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Strategic Partnerships And Branding: Leveraging Brand Partnerships For Mutual Growth And Expansion

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By Tony Ambroza

Partnering with other brands is one of the best strategies for young businesses to gain exposure, reach new consumers and strengthen their base of brand enthusiasts.

Major companies, from Spotify and Uber to Nike and Apple, constantly use partnerships to grow via new consumer audiences, scale revenue, and propel their brands forward.

In my role as Chief Growth Officer, my teams have utilized several forms of partnerships—from partnering with media companies to collaborating with famous athletes and personalities to completely rebrand and scale our company.

In my experience, brand partnerships are a win-win strategy that, when well executed and integrated, can play a key role in growing a company even faster than traditional brand-building strategies.

Examples Of Brand Partnerships In Action

Branding partnerships can take on many roles, and identifying your needs as a company can point you toward your most profitable partnerships. Examples include:

• Industry/Affiliate Partnerships: Businesses serving different niches in the same industry often partner to acquire new customers and fulfil roles that others cannot. Examples may include event planners who partner with bakers or florists to help people plan for their events.

• Cross-Promotion Partnerships And Collaborations: Businesses with established customer bases often collaborate on a marketing push to gain short-term exposure. One example includes Burger King’s infamous Cheetos Chicken Fries.

• Creator Partnerships: Brands often partner with content creators, such as influencers, to promote their business to new audiences. At our company, we partnered with a core group of enthusiasts to fulfil content creation roles and also build authentic, real-world exposure for our products.

• Mergers And Acquisitions (M&As): While some may not consider this a partnership, we have used M&As to incorporate more businesses into our portfolio and reach a wider customer base.

Benefits Of Brand Partnerships

There are very few downsides to a successful brand partnership. In fact, some of the short and long-term benefits include:

• Increased Exposure: Partnering with other brands on collaborations extends your reach and access to established consumer audiences to accelerate growth.

• Resource Sharing: Partnerships enable you to fulfil different functions previously unavailable for your business and share internal resources, such as marketing materials and products.

• Improved Customer Experiences: Partnerships benefit your consumers most, whether via better fulfilment, access to more products or cost-saving promotion.

• Product Innovation: We’ve used partnerships to improve our product offerings and give truck owners access to the best aftermarket products on the market.

• Risk Management: Partnerships allow you to share the burden of losses, thereby cutting your risk in half.

Strategies To Team Up With Other Brands

When searching for brand partnerships, my team and I follow a few key strategies for evaluating the potential benefits of a partnership and determining who to approach. Here are some steps to help you get started.

• Audit Your Brand: First, you want to assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses to search out growth opportunities. In our case, when rebranding our company, we focused heavily on partnerships in the creator/marketing space. This allowed us to spread our message to more people and fulfil more roles that were previously unavailable.

• Search For Brands With Shared Audiences: One of the clearest opportunities to partner with another brand is to find one that caters to the same audience as you but does not compete with you directly. For example, we chose The Drive as one of our partners in the publication space because their content focused so heavily on the car enthusiast—somebody who would be highly motivated to purchase our aftermarket products.

• Ensure Partner Brands Align With Core Values: This is truly an essential consideration. Only partner with brands that uphold the same ethical standards as you, or you may end up receiving more negative press than you bargained for.

• Work On Your Pitch: Why would another brand partner with you? Your pitch can sell them on your partnership and motivate both teams to move forward with an agreement.

• Set Terms For Your Arrangement: Before your partnership is finalized, you’ll need to work out the details of your arrangement. How often is your brand partner expected to promote your collaboration? How often are you?

• Track Metrics From Your Engagement: Evaluate the success of each brand partnership by tracking key metrics, such as revenue, conversions and total lead count. It might be time to cut the cord if a brand partnership or collaboration does not bring new revenue.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them

Another consideration for your company is whether it makes sense to merge or outright buy another brand rather than partner with them. Unlike partnerships, mergers and acquisitions are long-term investments that require significant due diligence, a deep understanding of the best ways to integrate both teams and, of course, capital investment.

For larger companies looking to compete in a competitive market, mergers and acquisitions are a great strategy for scaling their portfolio and acquiring new market share in a way that brand partnerships simply cannot.

Understanding when to execute one partnership strategy or the other requires due diligence, proper timing and often a little bit of good fortune.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Tony Ambroza

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Tony Ambroza is the Chief Growth Officer at RealTruck, an omni-channel industry leader in truck and off-road vehicle equipment. Read Tony Ambroza’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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3 Advertising Tips for Successful Small Business Marketing in 2024

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By Steve Olenski

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences.

The Gist

  • Resourceful tools. Utilize low-cost self-service tools like AudioGo for impactful, affordable advertising across digital, social, audio and video channels.
  • Smart partnerships. Collaborate with like-minded businesses to exchange advertising space and pool resources, creating cost-effective marketing opportunities.
  • Content value. Focus on high-value owned content to educate consumers, boost organic traffic and establish brand authority without recurring costs.

How much money should a small business marketing team spend on its marketing? Convention dictates that B2B companies should put 2%-to-5% of revenue toward a marketing budget. In reality, it’s over 10% — and the ratio for B2C companies is even higher.

At those stringent rates, many small business marketing teams find themselves short on staff and cash as they try to implement marketing strategies. While it’s common for small business marketers to feel they must choose between marketing well or marketing cheaply, they don’t have to.

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment. Here are three advertising tips to help small business marketers affordably broadcast their goods and services across digital, social, audio and video channels.

A young boy stands in front of a cheerful lemonade stand, holding a sign that reads "SALE LEMONADE 30¢ 50¢" and a megaphone. The stand is decorated with yellow circular cutouts and a sign spelling "LEMONADE." This image captures the essence of small business marketing, showcasing a creative and budget-friendly approach to promoting a product.
There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment.Pixel-Shot on Adobe Stock Images

 

3 Tips for Successful Small Business Marketing

1. Take Advantage of Low-Cost Self-Service Tools

The SaaS industry constantly creates new, improved and ever-more affordable ways to advertise across all mediums. On social media, for instance, YouTube and TikTok are trendy, free and low-cost options in the social and video worlds.

Once a business has owned content on a business site (more on that in Tip 3), it can create targeted campaigns through Google Ads, Facebook Ads and similar pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising channels. These are some of the most popular avenues, but there are other highly effective, lower-cost strategies out there.

Consider the opportunities with audio streaming services — millions are essentially a captive audience on their daily commute. Advertising on these platforms has become more accessible through niche tools like AudioGo. This platform takes the audio advertising concept to the next level through a suite of audio ad creation tools and templates. It can push ads out to top streaming music, radio and podcast networks. With its beginner-friendly interface, users can easily create and schedule ads, target them to the right audience and launch campaigns with budgets as low as $250.

