editor, Author at Mediastreet

In News

This Coffee Company’s Been Spying on Customers With Its App, According to the Canadian Government

June 21, 2022 No Comments

“You can’t spy on your customers just because it fits in your marketing strategy,” British Columbia’s privacy commissioner said of Tim Hortons.

Canadian regulators on Wednesday found that Tim Hortons—a popular fast-food chain owned by the same multinational company as Burger King—changed its mobile app in 2019 to track and collect sensitive location data on its customers.

An investigation led by Canada’s privacy commissioner found that, indeed, with the help of a U.S.-based company called Radar, Tim Hortons was able to collect data on its customers’ locations “as often as every few minutes.”

Regulators found the collection, described as “continual and vast,” ultimately served no legitimate purpose, and was “not proportional to the benefits Tim Hortons may have hoped to gain from better targeted promotion of its coffee and other products.”

“Tim Hortons clearly crossed the line by amassing a huge amount of highly sensitive information about its customers. Following people’s movements every few minutes of every day was clearly an inappropriate form of surveillance,” Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien said.

The government investigation into the company began in 2020 after a journalist at the Financial Post claimed the Tim Hortons app had recorded his GPS coordinates over 2,700 times in five months. The tracking occurred even when the app was not in use, the journalist, James McLeod, said.

Among many other locations, the app tracked McLeod each time he visited his parent’s farm in rural Ontario, while he was boarded a flight in Toronto and when he checked in to a Winnipeg hotel for a cousin’s wedding. “It bothered me,” McLeod wrote. “How many more times had Tim Hortons checked in on me? Was my coffee-ordering app tracking all my movements?”

In a statement, Tim Hortons underscored that the privacy commissioners’ report does not recommend any changes to its current app. After the Financial Post’s story, the company “proactively removed the geolocation technology,” it said.

“The very limited use of this data was on an aggregated, de-identified basis to study trends in our business—and the results did not contain personal information from any guests,” the company said.

“This investigation sends a strong message to organizations that you can’t spy on your customers just because it fits in your marketing strategy,” said Michael McEvoy, British Columbia’s information and privacy commissioner. “Not only is this kind of collection of information a violation of the law, it is a complete breach of customers’ trust.”

Phone makers have taken recent strides to stop unscrupulous app developers from farming location data. In April 2021, Apple introduced an update that gave users the option of preventing apps from tracking their locations and sharing that information with third parties.

Roughly two-thirds of iPhone users opted out of tracking when presented with the option, according to an October report by the analytics firm AppsFlyer.

Feature Image Credit: Tim Horton cafe in Manhattan.Photo: Spencer Platt / Staff (Getty Images)

By Dell Cameron

Sourced from GIZMODO

In News

5 omnichannel trends to integrate into your marketing strategy in 2022

June 21, 2022 No Comments

By Alejandro Tauber

Omnichannel’s steady march to ubiquity has continued over the past decade. It seems like literally every brand is now omnichannel. Or are they?

Line graph showing increase in omnichannel trend/popularity

According to a report by McKinsey&Company:

We find that retailers are often swayed by new technologies that sound promising, but too often don’t deliver.

In all the buzz, brands are struggling to be present everywhere, all the time. New platforms and tools are cropping up presenting new opportunities in both the digital and physical marketing space.

So where can your brand add the most value in 2022? We listed a few of the most promising trends, and how they can be used to create more engagement for brands.

Virtual and mixed reality shopping assistance

Value add: Boosting customer service

Remember shopping by appointment only? It’s here to stay –– without the masks though.

The big advantage of brick-and-mortar shopping was and is the fact that there’s always someone around to help you out. Shopping clerks know exactly what’s available, and might even be able to give customers some pointers on what might be suitable for them, but what about your virtual shoppers?

A Forrester study commissioned by Shopify showed that 52% of brands are investing in ways to help brand representatives communicate with prospective shoppers in real time, through the media they prefer (e.g. text, chat, social, video), and the channel they’re on.

When you’re cluelessly scrolling through children’s toys before your three-year-old nephew’s birthday, it’s these experts who have access to sales data that can point you in the right direction.

What’s important to keep in mind, of course, is that you need to think of your representatives as a specific brand audience, who require their own marketing programs. They need to be trained on brand purpose, tone, and messaging, so that the consistency and quality of their communication with customers is ensured.

On the flip side, some stores are catering to their IRL shoppers’ digital needs by introducing mixed reality shopping assistance. For example, Dutch supermarket, Albert Heijn, introduced an AR application where shoppers can choose a recipe and have a shopping list automatically created for them. When in the store, the app directs them to where they can find each product and offers information about discounts and special offers.

This means shoppers don’t have to wait for a sales rep to be available, and it also provides the opportunity for direct and personalized selling opportunities through the shoppers’ recipe choices.

Upgraded social selling

Value add: Generating more sales on social media

A Statista survey showed that sales made through social media channels are set to triple by 2025. And if there’s any country to follow for the latest trends, it’s China. About half of Chinese internet users already shop on social networks versus about a third of US internet users. More striking is the amount of money they spend. Chinese social shoppers spent over $351 billion in 2021, almost ten times more than the paltry $36 billion US social shoppers spent.

It’s time for brands to experiment and think about how they can use some of the new opportunities to their advantage.

Live video in particular appears to be a hot market. In the first half of 2021, it already accounted for a whopping 21% of total physical goods sold online in China. And according to the Forrester study,

Eighty-one percent of companies plan to either increase or maintain investment in livestream selling to drive sales over the next 12 months.

Live videos can be great for product demonstrations, virtual showroom visits, or even on-appointment personal shopping –– depending on what fits with your brand. Amazon, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook already offer tools for live commerce, all you need is the right content to go with the flow.

