Direct Marketing Magazine April 2014

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The mobile wallet in North America

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Today’s Digital trends in Business Supplement mobile commerce PM 4 0 0 5 0 8 0 3

The Authority on Data-Driven Engagement & Operations

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Vol. 27 • No. 4 • April 2014

The power of omni-channel Creating a seamless shopping experience key to retail success

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The mobile wallet in North America Are we there yet?

Vol. 27 | No. 4 | April 2014 EDITOR Amy Bostock - amy@dmn.ca PRESIDENT Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca DESIGN / PRODUCTION Jennifer O'Neill - jennifer@dmn.ca Advertising Sales Mark Henry - mark@dmn.ca Brent White - brent@dmn.ca Chantal Goudreau - chantal@dmn.ca

Targeting & Acquisition ❯❯5

8 reasons your brand needs to be in content marketing

Engagement & Analytics

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Matt Goulart Jay Baer Jan Kestle Mirza Baig Michael Turcsanyi Monique Duquette Michael Weiss Michael Gorturk

Are apps the future of digital marketing?

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Today’s trends in mobile commerce Consumers are beginning to embrace mobile shopping, especially in some important segments

Operations & Logistics

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Directives

The mobile wallet in North America: are we there yet?

Widespread mobile wallet adoption in North America will take more than upgrades to technology and infrastructure; it will take a major shift in consumer behaviour.

By Michael Gokturk

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very major player in mobile technology and payment related arenas – Apple, Google, Visa, Paypal et al – are running a high-profile race right now to release the one mobile wallet solution to rule them all. But while the buzz around mobile wallets in the media is steadily growing, consumer adoption in North America has not – and will not, in my opinion, until several issues are adequately addressed.

Most people will not change their habits or adopt new technology unless it offers clear value in the way of savings (be it time or money) and convenience. We’ve seen this with mobile points of sale, which are rapidly replacing traditional cash registers in retail outlets of every size. Mobile POS allows all of us – merchants and customers- to engage in commerce in a way that is different and ultimately better. Now we can take and make payments where and when we like while eliminating the cost of expensive cash registers.

When a solution clearly benefits both parties it motivates rapid adoption of new technology; it presents an irrefutable improvement on the traditional alternative.

Mobile wallets also aim to provide convenience, but I would argue that no application in North America seems to offer value above and beyond our current payment options. Credit cards and cash are fairly reliable, and replacing a card swipe with a phone tap isn’t necessarily an improvement.

With the infrastructure and options currently available, making payments with your phone may only replace just one or two cards in your wallet, but not the entire wallet itself. This means in many situations, cards must still be carried and used.

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In Canada the focus has primarily been on making purchases, and the many mobile “wallets” entering the market function more as individual pay options, just like having multiple cards in your wallet. A great example of this is the Starbucks mobile payment app, one of the most widely used in the US. Applications like these are great for processing payments faster, mimicking an online purchasing experience and giving merchants useful information about their customers. But they only solve one piece of the puzzle. The mobile wallet will truly capture the North American consumer’s imagination when it becomes more streamlined and global in its application.

Countries that have seen the most success with adoption are places like China, where over 1.5 trillion dollars are reported to have passed through mobile payments last year (although that number includes all kinds of mobile payments). There’s also Japan, where mobile wallets are used to keep digital versions of a person’s banking, healthcare, transit, and ID cards.

Similarly, the Octopus app in Hong Kong can be used for transit, parking, leisure facilities, phone bills, selfcheckout kiosks, online purchases and even identification and building access via an NFC-enabled mobile device and the Octopus Mobile SIM card. In all these places, these systems are widely adopted because the one device can now serve a variety of vital needs. A clear problem is being solved in this region, but in North America, the current path is just compounding the problem.

One of the major barriers to adoption is that the market is still unclear, and more importantly, consumer awareness of their options is low. The nascent mobile wallet landscape is divided by carriers, banks, credit companies and hardware brands that are all currently competing to bring the right solution to market. For example, many Android and Blackberry devices support near field communications (NFC), and carriers like Rogers offer an app that can work with NFC to make mobile phone payments. But

Rogers customers with iPhones have no mobile wallet option because Apple products do not yet support NFC. On the side of the mobile wallet creators, a big problem has been a lack of an effective ignition strategy.

Such a strategy solves the problem of how to coordinate adoption on both sides of the payment equation: buyers and sellers, consumers and retailers.

Mobile wallet offerings continue to fail in the market because they have been unable to achieve a critical mass of users on both sides of the transaction.

Some mobile payment solutions are dependent upon partnerships between a bank and a certain mobile provider, so unless you are a customer of both, the offering is essentially irrelevant. And then there are third-party solutions, like the ISIS app, which require users to enter, card by card, their various payment accounts – again, if they have an NFC compatible device. If an individual has the card in hand, what is their motivation to spend time on setting up the app, when they will still have a normal wallet for all their other payment needs?

Faced with a fragmented market, and a current payment system that works, most consumers are opting to stick with their debit and credit cards, rather than jump through hoops into unknown territory.

Possibly, the greatest hurdle to widespread adoption of the mobile wallet is consumer fears around security. While credit cards are prone to being lost, copied or stolen, the item itself carries no personal value and can be deactivated easily. Our phones carry such detailed personal information that many people are afraid of having their phones hacked or stolen. Studies show that consumer awareness of the security features that accompany existing mobile wallets is extremely low, suggesting these fears are somewhat exaggerated. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that NFC transmissions are hackable, which speaks to the legitimacy of public concern over the security of mobile payments. It’s not necessarily that

the credit card really is a more secure option; it’s just a system that we are accustomed to. Moving payments over to the mobile phone requires earning the trust of individual users, meaning companies with mobile wallet solutions are going to need to learn how to clearly and comfortingly communicate exactly how they have secured their offering.

There is no doubt that the mobile wallet will eventually be adopted. But, as some tech pundits are predicting, mainstream implementation may be as far as a decade away. Firstly, we’re still waiting on a mobile phone payment solution that offers an improvement on our current debit/ credit/cash system. Ideally that solution would wrap in broader applications to become an invaluable and complete “wallet,” which we have yet to see in Canada or the US. But more importantly than this, what mobile wallets represent is a new mode of consumer behaviour.

Changing the way the general public views their phone – more than a communication device, more than a camera, more than a music player – and instilling in them the trust and confidence to use it as a payment tool, is some of the heaviest lifting the industry has to do before it can succeed.

Michael Gokturk is the Founder and CEO of

Payfirma, a multichannel payment processing company and cloud-based payment platform.

