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How radio stalwart Global is adopting podcasting

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By Lucinda Southern

Radio and entertainment company Global has been increasing its podcasting capabilities over the last three months. On Nov. 29, it introduced 1,500 podcasts into the Global Player app, the company’s one-stop shop for all Global content.

Global Player will house popular podcasts like “How Stuff Works” and “Serial” alongside Global’s radio show podcasts, and its few original podcasts like Classic FM’s true crime series “Case Notes” and more recent releases “Tomorrow’s Nerd” and “The Food Medic.”

“The simple strategy is to get more people spending time with Global products,” said James Hickman, Global’s director of digital. “We want to cover the day with radio. There are times throughout the day where listening isn’t as strong, like during the commute or at the weekends when people have more time to invest. This is about driving incremental listening and potentially new audiences.”

In the last three months, Global has built a centralized podcast team where between six and 20 people will be working on podcasts at any one time. It’s produced around 10 new podcasts during this period, and it plans to add more of the most popular third-party podcasts chosen by a combination of editors picks and technology.

“This is not a catalog of everything, only the best,” said Hickman. With podcasts that Global has commercial relationships with the publishers it can monetize the content through Dax, its digital audio ad platform. Dax makes it easy to monetize U.K. audiences on U.S. podcasts, which tend to advertise DTC brands like food delivery kits or mattresses that don’t ship overseas.

Global hasn’t pitched the commercial benefits of the expanded and improved Global Player to Charlie Yeates, commercial trading partner at Mediacom, but additional data is welcomed, particularly as listeners can log into the app, which would give a richer picture of listening habits. “Podcast metrics are extremely opaque,” said Yeates. “We know someone has downloaded; we don’t know if they have listened.”

The recent push into podcasting, despite the company’s long heritage in audio, comes from the ability to monetize it more effectively now, said Hickman. “We want to make it easy to find great podcasts.”

However, having just 1,500 podcasts could be limiting for Global if it wants to be a destination for podcasting. “Becoming the main U.K. podcasting app is a challenging business. You have to match Apple, Google and Spotify if you want to play in that space,” said Matt Deegan, a consultant covering the radio industry.

Global will initially get the word out across radio brands on air, digital and social campaigns. The company recently acquired outdoor ad companies Primesight and Outdoor Plus.

“For Global, it’s exciting to be in the market to bring podcasts to more people,” said Deegan, “Fifteen hundred is not a bad start if they can help drive up that 13 percent (of U.K. podcast listeners). That’s a good place for any commercial radio broadcaster to be.”

Commercial radio brands like Radio X and Capital cater to the younger market, so Global doesn’t have the same need as the BBC to launch an audio platform for younger people. BBC Sounds doesn’t offer access to third-party content, although it has said it plans to.

Global Player was originally launched in November 2017 as a place for audiences to listen live to Global’s dozens of stations, including Capital, Radio X and Classic, and catch up on shows. The company wants to put more emphasis on the Global Player app, turning this into a more consumer-recognizable brand, rather than through radio brand apps. Global wouldn’t share how many people currently use Global Player, although it said its brands reach 32 million people a week.

An added feature that allows listeners to skip songs while listening to live radio — currently available on just three of its radio brands — increased listen length in the Player on average by 60 percent and the average number of sessions by 50 percent, although it wouldn’t share specific numbers.

By Lucinda Southern

Sourced from DIGIDAY UK

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Conquering the Blogging Game: Tips & Trick from One Blogger to Another

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By Priyadarshini Patwa

Take your blog from zero to hero with these amazing tips that can make or break your blogging experience

Have you ever wondered why some blogs garner more attraction than others? Of course, you have and tons of you might have tried to decode the hack to do that as well. We all have been there. If you are someone reading this article at this moment, you either are a blogger or you plan to be one.

If you believe your blog or your idea is unique and captivating, make sure hundreds, thousands and eventually the millions out there share the same perspective.

To give you a clear view let me quote Jonathan Perelman, head of Digital Ventures, ICM Partners, a popular talent and literary agency in Los Angeles. The man simply said, “Content is the king but distribution is the queen and she wears the pants.” If you can understand the crux of this you are moving on the, right path my friend.

There are a lot of reasons why someone prefers one blog over another. Blogging isn’t a rocket science. It is about being you and putting your vision out there. But at the same time, it is hard as you need to stay interesting and relevant to your viewers.

In order to give you a clear context, Entrepreneur India sat down with Priyanka Bharwani, a blogger from Mumbai who goes by the name ‘AMomInLove’ on Instagram. She has been an entrepreneur, then became a mother and lately has donned the hat of a mommy blogger. So here are some tricks and tips from one growing blogger to another.

Patience is a virtue

You can’t own the digital space in one day. It is a growing process and patience is the key. If you lack the basic quality of forbearing blogging is certainly not your thing.

“Be very patient. Follow your gut feeling. Post whatever you like. Within a month you will know where you are heading. Accordingly, you will know what your forte is. Starting engaging your audiences and be patient that’s the key,” says Bharwani.

Know your calling

Source: Pixabay

The most important factor that makes or breaks your blogging experience is knowing what sector you intend to venture into.

Tap on to a new area of blogging. Don’t be part of the rat race because you already have a huge line before you will even be noticed. Always find a niche and accordingly pursue your passion.

