Marketing & Creative Jobs in Canada Blog - Part 69

Five Things Advertising Newbies Need To Know

You’re fresh out of school and itching to be a part of some boundary-pushing advertising. You can’t wait to put all that learning into practice and you’re on your way to making your mark in the industry.

That is, until you get your first job at an ad agency. That’s when things come to a screeching halt. You find yourself being the official note-taker in meetings. Refilling the coffee pot. And photocopying everyone else’s stuff. You’re getting passed around from one person to another, and all of them are just trying to “keep you busy”.

You’re getting passed around from one person to another, and all of them are just trying to “keep you busy”.

Congratulations. You are now officially paying your dues. And it sucks. It’s uncomfortable and frustrating, because you know you can do so much more. But realizing that this isn’t going to last forever and having a plan will help set the course for your career and maintain your sanity. (The latter is not guaranteed.)

Here are five important things you should know when starting your advertising career:

NOT ALL AD AGENCIES ARE THE SAME

Most new advertising grads want to work for the “big agencies”. Anything with an acronym will do, really. TBWA, DDB, JWT, Y&R, whatever. But with the economy still recovering, small-to-medium sized agencies are thriving thanks to their ability to be nimble and cost-efficient for their dollar-conscious clients. What’s more, they provide the perfect opportunity for newbies to cross-train and experience a broad range of roles in an agency. They are dynamic and non-traditional and provide a totally different experience when compared to their mammoth counterparts.

Most new advertising grads want to work for the “big agencies”. Anything with an acronym will do, really. TBWA, DDB, JWT, Y&R, whatever.

Do your research on the ad industry in your market. Follow agencies and creative shops on Twitter. Subscribe to their YouTube feeds. Fan them on Facebook. Understand which agencies you want to work for and why. And remember, just because one doesn’t work out for you, doesn’t mean others won’t. Continue reading →

What’s the ROI of social media?

A different business owner asks me this question almost every day. The answer depends on how you’re using social media. You might think your $6 sandwich and soup daily special is a big deal. But if you’re tweeting about this special expecting it to create a lineup out your door within a few hours, then you’ve probably missed the boat on social media. Nobody cares.

Getting Involved

Let me paint you a picture. It’s a random Monday night and you’re browsing Twitter and you see that your friend Joe is eating out at @XYZRestaurant. You’ve never been there, but you’re always on the hunt for great places to eat. Half an hour later, you see another tweet from Joe, and it’s a picture of his delicious pulled pork poutine. You love poutine and pulled pork, but you’ve never had them together. Meanwhile, your now cold microwaveable dinner doesn’t look so good anymore. That night, you decide to check out @XYZRestaurant’s Twitter feed. You see they thanked Joe for stopping by, and also retweeted Joe’s picture. You also see that they have Caesars on special on Sundays. You love Caesars, and now you can’t wait for the weekend. They seem to also be involved in numerous conversations with other people now, also commenting on Joe’s poutine. You think to yourself, this place is on the ball. They’re providing great service online, and you’re hoping it translates offline as well. Although it might not happen today or this week, you’ve already made a mental note to check them out the next time you’re in their neighbourhood. Wait a second, did you just get marketed to? No.

Four out of five people search for and read customer reviews about restaurants before making their decision on where to eat

Thinking About ROI

If you’re @XYZRestaurant thinking about ROI, you’re probably asking yourself, how many people did my tweet reach? How many people did Joe’s tweet reach? And how many people will act upon Joe’s tweet? How do I know that you came in to eat as a result of Joe’s tweet? How much did Joe’s friend spend eating there? If you go down that path trying to quantify ROI, you’re going to lose your mind. Just take it for what it is. You just got great publicity, and it cost you nothing.

The Research and Numbers

As an avid “foodie”, I love going out to try new restaurants, especially those recommended to me by my friends. Gone are the days of “Honey? Where’s the Yellow Pages? Do you feel like Chinese food today?” According to a Nielsen global survey, only 14% of consumers trust advertising, whereas 87% of consumers trust recommendations made by others. This should come as no surprise. These days, more than four out of five people search for and read customer reviews about restaurants before making their decision on where to eat. Much of this chatter takes place on review sites like Yelp and Urbanspoon, but also on social media networks like Twitter. Before I go any further, yes, I’m like Joe, I tweet pictures of my food. If that annoys you, do yourself a favour and just unfollow me. Have I ever been influenced to try a restaurant based on someone else’s tweet of their delicious meal? Absolutely. For me, this happens all the time. And I personally know of many other people that are the same way. Like it or not, this is how decisions are made nowadays. If you’re a restaurant, it’s boils down to the quality of your food and service that determines how successful you are. Social media is simply the megaphone that allows people to tell the world just how good or bad you are.

