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Hilton Hotels Suggests Another Way to Buy Brand Loyalty: Roblox Rewards

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BY SYDNEY SLADOVNIK

The hospitality business is the latest company to use the video game platform as a brand-building tool.

The best place to meet your customers might be in a video game.

Hilton Hotels rolled out a new membership rewards initiative in the video game platform in collaboration with its celebrity spokesperson Paris Hilton, and her media company 11:11 Media.

The hospitality company launched an immersive hotel experience in “Slivingland”–a virtual neighbourhood that Paris Hilton launched on Roblox in 2023. When Roblox players complete in-game challenges in the virtual Hilton hotel lobby, they can redeem Hilton Honours points, which can be used towards hotel bookings, shopping, and even rental cars through Hilton. They also have the chance to win a Diamond Tier upgrade: Hilton’s premium membership status where guests have access to premium WiFi, room upgrades, and executive lounges. The campaign will run through February 22.

Hilton is the first hotel to join Roblox with tangible transferable rewards, but just one of the many businesses joining the gaming platform to advertise. Stephanie Latham, VP of global partnerships at Roblox said in a press release that she expects to see more brands tie their metaverse activations to the physical world with opportunities like loyalty program tie-ins, Roblox-inspired fashion items, or real-world commerce.

“The consumer demand across physical and digital is clear, and brands are smart to tap into it on Roblox where over 70 million people connect and communicate daily, nearly half of them Gen Z,” Latham added in the press release. “Utilizing [Paris Hilton’s Roblox universe] as part of Hilton’s loyalty program is paving the way for other brands to experiment with enhancing consumer engagement and brand loyalty via innovative immersive experiences and communities.”

Offering exclusive benefits and rewards can help business owners enhance their brand loyalty, and using video game platforms like Roblox to leverage rewards is one way to do so. Roblox, specifically, has more than 70 million daily active users; more than 200 brands are on the platform.

Chipotle employed this strategy when it rolled out a similar deal in 2021 that allowed 100,000 players to redeem a free entrée in the Chipotle app when they rolled a burrito in Roblox.

Hilton–the human, not the brand–said in a press release: “Getting actual Hilton Honours loyalty points for playing in Roblox?* That’s iconic.”

Feature Image Credit: Courtesy Company

BY SYDNEY SLADOVNIK

@SYDNEYSLADOVNIK

Sourced from Inc.

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Your Website: Your Cornerstone to Online Success

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By Dirk Petzold

When it comes to digital marketing, a strong online presence is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a creative artist, or an established business, having a compelling website is the key to unlocking your online potential. And amidst the plethora of website builders available, Squarespace stands out as a beacon of simplicity, elegance, and versatility.

A Breeze to Use

Squarespace’s user-friendly interface is a breath of fresh air in the world of website building. Farewell to the days of tangled code and complex jargon. With Squarespace, you can effortlessly create and manage your website without the need for any technical expertise. Their drag-and-drop functionality makes it a breeze to add and arrange content, while their intuitive design tools let you personalize your website to your heart’s content.

Design That Wows

Squarespace’s collection of templates is a feast for the eyes. Their team of designers has crafted over 140 stunning templates that cater to a wide range of industries and styles. From minimalist modern to playful retro, there’s a template that perfectly reflects your brand and resonates with your target audience. And with Squarespace’s customization options, you can effortlessly personalize your template to make it uniquely yours.

Beyond the Basics

Squarespace doesn’t just stop at crafting beautiful websites. It’s a comprehensive platform that empowers you to build a thriving online presence. From eCommerce functionality to blog tools and integrated marketing tools, Squarespace has everything you need to take your business or creativity to the next level.

The Community Factor

At Squarespace, they understand that building a website is a journey, not a destination. That’s why they’ve created a vibrant community of website owners and enthusiasts who are always ready to lend a helping hand. Whether you’re facing a technical issue or seeking design inspiration, the Squarespace community is there to support you every step of the way.

Your Path to Online Success

With its ease of use, stunning designs, comprehensive features, and supportive community, Squarespace is the perfect choice for anyone looking to create an online presence that truly reflects their brand and resonates with their audience. So, take the first step towards your online success by signing up for Squarespace today and embark on a journey of creating a website that’s as unique and captivating as you are. Feel free to subscribe for a free trial here.