6-8 months process

Source: Pixabay

Blogging isn’t about creating a lot of content. It is about creating smart content. Just like any start-up, blogging is a venture which takes time to fly. Usually, it takes 6-8 months before someone potential approaches you.

“Even for me it to get the first response it took me good 6-8 months and that too posting and creating content every day,” she shares.

Be ready for criticism

Source: Pixabay

One thing that you can’t ignore is criticism. When you are out in the open, posting and creating content you are more open to scrutiny than any other individual.

“Initially, I received a lot of criticism and even I used to wonder should I put my son’s picture on social media. There were people who were being extremely negative about my approach and laughing over how I was conducting myself. People asked me what I was trying to do as they failed to understand the term mommy blogging. I have got a lot of bashing but then it got better,” explains Bharwani.

Like, trust, business

Putting it out bluntly, if your content is liked, people automatically listen to you. Listening builds trust and soon they are open to doing business with you.

But how will you know if you are growing? The amount of people who connect with you and the response you get tells you how you are growing.

The Right Time To Convert Blogging Into A Business

Source: Pixabay

It is all about knowing the right time and quoting the right amount so you don’t lose on the opportunity.

“When people start approaching you themselves that is the time. So start with charging a small amount. When you charge, only then people appreciate your work and you are taken seriously. Things become more formal and your work approach becomes better. Initially, you even do barter before you actually start charging in a monetary manner. The amount of effort you put into one post, it might not be understood by a lay person. The ideation, the content creation and that take a lot of effort. Don’t overvalue yourself but don’t undervalue yourself also,” says Bharwani.

P.S. All the blogger, this job is all about innovating and creating. So remember the day you feel your creativity is over, just remember the more you create and use it, the more you have it in you. It never gets over, it keeps growing!

Feature Image Credit: Instagram/ amominlove

By Priyadarshini Patwa

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Twitter keeps a list of everything it thinks you’re interested in — here’s how to find it

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  • Twitter collects a lot of data on you, including a compiled list of “inferred interests” it uses to personalize your experience.

  • This interests list was initially rolled out to Twitter users a while back, but the feature was rediscovered this week and users have been tweeting their own lists, some of which include topics are weirdly specific and seemingly inaccurate.

  • Find out below how to find your own list of what Twitter thinks you’re interested in.

If you’ve ever wondered what Twitter knows about you (or thinks it knows about you) based on your online activities, there’s an easy way to find out.

There’s a special “inferred interests” dossier that Twitter creates for every user of the social network. These personalized lists are Twitter’s best guesses about your predilections, from favorite TV shows to sports, and even some seemingly random stuff.

The “inferred interests” data was made available to users more than a year ago, but the existence of this feature has for some reason resurfaced this week on Twitter. Users have been tweeting out their lists of personalized interests, which include topics such as news, science, and soccer.

“These are some of the interests matched to you based on your profile and activity that are used to personalize your experience, including ads,” Twitter says about your inferred interests. “You can adjust them if something doesn’t look right.”

The random and sometimes weirdly specific nature of some of these inferred interests are raising chuckles among some users:

I checked mine, and Twitter seems to think I’m incredibly interested in the Shrek reboot — so much that it’s listed twice.

Here’s how to check out what Twitter thinks your interests are:

View As: One Page Slides

 

You can find out your interests, according to Twitter, under your “Settings and privacy” tab.

You can find out your interests, according to Twitter, under your "Settings and privacy" tab.

Twitter/Business Insider

Select “Your Twitter data,” which is found all the way toward the bottom of your settings list.

Select "Your Twitter data," which is found all the way toward the bottom of your settings list.

Twitter/Business Insider

Scroll down to the section titled “Interests and ads data.” Not only can you find your “inferred interests” collected by Twitter (the first section), but you can also discover what data Twitter has collected — and shared— so it can personalize the advertisements it shows you on its platform.

Scroll down to the section titled "Interests and ads data." Not only can you find your "inferred interests" collected by Twitter (the first section), but you can also discover what data Twitter has collected — and shared— so it can personalize the advertisements it shows you on its platform.

Twitter/Business Insider

Some of my Twitter interests make sense, since I do report on news and technology, after all. But some of the others don’t make much sense — specifically my apparently significant interests in, “Shrek is getting a reboot by producer behind Despicable Me” and “People are calling The New York times following Press Secretary Sarah Sanders’ statement.”

Some of my Twitter interests make sense, since I do report on news and technology, after all. But some of the others don't make much sense — specifically my apparently significant interests in, "Shrek is getting a reboot by producer behind Despicable Me" and "People are calling The New York times following Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' statement."

Twitter/Business Insider

You can also find your Twitter interests by clicking on this link and entering your password.

Feature Image Credit: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

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Sourced from Business Insider UK

 

 

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Top 10 Tips To Start A Blog In 2019

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Sourced from Instash

Thanks in small part to the explosion of influencers and the myriad of highly visible fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers that have successfully cut through the clutter to make lucrative careers for themselves, blogging has had a rise in popularity and has pretty much become the “it” career of choice for the modern world. In fact, according to a survey back in 2014, already over 25% of under 25’s in the UK alone identified a future as a blogger on their list of aspirational careers and that figure will have significantly increased now that many bloggers have moved over into the mainstream.

