#definitely not ready to call these guys the next adobe

[inkabelledesigns]

Today I'm gonna talk about some things that are not the norm for me. Clip Studio Paint has announced that Version 2 of their program will have a subscription based model for its updates, and a lot of people are upset about it. I absolutely get why, I'm not happy about it either, but I wanna look at this a little more to see what we’re dealing with and talk about why it’s a concern.

It’s important to link your sources, so here’s the article from the CSP team that talks about what’s coming down the pipeline, so that you can come to your own conclusions if you choose to read it for yourself.

https://www.clipstudio.net/en/news/202208/22_01/

Before I talk about what Clip is doing, let me give you some context on my background with Clip as well as where I come from as an artist. I was a graphic design major for four years at two different schools, and after graduation, I worked at yet another school in IT, and a lot of why they wanted me in that job was because I could help the art students. I dealt with the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite for a long time, learned a lot about open source software, and have been recommending Clip for years because of my experiences with those other programs.

One of the reasons Clip Studio Paint is so beloved by many artists is because it’s a one time purchase. I got my copy of it on sale for $25 back in 2016. It is now 2022, and I have continued to use it reliably for all this time. It still functions on the most recent system I have, Windows 11, and the program has been receiving updates for years so it can still function. What’s happening right now is that Version 1, which is the version all of us have right now in 2022, is going to stop receiving updates. Clip Studio Paint Version 2 is currently being worked on to replace it, and THAT is what is being given a subscription service. Version 1 users like myself are fine. They aren’t making us pay for Version 1 again, and we’ll still get bug fixes for a little while until they release Version 3, which is a ways away. The only question that really remains there is how long they’ll still sell Version 1 going into 2023, and that we don’t know. Version 2 is the thing that’s going to have a subscription service, but the base program is a flat fee that they say should be similar to the original price of Version 1. Given Version 1 is a very reasonable price (even more so on sale), this is good news. So the idea is that you pay for the program upfront and can keep it forever, but if you want to have any of the cool new features that come as they update it, you have to pay an annual subscription fee. Clip has offered a ton of updates to the program over the years, so I’m imagining this is going to be in the form of new tools that take a lot of effort to program. Like it took us years to get stuff like the liquify tool, the ability to import Photoshop brushes, and a timelapse feature into Version 1, and if they’re gonna keep adding stuff like that, it takes a lot of time, effort, and funding. Usually when an art program requires a completely new version, it’s because they need a new system to more efficiently code everything in. It’s why you saw Adobe’s suites of CS1 through CS6, or why the Sims needs a new base game to implement something like wheelchairs, the current iteration would need to be massively reworked to have certain new features, it makes more sense to just build something new that can better accommodate it. I don’t know what exactly it is they’re adding that warrants a whole new version, but I’m curious to find out. Clearly there must be some testing going on, right? The thing that I think we’re all concerned about is what Version 2′s base version will include. Like, is it going to be a bare bones, stripped down version that’s a cash grab to use any of the basic or fancy tools? Or is it going to be like the Clip we know now with some minor/major improvements? After all, Clip has a lot you can do with it. I love that every tool has stabilization options (I’ve got a disability that affects my fine motor skills, so that’s a godsent for my line art), and that importing of Photoshop brushes has genuinely changed my art game, there’s so many paths that’s opened up for me as an artist. At the same time, there’s a lot of tools that I just, don’t use in Clip, they aren’t a part of my workflow. The thing about an annual subscription is that there’s a lot I just won’t utilize, but a choice few things I probably would use, and I’d rather have the option to just pick and choose the tools I want for a price and keep them forever. I dunno how difficult that would be to code, so I understand if they can’t do that, but if possible, I think that’d be a better way to tackle this. That takes the pressure of a time limit or a lack of internet connection away, which is something a subscription service introduces into the mix that’s unnecessary.

When a lot of artists saw this, I think we all jumped to the conclusion that this is just like what Adobe did. For those of you who don’t use the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, let me fill you in. I had to use it as a college student, as it’s the industry standard for graphic design and other creative fields, and I had to work with it a lot when I worked in IT, as my primary task was helping art students navigate it (when I wasn’t fixing printers). The Creative Cloud is a collection of all of Adobe’s programs, and it’s subscription based. You pay for it for a year or two for hundreds of dollars, get access to all of their programs or just the Photoshop bundle, and you renew again when it runs out. The price wasn’t reasonable back in 2018, even with a Student Discount like I had, and after my two years ran out, I did not renew. I turn off auto renewal by default on all my programs, but if you were an unlucky soul that didn’t, and you forgot to cancel, you were in for a nasty surprise. They charge a cancellation fee that’s almost as much as the software itself, which is just unreasonable. The need for an internet connection to log into this suite and verify it was also obnoxious, it made it so much less accessible for people without a consistent connection. Updates were done sloppily, some straight up broke the programs, features would be removed or replaced without any sort of warning, especially during auto-updates, and it was just, a hassle. The fact that you never had a base version of the programs sucked, but even worse was that you ended up paying for a bunch of stuff you didn’t need. I only needed Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign for my school work and most graphic design stuff, unless you go into stuff with video and motion graphics, then you needed After Effects and Premiere, but like, I didn’t need the rest of it. Sure, because I had it, I learned how to use Audition, and one class for one project made me use Flash, but I didn’t need them all the time. If I’d had more room to customize my package, it would’ve been better, that sucked.

But the biggest thing Adobe did that pissed people off was try to take away people’s older versions of the software. Yeah, because you have to log into your Adobe account to activate the codes for everything, they have an eye on you, and they sent tons of users messages that their versions were “illegitimate” and that they had to upgrade. It was scummy as heck. Using an older version of software that you have paid for (which wasn’t cheap mind you) should not make it illegitimate, you don’t just change the terms of the user agreement/contract without warning, how dare you. Thankfully there are tons of guides to bypass this, but like, there shouldn’t have to be, it’s ridiculous. Thankfully CSP’s team has not done that, and if they know what’s good for them, they won’t ever do that.

