Atlantic Canada Marketing AND Communications Professional Development Program

Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 22-31, 2010
The Centre for Excellence in Communications (CEC) and The Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Marketing (CEPSM), Ottawa, in association with Catapult Media, Halifax, are offering a series of professional development workshops for the Atlantic Canada public and not-for-profit sectors in the context of the
Atlantic Canada Marketing and Communications [...]

Beware of Sponsorships with Celebrities if you work in the Public or Non-profit Sector

The most recent fiasco with Tiger Woods reminds me of some of my experiences with celebrity endorsers when I ran the marketing and corporate communications operation at Health Canada.
First a bit about Tiger. As Ken Gray points out in his recent piece in the Ottawa Citizen.
“Tiger Woods is probably the greatest athlete of our time. [...]

CEPSM offers 3-Step Social Marketing Consultation for under $5,000.

During these tough economic times for public and non profit sector organizations  the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing (CEPSM) has decided to offer a special consulting opportunity for those who require social marketing expertise but  can not afford the prices of high priced consultants. We do this because our Centre is committed  “To [...]

“The Lifeblood of Tourism is Marketing.”

In my blog on municipal marketing I discussed the importance of marketing as an important function for governments , particularly cities.   Clearly in an  era in which governments need to be more responsive and accountable to the needs of the public, marketing can help governments accomplish this goal. With governments spending significant dollars delivering [...]

Professional Certificate in Public Sector and Non-Profit Marketing: 2110

Professional Certificate in Public Sector and Non-Profit Marketing
Program Starts January 20, 2010! Register Today!

Do you work in the government, a crown corporation/agency, a non-profit organization or an association?
Are you responsible for marketing products or services, social marketing, [...]

Are Health Communicators getting a “Bad Rap” on H1N1

Sometimes I wonder if public sector health marketers are being made to look like a bunch of incompetents ( “keystone cops “). H1N1 communications, at least in Canada, has been an unmitigated disaster and the big question mark is why is this happening? Many of the public health communicators I have had the opportunity to [...]

H1N1… an example of how not to do effective health communications

As someone who spent a quarter century in the health communications and social marketing field, I am flabbergasted on how ineffective the communications coming out of health authorities is on H1N1 /Swine flu.
One thing seems clear and that is the compelling need for reliable information, to understand the risks this virus presents, what to do [...]

The Public Sector … Differences between Americans and Canadians

As a Canadian who is in the public sector marketing business , I have paid close attention to what is happening in the USA recently. I am quite concerned by the perception of many Americans about their government and its capability of delivering programs and services to the American public.
As Andrew Cohen points out [...]

Are Universities Failing Our Students

I wrote a recent blog quite critical of academic institutions as it relates to Marketing.  As I pointed out  business schools are different than other faculties.  Professors should be obligated to work in business for a number of years before becoming academics in a business school… especially teaching marketing . All the academic research and [...]

Tips on How to Develop a Successful Social Marketing Campaign

In my most recent social marketing workbook , I have a section that gives readers
a few  tips on how to develop a successful social marketing campaign. Hope you find this  useful.
Messaging:

Specify the desired objective.
Specify the desired action required (call to action)
Focus on personal relevance of issue to each member of audience.
Adapt creative style to specific [...]