Even though research shows most of us tend to start with sharing the good news first.
I recently asked LinkedIn followers two questions:
“If someone has good news and bad news, do you want to hear the good news first or the bad?”
“If you have good news and bad news to share, do you tend to start with the good news or the bad?”
Oddly enough, most people said they want to hear the bad news first — even though most people say they tend to share the good news first.
Or maybe not so oddly. A 2013 study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found thatmost people prefer to share the good news first, a news-order delivery approach the researchers call “priming emotion-protection.” (Or in non-researcher-speak, “This will probably go badly, so I’d better ease into it.”
That news-order receipt approach also makes intuitive sense. Much in the same way feedback sandwiches fail miserably, if only because the recipient feels manipulated, starting with the good news increases the worry factor.
If I know bad news is coming, I’m unlikely to pay much attention to — or even care about — the good news.
If you have bad news to share, it’s natural to seek to protect yourself from how other people may react, and easing into things can feel a little safer.
But hopefully the goal of delivering bad news is to create some sort of change. To alert others about a potential issue. To solve a problem. To change a plan or direction. Unless you’re just mean, delivering bad news starts some sort of process.
As the researchers write, “Perspective-taking … shifts news-givers’ delivery patterns to the preferred order of news-recipients.” So take a moment to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Remember, most people want to hear the bad news first. If you have good and bad news to share, think about what is most beneficial to the other person.
Take that approach, and you’ll put their needs first and lead with the bad news.
The Problem-Solving Factor
There’s another reason to always start with the bad news. Imagine your business makes electric bikes. The head of your purchasing department walks into your office.
“We have a problem,” she says. “Our supplier can’t deliver control units for at least a month, which means the majority of our current orders will ship at least five weeks late.”
That’s definitely bad news. But at least it’s out of the way, and she — and therefore you — can immediately shift to problem-solving. The good news?
She’s already alerted customer service and they’re working on a plan.
She’s alerted sales, and they’re already working on revising your website, and shifting your advertising mix from direct response to brand awareness.
She’s also trying to source components from other suppliers.
That’s good news. She could have delivered it first, and maybe you would have gotten to the same place.
But probably not as quickly, since your focus would have been less on solutions and more on waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The next time you’re tempted to lead with the good news, do what great leaders do and put other people’s needs first.
Not only will they appreciate that approach, but the eventual outcome is likely to be better, too.
Join Ad Net Zero Ireland for an Information Session via Zoom on 17th January 2023 from 3 – 4pm.
During this session, you will learn more about what is involved & how to become a Supporter.
The Agenda will be:
· A Brief Overview of Ad Net Zero, how to become a supporter & what is involved – Elizabeth Sheehan, Chair of Ad Net Zero Ireland
· An update on Ad Net Zero Global – Anthony Falco– Ad Net Zero Global Consultant
· Overcoming obstacles to accelerating decarbonisation and positive behaviour change, adapting marketing practices & benefits of being an ANZ supporter – Sebastian Munden, Chair of Ad Net Zero Global
· Panel Discussion on being an active supporter of Ad Net Zero Ireland and what it means for business
· Q & A
The climate emergency is the most pressing issue affecting us all, and our advertising industry can play a huge role in driving positive change.
We want to help our industry deliver on its full potential to support businesses and people to deal with this emergency and build a more sustainable future. The climate emergency is a global matter, and as a global industry, we need global solutions.
You’ve defined your content strategy, assembled a team or found a great outsourcing partner. Before you can start creating content your audience wants to read and share, you need to set up systems that guarantee quality over quantity.
Quality should always be your priority in content creation. Search engines value quality content when ranking websites; even more importantly, quality content significantly affects your readers and customers. But, you must apply reviewing and editing criteria to an article before publishing it.
Here’s how to make sure you’re producing quality content.
What’s at the core of quality online content?
You should always aim for a few core factors in your content production. Use this checklist to guide your writers and editors:
Originality: What does your content (in other words, your brand) offer that no other content does? How does it stand out from the crowd? What makes the perspective unique?
Readability: Does the article summarize and explain complex matters in an approachable way? Is it written engagingly?
Voice: Does the tone speak to the reader? Does it match your brand’s culture and message?
Relevance: Is the article meaningful to its intended reader? Does it help the reader’s purpose or answer their questions? Is it both timely and up-to-date?
Timelessness: Will the content still be relevant and exciting in a few years? Could it easily be updated if needed?
Grammar and spelling: Is the writing free of typos and grammatical mistakes?
As is the nature of our digital world, these criteria constantly evolve. This means staying on top of the latest content marketing research and analysis and adjusting your strategy as needed is essential.
Search engine optimization basics for content writing
Ensuring your content performs well online and achieves first-page ranking means adhering to specific rules set by Google (or other search engines) algorithms.
Critical factors for crafting optimized content include:
Length: 1,000 to 3,000 words is perfect for blog posts and articles. Landing pages or description pages perform better at 300 to 500 words.
Structure: Format your content using title (H1) and subheaders (H2 and greater) tags. Use keywords and phrases in your headers.
Links: Linking to internal and authoritative external web pages increases traffic and performance.
Keywords: Use relevant keywords, including long-tail keywords, phrases and LSI keywords.
Keyword density: While using relevant keywords is non-negotiable, a keyword density that is too high can result in keyword stuffing. This will lower your SEO ranking.
Meta title and description: A catchy meta title and description that includes your primary keyword or phrase attracts your readers and the Google algorithm.
A recent report found that, as of 2021, around 61% of businesses still review each piece of submitted content. This inefficient, “one at a time” strategy contributes to a significant loss of productivity.
