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Want to Boost Workplace Morale? Stop Doing These 6 Things

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By Travis Bradberry

“People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.”

What makes you happy at work? Maybe you have a great boss who gives you the freedom to be creative, rewards you for going the extra mile, and helps you to reach your career goals.

Maybe you have none of the above and are updating your résumé as we speak.

It’s pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about—few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.

But managers tend to blame their turnover problems on everything under the sun while ignoring the crux of the matter: people don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.

Bad management does not discriminate based on salary or job title. A Fortune 500 executive team can experience more dissatisfaction and turnover than the baristas at a local coffee shop. The more demanding your job is and the less control you have over what you do, the more likely you are to suffer. A study by the American Psychological Association found that people whose work meets both these criteria are more likely to experience exhaustion, poor sleep, anxiety, and depression.

The sad thing is that this suffering can easily be avoided. All that’s required is a new perspective and some extra effort on the manager’s part to give employees autonomy and make their work feel less demanding. To get there, managers must understand what they’re doing to kill morale. The following practices are the worst offenders, and they must be abolished if you’re going to hang on to good employees.

Overworking people

Nothing burns good employees out quite like overworking them. It’s so tempting to work the best people hard that managers frequently fall into this trap. Overworking good employees is perplexing for them as it makes them feel as if they’re being punished for their great performance. Overworking employees is also counterproductive. New research from Stanford showed that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that you don’t get anything out of working more. Talented employees will take on a bigger workload, but they won’t stay if their job suffocates them in the process. Raises, promotions, and title-changes are all acceptable ways to increase workload. If managers simply increase workload because people are talented, without changing a thing, these employees will seek another job that gives them what they deserve.

Holding people back

As an employee, you want to bring value to your job, and you do so with a unique set of skills and experience. So how is it that you can do your job so well that you become replaceable? This happens when managers sacrifice your upward mobility for their best interests. If you’re looking for your next career opportunity, and your boss is unwilling to let you move up the ladder, your enthusiasm is bound to wane. Taking away opportunities for advancement is a serious morale killer.

Management may have a beginning, but it certainly has no end. When blessed with a talented employee, it’s the manager’s job to keep finding areas in which they can improve to expand their skill set and further their career. The most talented employees want feedback—more so than the less talented ones—and it’s a manager’s job to keep it coming. Otherwise, people grow bored and complacent.

Playing the blame game

A boss who is too proud to admit a mistake or who singles out individuals in front of the group creates a culture that is riddled with fear and anxiety. It’s impossible to bring your best to your work when you’re walking on eggshells. Instead of pointing fingers when something goes wrong, good managers work collaboratively with their team and focus on solutions. They pull people aside to discuss slip-ups instead of publicly shaming them, and they’re willing to accept responsibility for mistakes made under their leadership.

Frequent threats of firing

Some managers use threats of termination to keep you in line and to scare you into performing better. This is a lazy and shortsighted way of motivating people. People who feel disposable are quick to find another job where they’ll be valued and will receive the respect that they deserve.

Not letting people pursue their passions

Talented employees are passionate. Providing opportunities for them to pursue their passions improves their productivity and job satisfaction, but many managers want people to work within a little box. These managers fear that productivity will decline if they let people expand their focus and pursue their passions. This fear is unfounded. Studies have shown that people who are able to pursue their passions at work experience flow, a euphoric state of mind that is five times more productive than the norm.

Withholding praise

It’s easy to underestimate the power of a pat on the back, especially with top performers who are intrinsically motivated. Everyone likes kudos, none more so than those who work hard and give their all. Managers need to communicate with their people to find out what makes them feel good (for some, it’s a raise; for others, it’s public recognition) and then to reward them for a job well done. With top performers, this will happen often if you’re doing it right. This doesn’t mean that managers need to praise people for showing up on time or working an eight-hour day—these things are the price of entry—but a boss who does not give praise to dedicated employees erodes their commitment to the job.

Bringing It All Together

If managers want their best people to stay, they need to think carefully about how they treat them. While good employees are as tough as nails, their talent gives them an abundance of options. Managers need to make people want to work for them.

This post was originally published by Dr. Travis Bradberry on LinkedIn.

By Travis Bradberry

Sourced from Next Big Idea Club

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What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?

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By Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang

Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way – in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries, in our lives.

Some of the world’s leading brands, such as Apple, Google, Samsung and GE, have rapidly adopted the Design Thinking approach, and Design Thinking is being taught at leading universities around the world, including d.school, Stanford, Harvard and MIT. But do you know what Design Thinking is? And why it’s so popular? Here, we’ll cut to the chase and tell you what it is and why it’s so in demand.

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.

Design Thinking revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of the people for whom we’re designing the products or services. It helps us observe and develop empathy with the target user. Design Thinking helps us in the process of questioning: questioning the problem, questioning the assumptions, and questioning the implications. Design Thinking is extremely useful in tackling problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Design Thinking also involves ongoing experimentation: sketching, prototyping, testing, and trying out concepts and ideas.

Design Thinking’s Phases

There are many variants of the Design Thinking process in use today, and they have from three to seven phases, stages, or modes. However, all variants of Design Thinking are very similar. All variants of Design Thinking embody the same principles, which were first described by Nobel Prize laureate Herbert Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial in 1969. Here, we will focus on the five-phase model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, which is also known as d.school. We’ve chosen d.school’s approach because they’re at the forefront of applying and teaching Design Thinking. The five phases of Design Thinking, according to d.school, are as follows:

  • Empathise – with your users
  • Define – your users’ needs, their problem, and your insights
  • Ideate – by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovative solutions
  • Prototype – to start creating solutions
  • Test – solutions

It is important to note that the five phases, stages, or modes are not always sequential. They do not have to follow any specific order and can often occur in parallel and repeat iteratively. Given that, you should not understand the phases as a hierarchical or step-by-step process. Instead, you should look at it as an overview of the modes or phases that contribute to an innovative project, rather than sequential steps.

Author/Copyright holder: Pixabay. Copyright terms and licence: Free to Use

To help you understand Design Thinking, we have broken the process into five phases or modes, which are: 1. Empathise, 2. Define, 3. Ideate, 4. Prototype, and 5. Test. What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn, and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way – in our designs, in our businesses, in our nations (and eventually, if things go really well, beyond), in our lives. Nevertheless, a great artist like Auguste Rodin, who created this famous sculpture called “The Thinker” and originally “Le Penseur”, would most likely have used the very same innovative processes in his artwork. In the same way, all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering and business have practiced it and still practice it.

The Problem with Ingrained Patterns of Thinking

Sometimes, the easiest way to understand something intangible, such as Design Thinking, is by understanding what it is not.

Humans naturally develop patterns of thinking modeled on repetitive activities and commonly accessed knowledge. These assist us in quickly applying the same actions and knowledge in similar or familiar situations, but they also have the potential to prevent us from quickly and easily accessing or developing new ways of seeing, understanding and solving problems. These patterns of thinking are often referred to as schemas, which are organized sets of information and relationships between things, actions and thoughts that are stimulated and initiated in the human mind when we encounter some environmental stimuli. A single schema can contain a vast amount of information. For example, we have a schema for dogs which encompasses the presence of four legs, fur, sharp teeth, a tail, paws, and a number of other perceptible characteristics. When the environmental stimuli match this schema — even when there is a tenuous link or only a few of the characteristics are present — the same pattern of thought is brought into the mind. As these schemas are stimulated automatically, this can obstruct a more fitting impression of the situation or prevent us from seeing a problem in a way that will enable a new problem-solving strategy. Innovative problem solving is also known as “thinking outside of the box”.

