#and as always intensely unqualified to be taking charge of the situation

[wewindondowntheroad]

i need to somehow text this contractor again and determine whether he wants to do the work or not?

But I can't be like you're giving me wishy washy vibes. are you in or out?

[tumblingxelian]

I wasn't aware I was notable, so I appreciate the excitement for the response on that front, as to the rest:

Well, you are right in something. I'm sorry, I always take bias as "saying things that aren't truth". But, even in @faunusrights post she denies some of the claims of the RWBY wiki.

You'd need to cite some claims they argued were not true and yet still canon, as it stands this is an accusation without evidence I feel.

He didn't have Ozpin dismissed from his position. At least, the council said "We are going to talk about your position" but that didn't end up happening. And Ironwood just gave a report of the situation to the council. It wasn't his intention to have Ozpin kicked of the council.

He had Ozpin ousted as head of security for the Vytal Festival, a job Ironwood was uniquely unqualified for given his myriad of poor decisions like not even understanding the premise if "Scouts". But also, Ironwood had been reporting tot he council behind Ozpin's back for weeks, even as he claimed to trust Ozpin and be loyal he was explicitly undercutting Ozpin to his superiors to steal his job based on the egotistical conviction he could do it better.

About allying with the SDC. I mean, it's not like Ironwood is doing something evil with that. Ironwood gave robots to the SDC, (in a world where the Grimm and the terrorist are a risk). Let's remember that Ironwood wants to retire the men from the dangers of the battlefield, so having robots would protect SDC workers and guards. Later both worked on the Paladins and the airships. What's wrong with that? He later didn't have problems annoying Jacques with the embargo, close of borders and putting a military operation over the abandoned Dust mine.

He very explicitly is doing something evil by allying wth the SDC, a canonically corrupt organization, that abuses, exploits and even causes the deaths of its workers, most of whom are also a discriminated against minority and underclass.

Being their ally is intensely immoral on Ironwood's part, and he only turned against Jac, because the man refused to be intimidated into obedience like most other people. Jac outright even highlighted that Ironwood was acting as a dictator and Ironwood didn't disagree, merely threatened him with the prospect that if he is a dictator then Jac should want to stay on his good side.

Pulling out his troops out of Vale... Well, he was put in charge of the security during the Vytal Festival. The Vytal festival ended, he needed his troops at home, protecting Atlas. The same goes about pulling his troops out of Mistral.

Vale was their ally and a place still being over run with Grimm, Atlas still had the rest of its army, specialists and Hunters and as far as we known was not in any particular danger.

He bailed on Vale the moment it suited him because, as Mistral further demonstrated, Ironwood is a Fairweather friend who won't stick with people when the going gets hard.

Also seriously, the army he "needed" at home literally did jack and shit beyond floating there. He didn't need them except for his own personal sense of security.

About neglecting Mantle, I agree. But oppression and exploitation... Well, not so much. At least, not during the first episode as you say: He is not responsible for the exploitation of Mantle, it is Jacques. He is not a businessman, he is a general and headmaster. And about oppression? You say for the police state? I mean, it is needed to give protection to the people of Mantle and prevent Salem from infiltrate in the kingdom. And about the close of borders and embargo. Were security measures ensured to prevent Salem from infiltrate the kingdom.

Ironwood has basic control over the Council of Atlas & Mantle, so yes he actually is responsible for policies and circumstances that impoverish and exploit Mantle, especially as he is an ally of the SDC and other wealthy elites. Provided they do what he wants when he wants and what he wanted never involved helping the underprivileged. Jac and his ilk could only operate with the impunity they did because Ironwood enabled them.

The people of Mantle were arrested for defending themselves from Grimm, that has no impact on Salem's agents. The walls was not repaired, that enabled Salem's schemes. Mantle's defences were hot garbage and their resources were constantly stolen for Ironwood's pet projects, which also enabled Salem. I would also add, that Ironwood's closed boarder policy did nothing to stop Watts, Tyrian, Cinder & Neo from slipping passed it.

So it was entirely unnecessary, and only served to make everything worse in Mantle, which was a recurring plot point across Volume 7.

I don't know. I mean, Ironwood was authoritarian but that doesn't make him a dictator. He have two seats in the council, but that was never presented as unconstitutional. And 3 seats of the council are democratically elected. I mean, there is even political dissidence, things that aren't allowed in a dictatorship.

Well, thanks for help understand her point. I didn't get that back then. But well, I don't know. Just because women, queer or trans (Isn't trans included inside queer?) think good of Robyn. That doesn't make her right. My point was that not all the queer were necessarily agreeing that Robyn was great. And hey, Hatedom is such a derogatory term. And I think you are oversimplifying things about the rewrites. I mean, you wouldn't like that I simplify things criticizing RWBY.

Glad I could be of help there.

(Some people prefer trans specifically others queer, its a personal preference thing.)

That part of the post was not about whether Robyn was right (Which she was) but about the fact that its unsurprising if unfair that she gets so maligned by the relative minority of deeply conservative people who are neither numerous nor fans, but have lodged themselves into positions where their voices get to be louder than everyone else's.

We have a problem like this on the RWBY Tv Tropes page too, where the people who edit it, hate queer representation and the show and try to maligned, edit out or remove any reference to such things as best they can.

