5 Ways Your Start-up Can Really Leverage Growth Hacking

As a start-up, money and resources are tight.  If you are lucky, you are at the point where people want to fund your venture. Either way, marketing can be expensive. But there is hope! Here are 5 ways that start-ups can really leverage growth hacking.

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Image courtesy of www.gogrow.it

1.  Get a Hired Gun

Sure, you want the expertise of the big guys, but you are either not quite there yet or can’t afford the spend required to hire that expertise. That shouldn’t stop you though. There are a number of great consultants that actually understand the start-up environment, and specifically the need for growth, that will work with you on an as needed basis. They can develop quick hit strategies for you, execute tactics or even provide ad hoc advice.  Professional marketing practitioners, with this particular expertise, can guide you in ways that less experienced people cannot. While avoiding more overhead, they will save you money over the long run.  Some will even work with you for equity and/or lump sum or hourly fees.

2. Act Today Not Tomorrow

There is something to be said about not putting off until tomorrow what can be done today and this couldn’t be more true for your goals as a start-up.  After all, it is all about growth. If you see an opportunity, your marketing seize that moment in time.

3.  Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid and wanted to do “something”, I would often say so and so is doing it.  My parents response?  Well, if so and so jumped off the wharf, would you?  In other words, just because everyone else is doing something doesn’t mean that you should want to.  Want to really be effective at growth hacking?  Dare to be different.  Be unconventional. Stand out and be different.

4.  Be Agile

Often times the big guys have very well planned campaigns that are big and bulky.  They often also have several layers of approvals.  As a start-up you have the power to be agile.  That is huge.  If you see something is working you can enhance it.  If you see something is not working you can stop it immediately. If you see an opportunity to newsjack or leverage social proof, jump on it.

 5.  Don’t Rely on Mainstream Social Media

As a PR and marketing practitioner, I use mainstream social media like Twitter and Facebook a lot.  In fact, a new study that analyzes nine years of social media use by PR people, shows that Twitter is the most used channel.  While this is a good tool, don’t forget about being different.  Think about Reddit, Pinterest and other channels and how you can use them to your advantage.

While there is no set formula for growth hacking, and there shouldn’t be, these are five things to get you thinking and going!

Like this post?  Follow me on Twitter at:  @MacLeanHeather and @TaylorMadeWorks

 

The Sunday Brief (July 20, 2014)

Well, we are back. I admit it. We missed a couple of weeks. Tropical Storm Arthur cause great havoc for TaylorMade Solutions, our families, friends, local clients and neighbours. Two weeks ago we were into day two of now power, and day one of no phone service. I had no power for 5.5 days and other team members were without power for longer. There was a lot of yard clean up. I lost a few trees that were completely uprooted. Thankfully no one was hurt.  So, finally everything is back to normal.

The clean-up of a home in my community.  They lost close to a dozen large mature trees. I was driving by when one fell on the power lines just above me.

The clean-up of a home in my community. They lost close to a dozen large mature trees. I was driving by when one fell on the power lines just above me.

So this week I thought I would look at videos that caught my attention.

Heineken’s new add for it’s award winning Light Beer is by far my fav of the week.  First it features Neil Patrick Harris, whom I love.  He is funny.  He is likeable.  He is Doogie, but all grown up.

What works about this ad?  Well, it is very different from the beer ads that I am used to.  Beer ads are typically showing a group of friends or party-goers having a great time usually at a cottage or some outdoor retreat.  Not this ad though.  It is clean, simple and straightforward. It also has humour

 

Like a Girl is a great ad campaign.  It is definitely one of my all-time favourites.  There is a great underlying message that all girls, women, boys and men should watch and understand.  “Like a Girl” IS a good thing.  Good on Always for taking on that message.

Well, these were two of my favourite ad campaigns this week. Two very different feelings.  Two different objectives.  What do you thin?

Like this post?  Feel free to follow me on Twitter:  MacLeanHeather

How to Avoid the Reputation Mistakes of Lululemon

Once the darling of women across Canada and the United States for great yoga and leisure clothes, Lululemon seems to have lost its way.  First came the less than stellar quality pants, then the comments that essentially only certain women can wear their pants without issues arising, and now marketing promotions that counter concerns about skin cancer.  Lululemon is not unlike any other brand in that reputation issues do arise. The difference however, could be in how a brand responds.  So, let’ take a look at how to avoid the reputation mistakes of Lululemon.heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com, taylormadecanada.com

1.  The Argument FOR Listening to Brand Conversations

When the story first broke that Lululemon’s pants were of poor quality and actually see-through, Lululemon’s response, or lack of response was odd. At first they completely ignored their customers’ complaints and continued to promote other product in their social channels.