While AudioGo excels at reaching a wide variety of audiences through audio advertising, brands that host their own podcasts could benefit from podcast distribution networks like Audioboom. This platform helps pair advertisers with like-minded podcasters to reach their niche audience. Hosting a podcast costs less than $10 per month, and you could even earn some extra income by monetizing your content.

When a small marketing team has limited funds due to its size, it can still optimize how those funds are invested by looking for tools that help them reach potential or existing customers at an affordable cost. By leveraging both user-friendly creation tools and targeted advertising options, businesses can make the most of their budget in today’s advertising world.

2. Form Collaborations With Other Businesses

Advertising doesn’t always have to be a small business against the world. It’s possible to create partnerships and collaborations with similarly-positioned companies. The key here is to differentiate between competitors and collaborators.

For example, a company that delivers bounce houses may consider a party rental company a competitor. However, the two brands aren’t at odds if the latter focuses on things like tent, table and chair delivery. They’re simply serving the same customer base.

Even if two enterprises are in the same line of business, it’s important to make this distinction. A telemarketing company might consider another call center a rival. However, one might work with phone training, in general, and the other with a specific target market.

When marketers discover both local and remote companies with which their company can collaborate, they can create fresh advertising opportunities. They can exchange advertising space with their audiences and amplify their marketing efforts by pooling resources. They can also create bundles and packages that offer discounts when purchased together. The best part is that all of this can come at little-to-no cost.

3. Create High-Value Content

Finally, small business marketers should never underestimate the value of owned content. Also called owned media (especially when creating audio and visual advertisements, like those listed in Tip 1), the term refers to content a marketer fully controls.

A blog article or how-to video on a company website is owned media. Social posts and PPC advertising are not owned media. Marketers should optimize the promotional media that their company controls.

Every piece of content that a small business marketing team creates has the potential to impact its customer base. It can educate consumers, answer customer pain points and establish the brand as an industry authority. High-value content can also help a brand rank better in search engine results pages, which can boost organic traffic to its website and sales funnels.

The best part? Owned content may require some effort to create, but it belongs to its creator forever. No fees. No paying per click. When done well, quality content is a long-term advertising play that can continue to serve a business for months and even years into the future with minimal upkeep.

Gaining Marketing Momentum as a Small Business

Small businesses don’t have to skimp on marketing. Small business marketers can cobble together effective marketing campaigns by marshaling their available resources.

They can do this by taking advantage of low-cost self-service tools. They can also collaborate with other local and related businesses and create high-value content. This maximizes their budgets, attracts new customers and ultimately grows their businesses.

Feature Image Credit: Sandra Burm

By Steve Olenski

Steve Olenski possesses a career journey that’s been as dynamic as it has been impactful. From his early days as a creative director in the agency realm to assuming pivotal senior marketing roles on the brand side with esteemed companies like Oracle, he has consistently navigated diverse landscapes.

Sourced from CMSWire

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Websites Don’t Collect Data to Scam You: Here’s What They Really Do With It

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By Adaeze Uche

If you’ve ever wondered what websites do with the data they collect, you’re not alone. Many people assume the worst, thinking websites just want to target or scam you. But the truth is far more straightforward and less spicy.

Website Owners Need Your Data for Analytics

The most basic reason websites collect data is for analytics purposes. Much like how you monitor your social media accounts to see how many people have followed/unfollowed you, liked your posts, watched your videos, etc., website owners rely on your data to analyse how people are interacting with their services.

For instance, analytics can show which pages or content are most popular. Then, website owners can create or provide more of what resonates best with their audience.

Whether it’s tracking how many people visit a certain page, how long they spend on different sections, or which website features people use the most, data collection helps owners continually enhance the overall user experience. These details can offer clues on how they can improve the navigation, make content more accessible, or bring more relevant information to the fore.

Although collected from individuals, much of this data is aggregated—used as a whole to make general statements instead of identifying individual traits. At its core, analytics offers owners high-level snapshots like “10,000 people subscribed to my blog, with more females unsubscribing after two weeks than males.”

This data isn’t used to profile you—as someone who reads articles every evening. Rather, it helps owners identify common usage patterns so they can better tailor their services to the needs and preferences of their target audience.

Most Sites Want to Offer You Personalized Services


While analytics focus on aggregate insights about large groups of people, many sites also track some level of individual user data to cater to your unique needs and interests. If you’re anything like me, you’d rather see relevant product recommendations when you open an e-commerce site. Or, you just love Spotify’s daylist or DJ features.

These personalized recommendations are provided because the website or application tracks your previous purchases, listening history, browsing behaviour, etc.

However, it’s not only about personalized recommendations. If you’re visiting a site for the second time, you’d most likely see a different landing page from the one you saw the first time around. Similarly, the site header, font, page span, etc., will differ based on whether you’re using a smartphone or a laptop.

Have you ever noticed how a site remembers your language preference or theme? That’s also your data at work.

Big tech companies like Google typically employ individual tracking to “tailor your experience,” but again, this is usually strictly based on the information you voluntarily provide. You’ll always be able to disable personalization cookies or opt out of sites tracking your searches or activity.

Google Turn Off Personalisation Settings Information Page

Websites Can Collect Your Data to Show You Relevant Ads

Have you ever wondered how so many websites manage to remain free without any paywalls blocking your way? The truth is that most rely on ads to keep the information, videos, etc., flowing.

Whether you want to or not, you’ll most likely endure a barrage of ads every day, even if you use ad blockers. But the good thing is that, instead of irrelevant ads, you can opt for ads that’ll allow you to find things you might need or like. I’ve found several helpful, unique productivity apps enduring unwanted ads.

So, how do sites show you relevant ads? Simple—by tracking things like what product categories you typically browse and your past purchases. Run a search for something you’re thinking of buying, and lo and behold, related ads will pop up wherever you surf next. You can read our guide if you’d love to learn more about how websites track your online activity.

7 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online

While most sites aren’t out to scam you, you should still take extra steps to keep your data safe and private.

  1. Don’t accept cookies blindly. Read through cookie/privacy policies carefully to understand what data a site collects and how it’ll be used. Don’t assume. Verify.
  2. Periodically clear the cookies you’ve accepted for specific sites. Modern browsers make this easy, as well as blocking third parties and opting out of interest-based ads.
  3. Use a VPN to keep your browsing activities hidden.
  4. On sites like Google and Facebook, opt out of personalization if you’d rather not receive ads based on your interests.
  5. Confirm that data transfer on each site you visit is secure; check that there is HTTPS in the URL field.
  6. Use a separate, complex password for each of your accounts. This way, if one of your accounts suffers from a data breach, it won’t affect all your accounts. There are tons of password managers you can take advantage of.
  7. Install privacy tools like Brave or Signal on any of your devices to block trackers that may be lurking in the background of sites.