For example, KiKat hosted a Facebook Live event for its Chocolatory Australia campaign that resulted in a triple increase in online sales. During the event, the audience could directly purchase using the Comment to Message feature, which automatically begins a conversation in Messenger when someone comments on the livestream.

Channel selection is also important; depending on where your target customers are, it might be more efficient to focus on a channel where they’re already present –– e.g. Discord over Instagram if they skew younger.

Using push notifications to re-engage

Value add: Converts one-time shoppers into repeat customers

But it’s not just about attracting new customers. The most important omnichannel strategies will be focused on converting one-time shoppers into long-term customers.

One great way to do this is through push notifications. If brands can entice shoppers to opt-in, they can use this strategy to push their latest news, new products, and personalized discounts directly to shoppers’ devices.

A little prompt with the right message at the right time can work wonders for sales. Follow-ups fit into a wider personalization strategy. By integrating users’ shopping data, companies can deliver well-timed nudges to customers to come back, check out new products, or replenish their previous purchase.

Beware of being too pushy though. As we set out in a previous article, push notification pros, Notix, suggest finding the right balance. Take a look at their handy blog with tips on the best time to send push notifications, how to send triggered push notifications through API integration, and more.

A Wix Ecommerce survey found that 58 percent of customers expect follow-up messages post-purchase. A well-timed follow-up can lead to a sense of relationship being built between customer and brand. And if the message is tailored correctly, it’s often rewarded with continued business. The same survey states that 78 percent of customers are willing to make a second purchase if their communication and experience is personalized.

The nice thing about this strategy is that it’s automated, making it easier and less resource intensive to introduce into your growth strategy.

Thanks to services like Notix, integrating push messaging into your website for timely and effective follow-ups is easier and cheaper than ever, with some customers seeing double digit increases in conversion and re-engagement.

Offline is the new online, and vice-versa

Value add: Making the buying experience seamless

‘Phygital’ is the hottest buzzword in omnichannel retail in 2022. Even DTC brands that only had an online presence are now opening up brick-and-mortar showrooms for customers to physically experience their products.

What’s clear is that physical and digital spaces are almost as important. The Forrester study found that 54% of surveyed consumers said they’re likely to look at a product online and buy it in a store, while 53% said they’d look at a product in-store and buy it online.

But experience is not the only reason –– omnichannel is all about convenience. Or as HBR puts it “channel extensions that address gaps in the customer’s journey should be the real purpose of omnichannel selling.”

Shops offer a location where needs can be instantly gratified, which is an enormous benefit for people who just can’t wait. Buy-online-pick-up-in-store, or BOPIS, blends the best of online shopping with the best of in-store. Moreover, customers that pick up their product in a physical store can be exposed to more products and brand messaging, making future purchases more likely.

‘Buy in-store, ship to home’ and ‘Buy online, return in-store’ are other options that are sprouting up together with the flourishing of physical showrooms, both offering added value and convenience for shoppers.

Build communities, not third-party data

Value added: Increasing brand awareness and retention

Access to customer data is based on trust, and trust can be created by a sense of community. With third-party cookies being restricted, omnichannel retailers have to find ways to generate first-party data –– data that is given voluntarily to the retailer itself.

Communities enable this. Investing in a strong community building team that leverages appropriate channels for a brand’s personality can lead to increased customer retention and brand awareness. Examples can be chat rooms, in-person, or online experiences, and even on the blockchain.

One company that stands out in creating a tight-knit community is Peloton, a company best known for its exercise bikes and accompanying workout videos and classes. Thanks to a combination of approachability, rituals, gamification, encouragement, and yes, push notifications, the company managed to maintain a 95% retention rate.

Unfortunately, communities take commitment and time to form. But if a brand has a clear purpose and well-defined metrics of success, a community can deliver a sense of ownership, exclusivity, and identity to customers –– who in turn will be more likely to share data, and moreover, will have an incentive to keep coming back for more.

Omnichannel might be a fleeting buzzword, but developing a strategy in which brands engage their audiences and customers in all the places that make sense is smart in the long-term.

By Alejandro Tauber

Former Editor-in-Chief, TNW

Sourced from TNW

In News

The future of digital marketing isn’t what you think: 5 trends

June 21, 2022 No Comments

By Stas Pamintuan

The landscape of digital marketing solutions changes so frequently that it’s almost impossible to imagine its future. For entrepreneurs and businesses, it’s become even more of an opportunity to gain a competitive edge in the market. Stas Pamintuan of agency Digital Ethos looks into this future, looks at five trends every marketer should keep abreast of.

As many companies transitioned to remote work throughout the pandemic, digital marketing became essential to most businesses’ survival.

This is still the case, as many have stayed remote or moved toward hybrid working. Fast-growing means ever-changing and evolving, so in order to venture into the future of digital marketing, keeping with the times is essential for adaptation to your target market’s wants and needs.

1. Expanded reach in generation Z

As generation Z starts to mature, businesses must reconsider their marketing strategies. That generation wants memorable experiences, and digital marketing solutions have to be more precise in their purpose.

One way to do this might is leveraging user-generated content to create a sense of exclusivity for your product or service. This will make it something they can relate to and more likely to side with, especially if they have FOMO.

2. Omnichannel and integrated approach

As consumers become more aware of what they want, market expectations have become more specific. This is evident on digital platforms and channels. It’s even more important in the way you market to your target audience. Whether that’s through social channels, PR or content, there are plenty of opportunities to maintain a unified omnipresence.

A unified omnichannel marketing strategy enables you to create an irresistible online presence for your brand – collectively, that’s the goal of digital marketing.

3. Personalization

Make sure your campaigns are personalized. While it’s obvious that most consumers value privacy, they also favour personalization. You can see this in appreciation for tailor-made Spotify playlists and Netflix recommendations.

