date, those tools have not kept up with the demand for growth in our economy. What I loved most from this article was the quote from Alan Kay that stated that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” While this is a wake-up call for our governments, it is also a great reminder for small business marketers to be utilizing cost-effective tools to impact the growth and success of their bottom line.
B2B marketing tools that generate leads for a brighter future
Lead generation is the cornerstone of success for any small B2B technology business that relies on revenue from client relationships. I am still amazed that so many small B2B technology businesses do not take advantage of the free tools that are readily at their disposal to create awareness of their products online and generate new leads. According to comScore, roughly 24 million Canadians visit social networking websites like LinkedIn and Twitter on a monthly basis* – that’s about 72% of our population. In addition, time spent on blogs in Canada increase by 58% from 2009 to 2010.
Free webinar coming soon
With the rise in consumption of these tools, content creation and corporate storytelling has become imperative for Canadian businesses in the technology space. I recently created a presentation for small technology B2B businesses to explain how they can tell their ongoing corporate story online to generate new leads and inform potential customers about their core strengths. Stay tuned for an announcement about a free webinar for this presentation.
In the meantime, I’d like to gather a little bit more feedback about what businesses would like to learn about in this space. Please send me an e-mail to (andreawahbe1@gmail.com) or post a comment to this blog if you’d like to share your questions or if you’d like to be informed about the webinar.
Good luck to everyone who is creating their own future!
Top 5 tips on putting together a digital advertising proposal
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on June 7, 2011
Since my “advice for startups on how to make money from online advertising” post was such a hit, I thought I’d write a follow-up blog to provide more
advice for small ad networks or digital media startups who are selling integrated advertising solutions. This time, I’ve provided some tips and best practices for putting together an integrated digital advertising proposal.
Let’s say that a potential advertising customer comes to you with what is known as an “RFP or request for proposal” for a reasonably sized budget – how do you respond? Here are my top 5 tips for structuring the proposal:
1. Gather more information & ensure that you understand your client’s objectives
Try and schedule a quick call with them to fill in the blanks to any questions that you still may have about the advertiser’s needs. Sometimes, the proposal will be due the next day, so it is not possible. However, you will occasionally have time to put together a detailed proposal and pitch. Also, find out if you can go to their offices and present it – or at least run them through it over the phone if they don’t have a lot of time.
Re-stating your client’s objectives at the beginning of the proposal is a great way to confirm that you understand what they need and sets the tone for the rest of the presentation.
2. Identify core consumer and industry trends that speak to the advertiser’s target audience
Even if you are a small business, there are tons of free resources that you can use to provide insights about your client’s customers and target market, and identify how your product is able to attract that audience.
3. Show how your product meets the client’s objectives and satisfies the consumer/market trends
Again, it’s important to provide context as to how your website or network fits with the target audience (i.e. audience composition on your website) and just how many of them you are able to attract (i.e. reach, pageviews and time spent on your site) vs. the competition. Then, you need to develop a strategy on where your customer’s ads or messaging is going to appear on your website (providing screenshots with a description of any integrated opportunities is helpful for media planners and buyers to sell it through to their customers).
4. Create a suggested media plan
Try and schedule a quick call with them to fill in the blanks to any questions that you still may have about the advertiser’s needs. Sometimes, the proposal will be due the next day, so it is not possible. However, you will occasionally have time to put together a fully-integrated media plan.
5. Close with a cost-breakdown and suggested pricing
It’s important to provide an excel spreadsheet or a Powerpoint chart with your presentation that outlines the live run dates, ad units and placement, total number of available impressions and your CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for the entire campaign. Make sure to tally up the total cost and include any bonus impressions or discounts that you are willing to offer as an incentive.
These are just some of my high level suggestions on putting together a winning proposal. Obviously, a lot is riding on your creativity in the advertising solution that you are offering, your technology, ad serving capabilities, customer service, client relationship and more. Please share your questions on what else you’d like to know about this topic.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Seven thought-provoking corporate storytelling ideas
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on June 13, 2011
It’s sometimes difficult to come up with ideas each week for a corporate blog. However, there are lots of ways to keep your content fresh and interesting. Here are
seven ideas for telling great corporate stories that can help to position your business as a thought leader and expert. In addition, telling great stories on your blog and through social media can contribute to higher SEO rankings and generating more traffic and leads to your website.
Seven thought-provoking corporate storytelling ideas
How will you play a role in answering Canada’s digital call-to-action?
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on June 22, 2011
This week, the Canadian Digital Media Network posted their report from the 2011 Canada 3.0 conference discussions. While creating a digital economy and
society has become a very popular strategy for cities and countries around the world, the numbers regarding Canada’s current global status are disappointing. Canada is ahead in terms of Internet usage worldwide, yet our current ICT infrastructure and global ranking on digital media innovation are way behind other similar countries.
Below is an excerpt from the Canada 3.0 report, based on the “Stratford Index” that was presented at the 2011 Canada 3.0 conference:
• 96% of Canadian households are able to connect to the Internet over a broadband connection. We lead the world in terms of time spent online and engagement.
• We also lead in terms of open government rankings – placing 4th out of 35 similar countries
• However, only 13% of our publications are online, just 37% of our physician offices use digital record-keeping, and only 26% of our classrooms use interactive whiteboards
• 95% of Canadians believe that preserving our cultural heritage is important – yet less than 1% of our existing film, broadcast and AV material is currently online
• Canada ranked a meager 14th out of 17 similar countries in terms of innovation
• Finally, Canada’s global rank in ICT connectivity and economic performance contribution continues to decline year over year (in 2008 we ranked 4th – we ranked 9th in 2010)
According to Ian Wilson, the former Chief Librarian and Archivist of Canada and Executive Director of the Stratford Institute“the old caution remains: vision without action is hallucination. While we consult and discuss, other countries move ahead. Canada needs action.”
The Canadian Digital Media Network and the University of Waterloo’s Stratford Institute are working to help to measure and develop a vision and plan of action for Canada. However, we all can play a role in helping to shape Canada’s future as a global leader in the digital economy. How will you play your part?
Follow-up or fall down
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on June 28, 2011
It has been said that 90% of success in life is simply showing up. I’d like to add that the other 10% is following-up after you’ve shown-up.
Earlier this week, I spoke with a customer who said that they didn’t buy a product with a particular company because their sales rep was too slow to follow-up on their e-mail requests. As a result, the customer decided to go with another product instead.
The obvious lesson here is that “showing up,” or rather being selected as a potential vendor with a customer is only going to get you in the door. Regardless of how hard you worked to get in that particular door with a customer, you still need to maintain continuous communications with your customer and find ways to give them the information that they need to make an informed purchase decision.
Here are some tried and true best practices for following-up that I’ve picked-up over the years in working in sales and B2B marketing:
1. Follow-up within 24 hours – This seems obvious but when a client sends a request (especially an RFP), follow-up with them right away to make sure you understand their turn-around time and information requirements. Make sure you meet all of their deadlines and requirements.
2. Stay top-of-mind – Even after you’ve sent the proposal (on time and with the right info) or are already working on a project for a customer, make sure you check-in with them on a regular basis to see how else you might help them. Providing valuable information via newsletters and social media is a great way to stay on their radar. It’s important to be a great resource for that customer, rather than just doing the work.
3. Find out why you weren’t on the buy – Even if you didn’t get selected for a customer’s purchase, it’s important to follow-up and find out why they didn’t decide to go with you. Perhaps you didn’t provide them with all of the information that they needed. Knowing why you missed out will help you with future proposals with that client and potentially with other clients.
Got a good tip for following-up with a customer? Please share your thoughts and I’ll add them to the list.
Why I write about Canadian technology businesses
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on July 6, 2011
I often get e-mails from US startups and technology businesses asking me to review their product on my blog or on Techvibes. While I’d love to do write about all of these products, I typically focus on Canadian success stories. Why limit myself? Since Canada Day was just last Friday, I thought I’d share my top reasons why I want to focus on businesses in my country:
1. I want to see more Canadian technology businesses succeed
Having worked for many US technology and media companies in the past, I know how frustrating it can be as a Canadian to be under-resourced and limited in one’s career growth because of where you live. Typically, the only way to expand one’s career is to go to the US and spend your time there and then come back with more skills.
I’d like to see that change. My focus is on showcasing the amazing things that Canadian technology startups are doing in the hopes that they get more funding and support in order to grow and stay in Canada. While I understand that US startups also need support, the ecosystem to support them is much stronger in the US. Therefore, I am trying to contribute to the ecosystem of bloggers who help to support Canadian businesses.