By Dirk Petzold

Sourced from WATC

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Unleashing Your Inner Creative: A Guide to Sparking Inspiration and Elevating Your Work

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By Dirk Petzold

In creativity, where ideas and imagination dance in a constant symphony, staying inspired can be a challenge.

As creative professionals, we’re constantly bombarded with stimuli, from the latest trends to the ever-evolving technological landscape. But amidst this whirlwind of inspiration, it’s easy to lose sight of our unique spark.

Fear not, fellow creatives! For within us lies a wellspring of untapped potential, waiting to be unleashed. In this blog post, we’ll embark on a journey to rekindle your creative fire and guide you toward a world of boundless inspiration.

1. Embrace the Power of Curiosity

Curiosity is the gateway to creativity. It’s that insatiable thirst for knowledge, that desire to explore the unknown sparks new ideas and ignites the imagination. So, step out of your comfort zone and delve into the world around you. Visit museums, attend lectures, read books, and engage in conversations with people from all walks of life. Let your curiosity guide you, and you’ll be amazed at the treasures you uncover.

2. Seek Inspiration in the Everyday

Creativity isn’t confined to grand gestures or elaborate setups. It’s often hiding in plain sight, waiting to be discovered in the mundane moments of everyday life. Pay attention to the details, the subtle nuances that make up the world around you. A fleeting glance at a sunset, the aroma of freshly baked bread, the laughter of children playing in the park – these seemingly ordinary occurrences can be rich sources of inspiration.

3. Embrace Collaboration and Feedback

Creativity thrives in a collaborative environment. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals who challenge your perspectives, push your boundaries, and offer constructive feedback. Engage in open discussions, share your work, and seek out fresh perspectives. Collaboration will not only spark new ideas but also refine your creative voice.

4. Embrace the Power of Rest and Rejuvenation

Creativity is like a muscle; it needs time to rest and recover to function at its best. Don’t be afraid to step away from your work, to disconnect from the digital world, and be present in the moment. Take a walk in nature, listen to music, or engage in activities that bring you joy and relaxation. When you return to your work, you’ll approach it with fresh eyes and renewed energy.

5. Never Stop Learning and Experimenting

The creative journey is a lifelong adventure. There’s always something new to learn, a new technique to master, or a new medium to explore. Embrace the spirit of lifelong learning and never stop experimenting. Step outside your comfort zone, try new things and don’t be afraid to fail. It’s in the process of experimentation that we discover our unique creative identities.

Remember, creativity is not a destination but a continuous journey. It’s about nurturing your curiosity, embracing the every day, finding inspiration in collaboration, and never losing sight of the power of rest and rejuvenation.

So, fellow creatives, let us embark on this journey together, fuelled by passion, curiosity, and an insatiable desire to express ourselves. Together, we can unlock the boundless potential that lies within us and create works of art that touch the hearts and minds of others.

Feel free to get your daily dose of creative inspiration on WE AND THE COLOR.

By Dirk Petzold

Sourced from WATC

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How Dropbox Replay is helping designers future-proof their practice

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By Tom May

Cloud-based review tool Dropbox Replay is a serious time-saver, and fits perfectly into the way creative work is evolving. We explain why it’s a must-have for designers in 2024.

The creative industry is highly competitive, and creative freelancers and agencies are constantly being squeezed in all directions. Clients, armed with tighter budgets, expect top results. Yet, while agencies strive to create best-in-class content, they must also balance fair pay for designers with maintaining profitability. So what’s the solution?

Here’s where Dropbox’s vision of a more enlightened way of working comes in. The tech company is dedicated to helping designers and agencies realise their full potential, and Dropbox Replay, a cloud-based review tool, is helping them put that principle into action.

Right now, creatives all over the world are discovering how Dropbox Replay can revolutionise their workflows and speed up content delivery. Read on as we share five key features that make Replay a great addition to any designer’s toolkit, followed by a case study that highlights how it could boost your design practice too.

 01. Live sessions

Dropbox Replay revolutionises the way design reviews are conducted by introducing live sessions. This allows multiple stakeholders to simultaneously view and comment on an image, video or audio file at the same time; fostering real-time collaboration and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Replay seamlessly handles ultra-high definition video and lossless audio playback, maintaining synchronisation across all viewers, ensuring a smooth and engaging review experience.