There are various online tools designed to help you to optimize your workflow. One person can now achieve what once required an entire team and considerable time — and to the same standard.
Organizing your workflow
When it comes to setting up an efficient process, take advantage of tools that allow you to use filters to sort articles by your chosen review and quality control criteria. Applying the filters to incoming content will help you quickly decide which articles are ready for publishing and which may benefit from QCing, editing or rewriting.
Best of all if you can make this system available to any team member, allowing you to delegate tasks as needed.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism isn’t just an ethical or quality concern. Repeated content is down-ranked down by search engine algorithms.
There are a lot of plagiarism checkers out there on the Internet and some of them even use AI to detect plagiarized or paraphrased content within seconds. Use them to make sure your content is unique and offers real value to the readers.
Grammar, spelling and style
Ideally, you should hire an editor to proofread your content and catch typos, syntax, diction and grammar errors.
If for whatever reason you don’t have access to an editor, take advantage of online tools to help yourself. You can find a few AI-based online software that checks your grammar, highlights repetitive words and phrases and recommends style improvements.
Translation tools can also help you (broadly) determine if an article in a foreign language is insightful and informative. Using tools for that is now accurate enough to spot repetitive, irrelevant or inappropriate content.
Keyword density
The number of times a keyword is used in a text directly impacts how search engines like Google rank it.
Experts generally recommend a keyword density of around 1% to 2%. This means that a paragraph of 100 words should only contain a keyword once — or twice at most. Some content marketers recommend one keyword for every 200 words.
For efficiency, you don’t need to count the keywords in every paragraph manually. Remember that nowadays there are online tools that do that for you. All you need to do is insert the article URL or the text and a tool spits out a keyword density percentage.
Apply these guidelines to your writing today
Are you keen to start writing a few great pieces for your small business website each month?
The focus of any content creation strategy — big or small — should be on quality over quantity. Thankfully, it’s easy to craft quality content if you stick to a few simple guidelines, incorporate the latest SEO practices and use online tools.
So, what are you waiting for? Use these tips and best practices to guide your content team or put (digital) pen to paper today.
Why are B2B brands increasingly turning to influencer marketing?
B2B influencer marketing is the business-oriented cousin to the B2C Instagram entertainment and lifestyle influencer. In B2B, some influencers go by creators, subject matter experts, industry experts, or other terms that disassociate them from the B2C influencer.
Whichever term is used, B2B influencer marketing provides an ideal way to combat disintegrating brand trust, so it’s no wonder that by the end of 2022 the B2B influencer marketing vertical is expected to reach $11.7 billion in revenue, with over 38 percent of B2B firms exploring influencer marketing for lead-generation and more, according to AdAge.
B2B influencer marketing is a many-faceted digital diamond that when done well shines brightly, however brands need to be wary of treating it like its vastly different B2C counterpart.
Let’s take a look at 20-plus advantages that B2B influencer marketing holds over traditional marketing strategies.
B2B Influencer Marketing Offers Key Advantages
New analysis published in the Harvard Business Review has shown that average brand boost could reach 16.6 percent by properly utilizing influencer marketing, with influencer originality accounting for a 15.5 percent rise in return on investment (ROI).
B2B marketers have said that influencer marketing will be among their three top priorities in the next three to five years, as 59 percent of marketing leaders noted that they considered B2B influencer marketing a priority today, and 64 percent pinpointing it as a top priority over the upcoming three to five years, according to recently-released survey data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
The academic world has also begun to take notice of the power of B2B influencer marketing, such as the comprehensive “B2B Influencer Marketing: Conceptualization and Four Managerial Strategies” study recently-published by Science Direct / Elsevier, including numerous citations to our own ground-breaking first industry B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.
Influencer marketing has emerged as a key way that B2B brands can get the most marketing bang for their buck and help recession-proof marketing strategy. U.S. organizations are expected to spend $6.16 billion on influencer marketing during 2023, climbing from the $5 billion seen during 2022, as influencer marketing has been more resilient than other forms of marketing, with influencer marketing budgets staying strong, according to recently-published forecast data from Insider Intelligence.
Enduring Relationships & Increased Thought Leadership
42 percent of organizations with more than 1,000 employees work with influencers and creators, while only 28 percent of smaller businesses with under 100 workers do, according to Hootsuite’s newly-released annual social trends report. 2023 is likely to see more B2B organizations of all size either expand their existing influencer programs or beginning their first.
B2B influencer marketing helps improve brand reputation and awareness, as well as generating new leads, as diginomica recently explored in “Influencer Marketing – first, catch your influencer…,” also featuring data taken from our most recent research report.
“In our survey, over half of respondents said they included internal executives in their influencer content. Nearly half said they included their employees as well. This is a clear opportunity to create more valuable content and build your organization’s thought leadership at the same time,” Joshua observed.
“It’s time to redefine influence. Your most valuable prospects are looking to industry leaders, practitioners and peers for advice. Your team can deliver all of the above with the right mix of influencers,” Joshua added.
When it comes to creating meaningful brand experiences and authentically connecting with buyers, B2B influencer marketing has found growing success. “In times like these, the importance of influence is critical for B2B brands that need to connect authentically with their buyers and create meaningful experiences,” Lee observed in our “2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: New Data, Insights, Case Studies, Predictions.”
Social media platforms have proven to hold both influence and attention, while the influencer economy has gained precedence as a top form of customer communications, as B2B brand content creators increasingly become the faces of the brands they represent, as Talkwalker recently covered in its Social Media Trends 2023 Global Report.
“Content creators will become the faces of the brands they represent, especially in B2B. People trust people more than companies. Expertise is key to building trust with your audience,” Daniel Murray, founder of The Marketing Millennials observed.
