#i get that for some people in some industries ai isn’t that prevalent. but for me it’s fucking everywhere and im so sick and tired

[norfkid]

being in a workplace that celebrates ai so mindlessly & being unable to voice your opposition against it bc you genuinely just haven’t verbalised it before is so bloody suffocating

my director talking about how cool ai comics are, saying shit like “imagine an ai generated video game, that’s a world i wanna be apart of” and i’m just nodding and smiling and lying to his (virtual) face, and i actually wanna throw up. there’s nothing i could say that could make them thinking more three dimensionally about this issue. there’s nothing i could say that would make them stop pursuing ai, stop using it in almost every aspect of their work. i keep trying to rationalise things by believing there will be a balance to it all at the end of the day, after this insane surge in popularity dies down. that history has shown that ppl can band together in the face of Bad Things and bring about changes. ​but it’s taking so fucking long to get even basic laws and policies in place, and we’re finding more ways to exploit and implement and abuse ai so much faster than we’re able or even inclined to regulate them. i’m just so sick. i’m 21 and wanting to come into a working, collaborative industry. and industry that cares about people. so stop fucking waterboarding me with automated and ai generated processes. I WANT TO LEARN GODDAMN IT

[invawid]

It’s disability pride month so I’m gonna cross post my twitter thread on why generative AI does more harm than good for disabled people as a disabled person myself.

GenAI developers admitted themselves that it’s not environmentally sustainable for long term industry use and accelerating climate change. Disabled people, especially those with dysautonomia or use meds with temperature intolerance as a side effect are hit the hardest by abnormal weather and this is especially prevalent in the global south. I could go into online disability spaces being white centric and how they silence disabled POC for the sake of their comfort but that’s for another day.

Exploitation of workers maintaining them and filtering harmful depictions from getting in the training data. Overworking is disabling, chronic emotional stress indeed affects your physical health and that’s why I struggle now. If you really cared about disabled people you wouldn’t encourage the use of a tool that leaves people in a situation where they need to find resources they have trouble getting due to already being underpaid, especially if the tool is not necessarily life saving.

The material generated is not immune to making ableist depictions because surprise surprise, ableist humans are the ones running them.

Ways to actually support disabled artists:

Share our shit. Reblogs are especially helpful.

Look for independent media other than visual art. Podcasts, books, text based adventure. These are all just as legitimate as illustration, sculpting, and animation.

General etiquette still applies and yes, this includes only giving criticism if the person explicitly asked for it.

Be patient. Some of us are either doing it as a hobby or in situations where it can’t be done full time.

For visual art, unlearn the idea that more detailed/realistic = better and for the love of god don’t treat modernism or postmodernism as inferior. Others have explained why this is a right wing dog whistle better than I ever could.

Wear. A fucking. Mask. Especially at a con where it’s crowded and there’s a lot of artist. Covid isn’t over and the government isn’t doing shit to prevent bird flu transmissions to humans. Don’t make this shit harder for us than it has to be.

[buzrushcommunity]

Succeed Through Online Marketing

How Electronic Advertising and marketing Will Change: 17 Forecasts for 2020

Electronic advertising is not any unknown person to modifications.

Succeed Through Online Marketing - We have to stay on our toes if we want to stay relevant with the never ending changes to algorithms and regulations and part of that is positioning ourselves for success.

Precisely what is digital marketing planning to look like in 2020?

We experienced possessed 17 computerized entrepreneurs weigh into tell us what they see about the horizon, therefore we can all prepare accordingly and also a great season ofclicks and engagement, and sales.

Allow me to share 17 forecasts for electronic advertising and marketing in 2020.

Benton Crane, CEO of Harmon Brothers

Ad platforms (looking at you Facebook or twitter) continues to highlight shorter content material (needless to say, they want to offer more thoughts). Brief-type, nonetheless, limits what you can do to construct your company persona, voice, and world.

We foresee the profitable strategy may be to perform advertising chess, not checkers. In chess your parts have various strengths and weaknesses, whilst all checkers parts are identical. If you build up your web marketing strategy use a mixture of simple, medium sized, and lengthy-develop information. Don’t stop building your brand character, voice, and universe with longer-form content, although use the short-form content to appease Facebook’s algorithms.

Logan Fletcher, Content material Marketing Administrator

If you aren’t posting videos on social media, 2020 NEEDS to be the year you start, otherwise, you’ll get left behind, Succeed Through Online Marketing -.

Beyond that, we foresee a higher appearance of companies on social websites, since they try to create a technique that can help them purchase an advantage on opponents. Online video on sociable systems will probably continue being with the fore-front of effective methods.

Not only are B2B companies going to focus on creating video for LinkedIn, but they will also start to take notice of IGTV. With changes to Instagram’s algorithm formula, video clip placed on IGTV will go to the top of your followers’ rss feeds, and also be discovered much more prevalently on users’ investigate web pages. This will result in more movie prospects, a more substantial audience, and more advantages.

What different will we see in 2020? We believe that online marketers will begin focusing more on consumer demands, instead of “marketing requires.” Entrepreneurs will start responding to customers’ questions directly that will create campaigns that solution these inquiries. The only real individuals who actually make a difference are definitely the people who we want using our service or product. Refocusing what exactly is sent to customers will be a pattern in 2020 that many firms will not be capable of disregard.

Michelle Barnum Smith, AMZ Messenger Bot Group

The Amazon marketplace is consistently in flux. There are far more individual label retailers now than before as well as the marketplace may become much more competing. To stay in the video game, sellers really need to be tough and flexible.

