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Need a passive income stream? Here are 7 ways to make money online

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By Aly Yale

Inflation is currently at a 40-year high, sending prices on just about everything upward. While cutting corners and careful budgeting can help, for some Americans, it might not be enough.

If you’re in this boat – or you just want to reduce some financial stress, you might want to consider creating a second, passive income stream. Fortunately, the internet makes this easier than you’d think. There are dozens of ways to make money online — without any special training.

Are you looking to create a passive income stream? Here are seven ways to make some extra cash.

1. Start a blog

Blogs aren’t just for fun these days. They can be quite the moneymaker when done right. The key is to pick your niche, build your audience and then monetize the blog. You can do this through affiliate marketing, which earns you a commission when someone clicks a monetized link or buys a product that’s promoted on your blog. You could also try selling and displaying ads on your site. You can use a tool like Google Adsense to get started with the latter.

2. Take online surveys

Giving your opinion and taking part in market research can also be an easy way to make money online. Some of the more popular survey sites include Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, OneOpinion, Opinion Outpost and Ipsos iSay. Keep in mind: These won’t bring in huge earnings. Swagbucks says its members earn about $1 to $5 per day. That’s why it’s important to do your research before you get started or commit to participating in any online surveys.

3. Start an online store

If you’re the creative type, you can start up an Etsy shop. Etsy sellers offer everything from jewellery and clothing to artwork, invitations, yard signs and more. If that’s not your style, you can start a drop-shipping store. With this strategy, you essentially operate a storefront. When a customer makes an order, you order that product from a third party (typically a manufacturer, vendor, or a wholesaler) and ship it directly to the customer. Shopify has a whole dropshipping walkthrough you can use to get started (and you can use their platform to create your store, too).

4. Sign up for a gig-working platform

There are several platforms designed for online gig work. For example, Amazon Mechanical Turk is a place you can take on small tasks for businesses across the globe. They might include moderating content, taking a survey, or transcribing audio. Clickworker is another similar platform, or if you have a specific skill – like copywriting, editing or graphic design – you can use freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer.com and Upwork to connect with potential clients.

5. Start a YouTube channel

YouTube creators can make a lot of money – and it doesn’t necessarily require a lot of expertise. You can create how-to or explainer videos on virtually any subject or go more personal and put yourself in the videos. You can interview subject matter experts, provide tips and tricks, or even just show yourself playing various video, mobile or board games.

The important thing is to find a niche and build a following. You can then integrate Google Ads, become a YouTube Partner, and even make money off memberships, live chats and subscriptions.

6. Become a transcriptionist

If you’re a fast typer, you might consider doing some online transcription for cash. You’ll simply need to listen to audio files and then type out what you hear. You get paid per piece, so the faster you can type, the better – at least, financially speaking. Rev.com, GoTranscript and TranscribeMe are just a few of the sites where you can find online transcription work.

7. Test websites and apps

Fancy yourself the tech-savvy type? If so, you can get paid to test out new websites and mobile apps and hunt down any glitches. At UserTesting.com, for example, you get to test new sites and products from brands like GoDaddy, Hello Fresh, HP, Subway and Canva. You just need to have a reliable WiFi connection, a microphone, a computer or mobile device and you can get to work. BetaTesting.com, UserZoom and Userlytics are other similar platforms.

More ways to earn quick cash

If none of the above seem like a fit, you can also become a virtual assistant, sell your photos on stock photography websites or become a social media influencer if you can drum up enough followers. There’s a side gig for everyone. You just need to figure out your perfect fit.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Aly Yale

Sourced from CBS News

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Brandingbyexperts.com Promises To Increase Sales, ROI and Organic Traffic By Using Sponsored Posts

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Sourced from Marina Times

Before understanding how building brand equity can increase your sales, let us first understand what exactly is brand equity and what does it mean for your brand.

In the world of marketing, brand equity is something that refers to the value of a brand which is predominantly determined by how your customers perceive your brand. It can either be positive or negative. It’s all about how you present your brand or how you advertise it to the world. If your branding is good, and it is pretty famous among the customers and they regard it highly, then your brand equity is high, and thus positive.

But if not that, then it is termed negative. Meaning that if a brand fails to consistently deliver, fails to live up to the expectations of the customers, and also manages to get loads of negative word-of-mouth it has a lower brand equity or lower brand value. So, to put it in the simplest words, brand equity is the reputation of a brand. A good reputation garners good equity whereas a bad reputation garners negative equity.

What is Branding?

Branding is basically the way in which you characterize your business to yourself, to the business partners, and to your clients. Marketing alludes to giving an extraordinary character to your business that is substantially more than only addressing your organization’s name and logo. The brand character characterizes what’s really going on with your business and how it makes an incentive for other people. With a market that has developed brilliant enough to see through glossed over promoting methodologies, the requirement for a solid and veritable brand character is clear.

Branding is huge in expanding deals for a business. It works as a booster for the growth of revenue. If a brand customizes the experience for the clients, the clients associate with the brand emotionally. A solid brand personality increments client dedication and trust which thus builds the deals for your business.

Here are the key factors that influence how buyers see a brand. At the point when you dial in this large number of pieces, you can further develop brand discernment, drive deals, hold clients and increment references:

Brand message:

How buyers see your image relies a ton upon what you say and how you say it. Ensure you’re reliably conveying your brand image’s worth, vision and novel selling recommendation in a way that reverberates with your objective market across all client touchpoints.

Extraordinary items or administrations:

Make sure your items are top-notch and pertinent to your optimal clients.