Each element of the campaign is essential, allowing you to deliver value via storytelling. Personalized campaigns see higher rates of engagement, conversions and reviews from customers. The first step in obtaining this data is allowing customers to opt-in for data tracking and analysis, so they are aware of how their data is being used, before analysing it.

4. Micro-influencer marketing

Influencer marketing has hugely grown in recent years, with top influencers on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter attracting millions of followers and making a decent income from brand deals. While this offers great ROI compared to traditional advertising channels, there are still some issues.

From fake followers to big-name influencers losing their power as they take on more and more sponsored posts, consumers perceptions of authenticity (and the relevance of influencers’ recommendations) can be affected. As consumers continue to value individual recommendations over being marketed at, it makes sense to invest in micro-influencers – social media users who have a smaller but dedicated audience who are trusted to deliver authentic content. Influencers’ power will be measured not by the number of followers they have, but by their personal relationships with their followers.

5. Video to overtake digital channels

Savvy marketers have recognized the power of using online video in their digital marketing solutions for years. We’re not quite at the peak yet, but video is proving itself as a powerful medium; we’ve seen a massive rise in live streaming video, especially over the last year or so.

From social media to SEO, digital marketing continues to impact billions of people. And with more advanced tools and changes in best practices, digital marketing solutions will continue to propel businesses to step up their competitive drive in the market. That’s the beauty of this space. It’s about adapting and delivering tailor-made marketing strategies to keep your online presence flowing.

By Stas Pamintuan

Sourced from The Drum

In News

The messy middle and infinite choice: hacking the complex new consumer journey

June 20, 2022 No Comments

By Annie Little

With the Covid-19 pandemic transforming shopping habits, journey orchestration matters now more than ever before. Digital commerce has shifted the journey stage balance. Annie Little, strategy director at agency Initials, asks whether there is, now, such thing as ‘the’ consumer journey for any given category and explains the complex maze of touchpoints that brands must carefully navigate.

The stakes have never been higher.

Brands need to get a firm grip on how the consumer journey has evolved and update traditional linear purchase funnels from their marketing agenda as a strategic priority.

Here, we’ll look at the evolution of the purchasing journey, the impact this has on consumer behaviour, and how to ensure that (in a sea of endless consumer choice) your brand gets chosen first.

Decision paralysis

The ease with which consumers can access product information has changed the landscape forever.

Gone are the days of a linear purchase journey. With more options and far greater accessibility than ever before, consumers today are spoiled for choice.

While this new world offers countless benefits for brands and retailers, it also adds a new layer of complexity to consumer decision-making. When this complexity reaches a tipping point, it can spiral into ‘decision paralysis’: too much choice, too many options, too hard to decide.

Such an overwhelming wealth of information for consumers to wade through has done the opposite of streamlining the consumer journey. In many ways, these extra touchpoints and decision-factors have created a more complex and cumbersome path to purchase.

A new model for the consumer journey

Some of the savviest brands and retailers have quickly pivoted their consumer engagement strategies, adopting prevailing shoppable touchpoints to remove any immediate friction or pain points for their target audience.

Creating a high-converting omnichannel purchase journey can’t be a checkbox exercise. A more holistic and strategic approach is required, spanning the entire consumer journey and incorporating reciprocal actions at every experience encounter.

This requires, first, an understanding of how the consumer journey has evolved; and, second, insight into how consumers are navigating their way through it.

Let’s start with the former. The ‘messy middle’, coined by Google, is a space of abundant choice and unlimited content. Here, consumers explore and evaluate product information, research brands, and weigh up their options. This is happening across an ever-expanding digital ecosystem, from online channels to social media to search engines, aggregators, review website and much more.

This exposure is not a stage or step in the buying process, but an ‘always-on’ experience. Consumers will traverse the loop between exploration and evaluation many times before making a purchasing decision.

So, how can brands show up at the right moment and win consumer preference?

How to address cognitive biases and win consumer preference

While the initial trigger and purchasing moments still stand in today’s journey, the middle area between the trigger and purchase has become messy and complex.

Due to the constant bombardment that consumers now face, they are turning to a range of coping mechanisms (including cognitive biases) to shortcut indecision and make purchase conclusions.

Cognitive biases are often a result of the brain’s attempt to simplify information processing. In this case, they help consumers make sense of the world and reach decisions with relative speed.

These cognitive biases shape shopping behaviour and influence why we choose one product over another.

By responding to the cognitive biases at play intelligently, responsibly, and at the right moment in the consumer journey, brands can effectively shorten the gap between trigger and purchase and emerge victorious at the point of conversion.

But how do brands pinpoint which biases are at play during a typical purchase journey in their category?

At Initials, we’ve developed a strategic model to help brands hack the consumer journey and win the moments that matter. Since the path to purchase is no longer linear, we can’t afford to think in linear terms.

Our Consumer Journey Hacker is a data-driven and behavioural science-based strategy that helps brands plan for the right stimuli that will impact buyers in key moments.

Understanding behavioural biases does more than just increase advertising effectiveness; it can encourage a deeper psychological understanding of consumers and their cultural norms and nuances. It can inspire new business strategies and products.

These behavioural science principles (and the behavioural and informational needs they align with) are powerful tools for winning and defending consumer preference in the new complex consumer journey.

The goal is close the gap between trigger and purchase. This means consumers spend less time exposed to competitor brands and transition to your basket faster and with greater confidence.

In a sea of overwhelming choice, this is how your brand can emerge victorious.

