#Revenue Funnel

[abhibaj]

Driving Revenue with Field Marketing: Insights from Sammie Norman

In today’s B2B landscape, marketing is no longer just about brand awareness—it’s about driving tangible revenue. Field marketing plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between marketing and sales by delivering targeted, high-impact marketing campaigns that generate leads, accelerate deals, and deepen customer relationships.

Sammie Norman, a field marketing expert, shares key insights on how aligning marketing teams and executing effective field marketing strategies can directly contribute to revenue growth. Her expertise sheds light on how organizations can turn field marketing into a competitive advantage.

Understanding the Power of Field Marketing

Field marketing is often misunderstood as event management, but it encompasses much more. It’s a strategic approach that brings marketing campaigns directly to prospects and customers through regional, account-based, and in-person initiatives.

Get full insights@ https://itechseries.com/interviews/field-marketing-revenue-driver-sammie-norman-insights/

Sammie Norman emphasizes that field marketing is all about creating personalized, high-touch experiences. Whether it’s hosting executive roundtables, conducting live demos, or running localized content campaigns, field marketing helps businesses build relationships that lead to sales.

Aligning Marketing Teams for Greater Impact

Successful field marketing requires seamless collaboration between different marketing functions, including demand generation, content marketing, and product marketing. Without alignment, efforts can become disjointed, leading to missed opportunities.

Sammie highlights that strong internal communication is key. Marketing teams should have shared goals and a unified strategy to ensure that field marketing efforts complement broader marketing initiatives rather than operate in silos.

Field Marketing as the Bridge Between Sales and Marketing

One of the biggest challenges in B2B marketing is ensuring that sales and marketing are on the same page. Field marketing serves as a critical link between the two, helping sales teams engage with prospects in a meaningful way.

By working closely with sales, field marketers can create tailored campaigns that address specific customer pain points. Sammie advises that marketing teams should regularly gather feedback from sales to refine their approach and ensure alignment with revenue objectives.

The Role of Personalization in Field Marketing Campaigns

In today’s digital world, generic marketing messages don’t cut it. Buyers expect personalized experiences that speak directly to their needs and challenges. Field marketing excels in delivering these personalized interactions.

Sammie suggests leveraging data and insights to craft hyper-targeted campaigns. Whether it’s customizing event invitations, offering exclusive content, or creating industry-specific workshops, personalization makes field marketing efforts more effective.

Explore the latest marketing and tech insights@ https://itechseries.com/gtm-library/

Driving Engagement Through High-Impact Marketing Campaigns

The success of field marketing hinges on executing high-impact campaigns that captivate and engage the right audience. From intimate networking events to large-scale roadshows, each campaign should be designed with a clear objective in mind.

Sammie advises marketers to measure campaign effectiveness not just by attendance numbers but by engagement metrics, follow-up interactions, and deal acceleration. Every field marketing campaign should contribute to the sales pipeline in a measurable way.

Leveraging Technology to Scale Field Marketing Efforts

Field marketing may focus on in-person interactions, but technology plays a vital role in amplifying its reach and impact. Marketing automation, CRM integration, and event management tools help streamline execution and track performance.

Sammie stresses the importance of leveraging analytics to gain insights into campaign success. By using data-driven decision-making, marketing teams can optimize their efforts and ensure that field marketing delivers maximum ROI.

Measuring Field Marketing Success: Key Metrics to Track

To prove the value of field marketing, organizations must track the right metrics. Sammie recommends focusing on metrics such as lead conversion rates, pipeline influence, customer engagement, and deal velocity.

By tying field marketing efforts to revenue impact, businesses can justify their investments and continuously improve their strategies. The goal is to create marketing campaigns that not only generate leads but also contribute to closing deals.

The Future of Field Marketing in B2B Growth

As B2B marketing evolves, field marketing will continue to be a powerful driver of revenue. Hybrid marketing strategies that combine in-person events with digital engagement will shape the future of field marketing.

Sammie predicts that field marketing will become even more data-driven and personalized. Companies that invest in innovative field marketing strategies will build stronger customer relationships and gain a competitive edge in their industries.

Final Thoughts

Field marketing is not just a support function—it’s a revenue driver. When marketing teams align with sales and execute personalized, high-impact marketing campaigns, businesses can accelerate their growth and create lasting customer relationships. Sammie Norman’s insights provide a roadmap for organizations looking to maximize the power of field marketing. By leveraging data, technology, and collaboration, companies can transform their field marketing efforts into a core component of their B2B success strategy.