Probably the most crucial methods to adjust is to possess a brand name-attitude. A product is not pretty much turning up having a individual merchandise-it’s about creating a local community of fervent buyers. The best and easiest method to start off is by using driving a vehicle your very own outside website traffic employing Talk Advertising and marketing tactics by way of ManyChat.

ManyChat tends to make chat advertising and marketing an omni-channel expertise. Now dealers can operate multichannel promotions through a single tool and reach their viewers in the most efficient techniques possible. Chitchat advertising will certainly make market developing, item establishing, and item advertising seamless for Amazon . com Dealers.

Tara Robertson, Director of Customer Marketing and advertising at Sprout Sociable

2020 is all about refinement. Brands not just need to focus on who they really are but moreover, the way they are different from competitors that will create remarkable experiences for customers. In ahead of time, online marketers will emphasis much more about becoming buyer obsessed by making certain each and every touchpoint is steady and purposeful. Supplying outstanding consumer experiences has stopped being a “nice to have,” but an hope-specifically as businesses aim to get noticed inside their saturated markets.

For that conclusion, there will be an increased desire for content and experience that favors high quality more than quantity. We are living in the age of authentic marketing along with the a lot more related and relatable your marketing and advertising is, the better dedicated your market can become. It is not simply regarding the new system, sophisticated AI, or even a powerful technology stack. The truth is, I actually think it will likely be the opposite.

We have to cut back time contemplating our automation plus more time considering the way you can connect with our buyers and each and every other. We expect far more customization than ever before as buyers and it is essential that marketing and sales crews fully grasp the and this need for connection.

Jenna Snavely, Creation Content Manager at DigitalMarketer

I talk to a lot of experts in the industry, as host of The DigitalMarketer Podcast. From all of the my podcast job interviews across the minimum year, the marketplace developments we have been viewing carefully at DM, and my own acquiring habits-I believe the easiest way to get support in 2020 (or maintain your steer) will be serialized consumable online video content.

It is a huge opportunity to outline your company sound and make a crowd, and the majority of importantly…it’s a way to more than-produce.

Manufacturers which do the difficult job, receive the payout.

Nathalie Lussier, Founding father of AccessAlly

Succeed Through Online Marketing - In 2020, I forecast that more men and women will carry on and “cut the cord” from cord and proceed to streaming options for their entertainment. It’s approximated that 45 mil men and women will depart their cable tv or satellite suppliers in 2020.

Exactly what does that pertain to digital marketing and advertising?

This means that as interest changes far from classic Television set advertising, more marketers will have to get innovative and find approaches to get to individuals on-line alternatively.

That may be the two a true blessing and a curse: It’s going to raise the cost of advertising on the hottest platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Google, although it’s going to create more work for digital agencies.

Brand names may not be moving all their dollars to “pay for every click” advertising, they will often also up their content material advertising and marketing budgets in order to happen in social offers and chats, also! Content marketing organizations, be aware!

Splintering Community Platforms

For businesses that want to boost their communities on the internet (and who does not? ) there is an intensifying have to take acquisition of community place.

For many years the right spot to host a group has become via Facebook organizations. There is a great deal of growth and engagement on Facebook or twitter, because of an previously a built in habit (or possibly is it an dependency? !).

However, the tech giant has experienced some political and ethical backlash and more digital business owners are looking for alternatives.

I foresee that programs that permit you to generate neighborhood “on your very own turf” like Palapa, Mighty Sites, BuddyBoss, and Wp are going to see plenty of development.

However, as much as I see people building these networks outside of the Facebook ecosystem, those that have tried and failed say the the vortex is strong… and engagement isn’t as high.

So, there will likely be a splintering of communities across different platforms, and I suspect also a consolidation for those groups that don’t get enough traction off Facebook when they return.

Intensifying Polarization & Woke Advertising

So will the political polarization in 2020, as the planet’s climate continues to heat up.

Brand names can have an option to help make: remain neutral or have got a perspective.

The companies that stay higher than the fray will steer clear of the drama and the unpredictability that comes with going into the chat on everyone’s thoughts.

But those businesses that can genuinely share their point of view, will get long-term customer loyalty for being happy to place their ideals above short-run income. According to Cone Communications, 92% of consumers say they have a more positive image of a company when the company supports a social or environmental issue.

Yes, you will see drop out from businesses that embark on “woke marketing” and combine activism or national politics inside their message.

More businesses will be willing to put their reputations on the line to connect with Gen Z and Millennials who are more discerning about where they spend their hard earned dollars… and how it impacts the world at large. That is my prediction.

Rachel Pedersen, Chief executive officer in the Viral Touch And Social Media Marketing United

2020 is the 12 months the facade of flawlessly polished marketing burns and crashes. A lot of people happen to be burned up by influencers faking it with ideal photoshoots, and people are desperate for validity.

They will be looking for context outside of keynotes, as consumers get hungry for REAL answers. They are looking for signs and symptoms of congruency - proof that the favored individuals on systems are jogging the stroll.

In 2020 the internet marketer who supplies all-access, behind the curtain, contextual marketing is the winner. It is the entire year of humanized marketing.

Right here is how you can beat the band wagon internet marketers in 2020:

1.Tik. Tok: The clock is ticking. TikTok is actually a rare foundation that reveals a lot more measurements and permits audiences to adore your creative, impromptu and unpolished or UCG content.

2.Go live. Anywhere. Display the mayhem of getting prepared for an occasion with 3 kids when your baby provides the influenza along with your previous thoroughly clean outfit was *coughing* messed up.

3.Report your podcast in person situations. Enable your market to FEEL your life and surroundings with the mp3.

4.Decline Photoshop. So you have a scar on your eyebrow? The vacation consuming magically extra another 15 pounds in your photographs? Permit it to be. Let them see.