This only fuelled the fire and angered customers. As more people became aware of the issue, the story also grew. Playing the role of the Ostrich and burying your head in the sand does not work.

Key Take-Away:  It is hard to imagine that this commentary still needs to be shared but, apparently it does. Brands can no longer “push” their communications on customers.  Communication is a two-way street.  Therefore choosing to “not” listen is no longer acceptable business practice.  In the case of Lululemon they could have addressed the issue immediately and demonstrated to their customers that their opinion was valued. Instead it escalated out of control, the brand took a hit, as did their stock.  In the end, they were forced to respond.  Once news hits mainstream media and you are forced to respond, you have damaged your reputation.

2.  Act on Your Own.  Don’t be Forced

As someone who provides guidance to companies on PR and reputation issues, I always tell people to come forward first.  Don’t wait to be outed by the media or some other source.  If you did something wrong, admit it and have a plan to fix it.

“Key Take-Away:  Lululemon is certainly not alone in waiting to respond. I can’t put them in that category alone. There are many companies that have also done so. Most airlines, including Air Canada have had to respond to outrage as a result of actions incurred and not addressed properly.  It really comes down to doing the right thing. If you did something wrong, like United Airlines when they broke Canadian musician Dave Carroll’s guitar and then do nothing about, even with video proof, you are headed for a PR nightmare. Over and above that you have a bigger issue though. You have a cultural issue. People working for you just don’t care. You cannot fix a reputation issue without first fixing your cultural issue. This is a big take-away and one that should be looked at seriously.

3.  Test Your Messages

Sometimes we blame agencies for providing marketing materials, campaigns, etc. that result in PR nightmares.  While that does happen on occasion, as brand managers, we must take some responsibility for our brand and what we choose to do.  There is a reason that both agencies and many brands test messaging before going to market. For me personally, if I have this “I don’t know feeling” and can’t really articulate it, I know I need to test it.  Nine times out of 10 the testing comes back with results that send us back to the drawing board.

Key Take-Away:  Don’t let nagging feelings of doubt just fade away with the hopes that it will be o.k.  And, more importantly test your message. Sometimes brands are too close to the message or storyline and can miss subtle nuances that an unbiased audience will pick up immediately. Getting this information before going to market can save you time, money and embarrassment.  Lululemon might want to think about this as a go forward plan.

Now, like all Canadians, I like to see my Canadian companies succeed. I am hoping that these few missteps are just that and things will evolve and change for our much loved Lululemon!

Like this post?  Follow me on Twitter:  @MacLeanHeather.  Feel free to leave a comment, add your input or disagree with me.

 

 

 

 

 

6 Easy Tips to Overcome Communication Failures

We all think we can communicate. After all, we are all good listeners. We are all very good at sharing information and conveying messages. Right?  Wrong! Most people are not good communicators. As we move through the corporate world, we are sensitized to “time is money”, “get to the point” and “what’s your ask?”  Our leaders, mentors and peers share these messages with us constantly through words or body language.  Add to that, we all have our own agendas.  We do.  You can deny it, but if you do, you are only fooling yourself. So, we add all of this together and we are hard-pressed for time and we want to achieve our objectives and meet our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  Now, think about your customers.  Think about your prospects.  How are you communicating with them?  There is a good chance that there are some communication failures happening.  Here are 6 easy tips to overcome communication failures:

5 tips to over communications failure, heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com, taylormade solutions (Canada)

Image courtesy of graystoneadvisors.com

1.  Know your Audience

This is by far the oldest piece of advice going when it comes to communications. Despite this, I am often surprised by how many people and as a result organizations, just don’t know their audience. They use communication media that they feel most comfortable with and communicate when they want to communicate. They often have more than one audience, but choose to communicate in exactly the same manner for each.

Key Take-away:  What is (are) the personas of your audience(s)?  Are they in their 20s, 30s or 60s?  All of the above?  How do they consume content?  How often do they want to hear from you and consume content?  Do they prefer mainstream media, social media or public forums?  Does it depend on the situation?  If you can’t answer these questions with validated data, you have some homework to do.  If you don’t have the resources in-house, hire a consultant to find the answers for you.