An Example of Problem solving: The Encumbered Vs. The Fresh Mind

Thinking outside of the box can provide an innovative solution to a sticky problem. However, thinking outside of the box can be a real challenge as we naturally develop patterns of thinking that are modeled on the repetitive activities and commonly accessed knowledge we surround ourselves with.

Some years ago, an incident occurred where a truck driver tried to pass under a low bridge. But he failed, and the truck was lodged firmly under the bridge. The driver was unable to continue driving through or reverse out.

The story goes that as the truck became stuck, it caused massive traffic problems, which resulted in emergency personnel, engineers, firefighters and truck drivers gathering to devise and negotiate various solutions for dislodging the trapped vehicle.

Emergency workers were debating whether to dismantle parts of the truck or chip away at parts of the bridge. Each spoke of a solution which fitted within his or her respective level of expertise.

A boy walking by and witnessing the intense debate looked at the truck, at the bridge, then looked at the road and said nonchalantly, “Why not just let the air out of the tires?” to the absolute amazement of all the specialists and experts trying to unpick the problem.

When the solution was tested, the truck was able to drive free with ease, having suffered only the damage caused by its initial attempt to pass underneath the bridge. The story symbolizes the struggles we face where oftentimes the most obvious solutions are the ones hardest to come by because of the self-imposed constraints we work within.

Copyright holder: Wystan, Flickr. Copyright terms and license: CC BY 2.0

It’s often difficult for us humans to challenge our assumptions and everyday knowledge, because we rely on building patterns of thinking in order to not have to learn everything from scratch every time. We rely on doing everyday processes more or less unconsciously — for example, when we get up in the morning, eat, walk, and read — but also when we assess challenges at work and in our private lives. In particular, experts and specialists rely on their solid thought patterns, and it can be very challenging and difficult for experts to start questioning their knowledge.

The Power of Storytelling

Why did we tell you this story? Telling stories can help us inspire opportunities, ideas and solutions. Stories are framed around real people and their lives. Stories are important because they are accounts of specific events, not general statements. They provide us with concrete details that help us imagine solutions to particular problems. While we’re at it, please watch this 1-minute video to help you get started understanding what Design Thinking is about.

Design Thinking is often referred to as ‘outside the box’ thinking. This child shows us why it’s important to challenge our assumptions and find new ways to solve our problems.

Design Thinking or ‘Outside the Box’ Thinking

Design Thinking is often referred to as ‘outside the box’ thinking, as designers are attempting to develop new ways of thinking that do not abide by the dominant or more common problem-solving methods.

At the heart of Design Thinking is the intention to improve products by analyzing and understanding how users interact with products and investigating the conditions in which they operate. At the heart of Design Thinking lies also the interest and ability to ask significant questions and challenging assumptions. One element of outside the box thinking is to falsify previous assumptions – i.e., to make it possible to prove whether they are valid or not. Once we have questioned and investigated the conditions of a problem, the solution-generation process will help us produce ideas that reflect the genuine constraints and facets of that particular problem. Design Thinking offers us a means of digging that bit deeper; it helps us to do the right kind of research and to prototype and test our products and services so as to uncover new ways of improving the product, service or design.

Grand Old Man of User Experience, Don Norman, who also coined the very term User Experience, explains what Design Thinking is and what’s so special about it:

“…the more I pondered the nature of design and reflected on my recent encounters with engineers, business people and others who blindly solved the problems they thought they were facing without question or further study, I realized that these people could benefit from a good dose of design thinking. Designers have developed a number of techniques to avoid being captured by too facile a solution. They take the original problem as a suggestion, not as a final statement, then think broadly about what the real issues underlying this problem statement might really be (for example by using the “Five Whys” approach to get at root causes). Most important of all, is that the process is iterative and expansive. Designers resist the temptation to jump immediately to a solution to the stated problem. Instead, they first spend time determining what the basic, fundamental (root) issue is that needs to be addressed. They don’t try to search for a solution until they have determined the real problem, and even then, instead of solving that problem, they stop to consider a wide range of potential solutions. Only then will they finally converge upon their proposal. This process is called “Design Thinking.”

– Don Norman, Rethinking Design Thinking

Design Thinking is an Essential Tool – and A Third Way

The design process often involves a number of different groups of people in different departments; for this reason, developing, categorizing, and organizing ideas and problem solutions can be difficult. One way of keeping a design project on track and organizing the core ideas is using a Design Thinking approach.

Tim Brown, CEO of the celebrated innovation and design firm IDEO, shows in his successful book Change by Design that Design Thinking is firmly based on generating a holistic and empathic understanding of the problems that people face, and that it involves ambiguous or inherently subjective concepts such as emotions, needs, motivations, and drivers of behaviors. This contrasts with a solely scientific approach, where there’s more of a distance in the process of understanding and testing the user’s needs and emotions — e.g., via quantitative research. Tim Brown sums up that Design Thinking is a third way: Design Thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach, crystalized in the field of design, which combines a holistic user-centered perspective with rational and analytical research with the goal of creating innovative solutions.

“Design thinking taps into capacities we all have but that are overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It is not only human-centered; it is deeply human in and of itself. Design thinking relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that have emotional meaning as well as functionality, to express ourselves in media other than words or symbols. Nobody wants to run a business based on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an overreliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as dangerous. The integrated approach at the core of the design process suggests a ‘third way.’ “

– Tim Brown, Change by Design, Introduction

Science and Rationality in Design Thinking

Some of the scientific activities will include analyzing how users interact with products and investigating the conditions in which they operate: researching user needs, pooling experience from previous projects, considering present and future conditions specific to the product, testing the parameters of the problem, and testing the practical application of alternative problem solutions. Unlike a solely scientific approach, where the majority of known qualities, characteristics, etc. of the problem are tested so as to arrive at a problem solution, Design Thinking investigations include ambiguous elements of the problem to reveal previously unknown parameters and uncover alternative strategies.

After arriving at a number of potential problem solutions, the selection process is underpinned by rationality. Designers are encouraged to analyze and falsify these problem solutions so that they can arrive at the best available option for each problem or obstacle identified during each phase of the design process.

With this in mind, it may be more correct to say that Design Thinking is not about thinking outside of the box, but on its edge, its corner, its flap, and under its bar code, as Clint Runge put it.

Copyright holder: Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Clint Runge is Founder and Managing Director of Archrival, a distinguished youth marketing agency, and adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Generating Creative Ideas and Solutions by Holistically Understanding Humans

With a solid foundation in science and rationality, Design Thinking seeks to generate a holistic and empathetic understanding of the problems that people face. Design thinking tries to empathize with human beings. That involves ambiguous or inherently subjective concepts such as emotions, needs, motivations, and drivers of behaviors. The nature of generating ideas and solutions in Design Thinking means this approach is typically more sensitive to and interested in the context in which users operate and the problems and obstacles they might face when interacting with a product. The creative element of Design Thinking is found in the methods used to generate problem solutions and insights into the practices, actions, and thoughts of real users.