I’ve seen a lot of people screaming on Twitter they’re going to pirate CSP as a result of these changes, and I kind of need them to chill out for a second. Look, what you do on your own time is your business, as long as you understand what the consequences are of your actions, far be it from me to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. But one of the consequences of screaming you’ll pirate things is that it puts pressure on the company to make their stuff harder to pirate and harder for those of us who use it legitimately. So in the interest of trying to keep Clip accessible, could we please just, be a little more thoughtful in public? Not to mention like, there’s tons of open source software out there that’s really good, and I feel like it’d be more productive to go and uplift those programs rather than use illegal copies of stuff. Like I get it, I had a cracked version of Paint Tool Sai when I started out with art, because I didn’t know any better and it came from a friend who didn’t disclose all the information about it. Just, there are so many issues with creating artwork for stuff like commissions on an illegal version of a piece of software, and the last thing I want is to see my fellow artists get into trouble with the law. 

A lot of people are recommending alternatives to Clip Studio Paint. While you can still use Version 1 until your computer’s hardware no longer supports it (which is likely for a good long while), I think that’s still a good thing to look into. Knowing a variety of programs can be a useful skill, though I support working in a way that you vibe with if there isn’t an industry standard to comply with (that’s why Adobe gets away with half the stuff they pull, until someone knocks them out of being the standard, they can do whatever they want). What you’re looking for is likely going to be paid software if you want something with the level of quality Clip has. For artists like me that need stabilization, that’s a bit harder, I know Sai has it, but Sai was tricky to figure out how to purchase, and I hope that’s changed since the last time I looked (also has Sai 2 come out? I haven’t kept up with this). I know Krita has it, and Krita is open source, meaning it’s free and legal to use, but the interface is a little confusing to use and has a steep learning curve, but it’s almost comparable to Photoshop. I mean if it’s good enough for one of the primary artists on Freedom Planet 2 to replace their entire Adobe Suite for it, then clearly it must have something going for it (and it does, painting, photo editing, and animation are all things you can do in it). But for some people, maybe FireAlpaca is a better fit, another great open source program. Highly encourage my younger/inexperienced digital artists out there to check out open source stuff when you’re learning before upgrading to a paid for software, it’s a good testing ground. And when you do have the cash for something shiny and new, consider going to Humble Bundle. While I have yet to see a painting/illustration program grace their page, they have tons of great deals on software packages, and the proceeds benefit a wide variety of charities. It’s how I got my video editing software of choice, Vegas Pro 16, for a very affordable price, and I love it, so always worth keeping an eye out for bundles and deals. If you’re looking for an app that works on mobile platforms, I can’t really help you there, but I encourage you to talk to artists that work in those spaces to learn from them. I’m not really into mobile art, I’m solidly a pen tablet and desktop girl, but if that’s the best way for your workflow, go for it!

Last point and then I’m done. Clip is known for being accessible, and I’m concerned about how accessible the new versions will be after this. There are a lot of people that come to mind when I think about a change to a subscription service model. I think about the students I used to work with that couldn't afford the software in addition to school, especially the ones that struggled to focus on the lab environment due to how loud and distracting it got. When you only have so much class time and don’t have a program at home to do your homework on, art studies are a nightmare. I think of the people who don't use technology a bunch and have a hard time navigating changes when they don't speak the language. I think of the people who live in the middle of nowhere or don't have access to consistent internet that can't download new updates so easily. I think of the teenagers who are just getting into digital art but can't make any decisions without a parent who has the credit card/needs to approve of said software. I think of the parents who don't understand the technology and why you'd need a subscription service. I think about the artists struggling with mental health stuff and physical/mental disabilities who can't fully utilize a subscription to get more bang for their buck, given how their bodies will fight against them in ways they can't always predict. I think of the artists with burnout who will waste their subscription for months when they can't get back up to create for a while. I think about the professionals and artists who take commissions that have deadlines, who need software functionality, fighting with their program at 3 in the morning when things go horribly wrong.

I think about all of these people and just how much more difficult this whole digital art thing becomes for them when a subscription based model is introduced, how much more complicated it gets. I've seen all of them get screwed over by the Adobe Creative Suite, I don't want to see the same happen to them with Clip Studio Paint. I don't want to see a change in policy that makes this more difficult for everyone on all sides of it. I want the consumer to have fair choices about what they can do going forward as well as Clip's development team gaining enough revenue so that they can continually improve the software and have stable income for their employees. The people who code these art programs work hard to do what they do, coding is not easy, and I want to see them continue with it and have a comfortable income situation throughout the process, just as I want to see my fellow artists succeed in their fields with a comfortable income and personal fulfillment. At the end of the day, the summary is this: Clip Version 1 is fine, nothing is happening to it. Clip Version 2 is coming and has an annual subscription based service for adding new features to the program, along with an option to have just the base program with one payment with no extra features. We don’t know what the base program will look like or what features they’ll be adding in via the service, and it’s hard to make a judgment call as to whether or not it’s worth it without those details. This is a lot of waiting and seeing.

And if we want this to change, we should have a constructive dialogue about it where/when we can, along with using their website feedback form, so that the CSP team understands our concerns and we can find a solution together. There have been many times in the past where they’ve come to us, the user base, to talk about what should be improved with the program, and it benefits all parties for us listen to each other and talk about this like civilized adults. It is reasonable to be upset about this decision and express that, and it would also be in our best interest to be thoughtful about how we choose to express it and resolve it. I’ll admit, I jumped the gun a little when hearing about these changes (granted it was 1 in the morning and I was not in my right mind, but still, I should have behaved more like an adult, should not have broken my rule about not using social media after 9 pm). I get why people are concerned, no one wants to see a good program fall apart or destroy itself, and when you see the big dogs like Adobe doing it, you know everyone will want a piece of the action and copy it. Hopefully this is not the case here. I’m concerned for what the future will bring, because I love this program and I want to be able to use it for a long time, but I’m also hopeful. Thank you for reading, here’s sending you good vibes for the rest of your day.

