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AIMS member and volunteer Tatiana Popovski works with a non profit hospital foundation and is looking for a few resources. She sent in the following...
I am looking for a call centre specialists/consultants. If you have worked with any great people in the past please let me know.
I am looking for an excellent direct marketing agency/consultancy for web/email marketing, DM and Direct advertising.
Thanks to ThinData for renewing their sponsorship with AIMS!
ThinData has been a longtime AIMS sponsor and we're pleased to have them join us for another year. ThinData manages the email marketing for a number of major Canadian companies including: Aeroplan, Air Canada, TSN, ScotiaMcLeod Direct, BMO, MasterCard, Delta Hotels, Direct Energy, Ford Canada and Bell Solo and Sympatico MSN.
And of course AIMS! We use ThinData's email marketing system to send out our twice monthly newsletter and other special announcements. It has all the features we need and handles our newsletter very efficiently.
As you know AIMS is a non-profit association and relies on the support of sponsors. If you're in the market for an email marketing provider please support our sponsor and take a look at ThinData's system and what it can do.
I'm trying to find a listing of independent web developers that could work with a traditional advertising agency and provide design, e-commerce, hosting and technical support for our clients. It would be great to be able to review and recommend several alternatives to our clients, who are searching for an increased presence on the web, particularly in the e-commerce area.
Robert Mendelson from selectblindscanada.ca is looking for an independant consultant to help with improving conversion rates.
We are looking for an e-commerce specialist to help us improve our conversion rates--both on our site, and on our e-mail campaigns. As a small start-up, we can't afford agencies at this point, and are therefore looking for an independent consultant who is knowledgeable and experienced, perhaps an eComm Professor. Can any other small businesses recommend someone they've worked with successfully for this purpose?
Any independant consultants that can help? Any recommendations from others who know a superstar in this area?
It was a packed house at the Pour House last night as 50+ PR and marketing folks gathered for the inaugarul ThirdTuesday Social Media and PR meetup. Shel Israel and Mark Evans took the stage and kicked off what turned into a very lively conversation. There's a very detailed summary over at ProPR.
Shel is the author of Naked Conversations and is currently working on his next book about global neighbourhoods. He spoke at an AIMS event back in February and it was nice to see him back in the T dot last night.
I was sitting near the back and it was a little hard to hear. But as the organizers (I think it was Joe) pointed out, it was totally apropos that our conversation was happening in the midst of a sea of conversations. The tidbits I walked away with:
A casual environment and a great group of people meant lots of interesting conversations. After sharing a pizza with Jim Courtney from Skype Journal I caught up with AIMS volunteer Michelle Tampoya. It was great to spend some face time with Michelle as she cochairs the marketing and promotions committee for AIMS events and we've had many online chats.
Oh, and I met Michael O'Connor Clarke, the first person I've met who not only works for his first life client in Second Life but is compensated in Linden dollars. The lines continue to blur...
At the geek dinner last week (see this post if you don't know what I'm talking about), Shel Holtz passed his microphone around the table. Much like the old kids game of telephone, the instructions were passed along from person to person as the mic made its way around the table.
Everyone introduced themselves and talked about what social media means to them. Shel posted the file up on his site so you can take a listen and hear from the group that made it out to dinner at Big Daddy's.
We had 22 people at the geek dinner and just over 200 the next day at the event in the Berkeley Street Theatre. We talked a lot about social media and its impact on business.
I'd love to hear your thoughts around social media and how/if you'll be implementing it in your company. It can be as simple as using technorati to monitor your company to launching a full fledged blog. Anyone care to share how they are (or will be) initiating, adapting, and/or using social media in their company?
Jay Aber has over 10 years of Canadian and international Internet marketing experience and is currently President of The Aber Group. The combination of his seven years at American Express, plus his 10 year experience as President of 24/7 Canada, one of Canada’s leading Internet advertising sales and email companies, gives him a unique perspective and understanding of the role Internet media plays in the marketing mix. Aber stepped down as President of 24/7 Canada in March 2006 concentrating his efforts on building The Aber Group. The company provides counsel to senior executives on the best ways to use the Internet to achieve their marketing and revenue goals, as well as program development and execution.