2.  Slow Down

Yes, this is hard for most of us. Everything is a rush. After all, time is money right? It is..but and there is a big BUT..if you fail to communicate with your customers or prospects, the costs will be much higher. Customer retention becomes an issue. Reputation management becomes an issue. Stakeholders, including boards of directors get riled up as profits dip and stock prices follow. Slow down and pay attention to what is happening in your environment. When you do this, you hear, see and learn a lot. People notice that you are present. They appreciate this. Showing up only when you want something also gets noticed.

Key Take-away:  Be present. Don’t just show up when you want something or when there is a problem to fix. Your customers or prospects will soon associate you with only being there when YOU want something or when something has gone horribly wrong. Customers and prospects are people. People need and want relationships. They need to have confidence in you. They need to trust you and trust that your organization will do the right thing.

3. Follow-up and Follow-through

Similar to knowing your audience, this is one of the oldest and best pieces of advice when it comes to communication.  As mentioned in Good Customer Service:  What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You, be sure to follow-up on your customers or prospects.  This builds real trust and confidence.  And always under promise and over deliver. This can be hard to do at times, but consistent application will pay off in spades.

Key Take-away:  If you aren’t sure of your answer, then say so.  If you can’t deliver the product at a specific time, be up front.  The sooner the better.  And, when you do execute on “whatever” it is, circle back to ensure that your customer or prospect got what he or she needed. Yes, it can be time consuming, but it will be worth it.

4.  Put Your Best Foot Forward

Just like meeting your significant other’s parents for the first time, you want to put your best foot forward.  For a brand, this might be about the person they send to a meeting or the one that acts as their spokesperson.  Regardless of which scenario it is, you want to ensure that your point person has the facts, can present the corporate brand meeting or exceeding the brand standards and that that person or persons have the ability to make decisions and answer questions – any questions.

Key Take-away:  Putting your best foot forward, or your best people forward does not necessarily mean the most senior and certainly not the most junior. Each situation requires consideration and judgement. You need to consider your audience and the situation.  Who will provide win/win results?  Who will irritate or provoke?

5.  Be Timely

This one is quite important.  For any communication, it needs to be timely.  Your communications’ professionals need to always be thinking about timing. Depending what the communication is, too early and you sell the farm.  Too late, or too little you will lose creditability and trust.

Key Take-away:  Communications should never be an after-thought or relegated to lower importance.  Communications is a strategic component of everything you do.

6.  There is No Such Thing as Over Communicating

Once a upon a time someone actually said this to me – that we were over communicating. Think about that for a moment. Think about how people process information. Think about how people receive information. Think about how many times a message MUST be shared before it is actually absorbed. This is all proven documentable information.  If you apply fact and research, you cannot possibly over communicate. It is that simple.

Key Take-away:  Just because you know the answer or a few of your stakeholders know the answer, doesn’t mean your audience does.  People absorb information differently. Therefore you must apply proven communication techniques using various media and multiple messages to reach your audience.

Like this post?  Follow me on Twitter:  @MacLeanHeather

 

Good Customer Service: What You Don’t Know Does Hurt You

We are all customers.  We are.  So, I am not sure what happens from the time we leave our homes until we reach our respective workplaces. For some people they clearly forget what it is like to be a customer.  For others, they don’t. And for the latter ones, we are most grateful.  Today I want to look at one company and two very different experiences I had.  One not so good and one fantastic.  Both are learning experiences for others.  So, good customer service is important and what you don’t know does hurt you, your corporate reputation and impacts the trust that your customers have.

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Image courtesy of www.rabehardware.com

Think Before You Act

Last week I received my monthly bill from my telephone and internet service provider. Immediately I noticed that the bill was significantly higher than normal. On top of that I had a late fee. As I looked closer it “appeared” that I only paid for part of my bill. I knew that was not the case. So, just to ensure I was not loosing my mind, I pulled out the previous bill. Sure enough, the amount showing as paid on my current bill was the total amount owing from the previous month. Now, I should note that when I received the previous bill I recall that it was lower than normal. Regardless, I paid the full amount owing and went on my merry way.