In part that is due to a huge misconception that blogging is easy and doesn’t require much of a time commitment, is lucrative and can deliver big bucks sponsorships and brand collaborations and will bring social admiration and respect from your peers! While some of that may indeed be true, it’s also a long hard slog ahead to get visibility, traction, and engagement. In the UK alone there are over 100,000 searches every month on “How to Blog” and “Can I start a blog” which just shows you how prevalent the subject of blogging has become.

Not that we want to put you off starting your own blog, we positively encourage it, and we certainly admire your ambition. However, it is a hugely competitive landscape, so if you want to do it right and more importantly stand a chance of being both successful and profitable, then you need to set out on the right track from day one. Luckily for you, we’re here with our Top 10 Tips To Start a Blog in 2019, so hopefully, you can jumpstart your new passion or career and get ready to share your passion with the world. Whether that’s DIY, Fashion, Gardening, Tech or even Business related, there will be an audience out there that are interested in what wisdom you have to impart. So let’s take a look at some of the tips that will set you confidently on your way.

top 10 tips to start a blog in 2019

1. It’s a marathon, not a sprint! Blogging DOES take time and also effort

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was a successful blog. Get honest before you even put pen to paper and ask yourself why you want to start writing a blog in 2019. If it’s to make money online quickly, then blogging perhaps isn’t the right path for you. However, if you are passionate about your niche (more on that later) and are prepared to put in the hours and hard work to grow your audience, then read on! Chances are that nobody will even read your first blog. Certainly, you won’t see results immediately. So don’t lose heart. Keep working at it and know that the rewards and the audience will come in time. If they don’t, then at least ensure you are blogging about something that comes naturally to you and that puts fire in your belly and a big smile on your face.

2. Know your niche and identify who your target audience is going to be

This is absolutely crucial. You can’t possibly be all things to all people. You need to get clear about what you are blogging about, why and to who. Then you need to stick to that niche with sharp laser focus. Even if your friend suddenly has hit the jackpot blogging about their Dog’s daily antics, if you don’t have a dog and your passion is planting, it doesn’t matter how successful they are, it won’t come naturally to you, and your audience will sense that a mile away. Choose a topic that you are absolutely passionate and committed. That will resonate throughout your writing and really hit home and engage with your core audience.

3. Remember that Content is King, Queen and also your Ace card!

Yes, quantity matters, as does consistency but quality should be your Number 1 objective. Don’t be shallow and just write drivel. Make sure that you really give value and that your content is interesting and inciteful or humorous or practical. Whatever your niche is, your content needs to be relevant to that and to strike a chord with your audience.

top 10 tips to start a blog in 2019

4. Tap into your Social Network to drive more eyeballs

If you already have a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, then use them. You need to be your own PR machine and blow your own trumpet. The aim of the game is to raise your visibility and so it’s not just enough to write fabulous content and hope that people will just naturally stumble across you. You need to be proactive and while your content takes it time to naturally rank with search engines, getting busy on social media, promoting your latest articles, boosting your posts and even consider strategically buying some traffic to get your blog kick-started in earnest.

5. Learn some basic technical skills

Today there are some fantastic blogging platforms available that you can easily , so there’s no need to be a coding pro, but a little bit of general technical knowledge will most certainly stand you in good stead. There are literally tones of customizable themes and useful plugins you can bolt onto your blog that requires no coding experience, but if you do have a good handle on the basics, you can ensure that your blog really does look the business and is a cut above the rest.

6. You really need to understand the basics of SEO

This is fundamental. Even if you don’t do it, make sure that someone else is aware of the importance of SEO and ensuring that your blog is fully optimized. Again, many of the blogging platforms now come with built-in SEO that helps take the guesswork out of your set up, but traffic comes from search engines and is the key to growth so have a very clearly defined SEO structure in place and know your critical keywords. If you are blogging about the best Italian food in Brooklyn, then make sure that phrase is utilized nice and natural throughout your content and even consider having it included in the name of your site. Something along the lines of The Best Italian Food In Brooklyn!! Yeah right, that one has already gone, but you get the gist. Don’t over complicate things by giving your blog a totally irrelevant and nonsensical name, clever as you might think you are being. Choose something that is relatable, and that will further help with your site’s important SEO.

top 10 tips to start a blog in 2019

7. The legal nitty gritty! Sorry folks, but you need to wise up to copyright issues

Right now you might well be writing articles that only your Mum and your best friend are reading, that doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to steal other peoples ideas. The internet is like the wild wild west, and you don’t want to the latest Outlaw driven out of town! You don’t want to be accused of plagiarism nor do you want it happening to you either. So brush up on your basic copyright knowledge and educate yourself so that you don’t unintentionally become a content thief by using someone else’s articles or images in whole or part without giving them due credit or checking with them first. Civil and straightforward rules of engagement!

8. The design is so important – so don’t just identify your niche, also identify your site style and your personal brand too

How a design looks can really influence how people even perceive the content. We are visual beings after all. Drawn to color and imagery and likely to be turned away by a long stream of consciousness or a blog that is either downright ugly or in a font type and size that is basically eligible. Also, remember that Google’s latest algorithms are heavily skewed towards prioritizing mobile-based content so don’t neglect to ensure that your blog is fully optimized from a design and navigation perspective for all mobile devices. Fewer people these days are consuming content at their desk on a big screen, and more and more people are dipping into their favorites while they are out and about. Make sure that your blog is pleasurable and easy reading experience and that is totally mobile friendly as well as responsive. Learn about optimizing your image sizes so that it loads quickly otherwise the bus may well have come and gone while your potential reader is still waiting for your content to load!

