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With Social Media Changing, Has Advertising Reached Peak ‘Purpose’?

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Why shifting dynamics could mean a pivot back to brand and product

It’s hard to overstate just how dominant purpose-driven advertising has become at award shows. Eight of the 11 Grand Clio winners this year were purpose-based campaigns—and they were even more triumphant in the south of France. But all trends eventually run their course, and 2022 might turn out to be the high-water mark for the purpose trend. Why? Because the social media era as we know it is coming to an end.

It’s true. The major social media channels are following Tiktok’s lead and switching their algorithms to a “recommendation” model. That will fundamentally change the way social works. So what does that have to do with purpose-driven campaigns? Social media has been a primary driver of the purpose trend.

I often see this theory that purpose-driven work became so prevalent because advertising agencies and brands are “woke” and are “virtue signalling” to attract a young, progressive audience. That’s only half right: The demographics brands crave are more progressive and more engaged on social channels. And it’s on those social channels that they’re discussing social issues.

Up to now, the engine that drove social media conversation has been news and cultural events—the stuff brands build their social calendars around. But moving forward, users will see fewer posts from their friends and friends’ friends, and more from strangers the channel’s engine thinks they’ll like. And that content will almost certainly be less “wired” to the Calendar.

Here’s the rub. The Calendar is what makes it possible for agencies to plan ahead and make investments. They all focus their most ambitious campaigns around basically the same set of cultural moments in the year. And those moments inform the brief.

The Calendar explains why a financial services company ran its biggest campaign ever on International Women’s Day.

It’s how a cat food brand winds up running a campaign about coral reefs for World Ocean’s Day.

It’s why a beer company made noise on Global Recycling Day.

It’s why my former fast-food client had us make a splash on World Peace Day.

And, full disclosure, it’s why my team teased a special edition OLED on #MaytheFourth.

Now it’s pretty clear that before social media, none of these brands would’ve asked agencies to produce campaigns for these points in time—let alone make major investments in them and make them the centrepiece of their annual creative efforts. It’s the Calendar that enabled the plans to secure those budgets, and it’s the social conversation on those days that promised the eyeballs and engagement.

So what happens next?

I’m not suggesting the idea of brand purpose or purpose-driven initiatives will come to an end. But if you look at all the headwinds—the algorithm changes to Facebook and Instagram, the uncertainty around Twitter, and the growing backlash to purpose work that misses the mark—all of that points to fewer large-scale purpose campaigns.

I happen to think a lot of what has been called “purpose-driven” work is terrific—and much of it has been successful in raising awareness about important social issues, as well as commercially. But if social media channels begin to behave more like traditional media, that might mean less of those campaigns, more portability of ads across channels, and maybe, just maybe, a step back towards brand and product.

By John Long

John Long has held creative leadership positions at Ogilvy, The Economist Group and Huge. He is currently executive creative director at LG’s in-house agency, HS Ad.

Sourced from Muse by Clio

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How Google Marketing mapped the post-cookie future for clients

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By Awards Analyst

Essence and Google won at The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising 2022 in the most effective use of performance category for a data audit framework that identifies gaps in first-party data usage. Here, we find out more about what went into this successful program.

Google Marketing commissioned Essence to develop a roadmap to guide the use of data in its paid performance media campaigns, a process which necessitated the development of new tools to make sense of first party, digital and survey-based data for personalization.

The brief

Faced with the advertising industry’s remorseless shift towards a privacy-first future Google Marketing instructed its long-term agency of record to uncover opportunities in three key areas: tagging health; audience planning and first-party data usage.

The idea

Focussed on increased ad spending among small and medium-sized businesses the data-centric approach optimized performance in terms of audience enrichment, personalization and revenue. In doing so Google has taken an important step towards untying the gordian knot of managing regulatory change with rising consumer expectations.

The results

The results speak for themselves with a fourfold improvement in cost per acquisition reported within six weeks of launch. Furthermore, the campaign achieved a 43% and 71% uplift in conversions for Japan and Korea. Last but not least, testing found a 220% incremental uplift in return on ad spend and improved cost per conversion by 19%.

The program has now gone on to inform the approach of other Google businesses wishing to make better use of first-party data.