While malicious sites exist, most collect data for legitimate reasons, not to scam you. It’s important not to attribute malicious intent at first glance. Remember, people run websites—and people make mistakes, which is why there are so many instances of data breaches and the like.

By Adaeze Uche

Sourced from MUO

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How To Navigate 5 Common Public Relations Pitfalls

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By Alexander Storozhuk

Public perception can significantly impact a company’s success. With more than two decades in the PR industry, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of effective public relations strategies in maintaining customer trust and safeguarding hard-earned reputations. Let’s take a closer look at some common PR pitfalls and tips for how to avoid or correct them, so you can better ensure that your business is well-positioned to uphold its reputation and thrive in the competitive market.

Lack Of Clear Goals And Results Measurement

A common pitfall in PR is the lack of clear, measurable objectives and goals. Without them, PR activities can become aimless and inefficient, leading to missed opportunities and wasted resources.

For example, before launching a campaign, it’s vital to define what you want to achieve. Is it brand awareness, community relations, an increase in potential leads, crisis management or employer branding? Taken from our own experiences, my PR team recently launched a video campaign with clear objectives: to strengthen our relationship with existing partners and to showcase our platform to future media partners and clients interested in our services. By setting specific goals, we have been able to plan and measure the success of the campaign both in the short term and the long run.

Tips: Start by understanding how PR can support the overall business strategy and establish measurable key performance indicators—such as brand awareness, audience engagement and media coverage—to assess and track progress. Leverage tools like media monitoring, sentiment analysis and Google Analytics to understand your company’s engagement and consistently review these metrics to ensure your PR efforts are aligned with your business’s success.

Ignoring The Target Audience

Understanding what your target audience wants, needs and expects from you is crucial. For example, Pepsi’s 2017 ad featuring Kendall Jenner was a well-publicized PR blunder. Despite the brand’s efforts to promote inclusion and unity, the ad faced overwhelming backlash, leading Pepsi to pull the ad and issue a public apology.

Tips: Conducting surveys, using social media to communicate with your followers and leveraging AI analytics to gather data on your market demographics is a great way to help create content that resonates with your target audience. Additionally, I recommend leveraging tools like Google Trends and Google Alerts to monitor trending topics related to your brand. Personalize your content and encourage interaction to strengthen connections with both current and potential customers.

Inadequate Media Relations

The media can be a business’s best friend when creating positive PR. Yet, many organizations overlook the value of developing positive relations with journalists and editors, therefore missing out on gaining favorable coverage that enhances their credibility with the public.

Among the common mistakes businesses make are impersonal pitching, spamming journalists and expecting short-notice coverage. These errors can damage relationships and reduce the likelihood of receiving positive coverage. Effective PR requires time, consistency, patience and a deep understanding of the industry’s nuances.

Tips: Offering exclusive, genuinely newsworthy content—or scoops—is a great way to engage media outlets. Once you’ve established relationships, keep your contacts up to date with regular releases, maintain respectful communications and understand what media outlets require from you. Positive media relations equal powerful PR and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Budget Awareness

To achieve effective PR, it is crucial to allocate your PR budget wisely. Overspending drains resources and makes sustained coverage unachievable, while underspending leads to inconsistent and inadequate audience reach and impact, both of which significantly interfere with an organization’s PR effectiveness.

In my experience, there are situations where publishing time-sensitive content is crucial. For example, when there is no pre-established relationship with a journalist, the time and money spent fostering this relationship can be more expensive than using a paid sponsored article.

A specific example from my company’s journey illustrates this point well. Publishing a sponsored article in collaboration with an Asian media outlet highlighted our company’s strategic expansion into the Asian market, increasing our visibility and effectively targeting a specific audience interested in market expansions and financial operations. This demonstrates how a timely paid piece can be more efficient than waiting to cultivate a new media relationship, especially when immediate visibility is crucial.

Tips: Maximize the impact of your brand by integrating paid and organic PR to effectively deliver your brand’s message. Research the potential return on investment and allocate resources to achieve the maximum impact, and to build and maintain a positive reputation among your customer base.

Neglecting Crisis Management

Sometimes, things go wrong and this is where having an effective PR crisis management plan comes into its own. A lack of preparation and slow response times can devastate a business’s reputation, as seen in the recent Fashion Nova campaign about body positivity. So, how do you mitigate this risk?

A great example of how to respond during a crisis is the way KFC handled a failure in their supply chain, which resulted in the temporary closure of several restaurants in the United Kingdom because they ran out of chicken. Their response—a humorous, yet sincere, informative ad campaign—was well received and represents a classic example of how to take responsibility for errors and respond to a crisis.

Tips: Identifying potential risks and even a worst-case scenario can help you prepare for possible issues, giving each part of the business a playbook so they know how to respond when things go wrong. Designate clear roles for vital people, implement early detection systems to proactively flag problems as they develop and rehearse the plan regularly so everyone is prepared.

In closing, ineffective and poorly planned PR can have a destructive effect on your business. It can alienate customers and your target audience, while also failing to protect your brand reputation. The result is often a loss of business, a drop in sales and reduced profit.

Take this opportunity to review your current PR practices and make adjustments to propel your business to the front of the queue.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Alexander Storozhuk

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Alexander Storozhuk is the founder of PRNEWS.IO, an Ad-tech & PR platform for SMBs around the world. Read Alexander Storozhuk’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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6 Jobs AI Is Most Likely Coming for First

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Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are prompting companies the world over to re-evaluate how they do business—and prompting an uncomfortable conversation about the future of work.

On the employer side, companies are scrambling to determine how they can implement AI in their businesses. For some, it’s an earnest attempt to improve the quality of their operations; for others it’s little more than a cost-cutting game; and for some, it’s a cynical attempt to generate positive publicity by linking their name to the hot buzzword du jour.

On the employee side, views of AI run the gamut. Some workers are embracing AI tools, seeing ways to make their work easier and more efficient. Others are rejecting it from a quality standpoint, pointing out its propensity for “hallucinating” (providing inaccurate information). And still others are just waiting for what they feel is inevitable—AI taking their jobs completely, leaving them without a job and forced to reskill mid-career just to survive.

While we have no idea what the future holds until it happens, a host of research suggests that certain occupations and industries will face more AI disruption than others. Some employees might feel little to no effect from artificial intelligence, others might need to shift into related but different roles as AI handles more tasks that humans do, and still others might find themselves completely on the outs.

Today, we’re going to look at several jobs that are most susceptible to AI advancements.

General Trends Around AI Job Replacement

artificial intelligence ai

Among some of the broader takeaways as it pertains to AI:

— By 2030, tens of millions of Americans will face “occupational transitions,” where their jobs significantly transform or even disappear because of AI.

— Automation could replace human tasks that account for nearly 30% of the hours worked in the U.S. economy.

— The jobs most susceptible to AI are ones that involve repetitive tasks, such as data collection and elementary data processing.