[smescale]

A vision may be sparked by one, but it takes a team to turn it into reality.

🌍 Did you know that 75% of employees consider teamwork and collaboration as essential to business success? While a great idea may start with a single person, it’s the power of a united team that brings it to life.

Team psychology shows us that when people feel part of a shared mission, they’re more motivated, resilient, and willing to go the extra mile. The synergy of diverse skills and perspectives turns vision into results, building something stronger and more sustainable than one person alone ever could.

How does your team come together to make things happen?

Share a moment when collaboration made all the difference! 👇

[wellthatsclever]

...

[isubhamdas]

GTM Strategy for Efficient Sales and Marketing

Elevate your go-to-market strategy with advanced techniques, leveraging data-driven decision-making, automation, and Account-Based Experience (ABX) for efficient sales and marketing. Continue reading to learn more. Advanced GTM Strategy TechniquesData-Driven Decision-MakingAutomationAccount-Based Experience (ABX)Best Practices for a Successful GTM StrategyKey FacetsStakeholder…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Canonical enshittification

This is the Facebook playbook: you lure in publishers by promising them a traffic funnel ("post excerpts and links and we'll show them to people, including people who never asked to see them"), and then the rug-pull: "Post everything here, don't link to your own site. Become a commodity supplier to our platform. Abandon all your own ways of making money. Become entirely subject to the whims of our recommendation system."

Next will be: "We block links to other sites because they might be malicious."

Then some kind of "pivot to video."

Probably not video (though who knows?) but some other feature that a major rival has, which Twitter will attempt to defraud its captive, commodified suppliers into financing an entry into.

In case you were wondering, yes, this is canonical enshittification. Lure in business customers (publishers) by offering surpluses (algorithmic recommendation and an ensuing traffic funnel). Lock them in (by capturing their audience and blocking interop and logged-out reading).

Then rug the publishers, clawing back all the surpluses you gave them and more, draining them of all available capital and any margins they have, until they die or bite the bullet and leave.

I would also give good odds on this leading to a revivification of the "Pay us tens of thousands of dollars a month for a platinum checkmark and we'll actually show what you post to the people who asked to see it."

That will be pitched as the answer to publishers' complaints about not wanting to turn themselves into commodity Twitter inputs. It will be priced at the same (or more) as the revenues publishers expect to lose from being commodified, making it a wash.

All of this seems to me to be an "unfair and deceptive business practice" under Sec 5 of the FTC Act.

If I sign up to follow you because I want to see what you post, and Twitter shadowbans your posts unless they are formatted to maximize your dependence on Twitter, they have deceived me, and are being unfair to you.

This is *very* analogous to the Net Neutrality debate, where a platform blocks or deprioritizes the things its users ask to see, based on whether the suppliers of those things are its competitors.

I've written about how an end-to-end principle for social media could be enforced under Sec 5 of the FTCA, how it would address this kind of sleazy practice, how it would be easy to administer, and wouldn't form a barrier to entry for new market entrants:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

[coderrakib]

Unleash Your Agency's Marketing Potential with QuickFunnel 200 Agency License: Everything You Need to Know!

Introduction and Overview QuickFunnel 200 Agency is a marketing automation software designed specifically for marketing agencies. It allows agencies to create and manage marketing funnels, landing pages, and email campaigns for their clients. The software offers a range of features including funnel builder, A/B testing, analytics, email marketing, and integration with other popular marketing…

[togglesbloggle]

We're in the early hype cycle for Civ 7, which is all well and good- Civ is Civ, it's gonna be amazing and completely destroy large chunks of global productivity for a while. They're doing an unusually good job of targeting me in particular this time- the "build something you believe in" ad copy is one of those sentiments that has root access to my brain.

But anyway, sifting through the pre-release details has me thinking again about the... I guess you'd call it a 4x game still, but the game that part of me always wishes Civ was. I think a lot of people probably have a sort of personal 'Civ Prime' in their heads, actually, the secret changes they'd make if it was 'their' game. My own Civ Prime goes like this:

Actually-existing Civ always takes the stance that cultures create persons; you build a settler, send it off to some promising river valley, and plonk down a town. The glorious leader then directs the citizens to harvest and cultivate the fertile land around them, and surpluses of food allow the population to grow.