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

Elliot, Just a Tech

Summary: Plagued by not having Admin rights on your work computer, you contact the IT department expecting to talk to your usual guy. However, you are greeted by someone new.

A/N: Consider this post-show

WC: 2596

Warnings: None

You looked over the icons on your desktop for the eleventh time, dragging the old version of Adobe into the trash for the tenth time, and growling with frustration as the error message appeared for what felt like the hundredth time.

Please enter an Administrator’s Username and Password.

After the great email phishing scam the month prior, the IT department had been directed to revoke all employee’s Admin rights to their computers. It wasn’t your fault your colleagues were too dumb to realize that you should not click on email that has been flagged as spam, even if it is a version of your boss’s name: Mattthew Whitman has scheduled a meeting with you at 9 pm!

As if Matthew spelled with three ts wasn’t enough to deter someone, scheduling a meeting at 9 at night should have been, not to mention the exclamation point to top it all off—no one ever enthusiastically scheduled a meeting. Ever.

Alas, no less than 13 people had opened the email, severely compromising the integrity of the network.

You needed to get rid of the old version of Adobe in order for your network’s cloud to allow the download of the updated version, so you were left with no choice but to submit a ticket to the IT department.

You and Matt, no relation to Mattthew your boss, had had several Zoom sessions since the start of the quarantine, mostly thanks to your need to actually get some work done. With so many more people on your network, the IT department was doing the best it could to make sure everyone was achieving basic functionality.

Opening a new work order, you quickly filled in your information and snapped a screen shot of the error message. In less than a minute, you had an email inviting you to a Zoom session.

“Matt’s really on it today,” you said while opening the link and waiting for him to start the session.

You had just glanced away to check your To-Do list when someone opened the Zoom session and you paused, staring at the downturned face of someone who was definitely not Matt.

“Hi,” you greeted awkwardly.

“Hi,” he answered, still not looking into the camera.

“Where’s Matt?”

The stranger looked into the camera, clearly caught off-guard.

“Uh, he’s off today.”

“So they finally unchained him from his desk—good for him!”

The stranger’s eyes widened a little in amusement, but he didn’t smile which caused your grin to quickly fade.

“Are you . . .” the stranger trailed off as he glanced at his other desktop monitor. “Y/N?”

“I am. And you are?”

“Elliot.”

“Are you the new Supervisor they were hiring for last week?”

“Nope. Just a Tech.”

“All right. Well, hi, Elliot, just a Tech. I’m in dire need of installing an update, which I cannot do because my colleagues are dumbasses.”

This time Elliot did smile, and you found yourself reaching up to fix the wild bun on the top of your head, wishing you had actually taken some time out not to look like a troll who had crawled out from under its bridge.

“I see that you can’t install Adobe’s update without administrative permission.”

“Yup. That’s my issue, I think.”

“I want to try something first,” Elliot said, concentrating on the task at hand as he looked away from the camera and to his other monitor.

“Can you locate your system preferences? You can find it by clicking on the appl-“

“Done. What do you want me to go into?”

Elliot looked back into the camera, then gave you a series of steps which you quickly followed.

“I am only semi-illiterate when it comes to technology,” you said, trying again to get him to smile and this time it worked.

Elliot adjusted his headset and lowered his eyes as he grinned. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to explain over the past few days.”

“Oh, I would absolutely believe them. I’ve talked three people in my department off a ledge just by explaining the magical powers of “Command + Z.”

Elliot chuckled, and the sound of his laughter filtering through the mic on his headset made you want to stay on the call as long as you could stretch it out.

“It looks like the program is not responding. I’ll need to take remote control of your desktop.”

“Have at it.”

You watched as Elliot worked, waiting for your mouse to start moving across the screen, but nothing happened.

“Uh, do you have any error messages on your end?”

“Nope.”

“Let me try one more thing,” Elliot mumbled, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

You sat quietly, letting him work, which gave you an excuse to just look at him and the more you looked at him, the more attractive you realized he was.

Elliot had a stylish haircut, although it looked like his fade had grown in quite a bit thanks to the lockdown. Tufts of straight black hair stood up on either side of his headset and you wondered if they’d be stiff or soft to the touch. His eyes were large, clearly the most enticing of the features of his face, except for his angular jaw that made you softly smile in appreciation of its masculinity. Elliot may consider himself “just a Tech,” but he was a damn good looking one.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” you blurted out, forgetting all of your manners thanks to the lack of social interaction.

Elliot fumbled as he was typing and looked into the camera, his lips parted.

“Oh, lord. That came out . . . blunt. I asked because Matt’s been loving working from home. His wife just had a baby and even though he’s chained up in his home office at all hours of the day he still gets to spend time with the people he cares about. Which is what I was trying to ask you—if you were enjoying working from home.” You finished with an awkward laugh, and a barrage of mental curses to yourself.

Elliot’s lip turned up with a quirk. “My sister stops by to bring supplies, but I live alone.”

“Oh—well, that’s nice you have someone to interact with. I still see my sister, too.”

“I like this. Not having to interact with people.”

“The only downside is the verbal vomit you spew when talking to someone new because you no longer understand social protocol.”

Elliot laughed again, that same breathy little chuckle that upgraded from drawing your attention to making you shift in your chair.

“I’ve never been particularly adept at social protocol. Hence . . . just a Tech.”

You laughed and Elliot must have liked the sound because he stopped to watch you, his eyes flicking over your face through the camera.