I could copy paste the part of Clover, Robyn and Qrow. But I think that the whole context is important. The thing is: If it happens peacefully, how does the arrest count as violence? Is a deprivation of liberty, but, why violence? And well, Qrow was willing to go. So, why not? Of course, the orders given to Clover were immoral. But, they still had the chance to talk. About Robyn. Hey, even Qrow suggested go to Ironwood and talk to him. Ironwood is different than the normal dictators. Robyn Hill just discovered that he was being framed for the massacre and that he had nothing to do with the murders on Mantle. She just discovered that he had reasons as to why he declared the embargo and close of borders. I mean, Ironwood have just been convinced of helping Mantle that very night. Not even give him the benefit of the doubt? The thing is, that fighting in the Manta could have mean Robyn dying stupidly.

OK, so I want you to take your argument about how "Does it qualify as violence if one side doesn't resist" and apply to say, a firing squad and ask yourself a second time, whether something counts as violence or not, just because the victim is passive.

Why would she give him the benefit of the doubt when his polices impoverished Mantle, his allies had exploited Mantle, his Ace-Ops tried to black bag her, his authoritarian rule had gotten people killed, and he had just decided then and there to leave her city to die and arrest anyone who disagreed with him?

I mean, everyone in the world can do that, that doesn't make it less arrogant. If she have waited till after the elections, then it would makes sense. But being so sure about it, shows that she is so sure of her victory.

I want you to consider why you think its arrogant for a woman to do this, when its standard operating produce around the world. Also keep in mind, if the election hadn't literally been stolen she'd have been right. So it wasn't arrogant regardless, just an accurate assessment of reality.

I mean, why Ironwood would arrest Robyn? Qrow is part of Ruby's group. But, she is not part of it. When I'm saying that he didn't underestimate her, I'm saying for the fact that he didn't underestimate her threat. I always interpreted as Robyn saying "He underestimate the threat I represent to his plans".

That's your interpretation, that is not how I took it.

Eh, he is not robbing Mantle. He is buying those resources:

Robyn: Clover, I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe you can help me understand why this truck that's supposed to be taking construction materials to fix Mantle’s outer wall, is on its way to the middle of nowhere? Are you lost?

Using government funds to purchase something for one purpose then using it for another secretly is called embezzling, otherwise known as theft.

You creating headcanons to justify it is just another example of exactly what faunusrights is talking about when it comes to anti Robyn, pro Ironwood bias.

Ironwood put Atlesian knights, soldiers, Penny, Ren, Nora (With the usual help of other Huntsmen doing their bounty mission), a fleet of Mantas flying over Mantle. I think that is far better than having to simply repair the wall. And the Grimm aren't busting through the hole all hours of the day. If that was the case the alerts would be sounding every hour. And owning guns isn't even illegal. What is illegal is owning weapons without authorization. I come from a country where owning weapons also requires an authorization despite the fact of we being surrounded by crime. And Huntsmen are also allowed to carry weapons. Think about the Happy Huntresses.

Clover put them there, & Marrow suggested similar missions, while the rest of the cast volunteered for them. Ironwood never assigned anyone to missions to help Mantle until the evacuation, something he had to be pressed into and went back on the moment he had a fright.

The fleet did not act in Mantle's defence when Grimm were breaking through the walls until the massiv estampede in which they also proved completely ineffective, the same is true for the Atlesian Knights and minor guards both of which served as a police force to keep people in line more than as a deterrent against Grimm. We literally see the Atlesian Knights trying to break up people huddling for warmth as the kingdom freezes and Nora outright mocks the idea that Ironwood's meager security detail would be of any use upon their arrival in Mantle.

Think about RWBY, JNR and Qrow being arrested for defending themselves & others?

As I said, the guns are allowed, what is not allowed is having one without authorization. What is stomping over all democratic norms? An election was just being held. Stealing private property of who? Jacques? His mine was abandoned. The public goods, I already talked about Mantle construction materials. There is heating for the citizens. And it seems to be a public service considering how Jacques had access to the Atlas network due to being hired to provide the heating.

As I said, you're wrong.

Ironwood was making unilateral decisions without consulting his democratically elected peers consistently throughout volumes 7.

Mantle's resources and yes, the mine, just because it wasn't used doesn't mean Ironwood can just take it cos he feels like it.

The fact you think its fine for Ironwood to oppress, betray and rob people, but think its immoral and arrogant for Robyn Hill to resist such things is very much the embodiment of the kind of bias faunusirghts was talking about.

Yes, they really thought that the ship was stolen. Ironwood didn't have a reason to lie to them in that moment.

They had zero evidence RWBY & co were on it, or else they would have arrest Maria.

About why they didn't arrest Maria... Who knows. Maybe because she was accompanying Pietro in that moment thought that she had nothing to do with the stolen ship.

You making up a headcanon does not change that they had no evidence and were originally arresting them for having weapons.

I mean, she didn't know what the results were really going to been. She can't see the future and Jacques have just used the whole city hostage. Maybe and he wins because of that power play. Of course, Jacques stole the election. And you keep ignoring that even Weiss and Ren commented on how weird it is to hold a party before even winning.

As said, she was going to win, and this is normal, the fact you think its arrogant for a woman to do this entirely normal thing, even when she's right speaks for itself.

I don't ignore that, I didn't mention it because it doesn't matter, what Robyn did was entirely normal and she was right,. That Ren (Who was down in the dumps) & Weiss (paranoid about her father) thought it was odd made them the exceptions, not the norm.