A thought leader and relentless entrepreneur, Michael has grown Payfirma from the first company to deploy mobile payments in Canada into a scalable solution for debit and credit card payments online, in-store and mobile. Prior to Payfirma, Michael founded VersaPay, one of Canada’s fastest growing companies which he took public on the TSX. With over a decade of experience as a game changer in payments, Michael has appeared on the cover of Profit Magazine and been honored with numerous awards including Best Business Person of 2012 and membership in Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40. Michael is also an active angel investor, mentor in the startup community.

April 2014

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Targeting & Acquisiton

8

reasons your brand needs to be in content marketing Matt Goulart

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rands have to constantly struggle with important and sometimes critical decisions on where to spend their marketing dollar. They often wonder whether content marketing is really as important for them as it is made out to be by bloggers and marketing gurus. However, the fact that more focus is being placed on content marketing is at least an indication of its significance in the marketing strategy. Hubspot noted that “92% of companies who blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog”.

It has also been noted in a recent study by Ignite Digital, that Content Marketing initiatives for Canadian companies going forward in 2014 will continue to be extremely important.

The real question now comes down to why hasn’t your brand jumped into Content Marketing already?

With this in mind and if you need more incentive to push you across that decision line, here are eight reasons why you should consider content marketing as a worthy investment in 2014:

customers. Nielson came out with a great study asking consumers about trusting editorial content.

58% responded they trusted it completely. We’ve all heard that Content is King (or Queen!) but content really comes down to the confidence you can build with your audience.

By reading your blogs, Facebook posts or website’s content, your audience begins to have confidence in your knowledge. The more confident they are, the more likely they will be to use your services in the future. Actually, they are also more willing to also share that article and you could potentially generate a referral.

return looking for more information later. If you successfully engage your audience through powerful content and make them want to return, they will be more likely to purchase from you in the future. Create that powerful content to keep them excited and engaged with your content.

Here are some prime examples of engaging and exciting content for Canadians: ❯❯ #RobFord Smoking Crack Scandal Analyzed on Twitter ❯❯ How Your Salary Compares to Online Marketers Across the World ❯❯ New Facebook Marketing Research Shows What Works The titles are the first impression that creates engagement with your audience. It’s called a “Hook”, use it on all your content.

1. It shows skills and expertise Content marketing is a perfect way for companies to show their skills and expertise in their area of service. By writing about their services, they can show audiences that they know what they are talking about. For startups, this can be extremely beneficial as they can use quality content to demonstrate their expertise, subject knowledge and attract the attention and trust of potential customers.

3. It creates awareness and visibility Content marketing is an effective and easy way to increase brand awareness. We already know that Canadian companies want to increase Lead Generation and brand awareness in 2014 based on 5. It is more affordable our study.

Content marketing is more affordable than many Content marketing is like a giant billboard that other marketing verticals. Billboards range in price stays up for years, allowing more people to see but typically you will need to make a large investment your company. Remember to always have proper of your marketing dollars that could easily see you branding on your site, consistent colours and tying up tens of thousands of dollars over many design. Consumers will have a higher probability of months. It’s difficult to even track the billboard ads remembering the company when they are making a performance (putting a giant QR code doesn’t count). purchase decision.

SMR 046 THE Data on Specialists Ad FNL.qxp_Layout 1 2014-02-03 8:02 PM continued page 10 Don’t forget to make your site search engine friendly. Several companies drop the ball here. Make sure your site has clean code, loads quickly and has an effective design (with branding) that promotes sharing. This will let your content get more views.

2. It builds confidence Content is known to be one of the best tools that can be used by businesses to build trust with your

4. It engages your audience If your content is fresh and relevant, it will engage your audience and they will

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Engagement & Analytics

Today’s trends in mobile commerce Consumers are beginning to embrace mobile shopping, especially in some important segments

By Jan Kestle

W

ith the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, mobile commerce is beginning to reshape the retail landscape, changing the way consumers research, shop, buy, review and recommend products.

But because m-commerce is still in its infancy compared to e-commerce, mobile consumers are a moving target. The teens who first surfed to retail sites have been joined by their previously technology-shy parents.

And a new breed of consumer now uses a smartphone to snap photos of products in bricks-and-mortar stores, load them into price comparison apps like Shopbot and make a purchase from an online auction site like eBay. What’s a marketer to do?

Fortunately, the latest findings from a survey-based database offer a detailed look at mobile shopping trends to help businesses better understand the newest incarnation of connected customers. Created by Environics Analytics and AskingCanadians™—

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Toronto-based marketing analytics and research companies, respectively—the eShopper PRIZMC2Link reveals how different segments of Canadian society have embraced m-shopping at home and on the go. The dataset was produced by linking the PRIZMC2 segmentation system with the AskingCanadians™ e-shopping survey, an online study of 20,037 respondents conducted this past fall. The result is a revealing resource that allows retailers to measure how different consumer types have embraced mobile shopping, beginning with the decision-making process—including information gathering, purchase influence and retail channel—all the way to whether they rate their purchases on their Facebook page.

Using the new database, retailers can select the best channels to attract and retain mobile customers, including those who use their smartphones in conjunction with online websites and at bricks-andmortar outlets. It also shatters some myths and documents trends that

herald profound change—and large challenges—for Canadian businesses.

Here’s a look at some of the trends that the new data have uncovered: 1. While shopping on a mobile device is still relatively new, younger citydwellers and francophones are already active users. Some 16 percent of Canadians—one in six—have shopped using their mobile phones in the past three months. Many are found in young, urban clusters such as Young Digerati (younger, upscale urban trendsetters) and Grads & Pads (young, lower-middleclass urban singles), as well as younger, suburban francophone segments such as Mini Van & Vin Rouge (younger, upper-middleclass Quebec families) and Le Quebecois Sportifs (lowermiddle-class, middle-aged Quebec suburbanites). Mobile shopping is expected to evolve quickly in the coming years, as more consumers use their smartphones and tablets

to compare products, prices and features no matter where they are.

2. Young, ethnic, urban shoppers are most likely to research products and services using their mobile phones. While most Canadians research products online before making a purchase, 11 percent use their mobile phones to gather information in areas such as arts and entertainment (movies, plays and art galleries) and media (books, music, videos and magazines). The highest concentration of those shoppers tends to be young, urban and, frequently, immigrants—a spot-on portrait of early tech adopters—in segments such as South Asian Society (younger, upper-middle-class South Asian families) and Newcomers Rising (young, downscale city immigrants).

3. A number of factors—both digital and offline—influence consumers’ purchase decisions.

April 2014

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Engagement & Analytics Word-of-mouth remains the most powerful force in influencing purchase decisions: 57 percent of Canadians say recommendations from family and friends have the greatest influence when they go shopping. But consumers have also begun to cite mobilefriendly apps and marketing as key factors in influencing their marketplace behaviour. Some 35 percent rely on their smartphones for accessing Google maps or MapQuest to find a store for the first time. Seventeen percent visit a store’s website over their mobile phone before visiting a store.