As a corollary, the map in actually-existing Civ starts out nearly empty; aside from a few barbarian camps and city states (or in Civ 7, the 'independent settlements'), the area outside your borders is in a pristine state of nature. And that's all well and good for game purposes, but in "my" Civ I'd reverse this entirely: civilization, not as some supra-human entity that creates and defines humans, but as a narrative that structures their identities and guides their values.

Consider a hex map of the usual sort, but the yields per tile are the local surplus, that is, the amount that tax collectors can extract from the people indigenous to that location without killing them. You begin play at the dawn of agriculture, as a leader/stationary bandit with enough military support and personal legitimacy to enforce those taxes, funnel the surplus towards a centralized urban center, and direct it towards military, priest, or artisan classes. Every hex is a conquest in miniature; at least at first, the size of your territory is directly downstream of your military strength.

That strength is tracked as "Might" or some such civ-wide stat, initially a strict function of how much wealth (that is, grain) that you feed in to it. This represents loosely organized, loyal bravi who are in your employ; they go to hexes you designate, dominate the locals, and render a tile 'productive'. In times of crisis, you can- very temporarily- initiate a levy to make these become traditional army units (and indeed this is the only source of such units, at first). As long as these exist, they are tremendously destructive to any hex they're on, friendly or otherwise, acting as a natural disaster that damages future tile yields for several turns; if every tile around them is already so damaged, they disband automatically. And of course these 'crystalized' forms of Might reduce the 'liquid' Might you have to control tiles, so lengthy wars will also see borders destabilize because you can no longer enforce order in the outer hexes.

But of course military strength isn't the only priority; grain (and later, currency, etc.) sent to the Artisan class allows you to slowly build permanent structures, which have their own bonuses as you'd expect. It's a time-horizon question; investment in Might is a larger immediate bonus, including higher revenues, but wealth spent on infrastructure accumulates.

This is also how you seed new urban areas: Artisans can build things like fortresses, temples, etc. (depending on the initial bonuses that you want) on rural hexes that are distant from existing cities, with tribute from hexes always flowing to the nearest such seed. That wealth in turn supports the new military, industrial, and cultural classes centered on that hex. This can also happen automatically in neutral territories; wherever there are large volumes of unclaimed surplus, NPC urban centers are liable to form at random and begin acting as your opponents.

You can also invest in "Culture," which in the early days generally means a priest caste. And this is where I get a bit clever.

Culture is an umbrella for anything that counts as "an idea", everything from religious formation, to technology, to philosophical ideas and organizing ideologies. There's a base track, mostly 'pure idea' stuff like mysticism and foundational concepts like writing and lawmaking; throw in a few unique ones for your chosen Civ identity (Egyptians get something about handling river flooding, whatever). And every point invested in Might and Artisan classes also helps unlock new ideas to be researched here; once you open those up, they can be researched here with Culture points. All contain some kind of advantage; new types of army units to levvy, new structures to build, higher yields or new types of resources to extract from the map- the usual.

The trick with culture unlocks is, they're not bonuses for you only. Ideas appear in the urban hex where they're researched, but they spread to adjacent hexes at some fixed rate, hopping from tile to tile and stopped only by uninhabited regions like mountain ranges or extreme deserts that don't have a high enough population- and following trade networks from city to city especially quickly. For example, "irrigation" would be an idea that greatly increases grain surpluses in every hex near a river, both for your territory and for neutral or even enemy hexes as it spreads.

As compensation, whenever your ideas spread to a hex, you gain a slowly-decaying bonus on that space called authority, which means that you require less military force to extract its surplus, and it's easier for you to contest the tile against another sovereign. This attenuates with distance from the originating point, but if you're investing in Culture at a good clip, the hexes immediately around your urban centers will be very cheap or even free to extract wealth from. If you're really booking it, hexes will spontaneously submit to you without ever being formally dominated. This creates an "imperial core" dynamic as the game matures, with your military might being concentrated in the provinces, and allows you to extend your reach much further than you otherwise would, extract wealth accordingly, and push yourself in to a virtuous feedback loop / golden age where you snowball outwards with both territorial gains and rapid intellectual progress.

The double-secret trick here is that authority decays; spreading ideas to a tile can only secure its loyalty for so long before they become the 'new normal'. With proper tuning, every civ's "golden age" period would last for a while, but then when it inevitably reached natural barriers or other obstacles, this would reverse into a death spiral. Absent further expansion, authority would begin decaying faster than it was gained, first in the outer provinces; military expansion would give way to managing a cascade of discontent and rebellions, which would further weaken the imperial core- and so on, unto dissolution.