2. I am a proud Canadian and want to see my country become a leader in the global digital economy. I think that’s all I need to say there
Please do not take offense if I do not write about your product. I occasionally do actually write about US businesses if they are part of a particular emerging Internet trend or as a comparison to a Canadian business that has recently launched. If you ever do have a Canadian angle to your story (i.e. you’ve partnered with a Canadian company or are going after a Canadian audience), I’d be happy to listen to your pitch. I also like writing about Canadian online user behaviour. So, if you have interesting insights into how Canadians’ user behaviour is unique vs. other countries who use your product, I’d love to hear about it.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
How Canadian startups can help each other to grow traffic and sales
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on July 11, 2011
In the past 6 months, I’ve met with a lot of Canadian technology and digital media startups – either to interview them for a blog, chat with them at a conference
, or figure out how I can help them with their B2B marketing or media sales strategy efforts.
One of the most common questions I get from these meetings is “how can I grow my business/sales/traffic on a limited budget?” Besides the obvious tools and tactics that you might already know about (i.e. SEO, PPC advertising, blogs, social media, etc.), there is one resource that I think that a lot of small Canadian digital media startups should be tapping into more often – each other. Perhaps it’s a little idealistic, but I do believe that the more we work together as small businesses, the more we will grow the opportunities for one another.
Because I am constantly meeting with people, I often uncover ways that my colleagues and new connections might be able to help each other out. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making those introductions because they make a lot of strategic sense. Most small web-based businesses are in the same boat when it comes to growing on a limited budget. So, why not identify ways to partner with each other in order to tap into each other’s target customers (when they are complimentary) and strengths (when we can share insights, expertise or a service).
Here are some suggested ways to grow traffic while working with other startups:
- Revenue Sharing or Affiliate programs: Since most small businesses have limited marketing budgets, why not negotiate with other small businesses to either do a revenue sharing or affiliate partnership (i.e. pay them a % commission) for driving sales to your site?
- Link sharing: Develop an agreement to share links and content from each others’ sites to drive-up SEO rankings.
- Guest blogs and product reviews: If another company knows a lot about a topic that is of interest to your target audience/customers, why not have them write a guest post on your blog and allow them to link it back to their site (negotiate so that you can do the same on their site). Or, have them write a review of your product on their website.
- E-mail lists: If you both have significant e-mail opt-in lists, why not do a barter to share a sponsored message to each others’ list with a special offer or promotion on your website?
- Social media: This one is simple, arrange to share links to each others’ site via your communities. Perhaps you can give away your partners’ product or a discount via your social networks.
- Events: If you’re hosting a customer event, invite your business partners to offer prizes or promotions at the event.
If you have other suggestions on ways that small businesses can help each other to grow, I’d love to hear about them.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Social media: The soap opera of the digital age?
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on July 19, 2011
Over 50 years ago, P&G created soap operas to help promote their brands like Duz and Oxydol. As television viewership declines in Canada and Internet usage and social media consumption increases, it doesn’t surprise me that more and more brands are creating content on blogs and YouTube channels/videos to help entertain and inform a new breed of customers.
The medium has definitely changed – consumers are no longer passively absorbing messages but rather actively participating in the brand’s story. However, the opportunity to create exciting content that resonates and builds credibility and trust with customers is actually not that different. It’s just that there are now a myriad of tools to use to help build the story and take it in new directions.
In addition, consumers have become enthralled with watching the lives of people in their network via tools like LinkedIn (where they’re working), Facebook (who they’re dating) and Twitter (what they’re reading or doing at that very moment).
Now, more than ever, brands have the opportunity to create their own media properties or publish their own content – while inviting participation from the customer.
Here are just a few examples of what I consider to be the new “soap operas” of the digital age:
1. Skittles touch campaign
- A series of videos hosted on YouTube which invite the user to touch the screen and participate in a bit of a quirky, yet entertaining situation
2. Tippex Whiteout
- An interactive video which invites the audience to determine what a hunter should do next when he encounters a bear in the woods
If you don’t have the production budgets of big brands, even simple blogs can be used as ways to entice customers to learn about your brand. Get creative, you can use just simple photos or text (the most common method) as a way to tell a story. For inspiration, check out The Rock Soap Opera – a daily soap opera featuring rocks. Get creative and use the tools at your disposal to invite customers into your brand’s daily soap opera.
Tips for startups on how to pitch to bloggers and media
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on July 27, 2011
Over the past few months, I’ve been approached by a number of startups to write about their business and give them some media/blog coverage. I am a patient person and a strong supporter of Canadian technology companies. That’s why I’d never really trash a company for being bad at pitching to me – or for disclosing information that they probably shouldn’t share with a blogger.
However, I thought it was necessary to provide some basic guidelines on the type of information that bloggers and media require upfront when you are preparing to speak to them.
1. Put together a fact sheet about your business. Make sure to include information like who is your ideal customer, what does your market opportunity look like, how has your business grown and been received by customers since you launched, etc.?
2. Try to think of a story angle that might be of interest to the blogger. Just asking them to write about you may not be the best approach. Think about why your company’s story is relevant to industry trends and consumer behaviours happening right now in your market. Does something related to your business tie-in with a seasonal or trending news story? If so, try to come up with an angle to pitch to the blogger when you contact them.
3. Think through some of the potentially “tough questions” and prepare answers for them that will likely satisfy the blogger/writer’s curiosity or skepticism. It’s better to have a prepared response than have the blogger/writer go digging for the answer – only to uncover a big hole in your story, or a potential threat to your business. If you know your business well enough, you should have those answers in advance.
4. It’s sometimes better to wait, rather than pitch to the media too early on. Even though you may just have launched, think through the timing of your announcement/media pitch. If you don’t have a lot of customers yet, or have not got your product up to a satisfactory level, perhaps wait a while until you have a bit more of a story to tell. It’s more important that users who DO use your product are satisfied – especially if you’re a B2C business. Otherwise, if you try to drive traffic to your site too early through PR and blogs, your customers may be turned-off when they get there and never return.
I hope these tips help you to get the best story possible when pitching your new business.
Can real-time, location-based deals reinvigorate group buying?
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses, Random Thoughts on August 2, 2011
Last year, I wrote a blog post about the pitfalls that retailers may face when selling deals on sites like Groupon. It appears that there may be a solution to those pitfalls. Yesterday, I attended the WagJag.com announcement about the launch of their new product WagJag Express, which is a time-sensitive mobile application that detects deals in your location that can be purchased and used immediately.
In speaking with some of the local merchants who are launching with WagJag Express today, I discovered that many of them had tried Groupon-like deals before and were disappointed that they had actually lost customers as a result of the promotion. For example, a local yoga studio in Toronto realized that they all of a sudden had a bunch of bargain hunters filling-up their classes – many of whom had limited yoga knowledge and never returned after they redeemed their deal. Over the 6 months that the deal was valid, the full classes turned-off some of their tried and true customers because they didn’t get enough assistance from their instructors. As a result, the yoga studio decided to no longer continue using daily deal promotions as a way to drive new sales.
The good news about a real-time mobile application like WagJag Express is that it gives merchants more control over how many people they want to drive to their stores and what time frame the offer is valid. That means that they don’t have to worry about an unexpected number of people who might all show up at the same time. Some of the merchants who are launching with WagJag Express this month told me that they are very hopeful that this new format will work in their favour.
For more details on what WagJag Express can do for local Canadian merchants, check-out my post from yesterday about the product launch on Techvibes.com.
Tips on putting together an investor pitch
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Random Thoughts on August 10, 2011
Last week, I worked with one of my clients to put together an investor pitch. I thought I’d share some best practices based on feedback that was provided by various entrepreneurs and investors.
1. Make sure you are able to describe the “who” or “what” your company is on one slide – in 30 seconds or less. Make sure your audiences gets it right away.
2. Define your customer, their current problems and how your company solves those problems.
3. Identify who your competitors are and how your company has an advantage over the competition.
4. Make it clear as to how you will make money and what you will do with the investment funds (i.e marketing, product development, operational costs, etc.).
5. Explain who your management team is and what their experience has been to date – make it relevant to your business.
6. Provide an executive summary on one page, which highlights the key elements that your potential investors will want to know.
Overall, make sure the presentation is clear, concise and that you stick to around 10 slides. Get to the point early and continue to edit your slides down until there isn’t a lot of “fluff” left over – you can always speak to the fluff instead of having it on the slide.
In addition, here is a video of Guy Kawasaki speaking about what he, as a potential investor, would want to see from a pitch:
Useful tools for content marketers
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Online businesses on August 16, 2011
Where do your content marketing ideas come from? Over the past few months, I’ve written a number of blogs about the importance of great corporate
storytelling and provided ideas for stories that might resonate with customers. As a follow-up, I thought I’d share some useful tools that can help you to keep track of what stories are trending in your industry.
These sites can help you to find some inspiration when you’re stuck on ideas for your next corporate story. They are also free to use when getting started and are all made in Canada:
- Equentia is a customizable news aggregation portal which allows you to track content via keywords and preferred topics. It also pulls in content from Twitter favourites, starred stories in Google reader, and more. The summary page of your tracked stories can be kept private, for business intelligence purposes, or you can make your stream public to share stories with customers or social media followers.