4. More and more Canadians use non-manufacturer and shopping comparison sites when making purchase decisions. Nearly 40 percent of respondents consult two or more sources before making a purchase, but they don’t always head to retailer or manufacturer websites. Onethird go to Amazon; a quarter use eBay; 19 percent use comparison shopping sites like Shopbot; and 14 percent rely on social media networks such as Facebook.

Most of these numbers reflect slight declines from three years ago, reflecting comparison shoppers finding other sources— presumably on their smartphones.

But the data also prove that, no matter how cool a retailer’s website is, it still needs to be partnered with social media to maximize its impact with all customers.

5. When making a purchase, many consumers turn to their computers and tablets rather than their smartphones. The percentage of Canadians who purchase products using their

mobile phone is still relatively small, with all categories attracting only single-digit percentages of shoppers. By contrast, 31 percent buy home electronics online, including a variety of urban segments, from the wealthiest (Cosmopolitan Elite and Urbane Villagers) to some of the youngest (Rooms with a View and Electric Avenues). And an even greater number, 41 percent, go to online classified sites like Craigslist and Kijiji to make a purchase.

6. When it comes to product reviews, a diverse group of Canadians create buzz about their purchases. Some 40 percent of Canadians go online monthly to rate or review products after making a purchase; 14 percent do so on a weekly basis. While many bloggers are young, tech-savvy writers, an increasing number of older and more affluent Canadians are also contributing to the online dialogue by writing a product review once or twice a month. As a result of these diverse critics, product reviewers can be found among older segments like Down on the Farm (older and mature farm couples and families) and Park Bench Seniors (low-income seniors in high-rises), as well as younger citydwellers in such segments as Rooms with a View and Young Digerati. Their desire to be the very first to trumpet or trash a product means these consumers can play an important role in new product launches.

7. Retailers can’t ignore mobile shoppers among their target audiences. When asked about the factors that influence retail choice, one in seven maintain that a

mobile-friendly website is critical in their decision on where to shop.

The highest concentration of these mobile shoppers makes up a wideranging coalition of shoppers: from affluent, urban segments like Cosmopolitan Elite (very wealthy, middle-aged and older families) and young, tech-savvy consumers in Young Digerati to immigrant segments like Asian Affluence (wealthy, suburban Chinese families) and South Asian Society.

8. If you’re a young and recent immigrant, chances are you live on your mobile phone and are open to receiving marketing messages. Good news for marketers: Nineteen percent of Canadians are open to receiving marketing messages on mobile devices—up from 11 percent in 2011—and a surprisingly high percentage come from lifestyle types containing significant concentrations of recent immigrants. Among the top segments where members are receptive to these messages are Newcomers Rising, Big City Blues (young and low-income recent immigrants), Asian Affluence and Old World Style. As might be expected, few of these segments are averse to receiving text messages. For a number of segments, more messages are more fun, especially from those with unlimited data packages.

9. Mobile shoppers like things easy. While only small numbers of Canadians currently shop using mobile phones, there’s nothing to stop businesses from increasing those figures. They just need to make the process easy. According to one attitudinal question, 27 percent of

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survey respondents agreed with the statement, “I’m likely to shop online via my mobile device, provided the process is easy.” A similar 28 percent agreed that they’d download a shopping app if the shopping experience is easy. Their message to retailers: design a way to complete a mobile transaction using the fewest clicks possible.

10. Many mobile shoppers draw the line at location-dependent text messages from marketers. While businesses today are searching for ways to use GPS to dispatch text messages to shoppers in the proximity of their stores, mobile shoppers may not be so receptive to this technique. No less than 62 percent call this service “bothersome”—even if they’re approaching a store selling a product of interest. And those most opposed are not just busy citydwellers from upscale segments like Urbane Villagers and Young Digerati but downscale seniors from exurban segments such as Heartlanders and Down on the Farm. Some marketing innovations may still be a bit too ambitious.

But as the latest data from the eShopper PRIZMC2Link (powered by Asking Canadians™) database shows, mobile customers continue to grow and expand into more diverse consumer segments. Of course, the shifting landscape is enough to overwhelm even the savviest retailer, but with new and emerging data tracking their evolution, the path to success can become easier to navigate. Increasingly, a smart site visible on a smartphone is a smart marketing move.

Jan Kestle is the president and founder of

Environics Analytics.

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Operations & Logistics

The power of omni-channel Creating a seamless shopping experience key to retail success

By Michael Turcsanyi

T

he term “omni-channel” has no shortage of definitions based on who you ask and their role within a retail organization. At the heart of the debate, omni-channel means delivering a buy anywhere, fulfill from anywhere, return anywhere shopping experience. Consumers expect a seamless shopping experience that unifies all retail channels to make every purchase journey more ❱ DMN.ca

convenient and transparent. Over the last few years leading retailers have further explored methods to align shopping experiences with initiatives such as shipping web orders from local stores, showing store level inventory online, and allowing web purchased items to be returned to any retail store.

However in Canada, the omnichannel movement still hasn’t hit critical mass, in fact in a recent

Forrester Research consumer survey, “The State of Canadian Online Retail – 2013”, 29% of consumers could not even order online from their desired retailer. Consumers’ expectations have undoubtedly evolved, yet the vast majority of Canadian retailers have failed to adapt to these rapidly changing demands. While select retailers like Future Shop and Mountain Equipment Co-op are

already executing advanced initiatives, for many retailers, omni-channel execution remains something of a mystery. Why is this the case? It is largely due to aging retail technology systems and the limitations of these systems, as they were never meant for Omni-Channel retailing. Perhaps more importantly, it is clear that there is a significant lack of understanding for the role new commerce April 2014

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Operations & Logistics technologies play in enabling, and also optimizing a long term omni-channel commerce strategy.

There is no doubt consumer expectations represent a highly disruptive shift in retail, but it’s here to stay – that much is clear. This rapid evolution in retailing has exposed a major gap in the functionality of aging retail systems and infrastructure.

Best-of-breed Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point of Sale (POS) systems from several years ago weren’t designed to facilitate omni-channel staples like in-store pickup, ship-from-store, and a single view of the customer. In the past, retailers haven’t had to concern themselves with transparency of available-to-sell inventory throughout their organization. In addition, they haven’t had to accommodate various fulfillment needs of customers (in-store pickup, ship to local post office, same-day shipping, etc.). As retailers adopt a focus and willingness to achieve omni-channel, execution is an obvious challenge, particularly because of the limited functionality of legacy retail systems within its infrastructures.