The triple-secret trick is this: rural hexes are just hexes, but when a fully fledged city rebels against the sovereign empire, the player can declare the rebel city to be the 'true inheritor' of their legacy, and jump ship. In other words, you can take either side in a civil war. This switch triggers the legacy empire to become a more passive computer-controlled entity, and gives the emergent civilization a slew of cheap new ideas to promote, rapidly building their own authority- which of course has particular bonuses against their former overlords. Humankind and Civ 7 both implement an "Ages" system to simulate the rise and fall of civilizations over time, but this has the virtue of being a more organic/emergent property. Instead of artificially converting every Roman city in to the HRE in one fell swoop, the HRE emerges from the rotting carcass of Rome at a single point and carves out its own sovereignty by the sword.

And now you face an interesting dilemma while you play: authoritarian social policies like suppressing foreign ideas can secure the longevity of your empire for centuries longer than it might otherwise last, but you know that sooner or later, the empire you're now controlling will be your immediate opponent during a new phase of expansion. Permissive social policies and liberal attitudes to trade and ideas will make that rebirth go further, faster, than it otherwise would. So do you defend the power you have now? Or do you make yourself vulnerable to your own future?

[aqlstar]

JVP and Cair Background - Holy Land Foundation

Okay Jumblr- are we familiar with the Holy Land Foundation and the case of USA v. HLF?

The Holy Land Foundation was the undisputed single largest Islamic charity organization in the USA, until it was shut down in 2001 after Bush added it to the list of designated terrorist organizations. It was a big deal.

Fast forward to 2007, and the US government is prosecuting a criminal case against them.

The US Court of Appeals 5th Circuit issued an opinion that summarizes the jist of the case more clearly than I can-

In this consolidated case, we address the appeals of five individuals and one corporate defendant convicted of conspiracy and substantive offenses for providing material aid and support to a designated terrorist organization. The terrorist organization at issue is Hamas, which in 1995 was named a Specially Designated Terrorist by Presidential Executive Order pursuant to authority granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. Hamas was further designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, as contemplated by 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.

Although this case is related to terrorism, it does not involve charges of specific terrorist acts. Instead, it focuses on the defendants’ financial support for terrorism and a terrorist ideology. The defendants were charged with aiding Hamas by raising funds through the corporate entity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based, pro-Palestinian charity that the Government charged was created for the sole purpose of acting as a financing arm for Hamas. Although the charged conspiracy began in 1995 when Hamas was first designated as a terrorist organization, the defendants’ connection to Hamas arose much earlier. Established in the late 1980s, the Holy Land Foundation held itself out as the largest Muslim charitable organization in the United States. It raised millions of dollars over the course of its existence that were then funneled to Hamas through various charitable entities in the West Bank and Gaza. Although these entities performed some legitimate charitable functions, they were actually Hamas social institutions. By supporting such entities, the defendants facilitated Hamas’s activity by furthering its popularity among Palestinians and by providing a funding resource. This, in turn, allowed Hamas to concentrate its efforts on violent activity.

The results of the case were as follows:

Shukri Abu Baker, 50, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison. He was convicted of 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization; 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, funds, goods and services to a Specially Designated Terrorist; 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the commission of, money laundering; one count of conspiracy to impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and one count of filing a false tax return.

Mohammad El-Mezain, 55, of San Diego, California, was sentenced to the statutory maximum of 15 years in prison. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Ghassan Elashi, 55, of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison. He was convicted on the same counts as Abu Baker, and one additional count of filing a false tax return.

Mufid Abdulqader, 49, of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, one count of conspiracy to provide goods, funds, and services to a specially designated terrorist, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Abdulrahman Odeh, 49, of Patterson, New Jersey, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was convicted on the same counts as Abdulqader.

HLF, now defunct, was convicted on 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization; 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, funds, goods and services to a Specially Designated Terrorist; and 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the commission of, money laundering.

The Court reaffirmed the jury’s $12.4 million money judgment against all the defendants, with the exception of El Mezain, who was not convicted of money laundering.

Here's the full press release from the US DoJ-

I promise I'll get to the part where this has anything to do with CAIR or JVP in the next post.