 02. Effortless project sharing

Dropbox Replay saves you time by eliminating the hassle of exporting compressed files and cluttering up your hard drive. Instead it generates a simple link for designers to share with your clients, collaborators and stakeholders.

This makes it super-easy to send out your projects for review. There’s no need for constant file transfers and version updates; you just share the link once, and once only.

03. Frame-by-frame feedback

Dropbox Replay goes beyond traditional text-based feedback, empowering reviewers to provide detailed and actionable comments using browser-based annotation tools.

Reviewers can mark up specific frames, write comments and even add annotations, ensuring that feedback is precise and easily identifiable. There’s no need for anyone to have specialised software and your client reviewers don’t even need a Dropbox account to access and provide feedback, making project-sharing accessible to a wide range of stakeholders.

04. Adobe and other software integrations

Dropbox Replay integrates seamlessly with industry-leading editing software such as After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, LumaFusion, and WeVideo. That means reviewers can provide feedback directly from their editing workflows, without having to open a new tab.

This eliminates the need to switch between platforms and ensures that feedback is captured quickly, efficiently and in the context of the specific project.

05. Version Control and History Tracking

When you’re sharing files manually over email, it’s often impossible to keep track of who requested what changes, which corrections have been done, and so on. That’s not a problem with Dropbox Replay, though, as it provides comprehensive version control, keeping track of every iteration of a project and any associated feedback.

This enables you to easily revisit past versions, compare changes, and identify the evolution of your work. Replay also stores comments and markups for each version, providing a complete record of the review process.

Case study: Captive8 Media

Seated man being filmed by large video camera

(Image credit: Dropbox)

With its seamless integrations and focus on efficiency, Dropbox Replay is the catalyst designers need to thrive in today’s creative landscape. One such designer is Matthew Stokes, founder of the London based video production company, Capitve8 Media.

Having weathered the 2008 recession, COVID and the economic after-effects, Stokes has learned to master something that’s helped Captive8 Media stay in business: operating efficiently.

Stokes harnesses tech to handle the unavoidable business admin and to prioritise more of the work he loves. The more that these pieces of tech talk to each other, the better; which is why he’s used Dropbox since day one.

Captive8 Media’s work happens on a quick turnaround, making speed and efficiency business critical: Raw video is captured and immediately gets uploaded to Dropbox. Stokes’s editor then takes that footage, edits the video down to a rough cut, and opens it in Dropbox Replay. They’ll go back and forth leaving feedback on edits before a cleaner video is created and ready to be shared—again, via Replay—with clients who are just as widely dispersed as Captive8 Media’s own remote team.

“I don’t have to tell people how to use it, it’s self-evident,” says Stokes. “That’s where you put your feedback, you press submit, it appears there, job done.”

Man using video camera

(Image credit: Dropbox)

Replay’s ease has become integral to Captive8 Media’s creative process and customer service. The company has amassed a perfect 5-star score on Google Business with nearly 200 reviews. “In fact,” he says, “we recently had a review and someone specifically said, “We love the review process.”

By succeeding in creating simple and efficient processes, Captive8 Media has more time to focus on one of Stokes’ biggest passions: getting down in the details. And, at the same time, he’s been able to make more space for what matters most to him: a better work-life balance.

Stokes shares, “Captive8 Media is going to continue doing good stuff with good people in a good way, and keeping a smile on my face and a roof over my head.”

Feature Image Credit: Dropbox

By Tom May

Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World, T3.com and Tech Radar. He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.

Sourced from CREATIVEBLOQ

 

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Tips For Keeping A Business Afloat

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By Tim Guercio

Business owners are always striving to stay afloat and keep their businesses running.

Stability is the key to success in any business, but there are certain strategies that business owners can employ in order to maintain business continuity.

Maintaining stability involves focusing on customer relationships, creating innovative marketing strategies and staying ahead of the competition. By understanding how business stability works, business owners can make sure they are doing everything possible to keep their business running smoothly.

Prioritize customer relationships.

It is important for business owners to focus on customer relationships, as this helps foster loyalty and trust between the business and its customers. Building strong customer relationships can lead to increased sales, repeat business and referrals.