They only have been biased against Robyn. I mean, faunusrights never mentioned other example of the wiki being biased against women. So yeah, say that the ones behind the wiki are against female characters or female authority figures is just gratuitous. You can't simply judge someone without knowing all the work behind them. How is Ironwood conservative? I mean, maybe capitalist and anyway he messed up Jacques SDC operations. And liking a character and disliking another doesn't mean anything. I met persons who dislike Robyn and like Ironwood and they aren't against female characters or female-authority-figure characters in general.

Past experience with the wiki stanning Adam says otherwise :/ Also Faunusrights was specifically talking about Robyn Hill because that is where its most egregious. In large part because Robyn was new & its easy to contrast her against Ironwood as they were direct foils to one another.

I actually can, I am very good at judging things XD

Ironwood is all about centralizing control of the government, funneling money into the military industrial complex relies on authority, rank and coercion and is allied primarily with hyper capitalists who exploit discriminated against minorities.

There's a reason a lot of his fans are Trump voters.

Just to give a conclusion. I'm sure you doesn't care but I prefer to clarify something before the people start jumping to conclusions. I tried to give everything I could to the fandom. I made a post saying about why the martial law wasn't the right call during Worst case scenario. I have been there criticizing Ironwood inside RWBYcritics. I have dedicated my time to defend Robyn Hill and other matters of the series. So the fact that now comes @faunusrights to believe that I'm against Robyn and I'm a pro Ironwood stan is just... frustrating. I'm the one who decided to go and discuss with the RWDE in their very subreddit going against them. Fuck, I even responded to Dextixer in some posts. There is a reason why I put RWDE and anti RWDE in my responses. I consider myself somewhat in the middle.

Saying "I'm sure you don't care" seems rather backhanded, I took the time to quote and response to your entire essay which is more than you did for @faunusrights with all that cherry picking and I did so again here.

I am more confused than anything by this claim on multiple fronts :/

I mean, that's nice I suppose, but no one asked you to do it and I confess I don't know you nor do I spend time there, so I can neither confirm or deny any of what you are saying,

I don't believe faunusrights said anything beyond a lack of intent to read your response given association with some rather vexing takes. Though my sympathies on having to talk to Dex, that is vexing.

(Shrugs) Ultimately, you found a several years old post highlighting a bias in how Robyn is framed VS how Ironwood is framed by the people holding the microphone so to speak and deciding to argue in favor of the people holding the microphone. I know noting else of you beyond that, so its what I responded to, and I hope this all made sense.

Take care now!

what is going on with all the bias on robyn hill’s wiki page, anyway? - an aside

As someone who uses the RWBY wiki with some degree of frequency - often because I’m looking for art references, or Semblance and weapon names - I’m used to… some amount of bias in the articles for different characters? Like, let’s be real, it’s not a perfect wiki! Community-maintained stuff isn’t easy to all keep on the same track! But, generally, it gives the facts well enough and doesn’t do too bad a job keeping all the balls in the air when it comes to new information from all four corners of this franchise.

Well, until you open the article for Robyn Hill, and realise it’s an absolute disaster. Like, really; the impartial voice just plain doesn’t exist for her, and almost all of her wiki is written in such a way that she reads as being an absolutely insufferable, hostile, hard-to-like character. Even if you aren’t a fan of Robyn personally, you have to admit that if you hadn’t seen the show yourself, you might very well come away from her article presuming she’s a major antagonist of Volumes 7 and 8.

Like, for instance, let’s take a look at the first paragraph of her Personality section:

Robyn has a direct and confident personality, having no trouble being confrontational with Atlas personnel, including the Ace Operatives. Robyn also seems to suffer from overconfidence and arrogance, shown in her encounters with Ruby and celebrating her election victory before it was verified. She is aggressive and hostile in nature, quickly jumping to conflict without thinking through consequences. However, she is also shown to be reasonable when the situation calls for it.

And, for good measure, here’s another paragraph from the same section:

In “With Friends Like These” Robyn displayed a rather impulsive side of her personality, when upon hearing that James Ironwood’s plan to abandon Mantle and arrest those against him, she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen onboard a Manta with Tyrian Callows in custody. Despite the fact, there was no order or her arrest. Her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

(Taken from Robyn’s RWBY Wiki page. Bolding is mine.)

Seguir leyendo

[philippaoliver]

This Article Will Change The Way You Think About Clickbait Forever!

(Originally published during my time at The Leith Agency, in September 2017)

I was recently perusing the latest Teen Vogue political journalism masterpiece (no, really). When I came to the bottom of the article, I was greeted by the usual suggestions of other articles I might want to read. As always these days, the titles were clickbaity.

Part of me — a large part, the part that’s usually dominant — is screaming words dripping in sarcasm. Lord forbid I’m making an eyebrow mistake! But there’s another part, the one that’s normally buried deep down, asking if there even are 15 mistakes you can make with eyebrows, and then again what if my eyebrows are a bit shit? And so I click. And in a new tab I also open the one about the benefits of sleeping with my hair in a bun because honestly, I’d love to read the opinion of someone who is probably equally as unqualified to talk about hair as I am.

(Fear not, it turns out my eyebrows have not undergone any major catastrophes.)

But why did I click? I knew perfectly well that it’s not a subject I’m particularly interested in. Anyone who’s ever met me knows my usual aesthetic is ‘scruffy at best’. I also knew that it was clickbait, and that the contents would be disappointing. And yet, here we were. Again.