Design Thinking is an Iterative and Non-linear Process

Copyright holder: Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Design Thinking is an iterative and non-linear process. This simply means that the design team continuously use their results to review, question and improve their initial assumptions, understandings and results. Results from the final stage of the initial work process inform our understanding of the problem, help us determine the parameters of the problem, enable us to redefine the problem, and, perhaps most importantly, provide us with new insights so we can see any alternative solutions that might not have been available with our previous level of understanding.

Design Thinking is for Everybody

Tim Brown also emphasizes that Design Thinking techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of a business. Design thinking is not only for designers but also for creative employees, freelancers, and leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product or service in order to drive new alternatives for business and society.

“Design thinking begins with skills designers have learned over many decades in their quest to match human needs with available technical resources within the practical constraints of business. By integrating what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable, designers have been able to create the products we enjoy today. Design thinking takes the next step, which is to put these tools into the hands of people who may have never thought of themselves as designers and apply them to a vastly greater range of problems.”

– Tim Brown, Change by Design, Introduction

Copyright holder: Daniel Lobo, Flickr. Copyright terms and license: CC BY 2.0

Design Thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach, crystalized in the field of design, which combines a user-centered perspective with rational and analytical research with the goal of creating innovative solutions.

The Take Away

Design Thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach specific to design, which involves assessing known aspects of a problem and identifying the more ambiguous or peripheral factors that contribute to the conditions of a problem. This contrasts with a more scientific approach where the concrete and known aspects are tested in order to arrive at a solution. Design Thinking is an iterative process in which knowledge is constantly being questioned and acquired so it can help us redefine a problem in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. Design Thinking is often referred to as ‘outside the box thinking’, as designers are attempting to develop new ways of thinking that do not abide by the dominant or more common problem-solving methods – just like artists do. At the heart of Design Thinking is the intention to improve products by analyzing how users interact with them and investigating the conditions in which they operate. Design Thinking offers us a means of digging that bit deeper to uncover ways of improving user experiences.

“The ‘Design Thinking’ label is not a myth. It is a description of the application of well-tried design process to new challenges and opportunities, used by people from both design and non-design backgrounds. I welcome the recognition of the term and hope that its use continues to expand and be more universally understood, so that eventually every leader knows how to use design and design thinking for innovation and better results.”

– Bill Moggridge, co-founder of IDEO, in Design Thinking: Dear Don

References & Where to Learn More

Hero Image: Copyright holder: Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Course: Design Thinking – The Beginner’s Guide:
https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/design-thinking-the-beginner-s-guide

Don Norman. “Rethinking Design Thinking”, 2013:
http://www.core77.com/posts/24579/rethinking-design-thinking-24579

Tim Brown, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation Introduction, 2009

Bill Moggridge, “Design Thinking: Dear Don”, 2010:
http://www.core77.com/posts/17042/design-thinking-dear-don-17042

By Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang

Sourced from International Design Foundation

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How to send Cold Emails rules that won’t be ignored

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By Michael Thompson,

I’ve sent more than 200 cold emails over the course of my career and only been rejected 3 times. Here are 6 rules I follow to get the attention of people I admire.

  • Michael Thompson is a career and communication coach who helps business executives and entrepreneurs be successful by making the right connections.
  • He says he’s reached out to more than 200 people via cold email throughout his career with great success — only three people declined to meet with him.
  • Thompson recommends first reaching out to friends of friends, then making sure your email has a clear purpose and thinking about what you can offer before asking for any favours.

I’ve never found a “hack” for success more effective than this one, a piece of advice I used to hear all the time from my dad: The best way to get what you want is by getting to know the people who already have it.

It’s advice I’ve relied on throughout my career. Over the years, I’ve reached out to well over 200 people doing things I thought were cool, requesting a chance to speak with them. Only three people have declined my invitation to talk. (Well, technically four — Oprah never got back to me.) This practice of cold-emailing has helped me build a professional tribe that has become a place for support, connection, and more opportunities than I ever thought possible.

At a time when everyone is dealing with a lot, the ability to craft an email that not only gets read but gets a positive response is an increasingly valuable skill. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to do it well.

Don’t begin by trying to call Oprah

If I learned anything from my experience of reaching out to strangers, it’s that the world is full of incredibly talented people who can help you grow.

You don’t need Oprah, Bill Gates, Tim Ferriss, or any other high-profile figure who will definitely never see your request to “put some time on their calendar.” Start smart by identifying friends of friends who are doing cool things.

Don’t limit your list to people who are in your exact field, either. Breakthroughs often come when you surround yourself with people who view things through a different lens.

Your subject line matters

After you’ve made a list of people to reach out to, it’s time to craft your email. The subject line “Friend of [mutual friend’s name]” is a solid option, but it’s not the only one.

In one experiment, the entrepreneur and author Shane Snow found that simple subject lines like “Quick question” net strong results when you’re reaching out to new people. (Marketers, however, are starting to use this subject line more often, so its effectiveness may be waning.)

For me personally, the subject line “Thank you” has consistently been the most effective in starting conversations. (We’ll talk about how you should thank the person in your email in a bit.) People don’t write thank-you notes as much as they say they do. This simple act will help you to stand out without showing off.

Know your ‘North Star’

When I first started becoming more serious about my writing, the speaker and entrepreneur Conor Neill gave me this advice: When drafting an article, write at the top of the page: “After reading this, I want the reader to ________?” He told me to use this question as my “North Star” to guide my writing.

You can apply this same strategy to writing your email. Have one clear agenda, even if it’s simply to try to get them on a call so you can learn more about them. Make sure your goal is clear so the message you send supports exactly what you’re looking to accomplish.

Embrace the ‘Rule of 7’

One of the oldest principles in marketing is the “Rule of 7,” which states that a prospective customer needs to be exposed to an advertiser’s message seven times before they will take action.

This doesn’t mean that if you send an email and don’t get a response you should follow up six more times (please don’t do that). But it does mean that a person will be more open to an email from you if they’re somewhat familiar with your name.

Play with ways to get your name in front of them before making that initial direct contact. Sharing their work on social media is one way to do this. If you have a blog, you can write a post that mentions how their work has positively affected you and then tag them on Twitter, thanking them for the inspiration. Get creative. Just don’t do too many things at once, too close together, or you risk turning them off.

Show them what their work has helped you achieve

Successful people get a lot of fan mail and requests to chat. To help your email stand out, make it clear that you’ve been following their work for a while (instead of just gushing over the latest thing that went viral) and that it has impacted you in a specific way.

You can use the formula: “Thanks to your work doing X, I’ve been able to accomplish Y.”

I like to pull out a small detail from their work that has made my life easier. For instance, I’ve always admired the energy and sense of humor that Noah Kagan, the founder of AppSumo, brings to his work. But instead of giving him this generic message, I recently let him know I was writing an article about something he had mentioned in passing on a podcast — his “Holy S–t Jar” — and asked him how I could best link to his work. We didn’t automatically become best friends after that, but we do have plans to talk.

Before asking for a favour, think of how you can help them

To really forge a connection, it’s important to let the person know that building a relationship with you would be mutually beneficial. Maybe that person is writing a book and you can be a part of their launch team. Or perhaps they’re starting a business and your work as a designer can help them to create a more persuasive website. One of the best habits you can form is to ask yourself every day how you can make the lives of the people around you better.