Fit for purpose omni-channel technologies As consumers continue to drive the omni-channel movement with heightened expectations around convenience, fulfillment, customer service, and more, existing retail systems are being extended to perform functionality well outside of core abilities and purpose.

Temporary “fixes” in the form of in-house programming and inefficient manual processes are becoming the go-to strategy retailers are taking in adopting to achieve some omnichannel capability as fast as possible.

But as many retailers are quickly discovering, these short-term fixes aren’t good enough, and in some cases are hurting in-store and online customer experiences, causing them to question whether omni-channel will work for their business.

Traditionally retailers have subscribed to reinvesting in ERP’s and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) for inventory and distribution centres, and POS systems for in-store retailing. The explosive growth of ecommerce over the past decade has helped solidify ecommerce platforms as another core system to fit into retail infrastructures. As omni-channel retailing continues to mature, Retail Order Management Systems are emerging as the critical technology to join traditional retail systems to support the expectations of the new age consumer.

Most retailers are not in a position to overhaul their entire retail infrastructure overnight to support new omni-channel expectations.”

The critical role of a Retail Order Management System Simply put, the Retail Order Management System (OMS) is the technology layer sitting between retail systems and retail storefronts, helping power a seamless omni-channel experience. According to “The Retail Order Management Imperative”, a recent report by Forrester Research commissioned by OrderDynamics, 82% of retailers around the world agreed that a Retail OMS would play an important role in the execution of their omni-channel strategy, yet only half of retailers currently have an OMS in place today. While it’s easy to see the majority of retailers have bought into the concept of a Retail OMS and the role it plays in powering omni-

Highest user adoption

channel strategies, it is clear many don’t yet have the retail infrastructure to execute properly.

Most retailers are not in a position to overhaul their entire retail infrastructure overnight to support new omni-channel expectations, but even if they could, they still would lack the ability to consolidate inventory and order data across their entire organization. And certainly the aforementioned quick fixes won’t solve these needs either. The Retail OMS is the lynchpin to managing the order fulfillment process and order data, helping improve the overall shopping experience by providing transparency to customers around when orders are ready to be picked up, when orders have been shipped, a single view of enterprise-wide inventory available, and more. The Retail OMS’ impact can also be felt at the store level, passing on order details to store associates to fulfill and complete the order via its own omni-channel interface or with an integration into the POS. The true value of a Retail OMS is in its ability to immediately integrate with and work alongside legacy retail systems, enabling retailers to deliver a full and sophisticated omni-channel experience without having to replace multiple systems within an existing infrastructure.

According to “The Retail Order Management Imperative”, crosschannel fulfillment strategies such

Lowest cost of ownership

as ship-from-store, ship-to-store, and in-store pickup rank as their top omni-channel priorities today, while other omni-channel initiatives such as cross-channel loyalty and single view of customer profiles (combined online and offline purchase history) appear to be more long term plays. As such, it is critical that retailers continue to invest in fit for purpose technologies such a Retail OMS’ that can help achieve their omni-channel desires in a way that supports rapidly changing consumer needs today, and in the future.

Michael Turcsanyi is one of the founding

partners of OrderDynamics. He has over 10 years of experience in eCommerce and managed services. He is currently President of OrderDynamics. Michael is responsible for the coordination, management, and leadership of all sales and marketing activities including new business acquisition, strategic partnerships, communications, and developing the OrderDynamics service model. Throughout his career, Michael has held leadership roles with responsibility for delivering large-scale eCommerce websites and Software-asa-Service (SaaS) applications. Michael is recognized as a thought leader within the Canadian eCommerce industry, having led Omni-Channel keynote presentation, workshops and thought leadership presentations at some the country’s largest commerce events including eTail Canada, STORE Conference, Retail West, Dx3 Canada and more.

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Targeting & Acquisiton

continued from page 5

Television commercials are easily in the hundreds of thousands.

Content marketing is affordable typically only a few hundred and it can even be free if you write your own content. Content Marketing has additional benefits a billboard can’t do, it can be reused!

Reuse your articles on, but not limited to: ❯❯ Your Blog ❯❯ Email Marketing to current clients ❯❯ Email marketing to prospects ❯❯ Social Media posts (your social media manager will love you) ❯❯ Brochures ❯❯ Whitepapers ❯❯ Ebooks ❯❯ Your website ❯❯ And more…

By using the same content, you can increase its effectiveness over different

platforms. All in all, there is very little you are paying out of your pocket when you take up content marketing.

6. It improves your SEO ranking Optimizing your content with keywords can increase the effectiveness and ranking of your content and subsequently your website on search engines. It’s a side effect of producing content, a positive side effect.

The way to look at how content marketing helps your SEO ranking is that more content on your site gives you more pages (or for more traditional marketers ‘billboards’) which Google caches. This gives your site the opportunity for users to come back to your site. The more content you publish consistently (try daily) the more opportunity you have of producing and increasing your traffic. You get more traffic because you publish more

pages which include words (keywords) that your audience is searching for.

This allows your company to gain more visibility and more people will open your website as a result of search engine queries.

7. It builds customer relationships Content marketing is the best way to create a community and build long lasting relationships with your audience. It is the perfect way to create a channel of communication between your audience and yourself and make people rely on you when they need information, answers and solutions.

8. Content never goes stale The content you post online never goes away. It always remains where you posted it and can always bring back more people to your site. For someone who is looking for specific

content, your content will always be informative and especially relevant, no matter when you posted it.

Considering all these factors, you can imagine how important content marketing is for your business. If you want to create an impact on your audience and gain its confidence, using content as a necessary part of your online marketing campaign is essential.

Moreover, you should also try to maintain the originality and credibility of your content to ensure that it gains the trust of your audience.

Matt Goulart is the founder of Ignite Digital, a Canadian Digital Marketing Agency. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Washington Times and several other publications. Through Ignite Digital, Matt works with Fortune 500 companies, advertising agencies from around the world and has helped in launching digital marketing initiatives for his clients.

EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE

Why Good Data Trumps Big Data What’s sometimes lost in today’s romance with Big Data is that analytics is of little help without quality data. One notion that emerged in the recent public—and political—debate about making the long-form census voluntary was the widely held belief that we don’t need to worry about government statistics because we have so much data available from other sources—such as tweets, likes and online surveys. But if direct marketers want to develop accurate insights about consumers and deploy effective target marketing to the right people, they need accurate, authoritative data. Indeed, Big Data can only be leveraged for quality analytics when these databases are weighted, benchmarked and analysed using a known, accurate, comprehensive universe—whether that is derived from a Census, other official statistical databases or reliable research from firms using best practices.