According to a Nielsen global survey, only 14% of consumers trust advertising, whereas 87% of consumers trust recommendations made by others.

Generate Real Results

We recently put on a media event for one of our clients. We invited about a hundred people, all active Twitter members. The crowd was a combination of lifestyles and food bloggers, journalists, and local power Twitter users. Many people in attendance had never even heard of the restaurant despite it being open for well over a year. Most people were just happy to have been invited for a night of good food and company. Not only did the event hashtag trend nationally on Twitter that evening, they also received so many blog reviews and posts from the event that the restaurant soon ended up on the front page of Urbanspoon as one of the most blogged and talked about restaurants in Vancouver. We also ran a Facebook campaign, giving away over 500 gift cards to all those who ‘liked’ their page. Over a quarter of these gift cards were redeemed within one month. As a result of these two campaigns, the restaurant’s profits have increased by over 30% from where they were last year. And it all happened in less than two months.

Just Stop It Already

My point is, stop trying to quantify ROI of social media. Entrepreneur and author Gary Vaynerchuk said it best, “Asking about the ROI of social media is like asking about the ROI of your email.” You can tie in ROI to specific social media campaigns that you’re running, but when it comes to the daily community management, it’s difficult to attach a dollar amount to it because building relationships and trust doesn’t happen overnight. Continue reading →

Marketing & Media Hacking Insights with Mitch Joel

When Google wanted to explain online marketing to some of the top brands in the world, who did they call?

No, not Ghostbusters. Mitch Joel, of course!

Mitch is one of the leading minds in marketing and media today in Canada. We had an opportunity to connect with Mitch and interview him.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn…

  • How 2 small decisions Mitch made in his career proved to be very BIG.
  • Why people are approaching Social Media the wrong way and how to do it the right way.
  • How SLOW marketing can deliver massive results and ROI.
  • What Mitch looks for when hiring professionals at his digital agency.
  • Mitch’s secret sauce to productivity.
  • And much more…

It’s not about doing what others aren’t doing… it’s about doing what feels intuitive to you.

Listen to the interview

Adina Zaiontz Founder & Director of Napkin Marketing

Adina Zaiontz is the founder and director of napkin marketing, based in Toronto. napkin marketing is an advertising and web design firm that works with small and medium sized businesses to reach new customers online. Prior to starting napkin marketing, Adina was the Trade Marketing Manager at Yahoo! Canada and a Board Member at the CMA.

Adina was kind enough to send over her notes from the call so we’ve included them below…

What does your typical day look like?

I usually wake up with a kid literally on my head… Our son and daughter crawl into our bed at night. They are 1 and 3 years old, and we’re having some issues with them sleeping through the night…In the morning you need to get your children dressed, peed, fed… So that is more efficient on some days than others.

After we get them ready and off to daycare I can start my business day… Which is usually Tim Hortons and being on my cell phone to a client or supplier, then at my home office getting into news, to do lists, email.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?

Round the clock … Probably 100 plus.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?

I use CRM  software called Avidian Prophet. It plugs into Outlook to track prospecting emails to clients. I also use Outlook folders for client projects, and Outlook rules to organize incoming mail.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?

Creative challenges. No two projects are alike since I started… So I need to come up with a lot of different approaches. We’re getting into some video work with animation, scripts and story boarding. We were recently asked to do some POS – another new area for us.In each case I researched best practices and competitors and the clients were really happy with what I came up with. So I love the creative challenge of meeting a business’s marketing need.

What is the main focus of your work?

60% client work/ 20% sales/ 10% marketing/ 10% admin and education – not always in that order.

How do you approach productivity?

Parenthood definitely challenges productivity. I used to work 80 to 100 hr weeks, whereas now I’m lucky to get 40 to 50 Continue reading →

Cornerstone Technologies, Entrepreneur and Founding Partner – Cameron Prockiw

Cameron Prockiw is a entrepreneur and founding partner of Cornerstone Technologies (one of Calgary’s leading web development and design firms), Vovia (online marketing) and Hubblr (social media engagement). Cameron has well over a decade of experience in the digital and online space.