- Thoora is a Toronto-based startup that recently launched in Beta. Thoora allows users to curate their own topics – using keywords and phrases to identify categories. Like Equentia, Thoora is also integrated with Twitter, showing you what people are Tweeting about a particular topic. Users can add their own RSS feeds, or track additional feeds within their customized content streams, called “my topics.”
- HootSuite is a social media monitoring and analytics platform that enables you to track what people are saying about your brand or a particular topic across multiple social media sites. You can easily create a “stream” to track by inputing keywords or phrases that you are interested in following. This helps you find out what’s already being said about a particular topic.
If you have suggestions for other Canadian-made tools that you find useful as a content marketer, please share them in the comments section below.
Small business: the next frontier for Canadian digital media companies
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on August 23, 2011
Over the past year, I’ve noticed an influx of Canadian digital media companies creating programs geared towards small to medium-sized business (SMBs). This is definitely a sign that the Canadian digital media industry is maturing. As a result, media companies are starting to make a play for small business customers to try to increase their revenue opportunities.
Here are just some of the Canadian businesses that have announced programs to cater to SMBs:
ShinyAds
This Toronto-based startup was created because small businesses are often ignored by large Canadian digital media companies. This is because large media companies usually have a minimum spend requirement before they can service a client. This usually involves an advertising spend that very few SMBs can afford. The reason for the minimum spend requirement is that it would actually cost the media company more to manage a small ad campaign, based on man hours and ad trafficking costs, than the campaign is actually worth.
So, ShinyAds created a sell-service platform that enables small businesses to manage their own ad campaigns on websites that would have otherwise ignored them. This works out well both for the media companies and the SMBs.
Google Canada
Google has always offered a self-service platform for small businesses. However, the bigger challenge that they have faced is that more than half of Canadian small businesses do not currently have a website.
- The “Canada Get Your Business Online” program was therefore developed by Google Canada to entice SMBs to build a website. As an incentive, Google is offering free websites and .ca domains to all small businesses in Canada who sign-up for the program.
- The company recently launched another program called “Engage Canada” to assist digital marketing agencies, and other web-based companies that service small businesses, to educate their clients on how to advertise with Google. The company is offering discounts for small businesses to get started with Google AdWords. They also recently hosted a series of seminars in Toronto and Vancouver to teach small businesses about how to set-up and manage an AdWords campaign.
Yellow Pages Group
The Yellow Pages Group (YPG) has always catered to small businesses with their listing services. However, they are now making a big play to compete with the likes of Google and other major players like Olive Media to compete in the digital marketing space. YPG’s launch of Mediative last fall is a confirmation of that strategy.
- In May, the Yellow Pages Group hosted a three-part seminar series to teach small business owners about digital marketing. Here’s an overview of the program that they created and hosted online.
- The Yellow Pages Group has also launched a “YellowAPI Developer Program.” By providing BETA funding as well as access to internal YPG resources (i.e. consultation on design, QA, legal guidance, etc.), YellowAPI helps entrepreneurial web and mobile application developers to produce cross-platform search apps.
If you know of other Canadian digital media companies that are creating programs to cater to small business, let me know and I’d be happy to profile them.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
What entrepreneurs can learn from dating
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Random Thoughts on August 30, 2011
It has often been said that looking for a job is just like dating. You know in your gut when you think you’ve found “the one.” Well, I believe that the same can be
said for prospecting for new clients and customers as an entrepreneur.
When you’re out meeting new people at conferences or social networking online, you’re looking for people with whom you have enough chemistry to have that first initial meeting. From a simple phone call or e-mail exchange, your goal is to then go for coffee or lunch to get to know and understand each other. Even if you are selling to customers instead of clients, the desired outcome is the same. Ultimately, we are trying to build long term relationships (or partnerships) with our customers, rather than “acquire” them.
Perhaps, just like in love, that’s the difference between people who are looking for commitment versus those that are looking for a one night stand. Below are some links to great blogs from Canadian startups and entrepreneurs about fostering relationships and impressing customers and clients:
- 6 Tips for Building Lasting Relationships with Clients, Freshbooks.com
- The Bottom Line for Startups: Delight or Die, Mark Evans
- Don’t Forget to be Human, Mitch Joel
Some of the key lessons from these stories are to communicate openly, go out of your way to make your customers happy, and be yourself. This advice resonates with any great relationship. Do these sound possible for your business? If you have other stories worth sharing on this blog, please pass them along.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Creating an editorial calendar for your blog and social media posts
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Online businesses on September 7, 2011
Committing to writing new blog stories and social media posts each week is not an easy task. However, if you can plan out what you will post ahead of time, it makes life a bit easier. I thought I’d share some examples of editorial calendars that may be useful to your content marketing strategy.
Weekly blog posts
If you can plan your blog posts a few months in advance, you will not be left trying to figure out what to post each week at the last minute. Below is a screenshot of a handy format that you can use as a starting point. Make sure to include information that you will require from sources, plus your draft and posting deadlines to keep you on track.
Twitter and social media scheduling matrix
FlowTown has a great blog about scheduling Tweets for maximum exposure. The same rules apply to all social media profiles – it’s all about timing and ensuring that enough people see your message. The challenge with Twitter is that not everyone is watching your Twitter feed all of the time. So, you definitely need to post a story more than once – especially if you are not refreshing the content on your site on a daily basis. You shouldn’t post stories as frequently on Facebook as you do on Twitter. However, do consider posting an important story more than once over a the span of a week or two.
Here’s a screenshot of the calendar from the FlowTown blog:
What’s next for Twitter?
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses, Random Thoughts on September 14, 2011
Last week, Twitter announced a new milestone – over 100 million active users are now registered with the service. While “40% of Twitter users simply log on to read Tweets from others,” I’m left wondering about what’s next for those who actually publish messages on the platform?
As the company matures, I’m sure that there is a lot of debate over how Twitter should evolve. Charles Arthur from The Guardian raised a good point over whether Twitter should focus on being a “media company or a technology company?”
If they go the way of a media company, helping organizations and individuals to publish their own content and messages in real-time, there are some tools that I’d like to see developed.
I’ve put together a wish list of things that might useful to publishers:
- Enabling people to publish their messages in Rich Text Format. It’s currently difficult to emphasize certain words unless you put them in quotation marks or ALL CAPS.
- Making the hashtag experience less awkward. Perhaps hashtags shouldn’t actually be visible in the Tweet but included somehow on the back-end of a message, just like “meta data” in HTML code? That would also allow more room for your messages, when being limited to 140 characters (another limitation that might need to be altered).
- Making discussions around an event or location easier to find and participate in the conversation. Toronto startup Crowdfield may be on to something with their location-based conversation discovery app. If there are multiple conversations happening simultaneously at a conference or location, it can be confusing to follow just one hashtag at the same time. How does one decipher one conversation from another? There’s got to be a better solution for this.
The end of online display ad sales as we know it?
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses, Random Thoughts on September 20, 2011
Yesterday, AdAge.com published an article indicating that Facebook advertising sales growth is projected to decline year-over-year – from 104% growth this
year to 21% growth in 2013. While 21% year over year growth is still good, it’s quite a significant drop from 104% two years prior. However, this doesn’t spell the end for Facebook’s revenue growth. The company is actually seeing a rapid increase in year-over-year sales for “Facebook credits.”
What this data might indicate is that there is a limit to how fast a company can scale the growth of display advertising revenue from brand-focused advertisers online. You see, many advertisers who are focused on “performance advertising” have seen a decline in click-through rates on Facebook ads over the years. At the same time, the cost-per-click for those ads has gone up. As a result, performance-driven advertisers have become less interested in Facebook campaigns.
While Facebook claims that it is making a play for branding and social CRM dollars vs. performance ad revenue, they haven’t quite yet figured out the best way to monetize social display advertising. As a result, it may be harder to scale brand advertising the same way that performance advertising can be scaled to date.
So, where is the lion’s share of online advertising dollars going today? While search and e-mail remain the most reliable channels for generating high ROI, there’s a new game in town that could turn the “traditional” online display advertising industry on its head. That game is called Ad Exchanges - which are basically platforms on which you can buy and sell display ads in real-time via an auction (similar to stock exchanges). This new method of media buying could change the rules and roles for all parties involved – including the ad agencies and media sales reps.
Over the past few months, I’ve met a lot of technology, media and analytics companies who are looking to get into this space. It’s definitely a trend worth watching. For more information about Ad Exchanges and how they could change the industry, check out this article entitled “Don’t Look Now: Classic Disruption Is Taking Place In Advertising,” from AdAge.com.
Stay tuned for future stories about this growing trend.
Could word-of-mouth web traffic referrals eclipse search referrals?