— Lower-wage jobs are much more likely to suffer from automation than higher-wage jobs. Specifically, those earning less than $30,800 a year and those earning $30,800 to $38,200 per year “are up to 10 and 14 times more likely, respectively, to need to change occupations by the end of this decade than the highest earners.”

— Jobs in those two lowest wage quintiles are “disproportionately held” by women, people of colour, and people with less education.

— The demand for basic cognitive and manual skills is likely to decline but not go away completely. Conversely, the labour market could have higher demand for social-emotional and digital skills.

Jobs That Could Be Disrupted by AI

artificial intelligence types robot human

Which roles specifically have a high chance of being replaced by AI (or otherwise automated)?

Today, we’re going to look through a handful of professions that McKinsey has singled out for its vulnerability to AI, and that Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis also says is projected to decline over the next decade or so.

Just keep in mind that these are merely projections. In many cases, there have been wide gaps between the widely touted proclamations of what certain AI tools and programs can do and what they can actually do (and how well they can do it). It’s possible that some of these job losses will never come to be. Conversely, AI-related employment declines might be worse than expected. And artificial intelligence could easily impact many more job types not mentioned here.

In no particular order …

1. Clerks

woman business workplace office
DepositPhotos

McKinsey estimates that the demand for clerk positions could decline by 1.6 million jobs by 2030. It defines the role as “receptionists and information clerks, general office clerks, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, and shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks.”

This broader concept is reflected in Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, which shows more than a dozen different clerk-related occupations that are expected to sustain declines in employment between 2022 and 2032.

Some of the worst projections? Financial clerks are expected to face a 14%-plus decline in jobs, file clerks and payroll and timekeeping clerk employment is projected to drop by 16%, and information clerk employment is estimated to wither by more than 18% by 2032.

All of these types of jobs involve some highly repetitive tasks that automated systems are expected to perform sufficiently.

2. Retail Sales Workers

best jobs for 15 year olds teen retail grocery store cashier
DepositPhotos

Retail sales workers assist consumers in finding products inside of a physical store and process payments for anything they decide to buy. When applicable, they may answer questions about the products and explain any current promotions.

McKinsey estimates that 830,000 American retail salesperson jobs could disappear by 2030. The BLS also predicts an employment decline for these positions, but at an estimated 2.2% decrease, that would only amount to roughly 80,000 job losses by 2032—a much less pessimistic view for the profession.

I should point out that AI isn’t the only threat to retail sales jobs. Per the BLS: “The increase in online sales is expected to continue over the projections decade, limiting growth in the number of physical retail stores and reducing demand for retail sales workers.”

3. Administrative Assistants

legal secretary administrative assistant job
DepositPhotos

Administrative assistants handle a hodgepodge of tasks for offices, such as scheduling appointments, drafting correspondences, and creating spreadsheets or reports. Some of these tasks are the same as what clerks do. You can find administrative assistants across a wide variety of industries, but they are particularly popular within the education industry and hospitals.

McKinsey research estimates that administrative assistant positions might decrease by 710,000 by 2030. The BLS also expects a decline in administrative assistants across a half-dozen categories. But those in the legal sector are worst off, with the BLS projecting job losses of nearly 22% by 2032.

These positions include data collection and other repetitive tasks, and thus, they are prime candidates for automation. Also, declines for this kind of role would disproportionately impact women, who hold an outsized number of office support jobs.

4. Cashiers

Whether at a gas station, grocery store, or other retail location, you’ve likely had a cashier process your payment and offer you a receipt. The cashier may have also greeted you and engaged in polite conversation while scanning your items.

Sadly, McKinsey sees a lot of those smiling faces being forced to work elsewhere.

McKinsey estimates that cashiers could decline by roughly 630,000 jobs by 2030. The BLS sees a decline of roughly half that—348,100—by 2032, though that’s still a steep decline of more than 10%.

As previously mentioned, low-paying jobs that require little education tend to be at a higher risk for automation. Usually, cashier work has no formal education requirements.

However, maybe it won’t be so bad. The BLS mentions that “employment of cashiers is expected to decline because of advances in technology, such as the use of self-service checkout stands in retail stores and increasing online sales.” That said, there are signs that this tide is turning. A few prominent retailers, most notably Walmart and Dollar General, have been eliminating self-checkout in select stores in recent months, citing higher rates of theft and other issues with the technology.

5. Production Workers

DepositPhotos

Production workers include people who either work at production or manufacturing facilities. These jobs often involve manual tasks along an assembly line, including assembling, packaging, and quality control, though sometimes they involve operating machinery.

Unfortunately, some of these blue-collar jobs are highly susceptible to automation and replacement by AI.

In manufacturing, McKinsey says “roughly 36% of working hours could be affected by automation.” The BLS also predicts a 9.3% decline in production worker employment between 2022 and 2023. But job displacement won’t be even across the board. For instance, while there is a high chance there will be fewer machine operators and assemblers, the industry will likely need more software developers and industrial engineers.

Some manufacturing jobs include highly repetitive tasks, which can often be automated. If workers want to switch to high-skilled roles, such as industrial engineers, they will need to learn new skills. If there’s any upside to this, those who do successfully transition should be rewarded with higher pay.

6. Food Services

Broadly speaking, the food service industry includes any business that serves food to customers. While restaurants are probably first to mind, these roles also include jobs in catering, cafeterias, vending companies, and more.

Food services jobs have some of the highest technical automation potential, says McKinsey, The BLS predicts food preparation workers are likely to decline by around 4.8% by 2032.

One of the main reasons these jobs have such great potential for being automated is that they involve predictable, physical work. This isn’t true for every task, of course. Measuring ingredients is a predictable task that a machine can handle, sure … but determining whether a spice has lost its potency and more needs to be added is still a job more fitted for a human.

Hispanic and black workers make up a large portion of workers in this field, and thus are expected to be the most heavily affected by increased AI use.

Will Any Jobs Grow in the Age of AI?

Hopefully, this discussion about the jobs artificial intelligence can manage didn’t make you too fearful of a jobless future for humans.

Indeed, McKinsey anticipates several types of professions will grow in the coming years. The health care industry takes the lead—by 2030, the industry could need an additional 3.5 million jobs in roles such as health technician, health aid, and wellness worker, not to mention 2 million more health care professionals.

A few of the other professions McKinsey expects to increase are STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jobs, transportation, education and training, and construction.

Put simply: The rise of AI might result in fewer jobs for some industries, but not all.

By Riley Adams, CPA

Edited by Kyle Woodley

Reviewed by Hannah Kowalczyk-Harper

Sourced from WealthUp

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AI Overviews And SEO: How Companies Need To Adapt

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By Jason Hall

If you’ve searched for something on Google lately, you’ve probably noticed the AI-generated text that’s produced to answer many of your questions. These AI overviews are revolutionizing search engine optimization, which means companies have to step out of their comfort zone and into new marketing strategies. As AI overviews become more common and better at delivering the information that searchers are looking for, you must adapt or risk your business becoming irrelevant.