By Annie Little

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Marketing Specialist Cody Cruz Knows How to Make Things Go Viral

June 20, 2022 No Comments

By Amir Bakian

The goal of marketing is to attract an audience and get them to purchase your product or service. In today’s world, this requires a different approach than traditional marketing techniques from years ago. Many factors go into finding the right target market and understanding what they want, which Cody Cruz knows how to do very well. A marketing specialist with a lengthy portfolio of successfully making projects go viral, Cruz specializes in branding, social media, and digital marketing strategies for businesses looking to expand their customer base. He has experience in online media, advertising, communications, and digital strategy, which he believes are crucial for business owners in today’s environment.

Cruz is the founder and CEO of Viral Press Agency, a digital marketing agency that specializes in social media management, content creation, talent management, voiceovers, and digital marketing. His clients include many celebrities, athletes, and other high-profile customers in other industries. Over the years, Cruz has built a vast network to provide immediate exposure for brands and businesses. As the marketing and tech landscape continues evolving, Viral Press Agency is well-prepared to take its clients’ brands to greater levels through a multifaceted approach.

With more people throughout the world turning to the internet for information and entertainment, Cruzbelieves that should be the starting point for all business owners. It is often said that content is king, so content creation is a core component business owners should incorporate into their marketing strategies. However, in this case, quality will matter more than quantity. People’s attention spans are becoming increasingly shorter, which is why you need riveting content with the potential to go viral. But how do you do that? According to Cruz, you need to understand your audience to get their attention. An expert in that area, Cruz has a knack for understanding what will attract an audience with minimal effort from his clients.

Cruz’s success comes from understanding the needs of his clients’ target markets and their competition. He then uses these insights to build winning social media strategies that will help businesses get more customers through paid and organic means. Cruz ensures customer satisfaction by connecting his clients with the right tools, websites, content, and influencers so they can build powerful brands. From content creation to management, Cruz and his team can place their clients’ names at the top of the minds of their audiences. Sometimes, Cruz has found success in helping his clients reach new heights with their companies through innovative advertising techniques such as videos or infographics that attract a broader demographic.

Social media management is another skill Cruz leverages to help his clients. He is renowned for building brands on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms, as well as generating buzz for events like trade shows or conferences. Cruz’s well-executed social media strategies have helped countless businesses grow from a grassroots level to become global giants. His mission is to expand his reach, helping even more startups scale and achieve the highest level of success. Cruz’s work has been featured in publications such as LA Wire, NY Weekly, London Daily Post, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, California Herald, Influencive, Disrupt, and Fox 34, among others.

By Amir Bakian

Sourced from The Village Voice

In News

How to make a rock-solid pitch to the investors? Here are some tips for startups

June 20, 2022 No Comments

By Orsolya Jakots

How to fabricate a successful business pitch? What are investors looking for in start-ups? We share our experience which we here at Exagent Group gathered over the years – an article by Orsolya Jakots, brand manager

As a start-up, it can be challenging to thoroughly introduce your business to investors. In some cases, there are only 10 minutes to show your company’s worth and convince investors. The objective is to put your main idea in the centre and arrange related subtopics around that core idea. Therefore, you can help your investor to understand your goal more accurately.

Based on our taste and experience we created a step-by-step guide to give a helping hand to young, investment seeking start-up companies. Here are some tips on how to shape your pitch to make it more successful – writes Exagent Group‘s brand manager, Orsolya Jakots.

What’s the problem? What’s your story? What’s your solution?

It is beneficial to begin your presentation with a compelling story. You should align your story with the problem that you want to solve in the marketplace. It is even better if your story is relevant for your investor. In order to get to know your audience, you can do research previously in your investor’s history. As an example, what industries they support to invest in, which startups they have already invested in? With this research, you can have a sense of what they care about and tailor your pitch deck story to them.

Afterwards, state the problem that your future clients are facing and describe how you can solve them.

There are so many products and services thrown on the market, you need to stand out with your solution and explain how you can fill in those gaps that your clients are “suffering from”.

Target audience & Target market – TAM, SAM and SOM

You must complete a thorough research and understand the market where your product or service can be satisfying and booming. If you fail to find that specific gap in the market that you are fabricating your company’s products for, that can lead to a misalignment on those audiences’ needs. In worse cases it can waste time and resources or alienate an audience.

Therefore, it is suggested to have a breakdown of your company’s TAM (Total Available Market), SAM (Servicable Available Market) and SOM (Share Of Market). Using these data and formulas can help to determine actual numbers of your market analysis and understand your target market better.

Business Model & Revenue

It is one of the most essential slides that investors give attention to. How will you make money? What is your revenue model? Is it Advertising, Freemium, Licensing, Markup, Production or perhaps Subscription Model? Try to scout between the options and determine which revenue model could be more fitting to your business.

Marketing & Sales strategy – CAC formula

In this section, you show your investors what your business would look like in action.

How will you reach customers? How much would that cost? What is your sales cycle strategy? Entrepreneurs tend to give less credits for this part, however it is also an important detail that interests investors. You should calculate your customer acquisition costs (CAC) to determine how much money your company spends to get new customers. It is good to mention communication channel options, advertising platforms that you use to reach potential customers.

Competitors

First and most importantly, who are your competitors? Secondly, why are you so different from those competitors?

One of the great options to showcase it, is a Competitive Matrix Format. List your competitors down on the left side of the figure and add features and benefits on the top. Then place check marks on each lane under each category where it is applicable – do they have that feature/extra? In order to show your competitive advantage, it is a good point if your company has all the checkmarks and is better in most features than your competitors.

Funding Needs & Financial Projections

State how much money has already been invested in your business. Who invested in it? What are the ownership percentages? State clearly as well how much more money you will need to step up your game and define transparently what that would be.

Demonstrate the projections in revenue over the next three to five years. It is vital to back up all your information with not only assumptions but facts and numbers as well.

If investors would like to hear and know more, be well prepared and add extra information slides at the end of your pitch deck.

