How to Prepare for Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation

If you're a business or organization using e-mail, text messaging or social networks to promote products and services Canada's new anti-spam law probably applies to you. Once it is in force, (July 1, 2014) compliance with the law will be mandatory, and following the new rules will help businesses and organizations build and maintain the trust of clients and customers.

So how do you get ready?  Here's a few things you can do:   

1. Determine if your electronic messages are commercial in nature. The law applies to Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs) only. A CEM is defined as encouraging participation in a business transaction or activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit
2. For all electronic messages you have determined to be commercial:

• Get the consent of your recipients, and keep records. The legislation requires obtaining "express" or "implied" consent. Express consent means that a person has clearly agreed to receive a CEM before it is sent - you cannot request consent in a CEM. Consent may also be implied in certain situations, for instance if there is an existing business or non-business relationship. In all cases, keep detailed records in case you are ever asked to prove that consent has been received.

• Identify yourself and anyone you represent in the message. Provide contact information including your business name, postal address and either a telephone number or e-mail address. This information must be accurate and valid for a minimum of 60 days after the message has been sent.

• Include a working mechanism that allows the recipient to unsubscribe from receiving additional messages. This must be at no cost to the recipient.

• Ensure that no part of the CEM is false or misleading, including the sender's identity, subject line, any Web links, or any other material part of the message's text or data.

Here's an infographic summarizing the above four points.  Print it and Post it.   :) 

This law applies to new contacts immediately (you need their consent and each CEM must include your information and an unsubscribe mechanism) and within 3 years for those you already have a business relationship with (during the transition you have implied consent to continue sending CEMs to existing contacts, with unsubscribe options), so depending on the list you have built over the years, it may not be necessary to send out one of those "please reconfirm your interest in receiving emails from us" emails. 

It definitely is a good idea to use an email management system to keep track of consent, ask for double-opt in, and allow for automatic unsubscribes.

You can learn more about the law at www.fightspam.gc.ca.  Every business owner, manager and employee is encouraged to examine the legislation to see how it will affect their marketing campaigns.

Pinnacle Communications & Media Inc has helped dozens of clients with their email marketing from set up to list management, and producing the marketing messages and more.  If you'd like our help, contact us today and get ready for the new legislation. PS. You can even sign up to receive our eNewsletter! or start your own email system here free.

Websites are the new brochure, and social media is not a marketing plan

20 years ago, just before the internet took off, we used to call it the "brochure solution" because all our clients thought they needed a brochure to sell their product, program, or business service.

They often got a brochure, or a postcard, or a flyer, or a direct mail piece, but they also got guidance on how to design them, how to write them, what to do with them, when & how to distribute them, and how to support their investment with other marketing tools like news releases, events, advertising, speeches etc.  We could add a lot of value to that little brochure request.

Today, the website is the new brochure.
While everyone needs one, and they're worth investing in, they need a lot of support.  New products, programs, and business services need more support than "putting it out there on social media." Social media can help drive traffic to your website but there's so much more than that to do. Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest Google+ etc), isn't a marketing plan.  

When we develop marketing plans we consider strategies in public relations (including social media, text messaging, events, email etc), government relations, media relations, stakeholder relations, customer relations, staff relations, advertising (online, mobile, traditional etc), product and content development. When designed into an integrated marketing plan, these strategies can all help achieve your goals as well as drive traffic to your website.

So don't make the mistake of making a website and social media your only marketing solution.
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

Newsletters, snoozeletters?

This week seems to be all about newsletters for my clients. Email marketing is great, but what if no one's reading it?

Businesses and organizations of all sizes need to make sure their resources are being expended to bring results. Sometimes we keep doing things because we always have and it's hard to remove a communications tactics once it's established. There is a fear that stopping could be detrimental. So what's a business to do?

First, do your homework. What is your newsletter readership? Who is reading it and what parts are they most interested in? Whether it's on-line or hard copy, finding out this information requires asking them and gathering data. Emailed newsletters make gathering some data a little easier because you can track click-through rates and readership. However, even if we know what people are/aren't reading, we still need to find out why readership isn't all that you're hoping for so ask them.

Surveys through Constant Contact and other providers can be used for free during a trial period, so even if you're not subscribing to that functionality of your E-newsletter, it's worth trying out over a test period. You can ask your readers about design, content quality, topics of interest, length of articles, use of photos, frequency, timeliness, etc and if they would prefer to receive info from you in a different way. Find out how many are using RSS Feeds, and Twitter for example.

Second, review your responses, analyze the trends, and consider what the options are. Basically there are two: do nothing, do something. In the do something category, you might consider changing the newsletter (design, content, frequency, format, functionality etc) or discontinuing the newsletter and replacing it with other tools.

Likely there is no consensus; that is, no one solution will meet all your readers' needs. Therefore a strategy for change is required. So, the third step is implementation. Come up with an organized approach to making changes or adding new products. Be sure to write down what results you're trying to achieve, how you will engage your audience, and when you know you're making progress.

If you've decided that your newsletter needs just a few adjustments, trying making them over the next couple of issues with just a portion of your readership (eg 900 subscribers, could be segmented into thirds), and follow-up on those new click-through rates to see if, for example, adding pictures, or changing headlines, or changing format, makes a difference to your readership levels. Research, learn, change and repeat.

If you decide that introducing some different tactics such as blogging and tweeting combinations, are required, start that in addition to continuing your newsletter. This approach gives time to develop your following on these social media platforms. You can use your newsletter to promote your new sites and communications tools.

As you prepare for changes: don't forget to consider if all content you need to share is open to the public, as that will help determine the best tools to use for each message type, or if your blog, for example, should be restricted to subscribers or if you need to adopt another strategy for more confidential or customized material to replace some newsletter content.

Time and time again, communications tools and tactics seem to get added and never taken away. If your organization is making significant changes, it is possible to completely revamp your communications and make significant changes. However in many cases, communications is an evolution, and establishing news tools and measuring effectiveness is important before removing any existing products.

The goal is not to produce a newsletter; it's to achieve your organization's goals through effective communications. There are ways to add new tools efficiently. For example, social media updates can be automated for posting across multiple platforms such as Twitter, Face book and LinkedIn.

The key to improving communication is to get started. Any new communications strategy takes time. Start with good research, develop your strategy, implement, and track for results. Oh, and have fun while doing it!