editor, Author at Mediastreet

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Google Spent One Year Researching Great Managers. The Most Successful Ones Shared These 5 Traits

January 6, 2023 No Comments

Google found these traits led to significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance.

Becoming a successful manager is not easy; it requires their developing trust with their team members and continuous development to become better. So what exactly makes a successful manager? Back in 2009, Google’s Project Oxygen was birthed with a fundamental mission: to build better bosses.

As only a data-mining behemoth like Google can do, the Project Oxygen team in Google’s People Innovation Lab spent a whole year gathering more than 10,000 observations about managers–across more than 100 variables. They then interviewed managers to gather more data, and to look for evidence that supported their notions. Finally, researchers coded more than 400 pages of interview notes and data, and rolled out the results to employees. Later, these results became the source of various training programs for managers. By November 2012, the program had been in place for several years, and the company could point to statistically significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance.

Statisticians at Project Oxygen found that successful managers consistently had eight qualities. Among them, highlighted here, are:

1. Being good coaches

Coaching is the process of fully engaging a team and bringing out the best qualities and skill sets of each member. The best manager-coaches are deeply engaged and care about each team member. Their challenge is to organize their team such that everyone is working in their sweet spot–that role where they can use their strengths and are highly motivated to contribute. From there, they can challenge them to perform their best. But to sustain the work of your team, managers need to engage with them to help them solve problems. This is what great coaching managers do.

2. Not micromanaging

What Google found in their best managers was more empowerment of people and less micromanagement–bosses’ insisting on getting their hands on every aspect of their people’s work. When micromanagers don’t let go and trust their team members to perform their work, as a result, the employee experience can be downright demoralizing.

3. Showing interest in their employees’ well-being

Most organizations are set up to plan for what happens after an employee is at risk for burnout. Far more needs to be done. Leaders need to look at a more holistic view of their employees’ health, including mental and emotional health, stress management, and preventive care options for the whole person. To make well-being a top priority, leaders should start by surveying their employees to screen and measure them on all dimensions of well-being. Gallup research identifies six dimensions of well-being: emotional, career, social, financial, physical, and community. All six dimensions are interrelated and crucial to well-being and a life well-lived.

4. Listening to the team

Strong active listening skills in conversation are the foundation for superb human communication. Few behaviours enhance a conversation as much as attending to what people have to say. It signals respect and a sense of curiosity for what they have to say.

Unfortunately, active listening is one of the least taught skills in leadership. Studies confirm that most of us are poor and inefficient listeners. When you talk to your boss, co-workers, or customers for 10 minutes, studies indicate you pay attention to less than half of the conversation. As managers, building up your active listening skills is crucial for solving problems, developing trust, and winning the hearts and minds of people.

5. Helping employees with career development

Managers hold the key here and must start believing in their team members by maintaining a high view of them, and by showing an interest in their jobs and career aspirations and creating learning and development opportunities for their people.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Marcel Schwantes

Sourced from Inc.

In News

12 Killer LinkedIn Profile Examples to Inspire You to Update Your Own

January 6, 2023 No Comments

By Neal Schaffer

LinkedIn is a paradise for many types of business professionals, and if you are not finding success on the platform, it might just come down to your personal branding as manifested in your LinkedIn profile. I hope to inspire you to revise your profile by showcasing some standout LinkedIn profile examples.

Since LinkedIn is a great place to find a job or recruit a new employee, everyone on LinkedIn should have a profile that gives their experience and qualifications, which makes it easy to identify opportunities. Likewise, people in sales use LinkedIn to find sales prospects and decision-makers.

Of course, people don’t only use LinkedIn to locate immediate opportunities. Instead, it’s a place for networking and relationship building. Then, when the time comes, professionals have a network they can rely on for help. This could be a job, help fill a position or even a sale.

With that said, LinkedIn wouldn’t be a powerful tool if people didn’t have high-quality profiles to represent themselves online. Here are some tips to create a great profile, and some LinkedIn profile examples to inspire you.

What’s a LinkedIn Profile?

A LinkedIn profile is a LinkedIn member’s page, where they have a picture, career goals, and other material. In other words, it’s like a business card or personal website but with a social media twist. LinkedIn calls the profile a “professional landing page” because it’s supposed to be the first impression people have of you on the platform. Often, this is the “actual” first impression because LinkedIn introduces a lot of people who’ve never met in person.

Why Should You Update Your LinkedIn Profile?

Updating your LinkedIn profile makes sure that your profile accurately reflects your professional life. People go through a lot of transitions, both personally and professionally, over the years. By keeping your profile updated, you’ll make it easier to meet the right people, find the right opportunities online, and put your best foot forward.

Here’s an example. Especially during a recession, lots of people look for new opportunities. They might go get a degree or new certification, get laid off, or decide a new career is their best bet. Some people even start a business or retire early. In turn, their goals and needs on LinkedIn change. If someone switches from recruiting to operational management in another company or industry, they won’t need to find recruiting candidates anymore. Or, a person starting a business might need new employees. Either way, their LinkedIn profiles should reflect the job changes.

The Elements of a Great LinkedIn Profile

It’s difficult to talk about the best LinkedIn profile examples without talking about what makes them great. After all, some profiles are more effective than others. In addition, LinkedIn profiles can be quite different depending on the member, whether that’s related to their career, their personal goals, or individual branding. With that said, here are some “must haves” for a good profile.

Professional Profile Photo

Having a professional picture is important because profiles with photos are 14 times more likely to be viewed. Besides this, a great picture helps you introduce yourself, especially in an era where there are fewer in-person meetings than there used to be. Therefore, a nice profile picture also helps people recognize you when they meet or see you at some in-person event.

However, you should always use a full-focus photo, and it needs to be a close-up shot. This isn’t where you use special effects or a blurry, poorly focused selfie that you adapted from Instagram. Remember, your LinkedIn profile picture is part of what provides a good (or not so good) first impression.

Besides the need for clarity and professionalism, you’ll need these parameters:

PNG or JPG file, because this is what LinkedIn requires.
LinkedIn recommends a square photo shape of 400 x 400 pixels. You can get this by cropping a rectangular picture to showcase your smiling face.
Generally, you’ll want a file size under 8 MB, though you can go larger if needed.

In other words, choose a small, high-resolution photo that has a relatively small file size. These parameters will get you the best results. Otherwise, the photo might not look nice once it’s posted online.

Cover Photo or Background Picture

This is the picture or graphic that you see at the top of someone’s profile, and it’s a great opportunity to make a splash. Generally, I recommend something that promotes a professional accomplishment or other parts of your online presence. For instance, you can promote a portfolio of work, a website, free resources, books you’ve written, or client testimonials.

These aren’t as difficult to make as you might think. A graphics editing tool like Canva can help you create awesome content for social media. You can use several design elements with this tool and others, offering the opportunity to create something special.

Finally, your cover photo should always reinforce your personal brand. While most people are used to a personal brand when job hunting, in the social media age you should project your brand whenever possible. Ideally, people will see you as a go-to person when they need what you have to offer.

A Brief, Powerful Profile Headline

A great headline is one of the most important elements of great profiles, and you’ll see some of our LinkedIn profile examples highlight this element. One reason for this high level of importance is that the headline text gets shown in search results within LinkedIn and Google SERPs. This means that your profile will get discovered more easily if you have a great headline. Plus, a good headline can help you edge out the competition for that often-critical profile view.

Technically speaking, a headline can be difficult to write. That’s because the headline is limited to 120 characters long, so you need to say it quickly. Be sure to include your industry-related keywords, skills, and interests.

Summary or the About Section

Next, there’s the summary. This is the piece of text below your headline, and it allows for more detail about why you’re special. When people click through your headline and see your profile, they are often on the fence about following up, especially if they are looking for an opportunity more than a particular person (you). The job of your summary or about section is to convince people to contact you.

12 Killer LinkedIn Profile Examples to Inspire You to Update Your Own

Even the best LinkedIn profile tips can be hard to follow if you don’t have some examples. After all, these examples can help you understand the best way to apply the tips. In addition, some inspiration is always useful when you’re writing an expressive piece like this. Here are some of the best LinkedIn profile examples I could find. Each of these can give you some inspiration to write a killer profile yourself.

1. String Nguyen

Why is this profile great? At first, her profile immediately grabs your attention. You can tell she is an artist at heart (her qualifications bear this out) and that she’s both unique and motivated. However, this is also one of our better LinkedIn profile examples because of its technical excellence.

Her headline precisely describes what she does. The string is a serial entrepreneur and creative who makes plenty of money helping other people create wealth (while doing it herself).
She uses emojis to make her message more memorable. For instance, since her name is String, she inserts violins (stringed instruments) in several places.
Presents a captivating story about her roller coaster ride from a “KFC Chick to building a multi-million brand.” That includes working a 9-5 job in a conventional career and deciding it wasn’t for her.
Uses self-deprecating humour: “I could have won Forbes 30 under 30, and I asked: “thanks for recognizing my skills, will I win an award for looking under 30?” They lol’d and said no. ” Somebody who talks like this is generally a competent person who doesn’t let success get to their head.
Is inspirational – “If a KFC chick can do it, so can you. ” In other words, String knows what she wants, and will work hard to achieve it. This is very attractive to many employers and potential business partners.