Vision

Adding a Vision slide can really add value to your pitch and bring an even greater first impression to the investors. What is your company’s long-term vision and plan? What would you like to construct and build up on the long run? By clarifying these perspectives in front of your investors, your conversion of receiving a successful investment might be better and make a deeper impression in your audience.

Julia Sohajda, co-founder of Vespucci Partners Venture Capital Fund, who has just been selected by Forbes for the 30u30 list, confirmed to our question that outlining the vision will allow the investor to see the great opportunities and potential of the business. The investors can really “fall in love” with this approach.

There is always a possibility to improve. Listen to the feedback you receive, whether it is positive or negative and refine your pitch deck or business model. There is a chance you will schedule a next meeting or receive funding or even be rejected. Any of these outcomes give you a new perspective and an opportunity to improve. It can be reflective to hold a session with your team afterwards. It is a great learning experience that you can implement to your professional life in the future.

By Orsolya Jakots Brand Manager, Exagent Group

Sourced from : Daily News Hungary

In News

How to Teach Yourself to Code

June 17, 2022 No Comments

By Lulu Chang

Whether you’re looking to land a new job, brush up on your personal branding, or create a new game, learning how to code can help. Of the many skills that we can learn today, few provide a greater unlock in our digitized world than the ability to code. By taking the time to understand and use various programming languages, you can develop a mobile app, help create software for a medical device, or get a remote control car to start. Needless to say, learning how to code can certainly be a positive use of your time.

Of course, as with any language (and any skill), learning how to code takes not only time but patience, perseverance, and the right set of resources. But even if you weren’t taking computers apart in grade school or you neglected to take coding classes in college, it’s still very possible to teach yourself how to code at just about any point in your life. To help you get started, we’ve rounded up a few key considerations and pointers to help you learn how to code, all on your own.

1. Determine your end goals

This will help you decide what language (or languages) make the most sense. If you’re looking to do some front-end website development, then perhaps HTML and CSS are the best choices. Python could be helpful for folks looking to do more quantitative analysis. JavaScript, as the most common coding language around the world, is another excellent option for Web development.

2. Enrol in a programming course for beginners

Once you’ve decided on a language (or set of languages), it’ll be helpful to take a programming class or a tutorial project. Many of these are available online and can be completed asynchronously. Some of our favourites include:

freeCodeCamp

This nonprofit offers free coding classes that are perfect for beginners, and they’re made all the more attractive by the nonexistent price tag.

Enroll Now

Coursera

Coursera has plenty of different coding classes and tutorials for you to choose from to fit your unique needs and learning preferences.

Enroll Now

Udemy

Another great online learning option comes from Udemy, which offers tens of thousands of classes and certifications.

Enroll Now

General Assembly

You can check out some more intensive coding programs from General Assembly, which can help get you up to speed quickly.

Enroll Now

3. Check out a few coding books

In addition to your online (or in-person) coding classes, it may be useful to check out a few books that can help you develop a deeper baseline of knowledge. While the best way to learn to code is often by coding, books are also a great reference point. Some of our favourites include The Self-Taught Programmer and Daily Coding Problem.

The Self-Taught Programmer

If you’re looking to teach yourself, what better guide than someone else who taught themselves? Author Cory Althoff goes over programming and computer science basics, along with other tips for landing your first programming job.

Buy Now

Daily Coding Problem

This book aims to tackle some common problems beginners might come across while coding. It has interviews with actual programmers, along with some coding fundamentals. You can learn about linked lists, arrays, randomized algorithms—and even what these terms mean!

Buy Now

4. Do your own independent research

Believe it or not, a big part of coding is just Googling. If you’re working through an assignment and don’t understand how to execute a command, check out the search engine. If you get an error message and don’t know how to fix it, throw that error message into your browser and see if anywhere online has a solution. You’ll likely find your way to forums that feature other coders asking the same questions, which is critical for your own learning journey.

5. Work on a project

While learning code in small bits and pieces is a good first step, putting it all together by actually doing a project is the best way to put your skills to use. Having a project to work on makes your goals more tangible. For example, if you’re a board game lover, try to build a simple game of checkers or chess. If you’re a freelancer, you can build a website to showcase your work. If you find yourself frequently running behind, learn how to program an alarm or a countdown timer. You could even build a Web scraper to find information about flights or hotel prices.

6. Check out a coding bootcamp

If you’re ready to take your coding to the next level, you could check out an in-person or digital coding bootcamp that will prepare you for a job in software engineering. It’s helpful to have some rudimentary understanding of coding before starting one of these bootcamps (especially given that there is generally some prework before your first class). Some of our favourites include Flatiron School, App Academy, and Hack Reactor.

Flatiron School

Flatiron School offers an intensive 15-week course or flexible online pace options. Available concentrations include software engineering, cybersecurity, data science, or product design.

Enroll Now

App Academy

App Academy offers in-person and online courses to become a software engineer. You can do it in 16 or 24 weeks, or opt for a flexible part-time option.

Enroll Now

Hack Reactor

Hack Reactor’s software engineer courses can be done in 12, 19, or 26 weeks. All programs are currently fully remote.

Enroll Now

By Lulu Chang

Sourced from Encyclopaedia Britannica

In News

How artificial intelligence ‘blew up’ tennis

June 17, 2022 No Comments

By Chiyo Robertson

Bridie Lynch has been playing and coaching tennis for most of her life.

As her parents run a local tennis club in Wales, she was immersed in the sport from the age of 14.

One aspect she has noticed is the embrace of technology, at all levels of tennis.

“Tennis is such a technical sport. These days, anyone I play or coach is into tech, be it video analysis or longest rally stats.”

She uses a range of apps and techniques for her own matches and coaching including a smartphone-based video system called SwingVision, which breaks down her performance with details such as forehand errors and backhand winners.