5.Online video conveys all. Shoppers are looking for contextual signs in your marketing with video. They desire over a best established and script. They need to see your identiity. Let them have more to work alongside.

6.Tell the reality. So, 2019 was a hard year? Tell them. And do not just clean it off with all the common ‘Oh gentleman, it was a challenging calendar year! ’ Tell them what went wrong. Inform them the way your cardiovascular system shattered. Let them know regarding the nighttime once you almost cease. Let them know concerning the mistakes that almost ruined you. Just inform them the truth.

Jody Milward, Founding father of Interpersonal Charlie

A game changer for Mentors and Electronic program designers starting 2020 is to include a Personal Liquidating Offer (SLO) at the front end conclusion in their Facebook or twitter Advertising. Because with the rising costs of Facebook ads, these offers weren’t profitable, over the years coaches have been told to drop the low ticket offers and focus entirely on High ticket sales.

But that is EXACTLY why they should be part of product suite in 2020. We’re experiencing individuals generating 6 stats in less than a 12 months by using a $27 provide. As an example, Allie Bjerk, runs Facebook advertising to frosty traffic on her SLO using a $27 offer you. This has made practically $500,000 in 9 months having an total 2.4 by ROAS. So, not only is she generating covering and leads her ad spend, she’s also making money. When she promoted her higher ticket offer she experienced a good quality market of consumers and of individuals who joined, 70% got bought her $27 offer.

Then there’s Ashley who has an SLO for Freelance writers and it is covering up her ad invest as she will grow her subscriber list. Engaged community and her SLO was a major contributor to the success of her five figure program launch, by having people come into her community via a paid offer she’s seeing significant growth in her Facebook Group with a lively.

A great SLO can not only cover your advert invest but in addition make you funds when attracting an excellent audience of buyers, as an alternative to plenty of tyre kicking inexpensive leads who never ever even go and available your emails. When the intitial front end offer you is mixed inside a product sales funnel with complementary upsells, we are finding what starts with a $27 provide actually have a standard purchase price of $61 along with an average charge for every transaction of $33.

So, rather than pouring money into free lead magnets and filling up your CRM with cheap unqualified leads, turning that lead magnet into an excellent low ticket offer to bring in quality customers who are actually paying to get on your email list, will make a massive difference to your Facebook Ad Budget and business in 2020.

(NOTE: Need to have a helping palm along with your electronic advertising initiatives? Or you would just like established, workable advertising and marketing instruments, techniques, and layouts to put into action in your organization? Look into the most up-to-date bargain from DigitalMarketer, and you will be moving toward aiding your small business grow.)

For more info visit:- BuzRush

[is6621]

Behind the Buzz: Women in Tech and Entrepreneurship by Hannah Fay

It’s hard to consume business (or even mainstream media) news in 2018 without coming across the same few tech buzzwords again and again...and again. We mentioned a few last class -- “AR,” “blockchain,” and “crypto” come to mind -- and the industry discusses them ad nauseum. But what about the tech industry buzzwords that are a little more uncomfortable to talk about? The ones that make headlines but not classroom discussions? What about wage gaps? Sexual harassment? #MeToo? As I prepared for a discussion group that I help lead for BC’s Women Innovators Network, I thought I might try to share what I’ve learned and what has surprised me with our #IS6621 crew.

By this point in your business school careers, you’re all likely well aware of the mythology of Silicon Valley, startups, VC, tech companies, and the like. You’re probably also well aware of its reputation of being an unwelcoming environment for women professionals. Just as a refresher, here are some (slightly jarring) statistics: women own merely 5% of startups, make up just 7% of partners at venture capital firms, have an industry quit rate over twice as high as men’s, and received $56.7 billion less than men in VC funding (you can find more similarly disturbing facts here).

GETTING THERE

Why are these numbers so dismal? Many suggest that it’s simply because not enough girls pursue degrees in tech or entrepreneurial fields, and that they simply aren’t careers that women are interested in or suited for. Similarly, the Arrington Theory states that women are simply more risk-averse than men, making them less likely to become entrepreneurs or seek venture capital funding, thus explaining those dramatic gaps. When those two ideas are combined, it results -- theoretically -- in a proportionally small pool of qualified hires for companies. The tech industry (especially startup companies) is seen as a young, progressive field, succumbing to none of the stereotypes ingrained in traditional Wall Street industries. Its perception is that of a meritocracy, where the best man -- or woman -- wins solely based on their talent and qualification, regardless of their background.

Is this all true? Not really.

While it is accurate that fewer women than men pursue tech degrees, this is not necessarily because an inherent lack of skill or preference. It is possible that the foundations for these disparities originate in childhood and are reinforced over the years as programs push boys and girls in different directions in everything from classes to try to games to play with.

But even if this isn’t the case, and the simple truth is that fewer women pursue these degrees, qualified women are still getting turned away from these types of careers before they even begin. Recruiting sessions often discourage women from applying through environments that alienate and intimidate. Similarly, research has found that women become risk-averse because of stereotypes in a sort of vicious cycle -- when stereotypes are ingrained in women’s minds, they are more likely to conform to them, regardless of individual characteristics.

This doesn’t fully explain, though, the gender disparity in investment funding. Women get asked different questions during funding rounds than men do, affecting their confidence, the types of answers they give and the amount of funding they get. Men get asked promotional questions focusing on the potential for growth and profit, while women get asked preventative questions that emphasize risk minimization and planning for potential losses -- unsurprisingly, people tend to respond with answers that reflect the type of questions they were asked. This means that women spend a disproportionate amount of time defending their ideas without getting the chance to pitch their potential for success.