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on September 26, 2011
A few weeks ago, a report from Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney claimed that Facebook usage has eclipsed Google for the first time ever. A summary of that report on Techvibes indicated that ”people spend over 41 billion minutes on Facebook every month in the U.S. alone—Google clocks in at just under 40 billion.”
While this report doesn’t mean that Facebook is going to outperform Google in terms of advertising sales revenue any time soon (read my article from last week on the future of online display advertising), it does raise a very important question:
Could word-of-mouth traffic referrals one day eclipse search referrals as the #1 traffic generating source for all websites?
If enough people are referring links to web pages on a daily basis, could their combined recommendations on sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Quora, etc. collectively amount to more referrals than search results on Google alone?
Twitter recently reported that the company now has over 100 million active users. As usage of that platform, plus Facebook and other social media sites continue to climb, the idea definitely seems plausible in the not too distant future. Why else would Google be so focused on making Google+ a success?
I am not implying that search referrals will ever go away – it is too ingrained in our online behaviour not to seek information via search engines. However, as people become comfortable sharing and trusting information online, a new source of traffic generation will become increasingly important. Why? Because consumers will always trust referrals from their close friends and family over ads or computer-generated results online.
Facebook is already the leading traffic source for news websites – who spend less and less money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) due to the high Cost-Per-Click (CPC). However, retailers and other performance-focused (CPC) advertisers invest more in search because many people research products online prior to purchase. Still, a recommendation from a friend about a product will almost always trump an online ad.
This is definitely going to be an interesting trend to watch in the next few years. Please share your thoughts on how you think it will all play out?
Image source: iStockphoto.com
Corporate storytelling: a story for technology B2B marketers
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on October 5, 2011
Are you trying to generate more sales leads? Thought leadership and corporate storytelling is an essential ingredient to driving more customers to your website. Over the past few months, I’ve share blog posts about some of the most influential corporate storytellers and provided ideas for how to come up with your own thought-provoking corporate stories.
Introducing my free presentation. Oscar Wilde once said that “the only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.” Today, I want to give you even more insights by sharing a presentation which combines all of my previous blogs into, you guessed it, a story about digital corporate storytelling.
At first, I was reluctant to share this story with the world. I kept asking myself why I would want to give it away for free? However, since I do get asked by tons of friends and colleagues for a little bit of free advice, I decided that it really couldn’t hurt.
I’m delighted to provide the Slideshare presentation below with you in exchange for your feedback. Since I’m still trying to figure out exactly what people want to know about corporate storytelling, I consider this presentation a work in progress. If you do have comments, questions, or suggestions please do pass them along in the comments section below.
Enjoy!
This week, my head is in the cloud
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on October 12, 2011
As a small business owner, I pretty much live my life in the cloud. I use a number of online tools, created by other small businesses, to do everything from my accounting, to collaborating with customers and “virtual” team members, to marketing/social media and more. The services that I used to rely on when working at large companies have now become easily accessible, and affordable for any business to use.
It appears that I am not the only one who feels this way. Today, I posted a story on Techvibes which outlines results from a recent PwC Canada study which found that Canadian private businesses are bullish about investing in technologies like mobile, social media and cloud computing. The new subscription-based models for these services are truly “changing the game for a lot of private companies,” says Philip Grosch, national leader, technology consulting, PwC.
I thought I’d share some of my favourite cloud-based and social media tools for keeping my small business buzzing daily:
- Freshbooks. This is by far my favourite small business tool on the web today. I use it for all of my accounting needs – from sending and tracking invoices, to tracking my time on each billable client project, to reading reports on revenue per customer, and more. Every week, I discover a new feature that will make my life easier. Check them out at http://www.freshbooks.com/. You can try it out for free. Once you have more than two clients, you pay a monthly fee based on your needs.
- Dropbox. Sharing large files with clients and “virtual” team members is so simple with this cloud-based tool. A few years ago, I used to rely on tools like YouSendIt.com to share large files. But now, I can share files with customers and team members in the same way that I did working for large companies, over a network. You literally just have to drag and drop files into Dropbox’s cloud-based service for storing files. Start sharing 2 GB right away for at http://www.dropbox.com/. Or, upgrade to pay for more storage.
- HootSuite. How else would I know who’s talking about small business, B2B marketing and social media online? In a addition, I can’t think of a better way to stay in touch with clients, and learn about what concerns them the most. With HootSuite, I can also track which of my blog posts get the most clicks and re-tweets. This tool continues to grow and I learn new tricks to staying on top of what’s trending online using HootSuite every day. You can get started for free at http://hootsuite.com/. Like the other tools that I listed, you pay based on the sophistication of your needs for analysis and tools.
- Google Docs. Another way that I collaborate and share documents with clients is via Google docs. I find it especially useful for creating spreadsheets and text documents, where there are multiple contributors. Although, I have to admit that I’ve been using these tools a lot less since Dropbox came along. Still, Google Docs is definitely a tool worth using for keeping documents stored on the cloud for future use.
These are just some of my favourite cloud-based tools. Do you use a cloud-based tool worth noting? If so, please share your story about why you love it in the comments section below.
eMarketer report suggests content marketing fuels B2B lead generation
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Online businesses on October 19, 2011
Yesterday, eMarketer released a report which indicated that traditional B2B lead generation tactics are no longer enough to generate effective leads. 
“Informative, nonpromotional content in the form of webinars, white papers, videos, blogs and peer recommendations on social networks and forums can attract prospects,” said eMarketer’s Lauren Fisher, author of the new report, “B2B Lead Generation: Using Content to Acquire Customers.” “It can also be used to build and maintain ongoing relationships with potential buyers—a must for remaining top of mind throughout the purchase process.”
Blogs were listed as the number one tactic that B2B Marketers use to acquire new leads, according to a report by Focus research (cited in the eMarketer story). So, what are some compelling ways to tell effective stories to acquire new customers through blogs?
Here are some great resources that you can use to get started:
- 10 Blogs you Should be Reading if you Manage a Company`s Content Strategy from Contently.com
- 5 Storytelling Tips to Create Engaging Content from Vertical Measures Intelligent Marketing
- 7 ways to use Psychological Influence With Social Media Content from Social Media Examiner
For inspiration, you can also check out my recent blog posts about “Influential Coporate Storytellers in the Digital Space,” and “Seven Thought-Provoking Corporate Storytelling Ideas.”
Have recommendations on a good blog resource website or tip to share? Please provide your information in the comments section below.
Small business co-working spaces abound in Toronto
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on October 27, 2011
Last week, I tried out ING DIRECT Cafe’s new Network Orange co-working space in Toronto. What’s great about the space is that small businesses can drop-in for just
$20.00 per day. To be a member, all you have to do is fill out an application form and explain how your business can collaborate with and give back to the other small businesses who use the space.
Network Orange has everything that a small business would need including: meeting rooms, work benches, a reception, free wifi and coffee, access to printers and much more. You can also book their event space for free. However, I’ve heard that you have to schedule it far in advance, as it’s becoming a pretty popular venue for startups.
What’s interesting is that Network Orange seems to have a partnership with AutoShare - a Toronto car sharing service (like Zip Car). Clearly, ING is also attracting advertising/promotional dollars from businesses who want to cater to startups. Great idea!
Th ING Café concept is very similar to what I described in a blog post about how coffee shops can capitalize on the small business market about a year ago. The trend is definitely catching on!
In the past few months, I’ve heard about two other new co-working spaces opening up to serve the Toronto technology startup community:
- [IN]Cubes: a new incubator launching in November. You can read more about this space on my blog on Techvibes from last month.
- MaRS Commons: MaRS announced this week that they have created a new space for 50 of their Information technology, Communications and Entertainment (ICE) practice startups. However, other startups and entrepreneurs can apply to collaborate with these businesses and become mentors. You can read more about it on their newly launched website.
Tips for freelancers on staying connected
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses on November 3, 2011
I’ve had a few conversations with freelancers and small business owners in the past week about staying connected. Freelancing or running a sole proprietorship can get lonely sometimes. You don’t always have people to collaborate with or ask advice. But there are ways to manage this problem.
Below are some of the tactics that work best for me.
1. Reach out to others with social media. This one should be obvious. However, if it’s not then here are some tools that you should be using to find the right people to get the feedback and collaboration that you crave:
- Twitter: It has been said that Facebook is for staying connected with the people you know, and Twitter is for finding the people you should know. Get that Twitter profile started and begin searching with tools like search.twitter.com for the people who are Tweeting about topics that are related to your business and to your interests. Start conversations with these people online, but make sure to take these conversations offline as well. Meet for coffee or set-up a quick phone call to get to know them better. After all, that’s why it’s called social media.
- Quora: If a customer calls with a question that you can’t answer, try posing it to the experts on Quora. I’ve found that within a day or two after posting a question, I usually get a very helpful answer. This is a great replacement for those mass e-mails, or wiki posts, that you used to send out to your team at a larger company for an answer.