“You need to update the Zoom app for me to take over your desktop. I don’t know why yours seems to have this glitch, but are you ready for the steps?”

You grabbed your pen and a fresh post-it. “Lay it on me, Tech.”

Elliot smirked, then listed the steps. “I’m going to close the call, but as soon as you’ve completed the steps, click on our Zoom link again.”

“Got it!”

Your eyes connected and lingered for just a moment before Elliot closed out the call.

You missed him immediately.

“Oh, Matt. If I had known Zoom calls could be like this, I’d have dumped you long ago.”

You shook your head to clear it and began to go through the steps Elliot had listed for you. You wanted to get this right to prove to him that you weren’t incompetent.

Having successfully, and quickly, completed all of the steps on your Post-it, you reinitiated the Zoom meeting.

“You’re quick.”

“I’m sure you’re much, much faster,” you said.

“I can only go as fast as the web connection, unfortunately,” Elliot replied, staring into his other monitor again.

“Let’s try this again—remember the steps to give me remote access?”

“I think so . . .” you said, trailing off as you began to click.

You paused, then your mouse began to move without you.

“Excellent job,” Elliot praised and you knew you wanted him to praise you again . . . preferably away from a computer, maybe in a bedroom—

“All right. So I need to delete, reinstall, and wait for an error message that’s been popping up making this a little harder for people to do themselves.”

You watched Elliot control your computer, and once he got to a point where the app was updating, he paused and turned back to the camera.

“About that girlfriend thing you asked me earlier. Are you seeing . . . anyone?”

“I was . . . about six months ago. By the time I was ready to get back on the horse, the plague struck.”

Elliot chuckled. “Not exactly the best time to start dating.”

“No,” you said softly laughing, too. “I agree with you, about the whole nice not seeing people thing, though. For me, it’s more about setting my own schedule. I get so much more done without constant interruptions just to chat.”

“Kinda like we are now?”

“Hey! We are waiting on a signal to go to space and come back. It’s only polite to give it some time so it doesn’t feel like it’s being watched—like a watched pot never boils kinda thing.”

Elliot smiled, his eyes meeting yours and lingering as you smiled back.

A new box popped up breaking your eye contact and Elliot went back to work.

“Fixed. You shouldn’t have to worry about the next update. We’ve been reporting this glitch regularly so the developers should have it fixed by then.”

“Thanks, Elliot. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my job,” he said with a slight shrug.

“Well, enjoy the rest of your afternoon,” you said, wishing you had a reason to stay connected.

“Yeah.” Elliot replied, looking at you again with those hypnotic, grey-blue eyes. If they could impress you through a screen, imagine what they looked like in person. “You too.”

You smiled at each other and when neither of you closed the call, you both laughed, Elliot looking a little shy and you looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ll close it. Don’t forget to fill in your survey so big brother knows I did my job.”

“Five-star service, all the way!”

Elliot chuckled again, and you shivered this time, the sound of his voice working its way through your entire body, filling you with a pleasant warmth.

“Bye,” he said, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he ended the meeting.

When the session closed out, you began to think of ways to break your computer so you needed to talk to him again, but before you could pull a purposefully dumbass move like downloading a virus, a sticky note popped up on your desktop.

212 555 0179

Probably breaking work protocol, but text me sometime if you want.

~Elliot, just a Tech

“Oh my god!” you gasped, glancing up at your camera to make sure you really were disconnected, unable to shake that feeling like someone was watching you. You reached for your packet of stickers and placed a fresh one over the camera of your computer—better paranoid than sorry!

“Should I text him now? Is that desperate? Or is it mean to make him wait? Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you said, pacing around your small office space.

“Just a simple hello,” you decided. “First, gotta find my phone.”

After walking through your apartment, you found your phone in the kitchen, unsurprisingly because snacking had become your favorite hobby since the lockdown began. It was a blessing and curse to be able to eat whenever you wanted.

You took your cell back to your computer and smiled again at Elliot’s virtual Post-it note and typed in his number and contact information.

Hi, Elliot ☺️

Hi, Y/N. I hope your emoji means I didn’t creep you out

That’s what this one 😱 is for

Lol. Got it. I don’t really do the emoji thing. They kinda confuse me

Well then! Maybe that’s why we met? You know all the real techy stuff, and I know all the silly techy stuff. I can teach you to emoji like a boss 😎

Sunglasses = boss? Shades? Because bosses are shady?

🤣more like the shades mean you’re just too cool to care. Like a boss attitude. But actually 🤔that’s a really great analysis!

See? Confusing 👽

Confusing as in no one knows what’s really “out there” huh? Wow. I like your way of emojiying (new word, just go with it)

Lol really?

I do!

Can I ask you something?

Sure

Which emoji makes you think of me?

👀🦋💬🧸🧨 😰📱😃  

You stared at Elliot’s text, a goofy grin on your face as you tried to puzzle out his emoji story. The eyes, okay, but the rest was sort of a mystery.

Lol! I need to do this in pieces so you can tell me if I’m right or wrong

Ok

So, you saw me and thought I was nice? Pretty? Delicate?

Lol pretty

Ok. Thanks, btw. We talked and then, oh boy, this is tough. An exploding bear? Talking to me made you feel like you were going to die? This is not good.

🤣 Poor choice of the firecracker, clearly, but take them as two separate things. What do you associate with a teddy bear?

Um, childhood . . . safety? Protection?

Close! Warm, safe. You seem like a warm, safe person to talk to.

I am grinning like an idiot right now. You are so sweet. But on to the firecracker? Wait! Like sassy? Like I have a firecracker personality?

Yes! You’re funny in a forward, witty way. I guess the “She’s a real firecracker” thing might be a bit outdated.

I LOVE IT. I gotta keep going now. This part is easy, I think. Sooo even though you felt nervous, you took a chance and left me your cell, and now you know it was a good choice because you made me happy.