And the mythology of meritocracy? Not entirely accurate. Even the tech world -- startups especially -- is subject to bias. Like hires like, and especially in companies without a formal HR department or hiring process, founders of companies tend to hire their friends (or people that remind them of their friends). Since most startups are founded by males, this means that far fewer females break into the field.

STAYING THERE

The battle isn’t over even once women make it into the industry. As mentioned before, the quit rate for women is twice that of men’s. Why is the rate so high? Many point anecdotally to differing priorities, an inability to take the pressure of a high-paced workplace, and again, to a simple lack of skill or talent. But research tells a different story -- one of subtle bias, differing standards, compensation issues, and sexual harassment.

It doesn’t immediately make sense that the archetypal tech workplace -- known for flexible work days and nontraditional office spaces -- would be one unwelcoming to women. One would expect, for example, that it would be ideal for mothers that need to attend to their children’s schedules. But in reality, startups are a place that inherent bias can lurk and thrive. Women are frequently judged on their appearance before their skills or achievements. They’re held to higher standards, even to the point of perfectionism. They’re frequently asked to contribute in a way that requires them to be representative of all women, not just themselves. And diversity training programs meant to address the problem can sometimes make things worse by putting forth the notion that such bias is normal and inadvertently confirming it as “OK.”

Besides culminating into a toxic environment, these factors have real, concrete consequences. One is the problem of the wage gap. Though legislation has been introduced to address this, it remains a prevalent problem: it is estimated that it will take 100-217 years to close the wage gap worldwide, and women still make only 82% of what their male counterparts earn. This is often attributed to the idea that women simply choose lower-paying careers or don’t negotiate enough for their salaries -- but this is not necessarily the case. A moving testimony I heard recently from a powerful woman at Google made clear that she had done everything correctly: negotiated her salary, performed highly at her job, spoken up, etc. Yet, ten years into her time at the company, she discovered that men that reported to her were making significantly more than she was. The issue was eventually resolved, but this is not the first (or only) time this type of situation has arisen.

Another real consequence is sexual harassment, as revealed over the past year as #MeToo has taken flight. Seventy-eight percent of women startup founders say they or someone they know has been sexually harassed. The degrees of severity are, of course, varied, from minor annoyances to major assaults. I won’t dwell on this at length, but if you’d like to read further on the topic, some powerful stories can be found here and here.

GOING FORWARD

So what should women and men do going forward to mitigate these problems? What has changed recently, and how far do we still have to go? For one thing, the awareness of the problem has increased dramatically. Since the dawn of #MeToo and other similar movements, people simply talk about the issue more. This has the potential to increase social standards and accountability levels across the board, but raises the issue of desensitization and alienation.

Legislative changes have also furthered the cause. Recent supreme court rulings have overturned precedents that left room for wage discrimination. Additionally, California -- the home of Silicon Valley and arguably the hub of the tech world -- is in the process of passing legislation that requires publicly traded companies with more than six board members to have at least one woman on their board.

But what about some more immediate fixes? I began to wonder if there were any ways groundbreaking technology had the potential to help women with any of the issues described above. Some of what I found had the opposite of the intended effect -- like this story about Amazon’s AI hiring tool that inadvertently discriminated against women. Most of what I found, though, was positive. It was also more low-tech than you might expect.

The most significant common factor in what I found was their role in closing the information gap -- though many of the systemic problems women face in these fields can only be truly resolved in the long term, what we can do in our own lives starts with what we know. For example, online salary tools like Glassdoor have the potential to help close the wage gap by allowing women to see what men in their field are making and negotiate accordingly. Sites like Muse allow women to research company culture and make decisions about the type of environment they want to work in without having to experience harassment first. Even our good old friend Twitter is making a difference by amplifying voices and holding people and companies accountable. Perhaps most significantly, research is showing more and more that  diverse teams simply perform better.

If companies want to stay ahead of the curve, especially in the fast-paced world of tech and entrepreneurship, they’re going to have to start listening to the buzz -- to the research, to the women, to the truth.

[jobsearchtips02]

Target, MTV blocked ads from news mentioning ‘George Floyd’ and ‘protests’

Gianno Caldwell: Defunding the police is a horrible idea

Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell provides insight into President Trump asking the Treasury Department to re-examine schools’ tax-exempt status over claims of ‘indoctrination.’ Caldwell later says people are becoming afraid about the possibility of not having the police in their communities.

Last month Target Corp. told a leading online news publisher not to run its ads in stories related to the Black Lives Matter movement. Articles mentioning police-brutality victims such as “Breonna Taylor” and “George Floyd” were off limits, as were those with the word “protests.”

Target and other advertisers that compiled similar “blocklists” say they were respecting the sensitivity of the issue and wanted to avoid the appearance of exploiting tragedies. News publishers say such moves effectively punish media companies for covering important issues, since they earn less money from content where ad-blocking is prevalent.

FACEBOOK CONSIDERING A BAN ON POLITICAL ADS

Blocklists aren’t new: Before this year, many brands already were sidestepping articles with words like “shooting,” “bomb,” “immigration” or even “Trump,” hoping to avoid associations with controversial topics. The ad blocking went to a new level in 2020 — first, as the terms “Covid-19” and “coronavirus” made it onto many blocklists, and more recently with the addition of terms related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It’s defunding our journalism at a time when it’s imperative for us to be the front lines doing this kind of work,” said Paul Wallace, Vice Media’s vice president for global revenue products and services. Black Lives Matter coverage was Vice’s most popular news in June, yet commanded ad prices 57% lower than news about other topics because so many brands are actively avoiding placing ads in those articles, he said.