9. Be natural and be authentic. Above all else, by yourself!

You are you, not some imposter so keep it real. Always, always be yourself and stay true to you. To build real-time trust, your audience need to connect with you, trust you, engage with you and respect you. That is especially true if your ultimate aim is to monetize your blog by adding on a revenue stream. Whether you are selling a product that you own or on behalf of a brand, or are in a service based industry or network marketing model where recruiting new customers is the end game, if you’re not natural and you don’t foster trust, you will never succeed. Be open with your readers, allow them to engage with you and vice versa. Actively encourage interaction and participation by opening up dialogue and debate.

top 10 tips to start a blog in 2019

10. Keep going and have a plan in place for the short, mid and long-term

As with life itself, it pays to get clear on your goals and intentions. Set yourself some markers in the sand that you are working towards achieving and make sure that you keep one eye firmly on the short term and the other on the long game. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Starting out no-one knows every step of the journey ahead, and that is part of the magic as well as the frustration. It’s good to visualize your success and what that looks like. Whether that’s 20,000, 200,000 or 2,000,000 subscribers down the line, keep your sites firmly set on the horizon, steady your ship and success will come. Trust in the process and know that each little step you take puts you on track towards hitting the blogging jackpot!

Just do it!

Procrastination will have you sat on the fence for so long you will get blisters in your backside! If you are committed to making 2019 the year that you launch a blog, whether that’s a personal or a professional one, you better just get on and do it! Find your niche and define your audience. Decide which platform you are going to use and then set your blog up, giving it a really snappy and relevant, SEO friendly name. Crack on with creating some awesome content then get busy sharing the hell out of tapping into all our social touchpoints both online and generally by starting up conversations with people about what you are up to. They’ll love listening to you, and if you listen to them too, you might get some valuable feedback that will help you better engage with your audience. But above all else, if we can only give you one Top Tip to take away with you that will help you to start a blog in 2019, keep it real! Be natural, have integrity, gain your audience’s trust and act authentically.

Blogging is dynamic, and you need to be too. You need to attack it with your full spirit, all guns blazing and with a childlike sense of wonder and enthusiasm. No excuses! Stop watching the TV. Stop sitting on that proverbial fence. Commit today to set up a blog in 2019 and start laying the foundations to your future success. Carve out the time to blog and keep at it. Commit to creating some awesome content and commit to making your dream of being published a reality. This is no get rich quick scheme, but it is an incredibly rewarding, fun and fulfilling journey so enjoy the ride.

Sourced from Instash

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The web design trends brands need to prepare for in 2019

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By James Pruden

2019 is set to see ecommerce sales increase by 19.5% globally, offering an opportunity to savvy brands who are up to speed on the latest web design trends and developments to drive significant additional market share.

But what do brands need to bear in mind in 2019 to ensure that they continue to deliver relevant standout online design, and therefore sales?

Mobile First

It’s vital to implement mobile first design in 2019. In 2015 mobile searches overtook those on desktop, making mobile search the highest search form worldwide. In accordance with this, Google has changed which sites they index first — they now prioritise mobile sites over those that aren’t mobile friendly.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that this push toward mobile first design isn’t just based on ranking factors or SEO, the visual result must enhance the user’s experience on the device that they will most likely be searching from.

This focus on mobile first requires a fundamental shift in the way that websites are designed. It used to be that a site would only be created for a desktop or laptop computer and a mobile-friendly or mobile responsive design might be added as well. Today, it’s critical to design the site for the mobile user first, before creating a version that will also standout for those on desktops.

Micro-animations/movement

Using moving micro-animations along with feedback loops – that deliver movement when hovering over an icon – help make websites more usable and engaging. The details of the micro-interactions: the button clicks and the page transitions can greatly improve a user’s experience on your site, meaning they are far more likely to return. It’s this meaningful motion, connecting an action with a reaction, that satisfies a user’s desire for interactivity. And with touch interfaces, especially on small screens, it has never been more important to deliver motion in micro-animations and feedback loops to make the interaction smooth and guide users on their journey to checkout.

Custom and classic fonts

Expect a move back to custom and classic font design – clean but formal – with bigger and bolder typefaces, and a move away from humanist fonts as brands aim to standout against the proliferation of humanist typefaces.

Colour

Bright colours should be used more liberally in 2019 to deliver greater standout. The last two years has seen an explosion of big, bold colour across the internet with an increasing number of brands choosing to use their core packaging brand colours as backing for their graphics, with clashing tones moving away from the edgy start-ups into the mainstream. Those who have embraced arresting colours include The Premier League, Sky and eBay. Though bear in mind a classic font design and bright colours won’t be suitable for all. The choice of font and colours has to be right for the values of the brand and resonate with the audience they are targeting.

Optimise for search

As is always the case, making sure the design of your website is optimised for search algorithms is vital. Developments in web design will be driven by what Google’s constantly evolving search algorithm looks for. To this end, make sure that the content being communicated is relevant to your target audience and written as naturally as possible. Google looks for honest, human generated content. Of course, this must be quality content to encourage others to have weblinks back to your site to aid your SEO efforts. If users want to share your copy this highlights to Google that you are a valuable resource and the reward for your efforts will be an improved organic search ranking.