This executive roundtable, sponsored by Environics Analytics, will take a closer look at data used by marketers and discuss why authoritative data including official government statistics are so important. They’ll examine how data can be used to run more innovative and targeted campaigns, and how critical they are in the methodology, quality and measurement of effective direct marketing initiatives. Finally, the panel will discuss the potential increased use of administrative data as one alternative solution for small-area analytics.

❱ DMN.ca

April 2014

Digital BUSINESS

Supplement

> Are apps the future of digital marketing? > Rethinking your digital marketing strategy > A prescription for multichannel marketing > Calculating your blogging ROI

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Digital BUSINESS

Are apps the future of digital marketing?

A

t the time of writing this article – two appcentric buyouts happened within nearly a week of one another: Rakuten (owner of Canada’s very own Kobo) and messaging app Viber plus Facebook buying the WhatsApp messaging app; so what does this all mean to the marketing industry, plenty actually.

By Mirza Baig

Telcos: for whom the bell tolls Consider now the simplistic mission of WhatsApp – to be a mobile messaging platform, to be exact a messaging platform WITHOUT advertising, yes, marketing and investor types alike will say this is

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hearsay, that without advertising dollars to fund and grow the business it will not be viable.

That’s not to say it’s without a price tag, yes, the first year subscription to WhatsApp is free and after that a yearly subscription fee is just 99 cents.

Executives at telcos the world over must be shivering at the mere thought of what the future could look like if a Facebook-backed WhatsAp becomes the norm for how we communicate “over the phone”.

Deloitte’s latest TMT Predictions research suggests that overall voice calls are getting shorter from just over three minutes in 2006 to about a minute and 45 seconds in 2011. Hopefully you still call your Mom, though you’re probably texting or using the FB Messenger app or BBM with everyone else.

April 2014

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Digital BUSINESS

perfect the user experience and technology behind the messaging app.

The oft quoted “Build it and they will come” approach certainly worked with WhatsApp. Spread through word of mouth and the appeal of a universally low price point. Along with a intuitive user experience that works on smartphones and the majority of basic Nokia phones still in circulation in many developing countries, this app will soon enough be business school text book case study course material.

Are Apps the future of digital marketing though?

Let me rephrase that and state, emphatically state, that Apps are the future of ALL marketing….

How? What other medium has that Holy Grail approach of gaining such trusted status as to voluntarily place that medium on your most sacred of personal devices: your smartphone?

Ads, especially on a smartphone in its current state are too small to really be effective or are too intrusive…how many times did we really want to see that poker ad or Candy Crush ad while spending time with our child on their ABC – phonics app?

Rethink marketing as relationships not metrics Marketing’s mission, especially for the brands that get it, is to build relationships by connecting on a human level – think of the recent Coca-Cola America is Beautiful Super Bowl ad or the Red Bull Felix Baumgartner free fall from the edge of space video.

Building relationships by offering utility takes the app experience to a whole new level. Case in point is the US-based, Express app that integrates with you’re the Express credit card so you scan and pay for your jeans or blazers in store, all from your iPhone. (unfortunately for us Canadians, this scan and pay thru your phone and walk-out functionality its still only Stateside… any Canadian banks willing to take up the charge?)

Leaving Canadians out of the scan from your phone and pay feature aside, this is true utility. In other words all of the marketing metrics we all try so hard to achieve with click-thru rates or timespent or lead-generating conversion funnels – an app, especially an app done well that provides utility (read engagement, loyalty, word-of-mouth and the most important of all metrics overall actual dollars spent on product) could very well be the savior of the marketing industry.

Agree? Disagree? Tweet me @MirzaMB

My share of wallet?

Let’s for a minute though put ourselves in the shoes of the customer, it’s great to remind the corporate heads of share of wallet concept; but let’s not forget at the end of the day, we’re all consumers first and foremost. So, if we all put ourselves in the role of the customer first – why wouldn’t anyone payout a mere 99 cents to pay for an app that let’s easily lets you message your contacts. This is a fundamental shift in marketing.

Especially in the digital age where almost every marketer is now focusing on lead generation, SEO, SEM and content – all for what – to create a funnel so at the end of the day you can build personal relationships with a mass niche.

April 2014

The reality is, the best brands know that it’s not B2C or B2B it’s H2H – human to human.

"We want advertising" - said no one ever at WhatsApp How can the best brands create a lasting relationship with a customer: give them something they will want, something with a feel-good value and what’s better than connecting with someone? This is the secret that the two co-founders of WhatsApp intrinsically understood, that by focusing only on the customer experience and leaving the advertising side of the business out of their work day they could

Publisher turned digital marketer focused on content, engagement and analytics, Mirza Baig is a self professed tech and comic book geek fostering high-level relationships with CMOs, CIOs and COOs to enable multi-screen / multi-platform digital programs. Mirza is Mash+Media’s Digital & Social Media Strategist.

MASH MEDIA creates meaningful dialogue with your customers, wherever they are, 24/7. We’re a full-scale integrated marketing communications firm with advanced digital capabilities focused across the end-to-end customer experience from digital screens to experiential marketing to in-store shopper marketing. Best of all, we drive results for the world’s leading brands.

DMN.ca ❰

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Digital BUSINESS

Rethinking your digital marketing strategy Agencies need to offer what brands want

By Matt Goulart

T

here are several questions brands continually ask us at Ignite Digital and I am sure other agencies hear also. What is the benefit of search engine optimization? How many articles would you publish a week? What is the impact digital marketing has on my overall business strategy?

It’s understandable to receive these questions. It’s part of the sales process of educating your prospect [brands] and most importantly making sure that the brand actually needs your services.

Traditional agencies are becoming more hungry for new business, opportunities are becoming fewer and far between. When a prospect brings up additional solutions like SEO or social media, traditional agencies typically jump on the interest and try to sell it. Which brings me to what I regularly hear from traditional agencies: How do we execute the service and how do we know what to charge?

The fear of losing business or a potential upsell drives agencies to sell more then what they are capable of doing effectively. This is important; if you’re unable to properly execute a digital strategy but you’re able to properly execute a traditional marketing campaign – your overall performance will be mediocre. This is due to the agencies’ inability to fully execute on digital. Who wants to go back to a mediocre agency?

Agencies need to specialize and focus on their strengths. Build relationships with other agencies.

When a print or other marketing solution comes across our desk here at Ignite Digital that we are not experts in, we refer it to an agency that can effectively deliver the solution. Making the brand happy is the most important factor. The brand will remember what you did and how you assisted in helping them achieve their business goals.

Don’t be scared of losing the business; be happy that your recommendation did what your prospect/client wanted. This creates trust and most importantly a solid foundation to build a relationship with them.

Hypothetically let’s say the brand did leave, that just tells you as an agency you didn’t fulfill your obligations in over-delivering on your promise, that you didn’t provide a memorable and effective solution. You should lose the brand at that point and re-evaluate your client service efforts, to come back and be better than your competition.