2. Coffee and lunch meetings are a must. I make an effort to book at least two or three coffee or lunch meetings a week. It’s sometimes tough if you’re on a tight deadline for a project, but staying in touch with other colleagues face-to-face helps to keep your sanity.
3. Pick-up this old-fashioned thing called a telephone. Ok, so smartphones aren’t old-fashioned. But we live in a world where people sometimes get freaked out when you call them rather than texting, e-mailing or instant messaging them. However, it’s amazing how much more you can get accomplished in a quick phone call, rather than a long e-mail or text string of exchanges. Plus, the human voice on the other end is another great way to feel connected to the real world if you’re working alone.
4. Skype-it-up. If you’re on a shoestring budget as a small business owner, and have to call someone long-distance, make sure that you set-up a Skype account. That way, you can choose to also speak to the person face-to-face via webcam and feel even more connected. But this does require that you make yourself presentable – in case you’re one of those people who works in their pajamas every now and then.
5. Co-working spaces and coffee shops. Need a change of scenery, or want to be around people for a day? Why not go to a Starbucks or Second Cup and take advantage of the free wifi? If your local coffee shop is wearing on you, why not look for co-working spaces that you can rent by the day or by the hour? There are always lots of other small business owners there and you never know who you’ll meet. Check out my blog from last week about some of the spaces that are popping up in Toronto.
Have another tactic for staying connected? Please share what has worked for you in the comments section below.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Digi Awards announces “The List” of Canada’s digital elite
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses on November 4, 2011
Last night, The Digi Awards (formerly the CNMAs) held an exclusive party in Toronto to announce the 2011 nominees, a group of businesses in 31 digital
media categories, from best in mobile and gaming to web series and tablets. These esteemed nominees also make-up “The List” – a definitive index of the best of Canada’s most successful people, products and services in digital media.
“The list is our way of recognizing the top tier of the entire Canadian digital ecosystem in a single place, and will serve as a crucial online resource for anyone in this country and around the world looking to get a sense of who’s making waves in Canada,” says Mark Greenspan, Executive Director of nextMEDIA.
This year, over 250 businesses submitted entries into the competition. Here are the nominees for two of the most popular categories:
Canada’s Top Digital Companies (Presented by Deloite):
- Enflick Inc., Waterloo
- Vision Critical, Vancouver
- HootSuite, Vancouver
- Kobo, Toronto
- Acquisio, Montreal
In order to qualify for this category, your company must have earned a minimum of $2 million in revenue in the past year. “The huge story is around the SMEs in this category, who are driving employment and wealth in Canada,” says Greenspan. “Some of the companies in this category have seen huge growth, earning in excess of $100 million.”
Canada’s Most Promising New Digital Companies:
- gShift labs, Barrie
- Cue Digital Media Inc., Toronto
- Uken Games, Toronto
Companies in the “most promising” category are those who the Digi Awards believes may appear in the “Top Digital Companies” category in the near future.
Some new categories for “The List” and for awards this year include: “Canada’s Top Social Media Mavens,” “Best in Tablet Applications,” “Best in Cross-Platform: Entertainment,” “Best in Tablet Gaming,” “Best in Digital News and Current Affairs Publishing,” and “Best in E-Learning.”
For a complete rundown of the 2011 nominees and “The List,” visit http://www.thedigiawards.com/.
The Digi Awards are Canada’s only nationwide competition that celebrates the best in our country’s digital media innovators. The 2011 awards ceremony will be held on December 6th at The Carlu in Toronto. Best of luck to all of the nominees!
Four Elements of a Good Brand Story
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Inspiration, Storytelling on November 10, 2011
In his presentation at the Small Business Summit in Toronto this week, Tony Chapman, CEO of Toronto creative agency Capital C outlined the four elements of telling a really great brand story.
These elements include:
1. Framing your story. It’s important to help your audience identify your brand/business as “the ones who…” Your story should make it easy for customers to understand who you are and what you do.
2. Problems solved. Your story should help the audience to understand what consumer or business problems your product helps to solve.
3. Characters. Your should have clear characters which help to tell the story. This can be a spokesperson from your company (think Galen Weston in the Loblaws commercials), or fictional – like the Mac versus PC characters in the Apple commercials.
4. Plot. This is essential to making your story relatable. Chapman showed a video clip from Mad Men, where Don Draper introduced his agency’s brand concept for a new Kodak product. See the video via this link (the network has disabled embedding on YouTube). Notice that Draper makes a grown man cry – that’s when you know you’ve humanized your story!
Tapping into the “Sharepocalypse”
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses, Random Thoughts, Storytelling on November 16, 2011
In July of this year, Mashable posted a story about the “Sharepocalypse” that’s occurring on the social web today. The article suggests that all of this sharing of 
content, across multiple social networking platforms, is “culminating in massive information overload.” The story goes on to outline how this compulsion for sharing online is a growing problem but also an opportunity for startups.
A recent infographic created by Summify indicates that Facebook users post 4 Billion items, including status updates, photos and more every day. And that number is expected to double by next year.
Cause and effect
Social media influence measurement platforms like Klout are a cause and a bi-product of this trend. That’s because, the more you share and the more your posts get re-shared and amplified by others, the higher you score as a social media influencer on Klout. And some companies are starting to require that their employees have a high score in order promote their digital savviness. So, the content sharing numbers seem destined to grow higher and higher as people feel compelled to share information in order to compete with others for better scores. It’s almost like a video game, based on how well you contribute to the social web.
Riding the wave
So, if this “sharepocalypse” is only going to grow, then why not play the game? There are a number of Canadian startups who are already tapping into this trend. A great example is Toronto-based Shweet.com, which offers rewards for people who share their partners’ video content. Every time you share a partner video from Shweet, you earn points. Once you’ve reached a certain point threshold, you are then able to purchase virtual tickets to enter to win sponsored prizes via a random draw.
Another great example is Edmonton’s Empire Avenue. Similar to Klout, this website measures your social influence (or social capital) by allowing individuals to commodify their social media participation on a virtual stock market. Other users can buy virtual stocks, via “Eaves” (a virtual currency on Empire Avenue), in an individual’s social media influence. The more that individual shares, the more people are likely to buy stocks in their personal brand.
Know of any other Canadian startups tapping into this trend? Please share their stories in the comments section below.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Looking back at 2011
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on November 22, 2011
It’s already that time of year again. With the holidays fast approaching, news publications are starting to write their “looking back at 2011″ stories. So, I thought I’d write a bit of my own story – with links to coverage of the biggest news events in digital media that stand out in my mind:
- Acquisitions of Canadian digital media startups by large companies like Google, IBM, and RIM.
- The launch of Google+ and the stories that followed – profiling the war between Facebook and Google. Also of note are the stories of its (Google+) massive user growth, its flatline, and its slow, potential comeback.
- Facebook’s reaction to Google+ with the launch of new features and profile redesigns. Plus, social media and mainstream media’s response to the changes.
- IPOs of big social media companies like LinkedIn, plus the many stories and speculation about Groupon and Zynga’s delayed IPOs.
- The mass mourning of Steve Jobs‘ death in mainstream and social media.
- The launch of Apple’s Siri and the many jokes that it spawned.
- The many petitions that Canadians signed to stop usage-based billing and stop electronic surveillance by the Canadian government.
These are just some of the many stories that I recall. Which ones are the most memorable to you? Did I miss anything big? Please share in the comments section below.
The importance of a really good network
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on December 7, 2011
I’d like to start this blog post by thanking Roxana Vidal-Shand, a former colleague from my IBM days, for saving my butt this past week. She is a very talented 
designer and business woman who is based in Nova Scotia. You can check out her website here: http://www.fromcitytosea.com/.
You see, for the first time in my business, I over-extended myself and realized that I needed to call upon my network for some help on something that I couldn’t fix myself. Because I have met so many great people along the way in my career, I was able to find someone who was better than me at a particular skill, and who knew how to fix my client’s request. I am of course going to compensate her for her time!
I learned a very big lesson this month about setting client expectations. I will now let them know when there is probably someone else who is better at doing the job than myself. That is why, I want to grow my network of people who are “really good at stuff that I don’t know how to do.” That way, if the situation happens again, I can contact those people asap.
So, this is your opportunity to pitch your services to me. If you’re really good at a specific service related to digital marketing, design, development, UX, social media, mobile, etc. please send me your details in the comments section below. Better yet, connect with me on LinkedIn and describe what you do and why you are awesome at it. You never know when I’m going to need your help.
FYI – I’m really good at plugging people when they do me a huge favour
All the best,
A woman who has learned her lesson
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Making a difference
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on December 3, 2011
I apologize for not posting my regularly scheduled blog on Wednesday of this past week. Due to the holiday rush, I have been feverishly working to get all of my projects done before I go on holidays. However, I did want to get this post in before the week is over.
