DMA’s Environmentally Responsible Marketer (ERM) Certificate Program
COURSE SCHEDULE & DESCRIPTIONS

DMA’s Environmentally Responsible Marketer Certificate Program consists of 11 courses, including nine core modules and two electives (choose from five available electives), that you can take on-demand or at a larger DMA conference. Below is the list of courses with their tentative go-live dates.*

*Please note that all of the ERM courses will be recorded and offered online and on-demand after the live event, so you can complete the courses at your own pace and when it is convenient for you. To register, please complete this form.

Core Courses	Title	Format
MODULE 1	ERM Certificate Overview – Build a Sustainable Marketing Program & Achieve Triple Bottom-Line Performance Show Details	-Recording Now Available!
MODULE 2	Understanding Product and Process Life Cycles – Evaluating Alternatives in Marketing Strategic Planning & Execution	-Recording Now Available!
MODULE 3	The Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC) – Meet Customer Expectations & Stave Off Do-Not-Mail Legislation	-Recording Now Available!
MODULE 4	The DMA Green 15 – 15 Strategies to Improve Efficiency & Help the Environment Show Details	-Recording Now Available!
MODULE 5	Hit the Bull’s Eye – List & Data Management Strategies to Green Your Marketing & Improve Your ROI Show Details	-Recording Now Available!
MODULE 6	Eco-Beautify Your Marketing Campaigns – Sustainable Design & Production Show Details	-Recording Coming Soon!
MODULE 7	Follow the Paper Trail – Paper Sourcing, Certification & Labeling Show Details	-Recording Coming Soon!
MODULE 8	Recycle Please – Recycling & Pollution Reduction Opportunities for Direct Marketers Show Details	-Recording Coming Soon!
MODULE 9	Avoid Green Fatigue & ‘Greenwashing’ – Rules & Regulations for Making Environmental Marketing Claims Show Details	-Recording Coming Soon!
ELECTIVE MODULES (Please select 2 electives if you enroll in the ERM Certificate program.)
EL 010	Make Sustainable Paper & Packaging Decisions that Don’t Break the Bank Show Details	Live at DMDays 2009, on Tuesday, June 16, 3:15 - 4:15 pm ET. - Attend in person at DMDays or listen to a recording online after the live event
EL 011	What’s the ROI of Sustainable Marketing? Consumer Trends & Research Show Details	Live at DMDays 2009, on Tuesday, June 16, 1:30 – 2:30 pm ET. - Attend in person at DMDays or listen to a recording online after the live event
EL 012	Green Your Fundraising to Meet Donor Expectations Show Details	Live at DMA Nonprofit Conference, August 2009, exact date and time to be determined - Attend in person at the DMA Nonprofit Conference or listen to a recording online after the live event
EL 013	International Trends in Green Marketing Show Details	Live at DMA09, exact date and time to be determined - Attend in person at DMA09 or listen to a recording online after the live event
EL 014	Understand & Calculate the Carbon Footprint of Your Marketing Campaigns Show Details	Live at DMA09, exact date and time to be determined - Attend in person at DMA09 or listen to a recording online after the live event

=Virtual Seminar = In-person Session at Major DMA Conference & Online Recording Available After Conference

Module 1: ERM Certificate Overview – Build a Sustainable Marketing Program & Achieve Triple Bottom-Line Performance
Monday, December 1, 2008, 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT
Online Seminar

Improving a company’s or organization’s environmental footprint presents complex challenges, but also great business opportunities — opportunities to achieve greater efficiency and, subsequently, generate better return. That is why controlling our environmental footprint — as a company, as a community — matters. Environmental awareness is no longer about just recycling.

Direct marketers today face complex environmental challenges like knowing the source of their paper supplier, designing mailings and targeting lists to minimize waste, paying attention to packing materials, and communicating environmental commitments to customers and stakeholders.

Join us to learn about the history and complexity of environmental issues facing the direct marketing community, and how to improve your organization’s environmental footprint by setting measurable goals, developing a long-term, sustainable environmental strategy, and crafting a paper policy. The experts will discuss DMA’s Environmental Resolution, new member green goals, and walk participants through the DMA Environmental Certificate Program, the DMA Environmental Planning Tool & Policy Generator and the DMA Paper Pledge.