This advice isn’t foolproof — some people are busy, while others may not be prioritizing meeting new people at the moment. But keep at it. When you grow your network, you expand your world.

By Michael Thompson

Forge by Medium 

Sourced from Business Insider

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Is Your Business Ready For Crisis Marketing In Times Of the Pandemic?

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By Shruti Kaushik,

With reduced cash flow, people have optimized their preferences in accordance with their immediate need which applies to both product and service sectors.

The Wuhan virus, or the bat virus, induced a mass annihilation that just shredded the world into pieces. The world before December 2019 is a mesmerizing history and the world now, i.e. few days in the seventh month of 2020, is a bitter reality. But all is not lost, the global economy is learning to adapt to this ‘new normal’; healthcare systems are learning from their mistakes, businesses have entered a digital disruption phase, and the greatest luxury known today has become ‘survival’.

In short, we are now witnessing a new global revolution, a pushed one, but a necessary one. Why do I say necessary? Because the relevance of businesses is now directly attached to changed consumer behavior. With reduced cash flow, people have optimized their preferences in accordance with their immediate need which applies to both product and service sectors.

The direct impact of this shift is felt mainly on marketing campaigns. Many companies have trashed their branding strategies, which is wise but is a horrible mistake. Businesses right now need ‘readjustment’ of their marketing and branding strategies. They need to find a more viable way to address this changed consumer behavior.

Re-analyzing your market plans not in terms of budget, but in terms of opportunity

They say opportunity always lies in the ‘untimely distress’ that life throws at you, which is painfully true. The pandemic did pause the whole world, but it didn’t stop it. The biggest revision I did in branding strategies this year for my clients was introducing social selling. Instead of going all terminator in marketing, I just picked the organic ones, which helped my clients gain five times their target audience. So, here’s are my two cents from my learnings.

Migrate from Facebook ads to Linkedin organic selling: Social distancing is not applicable on social media channels, right? Facebook is a great tool, it creates curiosity with its paid ads but LinkedIn marketing does that for you for ‘free’. LinkedIn is a perfect place to create a new demand because the audience today there is five times more than it was in December last year. Do soft selling through content and invest time in creating a community of loyal followers that you can later monetize on.

Communicate through client/customer stories: Your experience is your greatest asset now. You have to create new demand for your old services because the whole ‘buying cycle’ has changed gradually. The best inbound leads that I got for my clients were through ‘sharing successful client/customer stories’. Your narrative should not reflect a sales pitch but should indicate your expertise in the simplest way possible.

Showing empathy to your audience during these times: Even if your customers are not buying right now, you can send a ‘hope you are safe during these times’ email. The whole world is in a crisis together, and when you send this email, there is an instant connection with the customer. They might not buy from you immediately, but they will remember you which can later become a lead.

Create a series of podcasts: Hop on a podcast with your client, and talk about how you helped him, and how has his business is recovering during these times. But, but, don’t post or share the whole show. Cut out a 45 minutes podcast session into 9 videos of 5 minutes length each. This means you can address 9 questions or 9 problems for your audience. Circulate this content. Instagram and LinkedIn are super for sharing podcast sessions.

Revive your email list: The biggest mistake marketers are doing now is creating a new email list. Your email list is your timeless asset. Share your case study or an article of 200 words on how you are helping your clients/customers during this time, and share it with your email list. You never know, there could be a goldmine buried in that old email database.

Publish interviews: Interviews are the easiest ways to grab attention, and you don’t have to pay for them. Shortlist websites of your niche that enjoys more than 1 million traffic a month, and then write to the editor. A concept story, a feature, a quote on an opinion piece, or an interview, can work wonders for you and your client both.

This is the time of a digital revolution that has been pulled sooner than it was anticipated. Opportunities have multiped online. Technological sector is booming right now, and branding is more important than ever. All that needs to be done is ‘retelling your company’s story” on the right platforms.

Feature Image Credit: Pixabay

By Shruti Kaushik,

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Content Distribution Strategy: Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail

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Many brands put all their effort into producing high-quality content but fail to have a content distribution strategy in place to maximize its ROI. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute found that only 41% of B2B marketers have a documented content strategy.

We asked SEO and content marketing experts why content distribution is essential and how best to do it right.

Why Content Distribution Is Important

“A content distribution strategy is important because you want to make sure that you amplify the reach of your content once it’s published,” said Malte Scholz, CEO and co-founder of Airfocus. Brands spend a lot of resources — both time and money — creating quality content that’s relevant for their audience, so it only makes sense to ensure they’ll actually be able to consume it. “Besides using the right keywords and writing about the right topics,” he continued “you also need to actively distribute your content.”

“If you’re only using one medium for your content, you essentially are willingly cutting out a huge potential audience,” said Anastasia Lliou, marketing manager at Rain.

For example, it’s a good idea for blog content to be repurposed as social media posts, videos on YouTube or Vimeo, podcast topics, and any other format that makes sense. “You may not be able to add to ALL platforms right away,” she continued, “but it’s important to work it into your grander content strategy.” That means creating a content distribution strategy to maximize the ROI of your content creation efforts.

Content Distribution Best Practices

Start With Your Blog

When publishing written content, the brand’s website is often the best place to start. “If your site is the FIRST place that a piece of content is published,” Lliou explained, “SEO traffic is more likely to land there.”

After a couple of months, it makes sense to add the content on medium or other sites that are safe to publish on. “Always remember to share your content on all possible social media platforms and in your email newsletter, if you have one,” Lliou added. This will help drive more traffic back to the company website and expand the brand’s reach even further.

Tailor Content to the Platform

“The biggest mistake you can make is posting the same piece of content on a variety of channels without making any changes at all,” said Olga Mykhoparkina, CMO at Better Proposals.

Each social media, video hosting, or other platform requires a different content format and style that appeals to its users. “For example,” she said, “LinkedIn articles should be shorter than blog posts and Instagram quotes need to be super short.”

By tailoring a piece of content to each platform, brands can optimize their content creation efforts to achieve greater reach and improved engagement. “There are lots of different ways to maximize the effects of a single piece of content,” Mykhoparkina added.

Think Long Term

For Sarah Franklin, co-founder of Blue Tree AI, planning long term is a must. “Traffic does not build up instantaneously,” she explained, “so set smaller goals and plan for months of campaigning before you expect to see solid results.”

Whether it takes three months or a year, you should continue to track progress and remain patient. “Social media and sharing are the number one way content is distributed,” she added, “so keep in mind your audience when creating.” That way, they’ll continue to spread the word about your content and you’ll see greater long-term results.

Don’t Overdo It

Lliou recommends that brands don’t try to reach too many people at once. It’s a good idea to eventually share your content on as many platforms as possible, but she said, you “still have to pay attention to your audience.”

For example, if you’re targeting Gen Z then TikTok and Instagram may be best, but Facebook may be a better place to start when appealing to an older demographic. “If you try to reach the entire global population,” she explained, “you aren’t going to get in front of the right people.”

Final Thoughts

“Companies and individuals are creating new data every moment,” Franklin concluded, “with a content distribution strategy, you can make your content stand out from the rest.” Creating a content distribution strategy ensures that your content reaches its target audience and drives business results.

Feature Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK

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How to Make Your Brand More Cohesive

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By Jessica Abo,

Learn tips for early business growth and branding from strategist, brand designer and entrepreneur Nikki Arensman.