Client support:

Try and establish good and strong connections with your group of clients across all channels (e.g., email, telephone, web-based entertainment, visits). This will fundamentally affect how they see your image. Convey a consistent and predictable client experience that lines up with your brand image across all touch focuses.

Trust identifications:

When selling on the web, fabricate trust and believability with customers. Sites with trust identifications cause clients to feel more certain while sharing their data (e.g., during checkout).

Virtual entertainment:

Offer client assistance via web-based entertainment stages. Furthermore, many ask their companions so that suggestions or search via virtual entertainment might see what others are talking about a brand.

Brand Equity Increasing Your Brand Sales Value

Good brand equity increases your sales. Brand equity is nothing but the financial or commercial worth of your brand based on the perception of your brand name amongst consumers or clients. If you build a good brand by indulging in various branding methods and techniques your brand equity rises and thus your sales rise as you are able to sell your product at a higher value.

Your painstakingly built brand makes a visual, profound, and social association among clients and your organization and thus builds trust. A consumer is always ready to pay a comparatively higher sum if he/she trusts the brand.

There are many examples of brands that have built a name and inculcated a trust factor amongst clients thus generating higher brand equity which in turn increased sales.

Sponsored Posts Strategy

Sponsored Posts Strategy is a sure short way to gain a lot of traffic for your brand and your page. This strategy helps you to collaborate with publications having a high amount of traffic and featuring your blog or product on their websites. This strategy is responsible for drawing a major chunk of organic traffic to your page. Sponsored posts are not like irritating ads that are dripping with sales language. Instead, these posts are finely articulated and informative posts which show your potential target audience a solution for their problems. Sponsored Posts touch the right nerve and address the issues and showcase your brand or product as a good fix for all the issues faced by your potential consumer.

BrandingByExperts

Branding Experts , as the name suggests a branding agency run by experts in the fields of digital marketing, PR and branding.  The company is dedicated to learning and understanding your business. By building a relationship with each of your clients, the company ensures that they build a marketing strategy which focuses solely on the nature of your problems and then on solving them. Each of their marketing campaigns is built with the client’s needs in mind to solve all the marketing obstacles.

The team’s expertise lies in building brand equity and formulating a reliable sponsored posts strategy to add up to the advantages of the client. This causes your sales to boom right up and increases your market value. The agency uses analytics to bring about a positive metamorphosis for your business.

The company builds your brand by distributing a press release to prominent outlets such as many local news affiliates. They give your brand in-content white hat links by reaching out to bloggers with high traffic and reach.

For more than 15 years, the platform has been providing branding solutions for businesses wanting to expand their online presence, increase leads and grow their revenue.

If you too are waiting then your wait ends here. Reach out to BrandingByExperts.com  today and increase your sales by leaps and bounds.

Sourced from Marina Times

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Web3 101 for brands: here’s your cheat sheet

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By Lauren Griewski

Web3 could revolutionize the relationship between brands and their customers. Here’s an introduction to what marketers need to know.

When the internet first went live, publishers would create content and users would consume it – a period known as web1. A decade or so later, web2 took over with the emergence of web apps and social networks, which made it easy for everyone to create, share and engage with content.

Fast forward to today, and the novelty of web2 has largely worn off. Some of the most impactful web2 companies – such as Meta (Facebook), Google and Apple – have made a killing by leveraging user-generated content (UGC) to engage consumers and create unique profiles for each of them, only to turn around and ultimately sell that data to third parties for advertising purposes.

The worst part? The vast majority of those users had no idea this was taking place – and none of them gave their permission to allow it to happen.

If advertisers want to rebuild trust with consumers, they need to take an open, transparent approach and ask their audiences for their permission to collect data. And this is exactly what the web3 opportunity – a new era of the internet characterized by decentralization, transparency and autonomy – enables.

What are the core principles of web3?

Ask 10 people to define web3, and you might get 10 different answers. But at a high level, web3 is a new iteration of the internet powered by blockchain technology and token-based economics, and it’s also governed by three central tenets:

  • Decentralization. In web2, companies own platforms. In web3, platforms are decentralized. No organization has control over any content; users do
  • Transparency. Thanks to blockchain technology, all users on peer-to-peer networks and decentralized apps (dApps) will share open, unalterable databases that they can verify with their own eyes
  • Autonomy. Ultimately, users will be able to control their own digital destiny and have the final say in whether their data is collected and how it’s used

According to a recent study, 96% of consumers don’t trust advertisers. This is exactly why brands should be incredibly excited about the web3 moment.

With the right approach, digital advertisers can rebuild the trust they’ve lost during the web2 era – connecting with consumers on a meaningful level and in an open and honest way.

Web3 is here – it’s time to prepare for the tectonic shift

Though we’re still early, the web3 moment has already arrived. Unfortunately, advertisers that wait to adapt to this reality will learn the lesson the hard way.

In the not-too-distant future, users will demand a cut of the revenue generated from the data they create. As an internet-native currency that is incredibly divisible, crypto is the easiest mechanism to deliver incentives that users can immediately put to use.

As the world gravitates toward the web3 standard, user data will increasingly be held on the blockchain or in decentralized storage solutions, which will give users more power over their data than ever before. As a result, they will be able to choose exactly which brands they consent to share data with, what data they wish to share, and for how long.

Advertisers that don’t prepare for this tectonic shift and adapt their methods to offer a real value proposition in exchange for interacting with user data will be left behind.