Speed

With research revealing over half of consumers leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load, websites must be designed with speed in mind. Also, the faster your site loads the better it will rank in search results, particularly in Google search. This is not to say that websites should be sparse affairs with limited content and imagery for the purposes of speed. With better broadband it’s much easier to have image and content heavy sites that can load quickly. However if you have an app it’s seriously worth considering hosting it on a Progressive Web App (PWA) for speed purposes. A PWA can be launched from a home screen and can be ready in less than a second, often beating native apps in load times.

All brands need to constantly evolve their web design to continue to standout and deliver an engaging experience to their users that generates sales. By recognising and having these six web design points front of mind, brands will be well placed for a profitable 2019 online.

By James Pruden

James Pruden is studio director at Xigen

Sourced from The Drum

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How to slow the rise of the unbranded economy

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By Zaid Al-Zaidy

The late 19th Century saw the emergence of packaged goods such as Coca-Cola and Johnnie Walker, with ‘brands’ starting to differentiate themselves from more generic competition.

Fast-forward to today and, over time, such brands have become increasingly about perception and accumulated meaning. Consumers associate brands with a set of emotions or attributes, while brands also create memories. Some household names have become so synonymous with their offerings that they overtake the category almost entirely – think in terms of Sellotape for sticky tape, or Google for search.

The importance of brand becomes particularly acute as the Christmas season hurtles towards us. Branded products vie for attention over their unbranded, and often cheaper, counterparts; especially in an era of austerity.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, has spoken in recent weeks of “the most promotional market we’ve seen in ten years” – yet still it’s rumoured that the retailer will be splashing out to the sum of around £5m for Elton John in its upcoming Christmas campaign. We’re also seeing seasonal expressions of a growing development: the rise of the unbranded economy.

Lidl unveiled a plum and cinnamon gin to rival mulled wine, for instance, and it also launched the Bellarom budget coffee machine, which, at £49.99, will set you back a fraction of a George Clooney-endorsed, Nespresso-branded equivalent, but allows you to use the same coffee pods.

These are just the latest examples of threats to household names in established markets, from challengers offering highly competitive pricing combined with simplicity. They demonstrate that, even at Christmas, when people are willing to spend on a bit of luxury, notions of what consumers most value are shifting.

Modern-day brand value has become even more critical to success in the light of this type of product commoditisation, while an era of transparency can make it even more difficult to justify the price differential between branded and unbranded products.

This has already dawned on retailers, which appreciate that consumers today aren’t willing to pay for ‘frills’ without good reason. And it’s why Tesco recently confirmed plans to launch Jack’s, a discount chain stocking a vastly simplified product range, most of which will be unbranded products carrying the ‘Jack’s’ label. Demonstrating, in the wake of the successful disruption of supermarket retail by Aldi and Lidl, that brand value is connected increasingly in consumer minds with those ideas of convenience, simplicity, and keen pricing – as Amazon well knows.

But there’s also more to it. Transparency and ethics also play a big part. For instance, we’re witnessing significant changes in the beauty sector. People still want luxury but greater clarity, too. Capitalising on this are relatively new brands such as The Ordinary (‘clinical formulations with integrity’), and new cosmetics subscription service Beauty Pie, both of which cut through complexity and aim for greater levels of honesty in telling the story of the technologies and ingredients used in products. And we’re seeing these values of purity and simplicity reflected in the brand’s packaging, similar in one sense to the unbranded products in the sector, but providing strong brand value in terms of information and an ethical or original stance or offer.

We’ll witness this ethical differentiation more this Christmas, and it’s taking on new forms in terms of unexpected brand pairings. Take the fact that Selfridges is selling Iceland own-brand, palm olive-free, mince pies. This might seem an unnatural partnership but the retailers share a commitment to eliminating the use of palm oil and doing their bit to end deforestation. The perceived value of the product is increased because of what it (doesn’t) contain and the ethical approach this reflects.

It’s clear that addressing sustainability and environmental concerns is vital for brands because people are, at best, willing to pay more for an ethical brand, or, at worst, will refuse to buy if a product is perceived as toxic. Recent research found that 90% of millennials would buy from a brand whose social and environmental practices they trust, and 95% of them will recommend that brand to a friend.

Fast fashion retailers are taking notice. Primark and H&M are among those that have adopted sustainability initiatives following demands from consumers. Primark, on its recent launch in Germany, acknowledging that while the market is the home of Aldi and Lidl and loves a bargain more than any other, there’s a need there to build a reputation for high ethical standards, which it has achieved initially through measures such as a poster campaign providing information about its factories and how it sources fabrics.

Providing experiences is the other big factor that will stem the tide of the unbranded economy. This Christmas, The Body Shop, as part of a wider drive to capitalise on the wellness trend, is turning to experience with its ‘Enchanted Forest’ pop-up in East London, aiming to provide a “sensorial journey designed to pamper, inspire and inform”. Guests will be able to book makeovers and massages, and tickets for talks on reducing stress during the festive season.

Initiatives such as the Body Shop’s show that it’s far from inevitable that the age of the brand is over, but also that brand owners must recalibrate the value they’re bringing to people.