Agencies that specialize in a particular solution are on the ground each day staying current. They

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know what the best practices are like the back of their hand. They actively stay up-to-date in the ever changing world they are specializing in. As an example, search engine optimization is constantly changing thanks to Google updating their algorithm all the time.

There are plenty of brands that have noticed they should have their marketing solutions with agencies that specialize in a particular marketing vertical.

These brands are what I would call the leaders in the group. These leaders understand that marketing has become a multiplatform discipline and that their brand needs to have several special tools at their disposal. You wouldn’t use a hammer on a screw would you?

These brands are the pioneers and when they are looking for a specialized agency they look for the following: ❯❯

❯❯

Talent – Does the agency have proven experience?

Not within your industry but in the vertical you are interested in?

Tip: Don’t get trapped in the fluff of case studies, while important use it as another metric to help your decision making process. Ask the agency for a live example of their work.

Tip #2: Don’t be blinded by an agency’s trophies.

Relationship – Agencies and brands need to work together. It’s hard to find ‘the one’ after a few conversations but follow your gut. Does the agency feel right, does the person you are communicating with at the agency know what they are talking about? This relationship will be the foundation to your marketing efforts. Make sure to build it on solid footing.

❯❯

Location is Useless – Some brands like to communicate and have several meetings. I can understand and appreciate that. Brands who pick local agencies feel more comfortable that they can walk into the operation and see what is going on.

An agency could be steps from your door and have an outstanding office but that overhead is going to need to be covered – usually with your billable.

❯❯

Pricing –Basing your decision on price alone shouldn’t be the driving force. Times are tough and budgeting is on the minds of many marketers, pinching an agency’s bottom-line might make the CFO happy but could have adverse effects on your marketing performance.

❯❯

Are they challenging you? – What is the point in hiring an agency if they are just telling you want you want to hear? An agency should be providing you with recommendations and insight, even if it’s against what you believe. Just make sure they support their recommendations with facts!

Canadian brands in 2014 will be focusing more efforts in digital marketing compared to 2013. With the ever changing landscape of digital marketing and other marketing verticals, it becomes important for brands to engage with experts.

Matt Goulart is the founder of Ignite Digital,

a Canadian Digital Marketing Agency. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Washington Times and several other publications. Through Ignite Digital, Matt works with Fortune 500 companies, advertising agencies from around the world and has helped in launching digital marketing initiatives for his clients..

Tip #1: Don’t get trapped in the fluff of case studies, while important use it as another metric to help your decision making process. Ask the agency for a live example of their work.

Tip #2: Don’t be blinded by an agency’s trophies.

April 2014

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Digital BUSINESS

A prescription for multichannel marketing

By Monique Duquette

I

t’s no secret that today’s marketers are on a quest to uncover a 360-degree view of their customers. As customer expectations for a personalized experience grow, consumers have come to anticipate consistent “custom-made” treatment across all channels. In turn, the need to find real insights across channels in an effort to better serve customers has never been more important.

Multi-channel data provides an enormous opportunity for marketers to gain new, valuable insights about their customers. While most organizations are currently collecting data online, some are missing the mark when it comes to connecting digital interactions to offline data.

This gap in customer intelligence is a major missed opportunity in today’s market where consumers expect a personalized experience and real-time relevance to their individual needs.

In a world of increasingly high consumer expectations, marketers need to truly and consistently understand and enhance the customer experience across all channels. Integrating online behavioural data with offline data can help marketers paint a clearer picture of their customer by providing real insights into their attitudes and behaviours across multiple communications channels, as well as the way in which a consumer's demographic shapes his or her wants and needs.

Here’s a look at how data from the digital channel can enhance offline data:

Assembling a more complete view of the customer: Consumers are multidimensional and they certainly don’t make all of their buying decisions online.

By looking at offline behaviour—and integrating this with the online data—marketers gain a more complex and accurate portrait of their visitors.

Capturing a customer’s complete online behaviour at a detailed level (their buying plans, significant life changes, etc.) and associating it with data from offline channels (e.g. promotional, demographic and purchase-based information) is an important first step in obtaining a unified multichannel view of a customer’s needs and desires. Synthesizing on and off-line data is truly the foundation of building a personalized customer experience and creating the multidimensional customer profiles that enable more precise targeting.

April 2014

Personalization...now!

Consumers and communication are changing.

Consumers now expect companies to interact with them on their own terms. This means going where the customers are, not where a company wants them to be. Today’s consumer wants interactions with a company to happen on their terms, via the device of their choice, at the time of their choosing. With mobile devices expected to overtake the desktop as the primary means by which consumer’s access the web in 2015,1 marketers need to start delivering real-time, relevant communications each and every time they interact with a customer.

A 2013 survey by Leger, commissioned by SAS Canada, confirms the importance of personalized promotions. The study found that 47 percent of smartphone owners said they would be more likely to return to a store that sent personalized promotions to their device while they shopped.

Mobile devices enable marketers to deliver on the promise of getting the right promotions and messages, to the right customers, at the right time.

However, this promise can only be fulfilled and provide a competitive edge by leveraging the richest data sources on and offline, backed by superior customer analytics and the ability to act in real-time.

Garbage in garbage out: No marketer would base their marketing strategies on unsound data, so the first step towards securing “cleaner” data is pulling all on and off-line customer intelligence into one system. Data integration allows marketers to utilize incoming online data while data quality helps them match online data with offline customer profiles. In order to effectively communicate with customers, marketers need to start embracing robust data quality routines to ensure they are delivering the best – not just any – offers and the personalized customer experience consumers have come to expect. The right data, not just big data, lays the foundation for successful customer interactions.

The power of presenting information visually: Most marketing organizations are awash with information, whether it’s demographic, socioeconomic, geographic, behavioural, transactional, or one of the other myriad of data segments that make up customer intelligence.

But this information is often stored in a variety

of different systems, owned by different—often siloed—departments and articulated in various formats. What is lacking from this information surplus are the insights needed to make the best marketing decisions. Presenting information visually empowers marketers to very quickly explore all customer data, no matter the size. Visual data adds a level of accessibility that can help marketers rapidly identify key relationships and uncover insights for creating more detailed customer segments (e.g., based on purchase history, life stage, etc.) and more personalized promotions and messages. Today’s marketers need to be nimble at converting data into insight, and data visualization software is integral to helping them find relevance among the millions of variables that can help target customers with relevant offers.

Conclusion: a holistic view of customer behaviour Just as a doctor would never prescribe a drug before interpreting a patient’s symptoms, marketers too need to understand the problems they face before reaching for a solution. The first step to any customer engagement should be an exercise of evaluation and diagnosis about everything they know about the customer. Dynamic data capture is necessary to understand the big picture, a holistic view of a customer’s online behaviour; everything they saw, everything they did and everywhere they went. Combining this insight with offline customer data will provide a complete picture of the customer in order to make the best marketing diagnosis.