By offering tokenized rewards – whether that’s fungible crypto coins or non-fungible tokens (NFTs), an on-trend, blockchain-based, one-of-a-kind digital asset – advertisers can tap into the web3 ethos while exciting users about what they have to offer. Plus, they get to take advantage of the magnificent properties that come with blockchain technology, such as:

  • Immutability, or the permanent, unalterable nature of a blockchain ledger
  • Validation, or the way in which users can verify transactions are legitimate
  • Disintermediation, or the absence of intermediaries between advertisers and users
  • Profound security, made possible by cryptography and decentralization
  • Ease of transfer, which makes it simple and quick to send and receive tokens

How crypto can help advertisers thrive in web3

One of the easiest ways to reward users when they give their permission to share their personal data or perform specific actions is by issuing crypto rewards. For example, you can give them rewards when they watch videos, view personalized ads and opt to receive content from brands.

By offering an opt-in value exchange – where they’re willing to part with their data or their attention for tokens – advertisers can begin building long-lasting customer relationships and regain trust while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Though cryptocurrency remains in its infancy, adoption continues to increase; today, some 27 million Americans own crypto. With steady growth over the last decade, it’s only a matter of time before crypto usage reaches critical mass. The sooner advertisers embrace the inevitably of crypto, the faster they’ll be in a position to capitalize.

Since the future of digital advertising will be fuelled by permission and digital rewards, brands need to start looking for a purpose-built crypto-rewarded advertising platform that will guide the journey ahead. Strategies that enable aligned incentives – where all participants, including users, advertisers and the platform, benefit from the permissioned sharing of data – will lead to victory in the web3 era.

With the right approach, the lopsided relationship between brands and consumers suddenly evens out, and both parties engaging with each other is more of a partnership than anything else.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Lauren Griewski

Lauren Griewski is chief revenue officer at Permission.io.

Sourced from The Drum

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Why Earned Media Is Crucial For Thought Leadership Brands

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By Jodi Amendola

To gain recognition in the marketplace, companies execute integrated marketing campaigns across PESO (paid, earned, social and owned) media channels. In today’s digital landscape with so many channels, marketing and communications professionals sometimes overlook the “E.” Don’t make that mistake.

Earned media is content that is published by a third party that a brand has not paid for, such as an article in a national media outlet, a guest appearance on a podcast or a by-lined editorial published in trade media.

Earned media represents a valuable route for brands to share their messaging and promote their thought leaders—in part because audiences generally have placed greater trust in established third-party media outlets that have, in some cases, spent decades building credibility and name recognition with the public. (For tips on how to create compelling thought leadership content, see my previous article on the subject.)

Following are four reasons why earned media should be an essential part of any thought leadership brand’s marketing mix.

Drives credibility: Earned coverage from media and analyst reports delivers instant credibility and publicity, often illuminating a brand’s key differentiators compared with competitors. Engaging, relevant stories are key to driving placements that can be leveraged for multiple social media and marketing channels. Media and analyst relations are nuanced and can be full of pitfalls, so be sure to work with an expert team with experience to guide your way.

Reaches target audiences: Savvy marketers develop personas, which are fictional representations of customers with similar motivations, goals and buyers’ journeys. Brands can reach these customers and decision-makers through account-based marketing (ABM) and other focused digital marketing approaches. But these customers also consume lots of other content from trade publications and general business media. For example, if your target customers are chief information officers at large hospitals, target trade media outlets with content, messaging and customer success stories that will grab their attention.

Broadens reach for content: In a crowded digital marketplace, virtually every company has its own media channels—websites, blogs, social media and the like—and many brands and businesses think they can reach their entire audience through these owned channels. Owned media is a start, but it shouldn’t be the end for your content. Too many brands adopt a “one and done” approach to content marketing, in which they conduct a webinar, for example, then post audio or video of the event on a largely forgotten YouTube channel, then call it a day. It’s a missed opportunity if you don’t maximize the reach of quality content.

Instead, mine thought leadership content from your owned channels, collecting the newsworthy nuggets and repurposing the content with the media, particularly the trades. Task your marketing and communications team to review blog content regularly, and continuously keep the team abreast of strategic content in the works.

Leveraging this approach, brands get a bigger bang for their buck to stretch valuable content across multiple channels to broaden their reach and work more efficiently. Plus, you ensure consistent strategic messaging and storytelling across all PESO channels, too. Strategic content should be leveraged in as many ways and media as possible.

Delivers much-deserved recognition: When executives see their companies’ stories and messaging shared by credible third-party outlets, such as local business journals or trade media outlets, the recognition creates a positive feeling. Earned coverage, the E in PESO, from third-party publications or analyst reports simply feels good. This is particularly true for an early startup with a disruptive idea that can take some time to drive business. It can positively influence a company’s culture.

Business is all about relationships and credibility. To successfully leverage earned media, brands need both. Getting started on the earned media path isn’t easy, but after you’ve made some progress, you’ll see the benefits of broadening your reach through greater awareness and recognition among your target audiences.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Jodi Amendola

Jodi Amendola is CEO of Amendola, an award-winning healthcare and high-tech public relations and marketing agency based in Scottsdale, AZ. Read Jodi Amendola’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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TikTok Is Going to Get Even Bigger, According to a New Study. Here’s How to Win the Video App

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By Xintian Tina Wang,

TikTok is expected to beat YouTube in average user time consumption this year.

As more people bookmark TikTok, the short video app is expected to surpass YouTube, by the end of the year, for the first time in terms of time spent by their respective adult users in the U.S., according to a report released on eMarketer last week.

The report indicates that TikTok users will spend an average of 45.8 minutes per day on the video-sharing platform, in contrast to the 45.6 minutes they’ll tune into YouTube. Despite emulating TikTok with short-video features like Instagram Reels, Instagram accounts for an average of 30.1 minutes per day.

The difference between those stats on YouTube versus TikTok may be negligible, but it harbingers a turning of the tide. And for business owners, the ByteDance-owned app has huge potential to engage new consumers.