Panel Speakers:

• Senny Boone, SVP, Corporate & Social Responsibility, Direct Marketing Association
• Chet Dalzell, Public Relations Strategist and Consultant
• Meta Brophy, Director, Publishing Operations, Consumers Union
• Dick Goldsmith, Chairman, The Horah Group

Module 2: Understanding Product and Process Life Cycles – Evaluating Alternatives in Marketing Strategic Planning & Execution
Thursday, January 22, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

Marketers, particularly direct marketers, seek to understand the life-cycle of their customers in relation to a brand and the generation of value over time. However, whenever your organization goes to market there is another “life cycle” in play too. It’s the full impact of your marketing on the environment and your efficient (or not) use of resources. Optimized marketing takes both of these life cycles into consideration. Choices you make to effect customer response also effects environmental performance. Your vendor, media channels and combinations, paper, packaging and design decisions—even decisions regarding list and data preparation—impact greenhouse gas emissions and the net use of raw materials.

To achieve more positive results from a triple bottom-line perspective you need to analyze your marketing activities, incorporating all channels and calculating life cycle impacts as best as possible. From here, more informed decisions can be planned for and achieved. In this online briefing, you’ll learn how to perform a life-cycle analysis that incorporates environmental, social and profit perspectives so that you can acquire and retain customers more efficiently and more profitably while moderating your environmental impact.

Panel Speakers:

• Ellen Huang, Senior Manager, Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) Product Stewardship, Pitney Bowes
• Larry Buc, Partner, SLS Consulting

Module 3: The DMA Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC) & DMAchoice – Meet Customer Expectations & Help Prevent Unnecessary Regulation
Thursday, February 12, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

The Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC) and DMAchoice reflect DMA’s continued emphasis on empowering consumers and strengthening their trust with the direct marketing community. Adhering to the Commitment to Consumer Choice, launched in October 2007, is required for DMA member organizations. The CCC requires that marketers notify consumers of the opportunity to modify or eliminate future mail solicitations, among other requirements. Adherence to the CCC pays immediate benefits in cost savings, better response and improved environmental impact.

While DMA has set public environmental performance targets for the U.S. direct marketing community, the CCC has consumer expectations and empowerment at its heart, and reflects DMA’s belief that the evolving needs of consumers must be met to be successful in today’s marketplace. DMA believes the direct marketing community must be at the forefront of addressing consumer needs. Effective self-regulatory actions such as the CCC directly respond to those advocates and regulators who otherwise would respond with their own initiatives.

Module 4: The DMA ‘Green 15’ – 15 Strategies to Improve Efficiency & Help the Environment
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

Building upon the lessons in Prerequisite Module 1, join us to learn 15 steps marketers can take today to green their marketing campaign and meet customers’ environmental expectations, all while increasing efficiency, reducing waste, and, potentially, cutting costs for an organization. Also, learn about DMA and USPS programs (as well as other resources) that can assist in meeting the DMA’s “Green 15” encouraged environmental marketing practices.

• Receive practical, how-to advice for implementing the DMA’s Board-mandated “Green 15” practices and making economic and eco-friendly decisions throughout the direct marketing process, from list hygiene, to design and printing, to paper procurement and recycling.
• Learn about USPS addressing requirements and new programs to assist businesses and educate the public.
• Get access to DMA tools and resources to demonstrate environmental stewardship to your customers, like the DMA Environmental Planning Tool & Policy Generator, Green 15 Toolkit, Paper Pledge, Recycle Please campaign, and many more resources to help you go green.

Module 5: Hit the Bull’s Eye – List & Data Management Strategies to Green Your Marketing & Improve Your ROI:
Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

Effective list hygiene and data management are keys toward achieving business objectives of sustainability, reduced waste and improved delivery rates of mail. A “clean” list means less returned or undeliverable mail, less wasted paper, and a higher response rate – a win for the environment and an organization’s bottom line.

Top marketers and environmental experts will let marketers know about DMA list management requirements and best practices, as well as USPS addressing products for effectively managing marketing databases to help organizations minimize defective and duplicate addresses and reduce unwanted and undeliverable-as-addressed mail.

Module 6: Eco-Beautify Your Marketing Campaigns – Sustainable Design & Production
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 (Earth Day), 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

Eco-friendly design can be cost-efficient, innovative and beautiful. Join us to learn about eco-preferable, sustainable alternatives that test just as well and oftentimes better than traditional design and print decisions. This e-course is packed with information on selecting sustainable paper, inks, and adhesives for campaigns, from the perspective of cost, aesthetics, and environmental impact (energy and emissions). You will also be provided with an overview of the various environmental programs, logos, and terminology that many printers and paper mills use today.

Module 7: Follow the Paper Trail – Paper Sources, Certification & Labeling
Thursday, May 21, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

As demand for paper products remains high, and as the availability of recovered paper continues to vary, it’s increasingly important for marketers to know where their paper is coming from and going to. Get a handle on virgin and fiber paper sources, the different paper certification programs and chain-of-custody labeling. Also, learn about logos companies and organizations can use to encourage recipients of their mail pieces to recycle them so they don’t end up in landfills.