So, naturally I called the customer service department for my provider and relayed my story. I also asked why I was being charged a late fee when I paid my bill in full.  The person on the phone was great. She was professional and helpful. I can’t take that from her. I could also hear that she was perplexed. She could see that I had done exactly as I had told her. She had to put me on hold to investigate further. Again, very professional and I take no issue with her performance. When she came back on the line, she informed me that the mobility part of the business had failed to get their billing information in on time and therefore, that part of the billing could not be included. Fair enough and I acknowledged that I did recall that the bill was lower than normal.

“My exception to this issue is that the company – “they”- failed to get their billing information in on time in order to be included in my monthly bill.  I paid what I was billed – in full. So, why was I being charged a late fee for their failure to perform?  “They” knew that they had failed, but yet “they” didn’t take that into account.  I also realize that things are system generated, BUT and there is a BUT, I also know that they could have manually adjusted the bill if their system was not intelligent to recognize that the previous bill sent was paid in full.

Now, not everyone checks their bills as closely as I.  Many would not have even noticed. It wasn’t even a lot of money. It was less than $10. It was the principle of the matter though. I should not have been charged and I should not have had to call. It is incidents like these quite frankly that cause me to check my bill carefully. Sadly this is not the first time that I have found errors in my bill. This naturally affects my trust.

Key Take away:  Be sure to staff your contact centres with great people who get customer service AND ensure that if you make a mistake in billing that you don’t penalize your customers. Address before sending out your bill.  This will help maintain trust rather than risk eroding the belief that you have the ability to accurately charge your customers.

Be a Great Listener

Now, let’s switch gears. This past week Tropical Storm Arthur decided to pay a visit. My little part of the world had never quite had a storm like this. It alone is a blog post. But the damage done was significant. I was without power, water and landline phone service for more than five days. I have never experienced this. When our power returned, all our other services immediately worked too, except our landline. After about 12 hours of the phone not working, I did a Tweet to our local news radio asking if they heard anything about restoration of telephone services. A follower @mentioned, Bell Aliant my provider, and within a few hours they jumped into the conversation asking me to Direct Message (DM) them with the details. Turns out it was an issue with my phone and they could do a reset from their office. Thankfully it was a quick fix and we were back in service.

“And, they checked back with me via Twitter to make sure that everything was good. I appreciated that and I appreciated that they were actually listening. In my opinion not enough companies do this so. They also offered a quick survey to review and rate their Twitter Customer Service.  This is GREAT customer service. Well done!

 Key Take Away: Be a great listener.  Be sure to leverage and use social media properly so that you can hear conversations about your brand and jump in when appropriate.  Many customers, like me, live on social media.  And, “sometimes” it is easier and faster to get results.  Be sure to follow up with your customer to ensure that the issue is resolved and then ask for feedback. You can’t improve if you don’t know how you are really performing.

Like this post?  Feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Canadian Anti-spam Law: What You Don’t Know May Hurt You

Well, we are now more than a week into the new Canadian Anti-spam Law (CASL) and many people remained as confused, or maybe more so, than before it came into effect.  So, let’s take a high-level look at the What You Don’t Know (or may not know):

CASL: What you don't know can hurt you, heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com

Image courtesy of www.hrlegalist.com

1.  CASL does not apply to personal or familial relationships.

2.  If you have a legal contract with the other party, you are exempt.

3.  Just because a person downloads a document from your website, does not mean that you have express consent to send email.

4.  Implied consent expires in six months if a prospect doesn’t become a client; and in two years if an existing client doesn’t buy something new or doesn’t renew their subscription, loan, account or contract. (source:  Deloitte)

5.  If recipients voluntarily disclose their email address, and don’t state that they don’t want to be emailed, you have consent.

6.  This law applies to companies outside of Canada.  If you are in the United States, the United Kingdom, or elsewhere, technically you are supposed to adhere to the new law. No one is quite sure how this will be enforced, but it is the law.

7. Think it only applies to email?  Think again.  Any electronic message with the purpose of performing a commercial function is subject to CASL. Of course there are exceptions, like BBM messaging and InMail.

8.  You can send email or other commercial electronic messages outside the country, but you are supposed to ensure that you comply with that countries laws.

9.  Even if you have express consent, you still need to add your mailing address, contact information and an unsubscribe in all email.  As soon as someone unsubscribes, you have lost express consent.  There are exceptions of course.  For example if you have a legal agreement, you can still communicate.

So, these are just nine things that some people don’t know about CASL.  We will continue to watch as CASL unfolds and people begin to challenge the process. We will keep you updated as we learn more.