[mariacallous]

In March 2007, Google’s then senior executive in charge of acquisitions, David Drummond, emailed the company’s board of directors a case for buying DoubleClick. It was an obscure software developer that helped websites sell ads. But it had about 60 percent market share and could accelerate Google’s growth while keeping rivals at bay. A “Microsoft-owned DoubleClick represents a major competitive threat,” court papers show Drummond writing.

Three weeks later, on Friday the 13th, Google announced the acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. The US Department of Justice and 17 states including California and Colorado now allege that the day marked the beginning of Google’s unchecked dominance in online ads—and all the trouble that comes with it.

The government contends that controlling DoubleClick enabled Google to corner websites into doing business with its other services. That has resulted in Google allegedly monopolizing three big links of a vital digital advertising supply chain, which funnels over $12 billion in annual revenue to websites and apps in the US alone.

It’s a big amount. But a government expert estimates in court filings that if Google were not allegedly destroying its competition illegally, those publishers would be receiving up to an additional hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Starved of that potential funding, “publishers are pushed to put more ads on their websites, to put more content behind costly paywalls, or to cease business altogether,” the government alleges. It all adds up to a subpar experience on the web for consumers, Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser says.

“Google is able to extract hiked-up costs, and those are passed on to consumers,” he alleges. “The overall outcome we want is for consumers to have more access to content supported by advertising revenue and for people who are seeking advertising not to have to pay inflated costs.”

Google disputes the accusations.

Starting today, both sides’ arguments will be put to the test in what’s expected to be a weekslong trial before US district judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia. The government wants her to find that Google has violated federal antitrust law and then issue orders that restore competition. In a best-case scenario, according to several Google critics and experts in online ads who spoke with WIRED, internet users could find themselves more pleasantly informed and entertained.

It could take years for the ad market to shake out, says Adam Heimlich, a longtime digital ad executive who’s extensively researched Google. But over time, fresh competition could lower supply chain fees and increase innovation. That would drive “better monetization of websites and better quality of websites,” says Heimlich, who now runs AI software developer Chalice Custom Algorithms.

Tim Vanderhook, CEO of ad-buying software developer Viant Technology, which both competes and partners with Google, believes that consumers would encounter a greater variety of ads, fewer creepy ads, and pages less cluttered with ads. “A substantially improved browsing experience,” he says.

Of course, all depends on the outcome of the case. Over the past year, Google lost its two other antitrust trials—concerning illegal search and mobile app store monopolies. Though the verdicts are under appeal, they’ve made the company’s critics optimistic about the ad tech trial.

Google argues that it faces fierce competition from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and others. It further contends that customers benefited from each of the acquisitions, contracts, and features that the government is challenging. “Google has designed a set of products that work efficiently with each other and attract a valuable customer base,” the company’s attorneys wrote in a 359-page rebuttal.

For years, Google publicly has maintained that its ad tech projects wouldn’t harm clients or competition. “We will be able to help publishers and advertisers generate more revenue, which will fuel the creation of even more rich and diverse content on the internet,” Drummond testified in 2007 to US senators concerned about the DoubleClick deal’s impact on competition and privacy. US antitrust regulators at the time cleared the purchase. But at least one of them, in hindsight, has said he should have blocked it.

Deep Control

The Justice Department alleges that acquiring DoubleClick gave Google “a pool of captive publishers that now had fewer alternatives and faced substantial switching costs associated with changing to another publisher ad server.” The global market share of Google’s tool for publishers is now 91 percent, according to court papers. The company holds similar control over ad exchanges that broker deals (around 70 percent) and tools used by advertisers (85 percent), the court filings say.

Google’s dominance, the government argues, has “impaired the ability of publishers and advertisers to choose the ad tech tools they would prefer to use and diminished the number and quality of viable options available to them.”

The government alleges that Google staff spoke internally about how they have been earning an unfair portion of what advertisers spend on advertising, to the tune of over a third of every $1 spent in some cases.

Some of Google’s competitors want the tech giant to be broken up into multiple independent companies, so each of its advertising services competes on its own merits without the benefit of one pumping up another. The rivals also support rules that would bar Google from preferencing its own services. “What all in the industry are looking for is fair competition,” Viant’s Vanderhook says.

If Google ad tech alternatives win more business, not everyone is so sure that the users will notice a difference. “We’re talking about moving from the NYSE to Nasdaq,” Ari Paparo, a former DoubleClick and Google executive who now runs the media company Marketecture, tells WIRED. The technology behind the scenes may shift, but the experience for investors—or in this case, internet surfers—doesn’t.