This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Marketing 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Awards Analyst

Sourced from The Drum

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Payment Transformation Is Here: The Future Of Payments Will Be Frictionless

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By David Armano

Being part of the human race, we often can’t help but have our eyes drawn to the next shiny object. But inherently, we often miss the most significant innovation of the time happening right in front of us. It’s like when we focused too much on 3D televisions and not enough on OTT streaming. While there is a fundamental reason to be excited about the metaverse, NFTs, Web3, and all of the possibilities they hold – there is something much more tangible happening right in front of us, and we’re already taking part in it. Payment transformation is everywhere. While our phones haven’t changed much in the past five years, how we pay for things has. It’s been incremental, but if you look back even five years, you can see how drastically our consumer payment habits have changed.

The more exciting thing about payment transformation isn’t the payment itself; it’s how brands and enterprise solution companies use the payment as an initial touchpoint in apps to drive loyalty programs, curate personalized experiences, and equitable programs. In other words, being able to pay for something directly through an app isn’t even the point of the app; it’s just what gets you in the door to become a brand-loyal customer.

In 2023 and beyond, concentrated convenience rather than commercial awareness will get you to choose a brand. And the applications are endless. Starbucks is probably the universal example because the app lets you order ahead, pay contactless, and skip the line. It also gives you personalized incentives to purchase your favorite items more often. Payments and convenience are always inextricably tied, but to explain payment transformation, the best is the creation of complex backend solutions to make the consumer experience as frictionless and easy as possible. Friction is the enemy of payments. As our attention inevitably fragments, we only notice things when they don’t work; we only stop to question a fee when it isn’t seamless or trustworthy.

What Will Payment Transformation Look Like In The Near Future?

Global fintech Worldpay from FIS’ Future Payments Predictions for 2025 answers one of those questions in the name. But the interactive guide delves into nine different industries, from travel and retail to groceries and gaming. FIS is a critical player in all sectors in introducing new payment technologies. This month, Worldpay for Platforms also launched a tool that allows software companies to empower that serve small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to advance their users’ interactions by embedding payments and finance more seamlessly features into their software or platform through a single integration.

While v-commerce (pay by car), being able to pay through metaverse universes seamlessly, and a few other innovations mentioned catch your attention. There are also some very tangible things happening right now that make complete sense. Travel companies are racing to be the most convenient and interwoven super app. We are already conditioned to use one app to search for multiple things. Still, the ability to take a trip (especially internationally) and have the ability to find and pay for everything within one app with no currency issues can easily create brand loyalty. Once there is brand loyalty, the ability to make recommendations while on the trip or future trips opens up endless possibilities.

Major grocers have a real opportunity to use BaaS (banking as a service) to elevate the Starbucks app model. People often ponder a fully contactless point-of-sale, but that still comes with some hurdles and expenses. The natural and present opportunity is to become a one-stop-shop for people in grocery and have the payments app double as a banking app. On the B2B side, all the small vendors that work with a major grocery chain can also bank, apply for loans, and strengthen both B2B and B2C loyalty.

Despite rising interest rates, real estate is historically a solid investment. But there are also innovations to help reduce payments to keep buyers motivated. MeridianLink has patented automation to help lenders and buyers navigate high-interest rates. Debt optimization is an automated process a financial institution can tap into before a mortgage loan closes. This automation analyzes a consumer’s financial data to determine if there is existing consumer debt that can be consolidated or refinanced within the financial institution, allowing the possibility of a lower mortgage loan rate or qualifying for a mortgage they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for.

The Role of Speed and Security In Payment Transformation

Speed is undoubtedly critical to payment transformation. Dwolla VP Adam Steinhardt, in a recent op-ed lays out their real-time payments (RTP) network, what that means, and the possibilities that even minor convenient tweaks to our standard systems can make. RTP is still an industry term, but it expects it to be a household name like SaaS or CRM soon. But there are many benefits to sending and receiving money in seconds, not 30 days. That’s more buying power, more efficiency, and for example, more security for gig economy workers who – to some people’s surprise – are often paid weekly, not for every gig.

However, speed only works with security. We all want speed, but people have to trust the process. Experian’s latest offering, Experian Link, creates more certainty for credit card transactions by verifying customers and reducing fraud. Experian is the first credit reporting agency to link consumer identity with a payment method to enable businesses to provide customers with a frictionless online experience. Incorporating additional identity verification makes sense to add an additional layer of security for merchants and convenience for consumers.