Here are three ways to capitalize on the app’s newly minted engagement stats:

1. Be authentic.

You’ll hear this a lot in reference to TikTok: In many ways, TikTok and Instagram are polar opposites. Whereas picture perfect tends to rule the day on Instagram, TikTok users, rather, crave authenticity. So on TikTok, don’t sugercoat, and stick to videos that can spark an emotion in the viewer.

“If brands are authentic on TikTok, they are not just perceived as advertisers, but seen as members of the community who understand what’s happening around them,” says Lyle Underkoffler, chief marketing officer at the New York City-based social ad automation platform Smartly.io.

Evan Horowitz, CEO of creative agency Movers+Shakers in Santa Monica, California, agrees with this strategy. He says TikTok users prefer content that “feels low stakes.” Horowitz explains that videos that have a strong advertorial value usually won’t perform well on the platform.

2. Don’t jump on every big trend.

While you should attempt to post regularly about your products–and do so in a consistent manner–avoid jumping on every hot topic, which can range wildly from cute dog videos one minute to the “I am not meant to work” trend the next. Consider whether a trend is a fit with your business. A party outfit trend, for instance, may not be suitable for an energy saving company’s marketing campaign.

Further, “entrepreneurs and small-business owners should find the most relevant hashtags for their brands, which may not necessarily be the most popular ones,” Jason Galloway, marketing consulting practice lead at multinational accounting and consulting firm KPMG, tells Inc. He adds that brands should also consider collaborating with smaller influencers for partnerships and product placement. “Speed and natural fit is far more important than polish, so focusing on trending content that fits the brand is the main strategy,” Galloway advises.

3. Embrace “live” interactions.

Last week, TikTok announced it will test out a new function, dubbed TikTok Live, to allow creators to generate recurring revenue via payments through livestreaming. In a statement, TikTok says that the function aims to bring brands and viewers closer.

You can also now invite your best customers to a “VIP Room” by way of Live Subscription. TikTok’s monthly subscription for people to show their appreciation for their favorite Live creators grants brands the opportunity to grow their community and get exclusive offers for VIP customers. When the subscriber-only chat is turned on, advertisers and their subscribers have exclusive access to one another. Brands can build a personal network globally through livestreaming.

“It’s increasingly important for brands to be relatable to their new and existing consumers,” advises Underkoffler. Regardless of how you engage, the point is to just start–and be authentic. “When advertising on TikTok, creating a genuine connection and interacting with the audience are critical,” he adds.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Xintian Tina Wang,

Sourced from Inc.

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What Web3 Means for Marketers

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By Alexandra Bower

Bridging the gap between fandom and ownership

Are you curious about what Web3 is and what it encompasses in its early stages? Wondering what the next era of the internet includes? What is an NFT, anyway? How do you get to the metaverse? Avery Akkineni, president of VaynerNFT, Allison Sturges, head of strategic partnerships at Genies and Rachel Webber, chief brand and strategy officer at Playboy, formed a panel at Social Media Week to break down what Web3 means for marketers.

Unlocking a monumental technology shift

According to Webber, deciding to enter Web3 was easy for Playboy. The brand saw several similarities between its mission and the mission of Web3.

“We really saw an intersection of the core values of Playboy around free expression, serving as a platform for artists, anti-censorship, giving people an ability to participate and feel part of a community,” she said.

Playboy entered the space through the art lens for its first NFT drop, a collaboration with the artist SLIMESUNDAY.

“We gave him access to the Playboy archive to create new original work utilizing previous art and typography that we had,” Webber explained. “We loved the ability of NFT drops to reinvent and show the regenerative nature of an archive and the power of art and photography and the ability to turn that into new collectibles and new consumer experiences.”

Webber said Web3 was an instrumental tool in fostering deeper, more meaningful connections between the Playboy brand and fans.

“For us, access to the Playboy archive, access to a Playboy party, are very much getting access to the Playboy lifestyle, and that’s authentic to the type of experiences that we believe Playboy can offer.”

Bridging the gap between old and new

According to the panellists, Web2 and Web3 work together, and they should be used mutually to help bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3.

“With anything within marketing and social media, you have to understand which metrics are living on which platforms,” Sturges said. “For us, we’ve been able to establish the fact that Twitter and Discord are where the NFT natives are spending their time. So, we leverage both of those platforms to build out our platform. Discord has been a way for us to create directly with our users and get product feedback. It’s a great tool for us to connect and build actual relationships with our users.”

According to Sturges, the ethos of Web3 is all around giving back ownership and freedom as marketing bridges the gap between Web2 social and Web3 ownership.

“I think for brands and marketers, finding ways to provide that ownership and freedom for your users, fans, and customers is key,” she said.

“Back in January, Genies announced we would give full ownership to our creators, users, and talent — really allowing them to have full commercialization rights of any of the creations they create within our ecosystem. That really gives a true sense of their identity. They created this; it’s a part of the digital IP they’re building. And they also have that ownership in what they want to do with it and how it can be leveraged. I think that’s really important as we move into the next stage of the internet.”

Feature Image Credit: Sean T. Smith for Adweek

By Alexandra Bower

Sourced from ADWEEK

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The future of marketing is IRL

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By Chris Grosso

As we come out of the pandemic, digitally native brands should recognize that the next front in the battle for customer acquisition is in real life.

With Americans returning to bars and restaurants, vacationing like never before, and even (perhaps grudgingly) returning to the office, digital brands need to be out in front of their audiences—and those audiences are out and about.