So, deeply disappointed in myself and coated in my own self loathing, I did some digging, and it turns out there’s actually a fair amount of research on clickbait (it was even mentioned on a recent episode of QI) and it’s fascinating stuff.

Is anyone immune to clickbait?

We all know someone who, whenever the subject comes up, will smugly proclaim ‘Oh, I never click on that rubbish. I can’t imagine why anyone would.’ They’re just better/smarter/savvier than that. But the truth is that we know clickbait works. There are whole websites that rely on it and reputable news publications are increasingly using it to pad out their offerings and increase website views.

Diply claims to generate 1 billion video views on Facebook and 150 million unique website visitors per month. Given that they sell advertising space, it’s fair to say that clickbait is big business. So claiming that clickbait doesn’t work just isn’t going to cut it with me and the science backs me up. So what are the key reasons clickbait works?

Curiosity and Dopamine

Studies have shown that the reason clickbait is so alluring is partially down to dopamine responses (the body’s reward system). So if someone’s claiming to be completely immune, chances are they’re either lying or joyless. Dopamine is the chemical in our bodies that makes us feel good, and the levels of it rise when we find something good. It’s hella addictive. But interestingly, we release dopamine in anticipation of a reward, not when we receive the reward itself.

Kanye’s probably immune to clickbait.

Additionally, dopamine is the impetus to do the work to receive the reward (in this case, clicking the link and navigating through sixteen pages of pop-up ads and auto-play videos). So we don’t actually need to see the cute or funny or shocking thing in order to feel good about it, but feeling good about it is what makes us click the link in the first place. So those particular clickbait headlines, the ones that add a “#23 will appall you!”, are especially effective; it’s anticipation that keeps you clicking through.

And even worse, we’ve been set up by our own bodies. Dopamine levels grow even higher when there’s a chance that there won’t be a reward at the end of our work (as we all know there probably won’t when it comes to clickbait). Psychologists and neuroscientists call it intermittent reinforcement. When we introduce a ‘maybe’ factor, that addictive surge fills us like never before. This explains gambling, but it also explains clickbait. We’re addicted to the fact that maybe it won’t be good. We’re slaves to our own curiosity.

The Information Gap

Further to this, behavioural economist Loewenstein describes an ‘information gap’. This takes a similar approach in that it has the same end point — that curiosity, and especially its intensity, is driven not by the satisfaction of obtaining information, but by the pain of not having it. There is therefore pleasure in the anticipation of obtaining it.

Studies have also found that guessing and feedback increase curiosity. In a sense, many clickbait headlines pose a question (What do these child stars look like now?). Readers may have an idea of what the answer is and, by internally guessing, their curiosity increases. The information gap has now widened to include whether or not they’re correct.

In studies on deprivation, researchers have also found a link between deprivation and impulsivity. Loewenstein links this to the impulsivity we see in curiosity situations; we’re curious when we see clickbait so we impulsively click on it, without stopping to consider if it’s clickbait. Anyone who’s ever fallen into a Wikipedia hole knows this to be true — you go on to find out whether cuttlefish sleep and through clicking on interesting links somehow end up learning about the black market organ trade, also reading about every living member of the Dutch royal family on the way.

Actual footage of me in a Wikihole.

The Language and Tropes of Clickbait

It’s all well and good to understand the dopamine responses that curiosity elicits, but how is curiosity elicited in the first place? The headlines of clickbait articles are written in such a way as to pique that curiosity, and the pictures are too. One of the major tropes of clickbait is a partially obscured picture — clearly linked to copy that throws up an information gap (You’ll Never Guess What This Teacher Bought For Her Class! I Was Shocked!), but with the information gap part obscured, only increasing the urge to click.

Writing these headlines is not so much an art as throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. With the rise in technology, websites can serve you the same article with 20 different headlines and simply eliminate all but the one that works best. Nevertheless, there is skill attached to good clickbait headlines, and you’ll also see certain ways of phrasing used repeatedly. These often take advantage of the things we’ve mentioned above: information gaps, taking advantage of emotion (including disdain) and using lists.

But it’s not just the content of the headline that draws you in, and what’s particularly interesting to me are the ways in which grammar and semantics are manipulated to grab your interest. Clickbait headlines frequently follow specific patterns, which are really odd compared to everyday language. They often refer to a specific person or persons by only a pronoun (e.g. he, she, they). That’s super weird when you don’t actually know who they’re referring to. In linguistics, it’s called a deixis: it’s a word or phrase that cannot be understood without further contextual information.

Consider the two following headlines, both clickbaity:

1. ‘She Gave This Bear A Pair Of Headphones… What Happened Next Will Shock You!’

2. ‘A zoologist gave a grizzly bear a pair of headphones… what happened next will shock you!’

While it’s written in an annoying way, I’d argue that the first is more successful in grabbing your attention and getting you keen(ish) to find out more. This is for a number of reasons, but key among them is the use of deixis. There are a couple of ways deixis are normally used — anaphora and cataphora — and this headline sort of defies both of them.

The first headline would be completely normal in situations where there was some text preceding it, which explained who the reference was in ‘she’ (e.g. ‘A zoologist was doing some research on grizzly bears and their reactions to music. She gave…’). This is called anaphora — where the deixis in a sentence or clause refers to some information that came before. That’s fine. We’re cool with that. Cataphora is sort of the opposite — it’s where a deixis refers to some information which will come later in the discourse. It’s a little stranger to explain, but it happens a fair amount, especially in rhetoric, literary prose, or storytelling. The reason it happens more in literary prose and story telling is that it adds an element of suspense. We’re also pretty cool with that.