Security can also be maximized by using multiple databases. “Use the right tool for what you are doing” is a standard recommendation in the tech world. It is common to use various tools in conjunction to achieve a goal. Payments platform Regpack did just that when it used relationship databases (specifically MySQL) and document-based databases (specifically MongoDB) to reach a complex minimum constant dev structure. An unexpected side-effect was enhanced security structure and privacy for PID (personal identifying data).

The biggest takeaway is that most of us don’t think about payments until they don’t work, aren’t secure, or aren’t convenient. Over the past ten years, we’ve rapidly adopted Venmo, CashApp, Square, tap to pay, Amazon Go stores, and countless other innovations. But the lasting point of payment transformation is that this new wave will have a constant theme of loyalty. The payment is essential; it will innovate, get more secure, and be more seamless. Like an iPhone, all that change will happen without us really noticing. But we will see that our convenient payment habits will drive brand loyalty and personalization. Because if our traditions teach us anything, we will keep returning to whatever creates the least friction, whether we notice it or not.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By David Armano

A seasoned strategist and executive, I work with some of the most recognizable brands in the world to help them evolve at the speed of tomorrow. I’ve helped build some of the earliest e-commerce Websites, pioneer the field of social media marketing including community management and have cultivated a high quality audience of professionals spanning marketing, technology, communications and user experience design.

Sourced from Forbes

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‘Google is really nailing us’: Publishers re-shift commerce strategies after platform releases flurry of algorithm updates

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By Kayleigh Barber

As always, Google can cause chaos for publishers depending on the digital behemoth’s whims.

This autumn was a whirlwind for publishers as Google released not one but three algorithm changes over the course of a month that affected content rankings, specifically of product reviews. It’s another example of how the tech giant can cause disruption for publishers that have built businesses around trying to take advantage of its algorithm to reach people.

Timeline of Google’s recent algorithm changes:

•August 25: helpful content update •September 12: core updates •September 20: product reviews update

“Google is really nailing us,” said a media exec candidly in exchange for anonymity at the Digiday Publishing Summit last month.

Google claimed the algorithm changes were intended to prioritize search results considered the most helpful to internet goers, or content that’s “written by people, for people.” This means articles with expert insights, as well as original photography and original content descriptions (not regurgitated from the manufacturer’s website), will be ranked higher in search results. A Google spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on the record.

Already facing a number of challenges in the commerce revenue department, several publishers like 360 Reviews and Hunker have expressed that they’re still trying to fully unpack to what extent these algorithm changes have impacted their search traffic and how to accommodate Google’s latest content guidelines in their edit strategies. Meanwhile, other publishers, like CNET, said their businesses experienced no ill effects from these rollouts, in part because their editorial approach to commerce content already follows Google’s guidelines.

“It’s been a choppy 90 days in some of our product categories but in others, it’s been totally flat. We’re not too far off from where we were 90 days ago,” said Amro Naddy, vp and general manager at U.S. News & World Report’s 360 Reviews, during a panel at StackCommerce’s Activate event earlier this week. He did not disclose which categories were impacted, but jokingly added, “I burned some extra candles on my altar last night and prayed to the oracle to save us.”

CNET has focused on expert insights and original photography that shows the products have been reviewed by experts — the secret sauce for keeping its content ranked high through the updates, said Lindsey Turrentine, evp of content and audience at CNET.

One new reviewer in the television category was trained for nine months to learn about all the criteria considered when reviewing a TV and how to effectively assess this technology under executive editor David Katzmaier. While this isn’t something that Google can see or take into consideration in the rankings, Turrentine said that eventually Google will register “that the same name shows up against the content over a long period of time and that the quality of the content itself is very high” bodes in the publication’s favor when it comes to ranking that author’s content more positively.

It’s unclear the impact the changes have had on Leaf Group’s Hunker but featuring snippets and video in traditional commerce articles have caused a drop in rankings, said svp and general manager Eve Epstein.

The media brand, like other publishers, is also focused on creating original content. Much of its holiday shopping content will be created in the brand’s Hunker House showroom and event space, which is on occasion transformed into a production studio, Epstein said.