Dispelling The Boring-To-Boring Myth & Boosting Engagement
The type of digital experiences that work so well within a B2B influencer marketing framework go a long way towards dispelling the longstanding notion of B2B being nothing but boring-to-boring, as Lee detailed in the recent “Break Free of Boring B2B with Influencer Content Ft. Lee Odden” episode of The Data-Driven Marketing podcast with host Mark Richardson, director of global content operations at Dun & Bradstreet.
The popularity of influencer marketing is on the rise, as 85 percent of respondents to our extensive survey expect activity to increase over the next year, with B2B marketers increasing their level of maturity and sophistication and shifting towards always-on, relationship-based influencer communities. You can take an eye-opening look at the future and power of B2B influence from 10 of the world’s top experts and influencers in our “10+ B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions From Top Experts & Influencers.”
(Click Through For More Predictions)
B2B influencer marketing also helps when it comes to boosting content engagement. In fact, 32 percent of marketers and influencers have said that influencer marketing has increased engagement, while 65 percent of marketers said that influencer marketing works more often than it fails, recent data has shown.
Additionally, 30 percent of consumers have reported that recommendations from influencers are among the most important factors in purchase decisions — more than the 27 percent who pointed to friends or family, while an upcoming greater reliance on influencers has joined greater adoption of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), according to HubSpot’s look at the future of social media.
B2B Influence Will See Increasing Use Among Brands in 2023
While this list of more than 20 of the reasons why B2B brands are increasingly moving to influencer marketing only scratches the surface, 2023 is certain to see new takes on B2B influencer marketing that we can’t yet set, however by keeping on top of the most recent industry shifts, we’ll be better prepared for what the coming years hold in store.
Especially with B2B influencer content, crafting award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.
When it comes to running a business, there are a million different ways to get things accomplished. And if you have even a few employees, you know that if given the chance every employee will do things just a little bit differently. Which can not only cause confusion and difficulty in cross-training, but can really slow down your growth trajectory if left unchecked. So today, I wanted to talk a little bit about creating structure within your business and give you some tips on how to streamline the process for maximum efficiency.
The UBS
Within my own business and that of my business coaching clients, we teach them to create systems which we call UBS’s or universal business systems. Which is a fancy acronym for a set of documents, videos and guidelines for how we do everything within our business. It’s the structure that we use for meetings. It’s a structure for how you communicate with others on your team, clients and outside vendors. It’s a structure for how you share plans and do strategic planning. It’s a structure for how you hold each other accountable. It’s the structure for how you do compensation within your organization. It’s a structure for a shared sense of identity. Your mission, your vision, your values and your culture. And all these things collectively, are so important for your overall growth as a business and need to be documented.
Getting Started
Creating a library of UBS’s can seem intimidating at first, especially if you are starting from scratch. So the first thing I often suggest to my clients is that you start off by writing down the first five or ten systems that you would like to document and starting there. Then when those are complete, write out ten more and so on and so forth until you have your core set of documents created. And then as you go about your daily activities make it a habit to document the processes as they happen. If you start using a new program, have the person who owns the platform write out a simple document on how to login, where to find the key features of the program and other tidbits that would be helpful for others using the platform.
Create a Culture Around Structure
Another key thing to remember is that you shouldn’t create all of your systems and UBS’s yourself. Not only would it be impractical for you to spend your time doing so, but you would be missing out on key pieces of information that others on your team may possess. Instead, encourage everyone on your team from all areas to create UBS’s when they take on a new task or project. Have new hires create UBS’s as part of their training, and revisit them often for updates.
Over time with a little bit of planning and accountability you will find yourself with a robust knowledge base for all the systems within your business, which then frees up your valuable time to grow and scale the business. Good luck!
Amplified Intelligence won Most Effective Use of AI Machine Learning at The Drum Awards for Digital Industries 2022 for the development of human attention metrics. Here, we uncover what makes the technology worthy of praise.
By and large, impressions are becoming less reliable as a currency in the advertising industry. This is partly because, until now, there hadn’t been a way to measure whether or not humans were even watching an ad.
Amplified Intelligence tackled this enduring problem. Its novel solution can tell if a human being is actually gazing upon an advertisement, all through machine learning.
If successful, this technology could greatly enhance the goal of all advertising: attracting people to a brand, having them remember it, and driving business growth.
The brief
The artificial intelligence developed by Amplified Intelligence combines eye-tracking technology with machine learning, innovative research design and marketing theory. The result is highly accurate.
According to the company, this formula not only answers fundamental marketing questions for the first time; it elevates the question of how effective advertising is, allowing brands to look at how an ad’s effectiveness varies in different conditions.
The idea
Amplified Intelligence’s proprietary technology delivers three insights: ‘active attention’ (meaning eyes on an ad), ‘passive attention’ (eyes near a screen but not the ad) and ‘non-attention’ (looking away from the screen).
These can provide granular details about human attention across sectors, be it gaming, mobile, television, audio, cinema or out-of-home.
The results
According to Amplified Intelligence, their product has helped customers develop their best advertising campaigns yet.
Using its data insights, agencies have strategically adjusted their media plans, mitigating waste and increasing its reach. Clients include indie agencies like Hatched and Kaimera, and OMG Australia. Irish National Lottery, the first northern hemisphere brand to buy Amplified Intelligence’s AttentionBuy Media Planner product, saw a 35% increase in their attention seconds.
This campaign won at The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries 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.
For years, folks have been talking about the coming AI revolution, about how it’s going to change everything, and about how it is going to cost a lot of people their jobs.