Nikki Arensman is a brand designer and strategist who works with female entrepreneurs, particularly those building digital businesses. She spoke with Jessica Abo via Zoom about how entrepreneurs can navigate the early stages of growing their businesses and beyond.

What do you think is the biggest mistake that most entrepreneurs make in year one of their business?

Arensman: Ultimately, in year one, you’re really just wanting to prove to yourself that your business is not only viable but that it can also impact your industry and earn you an income. You’re wanting to make money. We’re building a business. The mistake that I see all the time is not building a foundation from day one that supports building trust between you and your dream audience.

Our most favorite brands, they’re the ones that we can count on for X, Y, Z. Whatever they’re doing good at. We know that if we go over to their Instagram, if we open up their emails, if we listen to their podcast, if we read their blog, we know what we’re going to expect from them in terms of the way that they look, their language, the way that they talk and the way they communicate. And, subconsciously, what that does for us is it starts to build reliability and build trust. And we know that ‘Okay, I can always expect this from them.’ Then when we need something, we immediately think of them.

What this does is it really makes us, the consumer, want to be a part of their story and want to be a part of their success and have a piece of their brand. I always think of the formula consistency equals reliability, reliability equals trust, and trust brings in more sales.

For those entrepreneurs who just finished year one, and they’re entering year two and they just feel like they’re all over the place, what are your pieces of advice on what they should do first and what they should focus on long-term?

Arensman: First things first for me. When I’m either wrapping up year one with a client or even back to when I was exiting year one and moving on, it’s figuring out what worked and what didn’t work. Strategically, what worked in your business, what brought in income, but also what felt really good and in alignment and what was a struggle and just was like pulling teeth, trying to get you to show up and do it. And then, what did your audience and your clients just absolutely love? Whether that was a service, an offer, a webinar you did, a live training, something that it just hit it out of the park.

From there, I decide how this person should move forward. Either they can do one of three things or a combination of three things. They can either scale an offer with an audience that was a total win. Something like a webinar that did really well and piece together whether it was the audience or was it the actual topic of discussion?

Number two is continuing to explore new offers and figuring out where I really shine the brightest.

Number three is really bringing your branding and your messaging up to speed with where you’re at at that point, which is typically such a different place from day one when you first got started.

For those who identify with one of those or all of those, break down each one for us a little bit more.

Arensman: Let’s take number one, which is scaling an offer. Was there an offer or service that was a total win for you and the client? If so, then it might be worth turning this into an offer that you can scale. For example, if that’s a one-on-one offer, you can think about it like breaking down each piece of content that you worked on in that one-on-one setting and turning those into lessons or modules for a digital course that then removes you from the equation. The plus side of doing that is that you can still have your one-on-one offer. Except now you can raise the pricing on that and bump it up because they’re going to get access to you and your time. You can still have the course that could be sold to a wider audience. That’s an example of that.

Or maybe it was a group program that you launched live and you had a set of four or five calls where they did get access to you. You can now break that course down into smaller training sessions at lower cost. Say you’re taking module one and turning it into its own little offer at a lower ticket than somebody needing to buy into the giant group program. This introduces your audience into what we like to call “the binge and buy” mentality — it supports them in coming back for more. It eliminates people just being one-and-done with a service. Instead, they’re saying, “Oh, I want this,” and, “Oh, I can see they offer this.”

There are some programs that do offer that. One of my favorites is MemberVault. These let you have easy access to a marketplace. These options are a great place to begin. Getting comfortable with paid advertising through Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest ads that will basically lead traffic into these scalable offers that you could have.

If someone is not ready to scale, but they feel more comfortable continuing new offers, what does that look like?

Arensman: This is a great route if you are still figuring out who your people are or you haven’t totally clicked with a certain ideal client or niche. If you didn’t really feel yourself get in a flow in year one at any time, then it’s worth taking a step back and looking at what felt out of alignment and find the gap between what you offered and your messaging and what your audience is wanting.

One of the ways of doing this is having past clients answer a set of questions about their time working with you. What was it like, where did they feel most supported and how did the work that they did with you and the time that they spent with you really impact their business? That’ll give you a really good insider look from the client themselves, what felt good and what didn’t feel good. That scares people because they might get some answers that they’re not ready to hear, but it’s so powerful to look at that and analyze and then say, ‘Here’s where I really excelled, straight from the client.’ Sometimes you don’t even have the awareness of that as the provider.

Also, just trying some new things. Don’t be afraid to pivot and put something new out there and see if it sticks. You don’t always need a fully built-out sales page, the perfect email sequence or the perfect funnel in order to get some sales and gauge, what works and what doesn’t. And sometimes the thing that you just get from a blip of inspiration and you throw out there —whether it’s on social media, on your story or in your feed or you email out your list — sometimes that’s the thing that sticks. And it turns into that killer program that does really well or that new one-on-one service that you can then go back and scale in the coming months.

You also say that it’s okay to give yourself time to catch up to your business. What do you mean by that?

Arensman: Sometimes, when you have an offer or service that isn’t converting the way that you hoped, it’s not always the offer’s fault. Sometimes it’s the messaging or not really reaching the right client. This really comes back to having a beyond basic understanding of who you’re serving and ultimately what their problem is. This requires taking a look at your brand as a whole and, like you said, really just taking a second to let everything catch up.

In addition to knowing relevant information about your ideal client, it’s equally important for you as a brand to have a solid foundation in both visuals and content. The two of those being able to work in tandem together. If one gets left at the starting line — let’s just say you DIY’d your logo over a year ago, and you are avoiding using it on client documents or in your email footer or things like that because you’re embarrassed of it or it makes you want to cringe. That is an energetic block there between the presentation of you out there. It’s time to upgrade and bring it up to speed with where you’re at as an entrepreneur. Ultimately, it’s elevating the experience that a client can expect to have from working with you.

That’s one way, through your logo and visuals like that. Maybe up until now, you’ve been getting by using stock photography, but this is now the year that you’re going to invest in a brand photoshoot and really put some time and energy into curating the visuals that are important to you. It’s really about the experience that your client gets, that they want to be a part of that and can make a visual connection where they want to be to what your photos look like.

And lastly, if in general you just feel like you don’t know what to talk about on social media or you’re getting stuck every time you go to write an email campaign — I hear it all the time, “I feel all over the place.” And whether that is on your feed or in a live session, then I would get clear on three-to-five things that are relevant to your ideal client and their needs and also important to you and your brand.

You want to think of these, they’re three-to-five main topics that are important to you, and they make sense for your client and the problem that you’re solving for them. And then within those three-to-five topics, you’ve got a whole bunch of content that you could talk about and ways that you could maintain within those topics every time that you show up. You’re no longer just fishing and trying to figure out things to talk about and ways to connect. It’s like, “These are my three-to-five things, and I’m going to give these three-to-six months of just maintaining this lane and see how that starts to convert within messaging, within offers and in general,” — just the way that you are communicating with your audience.

By Jessica Abo

ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK VIP, Founder of JaboTV, Media Personality, Keynote Speaker and Consultant

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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How Technology Will Help Redefine The Workplace Post COVID-19

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BY NATASHA MATHUR

When talking about technology’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, few major innovations come to mind – drones for surveillance, delivering food and disinfecting places, healthcare automation services like robots, AI-powered content moderation to beat COVID-19 misinformation, contact tracing apps, and a lot more. It’s no surprise that technology’s response to the ongoing pandemic has been astounding. And it’s going to continue being a strong pillar of support in the post-pandemic world, especially when it comes to re-establishing workplaces. Although the pandemic isn’t over yet, the lockdown has been lifted across different parts of the world, and many people have already started working from offices.