Almost—when you texted, it made ME happy. Hence 😃 and I have big eyes so I used the big eye happy face.

I.am.dying. That’s the cutest thing anyone has ever done over a text in the history of the world!

Lol. Is there a dramatic emoji because I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is that great.

This WAS great. I’m serious

Do you wanna maybe have dinner over Zoom? God how lame is that?

You respect the quarantine—not lame at all. I’d love to!

They let me unchain myself around 6. I’ll send you a link at 7?

Perfect! But what are we going to order? Shouldn’t we order from the same place to make it more authentic?

Do you like Chinese?

Who doesn’t?

You looked at the location Elliot sent and laughed with the irony that it was your favorite take-out spot.

How did you know that was my favorite take-out spot?

Lucky guess 🤷🏽‍♂️

Well, lucky Elliot who is just a Tech. I’ll “see” you at 7. If we order the same dinner, I’ll consider it a sign that we are meant to take over the world together by eliminating one dumbass’s access to a computer at a time 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Lol except that would leave me out of a job

We will find you something more meaningful, I promise

Make me a list 😃

You got it! Can’t wait for 7 ☺️

Me either

* * * * *

Tags: @ramimedley @clumsybookworm18 @r-ahh-mi @aboutthatmelancholystorm​ @alottanothing​ @sherlollydramoine​ @txmel​ @diasimar​ @hah0106​ @flipper-kisses​ @rami-malek-trash​ @ramisgirl512​ @dancing-disco-deacy​ @just-a-queen-bee​ @eightiesriot​

Maybe a Part II? 

[randykopplin]

New Post has been published on https://randykopplin.com/markethive-ahead-of-the-rest-inbound-marketing-just-became-next-level/

MARKETHIVE - AHEAD OF THE REST Inbound Marketing just became Next Level

MARKETHIVE – AHEAD OF THE REST

Inbound Marketing just became “Next Level”. 

What is Inbound Marketing?

Over the years it has been proven that Inbound Marketing has been more successful in customer acquisition in B2B and B2C markets. People will not tune out to your messages. Period! Inbound Marketing is the process of attracting the attention of prospects, via content creation, before they are even ready to buy; it's one of the best and most cost-effective ways to convert strangers into customers and promoters of your business. 

Inbound Marketing platforms integrate blogging, email marketing, marketing automation, social media monitoring & publishing and analytics all in one. It also delivers landing pages and offers a content management system that assists you in optimizing your content. 

With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media. It offers better two-way communication where the prospect or customer can interact. When people participate they become engaged and invested in your message. This creates relationships and a sure-fire way to keep them long-term. 

  Inbound Marketing is perfect for Non-Marketers

Due to its very nature, inbound marketing doesn’t feel like marketing. Traditional marketing (outbound) takes a certain amount of aggressiveness, particularly cold calling. Inbound Marketing provides valuable content like infographics, white papers, and blog posts. This assists in attracting the optimal customer. It’s really not selling in the conventional way, therefore more attractive to those who feel uncomfortable with the old pushy image of “selling”. 

A substantial content marketing effort demands a significant investment of time and funds to produce income. Inbound marketing software reduces and streamlines your efforts by automating content creation, distribution, lead capture and management, analytics and measuring ROI.

    Notable Inbound Marketing Platforms 

Marketo was founded in 2006 and centers around the B2B market. Their tools manage the business cycle of a company and gather information to create itemized client profiles. These profiles enable you to determine definitive behavioral paths of leads and the content data is displayed relative to their current location in the sales funnel. They may mean either fundamental product information is presented to prospects in the inquiry stage or clients that are close to buying may receive a call from the sales department. 

Their tools include landing pages, email marketing, lead management, CRM integration, Social Marketing, Analytics, and reporting. Marketo, Inc. is a software company focused on account-based marketing, including email, mobile, social, digital ads, web management, and analytics. A notable feature of Marketo is its custom-built ROI reporting tools. Marketo requires a high level of technical ability and is well suited for marketing departments of larger-scale companies.

Prices range from $1,195/mth through to $25,000/mth. (billed annually)

Notably, Adobe purchased Marketo for a tidy sum of $4.75 Billion. Quoted from a recent ZDNET article, “Adobe just announced that it is buying marketing automation firm Marketo for $4.75 billion. The deal is Adobe's largest ever and puts the company in more direct competition with Oracle and Salesforce”.  

Hubspot was founded in 2005 and coined the phrase “inbound marketing”. It provides strong solutions for business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs including publishing content through a blog platform, attracting and managing an audience, messaging with prospects and reporting. The package allows you to create lead capture forms integrated with an email marketing platform. Also Social media engagement tools and SEO features. 

Additional services are also available. Custom consulting (starting at $10,000) offers professional hand-holding when needed and HubSpot classroom training ($500 per seat) can help bring new team members up to speed on the theories and methods of inbound marketing.

Pricing starting from Basic onboarding fee, $600, then $270/mth through to Enterprise Onboarding fee $5000, then $3,200/mth (billed annually)  

Markethive founded in 1996, operating as Veretekk first established “Inbound Marketing” which the company called “Automated Marketing” platforms. It has been a pioneer in professional and ethical online business systems, developing innovative and powerful tools for global communities of marketing professionals. Markethive’s mantra from the beginning has been to build systems “for the little guy and gal”. 

Markethive's functionalities include SEO features, Analytics, Customer Management System, Traffic Portals, Capture Page and Lead Creation, Profile Page, E-commerce portals, video conferencing, and Blogging Platform. Markethive plugs into all Social Media, simplifying your marketing efforts, with automated email campaigns allowing for lead flow into your designated business. Markethive incorporates collaboration and building relationships within the community.

They have significant training tutorials and weekly live support meetings. 