 What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’m not really a morning person, but my daughter gets me up early.  I usually start the day by getting up to speed checking news and blog sites.  Google Plus is also a great source for industry news.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
I first check my email right after breakfast.  I usually get 100 to 150 emails a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?
I only check my email 3 or 4 times a day and have disabled notifications so that incoming email doesn’t distract me from other things.  If I see an email that I can deal with in two minutes or less, I deal with it right away.  If it’s going to take longer, I add it to my to-do list and prioritize it.  I haven’t quite made it to “Zero Inbox” but these techniques really help me.

I only check my email 3 or 4 times a day and have disabled notifications so that incoming email doesn’t distract me from other things.

What time do you usually arrive at the office? And what does your typical day look like?
I’m usually in at 9am but my day doesn’t end until 6 or 7 pm.  Typically I have one or two client meetings and one or two internal meetings each day, so they take up a lot of my time.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
Working with a variety of clients across a number of different industries.  It’s amazing how many substantial companies there are out there that most people haven’t even heard of.  For example, we’re working with a company that manufactures water screens that remove algae and other debris from water lines.  That’s a very interesting niche business!

How do you approach productivity?
Keeping focused on the things that matter the most as it’s easy to get distracted and spend too much times on things that don’t Continue reading →

Barb Sawyers, Toronto Copywriter and Owner of Sticky Communication

Barb Sawyers is a Toronto based copywriter and the Owner of Sticky Communication. She has a Masters in Journalism and prior to starting Sticky she worked in both the private and public sectors as a writer, editor and editorial manager. In Barb’s new book “Write like you talk – only better,” she shares how you can pull ideas out of your head and onto the page.

What are the first few things that you do each morning?
I’m not one of those early-morning people who bounce out of bed and sweat for a couple hours at the gym. I do work best in the morning, but I have to break into it gradually, with lots of coffee.

I do work best in the morning, but I have to break into it gradually, with lots of coffee.

I get up around 7:00 a.m. unload the dishwasher, eat oatmeal and fruit and read part of the newspaper. Seeing as I have a home office¸ I just walk over to my computer and get started as soon as my head is clear enough to handle email.

How many emails do you get a day?
I receive about 50 to 100 emails a day, which I mostly check in batches at certain times of the day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email?
Control your email; don’t let it control you. That’s why I don’t respond every time I hear my inbox chime, unless I’m expecting something urgent. I prioritize, clients, then friends, then content I subscribe to. If I need it, I’ll go straight for the one from a friend that will probably make me laugh.

Control your email; don’t let it control you. That’s why I don’t respond every time I hear my inbox chime, unless I’m expecting something urgent.

What does your typical day look like?
I work in a home office, so it’s easy to be at my desk before 8.00 a.m. I often work in my pyjamas in the morning, then switch to gym clothes for my two-hour midday gym-dog walking-errand break. Then I’m back at my desk till 6.00 pm. If I’m not going out in the evening, I may spend some time getting caught up on loose ends.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
I love the freedom that blogging is giving me to develop my writing. And I’m fulfilled because I am passing on my expertise in Continue reading →

Darren Barefoot, Writer, Technologist and Marketer

Darren Barefoot is a writer, technologist and marketer living in Vancouver. He is the co-founder of Capulet Communications, a web marketing agency that works with non-profits and technology companies. Darren is also a professional speaker and has presented in front of a wide range of companies and non-profits.

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
I’m definitely not a morning person. Sleeping in until 8:30 is one of the great joys of self-employment. Mind you, I usually work from home, so my work day starts at 8:31.

I’m definitely not a morning person. Sleeping in until 8:30 is one of the great joys of self-employment. Mind you, I usually work from home, so my work day starts at 8:31.

I’ll generally start my day by checking my email, reviewing my task list for the day and  skimming RSS feeds and social media channels.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
Pretty much as soon as I’m conscious. Excluding spam, I probably get 40 to 50 emails a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
I wrote about how I approach email in a recent blog post:

Process every email as soon as you read it. If you can respond and archive it in less than two minutes, do so. Otherwise, I assign myself a task in my task management tool, associate the message’s URL (I use Gmail for my sundry email accounts) with the task and archive it. The email is no longer occupying space in my inbox, but I’ve got a reliable way to find it when I’m going to work on the associated task.

Process every email as soon as you read it. If you can respond and archive it in less than two minutes, do so.