What’s one to do?

Be flexible.

“You need to be able to absorb a 10 [to] 25% fluctuation [in search traffic] pre- and post- an algorithm change,” said Naddy, who did not share what these figures have looked like at U.S. News & World Report. There, internal SEO experts are explaining what these changes could mean to the commerce team, though Naddy was sheepish to say more about how his team was modifying its strategy to appeal to Google’s new standards.

This isn’t the first time Google targeted product reviews on its platform. The latest batch of algorithm updates comes a little over a year after an April 2021 product reviews update, which favored content that compared products to one another as well as content that expressed expert knowledge.

The change was welcome at the time by one publishing exec from company with a large commerce operation, who spoke anonymously to Digiday last year. They added that they were hopeful it would clear out some of the “shitty” commerce content from the top SEO rankings because a lot of it was starting to feel “very pay for play.”

“There’s definitely been a big flurry of updates. Our SEO team has been quite busy,” said Turrentine, who oversees a team that does exactly what Naddy was suggesting.

Once a Google algorithm update is live, Turrentine said an executive summary is created by the SEO team, which then spends a week or two fully understanding the update and noting which pieces of content or subject matters have been impacted. From there, recommendations are made by the SEO team to the edit team regarding headlines, keywords and format, if necessary.

“We follow Google’s guidelines as they provide them, to the extent that they do, which is not very much,” said Turrentine, but despite the lack of insight from Google, CNET avoided taking a rankings hit this time around. “If we saw any change, it was really cantered around that [Sept. 12] core [algorithm] update [and] it was a positive change for us.”

A a diversified approach to content distribution is critical, Jessica Spira, vp of commerce at Hearst Digital Newspapers, said during the StackCommerce Activate event. To avoid getting slammed by algorithm changes, she works with websites to understand where brands can create direct relationships with users that are off platforms, including commerce-focused newsletters and boosting commerce content on the sites’ homepages.

Spira, who only recently joined Hearst in the same week as the Activate event, only spoke at a high level about strategies for avoiding a reliance on Google traffic.

“While Google traffic is so performative and so successful in terms of converting users into actual purchasers, you are dependent on that algorithm, and you are like an algorithm change away from missing your quarter and it’s a bloodbath,” Spira said.

Feature Image Credit: Ivy Liu 

By Kayleigh Barber

Sourced from DIGIDAY

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4 Native E-Commerce Trends In A Cookie-Less Era

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By Jérôme de Guigné

A cookie-less world is coming. Tech giant Apple has already phased out third-party cookies, and Google is set to follow. While third-party cookies and behavioural targeting make advertisers’ worlds go round, cookies that track users from site to site have long been a privacy grey area. Plenty of users employ cookie blockers, and cookie consent is annoying for everyone. Cookies are also becoming less reliable than they used to be, as the data gained from them is patchy and inconsistent.

But with no cookies, how will brands collect audience data? The answer is native e-commerce.

The Tracking Cookies Are Crumbling

When brands can’t follow users with cookies, recognizing customers and their digital journeys will fall to single platforms. Consider Amazon, which can track a customer through a single login across services like Prime Video, Kindle and Alexa. Google can do the same through Google Search, YouTube and Gmail, and Meta through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. This strategy is what we call native e-commerce—retail being integrated into a website or platform, allowing the customer to shop where they are.

The 4 Biggest Trends In Native E-Commerce

In a world without third-party cookies, native e-commerce is the retail landscape of the future. Today, this strategy is shaping the digital landscape in several areas.

1. Sister Sites

Generally, data created by native e-commerce platforms can be more limited than what third-party cookies offer because it doesn’t follow customers to other websites. However, that’s why these platforms work best with companies that can create or buy other websites as sister products.

Amazon is a great case study for this. Look at its huge media offering, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, Kindle and Alexa. The company recognized the enormous power of combining media and shopping, and it’s adding to these services all the time. Amazon has recently bolstered its Prime offering with live sports and is now courting influencers with Amazon Live. The data it gleans from customers using all these products is endless.

2. Social Commerce

Social media can be a great resource for sales generation. For example, Instagram and Facebook already have in-app shopping features. Sponsored shopping posts on both platforms have a more compelling look and feel compared to normal posts or ads. Instagram, normally hostile to external URLs, has shoppable adverts that feature a “Shop now” button that takes users to an in-app version of a company’s website. We expect to see these features continue to improve.