“Personally, I like having the tech to enhance my game. I can see a clearer vision of what I can improve, from my swing to my patterns of play,” she explains.

Data analytics has been around a long time in sport. Perhaps the best known in example of its use is from 2002, when the Oakland Athletics baseball team used statistical analysis to choose their squad, rather than the wisdom of coaches and scouts, and their favoured metrics.

Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt speak onstage at "Moneyball" Press Conference during 2011 — *Even Hollywood has taken an interest in data analytics with the movie Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill*

That experience was the core of Michael Lewis’s 2003 best-selling book Moneyball, which later become a film staring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.

Tennis has also seen this revolution. “Data blew up our sport,” says tennis strategist and coach Craig O’Shannessy.

For him the 2015 Australian Open was a key moment.

As Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray battled on court, powerful computers crunched the data and grouped rally length into three distinct categories, essentially short, medium and long.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a forehand in his men's final match against Andy Murray of Great Britain during day 14 of the 2015 Australian Open — *In tennis the 2015 Australian Open final was a big moment for data analysis says Craig O’Shannessy*

“We discovered 70% of all points were each player hitting the ball into the court a maximum of just twice,” he says.

Mr O’Shannessy, who worked with Novak Djokovic between 2017 to 2019, says that insight made him realise that the way players practice was all wrong.

“Ninety percent of practice is focused on consistency, but only 10% of the match court is in rallies of more than 9 points,” he points out.

“This data changed our sport forever,” he says.

Tennis strategist and coach Craig O'Shannessy with Novak Djokovic — *Craig O’Shannessy worked with Novak Djokovic for two years*

That manipulation of data has been taken to a new level.

Coaches now have artificial intelligence (AI), where sophisticated software is fed, or trained, with unimaginable amounts of data. The resulting AI can spot patterns that a human would never be able to see.

“AI can sniff out areas of significances. Humans do a very bad job at layering data, whereas AI can do it in seconds,” says Mr O’Shannessy.

So, for example, if Novak Djokovic hits 50 winners from his forehand those shots could be broken down in multiple ways or layers. Perhaps 40 of them came when he was serving and then 35 came on the first shot after the serve.

Finding a pattern of play where Novak hits 35 out of 50 winners in exactly same way is a first, according to Mr O’Shannessy.

“We’ve stumbled around for decades trying to bring all this together.”

AI requires vast amounts of data to train and build accurate algorithms.

Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a forehand against Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada during the Men's Singles Fourth Round match on Day 8 of The 2022 French Open at Roland Garros on May 29, 2022 — *Players have access to even more data than ever at this year’s French Open*

Raghavan Subramanian is the head of the Infosys Tennis Platform and has been working with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 2015 and with The French Open (also known as Roland Garros) for more than three years.

He has access to videos and statistics from around 700 matches every year. “Valuable data that forms the raw material for all our AI and machine learning systems,” says Mr Subramanian.

He said accuracy has improved over the past four years, as more training data has become available.

From the player’s point of view it means they can analyse a match with more precision. Using the Roland Garros Players App, they can see exactly the placement of key shots, such as winners, errors and serves.

Raghavan Subramanian is the head of the Infosys Tennis Platform — *Raghavan Subramanian says the Infosys AI gets more accurate with each tournament*

“We saw a 51% jump in the use of the RG Players App in 2021, compared to the previous year, with 1,100 players and coaches using AI-powered videos,” says Mr Subramanian.

The AI is also speeding up media coverage of the tournament. AI is slicing and dicing data to create video content in seconds, a job that would normally take a multimedia team hours to do.

“Fans are able to access and analyse match highlights and other smart playlists almost immediately after a match.”

Feature Image Credit: Bridie Lynch. Tennis players are embracing tech says Bridie Lynch

By Chiyo Robertson

Sourced from BBC News

In News

The 6 biggest mistakes made by newbie digital marketers

June 17, 2022 No Comments

By Tom Welbourne

Digital marketing is an ever-changing world, with new platforms and algorithms constantly shifting the goal posts. Tom Welbourne, founder and director at agency The Good Marketer, tells us how to avoid rookie mistakes.

The constantly-shifting digital marketing landscape is exciting and full of opportunities. But this presents room to make costly mistakes, from underestimating the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) to lacking clarity about social media marketing goals. Gaps in your marketing plan can make otherwise promising strategies fall at the first hurdle.

To avoid making mistakes, the key is knowledge. We’ve compiled the six biggest mistakes that newbie digital marketers make to equip you with the knowledge of what to avoid – and how to do things the right way.

1. No clarity on audience

Think you know who your audience is? It’s time to rethink your assumptions and get more specific. Most people have an idea of who their audience is, but this is useless if you don’t clearly define their age, gender, and interests as well as broad audience categories.

For example, a mortgage provider will have multiple audiences, from first-time buyers looking for their first mortgage to more mature homeowners who have had mortgages before but are looking for a new agreement.

Use analytics tools like Google Analytics to find out who your audience really is, rather than who you think they are.

2. Lack of clear goals

You won’t get to where you’re going if you don’t know exactly where that is. Clear goals give you a clear destination and help to map where you need to hit along the way. If you establish that you want to reach 10,000 followers on Instagram, you can break this down into what you need to achieve month-on-month to achieve that overall goal.

Digital marketers use the ‘Smart’ (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goal framework to create well-defined growth goals that will give a direction to take and the basis to measure your campaign’s success.

3. Setting unrealistic goals

Perhaps the most important aspect of Smart goals is the ‘achievable’ aspect. Having clear goals is important, but you will always end up falling short if your goals aren’t realistic.

If you currently have 500 followers, setting a goal to gain 10,000 followers organically in six months is always going to leave you disappointed and feeling like you’ve failed.