In India, there have been lockdown relaxations across several states and more people have started to work from offices, which is why it’s important than ever for companies to ensure the health and safety of its employees does not get compromised. While maintaining social distance and hygiene practices like washing your hands, wearing a mask, and carrying a hand sanitizer is an obvious answer to curb the spread of COVID-19, there’s a bunch of tech innovations in the market that companies can opt to make their office space clean and safe.Speaking of which, several tech start-ups and firms have come up with innovations that can ramp up sanitization and safety practices within a workplace.

Video Monitoring and Analysis

Video monitoring can help play a big role in making sure all the employees working at an office are abiding by social distancing compliances and guidelines. Amazon has already rolled out an AI-powered system called ‘Distance Assistant’ that provide employees live feedback on social distancing via a 50-inch monitor, camera, and a local computing device. As people walk past the camera, a monitor displays live video with on-screen indicators to show if employees are within 6 feet of one another. Indian start-ups have also come out with similar tools for monitoring purposes. Staqu, a Gurgaon-based start-up, for instance, is using video analytics for smart monitoring. The company is leveraging its proprietary video analytics platform JARVIS to roll out cutting-edge use cases aimed at identifying, tracking, and curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Video analysis and monitoring is a simple, cost-effective tech solution that can help in big ways. Keeping surveillance around social distancing within offices will help ensure public safety. It can also be deployed across hospitals, pubs, malls, etc, using video surveillance cameras. Since these video analytics tools offer real-time information, it can be quite effective for employees’ safe office return.

Advanced Cleaning Tech

Apart from making sure that all employees follow the guidelines and practice social distancing, it’s very important to keep the office space clean, especially during these times. To curb the spread of coronavirus and other diseases, companies can opt for technological tools and systems that can help ramp up the cleaning process. Robots can be of great help in this case. For instance, there’s a floor disinfecting robot that can navigate and sanitize the floors without any human intervention at various places, including offices, hotels, hospitals, etc. Developed by Milagrow Humantech, the robot moves autonomously without falling and avoids obstruction while planning its own path. It makes use of LIDAR and advanced SLAM technology. Milagrow’s patented Real-Time Terrain Recognition Technology (RT2RT) scans at 3600, 6 times per second to make a floor map in real-time with an accuracy of up to 8mm over a 16m distance.

Similarly, to keep the air clean and fresh within office spaces, companies can invest in tech to deep clean air. A start-up, Magneto CleanTech, launched an enhanced version of Central Air Cleaner co-powered by Filterless Magnetic Air Purification (FMAP) and Ultraviolet (UVGI) technology. This air filtration framework uses the ‘Trap and Kill’ with hostile to microbial UV-C beams to completely sterilize the indoor air. As per the claims, it can slaughter over 90% of airborne infections and diseases. Another solution to ensure cleanliness at the workplace is MicroGO’s GOassureTM IoT-enabled Hand Hygiene device. It ensures good hand hygiene practices, sustainability (water and other savings), and provides real-time data monitoring. It follows a six-step of hand hygiene and a 25-second process to ensure thorough cleaning and disinfection of hands.

Contactless Tech Solutions

Since Coronavirus spreads from touching an infected surface, offices will need a better alternative to biometric attendance systems that requires finger impression to mark attendance. This is where contactless biometrics will be a game-changer to authenticate employees without having them touch or place their hands on a scanner. This can be possible via several technologies out there such as facial recognition tools and digital fingerprint detection systems. Contactless solutions are going to be all the rage in the post-pandemic world and can help not only prevent the virus from spreading, but also make their office space cleaner.

Facebook agrees to $550M slap on the wrist following facial recognition suit

Other examples of contactless technology includes temperature scanners. We’ve already witnessed extensive use of handheld thermometers to scan temperature that helps with the detection of COVID-19-prone patients during the pandemic. While these handheld thermometers require a person standing around with it at all times to scan people, a number of contactless technologies have emerged that automatically scans people as they enter an office. Zesta India’s Wall Mounted Automatic Thermometer is a good example. With Zesta’s Wall Mounted Automatic Thermometer, companies can simply install it at the entrances of the workplace and let everyone scan themselves with zero physical contact. This can be used at the office, shops, hospitals, schools, malls, and other public areas. It also comes with colour code alarm, fast and accurate detection.

Apps For Employees’ Safe Return

Apps have been playing a critical role in the war against COVID-19, and they can also help companies prepare better for employees’ return to offices. Tech companies have been developing apps that’ll act as additional support in keeping employees safe. For example, ServiceNow, a digital workforce company, has released a four-app suite and dashboard that’s aimed to help companies better manage the necessary steps required for returning employees to the office. These include apps around safety management, inventory management, health screening, and employee surveys. Apart from these, there are several other apps in the market that can help keep track on how employees are doing after returning to the workplace.

The post-pandemic world has started to come into focus, and it’s crucial that companies start taking steps that will shield both their employees and the business overall. Technology is helping us more than you realize during the pandemic and it will continue to do so after the pandemic is over.

BY NATASHA MATHUR

Sourced from Mashable India

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Why Data Scientists are Becoming Future Marketers

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By Julius Cerniauskas

The law of success in business states: the quicker you accept and welcome innovations, the further behind you leave your competition. That’s the reason why technical enhancements seem to be as frequent as coffee breaks. Here is why data scientists are becoming future marketers.

As big data is changing the status quo, the marketing sector is not lagging behind.

On the contrary, data scientists have shown that big data adapts data-driven methods to make smarter decisions.

Not to mention, the shift that is being caused by increasing accessibility to unprecedented amounts of publicly available information, which spurs data scientists to pick up the role of marketers.

Not surprisingly, in the face of the information revolution, marketers say that data is their company’s most under-utilized asset. The biggest challenge to data-driven marketing success is the lack of data quality and completeness.

Here is the bridge the knowledge gap between modern marketers and data scientists.

What type of data is actually useful and how do you use it? My goal is to make sure that after reading this article — you will be able to:

  • Understand why the ability to use big data in the marketing sector is essential for business survival.
  • Get a good grip on how to obtain the “right” high-quality information to craft an effective marketing strategy.
  • Learn 4 ways how company giants are using data gathering right now to stay in leadership positions.

Statistics predict the future of marketing

The value of using data science and analytics in marketing has been increasingly recognized. Currently, about 3 out of every 4 marketing leaders (76%) base decisions on data analytics. Globally, the budgets for data-driven marketing has also been increasing rapidly.

In 2019 reaching its highest point in six years. The overwhelming majority (73%) of marketing associations agree that this trend is expected to continue in the future.

This trend has been echoed by executives and CEOs worldwide. They confirm that data-driven marketing is crucial to success in a hyper-competitive global economy, as Forbes Insights and Turn report reveal.

Lessons from the best of the best

What do Disney, Apple, Uber, and Amazon have in common?

Apart from all being at the top of their game, these companies place customer experience as their top priority. Equally, findings from global market studies worldwide show that consumers are more likely to pay more for better customer experience. As a matter of fact, they even tend to prioritize trusting brand relationships over product quality.