I want to spend a moment talking about making a difference. I work with a lot of different digital media customers – from government-funded agencies, to startups, to digital media companies. And as I continue to interview various Canadian startups for Techvibes, I’ve started to see more and more opportunities to connect the dots. I love finding opportunities to connect people and help drive their businesses forward. I think it’s important to see the big picture and understand how each of us plays a role in impacting someone else’s success.
I was able to do that a number of times this week – without any expectation of receiving anything in return. And it brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction in knowing that I’ve helped out one of my colleagues. As the holidays are fast approaching, please think about how you can help make a difference for someone that you work with. Even if it’s a simple e-mail introduction, your efforts can possibly be a positive turning point on someone’s path.
Happy holidays
Posted by The Running Start in Random Thoughts on December 15, 2011
I can’t believe that another year has gone by already. As this is my last blog of 2011, I thought I’d write about the things that I am thankful for in my first year of business:
1. Working with fantastic new clients.
2. Learning a lot about the ups and downs of starting my own business (and learning a lot about myself in the process).
3. Discovering how much I love writing.
4. Exploring social media and following/chatting with amazing new people through Twitter and other channels.
5. Meeting inspiring people in the Canadian digital media and entrepreneurial communities at conferences and events.
I am extremely excited to continue to build on the work that I started in 2011. Thank you for your continued readership, comments and for inspiring me to keep going.
I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and best wishes for the New Year. Until we meet again in 2012, I thought I’d share a hilarious holiday video from Jimmy Kimmel:
Aiming higher in 2012
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on January 3, 2012
Happy New Year everyone! It has often been said that “in order to predict the future, you must first understand the past.” Therefore, as
one begins to plan for a successful 2012, it’s important to look at previous accomplishments.
In April 2011, I wrote a blog post asking my readers to hold me accountable for my goals for the second half of the year. In that blog post, I promised to report back at the end of 2011 to share whether I met those goals. The reason for making my business challenges public was to instill enough fear in myself, as a freelancer, to make sure that I would stick to my plan.
Well, it’s now time to face the music and report back on how well I did. In case you didn’t read my previous blog post, here are the goals that I set for myself in 2011:
- Have at least 5-10 phone calls or meetings with new contacts every day (my motto is always be networking)
- Have 3-5 repeat clients by the end of 2011
- Host at least 2 group presentations about B2B digital corporate storytelling by the end of 2011
- Help at least 3 small websites to put together an integrated media sales strategy by the end of 2011
- Work with 3-5 businesses to help them profile Canadian digital media trends and online user behaviours (i.e. via blogs, market insights reports, presentations, etc.) by the end of 2011
- Pitch a Canadian digital media news story to 3-5 print publications where I’d like to be published
Now, here are the goals that I did achieve:
- I am happy to say that I met my goal of three to five repeat clients by then end of 2011. I’m going to have to revise the requirements for this goal in 2012.
- I also easily met the group presentation target because I had promised to host at least two. In hindsight, I should have aimed for five to ten instead. So, I’m going to have to aim higher in 2012.
- I did work with three startups (not necessarily small websites) to put together an integrated media sales strategy in 2011. I am happy with having achieved this goal because it’s hard to find customers who are looking for help in this area. I might expand on this goal for 2012 and create more advanced challenges.
- Finally, I did meet the goal of working with 3-5 businesses to help them profile Canadian digital media trends and online user behaviours (i.e. via blogs, market insights reports, presentations, etc.) by the end of 2011.
- While I was always networking, there were, admittedly, days where I was too busy working on client projects to meet my five to ten client calls or meetings quota. I guess what I’ve learned is that once you have a set number of clients, the desire to keep pitching does slow down a bit. However, when I did go to conferences and events, I set a goal for myself to come home with at least five to ten business cards. This, I can proudly say, I achieved.
- The print publication goal is the one area where I really fell short. Admittedly, I only pitched one Canadian digital media news story to a print publication where I’d like to be published. I guess because I was writing a lot of online, time-sensitive content in 2011, it was difficult to find stories that would lend themselves well to a print publication. So, I am definitely going to have to be more aggressive in this area in 2012. That’s because I really would like to gain more experience writing for print – even though we do live in a digital world.
So, overall I would say that I didn’t aim high enough in 2011 because I easily met the majority of my goals. As a result, my business resolution in 2012 will be to aim much, much higher. I think it’s better to report back that I came in just shy of my goals in 2012, rather than report that I easily met them. Stay tuned for an update on those goals in the weeks to come.
Image source: funnypicturesimages.com
How does a brand become a hero?
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts, Storytelling on January 10, 2012
Yesterday, I read an article entitled “Content Marketing Storytelling: Secrets from the Big Screen,” from B2Community. What resonated
most with me was Robert Rose’s statement that, according classic Hollywood storytelling, “your brand should always be the hero that will be transformed.” If you watch his video, you’ll learn how a brand, similar to a character in a film, must overcome their fear of the unknown by going on a transformational journey in order to be re-born as a “hero” in the customer’s (or audience’s) eyes.
Along the way, the “hero brand” needs to share their stories of how they overcame certain challenges and talk about the key influences, or “mentors” who helped them to prepare for even bigger challenges ahead. This helps to build trust and support from your audience – inviting them to come along on the journey with you. In some cases, I suppose that the customer can actually be that “influence” or “mentor” who helps the brand to evolve.
I can think of many brands that have gone through this type of transformation in order to win over their customers. A great example is when Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, went on to found Pixar, and then returned to Apple to help the company transform into the worldwide powerhouse that it is today. At various points along his journey, he was both the hero and the influencer that transformed the Apple brand. As a result, his story has become an inspiration for many future entrepreneurs.
But my question is this: do all brands become heroes knowingly, or is it sometimes a stroke of luck? Likewise, once a brand has won over their customer, how do they continue to be “transformed” or “re-born” in their customer’s eyes?
I suppose that if a brand is big enough already, they can rely on the media to help them tell this story on their behalf. However, if you’re just starting out, it’s important that you play a role in helping your story to unfold. That means sharing your challenges and the hurdles that you overcame, even if they aren’t as glamorous as your big accomplishments, in order to win over your audience.
As a writer for a number of technology blogs, I also find it equally interesting to write about a company’s challenges. We can all learn from each other. So, the next time you’re trying to think of a story to share with a blogger, reporter or on your own company blog, think about sharing a challenge that you faced and overcame. According to Rose, this will help to make you a “hero” in your audience’s eyes.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Supporting the US Anti-SOPA Blackouts
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on January 18, 2012
Yesterday afternoon, I read that many Canadian websites would be joining in the US online protest against proposed anti-piracy laws today. Here’s a link to an article from the Winnipeg Free Press that lists some of those Canadian websites and why they’re joining in the cause.
Such laws terrify me as a participant in the social web. Although I am not turning my website off today, I do want to show my support for my fellow Canadians and US colleagues. Why? Because if the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) passes in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) passes in the U.S. Senate, to quote Wikipedia “it would seriously damage the free and open Internet.” That’s enough reason for anyone to support this protest.
Here’s the message from Wikipedia explaining why their English website has gone dark today: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_anti-SOPA_blackout. Please share your support and stand up against SOPA as well.
In the spirit of sharing, here’s a great video which explains SOPA in more detail:
Feel the Fear, Then do it Anyways
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Random Thoughts on January 25, 2012
Earlier today, I read a great blog post entitled “Nice People Don’t Change the World,” by Joel Runyon on his Blog of Impossible Things. 
I love his message that we are trained from a young age to learn how to be nice. But the act of always trying to fit in and go with the flow often gets you nowhere fast. In order to “do something that matters,” you need to go against the grain and take a chance. This means that you may not always be perceived as “nice” or “compliant” in some peoples’ eyes.
As a small business owner, one who has only been self-employed for about a year now, I have learned that being courageous doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it happens in small, tiny steps. Each time I push my own boundaries, I gather-up the courage to go one more step beyond.
In the meantime, I’ve faced many naysayers and people who have told me that I am “too nice” to run my own business, that “I don’t strike them as a hunter,” that what I am “trying to do is hard,” or that “I’ll just see that it can’t be done.” To that, I say, I’ll do it anyhow.
While I won’t say that I am changing the world just yet, I have managed to create a new reality for myself — within a career of my own imagination. I wouldn’t trade the experiences that I’ve had in the past twelve months for anything.
Likewise, I certainly wouldn’t have the courage to keep going today, had I not taken the initial first step to go against the traditional way of earning a living.