Some advertising experts predict that if Google is broken up, users’ experiences would get even worse. Andrey Meshkov, chief technology officer of ad-block developer AdGuard, expects increasingly invasive tracking as competition intensifies. Products also may cost more because companies need to not only hire additional help to run ads but also buy more ads to achieve the same goals. “So the ad clutter is going to get worse,” Beth Egan, an ad executive turned Syracuse University associate professor, told reporters in a recent call arranged by a Google-funded advocacy group.

But Dina Srinivasan, a former ad executive who as an antitrust scholar wrote a Stanford Technology Law Review paper on Google’s dominance, says advertisers would end up paying lower fees, and the savings would be passed on to their customers. That future would mark an end to the spell Google allegedly cast with its DoubleClick deal. And it could happen even if Google wins in Virginia. A trial in a similar lawsuit filed by Texas, 15 other states, and Puerto Rico is scheduled for March.

[darkmaga-returns]

As journalist Sean Davis of The Federalist points out,

It was Politico that maneuvered to have the Hunter laptop story banned and everyone discussing it censored. Politico peddled the illegal Supreme Court leak that led to the near-assassination of multiple Supreme Court justices. And now we find out the regime was funneling tens of millions of dollars of our money to Politico?

Scroll down for the backstory - but as we mentioned below, ZeroHedge - as we assume The Federalist (our bedfellows in demonitization back in 2000), hasn't received a dime from the US government (or any government, assholes), while coming under recurring attack from the deep state and their various tentacles. We subsist on dwindling ad revenues thanks to the media censorship complex, subscriptions, and revenue from our new store. So as we noted below (and thank you to all who have flooded us with orders today):

[smescale]

Faceless Reels Ideas: Engage Without Showing Your Face! Want to create engaging Reels but don’t want to be on camera? Here are some powerful faceless content ideas that can still deliver value and connect with your audience: http://smescale.com - #smescale #facelesscontent

[yourreddancer]

Trump Won. Now What?

The United States is about to become a different kind of country.By David Frum

Donald Trump has won, and will become president for the second time. Those who voted for him will now celebrate their victory. The rest of us need to prepare to live in a different America: a country where millions of our fellow citizens voted for a president who knowingly promotes hatred and division; who lies—blatantly, shamelessly—every time he appears in public; who plotted to overturn an election in 2020 and, had he not won, was planning to try again in 2024.

Above all, we must learn to live in an America where an overwhelming number of our fellow citizens have chosen a president who holds the most fundamental values and traditions of our democracy, our Constitution, even our military in contempt. Over the past decade, opinion polls have showed Americans’ faith in their institutions waning. But no opinion poll could make this shift in values any clearer than this vote. As a result of this election, the United States will become a different kind of country.

When he was last in the White House, the president-elect ignored ethics and security guidelines, fired inspectors general and other watchdogs, leaked classified information, and used the Department of Homeland Security in the summer of 2020 as if it were the interior ministry of an authoritarian state, deploying U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard “troops” in American cities. Trump actively encouraged the January 6, 2021, insurrection at our Capitol. When he left the White House, he stole classified documents and hid them from the FBI.

Because a critical mass of Americans aren’t bothered by that list of transgressions, any one of which would have tanked the career of another politician, Trump and his vice president–elect, J. D. Vance, will now try to transform the federal government into a loyalty machine that serves the interests of himself and his cronies.

This was the essence of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, and its architects, all Trump fans, will now endeavor to make it become reality. Trump will surely try again to dismantle America’s civil service, replacing qualified scientists and regulators with partisan operatives. His allies will help him build a Department of Justice that does not serve the Constitution, but instead focuses on harassing and punishing Trump’s enemies. Trump has spoken, in the past, of using the Federal Communications Commission and the Internal Revenue Service to punish media organizations and anyone else who crosses him, and now he will have the chance to try again.

Perhaps the greater and more insidious danger is not political repression or harassment, but corruption. Autocratic populists around the world—in Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela—have assaulted institutions designed to provide accountability and transparency in order to shift money and influence to their friends and families, and this may happen in America too. This is not just a theoretical threat. As loyalists take over regulatory agencies, filling not only political but also former civil-service jobs, American skies will become more polluted, American food more dangerous. As a result of this massive shift in the country’s bureaucratic culture, Trump-connected companies will prosper, even as America becomes less safe for consumers, for workers, for children, for all of us.