Digitally native brands are finding that having a presence in physical space is increasingly crucial to their long-term strategy for three reasons:

  1. Consumers are ready to engage with the real world. After two years on Zoom, doom scrolling, and streaming, consumers are ready to get outside. And when they are outside, they increasingly notice advertising and brand messaging. Moreover, they often will share those out-of-home ads on social media.
  2. Most commerce still happens in stores. Even during the 2021 pandemic, more than 85% of retail sales happened offline. Marketers want to be close to decision points for commerce, and the vast majority of those decisions still happen outside the home.
  3. Physical presence is part of the marketing mix. One of the smartest thinkers in media today, Benedict Evans, wrote an insightful piece this past March where he argued that marketers should consider their rent spending as part of customer acquisition. He points out that the best marketers are trading off rent and marketing spending to see which has a better ROI. Some brands might need more stores—others fewer—and some can stay purely virtual. The bigger point is that brands need to recognize that customer acquisition includes retail, marketing, distribution, and advertising—a more than $750 billion annual investment pool in the U.S.

The biggest tech brands like Apple and Amazon saw the importance of physical distribution and invested in retail store networks to secure additional consumer touchpoints. In addition, smart multi-channel retailers, like Warby Parker, also extended their digital brands into physical space.

But building a physical store network is expensive and a big bet for most digitally native businesses. It requires extensive amounts of capital, long lease commitments, and a fundamentally different skill set. Apple needed to bring on Target veteran Ron Johnson to get the Apple Store right, while Amazon spent $13 billion to buy Whole Foods.

In addition, brands that are purely content- or service-based really don’t have enough transactions or volume to support the rent required to have a store network.

The fastest way for a digitally native brand to get into physical space is by using out-of-home advertising. With Americans returning to the streets, it is no surprise that out-of-home advertising surged 37% in Q4 2021. Increasingly, it is digitally native brands driving much of that growth, with Apple, Amazon, and Google all in the top 10. Direct to consumer and tech brands now constitute 28 of the top 100 OOH advertisers, according to the OAAA.

Out-of-home ads are an easy entry point into the real world and are increasingly measurable on an apples-to-apples basis with other media. Smaller formats like street furniture, in particular, allow for more granular targeting close to retail locations and real-world competitive conquesting.

Public space advertising in places like transit hubs and multi-use real estate developments have the added benefit of providing opportunities for product sampling and pop-up shops, props and stunts that drive social media sharing, and content distribution on digital screens. These allow brands to take advantage of an existing large audience without having to make the long-term commitment of a retail lease.

The most innovative digital brands are setting up long-term physical presence to promote their content and advertising. Examples include Netflix on L.A.’s Sunset Strip and DraftKings in Chicago’s Addison Station (outside Wrigley Field). These investments are a cost-effective alternative to building retail locations.

Whether it be through retail stores or out-of-home advertising, brands that can effectively compete in real life will have a massive advantage over those that remain exclusively on online platforms.

Feature Image Credit: [San4ezz007; Alex / AdobeStock] 

By Chris Grosso

Sourced from FastCompany

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22 apps designers can’t live without

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By Gabe Boyd

And why.

There’s no doubt that technology has transformed the design world. While much of the design process used to involve hands-on work with X-Acto blades, Cow Gum, and French curves, it’s now evolved into a largely digital-driven industry. Apps of all kinds have digitized the functional elements of a creative studio: Dropbox in place of a filing cabinet, Slack in place of a quick call.

While it may seem that the litany of apps could potentially overwhelm a project or even stifle creativity, a handful of them have risen to the top of the design world’s list—for productivity, inspiration, and communication. We asked designers, illustrators, and creatives from around the world to share their go-to apps. Here are 22 they told us they can’t live without.

The responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Things and RightFont

The first is Things, a task management and productivity app. I find it super useful to manage my days, weeks, and months as far as organizing projects both professionally and personally. It’s native to iOS and macOS and keeps my mind clear and my desk clean.

The second is RightFont, which is a professional font manager for macOS. It’s intuitive and easy to use and has the ability to auto-activate with Adobe software such as Illustrator or InDesign. The dynamic font preview tool is also useful for comparing various typefaces with one another. It makes managing and installing fonts a smooth and enjoyable process.

—Dan Elliott, designer and art director

Dropbox

My most useful work app would be Dropbox. I keep all my work files and photos saved there, and it keeps multiple older versions of every file saved so I can go back if I overwrote something by mistake.

—Lucia Calfapietra, illustrator

Insight Timer and Todoist

Insight Timer is my go-to meditation app for goal setting, affirmation, and staying optimistic. I don’t consider myself a spiritual person but I believe in the power of the mind and visualizing success—just like athletes do. I’m happy to report that great things keep happening to my career as a designer and an artist.

I don’t know how to work or live without Todoist! [With] all my work and personal to-dos in one place and also connected to my calendar, my mind is at rest and I can focus on designing. I have “Work This Week” for priority jobs and “Work Bucket” for jobs that need doing but have no deadline (e.g., PR, website update, find art residency).

—Mamimu (June Mineyama-Smithson), designer/artist

Spotify

It sounds funny but my go-to app is really just Spotify currently. I can work from anywhere at this point, and I can work both digitally or even with raw essentials—paper and pencil are easily accessible anywhere. The only thing I can’t work without is my music library!

—Steven Harrington, artist and designer

Tumblr

One of my favourite apps for inspiration is, in fact, Tumblr. I’ve remained loyal since 2010, and while the app has seen its ups and downs, from a design inspiration standpoint the sheer quantity of content, images, posters, archival documents, colours, textures, and text helps to keep my creative juices flowing.