Strive to provide excellent customer service in order to build these relationships. Make sure your customers feel important. At my company, the most important strategy we use to do this is prioritizing communication—which means constant communication via phone call, email and text. When we receive a call, text or email, typically, we answer promptly. If we are not able to, our standard is to respond back within two hours.

People just want to be informed on what is going on and what to expect. We hold our company to high standards, so our phone calls are all recorded, and random ones are reviewed at the end of the week. This lets us know our employees are responding respectfully and in a timely manner. Being consistent regarding the quality of your product, communication and service builds integrity and trust with your customers.

Get creative with your marketing strategies.

Businesses must also create innovative marketing strategies that generate sales and help differentiate their offerings from competitors’ products or services.

A marketing strategy I’ve found to be effective has been utilizing social media. If your business social media looks clean, polished and professional, and you consistently post, then people interact with you, and you become a credible source. If your socials look disorganized and neglected and you don’t post regularly, you can lose credibility and make potential customers feel you are hard to reach or maybe aren’t doing much service nowadays. Social media is a huge factor in effective marketing.

Another effective strategy is asking for referrals. According to a recent study, 59% of customers say they’d give a recommendation if they like a company. This has been a proven fact for us, as the majority of our customers come from friends and neighbours of customers we’ve had for years.

Train your employees to ask for referrals. Typically, our happy customers will refer us voluntarily, but I’ve found that asking the customer brings it to their attention, and they begin to think of ways they can help. Many people feel fulfilled when they help others, so if they feel they can help you by just referring you to friends, family or neighbours, they will likely want to help you. It also helps to offer the customer some kind of compensation for the referral so both parties can mutually benefit from the exchange.

Another marketing strategy involves creating a unique value proposition (UVP) that resonates with customers. This addresses the specific needs, desires or pain points of the target market, creating a compelling reason for customers to engage with a business.

Creating a compelling UVP requires a deep understanding of the target audience, competitive landscape and the unique strengths of the product or service. It should serve as a foundational element in marketing and communication strategies, resonating with customers and influencing their decision-making process. I think an example of a great UVP is “Where work happens.” This comes from Slack, and it emphasizes collaboration and communication in the workplace.

Pay attention to your competitors.

Business owners must also find ways to stay ahead of their competitors. This involves staying up-to-date on industry trends, understanding the competitive landscape and taking advantage of new technologies that can help them remain competitive.

One strategy that has helped me with this is comprehensive marketing research. Do thorough market research to gather data on competitors, industry trends and customer preferences. This means monitoring competitors’ marketing strategies, product launches, pricing models and customer feedback. The customer feedback is particularly important because you can see where improvements need to be made, and that is how you can improve or avoid those issues in your own company.

Another great strategy is to look inward regarding your business and organization. Evaluate internal factors such as your resources, capabilities and market positioning. Check your assets, equipment, facilities, financial capital, etc., as well as the skill level of your team and your brand reputation.

Identify areas where your organization can capitalize on strengths and opportunities while mitigating weaknesses and threats. Strive to create a business model that allows for scalability and flexibility in order to accommodate changing market demands.

Dedicate time to your financial health and risk management.

To ensure business stability, business owners must also focus on their financial health. This includes creating a budget and sticking to it, monitoring business expenses closely and making sure that income is greater than expenses.

Additionally, consider diversifying revenue streams by looking for opportunities to generate passive income or find new sources of funding. Also, make sure you are aware of potential risks in the industry you are operating in and take steps to mitigate them.

Stability is essential for business owners who want to be successful.

By focusing on customer relationships, creating innovative marketing strategies and staying ahead of the competition, business owners can ensure their business will remain competitive in today’s market.

It is important to keep in mind that improvements happen only if you do the work. Know that if your business is struggling, you can turn it around. However, it takes time. It requires dedication and consistent work from you, as well as your team.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Tim Guercio

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Tim Guercio, Founder of The Christmas Team. Read Tim Guercio’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Google Rolls Out Image Creation Within Its Bard Chatbot, Updated Visual Generation Models

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Yeah, I’m not sure about Google’s various names for its generative AI products.

To clarify:

  • Bard is Google’s generative AI chatbot, much like ChatGPT
  • Gemini is Google’s large language model (LLM) group, like GPT
  • Imagen is Google’s AI image generation system

All clear?

