Week 30: Rubbish Incinerators

Incinerators release a cocktail of poisonous gases into the atmosphere and Greenpeace wants to stop all of them. Join their campaign at www.greenpeace.org.uk
My contribution to this is recycling more. Our local tip is very well run and regularly reports recycling over 90% of our waste, thus avoiding the incinerators. With the increased recycling by local councils, though the arguments seem to be more focussed on frequency of collections rather than the good it is achieving, this should help reduce the need for incineration even more.
I have to congratulate the enterprising people who have picked up on the frequency issue though. I believe some people are prepared to pay £90 and more a year for more regular collections and so a new market is born.

CPD Points

Further to the revamp of our CPD programme The Institute is getting stricter on the number of CPD points/hours available at our events. Therefore CPD will only be collected on the actual learning part of our events i.e. as most of our events are 6-7pm networking and 7-8pm presentation you will only be able to claim one hour or CPD point and not two as has previously been the case. 'Not fair' I hear you say but here is the reasoning: Continuous Professional Development is all about developing you as an individual and pure networking is usually around developing your business and your contacts, not yourself. That is why pure social events have not been applicable for CPD and still remain that way.
Do not dispair though, you can claim up to 21 hours CPD points out of your target 35 per year for events and seminars but they don't have to all be run by CIM, so long as you have some evidence of your attendance.
And just to clarify if you go on a networking training course that is admissible as it is training you to network.
To find out more about CPD and Chartered Marketer status visit www.cim.co.uk/charteredmarketer

Composting Bin

The composting bin was delivered this week. It is a good size and we have put it at the bottom of the garden. I was so excited making Spanish omelettes yesterday because I could put all the waste – potato peelings and eggs shells etc – in the composting bin.

But Tony told me that I needed to ‘get a life’!

Week 29: Be a plant lover...

If you have been keeping up with news lately you will already be aware that apparently our cattle contribute to the Co2 emissions problem by breaking wind! Well done to the media for raising this issue to our attention and giving marketers new angles to promote cleaner air! The argument from 52 weeks is if we all turned veggie we wouldn’t need as many cattle and so as a result the emissions will decrease. If you watched ‘Mock the Week’ last week you would have heard Andy Parsons counter argument that the more vegetables we eat the windier we become and so it won’t solve the problem. I can see some interesting slogans for veggie products coming on!

Be Proud!

I attended an event this week where one of our members was speaking. He was great, naturally, but I was disappointed with his biography. There was a lot about his business and personal achievements but no mention that he is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Not to harp back to a previous posting, but I know that I am, we need to shout from the rooftops about our achievements as marketers to help promote professional marketing and the institute.

Please, please, please think about your membership and your institute and let’s take on the world together!

Week 28: Be kind to your kids...

Tony and I don’t have kids but for those of you that do, I don’t want to alarm you but have you considered –

• Clothing: don’t put your kids in any clothing that contains PVC but use natural colours ( www.bao-bab.co.uk)
• Skin care: avoid using products that contain foaming agents, parabens or aluminium, or which may ‘bio-accumulate’ in childrens bodies over time (www.earthlets.co.uk)
• Food: avoid processed foods and keep pesticides out of their diet by buying and home cooking organic wherever possible
• Toys: again avoid PVC and other plastics that are liable to give off gas from volatile chemicals and by toys made with natural materials

It is scary stuff but legislation and a marketers job is to educate you about these things to help you make an informed decision.

Membership Benefits

We undertook some membership surveys in various parts of the North of England recently and the results were very interesting.

Those that were pro CIM had at least attended an event and were aware of the benefits, of which there are many.
Those that thought membership of the CIM was expensive and not worthwhile were those that didn't attend events, use the website, library or engage on any level with us even down to not being aware that these things existed! Which is amazing how they continued to pay the annual membership fee.
For example -

‘I find it hard to convince my employer to pay £140 per year for annual membership when all I get is a magazine once a month.’

In response, the marketer magazine is just one tangible benefit. There are a wide variety of events and courses with networking opportunities, on top of which here are the top ten member benefits in brief -

1) Career Support and Job Vacancy Database

Is your New Years Resolution to find a job or recruit someone?

Then visit: Career Support and counseling www.cim.co.uk/careers

Career Tools www.cim.co.uk/jobfocus

Online Jobs Database www.cim.co.uk/jobs

2) Knowledge Hub

From researching competitors to preparing for a job interview or pitch, increase your knowledge and gain a competitive edge with Knowledge Hub.

www.cim.co.uk/knowledgehub

3) Information Hotline & Library

Gain access to reference material for pitches, projects, job interviews.

+44 (0) 1628 427333

library@cim.co.uk

4) Cutting Edge

Keep up to date with Cutting Edge, a weekly industry news round up sent by email.

www.cim.co.uk/cuttingedge

5) CIM Direct Books

Get expert advice on the best marketing and business texts for you and take advantage of Chartered Institute of Marketing member discounts on many key texts.

+44 (0) 1628 427427

www.cim.co.uk/shop

6) Marketing Trends Survey

Get an accurate and up-to-date picture of marketing, its impact on businesses and the wider economy. It is widely recognized as the yardstick of the industry and therefore as a key indicator of future economic trends.

www.cim.co.uk/mts

7) LawLabs

FREE legal advice on all UK & EU legislation affecting the industry.

+ 44 (0) 121 206 4132

cim@lawlabs.com

8) What’s New in Marketing

Keep up-to-date with the Chartered Institute of Marketing FREE subscription to this dynamic online monthly marketing magazine with news, features and much more!

www.wnim.com

9) Professional Indemnity Insurance

Take advantage of our specially negotiated member rates.

www.cim.co.uk/pi

10) Benevolent Fund

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is committed to helping its members throughout their career, through good and bad times. The Benevolent Fund provides completely confidential support for members and their families who find themselves in difficult circumstances.

benevolentfund@cim.co.uk

I wonder how many were you aware of?

Week 27: Jump aboard a new hobby…

Did you know that over 300 million gallons of raw or partially treated sewage is discharged around the UK each day?!

Surfers Against Sewage can be found at www.sas.org.uk

I really love these activist organisations with their memorable web addresses!

I have to say that this is the least likely looking campaigners website. It looks more like a magazine site with a funky layout, super graphics and catchy headlines. It almost made me forget about what we were campaigning about and really enjoy the subject! Well done SAS.