Our feelings towards brands are complicated, and so it’s a good idea to establish a shared understanding about how you define your brand and what it means for your business. The ramping up of intensity in the brand battlefield calls for a clear definition of value in this audience age.

Budget airlines know the importance of standing for something, good or bad, with Ryanair’s CMO having spoken frequently about short haul flying being a ‘functional’ rather than an emotional purchase. Some brands can indeed survive by servicing a need rather than creating desire, but the value a brand offers clearly differs depending on the product or service.

A brand is what a potential customer thinks of on hearing your brand name. It might bring a promise of quality, reliability, taste or fun; and it must offer this more so than its unbranded counterparts. Take the runaway success of Fever Tree tonic water which has clearly set out its stall as being about the pursuit of flavour as opposed to the lowest price. Authenticity and a compelling or original band story helps, too.

This Christmas, we will spend billions gorging ourselves on special products and experiences to gift and enjoy ourselves. But we might not always need a brand to affirm our choice or make us feel good. Branding is a wonderful, anthropomorphic thing that has the power to turn an inanimate object into something of intangible desire. It’s just that the formula for desire has changed and if brands don’t get to grips with it, we’ll continue headlong towards ever more aggressive price wars and a largely unbranded economy.

By Zaid Al-Zaidy

Sourced from The Drum

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Augmented reality promises to rescue dying museums – so why don’t visitors want to use it?

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Museums are often perceived as dusty cabinets full of dead and ancient things, especially those institutions you’ve never heard of. You know the ones, the neglected pride of county towns that could play a vital cultural and social role but struggle for funding.

For some, technology is the answer, virtually recreating museums and their contents online, or launching fancy augmented reality smartphone apps that overlay videos of the real world with interactive computer-generated content. We certainly see the potential for such apps to make museums more exciting, especially to young people, and have recently been using them to bring dinosaurs to life.

But sadly our experience suggests visitors just aren’t keen on downloading these apps. So is there another way technology can help revitalise musuems and similar attractions?

We are working on a project called PalaeoGo! that explores how museums and parks can be enhanced by augmented reality, 3D digitisation and new search engines. Our first foray with augmented reality was at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, US, using a smartphone app called Zappar to support research undertaken there.

Using the phone’s camera to scan a code on a notice board or flyer brings forward a 2D computer-generated image superimposed on the phone’s live camera feed. Users can see a troop of mammoths walk over the horizon with the real landscape behind, or have their selfies taken with a mammoth. We’ve since created our own free app that recreates augmented reality dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles and mammals in 3D, without the need to scan a code.

We deployed the mammoth and a T. rex at various events in 2017 and 2018, allowing visitors to pose for selfies. The tech was embraced enthusiastically, not just by children but by older generations as well. We found the sense of technological wonder coupled with a chance to strike a silly pose with an extinct animal really appealed to the visitors.

Mammoth selfies. Matthew Bennett, Author provided

But when we first deployed the app at a museum, in summer 2018 at the Etches Collection on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, it challenged our thinking. In fact, it stopped us dead. When we had staff on site to show people what was possible with our own tablets and phones, the technology had an impact and people were excited to see it in action (although they did not always download the app). But no one engaged when we relied on posters and banners to encourage visitors to download and use the app.

We failed at the first step, not due to a lack of interest in the technology or in the 3D dinosaurs deployed, but due to the fundamental reluctance of visitors to download museum apps. We have since found this experience to be shared by others, such as Skybox Museum, who also struggle to get visitors to download their app deployed at their site in Manchester. In fact, the feedback we’ve received so far suggests that simply getting people to download a museum app, rather than a problem with the underlying technology, is the biggest obstacle to its success.

What makes people download apps?

To find out why, we immersed ourselves in a growing body of consumer-based research on smartphone apps. It turns out that the characteristics of an app are less important when it comes to getting people to download it than whether they trust the makers, and that brand loyalty and familiarity help build this trust. We also know that the potential for social interaction and pure enjoyment are more important than the usefulness or educational value of an app. People want to be entertained, engage with others and are wary of potential risks to their phones and personal data.

So when you’re asked to download an app at the doors of a museum, the default position is to decline. It’s a hard sell, especially if you have children in tow. Promoting the app in advance helps but, even if you overcome this reluctance, people still want a guarantee of fun.

Not enough for a download. Matthew Bennett, Author provided

What’s the answer? Games are an obvious possibility. Which regular museum visitor hasn’t seen a horde of children with clipboards on some form of quest or hunt? Promising a fun game is perhaps the key to getting children to try the augmented reality we know can change a museum experience.

The alternative is to make such resources available without an app, and we are exploring this. One solution might be to enable visitors to access it through their phone’s internet browser or via a standard QR code. Another idea we are trialling is to preload the technology onto a tablet hired like an audio guide at a museum’s entrance. As the software doesn’t need downloading it can be more complex, for example using locational technology such as GPS that can prompt the user to activate the device at a given spot and offer content tailored to their visit. But this would make social interaction and downloading those fun-filled selfies harder.

We believe that technology has much to offer the museums of the future. In fact, we would argue it’s essential to their survival. In particular, mixed reality, a form of enhanced augmented reality where real people and objects are displayed in virtual worlds, has some exciting potential to create immersive, engaging and educational content. But for once, the smartphone may not hold the key.