Okay, then this paragraph from Google should now make more sense.

“Last December, we brought Gemini Pro into Bard in English, giving Bard more advanced understanding, reasoning, summarizing and coding abilities. Today Gemini Pro in Bard will be available in over 40 languages and more than 230 countries and territories, so more people can collaborate with this faster, more capable version of Bard.”

I’m guessing that for most people, without the preceding context, the above explanation would have been somewhat bewildering, but basically, Google’s now making its Bard chatbot more powerful, with advanced AI models powering its responses, while it’s also adding image generation capability within Bard itself, powered by Imagen.

Google Imagen 2 in Bard

Google has taken a cautious approach with generative AI development, and has criticized others for pushing too hard, too fast, with their generative AI tools. Some have viewed this as anti-competitive bias, and Google simply protecting its turf, as more people turn to tools like ChatGPT for search queries. But Google’s view is that generative AI needs to be deployed slowly in order to mitigate misuse, which has already led to various issues in a regulatory sense.

But today, Google‘s taking the next steps with several of its generative AI tools, with Bard, as noted, getting improved system thinking and image creation, Google Maps now getting new conversational queries, powered by AI, to facilitate place discovery, and Imagen 2, the next stage of its visual creation system, also being rolled out within its image-generation tools.

Google Imagen 2

As explained by Google:

“Imagen 2 has been trained on higher-quality, image-description pairings and generates more detailed images that are better aligned with the semantics of people’s language prompts. It’s more accurate than our previous system at processing details, and it’s more capable at capturing nuance – delivering more photorealistic images across a range of styles and use cases.”

That’ll provide more opportunity to create better visuals within Google’s systems, which will also be created with various safeguards in place, in order to limit “problematic outputs like violent, offensive, or sexually explicit content”.

“All images generated with Imagen 2 in our consumer products will be marked by SynthID, a tool developed by Google DeepMind, that adds a digital watermark directly into the pixels of images we generate. SynthID watermarks are imperceptible to the human eye but detectable for identification.”

Given the recent controversy surrounding AI generated images of Taylor Swift, this is an important measure, and is one of several concerns that Google has repeatedly raised in the rapid rollout of AI tools, that we don’t yet have all the systems and processes in place to fully protect against this kind of misuse.

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Sourced from SocialMediaToday

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Elevate Your Brand with these Stunning Business Social Media InDesign Templates!

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By Dirk Petzold

In social media, creating eye-catching and engaging content is essential for business success.

Enter Roverto Castillo, a design virtuoso who has crafted a set of business social media InDesign templates that redefine the art of digital communication. These templates, designed with precision and flair, are set to revolutionize your online presence. Let’s dive into the details of this visually stunning collection that promises to take your brand to new heights.

Download at Adobe Stock

Please note that this template requires Adobe InDesign. You can get the latest version from the Adobe Creative Cloud website—take a look here.

Business Social Media InDesign Templates by Roverto Castillo
Business Social Media InDesign Templates by Roverto Castillo
Download at Adobe Stock

Meet the Creative Genius – Roverto Castillo:

Roverto Castillo, a name synonymous with innovation and aesthetic brilliance in the design world, has curated a set of InDesign templates that embody his signature style. With a keen eye for detail and an innate understanding of contemporary design trends, Castillo’s templates seamlessly blend vibrant colours and geometric simplicity to create a visual spectacle that captivates audiences.

Template Specifications:

The templates come in a convenient size of 1080×1080 pixels – an ideal dimension for various social media platforms, ensuring your content looks flawless on every feed. This attention to detail reflects Castillo’s commitment to providing a user-friendly experience for businesses looking to elevate their online presence.

Easy Customization for Maximum Impact:

One of the standout features of Castillo’s templates is their effortless customization. Replacing headlines, tweaking text, and adding your images couldn’t be simpler. With InDesign’s intuitive interface, even those with minimal design experience can effortlessly tailor these templates to match their brand identity. It’s a game-changer for businesses seeking professional, polished content without the hassle.

Vibrant Colours and Elegant Simplicity:

Castillo’s designs are a testament to the power of vibrant colours and the elegance of simplicity. Each template features a carefully curated colour palette that not only grabs attention but also conveys a sense of energy and dynamism. The use of simple rectangles as graphic elements adds a modern touch, creating a clean and sophisticated look that resonates with contemporary audiences.