What clickbait does is to separate the deictic words from their cataphor — you’ll find out what they refer to, but only if you click on the link. It’s not something we normally see, so it throws you off a little bit. And like an open bracket that never closes, it makes you a tiny bit stressed. We’re not so cool with that. By not giving up that contextual information we need to understand ‘she’ or ‘this’, the headline effectively and infuriatingly adds further curiosity.

What does this actually mean, though?

As advertisers, we cannot ignore the fact that clickbait exists primarily to allow its publishers to thrive on advertising money. In a sense, we fund and pay for clickbait (and as part of that, fake news). Guilty as charged, we’re proliferators of evil (but we already knew that). A question to ask ourselves is whether we’re able to reclaim clickbait and harness it and its techniques as a force for good. So what, if anything, can we learn from clickbait?

Loewenstein suggests that the information gap could be used to motivate learners in educational settings, by drawing attention to what they don’t know. It’s an interesting point, and could hint towards clickbait as a force for social good. For those of us in the business of behaviour change advertising, there are real questions to be asked about whether we can learn from clickbait in inciting our targets to learn for themselves. Am I suggesting that the answer to all social good is clickbait? Absolutely not, it’s still fairly abhorrent, but I do think there are learnings to be had — certainly in terms of our approach and possibly from the way we use language (even if it’s just manipulating cataphor better).

It may also be useful when we’re trying to solve particularly modern problems. In our recent campaign for the Scottish Government, our aim was to educate the Scottish public about the introduction of new legislation against the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII) — commonly known incorrectly as revenge porn. NCSII is not a new thing — people have been doing it since we had cameras — but it’s become more of a problem in recent years due to the ease of dissemination through internet channels. It made sense that we would talk about it on the same channels our audience are likely to encounter it and proliferate it, and potentially in the same salacious tones that make people so morbidly fascinated by it.

In came clickbait.

With headlines like ‘Her Boyfriend Shared This Video Of Her Online…You’ll Never Guess What Happens!’ (spoiler: he gets arrested), we infiltrated our targets’ newsfeeds with authentic looking clickbait to pique their interest and get them clicking. On the other side, a ‘trojan horse’ ad — starting off looking like an authentic homemade video (we shot on an iPhone 4), we see what looks like the beginning of a sexual act, with our female actor placing handcuffs on the wrists of our male actor (who, for authenticity, was also the cameraman). A quick cut later and the fluffy handcuffs have been replaced by real ones, his girlfriend by a stern policewoman.

A still from the campaign.  By luring people in using curiosity gaps and the implied promise of the very thing we’re legislating against, we hope we can encourage them to examine their own behaviour (which will ultimately prove more effective than lecturing and finger wagging). Companies are already using clickbait to sell their products, I can’t help but wonder if we can use it in a more worthwhile way, as we did for our NCSII campaign.

Given that viewing clickbait is itself viewed as a shameful act, can we use that to our advantage, to access topics that people find hard to talk about? Clickbait taps into morbid curiosity, it’s car crash internet. Let’s take a long look at how we can take advantage of that, rather than simply dismissing it as an annoyance to avoid. I’m not saying clickbait is good, or even that it’s not annoying, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon — so let’s at least take it seriously (even if it does make our copywriters want to vomit).

And to finish on a lighter note, my favourite piece of (parody) clickbait, which delivers on its headline in spectacular fashion by presenting you with the entire text of Moby Dick: ‘The Time I Spent On A Commercial Whaling Ship Completely Changed My Perspective On The World’. Plus, my current favourite Facebook page, TL;DR, who helpfully summarise clickbait articles so you don’t have to click on them. Not all heroes wear capes.

[dorishull]

The Impact of Coronavirus: A Looming Recession and How You Can Protect Your Business

The rampant spread of the Coronavirus has forced the world into lockdown and pushed the global economy to the brink of recession.

Companies will close, and jobs will go. People are already being forced to stay home with no clear return date..

The way back to prosperity will be long and hard – especially for small business owners and professional service providers who don’t have the luxury of large cash reserves and big fish clients.

When you have no control over the economy, no certainty over what your income will be over the next 6, 12 or even 18 months or how you’ll pay your overheads – while your desperate rivals are all competing for the same pool of clients – you may feel suffocated and powerless.

This fear is widespread; it is valid; and right now, it is growing by the day as the pandemic changes, grows and accelerates, impacting our world on a health and financial scale rarely witnessed.

But it is possible to tilt the scales back in your favor to some degree.

You can create some shelter to keep your business dry and safe while the economic storm hammers down.

The important thing is to educate yourself about your situation, taking a forensic look at your business, its costs and ways it can be improved. Once you do, you’ll be able to make fast, informed decisions that will buy you breathing space in the short term and position you for success once the pandemic fades and the market turns for the better. And it will get better… eventually…

But rather than follow the herd in believing the world is ending, this is an opportunity to give your business the tune-up it needs. When economic times are good, a host of mistakes are either not visible or easily ignored. But when things tighten, as they are right now, it’s your chance to reshape your business, making it better than before while guarding against the spectre of recession.

As someone who has successfully built both brick-and-mortar and online businesses, I can see a number of patterns and behaviors emerging over the coming months.