This intensive is designed to help marketers understand and evaluate such concerns as:

• Recycled vs. Virgin Fiber
• Sustainable Forest Management
• Forest Certification Programs
• Chain-of-Custody Labeling
• Free, Customizable “Paper Pledge” to Share with Procurement and Suppliers

Module 8: Recycle Please – Recycling, Transportation, & Pollution Reduction Opportunities for Direct Marketers
Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

There are a variety of positive steps marketers can take to ensure a more efficient, environmentally sensible workplace and lighten the environmental footprint of a company’s or organization’s marketing campaign. This module educates on recycling and pollution reduction opportunities in the workplace and throughout the direct marketing process, and arms marketers with immediate considerations to prevent waste, conserve energy, and increase recycling within their business operations and community. Participants will learn about DMA’s free Recycle Please logo program open to all members, as well as initiatives of the National Recycling Coalition and other programs.

If implemented in a sustainable manner, the waste prevention and recycling strategies divulged in this session will help marketers achieve triple bottom line advantages -- cutting costs or boosting profit, lessening their organizations’ impact on the planet, and positively bolstering brand through corporate responsibility.

Module 9: Avoid Green Fatigue & ‘Greenwashing’ – Rules & Regulations for Making Environmental Marketing Claims
Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Online Seminar

Do you know the rules for making green claims on your marketing pieces? As the market for eco-friendly products and services continues to grow, and as the marketplace develops environmental sensitivities and expectations from all brands, direct marketers should assess how they communicate their environmental messages – not just from a marketing and strategy perspective, but also from social, scientific and governmental perspectives. Successful marketing communications may depend on finding and implementing environmental messages that not only resonate with vendors, shareholders and investors, and consumers, but also are scientifically accurate and in compliance with government rules for marketing.

Hear from U.S. regulators and marketers on what constitutes “greenwashing” and how to avoid running afoul of government rules on green marketing claims. Also, learn from leading marketers about how to reach an intended audience without causing green fatigue.

Elective Module (EL 10): Make Sustainable Paper & Packaging Choices that Don’t Break the Bank
Tuesday, June 16, 3:15 - 4:15 pm ET
Live at DMDays Conference & Expo, New York, NY

This intensive builds upon the insights shared in the core module “Follow the Paper Trail,” and applies this to the fulfillment process. Learn about a new forest industry initiative to be carbon neutral by 2012 and how this affects the paper and packaging products available to buy. Glean cost-efficient and innovative tips for paper and packaging, particularly in the areas of packaging innovation and development.

Elective Module (EL 11): Green Marketing, Branding and Your ROI
Tuesday, June 16, 1:30 – 2:30pm ET
Live at DMDays Conference & Expo, New York, NY

Does marketing with environmental sensitivity sizzle? Do consumers really respond (with their wallets) to marketing offers that speak to environmental themes? Is environmentalism a base expectation of a growing number of consumers – potentially direct marketing customers – who evaluate brand practices when making choices? Get the latest consumer research on green marketing – and hear case studies of direct marketing businesses and organizations that are translating environmental and climate change concerns to consumer messaging and bottom-line performance. Learn how to talk with the public about environmental matters.

Elective Module (EL 12): Green Your Fundraising to Meet Donor Expectations
Date and time to be determined

This course in the curriculum will arm non-profit organizations with practical tips on how they can reduce and improve the environmental impacts of their direct marketing programs. Participants will understand the benefits of going green (image, cost-savings, etc.), know what steps to take to green their direct marketing programs, and learn about DMA’s “Green 15” as these marketing practices apply to non-profits.

Elective Module (EL 13): Going Green in a Global Marketplace: International Trends in Green
Date and time to be determined

Achieving sustainability, countering climate change, securing business growth – all of them are global concerns and many firms which market across borders are pursuing environmental programs in a bid to meet the expectations of the marketplace, to pursue competitive advantage, and to manage their carbon footprint successfully. Hear from global direct marketing leaders on which “green marketing” trends have taken hold in various parts of the world – as well as global schemes for achieving better triple bottom-line performance. As more parts of the world see sustainability as a business imperative, there are innovations and new standards for environmental benchmarking that have emerged to which international marketers must take note.

Elective Module (EL 14): Understand & Calculate the Carbon Footprint of Your Marketing Campaign
Date and time to be determined

What’s the carbon footprint of your print marketing campaigns? This elective helps marketers calculate the carbon footprint of their mail campaigns using available marketplace tools. Marketers will learn simple strategies they can implement today to lessen their organizations’ impact on global warming and climate change through waste prevention, efficient transportation, and recycling. As an added bonus, marketers can learn about a new tool to measure carbon emissions of their digital campaigns.

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