3. Augmented Reality

Though TikTok and Snapchat aren’t as utilized as the big platforms, their social commerce features are fascinating. They include the likes of Brand Takeover ads and sponsored hashtags. Most notably, both platforms use augmented reality (AR) to allow users to add effects to their selfies and videos, and advertisers can create their own AR ads.

AR has more direct applications too. We’ve seen cosmetics brands used in a similar way, for example, so customers can see how different lipstick shades might look on them. It’s clear that we’re only seeing the beginning of AR’s impact on native e-commerce and retail at large.

4. Contextualized Video

Brands engage in contextualized video marketing when they advertise products or services alongside highly relevant content. Most often, this takes the form of a visual playing before video content, but it could also be a visual ad appearing on a relevant blog page. The technology that supports this strategy is even sophisticated enough that if viewers skip to a relevant part of the video, brands can advertise at that point.

The native e-commerce sphere is huge and exciting, and we mostly see positives—more efficient, targeted advertising; better conversion rates; and a better customer experience. As it continues to rise, we’ll likely see companies like Google and Meta making their more-targeted audience data available to marketers. (Amazon is already making headway through its recently announced Marketing Cloud, and Apple is rumored to be building its own demand-side platform.) By keeping an eye on the trends of native e-commerce, businesses can stay relevant and successful.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Jérôme de Guigné

Jérôme de Guigné, Founder & CEO, e-Comas. Read Jérôme de Guigné’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Claims WhatsApp ‘Far More Private and Secure’ Than Apple’s iMessage

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is claiming that the company’s WhatsApp messaging platform is “far more private and secure” than Apple’s iMessage platform. Zuckerberg’s claim came in a new Instagram post. Considering Meta’s entire business model is based on tracking and advertising, Zuckerberg’s claims can be considered somewhat iffy.

WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats. With WhatsApp you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button. And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have.

The post shares a Meta billboard in New York City that promotes WhatsApp over SMS or iMessage. Apple’s Tim Cook and Zuckerberg have long been in an ongoing battle of words.

During 2021, Facebook continued its public battle with Apple over changes in iOS and iPadOS that made it harder for companies to track users across other websites and apps. Facebook claimed Apple’s “App Tracking Transparency” hurts small businesses that rely on advertising to attract new customers. Zuckerberg went so far as to claim that Facebook’s lackluster growth in the last quarter of the year was partly to blame on Apple’s App Tracking Transparency.

In case you’ve forgotten, Meta, otherwise known as Facebook, was named the worst company of the year for 2021, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo Finance. The “honour” followed a bad year for the company, as it faced 12 months of public backlash, criticism from all quarters, and even a rebranding of the social media company.

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Gartner report: 70% of organizations will implement structured automation by 2025

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Sourced from VentureBeat

A recent Gartner survey of 304 infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders and their teams found that 85% of I&O leaders that do not currently have any full automation expect to become more automated in the next two to three years.

Given rising interest in I&O automation, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of organizations will implement structured automation to deliver flexibility and efficiency. This is an increase from 20% of organizations who had implemented structured automation in 2021.

The survey found I&O is most often using automation within deployment domains, a natural focus point of automation activities as organizations work to reduce friction found at the intersection of I&O and its technology-producing consumers. Most respondents report their efforts in automating application deployment, security compliance and server deployment to be impactful and valuable.

Infrastructure and operations leaders are most often using automation within deployment domains, such as application deployment, I&O workload automation and end-user device deployment. Image source: Gartner.

However, the rise of devops, Agile and site reliability engineering (SRE) has led to more automation within operational domains, like monitoring and analytics and incident problem resolution. The survey found that with just 43% of I&O teams currently automating monitoring and analytics, 83% find such automation efforts to be valuable. Similarly, only 36% of I&O teams are automating incident and problem resolution, but it’s considered valuable by more than three-quarters of those respondents.

The survey also found that only 21% of I&O leaders report high levels of success in their automation endeavours. To successfully manage I&O automation and increase success, Gartner experts recommend that I&O teams automate deployment but ensure they do not neglect automating valuable operational opportunities such as change management, vulnerability remediation, and backup and disaster recovery.