There are ways you can insulate your business from the worst of this pandemic and even find some opportunity amidst the panic and chaos.

The following are my seven predictions of the impact the coronavirus will have on companies and employees and the way we will do business in the foreseeable future.

7 Predictions of the Impact of Coronavirus on Business

1. Content marketing will decrease as people have less time, money and resources to put towards it.

If you’ve been following me for any period of time, you’ll know I consider strong, relevant, informative content as one of the foundational building blocks of any successful business. Content marketing is the most effective way to get prospective clients to know, like and trust you.

But strong, well-researched, helpful content your audience will find useful and share with their networks – which helps build your reputation – takes time, money and resources.

This means many businesses will pull the plug on content entirely (to their lead generation detriment), scale back significantly or put out sub-standard content.

Whatever you do, DON’T fall into this trap.

You have an opportunity right now to double down on good content. If you find client work is slowing down, it’s a great time to ramp up your content output.

In fact, as the standard of content in your industry drops, you’ll shine even brighter if you commit to producing quality.

2. Spam will increase exponentially as desperation sets in.

In the weeks and months to come, you will likely notice a spike in the number of messages hitting your inbox.

As the panic over the virus has risen, so too has the desperation of many businesses to make a fast buck and try to stash some money away for the economic winter coming our way.

There’s nothing wrong with selling. Far from it.

But when it’s done in an aggressive, spammy, impersonal way, it actually DAMAGES your business.

In their desperation, many business owners and marketers will be looking for quick and easy ways to blast their sales messages out to as many people as possible (maybe using automation or shortcuts). Doing that will not help them. People can smell desperation a mile away. Such marketers will be ignored, deleted or blocked, and their reputation and credibility will be damaged.

3. Your personal brand will be key to lead generation as people will be a lot more cautious with their money and look for people who convey authority, credibility and trust.

Anyone who has been through a recession before knows most businesses will be affected. But today’s recession landscape differs from previous ones, even from the last recession of 2008. We spend more time online than ever before, and we look to Google and social media to help us make many of our decisions.

People and businesses will be much more cautious investing their money and will be doing more research before choosing where to spend it. They will look not just at your company and your products/services but at you. Are you someone they can trust? If your personal brand doesn’t convey professionalism, authority, credibility and trust, they will move on to someone else.

Take the time now to upgrade your online presence. Start with creating a compelling LinkedIn profile as that is often the first place someone looks when considering doing business with someone. If you are not completely proud of how you present yourself on LinkedIn, how will anyone else be impressed or trust that you are someone they can trust when times are harder?

RESOURCE: In my new LinkedIn Leads video series, the first video is called How to Create a Magnetic LinkedIn Profile that Attracts Your Ideal Clients. Click here for instant access.

4. Employment will become very unstable, and the job market will become a hyper-competitive bloodbath.

The sad reality of an economic downturn like this is that people will lose their jobs as businesses look to cut costs to survive.

A few things will flow from this:

Those who have lost their jobs will try to start their own home business because big companies won’t be hiring.

For freelancers and consultants, the competition will be intense. Labor costs will come down, and freelancers and consultants charging excessive rates will be replaced by those who will provide the same service for far less. Many will turn to low-cost overseas labor, regardless of the threat it could have to overall quality and service.

Even self-employed people will happily accept a job to provide some level of financial security to their families.

5. Social selling will become more important than ever, but only those who have taken the time to learn to do it right will see any results.

Social selling is so much more than pumping out content, finding leads on LinkedIn, sending connection requests, then giving them the hard sell.

Those who attempt to do social selling this way will be wasting a lot of time and see next to no results. In fact, the end result will be the same as in the point number 2 above.

Social selling is about building relationships with your prospects and establishing trust and authority using social media and other digital marketing tactics. To succeed, it’s crucial you pay attention to your prospects’ needs, goals, problems and desires, meet them where they are at on the buyer’s journey, and position your company or service as the perfect solution.

It takes time, dedication and strategic planning to achieve. But when it’s done right, your lead generation efforts are maximized, and client conversion becomes inevitable.

RESOURCE: In the LinkedIn Leads video series, the second video is called How to Find, Engage and Convert LinkedIn Connections into Clients. Click here to access the series.

6. People and companies will cut all non-essential expenses. Their budgets will be reserved mostly for products/services that can make them or save them money.

Marketing companies and agencies will drop like flies, because people and companies will reduce their marketing budgets. They will only invest in the marketing approaches they can tie a specific ROI to, such as lead generation.

When the economy tanks, an organization’s focus narrows. It focuses on the activities that not just make money, but deliver the most bang for the buck. Every expense they look at now needs to fit the equation of low cost = high return.

After all, why would a business spend $1 if it wasn’t guaranteed a $2 return?

We know that isn’t always possible, but that is the lens through which your services will be viewed.

The question for any small business, consultancy, or solo service provider now in survival mode is this: How do you make/save money for your clients?

If you can answer that question by demonstrating a strong ROI to your clients, your chances of continuing to work with them will increase exponentially.

And if you can increase your value to them, you’ll be worth your weight in gold.

7. It will be survival of the fittest. Fly-by-nighters will pop up everywhere, and although they won’t last long, they could do irreparable damage to some.

Where there is money to be made, you will find dishonest, unqualified, inexperienced hustlers who make all the promises in the world, take your money and run!

This is true across any industry. There will always be dishonest people who can see an opportunity to benefit themselves to the financial detriment of others.