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Professor of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Bournemouth University

& 

Professor of Data Science, Bournemouth University

Sourced from The Conversation

 

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Uncommon Blogging Tactics Are Highly Effective, New Study Shows

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By Matt Southern

A recent study on blogging in 2018 shows that the least common blogging tactics are most likely to be successful.

Orbit Media Studio surveyed 1000+ bloggers and published the statistics and trends in a detailed report.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the study is an analysis of what top bloggers do differently.

Only a minority of bloggers are doing these things, but a majority of those putting in the work report seeing strong results.

Publishing 2000+ Word Articles

Only 18% of those surveyed are publishing articles of 2000 words or more.

Out of those who are publishing 2000+ word article, 42% say it drives strong results.

On average, the length of the typical blog post is 1,151 words

Publish Articles More Than Once Per Week

Just 21% of bloggers in the survey are publishing articles more than once weekly.

Out of those who publish more than once per week, 46% say it drives strong results.

Blogging frequency has been going down over the past 5 years. In 2018 most bloggers are publishing a few times per month.

Spend Over 6 Hours Writing an Article

A small minority of 13% of bloggers are spending 6+ hours on each article.

Out of those putting in 6+ hours per article, 39% report seeing strong results.

Time spent per article is on the rise, but half of all bloggers spend less than 3 hours.

In 2018, the average length of time to write a blog post is 3.5 hours.

Create Their Own Research

Only 25% of those surveyed say they create their own research.

Out of those publishing original research, 58% report seeing strong results.

Bloggers who conduct original research are 2.9x more likely to report “strong results” compared to those who don’t.

Why Are Most Bloggers Not Doing These Things?

The reason why only small percentages of bloggers are doing these things is that it’s difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.

For most bloggers, it’s not feasible to spend over 6 hours writing 2000+ words and conducting original research.

Many bloggers also have day jobs, so in order to accomplish those actions, they would likely have to hire writers, a research team, and maybe even an editor.

However, that may be a worthwhile investment for businesses looking to drive better results with their blogging efforts.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Matt Southern

Sourced from Search Engine Journal

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What Is Customer Experience Management?

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Customer experience management (CXM) is the management of customer interactions through each physical and digital touchpoint in order to deliver personalized experiences that drive brand loyalty and increase revenue, according to David Clarke, global chief experience officer at PwC.  Brands accomplish CXM programs through a combination of software, analytics, research and data-management systems. In recent years, several brands have infused CXM with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning engines that help manage customer data and predict future interactions to allow brands to serve relevant content.

“Customer journeys are either historical or hypothetical,” said Tim Linberg, chief experience officer at Verndale. “We can guide journeys, but we can’t absolutely dictate them. And, moreover, a truly customer-centric organization wouldn’t try to. What we can do, though, is use behavioral data, customer insights and marketing technologies to better understand and optimize every step of that journey. That’s customer experience management.”

Why Does CXM Matter?

Well, that’s simple: it affects your organization’s bottom line. No longer is making good products enough. According to a report released by Forrester earlier this year, the top-performing CXM brands see a direct correlation between good CXM and rising stocks. The top 20 percent of brands in Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) had higher stock price growth and higher total returns than companies drawn from the bottom 20 percent, according to Forrester researchers.

Further, according to the “Customer Experience Optimization Report” by Econsultancy and Ensighten, 96 percent of company marketers and agency pundits consider customer experience optimization somewhat important or critical. Also, 94 percent of marketers and 79 percent of agency respondents said that higher engagement and conversion rates are among the many benefits of CX optimization.

The future will still be about good CX. According to the 2017 Gartner Customer Experience in Marketing Survey released earlier this year, 81 percent say that in two years they expect to be competing mostly or completely on the basis of CX. And further, PwC’s latest Digital IQ report found that 65 percent of respondents see CX as critical to advancing business performance, and 70 percent see it as crucial to achieving digital transformation.

How CXM Software Helps

A strong CXM program is only as good as the software behind it. Brands need to collect, track, manage, organize, analyze, personalize and execute relevant interactions with customers and prospects and can do this primarily through CXM software. Capterra, a product review site, provides reviews of nearly 300 CXM software platforms.

CXM software can also incorporate systems like CRM, web content management, personalization engines, web analytics and most platforms within the digital experience platform ecosystem. According to Tech Target, CXM software falls into a few buckets that include:

Right CXM Tools for the Right Prospect and Customer

“Every customer, brand and campaign are unique,” ​said Josh Martin, senior director of product marketing for Perfect Sense. “Therefore, delivering a good experience requires tools that allow companies to deliver the right content in the right context at the right time.” Companies, he said, must first understand what customers they want to target. “This usually manifests itself as journey mapping,” Martin added, “and allows content creators, marketing teams, product managers, etc. to create a personalized experience that delivers value to their users.”

Having the right tools — instrumented correctly — is more important than having a lot of tools, Martin added. “A great customer experience,” he said, “allows a brand to meet customer needs and be seen as helpful. To deliver this type of personalized experience across all channels, languages and content types, requires various marketing solutions. At the core is CRM, CMS and marketing automation. In the future, artificial intelligence will help drive content and experience optimization.”

How do you bring good CX to life? By making connections, according to Clarke. Connect goals, POVs, responsibilities and ideas as they flow through the organization, according to Clarke. Connect cross-department teams and budgets to share in the commitment. Connect associate, customer and partner journeys. Connect systems and technologies to provide a platform for iteration, he added.