2. Laszlo Block

Laszlo is actually a prominent business leader, having served as an executive at Google. However, he left Google to start a new business that takes a more humane approach to human resources. This need for humanity in HR is deeply felt by many within the business community.

Why is this a great profile?

Besides checking on all boxes, what stands out is the summary section of Laszlo. In five succinct paragraphs, Laszlo weaves his professional story by highlighting his accomplishments and achievements while he was at Google. Then, he talks about his current activities.
Then, Laszlo gives you a reason to connect with him on a human level: he has a world record for Greek Syrtaki dance which reveals his personal passion. Of course, choosing this particular fun fact helps paint a picture of someone who knows how to relax and have fun.

3. Lalaina Rabary

Among the LinkedIn profile examples we’ve discussed so far, Lalaina’s profile is the most conventional. She tells you what she’s like in simple terms, but doesn’t use humor or fun facts to make herself out. It’s all business.

Why is this profile great?

Her simple background image is impactful because it uses simple symbolism to define her personal brand. In addition, she wears an outfit for her profile picture that’s the same color as her background image, boosting the brand message.
Reading her summary, you can easily see her passion for her job: She loves it and finds her work very satisfying.
She ties the messaging of her background photo as well as the passion for her job together in a convincing way to understand her mission, “to help others discover and nurture the leader within,” in a very memorable way.
Lalaina lists her volunteer work, which also helps support her personal brand as someone who dreams big with heart.

4. Ted Schachter

Ted is someone who’s spent a lot of his career in academia. Nowadays, he teaches marketing and communications to the next generation while staying active in the business.

Why is this a great profile?

Note the consistent branding of his glasses, from his background photo to his profile photo to the emoji in his name. Even better, he tries to use glasses on his profile that are similar to the ones in his photograph. Makes me wonder if similar frames are part of his signature look.
Ted uses the Featured section smartly to showcase a New York Times article in which he is quoted. Because the New York Times is a well-respected publication, being quoted there is often prestigious.
He clearly spells out his experiences in a succinct manner in his summary, including numbers so that we can better understand the scale of his many accomplishments. In other words, as someone who’s always looking for additional opportunities (Ted wears many hats), he makes it easy to see what value he can bring.

5. Beth Kanter

Beth specializes in helping non-profits navigate the digital age, including through a digital transformation. She also helps them reach out to donors and other stakeholders. Her goal is to keep non-profits focused on their human mission even with technology.

Why is this profile great?

Beth uses a mix of powerful keywords in her headline to convey that not only is she an innovator in the non-profit world for which she is best known. Beth is also known for both digital transformation and workplace wellbeing, creating a truly unique and compelling brand.
Beth speaks to us directly in her summary where she talks about the questions that have guided her career, leaving a lasting impression on the reader of her passion for serving others.
At the end of her summary, she not only talks about her past books but also about her present research, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, about Artificial Intelligence and Scaling Generosity. Talking about her sponsored research ties her branding together in a very concise and powerful way.

6. Neil Patel

Neil is a world-famous marketer and technology person that lectures all over the world and owns an agency.

Why is this profile great?

If you searched Google for anything related to marketing, chances are that you have come across Neil Patel. His profile reflects the wide circulation of his work.
Neil’s got a professional profile photo and his cover photo lists his expertise in different aspects of digital marketing that reinforce his personal brand.
The summary section outlines his achievements, including being recognized by President Obama. He says all of this without bragging or coming across as arrogant.

7. Pam Moore

Pam is another veteran marketer, and she’s had a recent job change.

Why is this profile perfect?

Pam has a nice picture that looks like it came straight out of a magazine and was probably taken by a professional. Besides this great picture, Pam has a cover photo of a foot race. That picture piques the viewer’s interest because there isn’t anything else about running on her profile.
Her headline has a list of keywords that describe exactly who she is. As a result, you not only know why you should contact Pam, but the keywords help her profile show up on a lot of searches.
Pam’s summary is quite elaborate, but without being overbearing. In other words, you can quickly see her many accomplishments.
She has a very complete profile, with information that includes courses, projects, honors, and awards.

8. Anthony Gioeli

Anthony is another marketer, and he specializes in the AI space. Overall, his profile is very down-to-earth and businesslike, without any humor.

Why is this profile great?

Anthony has a well-rounded profile with a clear focus on his key accomplishments. This way, you can see at a glance what he can do for your company.
He uses bullet points to highlight his most important points, so busy readers can extract the important information quickly.
There is an ample amount of endorsed skills and recommendations, which adds to social proof.
Anthony includes a link to his publication. This way, you can buy the book but also connect the man and the author.

9. Elise Micheals

Elise has a sales background, but she’s turned her skills into a new career: coaching.

What’s awesome about this profile?

Elise’s profile picture has a video behind it if you click. The video message makes her likable and approachable instantly, which is especially important for someone in her field.
Her banner image precisely says what she does – Coaching, specifically for men. She also helps men push past their failures and work through what’s holding them back.
The headline clearly states what problem she solves, how she does it, and for whom.
Elise’s summary uses bulleted lists to outline the problems and solutions she offers, being more specific than her headline.
As a professional coach, she has listed all her licenses and certifications to establish credibility.

10. Jay Baer

Jay is a superstar marketer for Convince and Convert, as well as a conference speaker and writer. However, that doesn’t mean that his profile has to be boring. Far from it.

Why is this profile incredible?

Jay has a great headshot that makes one want to know more about him. In particular, his smile is friendly and engaging.
A branded cover photo shows off his skill set and his tagline while remaining minimalist.
Jay’s headline is precise and punchy so you’ll remember it easily.
The opening lines of his summary are to the point and give an immediate impression of his expertise in marketing.

11. Juhli Selby

Juhli is a trainer who specializes in teaching small businesses to do marketing. Her practice focuses on social media techniques.

What is good about this profile?

Juhli uses a very inviting profile photo combined with her background photo to almost personally welcome us into her backyard in British Columbia. For someone who works with small business owners, this is highly effective because SMBs thrive on personal relationships.
Her headline is equally inviting, not just in making it clear as to what her specialties are, but also that she is about building relationships online and connecting with opportunity. In other words, Juhli pitches herself as approachable.
She continues this welcoming environment by featuring her women’s business networking LinkedIn Live replays. Of course, it’s also a great example of simple content marketing.
Finally, her profile summary begins by focusing on her passion ”to help get more positive voices online” and ends with her real-life passions, humanizing her profile and truly completing a welcoming presence on LinkedIn.

12. Anthony English

Anthony is a business coach, but he also has a heavy IT background. This makes him a multifaceted professional with a diverse point of view. In this profile, Anthony emphasizes coaching because he runs a business doing it.

Why does this profile rock?

In the headline, he talks about someone named Rachel who charges what she’s worth. This is bound to immediately pique your interest. It also tells what problem he solves for people: not knowing what they are worth professionally, and how to ask for it.
You will never see another about section like this one. It tells a fictional story about Rachel who is struggling with imposter syndrome. The story is relatable because it talks about the struggles and aspirations of his target audience: small business owners.
The summary also has a clever CTA that subtly nudges the reader to connect with him – “Do you know a Rachel? She probably wants to connect with me.” Best of all, the CTA drives home his point that someone who is stuck in a rut business-wise needs a coach like him.

LinkedIn Profile Examples Conclusion

Writing a killer LinkedIn profile is important for professionals. After all, LinkedIn these days is more than a resume site. Instead, it’s a place where professionals build their personal brands and look for new opportunities. I hope that these LinkedIn profile examples have helped you to see where your own profile is great, and where it might be lacking.

By Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer is an authority on helping innovative businesses digitally transform their sales and marketing. Founder of the digital marketing consultancy PDCA Social, Neal currently serves as a Fractional CMO to several companies. He also teaches at Rutgers Business School and the Irish Management Institute. Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has spoken on four continents in more than a dozen countries. He is also the author of 4 sales and marketing books, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley) and the recently published The Age of Influence (HarperCollins Leadership), a ground-breaking book redefining digital influence. Check out Neal’s Maximize Your Social Influence podcast for marketing inspiration.

In News

The Top 10 Best Free Fonts for Designers in 2023

January 6, 2023 No Comments

Sourced from WATC

For amazing typographic designs in the year 2023, take advantage of our top 10 free fonts selection that graphic designers can download.

We have searched through many free fonts on different platforms and gathered a collection of the 10 best fonts for graphic designers to download in 2023. This set contains a variety of styles, as mentioned before all selected fonts are available for free with designated options for private or commercial use.