People inspired by a speaker raise their hands during a Caribbean-led Black Lives Matter rally at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, Sunday, June 14, 2020, in New York. Protests have grown and continued since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man w

“The most frustrating part of all of this is that the brands that are sending this stuff are standing on a pedestal saying that they support BLM,” he said.

A Target spokesman said the retailer’s ad blocking “does not discount the importance of reporting on topics like Black Lives Matter or the murder of George Floyd. It’s intended to acknowledge that the person consuming that content may not be receptive to a marketing message from a mass retailer like Target at that time.” The spokesman added, “Target stands with our Black team members, guests and families.”

FACEBOOK FRUSTRATES ADVERTISING BOYCOTT LEADERS WITH LACK OF CONCESSIONS

Based in Minneapolis, where a white police officer’s killing of Mr. Floyd set off nationwide protests, Target was among the companies most outspoken about the unrest. It promised aid to the community and signed a letter promising to tackle institutional racism. Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said in May that the company would remember victims of police brutality. “We say their names,” he said.

Target is among many brands that have temporarily paused ad spending on Facebook Inc. after a public campaign by civil-rights groups that say the tech giant isn’t doing enough to rein in hate speech on its platform.

MTV, the youth-oriented cable channel owned by ViacomCBS Inc., also avoided ad placements near articles about the protests and unrest. It asked the same leading publisher to avoid placing its ads in stories that mention words including “Breonna Taylor,” “Ahmaud Aubery” [sic], “George Floyd,” “Black Lives Matter,” “protests,” “racism,” “hate” and “policing.”

An MTV spokeswoman said the cable network believes the keyword blocklist in question was for ads for the show “Revenge Prank.”

“Due to the comedic nature of the show…we didn’t want to be insensitive by placing ads for it next to important and serious topics, such as Black Lives Matter,” she said. “This is standard practice we use with our media agency to ensure that our ads don’t come across as tone-deaf or disrespectful.”

A Target employee returns shopping carts from the parking lot, in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, June 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Brands maintain keyword blocklists because they don’t always buy ads aimed at specific websites. Instead, in automated ad buying, they often target certain kinds of audiences or types of content, and middlemen direct their ads to sites that fit those characteristics. The blocklists help middlemen and publishers weed out certain ad placements.

When Covid-19 took over the news cycle in March, news publishers’ page views soared as readers flocked to those stories. But ad prices plummeted as much as 50% compared with the year-ago period, partly because of the keyword blocking by advertisers. The pandemic led to a broader downturn in ad spending, which also affected ad prices across the board.

Ad prices began climbing in May as brands grew more comfortable, but then took a hit again in late May when Mr. Floyd’s death and the protests became the top news story. In the two weeks after Mr. Floyd’s May 25 death, ad prices on news content were on average 41% lower than the same date a year earlier, according to Staq Inc., which aggregates data from more than 40 digital publications. Prices slowly began to rebound as protests commanded less coverage. Ad prices now are about 20% below where they were a year ago.

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Some brands forgo the blocklist approach, instead using technology that scores an article’s overall sentiment, rather than just detecting the presence of certain words. Avoiding certain keywords can be too blunt, said Guy Tytunovich, chief executive of Cheq AI Technologies Ltd., which helps brands avoid objectionable content by scoring an article’s sensitivity.

“It’s bad enough being an elephant in a china store. It’s much worse when you’re a huge elephant in a tiny, tiny china store, which is the case in 2020, when so much of the news is negative,” Mr. Tytunovich said.

He has advised clients to tolerate more risk than usual in 2020, so their ads wind up on some news stories. But Cheq’s technology scores most Black Lives Matter-related content as too sensitive even for advertisers with high risk thresholds, he said.

Research suggests brands needn’t fear association with hard-news topics. Consumers don’t think negatively of brands when their ads run adjacent to troubling news, according to a recent study by Integral Ad Science, a firm that helps brands avoid unfavorable ad placements.

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“It’s not like people are reading about Trump and they see a Home Depot ad. And then they think, ‘oh, I hate Trump, so now I hate Home Depot,'” said one media executive.

Some companies paused ad campaigns because they weren’t sure how to contribute meaningfully to the national conversation about race, ad industry executives said.

“A lot of advertisers tend to just pause during these moments because they can’t come up with the right message,” said Staq Chief Executive Andy Ellenthal.

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/target-mtv-blocked-ads-from-news-mentioning-george-floyd-and-protests/

[buzrush]

Succeed Through Online Marketing

How Digital Advertising and marketing Will Alter: 17 Forecasts for 2020

Electronic marketing and advertising is no total stranger to modifications.

If we want to stay relevant with the never ending changes to algorithms and part and regulations of that is positioning ourselves for success, Succeed Through Online Marketing - We have to stay on our toes.

Exactly what is electronic marketing and advertising gonna appear like in 2020?

We got had 17 computerized internet marketers think about in to tell us what they see around the horizon, so we can all program consequently where you can fantastic 12 months ofengagement and clicks, and conversion rates.

Here are 17 prophecies for electronic digital advertising and marketing in 2020.

Benton Crane, CEO of Harmon Siblings

Ad programs (considering you Facebook or myspace) continue to stress shorter content (obviously, they would like to offer a lot more perceptions). Brief-type, nevertheless, limitations what you can do to develop your company personality, voice, and world.

We foresee the succeeding method is to play marketing chess, not checkers. In chess your pieces have diverse weaknesses and strengths, whereas all checkers parts are the same. Whenever you develop your web marketing strategy use a mixture of short, method, and lengthy-develop articles. Use the short-form content to appease Facebook’s algorithms, but don’t stop building your brand character, voice, and universe with longer-form content.