Well, the future is now – and if you are a business leader, you need to start dealing with it today. But don’t take my word for it:
The AI revolution is transforming industries and organizations around the world. As a business leader, it’s important to understand the potential of AI and how it can be used to drive business growth and success. This means staying up to date on the latest developments in the field and learning about the potential applications of AI in your industry. It also means being proactive in incorporating AI into your business, whether through the adoption of new technologies or the development of internal AI capabilities. Finally, it’s important to consider the ethical implications of AI and to ensure that your use of the technology is responsible and aligned with your company’s values.
That passage was written by Open AI’s ChatGPT, a free research AI model that was opened to public last week. It was a response to my question, “What do business leaders need to know about AI?” and it took less than 10 seconds to generate.
It is also completely accurate.
So was its response to my request to write a blog post on the state of Agile in 2022. In less than 20 seconds, the AI generated a 453-word article that was 100% grammatically correct, cogent, and offered valuable insights – explaining that agile has moved beyond the domain of software development where it was born to drive broader business transformations while at the same time warning that those efforts often fail when not coupled to a culture that fosters collaboration and open communications between departments and functions.
That could put a lot of content creators out of a job, but bloggers are not the only ones who need to worry.
Last week, marketeer Zain Kahn asked the AI to perform the same series of tasks that an employee at a marketing firm might be asked to undertake for a client: create an SEO strategy for a website, develop a list of target keywords, write a content strategy for the website, develop 10 blog ideas, then write one of those blogs itself. He even asked the AI to create metadata and simple code for the website to optimize it for bilingual search.
Then he rated its performance.
“I’d rank it as a 5/10. The equivalent of an SEO marketer with 1-2 years of experience earning around $50k/year. Not excellent, but definitely more competent than an SEO intern,” Kahn wrote on Twitter. “All of this took me 5 minutes. In the real world, all of this would probably take at least 5-10 hours.”
In response, one witty marketer posted a revised version of his resume listing his only skill as “chatbot query writer.”
What else is this going to disrupt?
Search engines: Why go to the trouble of googling a topic, then clicking on a website to find the answer you’re looking for when you can just pose your question directly to the AI and get a comprehensive answer? I asked it who the greatest American general of World War II was and was told that Eisenhower, Patton, and MacArthur were all compelling candidates for that title, explaining the relative merits each commander.
Education: I am sure some fast-thinking (but otherwise lazy) students have already used ChatGPT to write their homework papers for them. I asked it to compose an 800-word paper on the key themes in the novel Of Mice and Men and it promptly produced an original essay discussing the American Dream, loneliness, and the bond between George and Lennie. How would a teacher or professor prove I hadn’t written it myself?
Consulting: Why hire Bain when you can type in “develop a business strategy to grow retail sales of diapers in India” to an AI and, in less than 30 seconds, get back a pretty comprehensive plan to “focus on increasing brand awareness, building customer loyalty, expanding the company’s distribution network, and developing a range of products that are tailored to the specific needs of the Indian market” while at the same time pursuing partnerships with local charities to provide free diapers to poor families with a portion of the revenue generated from sales to middle-class consumers. Obviously, there is a lot more to a good business strategy than that, but not as much as consultants would like you to think.
Every leader should be asking themselves what this means for the future of their business.
So should songwriters. Before logging off, I asked ChatGPT to compose a rap song in the style of Eminem about how hard it is to write a good Forbes column:
Verse 1:
I sit down at my desk, ready to write
But the words just won’t come, no matter how hard I try
I’m trying to make this Forbes column the best it can be
But my mind is blank, and I’m starting to see
Chorus:
The struggle, the struggle to write a good Forbes column
It’s real, it’s tough, and it’s taking its toll on me
But I won’t give up, I’ll keep on fighting
Until I finally get this column right
Verse 2:
I stare at the screen, feeling the pressure
I need to deliver, or my readers will desert me
I know I have the talent, I just need to find the flow
But it’s like my mind is a blank slate, and I don’t know where to go
Chorus:
The struggle, the struggle to write a good Forbes column
It’s real, it’s tough, and it’s taking its toll on me
But I won’t give up, I’ll keep on fighting
Until I finally get this column right
Verse 3:
I keep typing, trying different approaches
But nothing seems to work, and I’m starting to lose hope
But then, out of nowhere, I finally hit my stride
The words start flowing, and I know I’m on the right side
Chorus:
The struggle, the struggle to write a good Forbes column
It’s real, it’s tough, but I finally overcame
I kept on pushing, and now my column is a hit
The struggle was worth it, and I’m feeling like a king
Outro:
The struggle is real, but I never gave up
Now my Forbes column is the talk of the town
I kept pushing, and now I’m on top
The struggle was worth it, and I’m feeling like a king.
I am a bestselling author, speaker and president of Red Team Thinking LLC. I teach organizations and individuals around the world how to see the truth, tell the truth and act on the truth – because I believe it is the lies we tell ourselves that hold us back. My books include Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything and American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company. I also lecture at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Are you looking to make money from the comfort of your own couch? With the internet growing more and more every day, there is an abundance of easy online jobs that you can do as a side hustle or even for a full-time income.
Online work is great for stay-at-home parents, college students, and just about anyone who has a device and a steady internet connection.
Are you ready to learn more about how you can earn money online in just a few simple steps?
Let’s dive in.
No time to waste?
Easy Online Jobs For Beginners
Surveys
Taking surveys is one of the top online jobs because you basically get paid to give your opinion on advertisements, products, and more. Many people start to become frustrated with surveys because they must be screened prior to taking them. However, there is an abundance of sites that will match you with companies that need your specific demographics.