Versatility for Every Business:

Whether you’re a startup, an established enterprise, or a creative individual, Castillo’s templates cater to a diverse range of business needs. From promoting products and services to sharing company updates, these templates provide a versatile canvas for expressing your brand’s unique personality.

Roverto Castillo’s Business Social Media InDesign Templates represent a paradigm shift in the way businesses approach online communication. With their stunning visuals, easy customization, and versatile applications, these templates empower brands to stand out in the crowded digital landscape. Elevate your online presence, captivate your audience, and leave a lasting impression with Roverto Castillo’s exceptional design prowess – because in the world of social media, exceptional is the new standard.

Download at Adobe Stock

Don’t hesitate to find more trending graphic design templates on WE AND THE COLOR.

By Dirk Petzold

Sourced from WATC

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Starting Small: How To Successfully Experiment With Generative AI

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By Alon Goren

At this point, most enterprises are dabbling in generative AI or planning to leverage the technology soon.

According to an October 2023 Gartner, Inc. survey, 45% of organizations are currently piloting generative AI, while 10% have deployed it in full production. Companies are eager to move from pilot to production and start seeing some real business results.

However, enterprises getting started with generative AI often run into a common stumbling block right out of the gate: They suffer analysis paralysis before they can even begin using the technology. There are tons of generative AI tools available today, both broad and highly specialized. Moreover, these tools can be leveraged for all sorts of professions and business purposes—sales, product development, finance, etc.

With so many choices and possibilities, enterprises often get stuck in the planning phase—debating where they should deploy generative AI first. Every business unit (and all of the business’s key stakeholders) wants to own a part of the company’s generative AI initiatives.

Things can get messy. To stay on track, businesses should follow these guidelines when experimenting with generative AI.

Focus On Specific Use Cases With Measurable Goals

Enterprises need to recognize that every part of the organization can benefit from generative AI—eventually. To get there, however, they need to get off the ground with a pilot project.

How do you decide where to get started? Keep it simple and identify a small, specific problem that exists today that can be improved with generative AI. Be practical. Choose an issue that’s been challenging the business for a while, has been difficult to fix in the past and will make a visibly positive impact once resolved. Next, enterprises need to agree upon metrics and goals. The problem can’t be too nebulous or vague; the impact of AI (success or failure) has to be easily measurable.

With that in mind, the pilot project should have a contained scope. The purpose is to demonstrate the real-world value of the technology, build support for it across the organization and then broaden adoption from there.

If organizations try to leverage AI in too many different ways and solve multiple problems, it’ll cause the scope to grow out of control and make it impossible to complete the pilot within a reasonable timeframe. Ambition has to be balanced with practicality. Launching a massive pilot project that requires extensive resources and long timelines is a recipe for failure.

What’s a good timeline for the pilot? It depends on the circumstances, of course. Generally speaking, however, it should only take a few weeks or a couple of months to execute, not multiple quarters or an entire year.

Start small, get something functional quickly and then iterate on it. This iterative approach allows for continuous learning and improvement, which is essential given the nascent state of generative AI technology.

Organizations must also be sure to keep humans in the loop from the very beginning of the experimentation phase. The rise of AI doesn’t render human expertise obsolete; it amplifies it. As productivity and business benefits increase with generative AI, human employees become even more valuable as supervisors and validators of AI output. This is essential for maintaining control and building trust in AI. In addition, the pool of early participants will also help champion the technology throughout the organization once the enterprise is ready to deploy it widely.

Finally, once the project has begun, organizations have to stick with it until it’s complete. Don’t waste time starting over or shifting to other use cases prematurely. Just get going and stay the course. After that’s been completed successfully, companies can expand their use of generative AI more broadly across the organization.

Choosing The Right Technology

The other major component of the experimentation phase is selecting the right vendor. With the generative AI market booming, it can seem impossible to tell the differences between one solution and another. Lots of noisy marketing only makes things more confusing.

The best way to cut through the noise is to identify the requirements that are most important to the organization (e.g., data security, governance, scalability, compatibility with existing infrastructure) and look for the vendor that best meets those needs.

