By Fiona Campbell
Corey Wagner, co-founder of Kelowna based tech startup Bananatag, accredits the company’s early success to a marketing campaign in which it used a public relations launch to put its own product to the test.
Launched in August 2012, Bananatag allows individuals to track opened email and clicked links on their daily emails, taking the guesswork out of how recipients are interacting with their email. Until recently, only marketers and salespeople using mass email services were able to track and see statistics. Bananatag has changed this by bringing the same capabilities to every day email users.
Along with opens and clicks, Bananatag also shows users the location of the recipient and the device the email was opened on. These in-depth metrics allow users to better interact and respond to their contacts. With extensions available for Outlook and Gmail, Bananatag makes email tracking simple and accessible to all.
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By Leo Valiquette
Back in the day when I worked as a business journalist and sparred with “those PR people” for a living, I did, on more than one occasion, run afoul of a source or a business that I was writing about.
This is simply par for the course. I’ve always said that a journalist isn’t keeping their foot on the gas if they don’t receive a demand letter from someone’s lawyer every now and again.
Sometime ago, Francis wrote about how the interview’s never over. But in these examples, it’s clear that missteps can easily occur even when both interviewer and interviewee agree that the microphone is still on.
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By Leo Valiquette
Though we took our usual holiday break in December, we still covered a lot of ground on the blog during the month. Scotland’s startup scene, the unintended consequences of Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program, and practical pointers for handing off a content marketing program were among the many topics we covered.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
Dec. 5: It’s that time again to put life and work in perspective, by Leo Valiquette
Dec. 12: Don’t spit your PR effort into the wind, by Leo Valiquette
Dec. 6: SR&ED and the law of unintended consequences, by Francis Moran
Dec. 20: Is this my very last blog post?, by Francis Moran
Dec. 3: Lessons from Project Glass: Why embracing technology is not optional, by Megan Totka
Dec. 17: Commercializing research in Scotland, by Maurice Smith
Dec. 4: Top 10 questions every strategic communicator should ask, by Caroline Kealey
Dec. 10: Apple versus Samsung: Samsung’s ‘out’ to escape infringement, by David French
Dec. 11: A timely post about succession planning in content marketing, by Alexandra Reid
Dec. 13: Content is the sun around which all else revolves, by Francis Moran
Dec. 19: Businesses must think like publishers, says C.C. Chapman, by Alexandra Reid
Dec. 18: Data mining, DNA or otherwise, no substitute for real customer dialogue, by Leo Valiquette
By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, David Meerman Scott, Harvard Business Review, Guardian and Wired.
Why most venture-backed companies fail
The current VC model is a play on probability. But this author says this “numbers game” theory, where some will win and some will lose, is not an acceptable approach, especially when fund managers’ fees can reach in the millions while investments may result in massive losses.
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By Leo Valiquette
Monday was a snow day across the Ottawa region, or, to be more precise, an ice rain day.
That left tens of thousands of kids with a bonus day off from school and parents tasked with finding alternative care arrangements. Many no doubt conceded defeat and took the day off rather than endure a hellish morning commute.
Today is another challenging one for parents. Elementary teachers with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are on a one-day walkout to protest the Ontario government’s Bill 115. Their action impacts almost 50,000 students.
Of the two events, the walkout should be the less disruptive. It does, after all, impact only elementary schools and only one of the Ottawa area’s school boards. Parents were also given five days advance notice.
Our fickle winter weather is seldom so accommodating.
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