Pricing: Markethive’s entire lineup of Inbound Marketing tools is free for life. No limit on leads, no limit on email data. No limit on campaigns. (No Charge)

  Inbound Marketing is the technology and action that attracts customers through relevant and helpful content, adding value at every stage in your buyer’s journey moving them closer and closer to becoming a loyal fanatical client.

    But Wait…There’s More…

The beauty of Markethive is it is built on the Blockchain with its own Consumer Coin (MHV). This opens up a whole new world of opportunities, including owning a piece of Markethive. 

Markethive is an established company, (previously Veretekk), with proven technology taking it to the next level. 

    With the introduction and implementation of Blockchain and cryptocurrency, Markethive is currently in Beta preparing for the launch. While this is happening there is an opportunity for a limited time only to share in the imminent success of Markethive for a lifetime. 

Traditionally you would have to outlay big dollars for a share in a company, however, Markethive has made it easy for everyone to participate. 

  Entrepreneur One Upgrade – $100 monthly

The current Entrepreneur Upgrade is the premium highest level you will ever have the opportunity to acquire. It contains all the leveraged advantages you need to accelerate your success in Markethive. All the benefits are outlined here, but for the purpose of this blog, I want to concentrate on the matching bonus and accumulation of MHV which will in time be a valuable commodity for the Markethive ecosystem and of course you! 

As a free member, you now basically get to “try before you buy”  with the Free Member Associate Half-Life that has recently been introduced. This means for every person you invite to join you in Markethive, your referrals are kept for you as “Associates” and should you decide to upgrade to Entrepreneur status for $100 per month within the first 30 days of you joining, you will receive the 100% matching bonus of 500 MHV for every referral you invite. Upgrade at 31 – 60 days, you will receive a 50% matching bonus as illustrated in the image below, and so on. Notably, once you hit the 91+ day threshold you will permanently stay at a 10% matching bonus. 

     It really doesn’t take a lot of effort to offer a system as powerful and valuable as the Markethive system that also rewards new members with an immediate 500 coin reward. You can easily promote this and build 1000s of referrals that will add up to significant coins and customers.

It’s also important to keep in mind a Secondary Matching Airdrop Bonus is delivered to you when your associate customer upgrades to Entrepreneur. Markethive will airdrop them 100 coins and you will also receive 100 coins as a matching bonus.

And of course, let’s not forget about the Matching ILP Loyalty Program: Apart from your ILP Share you receive by upgrading personally, you also receive matching ILP shares for all Entrepreneur Upgrades that come via your account and exclusive ICO like portals. 

Exclusive loyalty award program assigns a 10% share of an ILP for every 12 months of consecutive payments towards the Entrepreneur program. This is only available for the first 1000 Entrepreneur upgrades. What that means is, your monthly payment is accrued and if you stay current for 12 straight months, we contribute to you a full 10% ILP and continue to offer this 12-month reward for 10 years which will then equate to 1 full ILP.  This offer is limited to the first 1000 active upgrades.

  Why Pay When It’s Free? 

Let’s face it, most Marketers and Entrepreneurs are paying for services such as Autoresponders, Capture Page Creators, tracking, etc, in separate and/or vertical companies. Now all that is combined and offered under one umbrella for free. So now you can allocate your money to more beneficial, lucrative and long-term projects. This is a tremendous opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the next generation Social Market Network taking advantage of the latest technology, leaving other platforms behind. Don’t get left behind. Join the Markethive, Blockchain and Crypto movement and set yourself up for lasting success with the Entrepreneur Upgrade. 

We are entering a new era of Inbound Marketing – On BLOCKCHAIN  with a Consumer Coin, the Markethive Coin. [MHV] 

      FOLLOW US ON…

Website: https://markethive.com 

Token Site: http://markethive.io/ 

Telegram: https://t.me/markethive_support

Twitter: https://twitter.com/markethive/

Github: https://github.com/markethive /  

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/markethive/  

Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/markethive

Medium: https://www.medium.com/@markethive

Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3309067.msg34535452#msg34535452 

Telegram News: t.me/Markethive

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/Markethive

Facebook: https://facebook.com/MarketHive

Youtube: https://youtube.com/Markethive

    Deb Williams Market Manager for Markethive, a global Market Network, and Writer for the Crypto/Blockchain Industry. Also a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech.  I embrace "Change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.   

Randy Kopplin

[greggreaen]

I GOT MARRIED!!! How I Planned my Wedding | Enchanted Oasis Part 1

AHHHHHH!!!!! I am officially married to my best friend, the love of my life, and my partner in everything…Sam Livits! After 10 years of being together, we walked down the aisle, said our vows in front of all of ur friends and family and had THE MOST MAGICAL day of our lives! The ceremony was so emotional for both Sam and I. I don’t know what it is about weddings, but it heightens all the feels. I was laugh-crying (but like a different kind than I had ever experienced) as I was walking down the aisle. I am so grateful to have found my soul mate and am soooooo happy that we got to spend our day with the people we care about most.

I am currently in a state of bliss but also majorly crashing from the high. No one tells you about these post wedding blues. Ugh. I never wanted it to end!! So that’s why I NEED to do a lot of blogging – to keep the happy feelings alive!

So, this is part 1 of the Enchanted Oasis Wedding series! In this post, I will tell you everything I did to plan the wedding of my dreams! And let me warn you…I let my creativity and extra-ness run wild! Ready!!???

#1. FINDING THE DRESS

As soon as I got engaged in Kauai, my sister IMMEDIATELY booked some bridal gown try on appointments in LA! OMG I cannot tell you how fun this was. I truly felt like all my princess dreams were coming true. Like, can I just do this for fun all the time as a hobby!!???

I decided to keep my “audience” small for this. Low drama. Not too many opinions. So the only people in attendance were me, my sis, and the person helping me put on the dresses! The mission? To find 2 gowns. An ultra grand one for the ceremony and a whimsical, romantical one for the reception!