Check your newsfeeds right now. Do you see smooth-talkers making big claims about how you can earn tons of money with very little effort? Somehow these “gurus” have the SECRET!

If you’re looking to invest in education and services to help your business move forward, do your due diligence. It only takes a bit of digging on the internet to uncover someone’s credentials and reputation, and I want you to make an informed decision that will give you a good return on your investment.

The consequences of working with someone who can’t deliver on what they promise could be dire for your business.

Just today, I received an email from a man asking for my help. He had used the services of a virtual assistant in the Philippines claiming to be a LinkedIn expert. The outcome was his account was “Permanently Restricted.” All those years of building up a network, and it’s gone when he needs it most.

Even worse is the impact on your reputation and the degree of trust people have in you. Trust takes years to build. It can sustain a business in hard times, but it takes only the tiniest spark to see it burn down, taking your business with it. Be extremely careful.

And if you’re someone offering services, I truly mean it when I say it is survival of the fittest. You need to deliver exceptional value and service to your clients, which should eventually lead to referrals of more work for you. And don’t be shy about talking up your strengths and successes as long as you do it in a professional and humble manner. People generally have a good radar, and if you conduct yourself professionally, with honesty, humility and generosity, including in your marketing, people will want to work with you.

How to Protect Your Business in a Recession

Times are tough, and they will get tougher.

But if you take some pain upfront, you can sandbag your business against the economic waves lapping at your door and even set yourself up for a stronger future.

If there’s one thing that tighter budgets do, they make you look at your business in a way you may never have before. Use this to your advantage: look not just for budget efficiencies, but operational ones too.

You might be surprised at what you find, and you will potentially find that over the medium- to long-term, your business will end up stronger than before.

But before that, you have to make some decisions. The following is what I think of as the essential low-hanging fruit that every business needs to grab to protect itself from a recession.

Put all your costs under the microscope.

Any non-essential expenses need to go, at least for now. Anything that doesn’t give you a strong ROI needs to be reconsidered seriously.

Are you efficient? Assess your processes and how you do business day to day.

Your time, and your staff’s time, is one of the most precious commodities you have. Use it wisely. Similarly, assess your tools of production, such as software. Do you really need 5-10+ different technology tools? What can you teach yourself to do, outsource cheaply or go without?

Make smart investments in things that can grow your business.

This is a real opportunity to identify skills gaps in your own toolbox and that of your people. Investing in education could lead to another revenue stream for you, greater efficiency, or a saving on labor costs – if, e.g., you do certain tasks in-house instead of outsourcing them. Make an effort to be more self-sufficient.

Don’t stop marketing, but laser focus on one to two things that offer the biggest return for the lowest outlay, and commit as much time and money as you can to those.

Look at all the data related to your marketing costs. If it doesn’t clearly generate business, it has to go. Now is not the time to waste money dabbling in every platform, channel and medium because you’re scared of missing out.

Make lead generation a priority. But do it the right way.

If you think lead generation means spamming people’s inboxes with your offer multiple times a day, you’re actually hurting your business. And please don’t fall for all these “magic bullet” automations that promise to find you leads while you sleep. Lead generation is about building relationships, and that takes time. But in the long run, it makes for stronger businesses. And if you’ve been swamped with work up until now, this period is the perfect time to reignite relationships fallen by the wayside. You never know what old contacts have been up to or how you might be able to help them.

Lower your risk tolerance.

Reduce risk in all areas of your business and even in your personal life. Even though the market is down and there may be some great deals to be had, now is not the time to lease a new car or take any unnecessary financial risks.

Weather the Economic Storm

The economic storm clouds are gathering.

Sadly, many businesses will hit the wall through a combination of poor planning, poor decision-making and a stubborn refusal to adapt to the new climate.

But if you are nimble, open-minded, analytical and decisive, you can batten down the hatches until it passes.

But more than that, you can be primed for success – especially if you take this as an opportunity to ramp up your lead generation efforts and fit your offer to your market.

Your level of client service and social selling skills will be crucial if you want to keep ahead of your competitors and stay top of mind with current and potential clients.

Yes, price is always a consideration when people are looking to invest/cut back on products and services, but if you enjoy strong relationships with your clients, provide exceptional service and knowledge, and have a great offer, you don’t have to engage in a race to the bottom and cut your pricing to the bone.

But you do need to be smart. I’d recommend you start planning now.

The truth is life will change in the foreseeable future – both personally and professionally. And it’s our ability to adapt that decides who survives, then thrives, once the storm passes. And it will pass. Even the darkest, deepest recessions and bear markets eventually turn. And when that happens, the winners will be those who were brave enough to make smart, at times tough, decisions to keep the show on the road.

I don’t want to add fear amidst all the uncertainty already out there. Far from it. I simply believe it’s always best to be prepared for uncertainty and to insulate yourself against it the best you can. There is real opportunity, even now. I hope you can see this and take the chance to recalibrate and reposition your business for future success.

Now, more than ever, you need to drop your cost of client acquisition and find effective zero or low-cost cost methods to generate the leads that will keep your business going.

But be cautious about the advice you take – there are sharks out there. Avoid automation and cookie-cutter solutions – focus on relationship building.

You are most welcome to attend my free webinar – The Ultimate LinkedIn Lead Generation System – to learn an ethical and effective relationship-building method. Click here to register.