A friend of mine has recently started her own small business – selling unique paper from all over the world. Yesterday, she told me that she is going to exhibit for the first time at a wedding tradeshow. She wants to target her product to brides and wedding invitation designers – an excellent place to start. Her biggest fear is that no one will like her product and that she won’t succeed. However, by never taking the chance to find out if people like her product, she might never learn what works and what doesn’t. Just by going through the experience for the first time, she will learn so much about what she needs to do next in order to succeed. I know she’ll be a great success if she just takes a chance.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s a new year and a new opportunity to finally take that tiny first step. If you do one small thing that gets you closer to that goal that you keep postponing, you’ll have the courage to go even further. As my old competitive swim coach used to tell me, “feel the fear, then do it anyways.”
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Is AOL Finally Making a Comeback?
Posted by The Running Start in Online businesses, Random Thoughts on February 1, 2012
About a year ago, I posted a story about AOL’s new large display ad format called “Project Devil.” In that blog, I speculated over whether this new format would help change the game for the online media company.
Today, it appears that my predictions may be coming true. According to Marketing Magazine, AOL managed to see growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 - “with display ad revenue – the present and future of its business – up to $363.8 million, up 10% from $331.6 million a year ago.”
With the recent acquisitions of online media heavyweights like The Huffington Post and TechCrunch, I think this is going to be the year that all of AOL’s hard work finally pays off. Tim Armstrong, CEO at AOL was quoted in the Marketing Magazine story — saying that “the hope is to return all of AOL to profitability by the end of 2012.” I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if he’s right.
As a former employee of AOL, I am definitely hoping that they do turn the ship around. My colleagues and I all saw the potential for the company to be great again one day.
AOL and other Internet pioneers, like Microsoft, have been playing second fiddle to heavyweights like Google and Apple over the past five years or so. However, I predict that we may see a comeback from both of these giants in the next few years. Only time will tell whether I am right.
Which other online media or technology companies do you think are headed for a comeback? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
My Quest to Become Hyper-Organized
Posted by The Running Start in Entrepreneurs, Inspiration, Random Thoughts on February 9, 2012
Part of my decision to run my own 
business was to have flexibility and control over when, where and how I do my work. But the busier that I get, the more I find that I need to become what I call “hyper-organized.” That means, I want to be so insanely organized that I get every task done without sacrificing my work-life balance.
So, over the past few months, I’ve been speaking with friends, colleagues and mentors to find out how they manage their time efficiently.
I find it fascinating that everyone has their own personal system for managing their time. Some people only check e-mail at specific times of the day – in order to avoid spending all day in their inbox. Other people only make phone calls at the time of day when they are the least productive.
Since I found it really useful to hear other people’s advice on what they do to stay on top of their game, I thought I’d share my own tricks for keeping myself organized.
1. Block off specific times in your calendar for specific projects. If you stick to these times and don’t do anything else, you’re more likely to finish each task. When I used to work for larger companies, blocking off my calendar also forced people to come to me to find out when I was free to meet – rather than having an open calendar where anyone can book a meeting with me at anytime. It definitely made me feel more in control of my meeting times vs. work time.
2. Set regular times to do weekly tasks. For example, I schedule Wednesday afternoon/early evening to write my weekly personal blog. If I get to it sooner than that time great! If not, then I know that Wednesdays are blog days. So, I dedicate that time to getting that task done. This definitely helps me to stay consistent and dedicated to my blog.
3. Plan out and track your hours at the beginning, middle and end of each week. I start a weekly project list every Monday morning and assign estimated hours to complete each project. I then check-in again mid-week to see how I’m tracking against each goal. Then, on Fridays, I try to anticipate what needs adjusting for the following week. Using a tool like Freshbooks.com is a huge help in this area. Their “time tracking” feature for projects is my saving grace!
4. Schedule breaks. When you’re super busy, it’s extremely important that you set aside time to take a breather. I’m notorious for working straight through a day without taking a break. However, since I started putting reminders in my calendar to take a break, I’ve found that I am way more productive. Make sure that those breaks mean time away from the computer – like going for a walk outside, or going to the gym. This is much better for me than watching a bunch of funny YouTube videos. But everyone is different. Just make sure that you do something that will get you re-energized and re-focused.
5. Weed out the “must-haves” versus the “nice-to-haves.” Of course, there are a million things that I’d like to accomplish each week. However, it’s very important to weed out what’s going to help you to get where you need to be today versus a month, six months or a year from now. Being realistic about what you can accomplish, and breaking goals into daily or weekly chunks, will make life a lot easier and happier for you
These are just some of the ways that I’ve been able to stay on top of my work when I’m super busy. I’d love to find out what works for you?
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
The Plot Thickens for Social Content Sharing
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses, Random Thoughts, Storytelling on February 14, 2012
Over the past year, I’ve written a number of blogs about social media as it relates to content and 
website traffic referrals. My post from last November talks about the phenomenon that Mashable calls the “Sharepocalypse,” which is basically the growing social compulsion to share content just for sharing’s sake.
In September 2011, I questioned whether word-of-mouth social media referrals would soon eclipse search as the leading source of traffic to websites. After reading a recent eMarketer article entitled “With Referral Traffic, Social Media Sites Build Up Connections,” I suspect that the plot is thickening. Not only is website traffic increasingly being driven from big social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but the smaller social media platforms like Tumblr, Pinterest and Meebo are now collectively helping to drive traffic right back to those platforms.
What I think will be really interesting to watch is how big social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook react to the allegations that Google is favouring search results for its own social network, Google+, over its competitors. Will they form an alliance with smaller social networks to create an ecosystem that is increasingly less reliant on search to drive traffic to websites? Likewise, if the “Sharepocalypse” continues to grow and thrive, how will this impact brand investments in search over social media? Let me know what you think.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
A Woman’s Obsession With Pinterest Explained
Posted by The Running Start in Inspiration, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on February 21, 2012
Over the past few months, I’ve read a number of articles about the female obsession with the popular social photo sharing tool called 
Pinterest. A recent Washington Post article dubbed it “crack for women.” So, I was reluctant to try out the new platform for myself, thinking that the last thing I need to worry about is another social media platform to manage.
However, after dedicating a few hours of my holiday Monday to playing around with the tool, I am now hooked. Although I know that there are more productive things I could be doing with my time, I predict that I will spend many more hours completing and updating all of my virtual Pinterest pin boards – selecting images of my favourite recipes and home decor items to stick under different category headings.
But why did I so quickly become hooked on Pinterest? Basically, I see it as a virtual scrapbook which allows me to arrange all of my favourite hobbies and interests in one place. So, if you like to organize and categorize your life in a visual fashion, this platform is definitely for you. It’s just like rearranging your closet by colour coding – something that many women enjoy and attempt to maintain.
While there are other social media tools and apps that enable people to arrange and share photos, Pinterest is extremely user-friendly. Plus, many people have now enabled their “pins” (i.e. images they’ve attached to their virtual pin board) to be shared in their Facebook timeline. So, the Pinterest user base is growing rapidly as women share their interests with all of their Facebook friends.
I predict that consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and marketers will be flocking to this tool in droves to better understand their customers. That’s because I believe that Pinterest enables you to capture a glimpse of a person’s psyche – identifying the items and activities that they covet and enjoy.
As a blogger and small business owner, I see a lot of promotional benefits to using Pinterest. I can organize and promote stories that I have written, or link to ideas and images that have inspired me to write future stories. I can also see what my followers or the people I am following are interested in and then tailor stories and images to suit their curiosities. One important caveat to note is that the image that bloggers use to promote stories on Pinterest needs to be extremely visually compelling. It’s just like judging a book by its cover – you need to entice people to find out more.
It’s also important to note that you need to copy and paste the URL of the blog post or website that you’re referencing into the comments section when you pin your image. Unfortunately, the images that you select don’t automatically link back to the website from which you’ve pinned them to your board.
So, if you’ve created a Pinterest board worth noting, please send me a link. I’d love to find out how other people are using Pinterest to share ideas, products and more. In case you’re interested, here are the boards that I’ve started. Stay tuned for more photos as I visually make sense of the things that Pinterest me.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Why It’s Ok to Promote the Competition Via Digital Storytelling
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on February 29, 2012
When I played competitive soccer growing up, our club coaches would sometimes share their best players up an age group if they were 
short on numbers for a game. The same rules can apply to digital storytelling.
I often link to competitive blogs, videos and presentations when doing content marketing for my business. You may think that it’s wrong to send your social media followers and blog readers to competitive stories or websites but I see it differently. Here are my main arguments for why you should promote the competition via digital storytelling:
- Focus on growing your market. As a small business owner, it’s in my own best interest to grow my market. If my competition is contributing to the conversation about digital storytelling and B2B marketing, then I feel that it is necessary to share links to their stories with my potential customers and followers. The more that your customers and industry are informed and interested in your services, the better it is for everyone. This leads nicely into my second point about collaboration.