10. Bigilla – Free Display Serif Font

Bigilla is a trustworthy display serif typeface that was created by Jérémie Gauthier. The design includes multiple font weights, such as Regular and Bold. The free Bigilla font also comes with included ligatures and several alternate options. This typeface is perfect for multilingual purposes and can be used in an array of designs, including but not limited to branding, posters, magazines, packaging designs, etc.
Free Download

9. Juliette – Free Handwritten Signature Font

Juliette is the perfect font for creating sophisticated, yet natural and simple signatures in the style of real handwriting. With Juliette’s refined style you can create elegant designs without appearing stuffy. This free handwritten signature font is a great choice for a wide range of projects.
Free Download

8. Projekt Blackbird – Free Sans Serif Font

Projekt Blackbird - Free Sans Serif Font by by Leonit Gashi — Projekt Blackbird – Free Sans Serif Font by by Leonit Gashi

Projekt Blackbird, designed by Leonit Gashi, is a free font that looks great in headlines and web design projects. It can be used for both personal and commercial purposes. The typeface provides a unique and contemporary look.
Free Download

7. Handler – Free Vintage Sans Serif Font

If you’re looking for a fantastic new vintage typeface, look no further than Handler! This retro-style font has three different character options – regular, stamp, and rough. Mix them up or use them separately to create unique interest in your projects or designs. Handler is perfect for logos, branding, vintage apparel, packaging, and more!
Free Download

6. Margaret Serif Font

The Margaret Serif font is a beautifully classic display typeface created by Kacper Janusiak and the team at K94 Studio. This free serif font can be used in headlines, branding, and logotypes. It is perfect for adding a touch of elegance to any project. Just click on the link below to get further information about all features.
Free Download

5. Gilroy Font

Gilroy font family by Radomir Tinkov. — Gilroy Font

Designed by Radomir Tinkov, Gilroy is a fully functional sans-serif font family, which is actually not free of charge but two styles (Light and Extra Bold) can be downloaded for free on Fontspring. Gilroy is a fantastic choice for a wide range of print and digital applications like websites, mobile apps, branding, signage, and editorial design. Learn more by reading below or clicking the link below!
Free Download

4. Vollkorn – Free Google Font

Vollkorn is a serif font family that takes inspiration from classic designs. Its regular style was Friedrich Althausen’s first type designing attempt, which he published in 2005 under a Creative-Commons-License. The typeface quickly gained popularity and after only two years, it had been downloaded thousands of times. Today, Vollkorn is available as a free Google Font in 4 weights (Regular, Semi-Bold, Bold, and Black) plus matching Italics for each weight. With its dark and meaty serifsVollkorn can accommodate both print and web design projects equally well.
Free Download

3. Restora – Old-Style Roman Serif Font

Restora is a popular roman serif font family that offers both a free version and a paid version. The full family includes eight weights ranging from thin to black, plus matching italics for each weight. The free version of Restora includes Extra Light and Thin Italic styles. You can purchase the complete family of 16 fonts here or follow the link below to download the two free styles.
Free Download

2. Ade Display – Free Serif Font

Ade Display is a free sans-serif font created by Thunder Studio. It was inspired by the editorial look of fonts from the nineties and combines horizontal serifs with inside corner roundness to create its unique character. The elegant typeface is ideal for big headlines.
Free Download

1. Big John Pro – The Best Free Fonts

Big John Pro free fonts — The Best Free Fonts: Big John Pro

Big John PRO is one of our all-time favourite free fonts. Designed by Ion Lucin, it’s the updated version of Big John and Slim Joe font which you can find here. The new Pro edition has bold, light, and regular font styles for both personal or commercial use—and absolutely free of charge! To download, just click on the link in the bio section of the Instagram account belonging to Mr. Lucin himself.
Free Download

We hope you found our top ten free fonts for 2023 helpful and that you were able to find the right typeface for your next project. If you want to explore more of our recommended typefaces, we suggest browsing through our recommended Fonts category. You can also find great design assets in our Templates category.

By Dirk Petzold

Instagram: @weandthecolor

Sourced from WATC

In News

This Privacy Ruling Against Facebook and Instagram Could Spell the End of Targeted Ads

January 5, 2023 No Comments

By Thomas Germain

EU privacy regulators declared that Meta can’t force users to agree to data collection.

Privacy regulators in the European Union have ruled that Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, can’t make giving up data for targeted ads a condition of joining the social networks, according to reports published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. The decision threatens to upend the social media giant’s business model and alter the financial underpinnings of the internet.

Signing up for Facebook or Instagram means clicking past a privacy policy and consenting to the social networks’ digital surveillance for advertising purposes. If you don’t agree, you can’t have an account. But a board of Europe’s privacy regulators issued a series of new decisions Monday declaring that this kind of coerced consent violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU’s sweeping privacy law.

While the ruling hasn’t been made public, key details leaked to the press Tuesday. The decision wouldn’t just affect Meta. Every company that serves targeted ads works in much the same way as the social media giant. You can sometimes opt out of having data from other parts of the internet used for advertising on social media, but the new ruling seeks to limit company’s from using the data they collect on their own networks. It would be a sea change to how privacy works online.

“The EU regulators’ decision, if it is upheld, would have a dramatic impact on Meta’s revenue in Europe, kneecapping its ability to use information about its users’ on-platform activities in order to sell targeted advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, in an email. “However, we expect Meta to fight vigorously to defend its business, and it could be months, if not years, before any impact is truly felt.”

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

The ruling doesn’t immediately force Meta to change its practices. Instead, it calls on Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to issue specific orders within a month, which are likely to include substantial fines, Reuters reported. Meta will likely appeal the decision as well, which may allow the status quo to continue during litigation.

But depending on how the ruling plays out, it could mean that Meta and other companies it owns have to get real, informed consent before they chew up all your personal information and spit out ads. What would that look like? It’s not clear yet.

When people are presented with a choice of whether to be tracked online (and still use a given site or app), they tend to say no. Over the last year, Apple rolled out a privacy setting which makes apps ask permission before they track users, “Ask App not to Track.” The vast majority of people say no, and Meta’s business took a nosedive as a result—the company said it lost $10 billion thanks to Apple’s privacy setting alone. An EU ruling against Meta could spell financial crisis for the company, whose share price has already fallen like a rock this year. Meta’s stock was down 6.79% at the closing bell Tuesday after the news.

But the ruling is likely far bigger than Meta. Lots of other companies, from Google to TikTok to smaller players, operate via a similar legal model: consent to targeted adds or go use some other platform. It’s unclear how widely the EU ruling would apply across the continent, but it’s possible that one of the foundational models of online business could be disrupted.

The open secret of the tech industry is lots of companies, apps and websites haven’t come up with a way to make money aside from harvesting data and targeting ads. If company’s can’t use your data, they can still show you “contextual” ads, which are based on the content you’re looking at (imagine an ad for Honda’s on an article about cars). But contextual advertising is cheaper than ads tailored via your personal information, and therefore less profitable for the company’s selling it.

An EU ruling only has a direct effect on businesses operating in the EU, but it’s a sign that governments may finally be changing their tune when it comes to privacy. So far, lawmakers have been willing to pass privacy rules that make certain data practices more cumbersome for the business world, but this is the first time that a major government body has taken steps to curtail targeted ads outright.

But the GDPR serves as a model for the privacy laws in the United States and across the globe. If this strict interpretation of the law is successful—however you define success—it could hint at a far more private future.

Feature Image Credit: Sergei Elagin (Shutterstock)

By Thomas Germain

Sourced from GIZMODO

In News

Creatives need better coping skills for failure, says agency boss David Palmer

January 5, 2023 No Comments

By Chelsey Pippin

David Palmer, the owner and ECD of Manchester-based creative agency LOVE, has spent his career learning to love failure. But then again, he hasn’t had much choice.

“Creative people face more regular rejection than just about anyone else on the planet,” he tells Creative Boom. Palmer estimates that LOVE, whose star client list includes Jim Beam, Nike, and Vogue, loses three times the pitches it wins – and he says that failure rate is pretty standard for creative businesses.

“Failing is simply part of your day-to-day when you work in the creative industries,” he says. “You can pour your heart and soul into a project and apply the best strategy, thinking and design skills, only for a senior or a client to say they don’t like it.”

For Palmer, dealing with this means you have to have the skin of a rhino and be a rubber ball: always ready to bounce back. But Palmer is adamant that having tough skin and a resilient attitude doesn’t mean ignoring your failures or rushing past them. Instead, Palmer advocates for his team of creatives – and the industry at large – to develop a healthier relationship with creative success by being willing to acknowledge and embrace creative losses.

“Handling failure is like going through the five stages of grief,” Palmer tells Creative Boom while recounting a time he got the call about a lost pitch while on holiday in Greece, effectively ruining any chance for some much-needed R&R.

The five stages of grief were originally laid out by psychologist and author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969 as a framework for navigating one’s own end of life. The use of the Kübler-Ross method has been expanded and reconceptualised in many ways over the past 50 years and has been transformed into a powerful tool for confronting loss of all kinds.

According to the trajectory laid out by Kübler-Ross, a griever moves gradually from shock and denial to pleading, bargaining, or desperation, then on to anger – an experience David Palmer of LOVE says he can relate to every time he and his team lose a pitch. “It really can feel like the world is falling down around you, and it’s totally normal to feel really angry in the beginning,” Palmer tells Creative Boom.

As a leader, Palmer thinks it’s healthy to make room for negative emotions – that by accepting the anger that comes with creative rejection or failure, you’re one step closer to accepting the failure and moving on. “It’s useful for young creatives to know that it’s just perfectly natural to feel like that,” Palmer says.

According to Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief, depression and/or anxiety often follow the stage of anger. In a creative context, Palmer likens this stage to the period of flatness, discouragement, and self-doubt that often accompany creative failure – once the rage passes, the real grief starts to set in. From this low point, someone with healthy coping mechanisms will ultimately find themselves ready to take action toward recovery and learn to accept their loss or failure. In contrast, someone with unhealthy coping mechanisms may remain stuck at rock bottom.