To ensure your goals are realistic, evaluate based on past experience; do some research about similar businesses; or speak to other people in your industry about what could be achievable.

4. Ignoring SEO

Everyone loves an aesthetically-pleasing website, but how many people prioritize SEO when building their site?

SEO is an essential digital marketing strategy used to increase the online brand visibility on search engine result pages (SERPs). When someone searches a keyword related to your business, SEO improves the likelihood of making it to the top of those results.

When newbie digital marketers hear about SEO, they can mistake the acronym as something too technical for your average marketer, but they’d be wrong. SEO is something that even a beginner can do comfortably when equipped with the right knowledge.

5. Overlooking quality content

You’ve heard it over and over and will continue to: content is king. Your marketing strategy is nothing if you haven’t taken the time to create quality content that works for your audience.

Ultimately, your digital marketing strategy will succeed if your content can provide value to your audience. Whether you’re solving a problem or providing valuable insight, take time to reflect on how your content conveys value.

6. Lack of recorded strategy

Often, newbie marketers have a strategy in mind for how to reach their goal, but leave it undocumented and not fully developed. A written strategy gives you a clear outline of how to grow your brand or business, and how to leverage your USPs to achieve your vision of success.

Being a digital marketer is a learning curve. The mistakes will probably be plenty, so the best you can do is equip yourself with a solid framework that provides a path to follow. The best marketers are able to use the same process of goal-setting, strategizing and implementation no matter the project. Once you get to grips with how these stages can benefit you and your work, the world is your oyster.

By Tom Welbourne

Sourced from The Drum

In News

How to build a website for your small business or side project: We explain everything from domain names to hosting and design… and what it costs

June 16, 2022 No Comments

By Emilia Shovelin for Thisismoney.co.uk

There are few small businesses that wouldn’t benefit from having a website
But setting one up can be daunting for those without tech know-how
We explain how to get a web address and find somewhere to build your website
We also look at what features can be included and how much it all costs

Whether you’re opening a cafe, starting a charity or setting up as a freelance photographer, there are few types of business that wouldn’t benefit from having a website.

An attractive and user-friendly site can tell potential customers the story behind your business, act as an advert for your products or services and help them find you in the real world.

But for small enterprises and sole traders without any tech experience, it can be difficult to know how to get started.

The good news is building a website has never been easier – and you don’t need any web design experience or a complicated marketing strategy.

Getting online: Building a basic business website doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated – though there are endless options for those who do want something more bespoke

We spoke to Ben Law, vice president and head of UK and Ireland at leading domain registrar and web hosting provider GoDaddy, to get the lowdown on everything from getting the perfect web address, to figuring out how hosting works and making sure people find your new site.

How much does it cost to build a website?

This will depend on a number of factors from what functions you want the website to have, to whether you want to pay someone to professionally build, design or write copy for you.

Setting up the very basics of a website can be an extremely affordable.

Website building blocks and their upfront cost


Essential website features	Cost
Domain name	£0 – £30
Website hosting	£0 – £950
Optional website features	Cost
Content and branding	£0 – £5,000
Website security	£0 – £250+
SEO and marketing	£0 – £100+

Registering a domain – essentially buying the address of your website – can be done for as little as £10 a year.

However, you’ll need to find one that isn’t already taken, which is easier said than done.

If you want a specific web address and someone already has it, you can ask them sell it to you – but this can be an expensive game.

Once you have a domain you will need a hosting platform, which can cost less than £5 per month.

A hosting platform offers the technical facilities required for you to create a website and make it accessible on the internet.

Law says: ‘You can expect to pay from around £100 per year for a simple website, with website prices going up to £10,000 and beyond for a very large, complex website.’

The extra costs from your website tend to come from content and marketing support, website security and bespoke branding and design. These can range from pennies to thousands of pounds.

How long does it take to build a website?

Once you have your domain and hosting provider, getting your new business website live can happen quite quickly, depending on how complex you need it to be.

Law says: ‘The average amount of time it takes to build a website depends on the size and complexity of the site, and to get a website up and running it could take anywhere between a few hours and a few months.’

If you opt for a simple website, you could go live within a couple of hours.

But if you’re starting an e-commerce website – where you sell products online – you should expect the process to get a little longer.

How do you get a domain name?

Before you start picking out colour schemes or fonts, you need to get your hands on a domain name.

What if my domain name isn’t available?

Let’s say you wanted to buy the domain ‘thenewbusiness.com‘, but it is currently being used by someone else.

While it’s understandably frustrating, you still have a couple of options:

Find an alternative domain

You might have to tweak your domain, potentially subtracting unnecessary words like ‘the’; adding an identifying word like ‘shop’; or abbreviating your company name, ‘tnb.com‘.

Use a different domain extension

If you can’t buy the domain you want with a specific extension – for example, .com – it may be available with an alternative extension.

There are a huge range of domain name extensions available, so you could opt for .co.uk or .net for example.

Law added: ‘In a situation like this, it’s important to make sure the domain you want to buy doesn’t infringe on someone else’s intellectual property.’

In simple terms, a domain name is your website’s equivalent of a physical address, which helps potential users or customers find your site easily.

Your domain name is typically the name of your business, but can sometimes vary depending on the availability, as each domain must be completely unique.

While a domain name and a URL share some similarities, a URL acts as a complete web address that can direct visitors to a specific page on a site, whereas the domain name is just a part of it.

Your domain name is typically followed by your specified extension, usually ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk‘. For example, the domain name for MailOnline is ‘dailymail.co.uk‘.

But where do you get your hands on a domain name?

‘The first thing you need to do is to find a reputable company to register your domain with,’ Law says. ‘These companies are known as domain registrars and they provide domain registration services to the public.

‘Once you’ve found a domain registrar that’s right for you, you can start the process of registering your domain.’