- “Collaboration is the new competition.” This statement has been discussed a lot lately in blogs, keynote presentations at events and social media. What this statement means is that we can no longer work in silos. We all need to collaborate on occasion in order to complete a project or achieve a goal. In fact, I’ve personally started reaching out to other professionals who do the same kind of work as I do in order to find partners for future projects. So, by promoting your competitors, I believe that you are leaving the door open to attract future collaborative efforts.
- Your customers will thank you for it. I often share competitors’ blogs, research and whitepapers with my current and potential customers. If there is data out there that will help your customer to succeed, then it doesn’t matter who the information came from. Yes, there’s a risk that your customer might leave you for the competition – that is always a risk. But if you put the customer’s needs first, you are setting yourself up for success.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Will our digital memoirs ever tell the real story?
Posted by The Running Start in Random Thoughts, Storytelling on March 7, 2012
In the past year, a number of new online tools have emerged to help catalogue and track a user’s digital memoirs. From the launch of Facebook’s new timeline feature, to the growing popularity of pinning our hopes, memories and dreams to Pinterest, to the ability to collect and weave your favorite photos, Tweets and social streams into a tale on Storify, the possibilities to recount a sequence of events seem endless.
But these digital scrapbooks of one’s personal history likely do not reflect the real, or whole story. I see it more like users are revealing a scattered collection of moments online. If this isn’t the case, then many of my friends’ lives could be summarized on Facebook timeline as follows: you are born, you attend university and a few major events, you randomly “like” some cat videos, photos of friends’ vacations and children, to be continued…
As privacy concerns grow online, my compulsion to share personal experiences and memoirs on sites like Facebook and Google+ seems to be fading – especially when I know that these companies plan to share my personal data to advertisers.
Therefore, like true human memories, there are many holes in my digital story. And until my online privacy is better protected, my timeline will remain a mystery, rather than a biography. Let me know your thoughts about sharing your personal story online via social media.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
Why Digital Storytelling is Just Like Being Single
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses, Storytelling on March 14, 2012
When a man or woman is dating, their friends will tell them to just keep themselves busy, do activities that they love, and show the world that 
they are fun, well-rounded and approachable. But this strategy takes time as a person builds up their confidence, gets out there to meet a lot of potential suitors, and inevitably makes the right connection, at the right moment, with the right man or woman.
The same can be said for digital storytelling through social media and blogs. When a company is trying to attract new customers, it’s extremely important to peak your target audience’s interest. This requires that the business shows the world not just what its key product features are, or where you can buy the product — it’s necessary to make a lasting impression with that audience by sharing what really makes the business, and it’s people tick. This involves telling many different stories and sharing many different details about the business, and its industry, through a variety of channels and touch points.
In a real-world situation, you would never walk up to a perfect stranger and tell them all of your personality traits and your interests without getting to know the other person better. You would ask them questions to find out who they are and where their interests lie. From there, you would naturally share information and personal stories that relate to them specifically.
That’s what makes digital storytelling through social media and blogs such an organic way to attract new customers. As you share stories that describe the heart of your business and your industry expertise, your customers will share their interests in specific topics (via comments and social media channels) – to help you create and share even more stories that inevitably attract the right customer, at the right time.
So, when you’re crafting your next corporate story, think about how you would want to tell it to someone on a first date – it might just be the spark of a new customer connection.
Image source: http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/magnet-clip-art_397476.htm
Deals for Canadian Startups and SMEs: Preview of the GaggleBiz Launch
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses on March 20, 2012
On April 2nd, Toronto-based group buying startup GaggleUp Inc. and Post Media (Financial Post) will launch a strategic partnership called GaggleBiz. The new service will offer
business
to
business
daily
deals,
targeted to small
to
medium-sized
Canadian businesses.
I asked Mark Skapinker, founder of GaggleBiz a few questions to find out how his company will stand out in a sea of group buying websites, and why it will be a hot destination for Canadian SMEs and startups.
How will GaggleBiz differentiate itself from other daily deal sites out there?
The group buying space is finally growing up. It is no longer what the Groupon clones do: “throwing together a deal and buying some consumers”. Merchants are looking for the long‐term value in group buying, customers are looking for new and different deals. GaggleBiz will sit between the small business and the merchant trying to cost-effectively reach small businesses. By using the power of group buying and pulling together many small businesses, we facilitate a much lower cost interaction – this leads to much lower prices for small businesses.
Why go after the small business market?
Small businesses usually pay a premium for everything: be it products like coffee supplies or paperclips, services like IT services, insurance, cell phones or backup. The main reason is that they are making much smaller purchases than larger corporations and it is expensive for sales forces to reach them and service them. GaggleBiz is focused on delivering low-cost products and services to small
businesses.
What do you anticipate to be your biggest challenges in growing an audience/user base?
From the start, GaggleUp has offered a differentiated service. However, the crowded nature of the group‐buying market means that we need to constantly get beyond the noise of the Groupon clones. As we partner with more large corporations and our offers become further differentiated, it becomes easier.
GaggleBiz be offering great deals from top national and regional business brands to small-medium size businesses across the country, ranging from 50% to 90% off. From deals on office supplies, to maintenance and operations services, to technology and software solutions – there will be something of value for any SME or startup in Canada. Visit http://gagglebiz.com/ to enter to win fabulous prizes and get exclusive deals.
Patience and Perseverance are the Keys to Content Marketing Success
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Online businesses, Storytelling on March 28, 2012
Many of my friends and colleagues ask me why I blog so often (on my own blog and on other channels). As many social media and content marketing 
gurus will tell you, it’s extremely important to be consistent and have patience when it comes to generating sales leads via blogs.
Building an audience and rapport/trust with potential customers through content marketing is a huge time investment. But the payoffs can be quite amazing. Just remember that no blog or social media profile is ever an overnight success. Just like Tweeting and posting updates on Facebook, it’s important to stick with it – even if you feel like you’re just talking to yourself in the beginning. Over time, it truly is amazing how many people will start to recognize your efforts and contact you to find out more about your services.
For best practices on what type of content marketing stories can help to generate sales leads, check out some of my previous posts:
- Why Digital Storytelling is Just Like Being Single
- Seven Thought-Provoking Corporate Storytelling Ideas
- Influential Corporate Storytellers in the Digital Space
Good luck with your content marketing commitment. Just remember to think like the tortoise and not the hare! Good customers come to those who persevere.
Image: http://www.veezzle.com
Freelancers are Stronger Together
Posted by The Running Start in B2B Marketing, Entrepreneurs, Online businesses, Random Thoughts on April 4, 2012
Over the past few months, I’ve made it my mission to meet with other freelancers in my industry to learn how they manage their own 
businesses and get their feedback on what I’m doing right or wrong. The more I meet with other freelancers, the more I realize that no one can run a business completely alone. That’s why I truly believe that freelancers are stronger if they work together.
So, if you’re just getting started in the freelance game, here are some recommendations that I have collected and learned from my first year of running my own small business:
1. Grow your network and form a support group.
It’s important to meet regularly with other freelancers or small business owners to share ideas and get advice on how you can improve your business. There are now plenty of events and conferences in Toronto that facilitate meeting other like-minded professionals. A few examples are SproutUpTo, FreelanceCampTO, Enterprise Toronto and more.
2. Follow and engage with other freelancers through social media.
Building online relationships is just as helpful as building in-person relationships. It’s important to develop a good rapport with a few other freelancers on platforms like Twitter, Quora and LinkedIn so that you can pose questions to your colleagues when you’re in a jam and/or can’t find the answer yourself. To find other freelance professionals, you can use tools like Search.Twitter.com (search for keywords and hashtags related to your profession), or search for other freelance professionals on LinkedIn. But always remember that your relationship will grow even further if you eventually meet in person.
3. Read and comment on blogs and articles from other freelancers.
Many freelancers (including myself) write about their experiences to share with others. So, make sure you visit and comment on their blogs and articles to build a relationship with them (and even share your own advice). Here’s a great resource that was recently Tweeted by one of my social media friends @thecoffice: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Marketer http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-marketing/beginner-freelance-marker/. Even though the guide is geared to marketers, there’s some useful information in there for any freelance professional.
Have a tip on another way that freelancers can work together to help each other grow their business? Please share in the comments section below.
Image source: iStockPhoto.com
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Subscribe to my feed- Celebrating My 100th Post: Who Would Have Ever Thought… May 23, 2012I am excited to announce that today marks my 100th blog post on this website. As I look back over the past year and a half since I started this blog (and my own business), many exciting things have happened. It truly is amazing to see how my small business has evolved as a concept [...]
- Should The Globe and Mail Adopt eMarketer’s Content Marketing Strategy? May 15, 2012Last week, one of Canada’s most prestigious national newspapers, The Globe and Mail, announced that the business was moving to a “metered pay wall system this fall, asking online readers to pay if they read more than a certain number of articles each month.” This bold move by the Toronto-based publisher follows a trend that was started [... […]
- Celebrating My 100th Post: Who Would Have Ever Thought… May 23, 2012