Q: Why did you, Emily, and Andrew start AIMS back in 1996? A: It was crazy times as all of us were young, in senior decision-making positions in Internet marketing companies. I was the first General Manager of DoubleClick Canada, Emily a PointCast Canada Exec and Andrew - an Exec at digital agency Mackerel. We all needed information and advice quickly, and since there were no precedents - we all counted on each other for learning and info. Initially, the only criterion for joining AIMS was to be a decision maker in an Internet business. It didn't matter whether yours was a one-person operation or a large corporation - the notion was that it would be extremely valuable for people who had to make decisions in this evolving space to have a peer group to turn to for advice, recommendations and answers. Q: What are some of the key developments you've seen over the last 10 years? Any big surprises? A: I think the biggest surprise is how quickly and completely the Internet has transformed the way people access information, work, learn, communicate and entertain themselves. Many of the "could you imagine when . . ." conversations that we had a decade ago - are now reality - ubiquitous low cost or free broadband wireless access, the true power of search, the low cost of personal and business computing equipment, transformations in the travel, telecom, banking and other businesses. On the negative side, it is still surprising to me that Canadian business in general is still slow to adopt the Internet for marketing purposes. I’ve heard many reasons why - but given our enormous broadband coverage and early consumer Internet adoption rates – it doesn’t make much sense that so many Canadian companies are such slow adopters. Q: What are some of the current trends or ideas that you think will have the biggest impact for online marketers in the next few years. Why are they important? A: Marketers need to look at how younger Canadians interact with technology. For most, using a computer or any device is as simple and intuitive as using a telephone is for me. The wholesale changes in demand for traditional media have already started - but ask yourself what the likelihood is that a 10 year old today will be a subscriber to a daily newspaper as an adult. It's not that the need for news will change, it’s that consumers demand choice when it comes to how they consume media - and only those organizations that offer up that choice will thrive. With the freedom to configure media to a user's preference, advertisers and marketers are going to have to become very proficient at using a range of communication channels to reach the target AND get used to asking permission before they send their marketing messages.
Eden Spodek, an AIMS member and recent attendee at our 'Dinner with Shel' and '10th Anniversary Event' sends in the following question...
"The future of communications technology: where will we be in five years?
What tools will be available? What tools will we be using? How will your audience be interacting with your organization?"
This reminds me of a post on Michael Seaton's blog about disposable conversations; those quick conversations that don't require a lot of engagement from either party. As technology evolves the nature of our conversations change. Or perhaps it's the other way around - our changing conversations demand new technologies.
Anyone have thoughts/ideas on what our communications technology will look like in 5 years?
What a jam-packed couple of days! Shel Holtz arrived in town on Tuesday and we had 21people gather at Big Daddy's for a geek-like dinner. It was mostly marketing folk sitting around the table so I use the term 'geek' lightly.
Shel passed around his digital recorder and we all talked about what social media means to us. Well at least that's what we were talking about when the recorder got to my end of the table. It was being passed from person to person so I suspect the telephone message might have gone awry at some point.
Shel Holtz, Michael Seaton, Mitch Joel, and David Jones all have good summaries complete with a photo of the evening. I was taking an informal poll on how many blogs various people keep up with on a regular basis. We had everything from 'a few' to over a hundred. Not surprisingly it's the people who write blogs that are in the 100+ category. Shel topped the chart at 5-600.
The next day Shel presented to a packed house at The Berkeley Street Theatre. His session "How Social Media is Changing Everything You Know...and what you should be doing about it" was very well received and generated lots of discussion that continued over beer, wine, and tasty eats at the cocktail reception.
Pix of the event are here - http://www.blog.aimscanada.com/photos/10th_anniversary_event_wi/img_6144a.html
Shel started with the basic truths of social media and talked about the role of trust in communication relationships and the impact of consumer generated content. The examples he used of companies effectively participating in the conversation with their customers brought it all to life. They demonstrated how the conversation is happening whether companies are participating or not.
I'll have Shel's presentation available online in a few days. In the meantime check out the blogs from other AIMS members who attended the event:
- Michael Seaton
- Tamera Kremer
- Jen Evans
- Tom Purves
- Michelle Tampoya
Apologies if you've blogged about the event and I've missed it - please add it to the comments.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the event yesterday. It was a great turnout and made for a lively 10th Anniversary celebration. Plus I really enjoyed meeting so many people that I've spoken to on the phone and over email in the last few months. There's nothing like putting a face to a number, email, blog, website, etc.. And a special thanks to the volunteers who worked hard at making this event run smoothly!