Logan Fletcher, Content material Advertising Manager

If you aren’t posting videos on social media, 2020 NEEDS to be the year you start, otherwise, you’ll get left behind, Succeed Through Online Marketing -.

Over and above that, we foresee an increased existence of organizations on social media marketing, since they consider to make a technique which will help them get an edge on opponents. Video on interpersonal systems will probably continue to be with the fore-top of productive strategies.

Not only are B2B companies going to focus on creating video for LinkedIn, but they will also start to take notice of IGTV. With updates to Instagram’s algorithm formula, video submitted on IGTV will proceed to the surface of your followers’ rss feeds, in addition to be discovered much more prevalently on users’ investigate webpages. This is going to lead to a lot more online video leads, a more substantial audience, and a lot more advantages.

What in addition will we notice in 2020? We think that internet marketers will begin paying attention much more about consumer requires, as an alternative to “marketing demands.” Online marketers begins resolving customers’ queries immediately that will create promotions that response these concerns. The only people that actually issue would be the individuals who we want using our goods and services. Refocusing what is delivered to customers might be a trend in 2020 that numerous organizations won’t be able to ignore.

Michelle Barnum Smith, AMZ Messenger Bot Membership

The Amazon . com marketplace is consistently in flux. There are far more private content label retailers now than ever before and the industry will become a lot more competitive. To stay in the video game, dealers really need to be resilient and versatile.

Probably the most crucial approaches to get used to is to experience a manufacturer-way of thinking. A brand isn’t pretty much appearing having a individual product or service-it’s about developing a local community of enthusiastic buyers. The easiest and best approach to commence is using driving your personal additional traffic using Chitchat Marketing strategies by way of ManyChat.

ManyChat helps make chitchat advertising an omni-route experience. Now sellers can run multichannel activities through one particular instrument and get to their audience in the most efficient techniques feasible. Chat marketing will unquestionably make market constructing, item launching, and product or service marketing seamless for Amazon online Retailers.

Tara Robertson, Director of Client Advertising at Sprout Sociable

2020 is all about refinement. Manufacturers not only need to give attention to who they really are but more importantly, the way that they differ from rivals and make impressive experience for his or her buyers. In in advance, entrepreneurs will emphasis much more on becoming client obsessed by making sure every touchpoint is regular and deliberate. Providing outstanding customer encounters has stopped being a “nice to get,” but an expectation-particularly as organizations make an effort to stand out inside their saturated trading markets.

To that particular finish, you will see an increased need for articles and experiences that mementos quality more than volume. We are living in the age of genuine advertising as well as the more pertinent and relatable your marketing is, the better devoted your audience will end up. It is not simply in regards to the new system, innovative AI, or a robust technology stack. In reality, I just think it will probably be the opposite.

We should lower your expenses time considering our automation plus more time thinking about the way we can interact with our consumers and each and every other. We expect much more personalization than in the past as buyers and it’s vital that marketing and sales groups comprehend this and the significance of connection.

Jenna Snavely, Generation Information Supervisor at DigitalMarketer

I talk to a lot of experts in the industry, as host of The DigitalMarketer Podcast. From all of my podcast job interviews across the the very least season, the marketplace trends we have been watching carefully at DM, and my very own acquiring habits-I feel the easiest way to catch back in 2020 (or make your direct) will probably be serialized consumable video clip content.

It is a tremendous chance to establish your brand sound and make viewers, and the majority of importantly…it’s a means to more than-deliver.

Brands who do the hard work, get the payout.

Nathalie Lussier, Founder of AccessAlly

Succeed Through Online Marketing - In 2020, I anticipate that more people will carry on and “cut the cord” from cable and go on to internet streaming alternatives for their entertainment. It is calculated that 45 million grownups will depart their cable television or satellite companies in 2020.

Exactly what does that have to do with computerized advertising and marketing?

It implies that as attention shifts clear of traditional Television marketing, more promoters must get creative and locate strategies to attain men and women on-line rather.

That is each a true blessing and a curse: It’s going to raise the cost of advertising on the hottest platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Google, although it’s going to create more work for digital agencies.

Brands is probably not shifting a bunch of their bucks to “pay for every click” advertising, they could also up their content advertising and marketing financial budgets in an effort to happen in societal reveals and interactions, as well! Content material advertising organizations, keep in mind!

Splintering Neighborhood Systems

For organizations who would like to boost their communities on-line (and who doesn’t? ) there’s an intensifying need to take acquisition of local community place.

For many years a good place to number a community has become through Fb teams. There’s plenty of engagement and growth on Facebook or twitter, due to an presently a built-in habit (or is it an addiction? !).

The tech giant has experienced some political and ethical backlash and more digital business owners are looking for alternatives, however.

I forecast that systems which allow you to make local community “on your own turf” like Palapa, Mighty Systems, BuddyBoss, and Wordpress blogs are likely to see a great deal of expansion.

Those that have failed and tried say the the vortex is strong… and engagement isn’t as high, as much as I see people building these networks outside of the Facebook ecosystem.

So there will likely be a splintering of communities across different platforms, and I suspect also a consolidation for those groups that don’t get enough traction off Facebook when they return.

Intensifying Polarization And Woke Marketing and advertising

So will the political polarization in 2020, as the planet’s climate continues to heat up.

Brands could have a decision to create: continue to be natural or possess a point of view.

The firms that remain higher than the fray will steer clear of the drama and also the volatility that is included with entering the conversation on everyone’s thoughts.

But all those organizations that can genuinely talk about their standpoint, will acquire lasting commitment for being prepared to place their beliefs more than short-term income. According to Cone Communications, 92% of consumers say they have a more positive image of a company when the company supports a social or environmental issue.

