Tag Archives: web

In Vancouver? Check out the Internet Marketing Conference.

Internet Marketing Conference - Vancouver, September 11-12I’m very excited about the Internet Marketing Conference coming to Vancouver September 11th and 12th of this year at the Coast Plaza Hotel.

This is a big international conference, which has occurred in Barcelona, New York, Bulgaria, Montreal, Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, Las Vegas and Copenhagen over the last few years. It was held in Vancouver back in 2002 and now it’s returning.

The list of speakers is crazy-good. They include Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester), Gary Angel (Semphonic), Darin Sarlabous (Aeroplan), Adam Audette (AudetteMedia), Anil Batra (Zero Dash 1), Geno Prussakov (AM Navigator), June Dershewitz (Semphonic), Andre Charland (Nitobi), Eric T. Peterson (Web Analytics Demystified), Tom Leung (Google), Bob Page (Yahoo!), Jason Burby (ZAAZ), Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo (Capulet Communications), Robbin Steif (Lunametrics), Xavier Casanova (Liveclicker), and Jonghee Jo (Victoria’s Secret).

I’m incredibly honoured to be among them, presenting about Vancity’s online efforts, engaging people in our values and socially responsible brand.

Vancouver doesn’t bring this kind of A-list together all that often, so it’ll be great to get them all here at the same time to discuss what’s happening in the world of online marketing.

On a personal note, after several presentations in several different cities over the last few months, it’s nice to have the summer away from conferences, and then have the opportunity to speak in my home town.

Oh, and by the way, for those of you who wonder about the efficacy of LinkedIn, the conference organizers, who are based in Sweden, found me via LinkedIn and after a few emails back and forth asked me to present.

Online branding & Vancity.

One of the things I love about the Vancity brand is that it’s complicated, and therefore a challenge to express succinctly. Vancity is a credit union that uses its profits to give money back to its members and the community. Sounds simple in a way, but there’s a complication as soon as we have to express how we do it and what it costs.

The more money Vancity makes, the more money it can give to the community, and it gives money in a myriad interesting and meaningful ways. Many prospects and members want to know what all this good work will cost them; surely they must pay extra. This sentiment always strikes me as odd – no one expects to pay more at a big bank when their stock prices are high, and yet they’re returning profits in the form of dividends to the shareholders. It’s the same with us, except the money goes to something meaningful.

So all of this is to say that when we launch a new brand campaign, it’s always tricky to engage people around our mission in a way that rings true and feels like us, but is still entertaining and works as marketing.

This week we are launching our 2007 TV spots, outdoor advertising and our web site to promote Vancity. This microsite launched yesterday, and I think it does a nice job conveying our brand and who we are. I’m curious what readers think.

Vancity | We All Profit

What’s the point of a homepage?

Because most banks have homepages that look like web portals from the 90s, I think a lot about the purpose and function of Vancity’s homepage. It’s not as cluttered as some, but not as clean as others.

Then, along comes Seth Godin’s article Blow Up Your Homepage. He says that your homepage is the page for newbies, not a real page people will use over and over again. That it’s akin to the old splash pages with a ‘skip intro’ button. With an Online Banking log in on the homepage, this isn’t as true for banks as it is for some, but still, a clarifying remark. Focus more on major internal pages (that we often neglect) and let the homepage be for those unfamiliar with your company.

Sounds obvious, but I found it rather helpful and timely.