—Andy Johnson, writer, editor, and designer

Lightroom Mobile, Retouch, and InShot

My photo editing is done through Lightroom. I also use Do You Travel pre-sets to give my pics a little added punch. I use Retouch for quick photo edits like removing stray lines or random objects from pics, and I use InShot for any simple video editing like splicing clips and speeding up footage.

—Joanna Muñoz, lettering artist and illustrator

Behance

My go-to app would be Behance! It’s a great source of inspiration because not only can you see a range of amazing work from various artists covering multiple disciplines, but you are able to watch in-depth livestreams which show a creative’s design process and methodologies. You really get a sense of the individual behind the work. Streams on Behance like Adobe Live are a perfect example of this! As well as being a freelance designer, I also have the privilege of being a host on Adobe Live. This gives me the opportunity to speak with creatives from different backgrounds and upbringings. This can certainly provide inspiration and influence within my own practice.

—Kieron Lewis, freelance graphic designer

VSCO + Photos

VSCO and my photos app go hand in hand. As a designer and illustrator, I often get inspired by the colours, scenes, and composition of the world around me. I capture photos often and edit them in VSCO, which allows me to really bring photos to life with their filters and editing options, like bumping up the saturation and adding some grain.

—Sophia Yeshi, illustrator and designer, Yeshi Designs

Adobe Illustrator 

I use Adobe Illustrator as a daily tool for poster and logo creation. It’s a very versatile tool that helps me achieve very complex designs and have fun in the process. It helps me as a designer/human in the way I can play around with shapes and generate striking pieces and patterns that can be used in lots of formats.

—Nubia Navarro (Nubikini), art director and lettering artist

Notion

I use Notion to order and control the flow of existing tasks or tasks without a start date or deadline.

—Jonathan Yoc, creative director, Brutal & Co.

TikTok

Amongst my notes and camera apps, TikTok (and its “For You Page”) is a constant scroll of new, unexpected, and richly authentic perspectives, sandwiched between current world events, tear-inducing stories, and, of course, the occasional meme. Yes, it can turn into procrastination (we’ve all been there), but I truly believe many of the next top creatives are utilizing the platform and pushing it to be something far beyond the initial intention. Personally, I’m not there for “design inspo,” but instead open the app with a creative project top of mind and leave with a fresh outlook that I believe feeds back into the work and keeps it culturally relevant.

—Alby Furfaro, head of design at 303 MullenLowe

Procreate

My current go-to app is Procreate for the iPad Pro. Seeing as I mix traditional and digital mediums, pen and ink has always been my preferred medium. I’m from the old-school era of designers who used light boxes, tracing paper, and scanners to create illustrations. Since switching to Procreate about four years ago, it has helped a great deal in bridging the gap in the process I was used to for executing my artwork. I find that I produce at a much faster rate now as I directly sketch/ink in the app, replacing the process of sketching, inking, and touching up on a light box or tracing paper; scanning; then transferring to either Photoshop or Illustrator, which I had been accustomed to for so many years.

—Sindiso Nyoni, graphic artist/illustrator

Notes

I admit I’m not the most app-centric type, but I will say that I love my Notes app. I have notes for basically every avenue of my life ,from meeting notes to TV shows I want to start to Wordle guesses I’m sitting on. It’s chaotic, but it’s all there.

—Katrina Ricks Peterson, art director, Actual Source

Are.na

There are only a few primary apps I use (other than the ubiquitous design software) worth noting. The main one would be Are.na. I use this as a research tool for projects—mostly as private channels, but a few that are public. It allows you to gather not only images but documents, text, links, sounds, etc. There’s also a bit of community involved that you can tailor and isn’t based on an algorithm.

—Daniel Kent, creative director, Ikhoor Studio

Apple Calendar and Pinterest

Apple Calendar is synchronized with my Google account, my phone, and my computer, so I have my schedule very organized. I think this is a very important point in my day as a freelance designer in order to focus on work, complete my tasks, and have a life-work balance.

I use Pinterest for quick inspiration every day. What I like best about Pinterest is the strong visual associations, but I’ll say my fave for this are some websites like Savee (they should make an app!), The Brand Identity, or Fonts in Use.

—Pia Alive, independent creative director

Instagram

Instagram is a great source because it has been used by designers to showcase their portfolio/works. I follow a lot of creative individuals, and they all have different design approaches, so the pieces shown on my feed have a range and have mixed styles, from mild to wild ideas! Looking at the best works isn’t just to gather inspiration for my next work, but it has become a motivation that I can also do more great things that other creative individuals would be able to take inspiration from.

—AJ Trinidad, art director and creative design specialist

InDesign

My go-to app would have to be InDesign. As much as I would love to work exclusively on an iPad (I love the idea and simplicity of it), it’s InDesign that keeps me attached to my MacBook. Besides being the only full-featured app to lay out books and magazines on, it’s the perfect blank canvas to throw ideas onto and organize however you like, with very few restrictions. But then again, it’s one of the first applications I was trained on, so you learn to basically do everything on it. . . . I’m sure the same could be said with Excel?

—Giuseppe Santamaria, photographer and designer

Feature Image Credit: aqabiz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Gabe Boyd

Sourced from Fast Company

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Influencer Shows Both ‘Perfect’ And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

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By Rokas Laurinavicius and Kotryna Brasiskyte

Blogger Georgie Clarke has been working on a series to remind her 690K followers not to trust everything they see on social media, and she’s doing one heck of a good job if you ask me.

Each post consists of two side-by-side pictures snapped just a minute apart. The same outfits, same makeup (or the lack of it), same everything. The only difference is the approach; the first one is taken consciously trying to make Clarke look as great as possible while the second looks like a casual shot someone would take to simply remember the moment.