Update Your Keyword Strategy

The first thing to focus on in this new world of AI overviews is your keyword strategy. What worked in the past was focusing on high-volume keywords that appeared in the most searches. But as AI becomes better at understanding context and providing more relevant search results, what worked before may not in the future. Instead, start prioritizing longer key phrases, especially those that reflect natural conversation and speech patterns.

Think about what exactly people are typing into the search engines, as opposed to just focusing on certain keywords. If you can figure this out, you have a much higher chance of increasing your visibility and engagement moving forward.

Produce Higher-Quality Content

In addition to a better keyword strategy, focus on higher-quality content that is both in-depth and user-friendly.

Keyword stuffing will no longer suffice in a world where AI can summarize your entire content in a matter of seconds. Instead, you need to take content creation much more seriously and put attention to detail and a high level of research into every article on your website. You must be able to provide value.

Focus on not only answering specific questions with your articles but also anticipating searches that are closely related to the topic. This will give you a greater chance of being noticed by AI.

Ultimately, your goal should remain the same as it always has: Provide engaging and informative content that answers questions your visitors may have about the topic. However, in this new world powered by AI, shortcuts and workarounds probably won’t get you anywhere.

Make Appearing In AI Overviews Your New Goal

Search engine results pages (SERPs) are likely in for a significant change as AI overviews become more and more prevalent. With AI overviews in position zero, and organic links being pushed further and further down the page, users can find the answers they’re looking for right at the top of the search results. This means they won’t have to click through to random websites looking for the information they need.

As a result, many businesses may notice a reduction in their click-through rates. Your new goal, then, should be to appear in AI overviews as opposed to just being on the first page, and you should adjust your content accordingly. This further emphasizes the need for content that is high-quality and authoritative.

Prioritize Structured Data And Schema Markup

Another thing you need to prioritize in this AI climate is structured data and schema markup, or the standardized format for search engines to understand and interpret website content accurately.

Handled correctly, structured data highlights key information, making it easier for AI to detect the relevant details to be shown to users. This is actually a twofold approach, as it not only gives you a better chance at being prominently featured but also improves user experience by offering clear and accurate information.

Don’t underestimate just how much visibility good structured data and schema markup can offer in an AI overview landscape.

Improve User Experience And Engagement

Don’t forget the importance of user experience and things like dwell time, bounce rate and interaction either. AI overviews strive to give the most accurate and relevant information they can, and engagement metrics like these can go a long way in how algorithms judge quality.

Longer dwell times and lower bounce rates indicate a positive user experience, which shows the content is valuable and engaging. Focus on this kind of content. Try to incorporate as many interactive elements as you can in your content and entice readers to respond.

With an enhanced user experience, your content is more likely to be recognized as high-quality. This also will lead to your content being used more, which leads to higher engagement and better placement in the SERPs. You aren’t just looking for visitors; you’re looking for visitors who stay.

Focus On Authenticity And Ethics

As with anything associated with your company, authenticity should be your highest priority.

There also are ethical considerations to think about when it comes to AI overviews. Content that is inaccurate or biased can damage your company’s credibility and trustworthiness. Make sure you emphasize fact-checking and offer genuine and unbiased information.

Though AI has advanced at an incredible rate in recent years, it is far from perfect and can produce suggestions that are flat-out incorrect. One viral social media post showed an AI overview suggesting that glue can help prevent cheese from sliding off pizza, for example. However, as with anything else, this technology will improve, reliability will increase and so will the general public’s trust.

To stay ahead of the game, focus more on transparency and hold your content to high ethical standards. The last thing you want is for AI overviews to quote your content to someone only for it to go viral for how ridiculous it is and destroy your reputation and authenticity along with it.

Embracing these changes will help your company stay relevant and competitive in an increasingly AI-driven digital landscape. By focusing on more nuanced keywords, better-quality content, authenticity and ethics, you can better meet user needs and improve your search visibility.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Jason Hall

Jason Hall, Founder & CEO of FiveChannels, specializes in brand awareness, traffic & lead gen, marketing funnels, social media, and more. Read Jason Hall’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Sports and Social Media: Influencer Marketing in 2024

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Sourced from FingerLakes1.com

In 2024, the landscape of sports marketing is evolving at breakneck speed. The old playbook’s been tossed out, and social media influencers are now the star quarterbacks. They’re changing the game, bringing a fresh, dynamic approach to promoting sports brands and events.

The Rise of Sports and Social Media Influencer Marketing in 2024

In 2024, the landscape of sports marketing takes on a fresh shape. With social media influencers at the helm, traditional strategies recede into the backdrop. Influencers, known for their creative approach, rehash the game, ushering in a new era of marketing industry standards. These individuals, followed by thousands, if not millions, of dedicated fans bring in a palpable authenticity to promotions and collaborations. Furthermore, the ability of influencers to connect on a personal level with their audience aids in garnering trust, in turn, enhancing brand visibility.

Key Factors Driving Growth

In this age of digital dominance, several factors contribute to the upsurge in the sports and social media influencer marketing niche. This is a broad topic, and you can visit Sports Fanfare to learn more. But, to put it shortly, the global adoption of smartphones and easy access to internet facilities have sparked in people an addiction to social media platforms. Such platforms turn receptive hosts for influencers to promote sports brands or events. Secondly, viewers’ alignment towards interactive and relatable content has steered marketing strategies away from conventional platforms like television, shifting to a more engaging medium – social media. Lastly, influencers who are celebrated for their talent in sports or admired for their fitness prowess become successful ambassadors, nurturing the growth in sports influencer marketing.

Strategies for Success in Influencer Marketing

Advancing within the realm of influencer marketing necessitates adept strategy. Below sections unfold key components of strategies that sports brands can apply to optimize their connection with audiences via social media influencers.

Choosing the Right Influencers for Sports Brands

Selecting apt influencers signifies a pivotal initial step in crafting efficacious strategies. Sports brands benefit from partnering with influencers who demonstrate knowledge and passion within the sports domain. Collaborating with influencers who have a robust established sports fan base can amplify brand reach. Example: an endorsement from a well-known football influencer would reach a broad audience of football enthusiasts. Brands must also consider the influencers’ audience engagement levels, verifying the potency of their connection with followers. Detailed evaluation of potential influencers guides brands to make informed and strategic partnerships.

Leveraging Multi-Platform Strategies

Utilizing multi-platform strategies plays a crucial role in influencer marketing success. Each social media platform offers distinct features and engages diverse audiences. Posting influencer content across multiple platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter broadens audience reach. Example: A brand-specific hashtag campaign could gain traction on Twitter, while a live-stream influencer takeover could be executed on Instagram to engage audiences in real-time. Multi-platform strategies extend the brand’s visibility, ensuring maximum interaction with potential customers, thus fostering brand awareness and conversion rates.