Monique Duquette is the SAS Customer

Intelligence Practice Lead for Canada. In this role, Monique bridges her inner creative, with her passion for marketing and her inner 'geek' to help marketing organizations elevate their marketing with decisiveness and agility.

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Digital BUSINESS

Calculate your blogging ROI in 9 steps

By Jay Baer

B

logging isn’t free. Creating and sustaining a good blog for yourself or your company is a highly labor-intensive proposition. The people (maybe you) working on the blog could be doing something else that helps the company make money, save money, or both. Thus, blogging presents a serious opportunity cost to the company. Smart organizations methodically calculate the impact of blogging on the bottom line, making it easier to justify (or not) the resources allocated to the task.

Here’s how you might start to figure it out:

Blogging expense calculation How many staff hours does it take per month to write, edit, track and manage the blog?

Let’s assume it’s 36 per month (3 posts per week at an average of 3 hours per post).

What do those hours cost the company in salary?

Let’s assume Susan spends 10 hours per month managing the blog, and her salary is $50,000. Paul spends 8 hours per month writing blog posts at a salary of $75,000. Shashi also spends 8 hours at a salary of $95,000. Warren spends 5 hours at a salary of $150,000. Olivier spends 5 hours at a salary of $40,000.

Divide each salary by 2000 (hours worked per year based on a 40-hour work week and two week’s vacation) to get average hourly salary compensation.

In our example, it’s $25, $37.50, $47.50, $75, and $20, respectively. Multiply the hourly compensation by the number of hours devoted to determine the monthly salary expense (10 X $25 + 8 X $37.50 + 8 X $47.50 + 5 X $75 + 5 X $20 = $1,405) What do those hours cost the company in overhead and benefits?

Take your monthly salary costs figure ($1,405) and multiply it by your company’s standard overhead calculation. This includes benefits, rent on a perperson basis, etc. Your accountant or CFO will know this number if you do not, and it’s typically 40% – 50%. We’ll use 45%, so the overhead and benefits cost of the blog labour is $632 ($1,405 X 45%).

The total labour cost for your blog per month is $2,037 ($1,405 + $632).

What does the blog cost in design and technology fees?

If you built the blog internally, use the method above to calculate the labour/benefits cost of the blog’s creation. Or, if you had a third party create the blog, find out how much you paid. Divide either internal or external costs (or a combination) by 24 to find a monthly expense. (This is a two year amortization schedule for blog creation. Given that ❱ DMN.ca

blogging continues to evolve and redesigns are common, I’m not comfortable stretching beyond 24 months).

Let’s assume that you had a Web development firm create your blog for $7,500. You did a slight update three months later for $1,000, making your total costs $8,500, and your amortized monthly cost $354 ($8,500 divided by 24).

example) to only count people who have been on the blog more than 3 times, or have spent more than 3 minutes on the blog before clicking “Sign up Now” or any other attribute that indicates the blog was persuasive. For telephone sales, you might need to verbally inquire about the blog’s role unless you use a special tracking phone number than only appears on the blog (which would be a best practice).

What does the blog cost in hosting, maintenance, and app fees?

Let’s assume your monthly blog hosting is $19, and you spend $19 per month on Inbound Writer to help with you blog’s SEO, and you spend $19 per month on Formstack to create and manage landing pages to convince people to download your white paper. (both Inbound Writer and Formstack are awesome, by the way) Your hosting, maintenance, and app fees are thus $57 per month.

Your total blogging cost per month is ($1,405 + $632 + $354 + $57 = $2,448)

What is the value of each behaviour?

In Formstack’s case, it’s easier because customers can sign up directly online. They just need to know what the average lifetime value of a customer is (although this may require some guesswork for newer companies with less history). Let’s assume (again, not real numbers) that the average new customer spends $25 per month with Formstack, and remains a customer for 12 months. That makes the average lifetime value of a new customer $300 ($25 X 12).

However, not all of that $25 per month is net revenue to the company. Formstack has costs to provide the services to their customers, including technology, hosting, support, and other expenses.

Most companies know (or can calculate) their true revenue after these expenses have been deducted (make sure you’re not double counting blogging expenses). In this example, let’s assume the true revenue after expenses per customer, per month is $19. That makes the actual lifetime customer value $228.

Blogging revenue calculation Is that $2,448 per month worth it? Let’s find out.

What revenue-oriented behaviours does the blog create?

Unless you’re selling ads on your blog, your blog’s value will primarily be derived in its ability to cause behaviour among readers that leads to revenue. That often takes the form of lead generation, especially in B2B circumstances. This part of the process can differ quite a bit depending upon what type of company you are, whether you sell online, etc.

But, let’s assume you are the aforementioned Formstack, a provider of drag-and-drop online forms and landing pages (and a Convince & Convert sponsor).

On their blog, I’ve highlighted in orange three actions that can potentially create instantaneous leads or sales (in orange), and three other actions that might create leads or sales (in red). We’ll only concern ourselves with the more immediate potential in this analysis.

How many revenue-oriented actions are created?

Let’s assume that after visiting the blog, 30 people per month either call Formstack and sign up, subscribe using the “sign up now” button, or subscribe after visiting the Contact Us page. (this is not a real number, I’m using it for illustration purposes only) To ensure that the blog had more than a middling role in driving those behaviours, you could set your Web analytics software (Google Analytics, for

What is the total value of the behaviours?

In this example, Formstack would be generating $6,840 from the blog each month (30 sales driven by the blog X $228 average value = $6,840)

Calculating blogging ROI There is no debate about this last part. ROI stands for “return on investment” and not “return on influence” or “return on ignominy” or “rabbit on interstate”. The formula for calculating ROI is always essentially the same (with a couple of variations for finance geeks). The formula is: REVENUE MINUS INVESTMENT, DIVIDED BY INVESTMENT (expressed as a percentage) In this case, the monthly revenue is $6,840, and the investment is $2448. ($6,840 – $2,448 = $4,392. $4,392 divided by $2,448 = 179%) The monthly ROI of this blogging program is 179%.

Jay Baer is a hype-free social media and content strategist & speaker, and author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype. Jay is the founder of http://convinceandconvert.com and host of the Social Pros podcast.

April 2014

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Digital BUSINESS

By Anusha Kiru -MBA

North American email marketing trends 2014 E

mail marketing has gained its momentum and reaffirmed its effectiveness as digital messaging channel. Inbox Marketer data showed upward trends for all key metrics. The increased penetration of mobile devices has had a positive impact on email marketing because mobile allows people to check their email anywhere when they are on the go. McKinsey & Company reports that 91% of US citizens use email effectively to purchase what they like, than the most common social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.