And that’s where Palmer gets concerned because he’s not convinced that creatives today have the coping skills they need to sustain a career path that’s inevitably studded with failure and rejection.

“In sports and school, kids are taught that failure is a bad thing, that it has to be avoided or ignored,” he tells Creative Boom. “But failure is unavoidable. Especially in this industry, because it’s so subjective, you need to be aware of it. And you need to find healthy ways to deal with it.”

Because, at the end of the day, failure isn’t a bad thing. “Rejection can be a catalyst for really positive things,” Palmer says. “The sting of failure propels you forward in a way that gives you more energy and momentum than if you didn’t have it at the beginning.”

To prove his point, Palmer recounts an experience from his first job out of design school, working for a boss who seemed deadset on keeping him down. “I couldn’t win,” Palmer says, recalling a particularly discouraging event in which he watched his work be crumpled up and tossed in a skip. At that moment, it was as if he went through all five stages of grief at warp speed. “I’d been working for two years, but I had nothing to show in my portfolio, and I was at a point where I realised: every which way, I’m going to fail. And from there, I went: you know, you’re a problem solver. So what are you going to do?”

Once he’d gotten through the shock, anger, and blow to his self-esteem, Palmer accepted that the way he was working wasn’t working. So he decided to change his approach. Instead of offering the big, original ideas that appeared to make his boss feel threatened, he found ways of prioritising his boss’s approach while still managing to leave his own mark… it was a lesson in compromise that’s served him well in a long-term client-facing career. He’s living proof that approaching failure and rejection with curiosity and determination are the building blocks of a sustainable creative career.

While it’s important for creatives to learn to take individual responsibility for themselves and develop healthy coping mechanisms for acknowledging and dealing with their failures and rejections, Palmer thinks that agency leaders and even clients should also be taking responsibility for the part they play in creating a more positive culture in the creative industries.

He’s aware that the way feedback is delivered can have a lot to do with the way it’s received and that creative leaders and clients alike may lean toward unnecessarily brutal feedback without giving much thought to the effect their response will have on the creative behind the work.

At LOVE, feedback is mitigated first through the accounts team, who can help separate the helpful feedback from the not-so-helpful feedback before sharing it with the creative team. “That way, we can ensure feedback is framed constructively, giving our team a more positive place to start that journey toward accepting rejection.”

Ultimately, Palmer questions whether the industry as a whole needs to reevaluate its relationship with and vocabulary around failure. A working understanding of the five stages of grief and how those stages manifest in experiences of creative failure is a good start – but he’s open to ideas and conversation, telling Creative Boom: “As an industry, I wonder all the time how everyone else is doing it, and what could be improved.”

Feature Image Credit: LOVE

By Chelsey Pippin

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

In News

Future Forecast: 10 Predictions for 2023

January 5, 2023 No Comments

By Jess Phillips of The Social Standard

Trends for 2023 in social media and beyond

As we wrap up this year, it’s time to pick up the crystal ball and look to 2023 and the potential changes in consumer and cultural behaviour, social media platforms and what brands might have in store.

Think ‘Shorts’ Term

YouTube Shorts will take over as the primary platform for social media influencers. In 2022, Shorts hit over 30 billion views per day, began distributing $100 million from the the Shorts Fund, and announced a 45 percent rev-split with creators starting in 2023. On his Full Send Podcast, MrBeast (114 million YouTube subscribers) explained: “You’re gonna be crazy to be a TikTok-first content creator.”

TikTok’s E-commerce Push

TikTok is expanding from a social network to an e-commerce empire with trending products readily available, shipping from distribution centers. This will incentivize the platform to promote in-stock inventory on its algorithm. Creators that push available products may also see a boost in users’ feeds.

Pinterest Video Content

Pinterest is rapidly evolving into a hub for video content and live e-commerce. The platform added an in-app video feed similar to TikTok and hosts Pinterest TV, a pre-approved set of live programming. Expect brands to partner with Pinfluencers, pitch content for the TV series and use short-form videos to promote paid integrations.

Twitter Goes ‘Super’

Elon Musk, the “chief Twit” at Twitter, has teased a “super update” to extend functionality and improve user experience. A complete rehaul of messaging, search optimization and peer-to-peer crypto donations is possible. Musk is also a proponent of free speech, so ousted content creators and their audiences may return.

BeReal Gets Real Serious

The popularity of the “authentic” social media app hit 53 million installs in October. BeReal’s next journey will focus on attracting brands and ad monetization. Users of the top charting social networking app should expect sponsored content in feed, paid subscriptions for extra features (like Snapchat+), and an influx of brands seeking to compete with early adopters like Chiptole and E.l.f. cosmetics for of Gen Z consumers. Brands will use their other platforms like Instagram and YouTube to draw attention to BeReal and provide freebies, discounts and exclusive offers for fans who join them.

Gaming Goes Hollywood

Stars of the silver screen are using their influence to promote mobile games aligned with film franchises. Iconic actor Samuel L. Jackson reprised his role as Nick Fury to promote the Marvel Snap mobile game. The game surged to number two in the App Store’s top charts for free games and number one in the Strategy category. In another example, Ben Stiller recently teamed up with LeBron James and John Travolta to promote the release of Sony’s popular franchise God of War. As the gaming industry continues to grow, expect to see popular creators move towards promoting mobile entertainment activations.

BTS Takes Center Stage

Overly produced professional content will take a backseat to behind-the-scenes influencer UGC as brands seek to fulfill Gen Z’s desire for authenticity. One example is the Adobe activation with video editor Motoki. His short-form BTS content went viral achieving over 10 million views total (exceeding performance expectations) and outperformed his traditional activations. The trend remained consistent on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

All-in-One Platforms

Social media platforms are all starting to look alike and this trend seems to have no way of stopping. TikTok has long-form video and detailed descriptions like YouTube, YouTube has vertical short-form videos like TikTok, and the list goes on and on. Even newcomer BeReal has had its unique dual function camera feature implemented by Snapchat, Instagram and most notably TikTok, which even limits posting a photo to once per day. As Twitter owner Elon Musk prepares for his “super app” update, it’s likely the platform will have all of these available and more.

Financially Responsible Advertising

Economic uncertainty will force second tier e-commerce social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and BeReal to provide advertising structures that optimize ad performance. TikTok is currently leading innovation with pay-if-you-engage ads, which charges marketers for advertisements if consumers watch six or more seconds of an ad. With the holiday season quickly approaching, it’s likely that we will see other platforms adopt this option to draw in small and mid-sized businesses.

Trends Launch Pad for Films

In addition to traditional advertisements like commercials and billboards, films and television shows will launch influencer marketing campaigns ahead of premiers. The trend #TopGunMode rocketed the ’80s film reboot to prime discussion with a Gen Z audience that was highly unlikely to have seen its predecessor. Streaming platforms like #Netflix are already massively popular, so they have a massive opportunity to capitalize and create viral trends.

By Jess Phillips of The Social Standard

Sourced from Muse by Clio

In News

10 Unconventional Rules for Captivating Public Speaking From a Jazz Expert and Best-Selling Author

January 4, 2023 No Comments

By Jessica Stillman

Who should you look to for public speaking advice? Author Ted Gioia suggests thinking more like a jazz musician.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Jessica Stillman

Sourced from Inc.

In News

Without Cookies, Meta Says Businesses Can Find New Customers Thanks to Its A.I. Tools

January 4, 2023 No Comments

By Rebecca Deczynski

Privacy restrictions have made it harder for businesses to target customers through paid social media advertising. The Facebook owner suggests its new tools can help.

The age of third-party cookies is over. Artificial intelligence can help–at least, according to Meta.

The Menlo Park, California, company announced earlier this month that it is rolling out new A.I.-powered tools that aim to help businesses reach new and existing customers. Its “custom audience” tool within Meta Advantage, the company’s existing suite of automated marketing products, offers to deliver ads beyond retailers’ selected target audience to help them find new customers. Previously, advertisers could target specific audiences via third-party data (an in-platform option that Meta turned off in 2018 and Apple further restricted outside use of in 2021), opt-in lists, or specific demographics. With this new tool, the platform will serve ads to potential customers–who are selected by an algorithm that determines if they are likely to engage with the ad–outside of those retailer-specified audiences.

Since Apple rolled out new privacy restrictions in its iOS 14.5 update in the summer of 2021, businesses have been unable to use third-party cookies to target new customers through paid social advertising; this has made growth on social platforms a challenge, especially for those that previously relied on cost-effective ad placements. So, businesses are increasingly interested in new ways they can find and convert new customers.

And Meta is trying to help. In August, the Facebook owner rolled out Advantage+ shopping campaign tools to advertisers globally, which it says allow businesses to automatically generate Facebook and Instagram ads. The company shared that, in a study of 15 A/B tests, these automated campaigns led to a 12 percent lower cost per purchase compared with traditional ads. Meta says that its new custom audience tool will enable advertisers to reach an even greater number of potential customers, by serving ads to algorithmically selected customers outside of the advertiser’s selected audience.