Scrolling through, it becomes clear that all the flawless people we see on our feed that we are constantly measuring ourselves against aren’t that perfect after all. They just remember to flex their muscles and suck in their stomach when they’re in front of the lens while the one who is behind it knows how to find the best light and the most flattering angle.

Meet Georgie Clarke, a blogger from the UK who had been struggling with body image problems but has learned to accept and appreciate herself

Image credits: georgie.clarke

“It’s no secret that in the past my mental health has affected my physical appearance and how I felt about myself,” the blogger said in one of her posts. “When I used to mentally struggle, my body would be punished as a result. I didn’t take care of myself and I was so critical of myself and how I looked.”

“This was a vicious cycle I dealt with for years without ever getting help or addressing the root of the problems which were happening in my head.”

One of the things that allowed her to do it was honesty, with herself and others

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

“A few years later and some serious time dedicated to therapy, self-love, and lots of compassion towards myself, I am proud to say I am the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever felt and my relationship with my body is just as important as my relationship with my brain. And wow can you see the difference,” she continued.

“When my mental health struggles now, I have [the] tools to take care of myself. It’s taken so long to learn these tools but with compassion and love for myself during these difficult times, I am able to recognize still how important it is to take care of myself or ask for help.”

Clarke has been posting-side-by-side pictures to show that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to social media

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

“This is a reminder that just because someone appears to be smiling in a picture does not mean they’re not battling their own issues”

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Interestingly, Georgie’s series can make a bigger difference than one might originally believe. In 2019, Marika Tiggemann and Isabella Anderberg released a study called ‘Social media is not real: The effect of ‘Instagram vs reality’ images on women’s social comparison and body image.’ The research revealed found that such pictures have the power to limit the negative impact social media has on our mental health.

As part of the study, a group of women were randomly assigned to view one of three sets of posts: the “Instagram vs reality” images, the ‘ideal’ side alone, or just the ‘real’ side. When women viewed either the real or comparison posts, researchers noticed that the identification or complete avoidance of the ‘perfect’ images prevented them from comparing themselves against impossible beauty standards, thus decreasing their dissatisfaction with their own bodies.

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

“It’s always the highlights we see from others when we end up comparing ourselves”

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

“But the truth behind those images is never revealed”

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

“We are all human and learning self-love is a hard yet rewarding journey”

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Image credits: georgie.clarke

But sometimes it would be better to turn off Instagram altogether. Turns out, the more we use social media, the sadder we seem to be.

One study found that Facebook use was linked to both less moment-to-moment happiness and less life satisfaction—the more people used Facebook in a day, the more these two variables dropped off.

The authors suggested this might be because Facebook conjures up a perception of social isolation, in a way that other solitary activities don’t. “On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling such needs by allowing people to instantly connect. Rather than enhancing well-being, as frequent interactions with supportive ‘offline’ social networks powerfully do, the current findings demonstrate that interacting with Facebook may predict the opposite result for young adults—it may undermine it,” the researchers wrote.

Another study supports this thought. It discovered that social media use is, in fact, linked to greater feelings of social isolation. The team looked at how much people used 11 social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat, and Reddit, and correlated this with their “perceived social isolation.” Unsurprisingly, it turned out that the more time people spent on these sites, the lonelier they felt.

Clarke’s 690K followers have been loving the series

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Influencer Shows Both 'Perfect' And Unedited Photos On Instagram So People Know The Whole Truth

Feature Image credits: georgie.clarke

By Rokas Laurinavicius and Kotryna Brasiskyte

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 235 million people have read the posts he’s written, which is probably more than he could count to. Read more »

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea. Read more »

Sourced from boredpanda

 

 

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How to Grow a Business: 15 Strategies to Start Using Now

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By Joe Martin

Starting a business is hard, but learning how to grow a business that’s already up and running is a challenge all of its own. So what’s the secret to success? Just like when you were first starting out, the secret to scaling is having a solid business plan and strong fundamentals.

What are the First Steps for Your New Business?

Beginning from scratch can be daunting, especially when you’re not sure about the first steps that must be taken. That’s why we created this guide to demystify the process of scaling and growing your business.

1. Research the Market

Scaling your business demands that you know the current market conditions inside and out. You need to know:

  • Whether there are enough potential customers
  • Who your ideal customers are
  • Where they’re located
  • How much they are willing to pay for your product or service

Start by establishing clear goals for the project, and then figure out which research methods will work best in helping you achieve those goals. Of course, your marketing will vary differently based on who you are as a business. For example, law firm marketing is very different than HVAC marketing, but they all start with researching your audience and knowing how to connect them to your business.

2. Analyse Your Product

To scale your business, you need to know what makes your product stand out from the crowd. If you can’t think of anything, you have some work to do before you scale.

Think about:

  • What does your product do?
  • How does it help your customers?
  • How does it compare with competitors?
  • Why should someone choose yours over theirs?

That last question is critical. Your unique selling point (USP) isn’t in your product itself but in how you market it or how it’s delivered.

3. Perform a Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is one of the most important things you can do to grow your business. To scale effectively, you need to know how others in your industry — your competitors, in particular — are faring.

A competitor analysis can help you gauge what’s working and what’s not in your market. It can help you spot opportunities and challenges before they arise or, even better, provide you with an advantage over others who don’t know as much as you do. Those who do it well can avoid blind spots and make wiser long-term decisions that benefit their business.

4. Build a Customized Sales Funnel

You likely already have some kind of sales funnel, but is it customized to your business’s needs? Developing a detailed customer journey helps you do just that. It’s a map of each customer’s steps before purchasing from your e-commerce store. The more information you have about where customers are coming from, what they’re doing on your site, and what ultimately persuades them to convert, the better prepared you’ll be for growth.