Survey Junkie is one of the most reliable survey sites that you can use, but there are others, including:
Depending on the length of the survey, you might be able to make between $1 and $5 per survey. While this doesn’t add up to earning much money online, it’s an easy gig to do in your spare time while watching a movie.
Micro-tasks
Have you ever wondered how companies get people to take small and easy steps to promote their products? One way that companies do this is by offering micro-tasks. This allows users to do simple things like signing up for an email list, shopping through a link, or downloading an app onto their phone.
These can be done any hour of the night or day, and you’ll make a small amount of money for each one you complete. Most of these easy online jobs will pay under $3 per action. The number of tasks that you engage in will dictate how much you earn, but it’s often around $5 per hour.
Website Testing
For those looking for a decent income and an easy online job, they might want to consider website testing. You’ll get paid for remote work as you navigate your way through the internet with basic computer skills.
Apps like Userlytics state that it takes an average of 20 to 40 minutes to complete a website test, making it easy for you to complete multiple tests a day. If you have an entire free day, you could make some solid income with one of these best online jobs.
The good news is that website testing is a lot more lucrative than other easy online jobs like taking surveys. Many of these online jobs allow you to earn around $10 per website test.
Product Tester
Among the great jobs for college students and stay-at-home professionals are product tester jobs. You get free items in exchange for an honest review of how they work, how you felt about their packaging, and every aspect of your experience using them. Oftentimes, you will be asked to fill out a survey after testing the product or you might be asked to write a review.
The only downside is that product testers often make very minimal money online. Instead, they are mostly compensated through these free products.
For a better idea on how you can get started be sure to check out our guide on how to become an Amazon Product Tester.
Online Jobs in Sales
Selling Used Items Online
If you like to hunt through thrift stores for hidden gems or you have an eye for flipping old hand-me-down items you find on Facebook Marketplace, then you might be able to sell used items online on sites like eBay.
The amount of money you can earn depends on what exactly you’re selling. If you’re selling high-end fashion from your closet through Poshmark or TheRealReal, then you might earn hundreds of dollars. Flipping furniture earns similar returns because of the size of the item.
However, if you are flipping smaller items like games or small antiques, then you might only be able to pull in hundreds of dollars a month.
If you want to start your own business but don’t want to launch an e-commerce website, then dropshipping on Amazon might be the right fit for you. You can earn money through the sales of products without ever having to handle product fulfilment on your own.
All you need is a product (which can be found through sites like Alibaba and Ali Express), a little search engine optimization to help people find you, and some hard work.
While it may not take off immediately, you can earn a solid 15% margin or so on your items if you place the price tag right.
T-shirt Sales
For those who have some graphic design skills, you might want to consider whether you can create t-shirt designs that sell. Print-on-demand companies like Printful and Printify allow you to only print the shirts that have sold, reducing overhead and taking your initial investment down to just the sweat equity of creating the design.
You can set up your own storefront on Shopify to facilitate sales, and money will be transferred directly to your bank account.
With the right marketing and branding, you could earn thousands of dollars per month with a pretty hands-off business approach.
Etsy for Handmade Goods
Many people have hidden talents and a bit of a creative flair that they could be capitalizing on. Creative marketplaces like Etsy allow you to make your art and sell it to a ready market of people who want to engage with items like those that you have for sale.
Whether you want to crochet throw blankets, paint coffee mugs, or sell digital downloads, Etsy allows you to sell whatever handmade goods you can dream up.
Depending on how long it takes you to make each item and what you sell it for, it’s quite possible to earn a full time income selling on Etsy. However, it’s best to be realistic about what you can earn as it takes time to build up a following.
Creative Online Jobs
Freelance Writing
Online writing jobs could be an easy way for you to turn your passion for words into a part-time or even a full-time income — all from the comfort of your couch. You don’t necessarily need a bachelor’s degree to make more money this way.
Instead, you can visit sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal to find writing jobs you’ll love. Choose from a variety of writing opportunities:
Search engine optimization (SEO) writing
Copywriting or advertising work
White papers or technical writing
Ghostwriting ebooks or other documents
Pay will vary depending on whether you prefer to work hourly or per word. It usually comes out to be around $10 to $50 per hour though.
Design logos, provide a custom illustration for NFTs, or design marketing materials. The possibilities are endless if you have a great command of design and access to popular programs like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
A full-time graphic designer can make anywhere from $30,000 to $70,000 per year depending on skill level.
Website Designer
Closely related to graphic design, website designers can also make decent money. As one of the best easy online jobs for those with technical skills, you can work on setting up a WordPress website for other businesses or even an individual who wants a personal website.
Full-time web designers tend to make around $55,000 annually.
Blogging
Blogging has been a popular way to make money online for years, but the market feels like it’s already been saturated. If you have something unique to say and a one-of-a-kind way to say it, there can still be time for you to claim a piece of the pie though.
Writing your content isn’t likely to earn you much, but you can capitalize on other ways to earn money online through affiliate marketing and sponsorships.
The best part of blogging is that it is relatively low-cost to get started. If you handle the writing yourself instead of outsourcing it on sites like Upwork and Fiverr, it will cost you only:
In the first year after starting your blog, you might earn an extra $500 per month if you’re able to drive traffic to your site.
Create a Niche Website
Here at Niche Pursuits, we’re passionate about how you can make money by creating niche sites of your own. Similar to blogging, this requires you to create content that people truly care about in a niche that you have deep expertise in – or where you are willing to learn.
Here are a few of our resources for creating a niche website:
If you want to create a niche site and flip it, you can often get a 32x multiple for your site. That means that if it brings in $1,000 per month in revenue, you can flip it for $32,000. Pretty impressive if you’re able to drive traffic!