It’s extremely important to understand where vendors stand on each of these things early on to avoid the headache of discovering that they don’t really check those boxes later. The only way to do that is by talking to the vendor (especially its sales engineering team) and seeing these capabilities demoed first-hand.

Get Ahead Of The Competition With A Strong Start

Within the next couple of years, I expect almost every enterprise will employ generative AI in production. Those wielding it effectively will get a leg up on their competition, while those struggling will be at risk of falling behind. Though the road may be uncharted, enterprises can succeed by focusing on contained, valuable projects, leveraging human expertise and selecting strategic technology partners.

Don’t wait. Embrace this unique opportunity to innovate and take that crucial first step now.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Alon Goren

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

CEO and Cofounder of AnswerRocket. Read Alon Goren’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Why are people climate change deniers? Study reveals unexpected results

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By University of Bonn

Do climate change deniers bend the facts to avoid having to modify their environmentally harmful behaviour? Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) ran an online experiment involving 4,000 US adults, and found no evidence to support this idea. The authors of the study were themselves surprised by the results. Whether they are good or bad news for the fight against global heating remains to be seen. The study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

A surprisingly large number of people still downplay the  or deny that it is primarily a product of human activity. But why? One hypothesis is that these misconceptions are rooted in a specific form of self-deception, namely that people simply find it easier to live with their own climate failings if they do not believe that things will actually get all that bad.

“We call this thought process ‘motivated reasoning,'” says Professor Florian Zimmermann, an economist at the University of Bonn and Research Director at IZA.

Motivated reasoning helps us to justify our behaviour. For instance, someone who flies off on holiday several times a year can give themselves the excuse that the plane would still be taking off without them, or that just one flight will not make any difference, or—more to the point—that nobody has proven the existence of human-made climate change anyway. All these patterns of argument are examples of motivated reasoning. Bending the facts until it allows us to maintain a positive image of ourselves while maintaining our harmful behaviour.

Self-deception to preserve a positive self-image

But what role does this form of self-deception play in how people think about climate change? Previously, there had been little scientific evidence produced to answer the question. The latest study has now closed this knowledge gap—and has thrown up some unexpected results. Zimmermann and his colleague Lasse Stötzer ran a series of online experiments, using a representative sample of 4,000 US adults.

At the center of the experiments was a donation worth $20. Participants were allocated at random to one of two groups. The members of the first group were able to split the $20 between two organizations, both of which were committed to combating climate change. By contrast, those in the second group could decide to keep the $20 for themselves instead of giving it away and would then actually receive the money at the end.

“Anyone keeping hold of the donation needs to justify it to themselves,” says Zimmermann, who is also a member of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence, the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224 and the Transdisciplinary Research Area Individuals & Societies at the University of Bonn. “One way to do that is to deny the existence of climate change.”

As it happened, nearly half of those in the second group decided to hold on to the money. The researchers now wanted to know whether these individuals would justify their decision retrospectively by repudiating climate change. The two groups had been put together at random. Without “motivated reasoning,” therefore, they should essentially share a similar attitude to human-made global heating. If those who kept the money for themselves justified their actions through self-deception, however, then their group should exhibit greater doubt over climate change.

“Yet we didn’t see any sign of that effect,” Zimmermann reveals.

Climate change denial: A hallmark of one’s identity?

This finding was also borne out in two further experiments.

“In other words, our study didn’t give us any indications that the widespread misconceptions regarding climate change are due to this kind of self-deception,” says Zimmermann, summing up his work. On the face of it, this is good news for policymakers, because the results could mean that it is indeed possible to correct climate change misconceptions, simply by providing comprehensive information. If people are bending reality, by contrast, then this approach is very much a non-starter.

Zimmermann advises caution, however, stating, “Our data does reveal some indications of a variant of motivated reasoning, specifically that denying the existence of human-made global heating forms part of the political identity of certain groups of people.”

Put another way, some people may to an extent define themselves by the very fact that they do not believe in climate change. As far as they are concerned, this way of thinking is an important trait that sets them apart from other , and thus they are likely to simply not care what researchers have to say on the topic.

By University of Bonn

Sourced from PHYS.ORG

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Finding And Onboarding Your Clients: A Step-By-Step Method

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By Florence Chikezie

The objective here is to help you master how to leverage your existing networks and other sources to find and onboard clients. This is an area I have leveraged successfully for my businesses.