Yes, you will see drop out from businesses that engage in “woke marketing” and mixture activism or politics into their information.

My prediction is that more businesses will be willing to put their reputations on the line to connect with Gen Z and Millennials who are more discerning about where they spend their hard earned dollars… and how it impacts the world at large.

Rachel Pedersen, Chief executive officer from the Popular Contact & Social Media Marketing United

2020 is definitely the calendar year the facade of flawlessly shiny marketing crashes and burns. Too many people happen to be burned by influencers faking it with ideal photoshoots, and individuals are eager for genuineness.

As consumers get hungry for REAL answers, they will be looking for context outside of keynotes. They’re looking for signs and symptoms of congruency - confirmation that their favored individuals on websites are in reality wandering the walk.

In 2020 the marketer who supplies all-entry, behind the curtain, contextual marketing wins. It’s the year of humanized marketing.

Right here is how you can defeat the bandwagon marketers in 2020:

1.Tik. Tok: The time is ticking. TikTok can be a exceptional program that reveals a lot more measurements and will allow viewers to fall in love with your impromptu, creative and unpolished or UCG information.

2.Go are living. Anyplace. Display the turmoil to getting all set on an occasion with 3 youngsters once your child provides the influenza along with your very last clean clothing was *coughing* messed up.

3.Report your podcast in real life conditions. Allow your market to Sense your surroundings and life throughout the audio.

4.Decrease Photoshop. So you have a scar on your eyebrow? The vacation having magically included an additional 15 kilos on the photographs? Permit it to be. Let them see.

5.Online video informs all. Customers are searching for contextual signs in your video marketing. They want over a perfect set and set of scripts. They need to see who you really are. Provide them with a lot more to work with.

6.Inform the facts. So 2019 was a hard year? Inform them. And do not just brush it well with all the normal ‘Oh man, it had been a difficult season! ’ Tell them what gone improper. Tell them the way your cardiovascular system broke. Inform them about the night once you virtually stop. Let them know in regards to the faults that almost damaged you. Just inform them the truth.

Jody Milward, Founding father of Interpersonal Charlie

A game title changer for Instructors and Electronic digital course inventors going into 2020 will be to include a Self Liquidating Offer you (SLO) at the front end end of their Facebook Promoting. Because with the rising costs of Facebook ads, these offers weren’t profitable, over the years coaches have been told to drop the low ticket offers and focus entirely on High ticket sales.

But that’s The reason why they must be element of product or service collection in 2020. We are seeing individuals creating 6 statistics in under a season having a $27 supply. For instance, Allie Bjerk, runs Facebook or twitter ads to chilly website traffic on her behalf SLO by using a $27 provide. This has created nearly $500,000 in 9 several weeks by having an all round 2.4 by ROAS. So not only is she generating covering and leads her ad spend, she’s also making money. Then when she publicized her higher solution offer you she had a high quality viewers of buyers and of the people who signed up with, 70Per cent experienced purchased her $27 offer.

Then there is Ashley who may have an SLO for Freelance writers and it is addressing her advert commit as she expands her email list. Engaged community and her SLO was a major contributor to the success of her five figure program launch, by having people come into her community via a paid offer she’s seeing significant growth in her Facebook Group with a lively.

How Digital Advertising and marketing Will Alter: 17 Forecasts for 2020

Electronic marketing and advertising is no total stranger to modifications.

If we want to stay relevant with the never ending changes to algorithms and part and regulations of that is positioning ourselves for success, Succeed Through Online Marketing - We have to stay on our toes.

Exactly what is electronic marketing and advertising gonna appear like in 2020?

We got had 17 computerized internet marketers think about in to tell us what they see around the horizon, so we can all program consequently where you can fantastic 12 months ofengagement and clicks, and conversion rates.

Here are 17 prophecies for electronic digital advertising and marketing in 2020.

Benton Crane, CEO of Harmon Siblings

Ad programs (considering you Facebook or myspace) continue to stress shorter content (obviously, they would like to offer a lot more perceptions). Brief-type, nevertheless, limitations what you can do to develop your company personality, voice, and world.

We foresee the succeeding method is to play marketing chess, not checkers. In chess your pieces have diverse weaknesses and strengths, whereas all checkers parts are the same. Whenever you develop your web marketing strategy use a mixture of short, method, and lengthy-develop articles. Use the short-form content to appease Facebook’s algorithms, but don’t stop building your brand character, voice, and universe with longer-form content.

Logan Fletcher, Content material Advertising Manager

If you aren’t posting videos on social media, 2020 NEEDS to be the year you start, otherwise, you’ll get left behind, Succeed Through Online Marketing -.

Over and above that, we foresee an increased existence of organizations on social media marketing, since they consider to make a technique which will help them get an edge on opponents. Video on interpersonal systems will probably continue to be with the fore-top of productive strategies.

Not only are B2B companies going to focus on creating video for LinkedIn, but they will also start to take notice of IGTV. With updates to Instagram’s algorithm formula, video submitted on IGTV will proceed to the surface of your followers’ rss feeds, in addition to be discovered much more prevalently on users’ investigate webpages. This is going to lead to a lot more online video leads, a more substantial audience, and a lot more advantages.

What in addition will we notice in 2020? We think that internet marketers will begin paying attention much more about consumer requires, as an alternative to “marketing demands.” Online marketers begins resolving customers’ queries immediately that will create promotions that response these concerns. The only people that actually issue would be the individuals who we want using our goods and services. Refocusing what is delivered to customers might be a trend in 2020 that numerous organizations won’t be able to ignore.

Michelle Barnum Smith, AMZ Messenger Bot Membership

The Amazon . com marketplace is consistently in flux. There are far more private content label retailers now than ever before and the industry will become a lot more competitive. To stay in the video game, dealers really need to be resilient and versatile.