Course Creation
Creating an online course is an easy way to earn passive income and create an easy online job for yourself. Think about what you have deep experience and expertise in whether that is investing in the stock market, baking gourmet cakes, or playing the guitar.
All you have to do is come up with videos that demonstrate how to follow the steps to accomplish these skills for others, and voila – you have an online course!
The best part of an online course is that you only have to make it once and then host it on a platform like Teachable. It has minimal startup costs and ongoing overhead. Plus, you can make hundreds of dollars off each sale depending on how much content your course contains.
Write an Ebook
If freelance writing isn’t for you, why not write a book for yourself? Writing an ebook is a profitable way to make money, and it requires minimal skill. Even if you aren’t an expert on the topic of your book, you can still research and learn more about an area that interests you.
Self-publishing it on Amazon is quick and easy, requiring very few technical skills.
If formatting your book gets you hung up, you can always hire a freelancer from Upwork or Fiverr to help.
Photography (Stock Photo Website)
Do you love taking pictures but don’t know what to do with them when they’re done? If you have a decent camera and an eye for photography, you can contribute photos to a stock photo site or start your own stock photo site.
Starting your own promises to be more lucrative as no one will be taking a cut of the profits. That being said, it also requires an initial investment in getting your website set up with the photos and the payment required.
Most people make around $0.25 per image per month, but you could make more if selling on your own website with monthly subscription fees.
Voiceover or Voice Acting
Has anyone ever told you that you have a great voice? Not for singing, necessarily, but for a YouTube video or a commercial? Voice acting is one of the best easy online jobs because all it requires is a quiet space (perfect for college students who live alone) and a microphone.
Many people even record their voiceovers directly from the notes app on their smartphones.
Entry-level voiceover actors can make anywhere from $13,000 per year to $30,000 per year, with more experienced professionals earning more.
Video Editing
If you have some technical skills and access to software like Final Cut Pro, then you might be able to hang out a hat out as a video editor. This can be a time-consuming endeavor, and not every content creator is good or efficient at video editing. Transform your skills into a real paycheck with these legitimate online jobs.
Pay for video editors is all over the map, depending on whether you work with big-name brands or smaller influencers on their YouTube channels. You could earn anywhere from $30,000 to $90,000 if you pursue this as a full-time job.
Online Jobs Requiring Experience
Data Entry
Are you a quick typer and good with numbers? Data entry is an underrated way to earn money from home and can be a great gig for students. This online work can sometimes be a bit tedious, but it pays well enough and can be done quickly, especially for college students who tend to be more tech-savvy.
If you’re interested in a data entry job, you can usually make around $10 to $15 per hour. Some jobs may pay a little less depending on what type of data entry you would be doing and how well-established the company offering work may be.
Transcription Jobs
Transcribing documents is another online job that pays fairly well if you are quick on the keyboard. It tends to pay a little bit better than data entry, but the skillset required is much the same. You might need some training in order to make the most use of this online job, particularly if you are transcribing medical documents.
Fortunately, the skills required for this are often taught at technical colleges.
Expect to be paid around $20 per hour upon graduation.
Teaching English or Tutoring
Among the most lucrative jobs for college students is tutoring or even teaching English. No matter what your specialty is, you can enjoy sharing your knowledge and expertise with others through virtual tutoring sessions. You might opt to teach English through programs like VIPKid or act as a math tutor for high school kids.
Tutors often make between $20 and $25 per hour.
Proofreader
If you frequently find yourself pointing out errors in the newspaper or typos in the books you read, then you might have a lucrative future in proofreading. This online job can be done anywhere and at anytime. All you have to do is point out typos and grammatical errors to make the documents you look over error-free.
You can get some training in this by taking an online course.
Proofreaders can make anywhere from $25,000 to $65,000 per year with experience.
A social media manager might be your calling if you find yourself constantly scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Surely you have picked up a few ideas of what types of content work on these platforms and how businesses can grow their brand to reach more people through social media.
All you have to do is plan new content, interact with followers, and manage engagement on a company’s social media.
The average salary for a social media manager is right around $50,000 for full-time work. All you have to do is find clients. Start with local businesses or cold call online businesses to find convenient online jobs for yourself.
Ads Manager
Similarly related to social media managers, ads management is another easy online job that you could consider. You can manage advertisements on social media, Google, and even print media, depending on the business type.
Oftentimes, businesses want to see a background in marketing or a bachelor’s degree in some aspect of business before hiring an ad manager. This is what makes it ideal as one of the best online jobs for college students who are up to date with the latest trends in marketing.
Because you may need more advanced training to manage ads, you can also earn more money. Ad managers frequently make $80,000 to $90,000 per year.
Social Media Influencer
If you have a large following on any social media channel, then you might be able to finagle your way into becoming a social media influencer. These influencers are great at promoting other products and services to their audiences in exchange for a negotiated fee or commission on the sale of a product.
Plus, you can make money just for advertising or capitalize on your audience to run a successful blog. Combine being a social media influencer with some of these other online jobs for college students and stay-at-home professionals to get a real return on your time investment.
YouTube is another social media channel that can pay big dividends just for having a decent audience. You get paid based on the number of views on your video and how your watchers interact with ads that play before, during, and after your video.
Payment depends on what niche your videos are in, but it can be quite substantial if you have a large audience with hundreds of thousands of views (or more!).
Online Jobs Working with Others
Customer Service Representative
Many companies no longer have customer service jobs in large office buildings anymore. Instead, they rely on a team of remote professionals who can offer the same level of service that their customers are used to. Customer service representatives work to make clients as happy as possible and to remedy their problems, which could be very rewarding for you.
Another similar job is to work in a call centre, reaching out to customers to ensure that they are happy with the services or products that a company provides.