It remains to be seen if marketers will embrace Meta’s A.I. and automation tools. IOS 14.5 changed the way businesses are able to target customers on platforms like Facebook, says Lee Joselowitz, growth marketer and co-founder of Los Angeles-based performance marketing company The Quality Edit. Apple’s privacy changes have led businesses to increasingly rely on first-party data, long-form content, and strong creative to reach their target audiences. “A good Facebook marketer has had to develop more technical skills around signals and measurements, in addition to becoming a really strong creative strategist and storyteller,” she says. With Meta’s push for A.I.-driven marketing solutions, there may yet be an easier way forward.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Rebecca Deczynski

@rebecca_decz

Sourced from Inc.

In News

4 Crucial Indicators To Know Before Seeking Venture Capital Funding

January 4, 2023 No Comments

By Bryan Karas

Are you thinking of raising VC money in this environment? Ask your marketing team for these four crucial indicators before pitching.

In this day and age of shrinking VC funding for startups, you might think your business is the exception. You might think your business model is so ripe for growth with a little cash infusion that VCs should compete to see who can be your primary investor.

Besides the fact that startup founders are rarely objective about their business prospects, it’s always good to get outside perspectives before heading down the potentially long, winding and soul-bruising road of VC pitches.

Do you know who you might want to check with as a first step before you sink a bunch of time and energy into your pitch deck? Your marketing agency. (If you don’t have an agency, make a friend with an agency exec pronto.)

If an agency isn’t your first choice as a sounding board — hear me out. I’ve worked with dozens and dozens of intelligent, ambitious startups since founding Playbook Media. Throughout those relationships, I’ve recognized a few significant indicators of whether your business is positioned to sprout unicorn wings with some extra resources — or whether you have some fundamental issues to address before you take your pitch to your version of Sand Hill Road.

1. Burn threshold

Also known as “burn multiple,” this metric takes a broad view of your business to calculate how much revenue you bring in for every dollar you spend. Divide your net burn by net new revenue for a given period, and you’ve got your number. (Anything over 2 these days, and you’ll have difficulty getting funding because your operational efficiency needs work.)

Your agency partners won’t have all that data on hand to calculate your burn threshold, but there are plenty of ways they can help you improve it. They can reduce costs by lowering your average CAC (the cost of acquiring a customer). They can improve your customers’ average LTV (lifetime value) using lifecycle marketing, referral programs, upsell campaigns, etc. They can also run frequent forecasting models to ensure your strategic decisions are informed by current data and market conditions — which have been evolving rapidly.

An agency can be beneficial in understanding your entire marketing picture and assessing where you can cut spending and suffer minimal revenue effects. Agencies proficient at MMM (media mix modelling, which I’ll touch on more in a bit) will be great partners in that endeavour.

2. K Factor

Your K Factor is your natural growth rate if you aren’t doing any marketing. It usually boils down to product-led growth and virality stemming from your existing customer base, site users, media outlets picking up on your momentum, etc. This isn’t specific to products, by the way; if you have a software service or platform, you can build tons of product-driven growth.

Agencies can help you determine your K Factor if they’re proficient at understanding the impact of each of your advertising channels. Ideally, your agency is using media mix modelling to determine the incremental impact of each channel; when they analyse all of your channels and touchpoints and compare it to your overall growth, they’ll be able to isolate a baseline level of growth that isn’t explained by those channels. That’s your K Factor.

The key to optimizing your K Factor is growth loops. Reforge defines growth loops as “closed systems where the inputs through some process generates more of an output that can be reinvested in the input.” This can go beyond organic loops, too — although K Factors are defined in the absence of ads, you can apply a little advertising budget to great effect if you’re working with growth loops. An example is taking a popular TikTok post from either your company’s or a relevant creator’s page and doing a Spark ad, which boosts the post and prompts more engagement that feeds the post’s organic momentum.

3. Channel reliance

Despite recent setbacks (check out the last couple of quarterly earnings reports), Google and Facebook still dominate their competitors in gobbling advertising budgets, as we see time and time again with new clients coming to us to jump-start their growth.

I think brands should almost never spend more than 50% of their budget on Google and Facebook (combined), which is easier said than done. There are several reasons for this, but the two most important are that Google and Facebook are getting increasingly expensive and that all companies should protect themselves against over-reliance on one channel that could get hit by, say, algorithm updates or outside influences like the iOS14 release.

Beyond those reasons, there are clear warning signs that you should diversify your marketing channels ASAP:

Diminishing returns (CPAs keep climbing no matter what you try)
A lack of new users
Demographic trends shifting away from your core platforms (e.g., younger generations are now using TikTok instead of Google for their search engine of choice)
Business goals evolving out of alignment with your core channels

If any of these sounds familiar, start carving out ideas and resources to reallocate the budget into new channels.

4. Market penetration

There are a few market-penetration scenarios that potential investors will hone in on right away (for better or for worse):

The market is small, and you’re dominating but might have a hard growth ceiling (example: Wild Earth)
The market is large but ripe for disruption, and you have one or more differentiators that will help you carve out market share (example: Dollar Shave Club)
The market is new, and you have the plan to build awareness for the market’s need and your solution (example: Fitbit, back in the early 2010s)

Agencies can analyse and tell you what segment you might be in. For Wild Earth, an agency would help define the target market by segmenting data into silos (e.g., vegans, dog owners, owners who only feed their dogs dry food, owners who order online, and owners who will pay a premium for food and shipping). Cross-reference that relatively small audience that lives in the intersection of those segments with data like rising CACs and relatively high impression share. That company looks like a poor choice for investor funds unless you can leverage what you’re already doing well into other product categories.

If things like search volume and available impression volume are curiously low, you may have a tremendous opportunity to build awareness for your product or service as the leader of a new market (or market segment). “Video rentals” probably had a ton of search volume when Netflix was in its early stages, but “online video rentals” or “video rentals by mail” were exponentially less popular queries that, when combined with the rising trends of online shopping and engagement, evidenced a market ripe for introduction. Brands like Peleton (spinning classes at home vs. spinning classes) and Rent the Runway (luxury fashion for rent vs. luxury fashion) represent similar scenarios that, when the story is told well, represent catnip for intelligent investors.

The takeaway

With startup funding relatively hard to come by, you should recognize that poor indicators in any of these areas put you out of position to leave a VC pitch with millions of dollars. But there’s hope yet. First, most issues in these areas are fixable. Second, fixing them now will mean you’ll be extraordinarily well-positioned to take full advantage of future VC investments when you have a better story.

By Bryan Karas

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

20 Best AI Writing Apps

January 3, 2023 No Comments

By Louise North

Artificial intelligence is the latest buzzword in the tech world. It’s everywhere and has been for a while, but AI-powered writing software is a relatively new concept.

AI Writing Software uses artificial intelligence to write articles, blog posts, and other content in your voice. The goal is to provide a tool that will save you time and energy so you can focus on different aspects of your business or life.

To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of 20 AI writing software you can use to create content for your website, blog, or social media accounts.

1. Copy.ai

Copy.ai uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to produce high-quality content for your business, ebooks, blog posts, articles, product descriptions, social media content, and more. It can also be used to rewrite existing content so that you can use it on your website, blog, or social media pages.

Since it uses artificial intelligence to mimic human writing patterns and styles, the copy will be more natural and easier to read than the typical machine-generated text we’re used to seeing.

Copy.ai differs from traditional content creation tools because it doesn’t just offer suggestions on improving your current content; it generates new text based on what it thinks would be most relevant for the topic or audience.

Key Features:

Pre-built Templates – Copy.ai has a ton of pre-built templates for different kinds of content. For example, you can see below that it has options for blogs, social media content, video, case studies, and more:

Different tones and variations – Get access to tones like friendly, persuasive, professional, luxury, witty, bold, and more to align the content with your writing style. It also creates multiple variations based on your input – you can pick the one you like or make more.To illustrate this, here’s a screenshot of the results we got while trying to write the introduction for this article using Copy AI.

Writing and Brainstorming tools – You also get tons of writing tools, brainstorming tools, and personal tools. Writing tools include essay intro, cliffhanger generator, adjective accelerator, passive to active voice, verb booster, and the like. Brainstorming tools have a name generator, startup ideas, viral ideas, and more – while Personal tools include birthday cards, clubhouse bios, cover letters, love letters, and shower thoughts.You can save your content and then return to it later if you wish. Plus, the software’s user interface is easy to navigate, and the program is simple.

Luciano Viterale, Co-founder of Ticker Nerd, also shares his experience with Copy.ai,

“I’ve been experimenting with AI copywriting tools since GPT-3 was released. I have explored many of the popular tools. However, my favourite tool by far is Copy AI. They have an outstanding blogging outline feature; the UX is clean and easy to navigate, and the pricing is reasonable.

Copy AI also generated the name of my startup, “Ticker Nerd,” which is an investing newsletter that was recently acquired.”

That said, Viterale suggests that the blog outlines can be repetitive. He says, “one thing I don’t particularly like is that blog outlines include the same point repeatedly but articulated slightly differently, essentially adding no value.”

Pros:

Copy.ai produces content at least 80% as good as a human writer (and often better). The system continually learns, which means the more you use it, the better it gets.
It has an extensive library of templates available for different requirements.
It supports over 25 languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, and more.

Cons:

Not suitable for long-form content.
The content can get a bit repetitive after a while.
The free plan lets you create only 2000 words per month.