Lay foundations for success by determining automation’s potential value, improving processes before automating and equipping the workforce with critical automation skills.

Methodology

Gartner’s 2022 Adaptive Automation in Infrastructure & Operations Survey was conducted April through May 2022 among 304 respondents from North America, EMEA and APAC, across industries and companies with $1 billion or more annual revenue. Qualified respondents were senior IT I&O leaders, their peers or direct reports with IT automation initiatives within their scope of responsibilities.

Read the full report [subscription required] from Gartner.

Feature Image Credit: Feodora Chiosea/Getty Images

Sourced from VentureBeat

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What is predictive modelling?

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By Ali Azhar

In predictive modelling, future events are predicted based on statistical analysis. Read this guide to understand how predictive modelling works and how it can benefit your business.

The rapid adoption of digital products and services has created vaster volumes of data than we’ve ever seen before. As a result, an increasing number of organizations are using big data analytics and strategies to derive value from available data.

This data is often too complex and extensive for humans to analyse manually, especially for organizations that want to derive future insights from existing data sets. Organizations are instead relying on predictive modelling tools to connect data points and identify patterns in data. With the right predictive modelling tools and strategies, companies are able to make predictions about future events, customer behaviours and market trends.

Jump to:

What is predictive modelling?

Predictive modelling, a component of predictive analysis, is a statistical process used to predict future outcomes or events using historical or real-time data. Businesses often use predictive modelling to forecast sales, understand customer behaviour and mitigate market risks. It is also used to determine what historical events are likely to occur again in the future.

Predictive modelling solutions frequently use data mining technologies to analyse large sets of data. Common steps in the predictive modelling process include gathering data, performing statistical analysis, making predictions, and validating or revising the model. These processes are repeated if additional input data becomes available.

Benefits of predictive modelling

Organizations use predictive modelling to reduce the time, effort and resources that are needed to forecast business outcomes. Here are the top benefits of using predictive modelling:

  • Minimizing risk: Predictive modelling can predict an organization’s potential for cyberattacks, fraudulent transactions and other types of risks.
  • Optimizing marketing campaigns: Using predictive modelling, organizations can uncover customer insights to tailor and recalibrate their marketing campaigns.
  • Maximizing profit margins: Predictive modelling can be used to predict sales revenue, forecast inventory and create pricing strategies.
  • Prioritizing resources: There are several ways predictive modelling can help prioritize resources for an organization. For example, sales teams can receive lists of expected leads to convert, allowing them to allocate more time and effort to these high-priority leads.

One of the challenges or limitations of predictive modelling is that the results are only as good as the data used to construct the model. To ensure predictive modelling is as effective as it can be, organizations should implement data quality tools to keep data accurate, safe and reliable. They should also prepare the data for business use by cleansing and formatting it for predictive modelling needs.

How to build a predictive model

There are various predictive modelling techniques. The two most prevalent techniques involve using neural networks and regression, respectively. In statistics, regression refers to establishing a relationship between input and output variables. The predictive model could be linear or nonlinear, depending on the variables.

In neural networks, predictive modelling tools use interconnected nodes in hierarchical levels, a model inspired by the human brain. These nodes create patterns and relationships between variables to establish future trends. Beyond these two most popular predictive modelling techniques, businesses also use clustering, outliers and classification models.

Traditionally, predictive modelling was handled manually by a data analytics team. But as the process has become more complex and data quality efforts have increased exponentially, using computer software for predictive modelling has become increasingly popular. As a result, most organizations use predictive modelling tools such as Oracle Crystal Ball, RapidMiner Studio and SAP Predictive Analytics.

Predictive model examples

Many industries rely on predictive modelling to help with key business decisions. These are some common use cases for predictive modelling:

Finance and banking

Predictive modelling is used in banking to identify fraud and illegal activities. For example, the amount and frequency of transactions are analysed to recognize patterns or trends in money laundering.

Supply chain management

In supply chain management, predictive modelling is used to forecast the impact of multiple variables on the inventory. Different risk factors can be plugged into the calculations to check their effect on the efficiency and reliability of the supply chain.