Impact on Brand Visibility and Sales

Comprehensive understanding of influencer marketing’s exponential impact on brand visibility and sales reveals captivating insights. Social media influencers bolster brands, manifest through amplified visibility, surge in sales, and enhanced brand reputation in the sports industry.

Case Studies: Successful Campaigns

Several campaigns serve as remarkable case studies illuminating the profound influence of influencer marketing. An instance of sports brand, Puma’s partnership with pop sensation, Selena Gomez, resulted in the campaign hashtag #DoYou raked in over 2 million likes per post on Instagram in 2024, massively boosting brand visibility.

In another instance, sports giant Nike’s collaboration with tennis star Serena Williams led to a significant boost in sales. The retailer reported a 10% boost in sales of the promoted line in the first quarter following the campaign launch.

Analyzing ROI for Sports Brands

Ascertaining Return on Investment (ROI) demonstrates the financial profit arising from influencer marketing campaigns. Investment in influencer partnerships often results in substantial gains. Research by Nielsen suggests that for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, businesses captured an average ROI of $6.50 in 2024.

Investment in influencer campaigns, thus, unveils a profitable pathway for brands in the sports industry, as evident from increased sales and improved brand visibility. However, brands must optimize their selection of influencers and strategic planning of campaigns to secure a lucrative ROI.

Ethical Considerations and Challenges

As the landscape of sports influencer marketing continues to evolve, a clear set of ethical considerations and challenges emerge. Maintaining transparency in endorsements and addressing audience skepticism become vital points of focus in 2024.

Navigating Endorsement Transparency

Transparency proves to be a crucial component in influencer marketing. It’s all about forming a genuine, authentic connection with the audience. Ethical transparency issues in influencer marketing mainly stem from undisclosed endorsements. Audiences, in 2024, have a right to know when influencers are being paid or compensated in some way to promote a product or service. One way sports influencers address this is through adding disclaimers in their social media posts, stating explicitly if it’s a paid promotion or sponsored content. Clear, visible disclaimers enable audiences to gauge the genuine sentiments of the influencer towards the promoted brand, keeping ethics in the forefront.

Ensure the influencer’s endorsements adhere to regulations set by authoritative bodies, such as the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. Regular check-ins, contractual obligations for transparency, and open communication channels are examples of measures taken to ensure transparency in sports influencer marketing.

Addressing Audience Skepticism

With increased influence comes increased scrutiny, and audience skepticism presents a significant challenge for sports influencers in 2024. Misplaced endorsements or tone-deaf content promotion leads to audience mistrust, affecting not only the influencer’s credibility but also the brand’s reputation. For instance, if a fitness influencer, renowned for promoting healthy living, suddenly endorses a fast-food brand, it could draw skepticism from the audience, thereby damaging the brand’s image along with the influencer’s credibility.

To address this, influencers must consciously collaborate with brands that align with their personal values and public image. Prioritizing authenticity over profitability helps maintain audience trust and mitigates skepticism. This approach also leads to better brand engagement and bolsters the overall effectiveness of sports influencer marketing.

As we’ve seen, sports marketing in 2024 isn’t just about traditional strategies. It’s about harnessing the power of social media influencers who have sports expertise. More than ever, authenticity and personal values alignment are crucial in influencer marketing. The landscape may be evolving, but one thing’s clear: sports and social media influencer marketing are playing in the major leagues.

Sourced from FingerLakes1.com

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How To Build Your Personal Brand On LinkedIn, According To An Expert

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By Tyra Alexander

In the year 2024, career success is about more than just resumes and interviews — it’s about how you present yourself on paper, online, and IRL. In the current job scene, having a personal brand has become crucial in all areas of one’s career whether you’re still a college student or trying to kick-start your post-grad career. But what *is* a personal brand, and how do you create one?

According to the Harvard Business Review, personal branding means defining and expressing your public persona. Similar to how a company has a logo, mission, values, and generally identifiable personality, you have similar ways to define your own brand. A personal brand is used for many reasons — in the working world, this includes helping you land a job, build your network, and showcase who you are as a young professional.

Personal branding can be put into effect just about anywhere, from networking events to the font you use on your cover letter. But one of the best places to start building your personal brand for the job search is on LinkedIn. That’s because LinkedIn has so many different functions; it’s a platform for job-searching, networking, and sharing your professional accomplishments.

So, if you’re a college student looking to build your personal brand on LinkedIn, you’re in the right place. Below, Her Campus speaks with Keren Baruch, director of product at LinkedIn, for some personal branding tips to consider.

woman on computer
Thought Catalog via Unsplash

1. Have a complete LinkedIn profile that showcases who you are.

With over 1 billion LinkedIn members worldwide, standing out in a sea of users is crucial, which Baruch says starts with your profile. “I think the first thing is to make sure that you have a profile that is complete, because when you complete your profile, this is what shows up everywhere throughout the app,” Baruch tells Her Campus. A complete profile, according to Baruch, includes filling out all the major fields, including your experience, skills, profile photo, headline, bio, and more.

According to Baruch, your Linkedin profile acts like a “virtual handshake” — it’s the first thing people see when they click on your profile, so make a lasting impression. “When you’re thinking about your career, it’s so important that you’re making sure you’re sharing who you are, what matters to you, what is your expertise,” Baruch tells Her Campus. “When you have the world’s largest professional network like LinkedIn at your fingertips, making sure that you’re able to stand out is super important.”

2. Build authentic connections.

Personal branding doesn’t stop at setting up your profile. Being engaged and adding LinkedIn to your usual social media rotation helps you stay active and build connections on the site. TBH, this is where I struggle; building connections on LinkedIn seems way different than finding mutuals on IG and TikTok… or so I thought. According to Baruch, you may have more LinkedIn connections than you think.

“You already have a network of the people that you’re meeting,” Baruch says. “Your friends, your professors — these are all people who are maybe not [in your LinkedIn network] right now, but will come to be the people who are going to help you throughout your career.”

So, if you’re looking to start building your professional network on LinkedIn, start with your classmates or professors and as time goes by, build your connection from there. By starting with people who know you IRL, you’re creating a community of people with whom your brand is set up to resonate with, which is crucial for building a personal brand.

3. Create content that is true to you.

Another huge part of building a personal brand on Linkedin is creating posts. NGL, I had zero idea about what to post on LinkedIn, let alone what to post that would help me with my personal brand. Thankfully, Baruch has a tip for that.

“The most successful content that we see is from professionals who are reaching an audience that care about a topic that they have expertise and insights to share about,” she says. “The real power is in the knowledge, conversations, and engagement that you can spark for a community kind of helping people learn tangible things that can help them advance in their careers.”