Pricing:

It starts from $39 per month (if you pay yearly) for up to 40k words per month, unlimited copywriting tools, priority email support, Blog Wizard tool, support for 25+ languages, and five user seats.

2. Jasper

Jasper.ai is an AI copywriting tool that uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to create content based on user input.

It helps you generate original content for your blogs, social media, websites, and more. Jasper also knows 10% of what’s on the internet and continues to learn more daily.

Just like Copy.ai, Jasper’s user interface is easy to use and navigate around. With its specific template for blog posts, articles, ebooks, and more, it’s also one of the few AI writing software suitable for long-form content.

All you have to do is enter the title, your intended audience, tone of voice, and language options, along with the main point of your copy, and voila – Jasper can churn out a high-quality piece of content for you within seconds.

(Jasper Interface)

Key Features:

50+ AI templates – Jasper.ai offers a variety of AI templates, including Blog Posts, Summary, Conclusion, Q&A, Ads, Videos, Social Media, Rewriter, Marketing Frameworks, Articles, and more. Each template has several use cases – for example, a blog has Blog Titles, Content Briefs, and Outlines.

Headline Generator

Boss Mode lets you write long-form content such as blog posts, stories, and books. It also allows you to organize your content into projects and find help with priority chat support, Grammarly integration, and plagiarism checks. You can also choose from 25 languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, and more.
SurferSEO Integration – If you have a Boss Mode plan, you can add SurferSEO to your Jasper account. This integration will enable you to find the best keywords, build a content strategy, create blog outlines, and more.

Content production using Surfer SEO Integration

Pros:

No technical assistance is required.
Simple, easy-to-use interface.
Provides plagiarism-free content every time.
It helps you build a content strategy based on high-ranking topics and keywords.
Ready-to-use templates cover most of the use cases that a writer or marketer will need.
Excellent customer support is provided through live training sessions, live Q&A sessions, blogs, Facebook community, help docs, and emails.

Cons:

Plagiarism-free content doesn’t always mean unique content.
Customer support options via chat or email are limited.

Pricing:

It starts with $40/mo for 35K words, 50+ AI templates, 20+ languages, up to 5 seats, and chat support

3. Rytr

Rytr is a content generation tool that uses AI to generate high-quality, human-sounding content for emails, blogs, YouTube videos, and landing pages.

It also supports multiple languages and tones and uses copywriting frameworks, including AIDA & PAS. And to ensure that your content is free of plagiarism, it comes with a built-in plagiarism checker.

Like Copy.ai. Rytr is also more suitable for short-form content and copywriting than long-form content.

Key Features:

30+ languages – Rytr supports many languages, including English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Polish. It also uses a proprietary approach to support languages that are not supported by the limitations of GPT3.

Language Support

Use Cases: Rytr offers 40+ use cases, including Blog Section Writing, Blog Ideas & Outline, Brand Name, Business Idea Pitches, Call-to-action, Cover letters, Emails, and more.

Each use case has a short description of what it’s about below it. Select the use case to write about, give a little context about what you want to write, and then select how many variants you want the AI to write for you (max is 3).

You can also choose a creativity level by selecting one of 6 options, including Default, Non, Low, Medium, High, or Max.

Generating Blog Ideas & Outlines

Tone – You can add a personal touch to your content by choosing from over 18 tones, including Formal, Convincing, Inspirational, and more.

Writing in a formal tone.

Pros:

Simple user interface.
Fast live chat support.
Using the magic command, you can produce content for poems, letters, and more.
Comes with an in-built tool for plagiarism checks.
Provides multiple resources for guidance.

Cons:

Tone options are limited.
You will receive a small number of credits per month.

Pricing:

It starts at $9/month for 100K characters per month. There is also a free plan with a 10K characters limit.

4. Writesonic

Writesonic is a content-creation platform that uses generative artificial intelligence models to write SEO-optimized long-form blogs and articles.

It has 65+ use cases or templates, including Article Writer 3.0, Landing Pages, Tweets, Quora Answers, Facebook Ads, and more.

You can easily create desired content by picking a suitable use case, typing a topic, and adding a paragraph of your own words. You can also set the language and quality level before generating it.

Generating Pros and Cons

Key Features:

24 Languages: You can produce content in 24 languages, including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Czech, Danish, Greek, Hungarian, and more. They’re also continually adding more language options.

Languages

Unconventional Use Cases: It’s got a more comprehensive range of templates, including Sentence Expander, Text Summary, Conclusion Writer, YouTube Outlines, LinkedIn Ad Descriptions, Analogy Maker, Question Generator, Song Lyrics, Definition, and more.

SEMrush and WordPress Integrations: Writesonic integrates with SEMrush, Zapier, and WordPress.org. SEMrush helps you optimize your content for search engines, and WordPress.org lets you publish your blog directly from Writesonic. Zapier integration enables you to automate your content from Writesonic.

SEMrush Integration

Pros:

Easy to use.
The User Interface gives you step-by-step instructions and tips for how to use the tool more efficiently.
There are many unique use cases, including a hook generator, pros and cons generator, and landing page creator.
Free trial available.

Cons:

Like other tools on this list, the copy may not always be accurate.

Pricing:

It starts at $10/month for 12K words, 70+ AI templates, a Landing page generator, a browser extension, Zapier integration, and more.

5. Grammarly Business

Like most other tools on this list, Grammarly Business isn’t an AI-based content writer per se—it’s more like an AI-based writing assistant. Specifically, it checks your documents for grammar, spelling, plagiarism, and style mistakes.

Grammarly Business also provides feedback on your writing style so that you can improve as a writer over time.

You can use Grammarly Business to:

Get suggestions to improve your writing style, including word choice and sentence structure.
Identify common grammatical mistakes and fix them in one click.
Improve your email response time by checking emails before they’re sent out.

It’s also ideal for larger teams of writers who need to access the same Grammarly accounts, enabling multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.

One of the best parts about this tool is that it integrates with every online writing space, including Google Docs. This allows you to write and edit simultaneously without waiting for one draft to be finished before making changes to the next.

Key Features:

Custom Brand Tone: You can create multiple tone profiles to suit your needs and assign them to different Teams. You’ll also get real-time feedback on your tone and can adjust it while writing. Your tone can be anything from Joyful, Excited, Loving, and Surprised to Curious, Formal, and Cautionary.

Brand Tone Feedback

Grammar Checker: Grammarly gives you feedback on everything that can be improved in your writing – from typos to sentence structure. It also checks for grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and incorrect punctuation.

Style Guide: Grammarly Style Guide enables you to establish a uniform tone and style across all your teams. You can set a library of words, terms, and phrases that your teams should adhere to.You can also prevent them from using complex acronyms or jargon. Lastly, you can get feedback on how the performance has increased with the Style Guide.

Style Guide Analytics

Pros:

Real-time feedback on errors and tone usage.
Grammarly gives instant, easy-to-understand feedback and lets you fix mistakes with just one click.
You can always add new words to the dictionary.

Cons:

It flags passive voice as an error.
Grammarly is good at catching mistakes, but sometimes it corrects things unnecessarily.

Pricing:

It starts at $15/month for one member, real-time feedback, style guide, snippets, brand tones, admin controls, and more.

6. Peppertype.ai

Peppertype.ai is another AI-based content generation tool that claims to create content ten times faster, boost Google ranking, and optimize conversions.

It’s a simple but valuable tool for writers who need help getting started on their next article, email, or blog post.

Some of its use cases include a product review generator, Amazon product descriptions, personal bio, email subject lines, cold emails, paragraph writing, Google Ad copy, Meta descriptions, blog outlines, blog conclusion, and more.

Key Features:

Projects: You can organize your content under Projects, which will group similar types of content so that you have an easier time finding and repurposing the content.

Projects

Output personalization: You can like or dislike the output so that the AI behind it can learn your preferences and improve its performance.

Personalizing output

Pros:

If you invite your friends to use Peppertype.ai, join our community, write them a review, and schedule a training call, they’ll reward you with more word credits.
You can create teams, projects, and workspaces.
You can filter out unwanted results with annotations.

Cons:

One seat is expensive, and the price increases with each added seat.

Pricing:

It starts at $35/month for one user, 50K words, 40+ use cases, unlimited projects, customer support, and more.

7. Anyword

Anyword is a copywriting AI that creates content tailored for your customers and target audiences.

It has a unique feature – the predictive performance score to predict how well your copy will perform and engage with your audience. This helps you write optimized texts that boost your conversions.

It has 11 major use cases, including a social post generator, Instagram caption generator, sentence rewriter, AI writer tool, meta description generator, Ad copy, landing page, blog, and more.

Generating Facebook Post

Although it can create blog post titles and outlines, it’s better suited for writing short-form content like ad copy, product descriptions, and headlines. When writing a blog post, it can generate the title, outline, and introduction before creating body paragraphs.

Key Features:

Predictive Performance Score: This score is given to your copy based on its potential to perform well with your target audience. This can help you immediately improve your copy.

Predictive Performance Score

Website Triggered Messages: This feature helps you create and deploy multiple copy variations on your website and apply the best one automatically.

Pros:

It offers a predictive performance score to optimize your copy beforehand.
It also offers a free social post generator. No sign-up is required.
It automatically creates and runs multiple copy variations to determine the best one.
A Freemium plan is available.