Digital marketing

In digital marketing, predictive modelling can help market research analysts improve their understanding of customer behaviour, which can reduce customer acquisition costs and improve sales conversion rates. This is done by modelling customer buying trends and online engagement based on historical data.

Feature Image Credit: doidam10/Adobe Stock

By Ali Azhar

Ali is a professional writer with diverse experience in content writing, technical writing, social media posts, SEO/SEM website optimization, and other types of projects. Ali has a background in engineering, allowing him to use his analytical skills and attention to detail for his writing projects.

Sourced from TechRepublic

 

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Emotionally Intelligent People Know How to Be Authentic Without Being Toxic. Here’s How They Do It

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By Justin Bariso

Regardless of your personality, you can be authentic. But doing so takes effort.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Justin Bariso

Sourced from Inc.

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3 Questions That Will Improve Your Personal Brand

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Entrepreneurs have long been quick to adopt new marketing trends, and personal branding is no exception.

Personal branding has finally become something that most entrepreneurs have accepted as a must-do. Thanks to Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk, and other public-facing founders, more business owners are hopping on the personal branding train and making an effort to put a face to their companies.

The problem is most entrepreneurs are throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. If you want to build a personal brand that helps your business’s bottom line, you need to be intentional with how you show up.

And no, that doesn’t mean picking out the perfect filter for your Instagram grid or paying for thousands of fake followers to “look” important.

After helping entrepreneurs in all industries step into the spotlight and grow a personal brand people buy from, there are three non-negotiable questions you must ask yourself before getting started. (If you’ve already been trying to grow your personal brand for some time — don’t worry. Take a moment now, ask yourself these questions, and notice the gaps in your strategy that might be stalling your growth).

1. What kind of impression do you want to leave?

Modern-day personal branding is like going to an event, meeting someone new for the first time, and finding yourself talking about them a month later because something about them got etched so deeply in your brain.

When you leave the room at a party (i.e., when you finish having an interaction with an ideal client):

  • What do you want them to take away?
  • What do you hope they remember?
  • What do you want your target market to associate you with?
  • How do you want to be remembered?

These questions all fall under the same roof: defining what kind of impression you want to make on your target audience. By answering these questions, you create (or recreate) the foundation of your personal brand. Without the proper foundation, the house can’t be built.

2. How do you want to make people feel?

Continuing from question one, we’re taking it one step further. While most entrepreneurs on social media spend their time making sure their personal brand “looks” a certain way, they forget that’s not ultimately what makes someone buy.

People buy from you because of how you make them feel.

All humans make their buying decisions based on emotion. We buy with emotion and justify with logic. To grow your personal brand, you must clarify how you want to make people feel at the core. Think about your target audience and how you want them to feel after they come in contact with your personal brand.

Do you want them to feel:

  • Empowered?
  • Brave?
  • Confident?
  • Relaxed?
  • Energized?
  • Calm?

After you answer this question, you will have the creative clarity to craft a content strategy that shares one common goal: to make people feel a certain way.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a shining example of this. His personal brand’s biggest objective is to help people feel empowered and in control. Every single piece of content he puts out aims to help his target audience feel capable of creating a life they truly love.

3. Am I willing to let my audience in?

Here’s the hard truth: today’s biggest, most widely known personal brands are the ones who take their audiences behind the scens. In other words, if you are serious about growing a personal brand that people not only love — but buy from — you need to be willing to connect with your audience on a human level consistently.

While this can be done in various ways, the easiest way is to tell your story. Instead of the company’s story — tell your story. Show your audience who you were before you were a leader. Show your audience what you overcame to build your company and bring your vision to reality. Show your audience that you’re so much more than your title, and show them that you’re a human just like them.

This doesn’t mean you need to tell all of your deepest darkest secrets. It means you need to decide what things you’re comfortable sharing with your audience from your personal life.

For example, some CEOs share everything from their quirky hobbies outside of work to their family, their kids and numerous other hats they wear. In contrast, others prefer to share only one or two different components of what makes them.

The most important thing to remember is that what works for someone else doesn’t have to be the way you do it. You get to let your audience in whichever way feels most authentic and aligned for you.

As long as you aren’t hiding behind your title, accomplishments and computer, you’re one step closer to building a personal brand that grows your business’ impact and income.

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Sourced from Entrepreneur

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