Now is the perfect time to arm yourself with the tools you need to weather this storm so you can come out on the other side. Be well, and stay connected to those around you.

The post The Impact of Coronavirus: A Looming Recession and How You Can Protect Your Business appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

The Impact of Coronavirus: A Looming Recession and How You Can Protect Your Business published first on https://likesandfollowersclub.wordpress.com

[redabiz2]

Traits Of An Exceptional Home Health Care Northern Michigan Expert

By John Taylor

In many countries, people are suffering due to lack of proper health facilities and medication. Some of the community members have attained senior age, and it gets difficult to move for long distances, seeking for treatment. However, you can access medication near your premises by hiring professional in this field becomes the best option. Factors to consider when hiring home health care Northern Michigan services are discussed in this abstract. Tending to patients that are at their homes needs doctors who are close to the place, and who can respond fast. They should work in clinics that are near to the home of a patient. Visit the nearest facilities and inquire if they offer the services. Seek advice from colleagues or use the chance of the visit to ask the clinicians to request on other clinics that they are aware they hire doctors to treat at homes. To select a clinic that will provide an expert to provide home medical care needs you to be curtained of their reputation. The patient may be in a critical situation, and you cannot afford to contract someone who does not have the ability to tend well to your relative. Request the clinics to hand you the records of practitioners they are giving you. Look at their working history, to ensure they have a good history with positive recommendations from clients they have served. The health facility that you contract to take care of your relative must be qualified. The purpose of having them at your place is to ensure that the ailing gets well soon. Being treated by unqualified practitioners will have no positive impact on the treatment instead drugs that they prescribe could negatively affect patients. Verify their educational documents, and make sure they are not forgery work. Original documents have seals from the medical, educational institutes. Work licenses are controlled by the governing authorities, and they check all qualifications before they allow you to get the document. The authorities move around looking for businesses operating without the license and close and charge places that operate illegally. Health practitioners must be licensed by the medical authority. Doctors found with malpractices are banned, and their license is taken from them. Ensure the ones you hire have their valid license. Experience improves the skills of the practitioner, and the number of years they have served under the medical sector helps them to be familiar with all challenges and problems that may face at work. They understand well all the procedures of treating all the diseases they have been dealing with in their working time. Patients need a friendly doctor who will always talk to them and give them hope of getting better. Despite the intense of the sickness or how bad the patient is, injured the doctor must be kind to the patient. Also, they must practice high levels of hygiene. The equipment they use must be cleaned and sterilized, and rooms of the patient kept neat. The treatment process could be expensive especially if the patient suffers a chronic illness that has complicated treatments. The clinic should give an option of using the medical coverage of the patient. Choose the facility that is cheap and has the right treatment plan. Do not choose the cheapest with unqualified practitioners.

About the Author:

Find an overview of the advantages of using home health care Northern Michigan services and more info about a reputable home care company at http://ift.tt/2lF64kG today.

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[health-fitnessnow]

Traits Of An Exceptional Home Health Care Northern Michigan Expert

By John Taylor

In many countries, people are suffering due to lack of proper health facilities and medication. Some of the community members have attained senior age, and it gets difficult to move for long distances, seeking for treatment. However, you can access medication near your premises by hiring professional in this field becomes the best option. Factors to consider when hiring home health care Northern Michigan services are discussed in this abstract. There are many clinics in town, and not all of them hire their doctors for private practices. You have to research on the facilities that are ready to give their doctor to tend your long-suffering relative. There are many of these clinics, but identifying needs you to be informed. Many people have hired them. Ask your neighbors to direct you to clinics that provide the service. To select a clinic that will provide an expert to provide home medical care needs you to be curtained of their reputation. The patient may be in a critical situation, and you cannot afford to contract someone who does not have the ability to tend well to your relative. Request the clinics to hand you the records of practitioners they are giving you. Look at their working history, to ensure they have a good history with positive recommendations from clients they have served. The health facility that you contract to take care of your relative must be qualified. The purpose of having them at your place is to ensure that the ailing gets well soon. Being treated by unqualified practitioners will have no positive impact on the treatment instead drugs that they prescribe could negatively affect patients. Verify their educational documents, and make sure they are not forgery work. Original documents have seals from the medical, educational institutes. Licensing board controls whoever gets the document. The authorities have the work license paid for to operate in the city. Those who try to dodge the payment have their business closed down and are fined for operating without legal documents. The licensing is done after business people acquire all documents of registration and are proved by the quality standard board that they have attained the required standards. The clinic should also work with licensed doctors. The years the doctors have served could be of help. The task involves looking at someone and trying to ought to weigh the symptoms and think of possible sickness that patients are suffering. With experience, the nurse can give the diseases to be tested without hesitating. The ailments are treated fast unlike in a situation of an inexperienced practitioner who will take the whole year before they discover the ailment. Patients need a friendly doctor who will always talk to them and give them hope of getting better. Despite the intense of the sickness or how bad the patient is, injured the doctor must be kind to the patient. Also, they must practice high levels of hygiene. The equipment they use must be cleaned and sterilized, and rooms of the patient kept neat. The medical board regulates the rates and prices of the services that are offered in clinics. However, all clinics do not charge the same, equate their price and choose the cheapest clinicians. The experts should not overcharge you because of the bad situation of an ailing person.

About the Author:

Find an overview of the advantages of using home health care Northern Michigan services and more info about a reputable home care company at http://ift.tt/2lF64kG today.

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