The North American Email Marketing Trends Report states the major factors impacting email marketing including the impact of mobile devices, increasing regulation and legislation, inactives and email list fatigue and list growth vs. unsubscribe rates.

Email metrics continually improved over the past few years. Open rates improved and now average 24.3%. Click-through rates increased slightly and now average to about 6%. ❯❯ Email marketers are taking a more diligent approach in making lists, as well as implementing content strategy best practices. ❯❯ Deliverability is a critical factor for better metrics. ❯❯ When comparing, metrics were adjusted to sector competitors. ❯❯ Email marketing is powerful but getting more

April 2014

complex. Marketers need a plan to keep their content and contact strategies relevant.

Inbox marketers have tabulated email metric trends and North American benchmarks from B2C and B2B clients across a variety of industry sectors. In numerous polls email marketing ranks as the first or second digital toll for generating response results, although it is the old method.

Four major factors impacting email marketing: ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯

The penetration of mobile and devices.

List growth challenges.

In actives and email list fatigue.

The impact of greater scrutiny.

Inactive segments can be reached in many other different ways. One thing is the many different subscribers involved. Like offering a special discount or incentive that will bring them back to email marketing.

It is important that you stay connected for at least two years, since he may be on another contract.

Open rates, click to open rates and click through rate trends are some of the benchmarks used to measure the trend of client base.

Inbox Marketer is a digital direct messaging company that helps organizations use email, mobile, social media and the web to build engaged online communities of customers and prospects.

What will email marketing look like in five years? ❯❯

❯❯

❯❯

There will be a new mobile-only email player with >100 million users.

In 5 years, your email client will be linked tightly to your Google/Windows wallet or Apple Passbook.

In 5 years people will be asking, “Why would anyone want to check email on a computer?” Not everyone, but 100’s of millions.

Ultimate mobile email usage stat: Mobile email will account for 15 to 70% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product and email type. eMailmonday- “the ultimate mobile email stats”. 90% of smartphone owners access the same email account on mobile and desktop. Daily we spend 9 minutes on email via a mobile device. More email is read Mobile than on a desktop email client.

Stats say 49% of email is now opened on a mobile device Litmus –”Email Analytics” (Jan 2014)

DMN.ca ❰

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DM landscapes

Into the wild with Canada’s ecotourists

Map Legend: Share of Canadians who’ve taken an outdoor adventure/ecotourism adventure in the past three years, compared to the national average of 3.9 percent (index=100) Red: Extreme Travellers (high index: >150) Yellow: Occasional Thrill Seekers

(above-average index: 100-150) Green: Tried & True Travellers

(below-average index: 25-100) Blue: Staying on the Beaten Path

(low index <25)

BY Jan Kestle and Michael J. Weiss

A

s exotic destinations become more common and environmentally sensitive travellers seek out more edifying experiences, ecotourism is booming.

The opportunity to engage in sustainable travel, which protects both environment and culture, has made ecotourism the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry, though Canadians have been slow to embrace it. According to Environics Analytics (EA) and NADbank, ecotourists and adventure travellers represent just 4 percent of all Canadian households.

But as the world’s second largest country, with an environmentally aware populace and natural wonders stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic, Canada is sure to see those numbers grow.

One reason for optimism is the wide-ranging profile of Canadians who favour ecotourism—from conservation-minded Boomers and adventure-seeking Millennials to older, upscale urban couples and younger, downscale rural families, many of whom live close to the very woods and waterways threatened by development. Geographically, the highest concentration of ecotourists can be found in Ontario and Quebec as well as Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Among census metropolitan areas, the highest percentages live in big cities like Toronto and Montreal and small towns such as Okotoks (AB) and Val-d’Or (QC).

But a more revealing portrait emerges from EA’s PRIZMC2 segmentation system, which classifies Canadians into 66 lifestyle types.

The top-ranked ecotourism segments include Furs & Philanthropy (upscale, middle-aged older families), Rooms with a View (young, ethnic singles in urban high-rises) and Petites Banlieues (working-class Quebec town couples and families). While these segments may seem to have ❱ DMN.ca

Ecotourists/Outdoor Adventures Province/Territory Index Nunavut 307 Northwest Territories 199 Quebec 121 Ontario 108 Alberta 89 Yukon Territory 88 British Columbia 98 Manitoba 74 Saskatchewan 70 New Brunswick 60 Nova Scotia 56 Newfoundland and Labrador 54 Prince Edward Island 42 Index of 100 = national average Sources: Environics Analytics, NADbank

little in common, as a group they enjoy a variety of outdoor activities like hiking, biking, backpacking, swimming and cross-country skiing.

They also share a cultural streak and have above-average rates for reading books, going to movies and attending dance performances. Not surprising for those drawn to exotic destinations, one of their favourite hobbies is photography—the better to document their off-the-beaten-path expeditions.

To reach the ecotourism audience,

marketers are fortunate to have a wide range of media channels to choose from. The fans of ecotourism like to read daily newspapers for their news, technology, health and business coverage—and they’re spending more time reading newspapers online than they did a year ago. They also tend to surf Internet sites that offer information on vacation travel, sports equipment, technology and banking services. And though these outdoorsy individuals spend relatively little time in front of their TVs, they do watch movies, news, nature shows, dramas and reality shows all at high rates. More and more, they’re spending time with social media and using apps like Foursquare that let them share and save the places they’ve visited—and get deals based on where they’ve been. They also like to post photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube of their exotic travels.

Sources: Environics Analytics 2014, based on PRIZMC2 and NADbank.

But marketers still need to be savvy in communicating the right message and tone to appeal to ecotourists.

When Environics Research conducted its annual Social Values survey, it found that ecotourists scored high for pursuit of novelty and need for status recognition, yet low for attraction to nature. Apparently, the fans of ecotourism don’t want to just take a walk in the woods; they want to take the road less travelled to an exotic place—and then boast about it to their friends. They told pollsters they consider themselves to be early adopters who like to try new products, acquire the latest technology and check out new vacation sites—“just for the pleasure of the novelty.” And the fact that such pursuits may entail a little danger doesn’t faze them. Of 215 value statements, the one they ranked the highest is telling: “In order to get what I like, I would be prepared to take great risks in life.”

But don’t confuse ecotourists with bored yuppies eager to check off one more item on their cool-thingsto-do bucket list. Their support of sustainable travel means ecotourists want to preserve the pure experience for others to discover, responsibly.

April 2014

// 19

Resource Directory

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// 20

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// 21

Resource Directory LIST SERVICES

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// 22

Resource Directory Unaddressed Delivery

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