Cons:

Limited use cases.
A bit expensive for the credits and the number of use cases it offers.

Pricing:

It costs $24/month for 20K words and one seat.

8. Scalenut

Scalenut uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to produce content that ranks higher on search results. It also gives insights into statistics such as word count, grade level, H tags, readability, and the number of images you should use in your content piece.

Aside from that, it offers a variety of use cases, including SEO Hub, AI Copywriter, Talent Network, Chrome Extension, Cruise Mode, and more. With these features, you can create content for blog ideas, product descriptions, website copies, blog intros, and more.

Key Features:

Integrations: You can integrate Scalenut with SEMrush for keyword research, cluster boost, and Copyscape to check plagiarism.

App integrations

Cruise Mode: Cruise Mode helps you create blog content in 5 minutes. You just need to provide your blog post’s title, outline, and main points to get your intended content. You’ll also get a real-time quality score that helps you improve your search ranking.

Pros:

It offers a quality score.
Affordable plans with a 7-day free trial.
24*7 chat & email support.

Cons:

Limited use cases and features.
Content quality is not consistent for all businesses.

Pricing:

It starts at $12/month for 100K AI words, 5 SEO reports, 24*7 chat and email support, and more.

9. Frase.io

Frase.io is an all-in-one AI writing tool that helps you, research competitors, develop content briefs, and produce and optimize content.

First, you’ll analyze your search competitors using Frase so you can see what your competition is writing about. Next, you can focus on Then, your overall outline or dig deeper by focusing on individual headlines, external links, statistics, etc.

Next, use Frase’s AI writer to finish your draft. You can choose from dozens of use cases to generate content, including product descriptions, blog introductions, and more. You can even automatically expand on what you’re currently writing or rewrite what you’ve already written.

Finally, you can optimize your draft using recommended keywords and readability scores. Again, Frase provides real-time feedback as you fill in the gaps.

Key Features:

AI Writing Tools: They include an AI content generator, introduction generator, outline generator, paraphrasing tool, paragraph rewriter, blog title generator, meta description generator, product description generator, slogan generator, summary generator, sentence rewriter, and more.

Blog introduction generator

Content Analytics: It fetches data from Google Search Console to provide insights into organic growth, content decay, and keyword opportunities.

Frase Content Analytics

Integrations: It integrates with Google Docs, Google Search Console, and WordPress. It also offers a Chrome extension.

Frase Integrations

Pros:

You can add multiple pages in a single doc.
It offers content analytics, allowing you to see which articles are getting the most traction and which ones are not.
It enables you to do competitors’ research.

Cons:

Limited word credits in each plan.
Max 3 seats available.

Pricing:

It starts at $14.99/month for one user, 20K AI characters, and four articles (write/optimize) per month. There’s also a 5-day free trial for $1.

10. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is an SEO tool and AI writing assistance that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to help you manage and improve your content strategy.

Rather than creating the body of your copy, it helps you create outlines and optimize the content you write based on that outline.

It helps you to evaluate your content and find places to improve it using its content score metric, competitor research, SERP analyzer, and keyword recommendations. It also offers a content planner that you can share with your team.

Key Features:

Outline Builder for Content Editor: The tool generates headlines and paragraphs based on your competitors’ postings. You can use that content as is or edit it by copy-pasting it into the editor. Content paragraphs are available in English, German, French, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch.

Outline Builder Content Builder

SEO Audit Tool: This tool performs step-by-step optimization on your website to improve your Google search results. When you pick an URL to audit, it provides suggestions such as missing backlinks, internal links, word count, and important keywords to use.

Terms to use

Content Planner: You can start with your content planner by keyword or domain. Based on your keywords, it comes up with clusters that you can use to create your content topics.However, there is a learning curve involved. You will need to understand topic clusters, search intent, and keyword difficulty, among other metrics.

Content Planner

Pros:

Easy to use interface.
They offer a 7-day money-back guarantee – if you don’t find it helpful, you get your money back.
It identifies keyword stuffing and prevents you from doing so.

Cons:

Each plan offers a limited number of pages that you can audit.

Pricing:

It starts at $49/month for one website tracking and ten articles/month.

11. Copysmith

Copysmith markets itself as an AI content creation solution for teams.

This AI writer is best suited for bulk and short-form content copy like product descriptions, blog templates, social media content, advertising content, and more.

Key Features:

Use cases: It includes product descriptions, content enhancement, ads & social media, blog templates, and brainstorming. With Product descriptions, you can generate descriptions for eCommerce Products, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Flipkart. Blog templates include blog titles, blog ideas, outlines, intro, Kickstarter, and more.

Product Description

Campaign Builder: It includes several AI templates to help you generate SEO-optimized product descriptions, Facebook posts, and Google ads in just a few seconds.

Integrations: Copysmith integrates with Frase to use SEO data, Google Ads to publish campaigns, Microsoft Word to produce content, and WooCommerce for products.

Pros:

It’s easy to use and generates SEO-optimized content.
It comes with an in-built plagiarism checker.
Provides good training material for new users.

Cons:

Not suitable for long-form content.

Pricing:

It starts at $19/month for 75 credits, up to 40K words, and up to 20 plagiarism checks.

12. ClosersCopy

ClosersCopy is an AI writing robot that provides various templates for producing marketing materials, including website content, sales copy, email marketing campaigns, and social media posts. This tool doesn’t require any special skills or training to create engaging text.

Key Features:

Use cases: It includes Facebook & Google Ads, email subject lines, landing pages, sales copies, social media content, and more.
LongForm editor: You can create blog posts, articles, sales copies, and email marketing copies.
Drag-and-drop builders: The drag-and-drop content builder makes your tasks more manageable by allowing you to drag and drop elements on your copy. The only thing you need to do is provide some context at the time of configuring this builder.

Pros:

Its user interface is easy to use and navigate.
You can easily create content with their drag-and-drop builder.
The video tutorials provide in-depth, step-by-step instructions for each process.
Tone analysis helps you understand the emotions in your writing.

Cons:

No free plan or trial period is available.
More expensive than most other AI tools.

Pricing:

It starts at $49.99/month for two seats, 300 AI runs, 50 SEO Audits, an SEO planner, Email support, and more.

13. LongShot AI

LongShot AI is another writing tool that can help you write SEO-friendly content. It comes with over 30 use cases and a plagiarism checker to ensure your content is original.

While most of its use cases are for short-form content, you can use templates like the content expander, write more, or bullets to text generator to assist you with your long-form piece.

Key Features:

Use Cases: It includes content rephrasing, FAQ generator, headline generator, blog ideas generator, meta description generator, text extender, blog insights creator, headline intro generator, product description generator, FAB copywriting framework generator, content readability improver, sales email generator, video description generator, and more.

Headline Generator

Integrations: It integrates with WordPress to enable you to export AI-generated copies directly to WordPress. Its integration with SEMrush will help you write SEO-friendly content. Apart from these, LongShot AI will also provide integration with Hubspot and Grammarly soon.

LongShot X SEMrush

LongShot AI Community: The LongShot AI Community is a group of researchers and developers working on open artificial intelligence problems. Anyone can join and contribute to the research.

Pros:

The free forever plan offers ten credits daily.
Community is a big help for new users.
It gives you multiple ways to know more about the product, including blog posts, help videos, customer support, and announcements.

Cons:

Aside from the free plan, it’s costly, especially considering the limited number of use cases and credits.
Doesn’t have use cases for social media content.
Supports only eight languages.

Pricing:

It starts at $49/month for 1000 monthly credits, one user, basic integrations, and more.

14. INK Editor

Inky is a suite of content marketing tools that include AI-powered tools: AI Writer, SEO Optimizer, Copy Assistant, and Content Planner. These features can be used individually or collectively, and the price will be adjusted accordingly.

The AI Writer offers unlimited credits and helps you write long-form and short-form content. In addition, you can re-edit the generated copy with a single click as often as you want. The tool also offers WordPress plugin integration and open-source export API.

In addition, you get access to use cases like product descriptions, social media copies, sales copies, blogs, essays, emails, microcopies, product ideas, and more.

AI Writing Tools

Key Features:

SEO Optimizer: INK’s SEO Optimizer is a natural language optimization tool that can improve your SEO score and increase engagement by providing recommendations on keywords, titles, alt text, and the like. Enter a keyword or phrase, and the INK SEO Optimizer will do the rest.

SEO Optimization Score

Content Planner: The INK Content Planner helps you group keywords and analyze search intent. You can also import your keywords and download your clusters for further analysis.

Copy Assistant: A built-in grammar checker automatically checks your grammar and spelling. It also checks words, tone, and sentence fragments.

Pros:

Easy to use.
You can use it as an all-in-one content marketing tool.
Offers unlimited AI text writing even on a free plan.
Offers keyword clusters to optimize your SEO strategy.

Cons:

The paid plan is relatively costly for one seat.

Pricing:

It starts at $50/month for one seat, INK Copy Assistant PRO, INK AI Writer PRO, INK SEO Optimizer PRO, and INK Content Planner PRO with 1,000 Keywords.