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Book Review: The Confidence Code by Katty Kay & Claire Shipman

I first heard of this book while listening to The Current, a show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  The interview, with host Anna Maria Tremonti, was fantastic.  In fact, I thought that the interview was so good, so interesting and so inspiring, I did two things:  1) I waited for the podcast to be posted and then I shared it on Facebook/and emailed it to a number of really fantastic women I know. and 2) I bought the book.  The Confidence Code is written by two very fascinating and talented women:  Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.   Based on the interview  and who the authors are, I had very, very high hopes for this book.   heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com, taylormade solutions (canada)

What’s it about from Indigo?:

“Confidence. We want it. We need it. But it can be maddeningly enigmatic and out of reach. The authors of the New York Times bestseller Womenomics deconstruct this essential, elusive, and misunderstood quality and offer a blueprint for bringing more of it into our lives.

Is confidence hardwired into the DNA of a lucky few-or can anyone learn it? Is it best expressed by bravado, or is there another way to show confidence? Which is more important: confidence or competence? Why do so many women, even the most successful, struggle with feelings of self-doubt? Is there a secret to channeling our inner confidence?”

I have three main observations of the book:

1.  For a significant part of the book I did feel like I was back in school doing research for my thesis.  While there is some really interesting research taking place on confidence, I feel that the book was a wee bit heavy on that content.  Thankfully there were some really interesting discussions about women whom they met with and talked about confidence.  I feel there is great value in reading all the content on these fantastic women and I thank the authors for sharing that information.

2.  For two women writing a book on confidence and exploring how women think and feel about confidence and how we need to be more confident, I was really struck by the fact that in their introduction they say “As reporters, we’ve been lucky enough to explore the power corridors of the world looking for stories….” These are two very talented women.  “Lucky enough”?  Really?  I think luck may only have a small amount to do with it.  After hearing the interview and knowing the subject matter of the book, I was really surprised to read those words.  Right there in the beginning of the book, a book on confidence, they diminished their skills, expertise and training. Ladies, you are talented and accomplished.  Don’t set the tone with saying that you were lucky.

3. There is hope!  Maybe I have more of the confidence genes discussed in the book, as I don’t feel held back or afraid to do “something”. I was pleased to see that all women have hope and that we shouldn’t be relegated to be in jobs or roles that they don’t want.  It all comes down to working on your confidence and being authentic.  I really liked the fact that they arrived at this conclusion.  We all can’t be Hillary Clinton, Opra Winfrey or even Marissa Mayer.  For that matter we can’t all be Barak Obama, George Clooney or Richard Branson.  These are all individuals and therefore, we need to be unique.

Overall I am glad that I read the book.  So, I do recommend it, particularly women that might be struggling with their level of confidence.

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GOODBYE, FACEBOOK. HELLO, FACEBOOK.

What do you picture when you think of Facebook? The first thing that comes to mind? Birthday greetings, vacation photos, or proud parents celebrating their kids? Grumpy cats or goofy dogs or motivational posters brimming with typos? I am sure most of us have logged on to Facebook at times, scanned our newsfeed and thought, “What the heck am I doing?”Heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com, taylormade solutions canada, marketing, social media

I’m still not sure what tipped me over the edge. One too many memes, maybe. But that day, at that moment, I thought I would try it: I would leave FB. There was just too much clutter and not enough substance. So I disabled my account. What happened next surprised me.

First, I will admit that it was a knee jerk reaction and hardly thought out, but it made sense at the time. I also don’t mind saying it was a failed experiment. Much like giving up potato chips or coffee, it’s next to impossible. And yes, I’m back on the bandwagon. But over the first couple of days of being “off,” I was receiving texts and emails from people asking if I was okay. As if being “off Facebook” meant I was somehow suffering or experiencing some form of personal distress.

I assured them all that I was fine. No need for an intervention. These were my closest friends, after all, and we had ways to communicate besides status updates. Business as usual. But it wasn’t long before I noticed a difference. 

Like many of my generation, I don’t subscribe to or read the local paper; I get all my news online on lunch breaks or in between household duties. But how much of the Huffington Post or CBC is about my hometown? About my province? Precious little. So suddenly the lunch room, water cooler, or get togethers became me repeatedly saying, “Oh, really? I hadn’t heard that.” About concerts, shows, restaurants, local current events. I felt like the last to know on almost every subject, especially from what is happening in the city. Sure, there are plenty of places to find said information if you really wanted to look, but it was becoming obvious that I hadn’t just disconnected from the “What would your Pirate name be?” posts; I’d unplugged from my community.