Following this tendency, most successful businesses move from communication to conversation. And to catch this wave, I will tell you exactly how data-driven marketing can help companies get there.

Advantages of data-driven marketing

For someone who has been working in the business of information for over a decade, it is evident that data analytics is the backbone of marketing automation.

To develop any successful marketing strategy, there is a need for large amounts of information on the target audience. For example, their attitudes, behavior and experiences. Also, activities such as monitoring brand reputation, search engine ratings, and competitors’ behavior should be a part of marketing strategy development.

All of these goals are simplified ten-fold by automated data gathering. There are few data extraction tools available, most of which rely on web-crawling. It automizes long hours of manual labor spent on researching information. Also, it drastically reduces labor costs and expenses, while at the same time increasing productivity, quality, and the process itself.

How does web crawling work?

Web crawling, also known as web scraping, is the process of retrieving data from a website. It revolutionizes mundane, mind-numbing tasks of manually extracting data. Instead, web scraping uses well-calculated automation processes to retrieve valuable data from the internet.

Considering all the advantages that web-scraping offers, it comes as no surprise that this practice is growing in popularity. In fact, marketing is not the only department reaping the benefits. For instance, cyber-security, retail, and travel industries, among others, have been taking advantage of what data can offer.

The fascinating aspect of web scraping is that it is continually evolving. Indeed, industry leaders continually come up with more and more ways to use big data to reach their business goals. I am certain that there are still unexplored ways of how web crawling can aid companies across the globe to automate their processes and gain valuable insights.

4 Fool-proof ways to use data collection

Real-time public data scraped from the web has multiple uses and goals to simplify the marketing strategy. Here is to name a few:

Make your clients happy

Listen, listen, listen. In general, the needs and desires of the customer are the guiding stars for every successful business. In truth, people are giving valuable feedback to companies everywhere on the web: social media, personal blogs, news articles, comment sections, or discussion boards.

Unfortunately, most of this information never reaches the marketers’ eyes. Uninformed decisions then lead to the creation of products or services that people don’t really care about.

By effectively tapping into a constant stream of publicly available information, businesses can continually shift their marketing strategy responding to the latest industry trends. This gives a chance to adjust communications appropriately, offer products and services which clients genuinely want, and improve the overall customer experience.

Strengthen your brand

What are the highest valued companies in the market? The answer? The same companies carrying best-recognized brands in the world. I hope it is evident for everyone that it is no coincidence.

Strong and well-regarded brands are the result of not only great promotional strategies but robust defense systems against such possible threats as counterfeiting or copyright infringement.

Brands suffering from counterfeiting globally.

In 2017 alone, the estimated losses the brands have suffered from counterfeiting globally have amounted to staggering 323 billion dollars. Sadly, this grim trend is rising, according to the Global Brand Counterfeiting Report.

Data-driven marketing can support the constant brand vigilance efforts to diminish the damages. As a response to the situation, luxury brands are employing proxies to crawl e-commerce websites, auction sites, and relevant marketplaces to spot the fraudsters.

Massive-scale web crawling also can support the prosecution process against these illegal activities by collecting all necessary data.

Know your competition

Being able to obtain and process large amounts of information about your market competition, gives an enormous competitive advantage. The traditional methods of doing market research, including the interviews, surveys, and focus groups, are quickly turning into a thing of the past, giving way for more time and cost-efficient web crawling.

Automating the market research for such routine processes as tracking changes in pricing, auditing the product line, observing presence online, public engagement, and other promotional activity through various communication channels gives an opportunity to react quicker and more accurately.

Be searchable

Visibility online is everything. Sadly, statistics are cruel on this matter. According to Protofuse, less than 10% of people advance to page 2 on search engines. This means that even the best products or services available will never reach the eyes and ears of the potential client. The regrettable fact is that the majority of businesses are struggling in this regard.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process that allows improving the visibility of the website among the search engine results. Not surprisingly, the web crawling tool is essential for monitoring changes in these ratings. Getting hands-on real-time and location customized data can serve the company to come up with the most effective strategies for increasing exposure instantly.

As the game is changing rapidly

The use of big data has been in the marketing world for a while now, and it is not going anywhere anytime. On the contrary, the data-driven approaches will continue to shape marketing, along with other industries. To emphasize this point, the global demand for data analytics has been continually increasing and is expected to rise in the future, as pointed out in the Oxylabs 2020 Trend Report.

In 2019, the market value has reached $49 billion. Concluding from the steady growth rate, it is expected to double in just seven years, reaching an impressive $103 billion by 2027.

It is fair to say that future data scientists will contribute their skills and technical knowledge in more diverse business sectors.

The trend is a serious signal for all market players to adapt and embrace the ongoing innovations. However, if they shy away from using the powerful insights from the big data, their competitors will outsmart them in every move, by betting on data-backed decisions.

By Julius Cerniauskas

CEO at Oxylabs. Julius Cerniauskas is Lithuania’s technology industry leader & the CEO of Oxylabs, covering topics on web scraping, big data, machine learning & tech trends.

Sourced from readwrite

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20 E-Commerce Terms That All Marketers Need To Know

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By Kelly Ehlers

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many businesses to transition to a digital-first purchasing journey, and having a deep understanding of e-commerce has become a must for marketers. Still, as we pour our efforts into social content and online communications, some may be hitting a wall and missing the mark.

To successfully capitalize on e-commerce, marketers must go beyond product tags to knowing the ins and outs of the system. As we continue adapting to the shifting norms and expectations of consumers, marketers can study 20 need-to-know concepts to reinforce their offerings and thrive in an exceedingly digital sales environment:

1. A/B Testing: A/B testing is when you compare two versions of a site, advertisement, etc., to determine which performs best (including copy, visuals, formatting and lead times). When testing, be sure you pick just one element to change out. Alternating copy and creative makes it difficult to determine which is responsible for changing audience behavior. Be consistent, methodical and near-scientific when A/B testing — plus, give your ads enough run time to reach a solid conclusion.

2. Affiliate Marketing: A marketing model where independent marketers (i.e., influencers) are willing to sell a brand’s products for a commission. Amazon Affiliates is one example. When selecting influencers to represent your brand, do your homework. Know which other companies they are representing, and if competitors are also utilizing affiliates, be conscious of their network and the demographics they are reaching.

3. APIs (Application Program Interface): A system through which customer interactions are translated to determine computer interactions. Depending on the API of certain platforms (i.e., Instagram), marketers may run into restrictions on what data and capabilities they can and cannot access in third-party platforms. Speak with your platform representative ahead of time to know what limits a site may create for your brand.

4. Assisted Conversion: Actions taken outside of a final click that lead to a customer’s purchase. For example, imagine a customer sees an ad on Facebook and even clicks on it. However, they do not make a purchase on that visit. Instead, two days later they Google search the brand and choose to buy. In this case, the assisted conversion would be the Facebook ad.

5. Attribution Model: A value assigned to each touchpoint (e.g., email, social, organic search, paid search) along the consumer journey. There are a few theories on values, but the goal of each is to understand what tactic leads to a conversion.