Although it’s important to share your achievements and your success on your LinkedIn, what’s also beneficial is sharing posts about your values and things you stand for, which could in turn be relatable to other people in your network and beyond — thus enticing an audience to connect with your personal brand.

In terms of the different types of content, Baruch recommends trying out different kinds of posts when first starting.

“We recommend trying different formats to see what works for you,” she says. “Whether it’s video, text, [or] newsletters.”

4. Get started ASAP.

I know what you’re thinking: “When is a good time to get started on building a brand?” Luckily, there really isn’t a set timeline for building your personal brand on LinkedIn. According to Baruch, “As soon as you start having experience and work experience, or want to be getting work experience, that’s a great time to start your profile.”

So, if you’ve started racking up summer internships, jobs, or extracurriculars, now is a great time to build that brand!

Feature Image Credit: Christin Hume via Unssplash

By Tyra Alexander

Tyra Alexander is a National Writer for Her Campus, primarily writing about life, experiences, and academics. She is also Editor In Chief at her campus chapter at Loyola University Maryland. Beyond Her Campus, Tyra is a Junior English Major and communications minor. She is the Head Nonfiction Editor for her campus’ literary art magazine, Corridors and is Senior Copy Editor for her school’s newspaper, The Greyhound News. In her free time, Tyra can be found reading a romance book (or two), dancing with her university’s dance company, or watching vlogs by her favorite YouTubers. She is a big fan of R&B and pop, with her favorite artists being Victoria Monét, Beyoncé, and Ariana Grande.

Sourced from Her Campus

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Stop Storytelling and Start Having Brand Conversations That Convert — Here’s How

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By Kate DiLeo, Edited by Chelsea Brown

Discover how to move beyond traditional storytelling and embrace impactful brand conversations with the Brand Trifecta framework, designed to unify sales and marketing efforts, create trust with your audience and drive significant revenue growth.

Key Takeaways

Stories don’t compel people to buy. Conversations do. As an accidental brand strategist, I have learned that concise and compelling brand messaging is crucial to cutting through the noise, creating common ground with your target audiences and ultimately driving revenue. However, many of us get caught up in the trend that storytelling will enable us to deliver such a message and compel our prospects to take the next step and buy.

My journey into branding wasn’t planned — it was a twist of fate. I originally intended to pursue a PhD in linguistic anthropology. However, when the market crashed, a professor advised me to get a day job, pay off my undergrad debt and gain some world experience. So, I left academia and took my first sales job, where I was tasked with selling IT training services.

Starting my career in this challenging sales role, I quickly realized the importance of clear and impactful communication through trial and error. Cold-calling IT professionals to sell high-ticket $2,500 training classes taught me that within the first 15 to 30 seconds, you must convey what you do, how you solve someone’s problem and how you are different from the competition. This tough environment forced me to refine my communication skills and develop an effective brand pitch that enabled me to exceed my sales quotas and ultimately launch my career in brand strategy and development.

The Brand Trifecta

Your brand is your path of least resistance to revenue. In the first 15 to 30 seconds, you need to tell someone what you do, how you solve their problem and how you are different from the competition. Narratives alone won’t drive sales; engaging brand conversations will. When someone asks what you do, you shouldn’t lead with a story. Instead, you need a clear, compelling brand pitch that provokes curiosity and makes people want to know more.

The Brand Trifecta is the powerful and proven messaging framework I developed during my early sales career, and it has since helped thousands of organizations craft brands that bring more prospects to the table and generate more customers who buy. The Brand Trifecta is rooted in buyer psychology and enables businesses to create “you get me” moments that their target audiences need in order to build trust and ultimately purchase.

The Brand Trifecta methodology consists of three key pieces: a tagline, a value proposition statement and a set of differentiator statements. The formulaic combination of these three messaging components creates a brand conversation that converts.

Your tagline is the first impression of your brand. It should be short, clear and provoke interest. Think of your tagline as the headline of your brand’s message. It should immediately tell people what you do in a way that captures their attention and compels them to want to know more.

Next, you need a value proposition statement. This is where you expand on your tagline by explaining how you solve your customer’s problem. A value proposition statement is not just a list of features and benefits; it succinctly speaks to the value you provide to your prospects and customers by addressing their specific pain points. Your value proposition should resonate with your audience and make them see you as the solution they’ve been looking for. In other words, your value proposition statement should create the “You get me!” moment for your customers.

Matt McNeany, CTO of OPMG, highlights the importance of data when identifying your customers’ pain points: “Brands that do this most effectively are, of course, starting with data. They are using each customer interaction to learn more, capturing which content the customer is engaging with and adding that to their profile, building an experience that asks the customer their opinion and what they like.” This is where the magic happens — when you use these insights to tailor your messaging, you create a value proposition that truly resonates and compels your target audience to take the next step and buy.

Finally, your differentiator statements should clearly outline how you are different and better than your competition. What unique benefits do you offer? Why should someone choose you over others? Differentiator statements are crucial because they help you stand out in a crowded market and ultimately give your audience a reason to choose you over the rest.

“The best brands build differentiation through what they do as well as what they say. As the old saying goes, ‘Don’t tell me you’re funny; make me laugh.’ Or for brands, don’t say that you care about customers, demonstrate it to me — via imperceptibly personalized experiences that predict what I want and give me what I need, making my choices simpler and my life easier,” says McNeany. Bottom line: Your differentiator statements build trust and create a compelling case for your prospects to act.

Creating brand conversations that convert

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to create brand conversations that convert. Focus on provoking your audience to want to know more. Remember, you are not in the business of convincing everyone; you are in the business of converting the right people.

Therefore, make sure your brand messaging is consistent across all channels and touchpoints. This will align your sales and marketing teams and ultimately boost your revenue growth. McNeany emphasizes how automation can play a helpful role in consistent branding across channels: “Intelligent brands have realized that they need to deliver consistency while simultaneously managing an explosion of content across channels.”

So, they are rapidly adopting an automated content supply chain, which combines a brand design framework with algorithmic decisions based on customer behaviour to deliver relevant, on-brand communications in every channel. Whatever sales and marketing tactics you deploy, keep your brand message consistent so that customers have a clear understanding of who you are, what you do, how you solve their problems and how you differ from the competition.

Furthermore, don’t lose sight of the power of consistent branding to bridge the gap between sales and marketing teams. Misalignment between sales and marketing can be remedied by cross-functionally leveraging a singular brand pitch that addresses what customers need to know to buy. When sales and marketing consistently use and leverage the same brand language, they become an unstoppable and unified front. The outcome? Increased conversions, shortened sales cycles and improved revenue growth.

Get your brand out of the box and break free from the storytelling status quo by building your Brand Trifecta. Develop a clear tagline, value proposition and differentiator statements, and reap the benefits of a powerful brand pitch that unifies your sales and marketing teams, accelerates sales cycles and boosts growth. Remember, your brand is your path of least resistance to revenue. Create compelling brand conversations and watch your business take off.