15. Articoolo

Articoolo is an AI content generator developed by a group of mathematicians, computer scientists, content writers, and marketing specialists. Thanks to NLP and AI technology, the tool drafts articles in a way that mimics the human brain.

Key Features:

Use Cases: It includes Text Writer, Article Rewriter, Article Summarizer, and Image Scraper. Based on your keyword, Articoolo will also fetch images from royalty-free websites.
WordPress Plugin: This will help you export your copies directly to WordPress so you can post faster.
Plagiarism Checker: All you have to do is enter your text into the program, and it will scan for instances of plagiarism.

Pros:

It has pay-per-use plans.

Cons:

There’s no official website.
Customer support is missing the mark.
Not much information about the tool online.

Pricing:

It starts at $19/month for a ten-article fixed package.

16. NeuralText

NeuralText is a writing tool that offers users keyword reports and cluster credits. It also has an API for developers looking to integrate its services into other programs.

Some of its most prominent use cases include a paragraph generator, content outline, and product description – making it a short-form content-centric tool.

The best part is that it not only creates content but also creates content briefs and optimizes the content based on keywords and SERP analysis.

Key Features:

AI Writing Assistant: This tool will help you produce text in any format. It also provides text recommendations while you write.

AI Writing Assistant

Content Optimization: NeuralText can help make your content more search engine-friendly and improve its score in Google’s search results. It analyzes your word choice and sentence structure to ensure your content is easy to scan and relevant to your topic.

Content Score

Content research analysis: It makes content research and studies more accessible, allowing you to see real-time data across SERPs. It also has a Google Docs-style editor, making managing your data points and keeping track of your research effortless.

Content research analysis

Pros:

Free plan available.
Offers keyword clusters.
You can group content into different projects.

Cons:

The community is not active.
A bit on the expensive side.

Pricing:

It starts at $49/month for one user, unlimited AI text generation, 50 content analyses, and 50 keyword reports.

17. AI Writer

AI Writer helps you create unique, SEO-friendly content that you can publish directly to WordPress. In addition, it offers features like research & write, text rewording, verifiable citations, and source summarizer.

Key Features:

AI-Writer Content Kit: AI Writer uses artificial intelligence to analyze keyword difficulty and ranking opportunities based on the field you enter. It chooses up to 250 keywords and generates one article per keyword, which can be directly published to WordPress.

(Sub)Topic Discoverer: It checks to see what other writers have written about and then uses that information to create new topics for you.

Verifiable Citations: When it produces content for you, it also provides a list of citations so that you can check the accuracy of the information.

Pros:

It offers a free trial for seven days.
One of the few AI writing tools to offer verifiable citations so you can confirm the accuracy of the content.

Cons:

Not enough resources in the knowledge base for new users.
Fewer use cases.
Does not offer a free version.

Pricing:

It starts at $29/month for one user and up to 40 articles.

18. Wordtune

Wordtune makes your previously written content clearer, more compelling, and more authentic by bringing out the best.

Although this tool doesn’t write content from scratch, it makes your content look more professional. It also integrates with Microsoft Word, so you can edit your work while you write your content.

It provides tools to:

Rewrite your content
Make your content casual
Make your content formal
Shorten your sentences to make them crisp
Expand your sentences to give more detail

Key Features:

Paragraph Rewriter: Wordtune can rewrite your paragraphs entirely at once, one sentence at a time, and one word at a time. See below for an example.

Paragraph Rewriter

Tone: You can alter how your content appears by making it more informal or formal. Here’s an example:

Casual Tone

Pros:

You can make the text longer or shorter.
It offers a casual and formal tone.
Simple and easy-to-use interface.

Cons:

It doesn’t offer any other benefits besides rewriting.

Pricing:

It starts at $9.99/month for unlimited rewrites.

19. ProWritingAid

Rather than a full-fledged artificial intelligence writer, ProWritingAid is a grammar checker and style editor that’s available online. It helps prevent spelling errors, suggests impactful words, and corrects grammar and punctuation.

It supports general English, British English, US English, Australian English, and Canadian English.

Key Features:

Document type: You can choose from 35+ document types for your content. They include general academic abstract, academic essays, admission letters, book reviews, business books, and more.

Reports: ProWritingAid provides three types of reports: real-time reports, summary reports, and style reports.

Real-time reports show errors and corrections as you write. Summary reports provide an overview of all reports. It contains a spelling score, grammar score, and style score. On the other hand, Style reports identify problems in writing style and readability.

Summary report

Pros:

It offers 20+ reports to track your progress as you improve your writing.
There are no limits on the number of words you can use with premium plans.
Notifies of style changes and suggests corrections if needed.

Cons:

Only available through the web browser.

Pricing:

It starts at $20 per month or $120 per year (if you pay yearly).

20. Article Forge

Once you provide ArticleForge.com with a keyword, article length, and other custom information, the program creates a 1500+ word article in seconds.

Your content will be checked for plagiarism and uniqueness before being delivered.

Key Features:

Media-rich content: It can automatically find and insert relevant images, videos, titles, and links in your articles. To make it more relevant, ArticleForge also uses LSI keywords.

Creating an article

SEO Automation: It integrates with WordPress to automate your scheduling and posting of articles.

WordPress Integration

Interlinking: It can automatically turn URLs into links within your article. You can choose how often to do this for every keyword or just the first occurrence.

Languages: It can generate content in English, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.

Pros:

Produces SEO-optimized content.
Can schedule posts on WordPress automatically.
Plagiarism-free content.
Automatic keyword linking.

Cons:

The content can be repetitive.
You need to check the accuracy of the content before publishing.

Pricing:

It starts at $13/month for 25K words and the rest of the features.

Frequently asked questions about AI writing software.

1. What is AI Writing Software?

AI writing software is an artificial intelligence program used to write text. It can generate content for websites, blogs, and other fields. The content created by AI writers is often indistinguishable from human-created content. Still, sometimes it has a slightly robotic feel or may include words or phrases that seem out of place in the context of the writing.

2. How does AI Writing Software work?

The software uses an algorithm to mimic the creative process of human writers. It first creates a base text that modifies by adding words and phrases specific to your content. This ensures that you get high-quality original content every time you use it.

3. Who can use AI Writing Software?

Anyone who needs to create texts for their business or website can benefit from using this software. It’s also an excellent option for freelance writers and content marketers facing writer’s block. As it’s easy and fast, even beginners can start using it immediately and see great results within minutes!

4. Can I use AI writers for everything I write?

No — AI writers are best suited for shorter pieces like headlines or product descriptions because they don’t have much time to learn about your company’s brand voice or personality.

While there are tools to churn out long-form content, you still need the human touch for longer and more research-intensive pieces like blog posts or sales copy. AI algorithms still can’t pick up on nuances like a human can.

5. What are some of the benefits of using AI Writing Software?

There are many benefits to using AI writing software. The most obvious benefit is that you no longer need to spend time creating content yourself. The software will do it for you!

Another benefit is that AI writing software allows you to create content in any niche or topic you desire. You can even target multiple niches at once! This makes it possible to scale your business quickly and easily by leveraging the power of automation while still keeping your hands on the work itself.

6. How much does it cost?

The pricing depends on the type of service you want to use. Some companies offer free trials or even freemium versions with limited credits so that you can test their services before making a purchase decision. Some companies offer lifetime discounts for repeat customers, so keep an eye out for those offers when making your choice!

7. What’s the difference between AI-powered and human-written content?

While humans are still required for high-quality content creation, AI makes scaling up your content marketing efforts easier. By automating much of the writing process – from keyword research to formatting – AI can help you create more content at a lower cost per article. In addition, this frees your team members to focus on other tasks that require their expertise (like outreach) or simply spend more time enjoying their lives!

8. What is the best AI Writer?

The best AI writer depends on what you want it to do and how much you want to spend. If you’re going to write books or articles, many different programs can help you with this task. Our top pick for long-form would be Jasper.

On the other hand, if you only need help with short-form content such as blog posts or press releases, there may not be any need for an AI writer because these documents don’t require as much work or effort from the user. In that case, you might want to use tools like Copy.ai, Rytr, and more.

9. Can I use AI Writing Software to replace my human writers?

No, AI writing software isn’t meant to replace human writers. It’s designed to work alongside them, helping them create more engaging and relevant content for their audiences. You’ll still need human writers who can add style and personality to your content.

Over to You!

Do you find writing to be an exhausting activity? If yes, you would want to try one of the AI Writing Software tools we suggested above. These are some of the best AI writing tools specially developed to boost creativity, motivation, and productivity.

There’s room for experimentation with AI-generated content as long as you can recognize where specific tools are lacking and how to incorporate that into your work. Ultimately, the future of AI writing assistant software will mean ever-more versatile tools for writers, so don’t be shy about testing the waters.

Featured Image Credit by pch.vector on Freepik.

By Louise North

Louise is a staff writer for WebdesignerDepot. She lives in Colorado, is a mom to two dogs, and when she’s not writing she likes hiking and volunteering. More articles by Louise North

Sourced from webdesignerdepot.com

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Google found these traits led to significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance.

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Professional Profile Photo

Cover Photo or Background Picture

A Brief, Powerful Profile Headline

Summary or the About Section

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For amazing typographic designs in the year 2023, take advantage of our top 10 free fonts selection that graphic designers can download.

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Sourced from Inc.

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