Domain registrars usually offer a search function, which makes it easy to see if the domain name you want to buy is available. They can often suggest alternatives, if the name you want is being used by someone else.

Domain names usually cost between about £10-£20 per year.

If you’re trying to buy a domain name that is already owned by someone else, then you may have to pay much more.

Some domains containing popular words or phrases are classified as ‘premium’, costing hundreds to thousands of pounds to buy outright.

However, once you’ve bought it, you will usually only pay the standard annual renewal fee, which varies based on who you buy your domain from.

Free: Website builders such as GoDaddy sometimes offer a domain names and URLs when you choose their web hosting software for your site

Sometimes it’s possible to get a domain name for free.

For example if you use a website builder service, such as GoDaddy, WordPress or Wix, they offer bundle deals which include a domain, hosting and design templates.

Law says: ‘Many domain name registrars offer free domain names when you buy one of their other products.’

‘You can get a domain name for free with GoDaddy with our website builder, and many of our web hosting packages.’

If you want to get set up quickly and with minimal hassle, buying your domain name from your hosting provider could save you time and hassle down the line.

How do I choose the right hosting platform?

Once you acquire your domain name, the next step is the hosting platform.

But what exactly is website hosting? Law says: ‘Think of a website like a house. All houses have two related parts: an address and a piece of land where the house sits. Websites work similarly.

‘Every website on the internet, no matter how big or small, absolutely must have a domain name and web hosting.

‘Web hosting is like the land where you build your house. This is the space on the internet where you place your website’s files.

‘Typically, web hosting runs on a server owned by a web hosting company. Your website is just a small section of that server.

‘Because web hosting is such a commonly used term, we usually shorten it to ‘hosting’ – not to be confused with having people over for nibbles and cocktails.’

Put to the test: You can use free trials to help you choose a web hosting platform. It should be simple for you to manage, but also give your customers a good user experience

The software and hosting you choose must be able to support your growing needs.

Switching from one to another is costly because it involves additional migration complexity, expenses and inevitable impacts on your customer experience.

There are a wide selection of web hosting services including GoDaddy, WordPress, Squarespace and Wix.

They will host your website and also provide you with the tools to create and manage it via their content management system (CMS) – basically the ‘back end’ of the website.

If you want to sell products on your site, you may want to use a specialist ecommerce site builder such as Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce – but other hosting sites also offer this option as an add-on.

When researching which host to use, questions to ask include:

What’s the average cost?
What add-ons will you need to purchase to build the store you want?
Is there a demo you can try, to test out how easy the websites are to manage?
Are the user reviews good?
Will the website run smoothly and load quickly?

Law added: ‘As noted by KissMetrics, almost 50 percent of web users expect to wait no more than two seconds for a website to load, and if it takes three seconds, they will completely abandon the site.

‘Almost 80 per cent of online shoppers who feel the website has poor performance say they won’t visit the site again to make a purchase, and approximately 44 per cent would share their bad shopping experience with friends.’

Do your research, and when in doubt, give the free trials a go. Some sites such as SquareSpace offer 30 days to test building your dream website, before needing to commit to the software.

Working well: You’ll need to have responsive design so your website functions seamlessly across computers, phones and tablets

What does my website need to have?

When you start to build your website, hosting providers can bombard you with optional extras, from business email accounts, to extra virtual security options.

Deciding if you want to pay for the extras is completely up to you, so it depends on what your customers will use the website for.

Law says: ‘Decide what features you need. What will your website need to do? Will it be a simple one-page website offering only basic details about your business, or will you be looking to accept orders online?

‘Drawing up a list of features you need your website to have will help ensure you end up with a website that’s right for you.

Crucial basic features for any website include:

Responsive design – so your site works correctly for visitors on any device
An SSL certificate – to protect your users’ data, an SSL certificate is crucial if you plan to sell products or allow customers to contact you via the website
Fast, reliable web hosting – to ensure customers can browse without issues and and buy the goods or services you are selling

Law adds: ‘Remember, these are only the most basic features of a good small business website. You’re likely to have your own crucial features based on your business’s needs.

‘For example, if you plan to sell products online you’ll need to ensure your site has ecommerce functionality.’

Getting a website up and running is one thing, but what if you need to make a change to your website?

Do you want the ability to make changes yourself, or would you prefer to have someone to do it for you?

The option that you pick will have an impact on the amount you end up paying for your small business website, so it can be crucial.

If you decide to have someone make changes to your website for you, you may find yourself paying a fee to a web designer to make even small changes, such as an adjustment to your opening hours.

Or you may find yourself paying a monthly retainer to a web designer to cover any changes, something which could significantly increase the cost of your website over its lifespan.

That said, it could be worth paying if your website is crucial to the running of your business, is technically complex or the design will need to be changed regularly.

How should I design my website?

Some content management systems come with free basic templates that can be tailored to your business, to help you launch your dream website quickly and effortlessly

Having a website that looks good is just as important as having a website that has all the features you need.

To get the perfect design for your website, you don’t necessarily need to fork out thousands of pounds on a website designer – though they can offer bespoke designs and insight into how customers use websites, if you choose to hire one.

Lots of CMS platforms come with thousands of simple-to-use templates that can be tailored to include your logos, colour schemes and branding.

Law added: ‘A business website’s look isn’t just cosmetic, a confusing and cluttered website will put off potential customers.

‘Take a look at the websites of businesses that are similar to yours and take a note of things you like.

‘By looking at other websites, you’ll get a better idea of how your website should look, feel and work. You can use this research to help you sketch out some basic ideas.

‘Of course, you won’t want to copy a rival website exactly, but it will provide inspiration.’

By Emilia Shovelin for Thisismoney.co.uk

Sourced from Mail Online