Technology Does Not Define CXM Strategy

To effectively manage CX, brands should not get distracted by newly available technology, according to PwC’s Clarke. “Imagine your ideal CX: don’t let technology define it,” Clarke said. “Visualize all touch points across the digital and physical world. It is most important to ensure that you are providing customers with what they need, when they need it the most.” This may mean deploying chatbot-based customer service, and other times it may mean reducing the number of clicks to get to purchase.

Brands should be thinking about democratizing CX. “CXM,” Clarke added, “isn’t an out-of-the-box solution. Great customer experiences are owned by the C-Suite and only happen through a matrix of co-dependent connections.” It’s not just on the marketing department to execute CXM. And it’s not just about using a CRM. “It should be on the agenda across functions,” Clarke said. “Having the customer in mind even when thinking of back-office system functionality has an effect on the customer. Don’t silo the responsibility. Everyone affects CX.”

Winning CX Examples

CXM is worthless without executing on good experiences for customers and prospects — and seeing more money for your brand’s bottom line. Here are a few resources that include examples of excellent CX:

Related Article: Customer Experience Measurement: Back to Basics

Putting the Customer First

In conclusion, a good CXM program leads to a CX that is consistent across channels, frictionless and valuable to the consumer, according to Verndale’s Linberg. “The promise of CXM for marketers is the ability to purposely move from ‘ready fire aim’ acquisition and retention tactics to a ‘ready aim fire’ approach that puts the customer first. This move towards true one-to-one marketing is enabled through technologies that unify customer data, and leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive personalization at scale.”

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Sourced from CMS WiRE

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3 Ways to Use Artificial Intelligence to Boost Your Video Marketing

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By Thomas Griffin

By using AI, marketers are able to define a clear target audience, target ads to the appropriate consumer and create a video marketing strategy that’s sure to result in increased ROI. If you’re looking to boost your video marketing using AI, here are three ways to get started.

With technology booming by the second, it’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the way we market products and services. It can help you tailor your content to create targeted ad campaigns, improve your business’s return on investment (ROI), and create an interactive environment between technology and consumer.

So it’s no wonder that 60 percent of marketers said they plan on using artificial intelligence in their content marketing strategy for the upcoming year, according to BrightEdge. That number is expected to rise over the next few years.

AI allows businesses to better understand their customers so they can market to them more efficiently and personally. And what’s more personal than video? According to WyzOwl, 81 percent of businesses now use video in their content marketing strategies. It’s become essential in connecting to the people on the other side of the screen.

By using AI, marketers are able to define a clear target audience, target ads to the appropriate consumer and create a video marketing strategy that’s sure to result in increased ROI.

If you’re looking to boost your video marketing using AI, here are three ways to get started.

1. Improve personalization.

Consumers will no longer stand for a one-size-fits-all experience. With increased technology, users expect to watch video content that’s best suited to their interests and wants.

Every day over 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube. It’s become one of the best platforms to connect with consumers because of their avid interest in video over other mediums such as text.

Because users want a more personal online experience, you can use AI to give it to them. Personalized marketing brings higher levels of engagement and interaction between businesses and consumers, and shows the consumer that you know what they’re looking for. This gives you a higher chance of converting these customers who feel you’re relating to them on a closer level.

You can use video to send personalized messages to your customers, offer them discounts on their favorite items or services, and create an emotional connection that will make them feel personally tied to your brand.

2. Show video ads relevant to the consumer.

How many times have you been forced to sit through an ad you didn’t know or care anything about? With AI, that won’t be a problem in the future.

A fast way to lose a user’s attention is to bombard them with advertisements completely irrelevant to their interests and lifestyle. They’re more likely to react positively to video ads if they’re tailored to their needs based on their search history, page clicks, and shopping behavior.

Tubular Insights found that 73 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video that talks about it. This is essentially what ads do. If consumers have to watch them anyway, they might as well see products and services they’d actually use.

AI uses its advanced technology to show users videos relevant to their interests. The more it’s utilized in video marketing strategies, the better experiences users will have because they won’t feel bombarded by products and services they don’t want.

3. Suggest related and recommended videos.

It’s still unknown what exact algorithms YouTube uses to show suggested videos. But what is known is that this function proves highly beneficial for businesses that use them, and the amount of likes, shares, and watch time factors into the equation.

AI uses content you’ve already searched and watched to bring you suggested videos it thinks you’d enjoy. Recommended videos increase the time a viewer watches your content and content similar to it, allowing for a higher chance of conversion. It also continues their engagement and willingness to interact with a brand once they have a better idea of what it’s about.

Video is one of the best methods of getting to know your consumers and figuring out what they’re interested in and what they’re willing to spend time on. The best way to get your videos noticed is to use SEO everywhere: in the title, tags, and description. Stick to your keywords and use long-tail keywords when possible.

Wrapping up

AI is changing the way we do marketing, especially video marketing. This can bring consumer and business closer together, tailor content more specifically, and engage with users in a more personal way. It gives marketers a clearer path to connect with their target audience and craft video content that speaks to them and turns them into conversions.

Featured Image credit: alexdndz/Shutterstock

By Thomas Griffin

I’m president and CTO of OptinMonster, a powerful lead generation tool that’s installed in over 700,000 websites.

Sourced from business.com

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