What’s the most interesting thing about your job?
The thing I enjoy most about our work are the creative projects Continue reading →

Monica Hamburg, Social Media & Business Consultant

Monica Hamburg has worked on many campaigns and contests since she began consulting in 2007 and is passionate about social media and about connecting businesses with their consumers. Outside of consulting, Monica is also a devout evangelist for her industry, presenting at numerous events and conferences, co-organizing Third Tuesday Vancouver (2008-2010) and contributing her insight, often with humor, to magazines and blogs, including the digital marketing magazine “One Degree”.  She’s been profiled and interviewed in a number of publications including BC Business and Backbone Magazine.  Her humor bent extends to her podcast (“The S&M Rants”) as well as to her acting and writing (including her YourDoseofLunacy.com blog).

Are you a morning person? What time do you get up and moving? What are the first few things (work/business/personal) that you do each morning?
Ideally, very much a night person.  But it makes me too crazy to do that – as it gets me out of synch with the rest of the people I deal with, including my partner and friends. So, I adapt.  Generally, I get up around 5am.   The first thing is to make coffee and breakfast, do some quick email and social media checks.  Then, I exercise and meditate (Yip, I’m one of those).  Then I begin my official workday.

Generally, I get up around 5am.   The first thing is to make coffee and breakfast, do some quick email and social media checks.

When do you first check your email? And how many emails do you get a day?
Pretty much first thing in the morning – while I wait for the coffee to brew.  I’m not sure about how much I get, but quite honestly, there’s not an inordinate amount that I absolutely need to address.  Still, I do find email to be a challenge – because there’s so much I want to read and get to.  I subscribe to newsletters with the best of intentions – but there are only so many hours in a day.

Do you have any tips for dealing with email? (Any techniques or tools you use?)
The Email Game and Boomerang have made my inbox much more fun, efficient and manageable.  Also, the days I manage to hold myself back and only check email a few times during the day (3-4) feel like the most productive and least stressful ones.

What does your typical day look like?
I have no typical days. And I, overall, like it that way, the diversity.  Generally, I hole myself up in my office most of the day.  (Sexy!) And, depending on the day, I work on client projects or personal projects or both.

I have no typical days. And I, overall, like it that way, the diversity.

You’ve acted and openly promote humour on your blog. You don’t see much humour in the business world, why do you think that is? Should there be more of it?
Of course, I think there should be more of it.  As for why there isn’t…  I recently saw an interesting post which rebutted the contention that women are less funny than men and one of the points the author made was that there is more at risk for women to be funny.  I agree with that – the risk for women to not be taken seriously in general, by being funny, is there, certainly.  And, to a lesser degree, this is true for businesses too.  Humor is, to some extent, about poking fun at yourself and your flaws – as well as those of others.  And businesses sometimes go for the bland, the safe – or even the very vague.  So that it does not offend people, or be seen as insulting itself. I would say that the fun and the humor is possible when a company understands that to be creative means accepting and allowing that risk.

How do you approach productivity? What challenges do you have in this area? How are you overcoming them? Any tips for others?
As someone who works online, there is no shortage of distracting shiny things.  And what’s worse, is that those shiny, distracting things are often totally useful, just not something I can/should be focussing on at that particular time.  For instance, while doing research on a project, I might come across some random weird searches that would be a perfect rabbit hole to explore for the blog or podcast. But I can’t go down that path because I need to do this one thing exclusively right now.  I have tried Continue reading →

FITC Toronto 2012: Calling All Digital Creators

Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.

FITC Toronto is back and better than ever! Featuring over 60 renowned digital creators from around the globe, attendees will be privy to the knowledge of the best and brightest in the digital space. Covering everything from HTML5 to making digital art, this three day festival offers a line-up that will leave attendees inspired to create in new and innovative ways.

FITC Toronto also offers plenty of networking opportunities; from the legendary FITC parties to chance encounters during the day, you could very well meet your next boss, business partner or employee.

Don’t miss out on the annual FITC Awards show which honours digital creators from around the world, or the Get a Job Event which connects talent with employers.

Speakers of Note

Fabio Sasso – Senior Designer at Google in California and founder of Abduzeedo.com.
Hoogerbrugge – Dutch artist, illustrator, and animator whose work spans diverse media.
Lee Brimelow – Developer evangelist at Adobe who is currently focused on Flash gaming.
Grant Skinner – Internationally recognized leader in the field of rich interactive experiences.
Andreas Müller – A well known figure in the digital art scene, Andreas takes great delight in pushing the boundaries of digital expression.

FreshGigs.ca Members Save

The FreshGigs.ca community can get 10% off the ticket price by using the code: FreshGigs

For more information visit www.fitc.ca/toronto