No matter which way you go about customer service, you could earn about $30,000 to $40,000 annually, but it won’t be as flexible as freelance work.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant offers many of the same services that an in-person personal assistant may offer:
Setting appointments
Making phone calls
Organizing travel arrangements
Answering emails
Handling reviews and customer service
Any administrative task
The big difference is that a virtual assistant can do it all from a home office, provided that they have the space and quiet needed to make professional phone calls if this is part of the job description for your employer.
You could make anywhere from $20,000 per year to $60,000 per year, depending on how much you work.
Consulting
Do you have a particular skill that you can teach to others? Maybe you already have experience with marketing, building a brand, creating an online course, or managing social media accounts.
You can offer your expertise to another business owner who might need some time and attention to help their company grow.
Consulting or coaching someone through their difficulties is not only rewarding; it also pays extremely well! With the right training and experience, you could easily clear six figures a year without ever having to leave your home.
The Verdict: Finding Easy Online Jobs
Are you ready to start looking for the best online jobs that can support you without ever having to leave your house or dorm room? These 29 easy online jobs will help you start thinking about what skills you have to offer the world.
Depending on how much you want to work (full-time, part-time, or somewhere in between), you can make a decent income by choosing one of these new ventures!
Ashley is an experienced freelance writer with an enthusiasm for finding creative ways to earn money online. She uses her passion for words to share what she has learned with the world.
She spends most of her time blogging for a multitude of websites and consuming everything she can get her hands on in relation to personal finance and side hustles.
You can use personalization and segmentation simultaneously, and you probably should.
Segmentation. Personalization. Customization. One-to-one marketing. Some people use these terms interchangeably, but the two underlying concepts — personalization and segmentation — are actually quite different from each other. They are, however, not mutually exclusive. You can use both simultaneously, and to optimize your email strategy, you probably should use both.
The Difference Between Personalization, Segmentation
Segmentation involves defining a cohort or segment of your customer database and sending a message (an email, push notification, or text message, for example) that is tailored to that specific audience. You can create segments based on demographic data (e.g., age and gender), behavioral data (e.g., clicks and purchases), or deeper analysis (e.g., customer lifetime value or following the recency frequency monetary model).
On the other hand, personalization is about changing each message to suit the interests of the unique individual. While your basic message outline is predefined — for example, with a hero image, header, call to action and product tile — personalization changes the specific content within your message outline to match each user’s profile. For instance, personalization logic might add your customer’s first name to the header or leverage recommendation technology to find and render products a user is likely interested in based on their browsing history.
Why the Definitions Matter
Understanding the difference between personalization and segmentation matters for a couple reasons. The first is cross-functional collaboration.
Your engineering team will need to understand the exact data you need, where to integrate it and by when. If you intend to personalize a message, your email developer also needs to understand the specific personalization you’re looking for so that they can write and test the email script correctly. Finally, your copywriter will want to know whether the message should be tailored to a specific audience (in the case of segmentation) or if the message should remain more general with key variables inserted based on the user (in the case of personalization).
Effective collaboration across teams is key to email marketing, and it requires getting your terms and requirements right in order to avoid confusion.
The second reason the difference matters is for testing and tracking results. One tactic may be more effective than another depending on the data and tools at your disposal. For instance, when the amount of customer data at the individual level is very limited, dynamic content (personalization) based on a user’s lifecycle stage may not render accurate results. In cases like these, it may be wise to segment based on broader data like purchaser versus non-purchaser or active email opener versus inactive email subscriber. Both tactics in tandem may outperform either tactic on its own.
You won’t know if one or both tactics is truly worth the lift, though, until you differentiate between the two and track their results. Then you’ll really have a business case for continued investment.
Common Challenges With Personalization, Segmentation
One of the main problems with segmentation is that, as you create more segments, your ability to effectively manage each one shrinks. In his book Strategic Database Marketing, Arthur Hughes argues that an ideal customer segment is large enough in potential sales to justify its own marketing strategy and that companies should not create more segments than they can manage.
In a highly collaborative environment, all departments track and think about the same set of segments that are predefined by leadership as having large significance to the business. Examples of such segments are first time purchasers, high CLV users, and customers at risk of churn. Following such an approach naturally limits the number of segments an email marketer has to track.
One of the main challenges to personalization is that it requires mature data strategies and integrations, and many companies lack alignment between their engineering and marketing teams. More specifically, poor data centralization, legacy technology, and inadequate measurement abilities are all barriers, as explained by BCG. Additionally, a lack of dedicated personnel, insufficient cross-functional coordination and project management, and a lack of a clear roadmap were also cited as top barriers to realizing the full potential of personalization.
Getting There: Personalizing Digital Experience Matters
Although the cross-functional lift to segment and personalize may seem seismic, it’s generally worth the effort. Personalization leaders will see higher profits — potentially two to three times faster than those businesses that don’t personalize their digital experiences. Moreover, in addition to producing revenue, segmentation also reduces spam complaints and unsubscribes and increases opens and clicks.
If the primary challenge behind your segmentation and personalization strategies is cross-functional alignment, it may be time for a talk — first with the team you’re struggling with and then potentially with leadership to confirm priorities and find win-win solutions.
Effective personalization may also require design thinking, as recommended by BCG, and the same goes for segmentation. Design thinking is non-linear and iterative in nature and empathizes with the user, focuses on the root problem, proposes new solutions, and continually tests.
Ultimately, it’s about putting the customer experience first. No one said your personalization and segmentation had to be perfect the first time, but these tactics certainly deserve some time and effort — and lots of iteration.