By Kate DiLeo 

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Edited by Chelsea Brown

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Bewildered adland says Musk’s lawsuit will only make things worse for X

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By John McCarthy,

X is suing an advertiser group it accuses of boycotting the platform in order to suppress voices on the platform. Adland has responded with incredulity that a brand safety discussion would be blown up into a freedom of speech debate.

The news that Elon Musk’s X is suing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm), its founding organization, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), and Garm members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever has been met with bemusement and some amusement by the ad industry.

The Drum polled more than 100 marketers to get their initial reaction to yesterday’s statement from X chief executive Linda Yaccarino claiming the groups systematically – and illegally – sought to boycott the platform as part of a broader effort to force X’s hand into suppressing right-leaning voices on the platform.

The industry’s response was a wall of ridicule, a consensus that the platform owned by a man who only last year told advertisers to “go fuck yourself” had made its bed and now had to sleep in it. X’s growing irrelevance in the eyes of the world’s top marketers owed more to its own actions than a shadowy cabal of media execs, many argued.

The lawsuit follows a July report from the Republican-led US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary claimed that Garm and the WFA colluded “to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets and other content deemed disfavored by Garm and its members … eliminating a variety of content and viewpoints available to consumers.”

WFA and Garm members have not responded so far. In a prepared statement to congress last month, Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA, said: “Unilever, and Unilever alone, controls our advertising spending. No platform has a right to our advertising dollar.”

However it came about, what is not in question is the souring of relations between advertisers and X since Musk’s takeover in 2022. Kantar’s Media Reactions report has charted a sizeable fall in trust and observed innovation at X among marketers in that time.

A second table shows media investment plans. At this juncture, advertisers consider other platforms more exciting. This trend pre-dates Musk but accelerated during his tenure.

What is the motive for the X lawsuit?

It’s unclear what the play is from X. As many observers have pointed out, suing advertisers is unlikely to increase their willingness to advertise.

Far from improving relations, tensions between X and advertisers – already simmering since Musk told boycotting brands to “go fuck yourself” on stage in New York – look likely to escalate.

“I hope they stop. Don’t advertise,” Musk told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Dealbook Summit in November. “If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”

It was clear. But then, an olive branch.

A few days out from Cannes Lions, Musk was added to the program for a head-turning – some might say head-scratching – interview with Mark Read, boss of advertising giant WPP. In front of an audience of advertising professionals, there was no repeat of his explosive remarks from November. Instead, Musk cut a more diplomatic figure and his willingness to diffuse tensions extended off stage, where he agreed to a private meeting of marketers in the company of WPP competitor Stagwell.

Progress seemed to be being made, and on July 1 X’s Safety account said it was “excited to announce that X has reinstated our relationship with the @wfamarketers Global Alliance for Responsible Media” and “proud to be part of the GARM community!”

Just over a month on, Musk has now resumed the war – his language – of words, posting on X: “We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war.”

In another missive, he said, “I strongly encourage any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit. There may also be criminal liability via the RICO Act.” US prosecutors use the RICO Act to crack down on racketeering, most effectively against gangs and cartels.

Brand safety v free speech

Brand safety is one of the cornerstones of the GARM project. It lists its “brand safety floor” – that is “content not appropriate for any advertising support” – as ranging from adult content to crime, terrorism, hate speech, and irresponsible social commentary that could “incite greater conflict.”

It’s unclear what Musk’s stance on brand safety is. As is well documented, what he says changes depending on whether he is trying to muster subscribers on X or schmooze the world’s biggest ad networks. When interviewed by Mark Read at Cannes, he said: “Advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands. That’s totally cool. But what is not cool is insisting that there can be no content that they disagree with on the platform.”

But distinguishing between content that is merely disagreeable from that which is irresponsible is where X and advertisers seem to have struggled to find common ground. When reinstating the account of Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist notorious for falsely claiming the fatal 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was “staged,” Musk said he “vehemently” disagreed with Jones’s statements about Sandy Hook, but added, “but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” He acknowledged the move would be “bad for X financially,” but “principles matter more than money.”

The principles of free speech absolutism cost X income. But he knew that’d happen. What’s the issue then?

Adland shrugs off the lawsuit and waves away X

Posting on X, David Wilding, former director of planning at Twitter UK, shared Yaccarino’s video with the message: “Genuinely, it’s hard to know whether to ignore nonsense like this, laugh at it, feel embarrassed for everyone involved or be worried by how it’s trying to whip up yet more division. Absolutely desperate stuff.”

The Drum vox popped top marketers to see how the case would shape the media landscape. You can still add your opinion here. From more than 100 responses, there was an overwhelming consensus that the video was a PR stunt more than a good-faith court case.

Alex Wilson, senior strategist at Pitch, said: “How is this going to attract new advertisers to the platform? If I was considering starting advertising on Twitter, I’m pretty sure this would make me think twice.”

Entropy’s Alex Tait, former a senior Unilever marketer and an executive committee member at UK advertiser trade body Isba, said: “This is a PR move … but an ego-driven one rather than a logical one. It just draws more attention to the problem. As if that wasn’t evident enough to UK advertisers with the headlines and unrest over the last week.”

Erez Levin, head of product, at Good-Loop, was measured, but still couldn’t fathom the legal escalation: “Garm should collaborate with the industry to create the standards (principles, taxonomy, tech requirements, etc.), but if there was evidence that they actively tried to influence advertisers on how they should set their buying/blocking strategies so as to intentionally block certain platforms, I would find that quite concerning and a dangerous overreach. Even if that were the case, I think it’d be a stretch to put this into legit censorship/discrimination lawsuit territory.”

Jo Bromilow, social and digital consultant, asked: “So X is suing brands for ‘censoring’ content – brands who presumably don’t have any censorship functionality on X beyond the ability to delete ads to erase comments and mute accounts, aka the same function as pretty much any user has (or used to have) – on X. And all because X won’t [moderate itself]? I’d love to be in the room where the judge laughs that one out.”

It’s worth mentioning that X’s previous case against the Center for Countering Digital Hate was, according to the judge who threw it out, intended “to punish CCDH for publications that criticized X Corp… and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism.” It’s a finding Garm’s lawyers should be pouring over today. CCDH was conducting studies into the rise of hate speech on the platform.

Tim Pritchard, executive director, head of content and responsible media at MG OMD, added: “Platform accused of sparking culture wars sparks culture war against advertisers who decline to advertise on it. Bizarre.”

Finally, Carla Gontier, strategy director at Point Iconic, says, “What does X think it’s going to do? Bully Unilever into advertising with them?”

Maybe that’s exactly what the world’s richest man thought. More as it develops. More about the case here.

By John McCarthy,

Sourced from The Drum

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