This can also help with your marketing and how you understand where your customers are coming from.

5. Employ a CRM System

Having an effective customer relationship management (CRM) system in place can help you keep all your data and relationships organized and accessible at any time, from anywhere — an essential tool when scaling.

CRM systems are extremely useful for managing contacts because they allow you to organize and analyse your customer data. This makes it easier to understand a customer’s history with your business. It also allows you to take advantage of automation to personalize how you do business with them. Most CRM systems offer automation features that let you set up rules and triggers based on specific events or actions, such as immediately after the customer makes a purchase.

6. Grow Your List

Your list is the core of your business, whether you know it or not. The people are most interested in what you do and are likely to buy from you. The more people on your list, the more money you can make. Scale your list to scale your business.

How? There are quite a few strategies you could apply to grow your business:

  • Offer a freebie, something so good that people will be willing to give up their email address for it.
  • Write a guest post to get in front of new audiences and gain authority by being featured on other blogs.
  • Write articles for high-traffic sites like ReadWrite, Medium, and LinkedIn Pulse — ending with a link back to your sign-up page, of course.

7. Establish a Customer Loyalty System

A customer loyalty system is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Customers typically receive points, which can be redeemed for rewards. Loyalty programs are used by small and large businesses alike, including both brick-and-mortar and online retailers.

8. Look for Partners

You should always be on the lookout for partnerships with companies that can help your business grow. If you’re new to e-commerce, that means looking for ways to get more people to hear about your products.

It’s important to choose partners who can play a role in growing your business. Pick partners with a broader distribution channel than your own, for example. Also, consider what kind of brand awareness a partnership would bring you.

9. License Related Products or Services

If partnering with another business isn’t on the table, you can nevertheless either license your products out or license someone else’s products. The point here is to increase awareness of your brand. Licensing helps you get the word out about your business while even making a little money in the process.

The economic benefits of licensing can result in significant revenue and profit growth. The cost of sales, marketing, and distribution can be shared with your partner while you also gain access to new markets and consumer bases. Whether you are a well-established business or a startup, licensing is an intelligent way to grow your business.

10. Diversify Your Product Offerings

Adding new product lines is an effective way to grow your business. It allows you to reach new customers, expand into new markets, and increase your brand awareness. Diversifying your product line is good for your business and good for your profit margins, and the customer experience you offer.

Businesses that rely on a single product or service are susceptible to market changes or unexpected events. By having multiple revenue streams in different markets and industries, your business becomes less vulnerable to such events and more capable of withstanding unforeseen challenges in the future.

11. Automate Everything That Makes Sense

It’s challenging to handle the entire scope of your business effectively. That’s why automation is so popular in the current business environment. It’s one of the best ways to take care of many tasks at once, letting you focus on more pressing issues.

The key is to automate everything that makes sense to grow your business while ensuring you don’t sacrifice quality. The easiest way to get started with automation is by using a scheduling tool to manage your social media accounts. For example, you can use the tool to schedule a week’s worth of posts in 10 minutes. Another easy task to automate is email marketing.

12. Hire New, Specialized People to Help You

When you’re just starting out, you do it all. You build a product or service, market it, sell it, and support it. But as your business grows, you need to focus on your main strengths and hire new people to help you scale.

This doesn’t always mean hiring someone full-time. Instead, you can bring on board specialized personnel, or teams, who can help you complete specific tasks. Scorpion, for instance, often helps new and emerging businesses scale up their presence on various social media platforms, improve their SEO, or get a grip on multiple other mission-critical tasks.

13. Improve Your Customer Service Offerings

Customer service is the backbone of any business. It’s a crucial element for increasing sales and gaining customer loyalty. As your business grows, so must your customer service capabilities.

Handling customer service takes time, effort, and dedication. The best customer service takes advantage of the internet and social networking platforms already part of your business. Your customers are likely to be online and will have access to the same tools you do. Ensure that your customers have an easy way to reach you when they need help.

14. Develop Passive Income Sources

As a business owner, you need to make the most of your time — and there are only so many hours in the day. So while it’s probably impossible to generate 100% passive income, it is possible to develop a strategy to generate additional revenue streams that require less effort from you.

There are a variety of ways you can generate passive income as an entrepreneur, but all of them tie into one thing: selling products or services that require little upkeep after the sale, such as:

  • Expanding into new products or services
  • Creating and selling informational products
  • Selling physical products online

15. Become a Thought Leader in Your Field

Thought leadership is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating and sharing content that shows that you are knowledgeable, credible, and trustworthy. It aims to inform and educate audiences to win their trust, and it can be a great way to grow your business.

Specifically, you can use thought leadership to differentiate yourself from your competitors and build your own authority. This can be done through social media, blogging (including guest blog posts), speaking at events, and even writing books to attract new customers.

Growing Your Business Is Exciting

These strategies won’t transform your business overnight, but even implementing a few of them can yield impressive results. And the sooner you do that, the sooner you’ll watch your business become what you’ve always dreamed it would be.

Inner Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

Top Image Credit: by fauxels; Pexels; Thank you!

By Joe Martin

VP of Marketing

Joe Martin is currently the VP of marketing at Scorpion, a leading provider of technology and marketing to help small businesses grow. Formerly he was CloudApp’s GM and CMO and a Head of Marketing at Adobe. With over 15 years of experience in the industry and tech that makes it run, he provides strategic guidance on how to build and use the right stack and marketing for businesses to grow. Joe believes marketers need smart training and leadership to scale company growth. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @joeDmarti.

Sourced from readwrite

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