Leveraging Your Existing Network

A challenge that businesses that are just starting out often face is getting paying customers. This weighs many founders down and often discourages them in their business pursuits.

The best place to start as a fledgling business is with family and friends. Tell your inner circle about your new business, and mandate them to also tell their own families and friends. You will see that your circle expands quickly as soon as they do that. Think about how many people you know and extrapolate from that to get a sense of just how big that circle can get.

Depending on the service you provide, you can get tons of referrals from this channel. Word of mouth works magic, especially if you are good at what you do.

Let me emphasize that you should not ask for referrals if your service is not stellar. Ensure you do amazing work so that even if you do not get a referral immediately, you can include such a project in your portfolio.

This simple step can unearth valuable business and work for you just from your circle.

Sources To Find Targeted Customers

Targeted here means the specific clients who want your products or services. A few useful places to find your target customers include:

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great place to connect with businesses and build your clientele. Search for people in related fields who are decision-makers and introduce yourself or your business as new in the space.

It may surprise you that they have been looking for the kind of service you offer. For LinkedIn, you may not have any direct connections with a person and therefore may have to pay to send them a message.

You can also explore finding a mutual connection with such a person and then asking to be introduced. You can then establish a connection and introduce your business.

2. Targeted Events And Conventions

This is particularly helpful if you have just moved to a new city and are about to start your business. I did a lot of this when I first moved to Lagos. But there is a caveat here.

Do not just attend every event and convention; be strategic with your choice of events to attend. For your time there to be meaningful, an event must have your target audience in attendance. Ensure you are well prepared before attending by doing some research on some of the attendees and organizing your marketing materials, business cards and brochures.

Follow up promptly with people you have exchanged business cards with by at least writing them via email as soon as possible.

It is also possible to attend such events and conventions as a vendor; in this instance, you may have to pay for a booth or a stand at the venue.

3. Local Businesses

Local businesses in your area always need help. They need to advertise their business, design their website, develop content, register their business and train their staff.

Usually, such businesses may not have huge budgets, so you can offer them good discounts on your product or service or you can offer them the freemium model of your product. This is great because it can spark word-of-mouth referrals in your locality. If you become the go-to place for your kind of business in your town, you can potentially serve a big market just by getting the local community to talk about you.

Companies, no matter their size, have wide networks you can benefit from by referrals, especially if you do very great work.

4. Advertising Online

By advertising online on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc., you will be targeting specific people in your niche with your ads. You can target certain demographics, locations or people who have an interest in your kind of industry. You can get to the exact audience who need your product or service.

5. Content Marketing

In addition to advertising, another way I have grown my brand is content marketing. Content includes articles, videos, books, tutorials, courses, podcasts and more.

You can give content away for free to build search engine optimization (SEO). The greater the traffic to your site, the wider your reach and potential customers. Once they visit your website, deploy your opt-in form to get them to subscribe to your email list, and you can then email them about your services and products or new developments in your business.

Content marketing is a long-tail approach to getting customers as it involves more steps rather than simply walking into your store to buy your product, but it is quite effective in converting fans into customers and customers into fans. This can be powerful in the long term as brand loyalty and repeat business are easier to achieve when customers become real fans.

This approach is time-consuming, as a lot goes into content creation, but given that such content remains online indefinitely, the extent of its reach is invaluable. When I started ReDahlia Workspaces, I created a lot of content about the co-working industry, which I published on my website, Medium, LinkedIn and other sites. Most clients who have used our space found us through that published content.

6. Offline Distribution Of Marketing Materials

I extensively utilized this method during the launch of ReDahlia Workspaces. We researched and reached out to complementary businesses, especially hotels without meeting spaces, proposing mutual promotion through brochure exchanges. We highlighted the appeal of off-site meetings for clients seeking privacy. Using this approach, we struck various deals with multiple hotels.

Intentionally going through these steps and aiming to connect with three to 15 people in each of these categories can help seal business deals for you, so you must take the time to do them, starting today.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Florence Chikezie

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Founder at ReDahlia & Entrepreneurs.ng. I help new entrepreneurs start businesses in 30 days & guide companies to scale impact and revenue. Read Florence Chikezie’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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