American foreign policy will also reflect this shift toward kleptocracy. In his first term, Trump abused the powers of his office, corrupting American foreign policy for his personal gain. He pressured the Ukrainian president to launch a fake investigation of his political opponent; altered policy toward Turkey, Qatar, and other nations in ways that suited his business interests; even used the Secret Service to funnel government money to his private properties. In a second term, he and the people around him will have every incentive to go much further. Expect them to use American foreign policy and military power to advance their personal and political goals.

There are many things a reelected President Trump cannot do. But there are some things he can do. One is to cut off aid to Ukraine. The Biden administration has three months to drop all half measures and rush supplies to Ukraine before Trump forces a Ukrainian surrender to Russia. If there’s anything in the American arsenal that Ukraine might successfully use—other than nuclear weapons—send it now, before it’s too late.

Another thing Trump can do is to impose further tariffs—and intensify a global trade war not only against China but also against former friends, partners, and allies. America First will be America Alone, no longer Ronald Reagan’s “city on a hill,” but now just another great power animated by predatory nationalism.

Around the world, illiberal politicians who seek to subvert their own democracies will follow America’s lead. With no fear of American criticism or reaction, expect harassment of press and political opponents in countries such as Mexico and Turkey to grow. Expect the Russian-backed electoral cheating recently on display in Georgia and Moldova to spread. Expect violent rhetoric in every democracy: If the American president can get away with it, others will conclude that they can too. The autocratic world, meanwhile, will celebrate the victory of someone whose disdain for the rule of law echoes and matches their own. They can assume that Trump and Vance will not promote human rights, will not care about international law, and will not reinforce our democratic alliances in Europe and Asia.

But the most difficult, most agonizing changes are the ones that will now take place deep inside our society. Radicalization of a part of the anti-Trump camp is inevitable, as people begin to understand that existential issues, such as climate change and gun violence, will not be tackled.

A parallel process will take place on the other side of the political spectrum, as right-wing militias, white supremacists, and QAnon cultists are reenergized by the election of the man whose behavior they have, over eight years, learned to imitate. The deep gaps within America will grow deeper. Politics will become even angrier. Trump won by creating division and hatred, and he will continue to do so throughout what is sure to be a stormy second term.

My generation was raised on the belief that America could always be counted upon to do the right thing, even if belatedly: reject the isolationism of America First and join the fight against Nazism; fund the Marshall Plan to stop communism; extend the promise of democracy to all people, without regard to race or sex. But maybe that belief was true only for a specific period, a unique moment. There were many chapters of history in which America did the wrong thing for years or decades. Maybe we are living through such a period now.

Or maybe the truth is that democracy is always a close-run thing, always in contention. If so, then we too must—as people in other failing democracies have learned to do—find new ways to champion wobbling institutions and threatened ideas. For supporters of the American experiment in liberal democracy, our only hope is education, organization, and the creation of a coalition of people dedicated to defending the spirit of the Constitution, the ideals of the Founders, the dream of freedom. More concretely: public civic-education campaigns to replace the lessons no longer taught in schools; teams of lawyers who can fight for the rule of law in courts; grassroots organizing, especially in rural and small-town America; citizens and journalists working to expose and fight the enormous wave of kleptocracy and corruption that will now engulf our political system.

Many of those shattered by this result will be tempted to withdraw into passivity—or recoil into performative radicalism. Reject both. We should focus, instead, on how to win back to the cause of liberal democracy a sufficient number of those Americans who voted for a candidate who denigrated this nation’s institutions and ideals.

[stjohnstarling]

It’s astonishing to me how poisonous the culture of the wealthy is. These are people who have no economic pressure on them whatsoever, who could live the rest of their lives pursuing leisure and art and study, and yet --

As a writer it's necessary for me to be broadly familiar with what's happening out there in the world, and it seems like every time I investigate the worst, most commercial and soulless offerings on the best seller charts I discover the author is someone with immense generational wealth.

I’ll read an interview with one of them and they’ll talk exclusively about their business decisions, revenue, branding. They'll talk about how they’re funneling all of their sales back into advertising and how to precision-mill their books to fit the market. Never about the actual writing, aside from how to maximize their output of words per day.