6. Browser/Cart Abandonment: The rate of consumers that leave a brand’s website before completing an action.

7. Bounce Rate: The number of web visitors who visit a single webpage and leave. To lower your bounce rate, brands should include content beyond the product description, especially video! The more there is to learn and engage with on the page (besides just a shopping call to action), the longer a user is likely to stay and learn about your brand.

8. CMS (Content Management System): A digital system (i.e., WordPress) to alter and add digital content (e.g., products) through details such as SKU, name, price and inventory status.

9. Conversion Rate: Number of conversions divided by number of visitors to indicate the success of a brand’s marketing efforts.

10. CRM (Customer Relationship Management): A digital system (i.e., Salesforce) that maintains customer-to-brand relations through payment details, product updates, customer data and after-sale communications.

11. Facebook Pixel: Code placed on a brand’s website to track conversions through Facebook ads and determine future strategies (e.g., audience targeting and ad optimization).

12. Google Keywords: With this Google tool, brands are able to see which keywords related to their industry are most-searched. They can then include them in their ads to determine when and where they will show up. For paid keywords, remember that branded keywords will always be less expensive than non-branded.

13. HTML: Standard coding language for digitally appearing documents (e.g., websites).

14. JavaScript: Versatile coding language meant to extend the capabilities of a webpage beyond static use (e.g., customer communications and display).

15. Landing Page: Custom page developed for a brand’s unique audience targets. For example, consider you are running a campaign on shoes for summer. Rather than directing users from an ad or piece of organic content to the product description page, you could send them to a tailored landing page that showcases how a curated selection of shoes is perfect for summer. This creates a cohesive storyline that better illustrates your campaign message.

16. PPA/PPC (Pay Per Action/Pay Per Click): A method of ad purchasing in which advertisers pay each time an action is taken — for example, each time a link is clicked.

17. Purchase Funnel/Conversion Funnel: The route a consumer takes — made up of multiple touchpoints — from brand awareness to conversion.

18. Retargeting: A method of digital marketing which tracks previous web visitors and places continued ads on their browser.

19. ROAS/ROI (Return on Ad Spend/Return on Investment): Revenue from marketing divided by the cost of advertising to determine the efficiency of a brand’s marketing efforts.

20. SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The results delivered to a user after searching, as determined by SEO keywords.

Marketers are sure to confront each of these terms as they roll out extended digital offerings. Despite easing federal regulations on brick-and-mortar facilities, the transition from one historical event to another has forced us to, once again, lean heavily into e-commerce. By understanding these terms, brands can use their knowledge to create informed strategies that effectively reach and help convert consumers.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Kelly Ehlers

Founder and President of Ideas That Evoke, an influencer and social media agency focused on the beauty, lifestyle and luxury markets. Read Kelly Ehlers’ full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Online Marketing Tips That Actually Work

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By Evan Varsamis,

This year has been quite a roller coaster for marketers so far, and it’s still unclear how things will go in the next few months. However, when it comes to designing a marketing funnel, you can’t stick to your traditional methods anymore. You have to start thinking outside the box and picking up new techniques that can enhance your brand’s presence on the web. Online competition has grown massively over the last few years. It’s not just about being present on the web anymore. It’s about sustaining an omnichannel presence.

What Is An Omnichannel Presence?

Years ago, we used to think of online marketing as finding the platform that works the best for you and prioritizing your activities there. Today, with so many different platforms having unique structures, it’s even more difficult to figure out what works the best for your brand. It’s not about finding your best platform anymore. It’s about learning how to be present on every channel and make the most of it.

What works on Facebook won’t work on Pinterest. You have to figure out how to be present on both channels with equal effectiveness.

Now that you’re familiar with an omnichannel presence, let’s take a look at trends and online marketing tips that will help you sustain your business in 2020.

Cobranded Content

Every individual is loyal to a certain number of brands. As a marketer, if you can leverage that engagement by combining two brands, there’s nothing like it.

Sophia Bernazzani explained this concept beautifully on HubSpot: “One of my own beloved childhood memories was a product of co-branding: Betty Crocker partnered with Hershey’s to include chocolate syrup in its signature brownie recipe. There’s something brilliant about that co-branded product: It’s a fun way to marry two classic brands into one delicious experience for fans of baking and chocolate alike.”

So, to make your 2020 marketing work, you can connect with brands that appeal to you and use that collaboration as a marketing campaign. You could choose to go for video advertising or even audio influencing through podcasts or webinars. Either way, cobranded content can help you soar high with the help of loyal followers.

Micro-Influencer Marketing

If you have experience with influencer marketing, you’ll know why micro-influencers are the near future. Reaching out to big-time influencers is difficult, and you can’t expect them to review free samples that easily. So brands that are tight on budget can opt for micro-influencers who cater to their product niche.

These influencers have enough popularity to still be influential, and they also tend to have better engagement rates with their followers because they are less overwhelmed with sponsorship offers, which gives them the bandwidth to keep in touch with their followers. A study (paywall) from HelloSociety suggests that micro-influencers with around 30,000 followers have 60% higher engagement and are about 6.7 times more cost effective than influencers with more followers.

Nontraditional Social Media Marketing

Ever since we started social media marketing, we’ve primarily used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. While these platforms continue to be the rulers in the industry, there are several others that are making their way up with the help of the younger generation. These platforms include Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit and Medium.

So when it comes to planning a successful marketing campaign, you need to think outside the box and come up with ways to work on every platform instead of sticking to just one or two. In fact, it may seem far-fetched, but TikTok could work for your brand, depending on what you are trying to promote.

Contextual Targeting

When you throw random ads at people, you can’t expect the click rate you desire. That’s because not everyone will want to see the product you are showing them. Instead, with contextual targeting, you can showcase your ads on pages with related information. People who see your ads will have a higher chance of clicking them because they are already interested in your product niche.

Programmatic Audio

With podcasts and audio streaming apps becoming more and more popular, they’ve turned into avenues for online promotion. The advantage of programmatic audio promotion is that it enables you to place ads in the audio content.

Depending on your preference, you can opt for ad formats such as companion, ad pods, or pre-roll and midroll ads. Currently, companies including Google, Rubicon Project, SoundCloud and the BBC offer audio advertising features.

Video Advertising

Every social network is focusing on video content. Many are even looking for ways to implement product shopping directly from videos.

Consider using traditional video advertising methods by placing your ads on YouTube. You can even work with brands on Facebook and Instagram to promote your products in videos.

Mobile-Friendly Emails

As more people switch to primarily using their smartphones, the entire email marketing industry will change. Email designs need to be mobile-friendly and minimal, and they must have the call to action (CTA) button in a place where the user can easily find it. Another crucial point is to avoid too much content in your email. You can always opt for a drip email campaign to send out information sequentially.

Augmented Reality (AR) And Virtual Reality (VR

If you are an e-commerce brand, chances are you’ve already heard of implementing AR and VR for better product discovery. By implementing these technologies in your marketing funnel, you may be able to draw the attention of people who hesitate to purchase online. Give them the opportunity to try out products virtually before purchasing them.

Having said that, it’s also crucial not to forget the tone of voice you use while implementing all your marketing campaigns. The world is going through a massive change in 2020, and it’s important to understand the emotion of your audience before you try to promote a product or service to them. An empathetic and genuine tone can always take your brand a long way.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Evan Varsamis,

An entrepreneur and Founder/CEO at Gadget Flow, as well as an investor and marketing advisor at Qrator Ltd.

Sourced from Forbes

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