The designer we ended up choosing was Galia Lahav! Walking in to her store was like walking into a haute couture dream. Here are some of the stand outs I tried on!

This is the Gia. I was so close to getting this one! The corset fit so well and the skirt was just so flowy.

Okay, I just had to try this on. A bridal cape!!??? Why not!!!

As soon as I put the Lidya, I knew this had to be my reception dress. I loved the little polka dots and how the dress hugged my silhouette. It was the definition of romantic. I ended up customizing the dress by adding fluttery drop sleeves to soften the look.

The train on the Ms. Elle was DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA and I LOVED IT. I mean, when else in life can you really drag a huge train behind you?!!??  I loved how the exquisite little beaded details on the dress elegantly complemented the low back before it waterfalled out into a longest tulle train I have ever seen!!! This was TRULY GRAND.

To customize the gown, I ended up changing the color to blush, I added in a dramatic low V detail to the sweetheart in the front, changed the low back to a V shape as well (to help make my booty stand out!), and then added fierce side cut outs to accentuate my waist.

Then I waited several months to even get a first look at my gowns! They were all hand crafted in Tel Aviv!

#2. FINDING THE VENUE

This was really hard. We spent several weekends driving all over California trying to find the most magical, whimsical venue that “hadn’t been done” before. I basically wanted a modern day castle on the West Coast. So, my sister and I looked into renting out private estates.

The problem? Well, at first, a lot of the listings we ran into were fake! Some websites collected pictures of gorgeous venues in Italy and France and then put it in a gallery to trick brides! Then when contacted, they told me to pay a fee to see the venue. Like���what!!??

So after running into a bunch of those scammers, scouting numerous hotels, countless wineries, and some beautiful homes – nothing felt right.

I was exhausted from looking, so I took a break for a couple months.

Then one night…I came across a random real estate listing that ended up leading me to the PERFECT venue: The Solomon Estate in Rancho Mirage, CA.

When Sam and I first walked onto the property late January 2018, we fell in love!! It oozed glamour, class, and Gatsby vibes all with a west coast feel.

The best part? We found our dream wedding planner. When I first met Laurie Lund of The Events Department (she’s the planner for this specific estate), I was drawn to her positivity and her energy. She’s such a happy person!

I told her everything I wanted to do (which included miniature horses and other crazy wild ideas at the time), and she was ALL IN. To be completely honest, I do not think our dream Enchanted Oasis wedding would have happened as seamlessly as it did without Laurie. Not only is she an experienced veteran in the wedding planning business, she’s so giddy and happy about all the details as if it were her own wedding! The woman is amazing and truly made my journey to wedding day as fun as can be.

(Oh yeah, and just for fun, there’s a “mini” lake in the front :P)

Finding the venue is what set the tone for the wedding theme. Three themes that really stuck out to me were “Enchanted Forest”, “Boho Desert” and “Tropical Jungle”. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent on Pinterest (probably thousands) trying to figure out what I wanted. When I couldn’t find a theme that was exactly what I was going for, I decided to mesh them all together to create our own: “Enchanted Oasis”.

#3. THE INVITATIONS

Now that we had our venue, and we knew what the theme was going to be, the next step was to create the invitations! I wanted to set the tone for Enchanted Oasis RIGHT AWAY so that our guests could start dreaming up what was waiting for them!

I knew from the beginning of time that we HAD TO  have acrylic invitations! (Thanks Pinterest.) I also wanted it shipped in a classy box so that the whole opening process would feel luxurious.

The logo you see of “Sam & Cassey” came to be from a bunch of doodles I was making back in February. I had an issue with “Sam” looking like “Jam”. It took a while to figure it out!

I am fortunate to have learned graphic design and how to use Adobe Illustrator back when I was an intern at a fashion design company in college. Those are the same skills I use today at work! And the same skills I used to draw the custom monstera leaf cut out for the acrylic. (The leaf was my sister’s idea by the way.) There wasn’t anything like that on the market (boy don’t I just make wedding planning so easy on myself…LOL) so I had to find someone to custom laser cut the acrylic leaf shapes for me!

Then I ordered supplies, DIY’d hard, and made an assembly line at home. My sister became a pro at folding cardboard boxes and I fine tuned the art of stuffing small boxes with live moss. It was tedious labor.

Though oftentimes unsure of why I have to make things so complicated for myself, Sam understands my hunger to embrace art and design. He’s always so supportive! I am proud to say that Sam and Jackelyn’s boyfriend Nick helped on the assembly line too!

#4. THE FOOD

Sam and I are foodies. We love eating. A lot. In fact when we first met, we both gained so much weight because we explored restaurants and even fast food joints as a hobby. Hahaha.

Since Sam and I are of two totally different cultures, we wanted to unite our guests through food. So, we worked with Fusion Flair to create a totally authentic menu that would represent both the Chinese and Vietnamese flavors for my side while also paying tribute to the Israeli and Jewish side for Sam. Instead of doing a sit down plated dinner, we got everyone up and tasting “cultural tapas”!

Ah yes, the tacos. No they are not Asian or Mediterranean, but they were there to represent our life in LA okay!!??! And we didn’t end up going with the tomato soup and grilled cheese (though it was super good) and opted for a vegan gazpacho instead to be more veggie friendly!

The tasting was SO MUCH FUN and we were SO FULL. Chef Heng did an incredible job with the food. Everything was extremely flavorful and delicious.

#5. THE CAKE

The one cake that Sam and I both equally love is Blue Velvet Cake. Have you ever tried? If not, YOU MUST. We first discovered it at MILK in LA when we first moved here together. It’s so buttery and dense! With fresh blueberries and thick cream cheese frosting (ugh I am salivating as I write this), you cannot go wrong!

