Marketing Sustainably
By Chet Dalzell
About Chet
Marketing Sustainably: What's Going on Beyond and Beneath the Green? A blog posting questions, opportunities, concerns and observations on sustainability in marketing.
Chet Dalzell has 25 years of public relations management and expertise in service to leading brands in consumer, donor, patient and business-to-business markets, and in the field of direct marketing. He serves on the Direct Marketing Association Committee on the Environment and Social Responsibility, where he is currently chairman of the Committee's Marketing & Communications Public Outreach Strategy Working Group (2005-present).
Chet co-developed the first professional certificate program in environmentally responsible marketing within the United States. He also served on the United States Postal Service Greening the Mail Task Force (2007-2010), and led its Life Cycle of Mail Subcommittee.
Email Chet below, or reach him at Twitter or LinkedIn.
Who's Your Data?
Be the Wave—Or ‘The New Marketers’ Manifesto’
Feb 29, 2012Don't ride the wave, be the wave. A friend of mine named Devin, who works as a management consultant, recently...
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Myths and Misconceptions: The Real Truth About Content Marketing and the Search Engines: Part II
Feb 27, 2012Lately, I've been hearing a lot of people saying things such as: "Google doesn't like content or article marketing since...
The Whole Magilla
What Marketers Can Learn From Maine's Political Email Idiocy
Feb 24, 2012It finally happened. Politicians' idiotic email practices had a measurable negative effect. "Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted...
Making Social Sell
In Defense of Selling With Social Media
Feb 17, 2012If presidential hopeful Mitt Romney doesn't need to defend his financial success, why should I be forced to defend my...
Denny Hatch's Blog
The Internet Can Make You a Chump—Forever!
Sep 25, 2010Trouble is, the Internet is rife with misinformation and if you get caught advertently or inadvertently propagating this nonsense in...
SEO & Content Marketing Revue
5 Tips for Top Positioning (And Converting) Page Titles
Aug 11, 2010Wondering about a SEO content strategy that offers the biggest impact in the shortest time? Try tweaking your page titles....
Addressing the Skills Gap: 5 Reasons Why Year-End Giving Should Include a DMEF Donation
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“The demand [for talent] has far outstripped the supply.” – Joe Zawadzki, Chief Executive, MediaMath, The New York Times (Front Page, Oct. 31, 2011)
The uncertain domestic and global economy masks a glaring concern—one that goes to the root of sustainability in our discipline. In the direct, digital and database marketing fields, there is a tremendous shortage now of qualified professionals, and likely in the near and long term.
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In its seminal research report, From Stretched to Strengthened: Insights from the Global Chief Marketing Officer Study (October 2011), IBM states that an explosion of data, social platforms, channel and device choices, and shifting demographics all point to tremendous hurdles for CMOs [chief marketing officers] to overcome. IBM calls it "a gap in readiness." The ability of higher institutions to provide global (and local) brands with people with skills necessary to capitalize on customer-centric interactions is vital.
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Another current report from McKinsey's Global Institute, Big Data: The next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity (May 2011), states that the world needs as many as 190,000 specialists with deep analytical skills whose sole focus is Web marketing (never mind, analyzing data in multi-channel environments). These new professionals will need to be steeped in mathematics and statistics, as well as in marketing and the vertical markets where brands reside.
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During the 2010-2012 period, according to the Direct Marketing Association (The Power of Direct Marketing, October 2011), the U.S. economy is forecast to create more than 280,000 jobs from mobile, search, Internet and email marketing alone. It's vital we are able to deliver and develop professionals in our field who have requisite knowledge and education.
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In a recent employment study for Direct Marketing Association (Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report, September 2011), undertaken by Jerry Bernhart Associates, employers noted that analytics-related posts are the most highly sought in our field, followed by marketing, sales, creative and information technology. Most recently, 61 percent of employer respondents said they were experiencing difficulty attracting the right talent for open positions, with 50 percent attributing this to a shortage of qualified candidates, and 18 percent to a lack of specific job or technical skills.
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The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) serves to address the skills gap by enabling its Scholarship program, Student Career Forums, intensive training in interactive marketing (I-MIX), its Professor's Institute, among other activities, to make direct and interactive marketing one of the most highly attractive fields for young adults. During the past year, DMEF engaged 2,580 students, more than 270 professors, and 650 schools in its various programs. We stand ready to exceed our success this coming year—but we need your support to do it.
For these five reasons, I just sent my donation to DMEF for its year-end DirectWorks Challenge (an initiative where I serve as a consultant). I encourage every professional in our field to make a tax-deductible donation today—preferably before Dec. 31, with my thanks: www.directworks.org/contribute
It's the one donation that keeps giving back to us as marketing professionals.
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