What drives me mad, what drives me utterly mad is that they don’t need the money! If they did, it would be one thing, but these are people who do not need to work to live. Popular success is irrelevant at that point - they could write for an audience as rarefied and idiosyncratic as they like. They can do anything. Yet the rich and powerful are somehow incapable of taking advantage of their own freedom.

I suppose it is true that the one thing you can never buy is taste.

[fruitionrevops]

Unlocking Business Success with Fruition RevOps: A Deep Dive into Data Driven Decision Making

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, the key to sustainable success lies in making informed decisions. Data Driven Decision Making has emerged as a critical factor in achieving this goal, enabling organizations to harness the power of data driven decision making strategic initiatives.

Fruition RevOps, with its focus on data driven decision making, stands at the forefront of empowering businesses to navigate the complex terrain of customer engagement and maximize their potential.

Understanding Data Driven Decision Making:

At the core of Fruition RevOps' philosophy is the concept of data-driven decision making. This approach involves utilizing data to inform and guide business decisions, ensuring that choices are grounded in objective insights rather than intuition alone. In today's digital era, businesses are inundated with vast amounts of data. Fruition RevOps recognizes the need to not only collect this data but also transform it into actionable intelligence.

The Customer Engagement Funnel:

A pivotal aspect of Fruition RevOps' strategy revolves around optimizing the customer engagement funnel. This concept is central to understanding the journey a customer takes from initial awareness to making a purchase decision. By strategically implementing data driven decision making, businesses can analyze and enhance each stage of the funnel, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience for their customers.

Implementing Revenue Operations Strategy:

Fruition RevOps places a strong emphasis on revenue operations strategy as a means to align various departments within an organization towards a common goal – maximizing revenue. This involves streamlining processes, breaking down silos, and fostering collaboration among sales, marketing, and customer service teams. The ultimate aim is to create a cohesive and efficient ecosystem that drives revenue growth.

The Role of a Customer Database Platform:

A cornerstone of Fruition RevOps' approach is the utilization of a robust customer database platform. Such a platform serves as the repository for valuable customer information, allowing businesses to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns. Integrating this platform into the overall strategy enables organizations to make data driven decision making that are not only informed but also highly targeted.

Benefits of Data-Driven Decision Making:

Enhanced Strategic Planning: Implementing data-driven decision making through Fruition RevOps empowers organizations to create more effective and informed strategic plans. By analyzing historical data and market trends, businesses can anticipate future scenarios and position themselves for success.

Improved Customer Satisfaction: The focus on the customer engagement funnel ensures that businesses using Fruition RevOps prioritize customer satisfaction. By tailoring experiences based on data insights, organizations can build stronger relationships with their customers, resulting in increased loyalty and repeat business.

Optimized Marketing Campaigns: With the integration of a customer database platform, marketing efforts can be fine-tuned for maximum impact. Fruition RevOps enables businesses to understand their target audience better, allowing for the creation of personalized and targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with potential customers.

Efficient Resource Allocation: Data-driven decision making aids in optimizing resource allocation. Fruition RevOps helps organizations identify which initiatives yield the highest returns, allowing for the efficient allocation of time, budget, and manpower.

Challenges and Considerations:

While Fruition RevOps provides a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to leverage data driven decision making and revenue operations strategy, it's essential to acknowledge potential challenges. These may include data privacy concerns, the need for skilled personnel, and the integration of new technologies. However, with proper planning and implementation, these challenges can be overcome, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Fruition RevOps stands as a beacon for businesses navigating the intricate landscape of data driven decision making and revenue operations strategy. By embracing this approach, organizations can unlock the full potential of their data, drive informed decision making, and ultimately propel their success in an increasingly competitive market.

With a focus on the customer engagement funnel and a robust customer database platform, Fruition RevOps provides a holistic solution that empowers businesses to thrive in the digital age.

[a-typical]

Profits earned by the state, after paying winners and ticket merchants, serve as a major source of revenue that often funnels into social programs, especially kindergarten through high school education, creating a moral dilemma to vote against this form of legalized gambling in your state.

That got me thinking. Is probability and statistics even taught in US public schools? Recent surveys show that the answer is mostly not. In the few places that do teach it, classes are taught as a novel elective or as part of an advanced placement college course.

If instead, probability and statistics were a fundamental part of the K-12 curriculum, taught to every student, across multiple grades, and if state lottery revenue were allocated to make that happen, then the lottery might just put itself out of business by inoculating its own citizens against the lottery itself.

— Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization - Neil deGrasse Tyson (2022)