And that’s what Facebook has become in a lot of ways. For better or worse, however you want to view it, whatever your opinion is, social media is a town square. A means of connection and communication. Sometimes across a country or over continents. A way to be informed about the people you care about, and topics you care about. We can bemoan over sharing or narcissism, but really, who hasn’t run into a friend on the street and said, “Hey, I saw your pictures. Looks like you had a great trip.” Or “I can’t believe how big your kids are.” In reflection, it’s a foot in the door for a conversation, a dialogue that starts at seeing your friends’ joys or perhaps seeing their hardship, their grief. In a lot of ways, people are more connected than if we wait for chance encounters at the city market.

Lastly, I am also in a band, Sleepy Driver. And you can laugh at how ill-conceived or ill-timed my leap from Facebook was—we were just about to release a new album—I underestimated what it meant to be off Facebook, not using it to promote, market, or interact with fans and friends. Much like I didn’t hear of fellow musicians’ shows, people were less aware of our upcoming release. FB is local paper; it’s a form of advertising; it’s a major means of connection with our audience, local and otherwise. It’s hard to ignore its power.  

So, I’m back on. And happy for it. To learn, to see, to share, to connect. No, it doesn’t replace face-to-face, voice-to-voice “real” relationships, but it sure plays a part. I guess at the heart of it, like with any social media: know what you want it for. Tailor it to that. It takes some time to set filters, to sieve out the games and memes (unless that’s what you want—no judgment ;), but FB has the tools to do so. And ultimately I found that Facebook gives more than it takes.

I’m glad to be back.

About:  Peter Hicks is a project manager, father, and musician from Fredericton, NB. www.facebook.com/sleepydriver 

Canada’s Anti-spam Law (CASL) Just Made Inbound Marketing More Important

It’s official.  As of yesterday Canada’s new Anti-spam Law affectionately known as CASL came into effect. While many of us have been following, reading and sharing what we can about this new and somewhat ridiculous law, there is still a significant amount of confusion around it all.  Not only do people still not understand what constitutes a commercial electronic message (CEM), but also people are debating what they have to actually do around existing business relationships.

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Image courtesy of listorres.com

As Canadian business owners this new law is really complicating things for us.  I now have to have permission from a person in advance to send an email.  Of course there are qualifications to this. For example, if someone reaches out to my business via email, I can respond. If they send me a compliant via email, I can respond. If their contact information is somewhere on the web and they haven’t deemed that they don’t want email sent to them, I can send an email. If I go to a conference and/or networking event and someone hands me her business card, then I can also send an email to that person; but and there is a but…I now need to keep said business card of every person I meet. I also need to write on the business card when and where I met said person AND just to be prudent, I should send an email asking if if is ok to send email.  Kinda silly right?  Right! Oh, of course I can’t add them to a mailing list for my company newsletter. This is not something I do anyway without consent, but thought I would mention it.

Oh, and I should note that just because you live in the United States or Great Britain, you should know that this law also applies to YOU.  Indeed.  Anyone sending a commercial electronic message that could be read IN Canada is covered by CASL.  I along with thousands and thousands of Canadians are wondering how this will be enforced outside of Canada.  For legitimate companies, they will comply and try to ensure that they get us to “opt-in” and offer an opt-out option, but it is not really those companies that are the issue.  No, of course not.  There are people from other areas, which shall not be named herein, that use masking services and send unsolicited email all of the time.  This law will not mean a thing to them AND they will continue to send their email, unscathed and untouched.

So, it has become ever so more important for companies to employ inbound marketing as a normal course of business. If you haven’t established inbound marketing techniques you definitely need to.  While there are many great advantages to having an inbound strategy, one of them is having people opt-in every time they download your great content.  For those in Canada who don’t want to run the risk of millions of dollars in fines, you will want to learn about this ASAP.  (Oh, and I can help, but I digress).

I really can’t wait to see how this all unfolds over the next 36 months, which is our grace period to get consent. I know that I will have a lot of great blog content come out of it.   However, as a business owner, and a small business at that, I can say that while I truly value the effort being made to curb spam – the intent and spirit is truly admirable for Government to take on this role – it might make it a little more challenging to do business.

Love to hear your thoughts on CASL.  Will it make your life easier? Or more difficult.