Anastasia is a CRM consultant and customer success practitioner with a great interest in technology and project management excellence. She specializes in email, SMS, and push marketing and has managed over 40 clients in a variety of industries, from CPG and grocery to healthcare and telecom.
Social commerce is already here and it’s only going to get bigger.
Deloitte’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications 2023 Predictions report looks at some of the global tech trends that are likely to make a difference in the coming year, from online shopping to low-Earth orbit broadband satellites. ZDNET spoke with the consultancy firm’s experts, so you can stay informed about these trends.
Social shopping is here to stay
Deloitte predicts that the social commerce market will exceed $1 trillion next year, thanks to more than two billion people using online social platforms for shopping – and it’s a market that’s growing faster than traditional e-commerce.
A significant contributor to this growth is the success of social media influencers and their ability to get people to spend money, especially Gen Z consumers. As Deloitte notes, Gen Z is the world’s biggest generational cohort, accounting for more than 30% of the population worldwide. The consultant says most of this burgeoning generation of digital natives tends to be “all social, all online, all the time”.
The report notes: “In the future, Gen Zs are expected to continue to be very much online, where they’ll continue to get hypertargeted and personalized ads for products they want and need – straight from the influencers they already know and love.”
Jana Arbanas, vice chair of Deloitte’s telecom, media, and entertainment sector, says the combination of influencers, algorithms and Gen Z’s propensity to buy items online all contributes to the digital-shopping boom.
She says companies investing in marketing via influencers enjoy cheaper campaigns, targeted advertising and increased sales. Arbanas believes that brands can use the algorithms’ knowledge of what’s relevant to buyers to sell more products more effectively.
“Brands can absolutely leverage those algorithms; algorithms that know consumers and their interests and their needs, and ensure that brands are matched with complementary interests with respect to consumers,” she told ZDNET.
Historically, advertisers had to craft ad campaigns for a broad range of consumers, and those campaigns could be expensive to execute. But with the help of an influencer promoting a product to their hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers, ad campaigns are cheaper – and they’re more specific.
“In the old days, people were investing in really expensive, highly produced advertising. It’s not very nimble, and it was very generalized for a large population,” Arbanas says. “On the converse now, with social media, you can very quickly create a series of campaigns in a matter of moments. And you don’t even have to create the content; your influencer is doing that on your behalf.”
Deloitte predicts the features pioneered by social media will soon be found elsewhere: “Looking beyond 2023, most digital experiences are expected to be considered ‘shoppable’, and the same tap-to-purchase behaviour available on social media platforms will likely be possible with other online services, too,” it says, such as perhaps being able to watch a cooking show on streaming services and then have the ingredients added to your shopping cart.
Low-Earth orbit satellites bring down broadband costs
Deloitte predicts by the end of next year that there will be over 5,000 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites in the sky, and they’ll be responsible for providing almost one million people with internet – even in the most remote parts of the world.
Satellite broadband connects with a dish – be that on top of your house, RV, or, soon, boat or plane – as it orbits in the sky and sends the internet signal to your device. Then, one satellite hands the connection to another to keep it stable.
“The anticipated surge in satellite broadband deployments spells good news for users. It is likely that new applications will emerge, prices will decline, coverage and reliability will improve, and latency will fall,” Deloitte’s report says.
There’s still lots to sort out with broadband satellites. As more satellites orbit, the risk of collisions and falling debris will call for increased global cooperation, which might be tricky to coordinate.
Jack Fritz, a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s tech, media, and telecommunications practice, explains that the regulatory framework for LEO satellites is still a work in progress as companies like Amazon, SpaceX and OneWeb compete to launch satellites.
“The regulatory framework is trying to catch up to where we are today and position for the future, but it’s not all perfect. You have different countries with different funding and support happening for different constellations,” Fritz says.
“I think the LEO satellites present an opportunity to have pretty strong connections, and there are areas that may not have had great connections, so they’re in this hybrid world where the connection they have is still technology from 15 years ago,” he says.
“Well, our demands for the internet have moved past that. DSLs, for example; that’s the copper our grandparents used for phone lines. That was designed for a one-to-one person call, not for streaming on eight devices in your house.”
Streaming in 2023: Expect more ads
According to Deloitte’s predictions, previously ad-free streaming platforms will begin to offer ad-supported subscriptions. Experts also think these platforms will roll out tiered subscription plans based on ad frequency and user access to the platform’s content library.
Kevin Westcott, vice chairman of Deloitte’s US tech, media, and telecommunications practice, thinks that, in the future, all platforms will introduce multiple tiers for subscribers to choose from, which will be based on their streaming needs.
He says that the number one reason subscribers unsubscribe from a platform is that it costs too much. Platforms are mitigating subscriber losses by offering lower-priced tiers in exchange for consumers watching more ads.
A more expensive, premium subscription would be best for viewers who don’t want to see any ads and want to watch a new TV show as soon as new episodes drop. A cheaper, ad-supported subscription is ideal for those who don’t mind a few minutes of ads and can wait to watch brand-new episodes.
“If you ask me where the world will be in three years, I think all major platforms will have an ad-free, premium-priced tier; then they’ll have ad-supported tiers. And there may be multiple ad-supported tiers,” Westcott told ZDNET.
“You may have one that’s only five minutes [of ads] an hour, and I get access to all of the content the day it’s released. I may have a lower priced one that’s eight to 10 minutes an hour, and I don’t have access to premium content the day it’s released.”
But you can also expect the ads you see to be more targeted and for platforms to make more money off your subscription based on how many ads you see.
“The argument is that a streaming platform knows who you are and what you’re watching,” he says. “They have more context about you, so they should be able to deliver more targeted ads to you.”