So we knew even 5 years ago that our wedding cake HAD TO be blue velvet! I called up MILK to ask if they could make our wedding cake, but unfortunately they’re not in that business. So we asked our wedding planner to help us find a bakery out in Palm Springs that could help make our cake. Laurie recommended Exquisite Desserts and they did not disappoint!

Here’s what our tasting looked like. All sorts of cake flavors and a wide variety of frosting flavors. Everything was SOOOOOOOO GOOD. But nothing beat the blue velvet. So, we decided to go all in and get the ENTIRE 4 tiered cake all in blue velvet with cream cheese frosting!

#6. THE MATCHA BAR

Sam and I LOOOOOOOVEEEEEE matcha!!! So much so that we even made a shirt that is one of our best sellers on POPFLEX:

Since I don’t drink alcohol, and I know some of our friends don’t either, I wanted to create a unique bar experience. We thought that in addition to the regular bar bar…why not also have a matcha bar!!??

I reached out to my friends at Midori Matcha and asked if they’d be down to make this happen. They had never done a matcha bar for a wedding before, but were excited to make it a reality for our cocktail hour!

Midori also catered the matcha desserts table for the reception! Above is a photo from our initial tasting. OMG everything was SOOOOOOO GOOD – but ESPECIALLY that matcha croissant. I basically LIVE for it.

If you guys are ever in Southern CA, check out their newest Midori Matcha Cafe location in Old Town Pasadena at 165 S. De Lacey Ave #1049, Pasadena, CA 91105! They also have a cafe in Little Tokyo and Orange County!

#7. THE FLOWERS

Did you know that the amazing person who did the flowers for our wedding also did the flowers for the Bridal Bootcamp series?

Jeany, the owner of Lovesome Blossoms is also a POPster and she reached out when she found out that I got engaged! It was so special to have a florist who I felt connected with!

The photos that inspired everything floral for the wedding were this cupcake photo from Baker P (OMG look at that color palette)…

…and this whimsical chuppah photo from Mark’s Garden.

To create the “oasis” look, we decided to incorporate some tropical greenery! We specifically chose to decorate with the Monstera leaf – yes, the same leaf that I drew out for our acrylic invitations  – to bring out the tropical-ness!

#8. THE LIGHT BOX TENT

In 2016, Sam and I went to Australia for my POP Pilates tour and while there, we walked through one of the most beautiful structures I had ever seen!

This light tunnel was so magical. It never left my thoughts. So when it was time to design the outdoor tent for our dinner reception, I knew we had to recreate some version of this!

Here’s a picture of me admiring the tent construcuted by BRIGHT 2 nights before our wedding. At this point, it was totally still in progress and did not have the hanging florals and glass orbs that Jeany would later suspend from the top!

#9. INCORPORATING PETS

Before we got our puppy baby love Sir George the Magnificent, I wanted to have a miniature horse walk down the aisle with our flower girl! Yes, totally leaning in to that magical theme. But then…in January 2018 we were blessed with our first puppy, so we canceled the horse idea and began thinking of interesting ways to have Sir walk down the aisle!

(Don’t mind his back arm – he just got a shot at the vet and they had to shave him!)

At first I was like, maybe he should float down the aisle in a hot air balloon! Then we deemed it too dangerous.

Next, I was like, let’s have 4 men in tuxedos carry him down the aisle in a Cleopatra style bed! Jackelyn and Sam were like NO.

I thought I was close when I decided that we should construct a mini rose parade float for him to ride on! But there was no way we could find someone small enough to “drive” the car beneath the float.

Finally, Jackelyn had the genius idea of having him drive down the aisle in a fancy car.

BOOM. So that’s what we did.

#10. THE FIRST DANCE

Sam knows I love dancing, so when it came time for first dance discussions, there was no negotiation that it would be a choreographed number! I was so surprised at how much Sam embraced the lessons and the rehearsals. In fact, most of the time, it was HIM who initiated dance practice at home!!!

“New Light” by John Mayer was our song of choice. Why? We just liked the song! We learned a fun two step by our dance teachers at Your Night Choreo!

#11. THE CALLIGRAPHY

My goal for 2018 was to learn how to do calligraphy. I NEVER expected to do it for our wedding, but when the person who was supposed to do the calligraphy bailed on us, I was left with no choice but to do it myself! Through numerous YouTube videos, one live class, and tons of practice, I eventually got here:

Not bad, eh!?

I am still trying to find my style, but I am proud of how far I’ve come in less than a year! I’m glad that person bailed because the situation made me a better calligraphist!

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  A post shared by Cassey Ho (@blogilates) on Oct 13, 2018 at 10:08am PDT

#12. THE SURPRISE

Concerned with cocktail hour (I’ve been to so many weddings where this time period is just so awkward and boring), I wanted to have an activation that would get everyone talking and having a good time!

First I thought…tethered hot air balloon? We tried, but then found out we didn’t have enough space.

Ferris wheel? Eh, but then kinda scary.

Maybe a rotating swing set!? Someone’s gonna be whacked.

Then I thought…wait a minute…a carousel!!! A carousel would be so whimsical and magical! The imagery of our friends in their evening gowns riding the horses with their legs swept to one side was all I needed to lock down the idea!

This was no easy feat though. The Solomon Estate did not have a carousel. We had to bring it in. It was almost impossible at first because we were told that the big semi truck could not fit through the side of the house to get to the backyard.

But then Laurie had an incredible idea. Bringing in the pieces one by one, by hand. Amazingly, Christiansen Amusements agreed and made it happen!!!!

YESSSSS now that is the level of commitment to excellence that I’m talking about!!!!

Oh boy.

That concludes part 1 of the Enchanted Oasis Wedding series! The planning!

If you loved the visuals but want EVEN more, watch me and my sis talk ALL wedding deets with over the top giddy-ness in my latest YouTube video!

Until part 2…tell me…what would your dream wedding be like?

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