Probably the most crucial approaches to get used to is to experience a manufacturer-way of thinking. A brand isn’t pretty much appearing having a individual product or service-it’s about developing a local community of enthusiastic buyers. The easiest and best approach to commence is using driving your personal additional traffic using Chitchat Marketing strategies by way of ManyChat.

ManyChat helps make chitchat advertising an omni-route experience. Now sellers can run multichannel activities through one particular instrument and get to their audience in the most efficient techniques feasible. Chat marketing will unquestionably make market constructing, item launching, and product or service marketing seamless for Amazon online Retailers.

Tara Robertson, Director of Client Advertising at Sprout Sociable

2020 is all about refinement. Manufacturers not only need to give attention to who they really are but more importantly, the way that they differ from rivals and make impressive experience for his or her buyers. In in advance, entrepreneurs will emphasis much more on becoming client obsessed by making sure every touchpoint is regular and deliberate. Providing outstanding customer encounters has stopped being a “nice to get,” but an expectation-particularly as organizations make an effort to stand out inside their saturated trading markets.

To that particular finish, you will see an increased need for articles and experiences that mementos quality more than volume. We are living in the age of genuine advertising as well as the more pertinent and relatable your marketing is, the better devoted your audience will end up. It is not simply in regards to the new system, innovative AI, or a robust technology stack. In reality, I just think it will probably be the opposite.

We should lower your expenses time considering our automation plus more time thinking about the way we can interact with our consumers and each and every other. We expect much more personalization than in the past as buyers and it’s vital that marketing and sales groups comprehend this and the significance of connection.

Jenna Snavely, Generation Information Supervisor at DigitalMarketer

I talk to a lot of experts in the industry, as host of The DigitalMarketer Podcast. From all of my podcast job interviews across the the very least season, the marketplace trends we have been watching carefully at DM, and my very own acquiring habits-I feel the easiest way to catch back in 2020 (or make your direct) will probably be serialized consumable video clip content.

It is a tremendous chance to establish your brand sound and make viewers, and the majority of importantly…it’s a means to more than-deliver.

Brands who do the hard work, get the payout.

Nathalie Lussier, Founder of AccessAlly

Succeed Through Online Marketing - In 2020, I anticipate that more people will carry on and “cut the cord” from cable and go on to internet streaming alternatives for their entertainment. It is calculated that 45 million grownups will depart their cable television or satellite companies in 2020.

Exactly what does that have to do with computerized advertising and marketing?

It implies that as attention shifts clear of traditional Television marketing, more promoters must get creative and locate strategies to attain men and women on-line rather.

That is each a true blessing and a curse: It’s going to raise the cost of advertising on the hottest platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Google, although it’s going to create more work for digital agencies.

Brands is probably not shifting a bunch of their bucks to “pay for every click” advertising, they could also up their content advertising and marketing financial budgets in an effort to happen in societal reveals and interactions, as well! Content material advertising organizations, keep in mind!

Splintering Neighborhood Systems

For organizations who would like to boost their communities on-line (and who doesn’t? ) there’s an intensifying need to take acquisition of local community place.

For many years a good place to number a community has become through Fb teams. There’s plenty of engagement and growth on Facebook or twitter, due to an presently a built-in habit (or is it an addiction? !).

The tech giant has experienced some political and ethical backlash and more digital business owners are looking for alternatives, however.

I forecast that systems which allow you to make local community “on your own turf” like Palapa, Mighty Systems, BuddyBoss, and Wordpress blogs are likely to see a great deal of expansion.

Those that have failed and tried say the the vortex is strong… and engagement isn’t as high, as much as I see people building these networks outside of the Facebook ecosystem.

So there will likely be a splintering of communities across different platforms, and I suspect also a consolidation for those groups that don’t get enough traction off Facebook when they return.

Intensifying Polarization And Woke Marketing and advertising

So will the political polarization in 2020, as the planet’s climate continues to heat up.

Brands could have a decision to create: continue to be natural or possess a point of view.

The firms that remain higher than the fray will steer clear of the drama and also the volatility that is included with entering the conversation on everyone’s thoughts.

But all those organizations that can genuinely talk about their standpoint, will acquire lasting commitment for being prepared to place their beliefs more than short-term income. According to Cone Communications, 92% of consumers say they have a more positive image of a company when the company supports a social or environmental issue.

Yes, you will see drop out from businesses that engage in “woke marketing” and mixture activism or politics into their information.

My prediction is that more businesses will be willing to put their reputations on the line to connect with Gen Z and Millennials who are more discerning about where they spend their hard earned dollars… and how it impacts the world at large.

Rachel Pedersen, Chief executive officer from the Popular Contact & Social Media Marketing United

2020 is definitely the calendar year the facade of flawlessly shiny marketing crashes and burns. Too many people happen to be burned by influencers faking it with ideal photoshoots, and individuals are eager for genuineness.

As consumers get hungry for REAL answers, they will be looking for context outside of keynotes. They’re looking for signs and symptoms of congruency - confirmation that their favored individuals on websites are in reality wandering the walk.

In 2020 the marketer who supplies all-entry, behind the curtain, contextual marketing wins. It’s the year of humanized marketing.

Right here is how you can defeat the bandwagon marketers in 2020:

1.Tik. Tok: The time is ticking. TikTok can be a exceptional program that reveals a lot more measurements and will allow viewers to fall in love with your impromptu, creative and unpolished or UCG information.

2.Go are living. Anyplace. Display the turmoil to getting all set on an occasion with 3 youngsters once your child provides the influenza along with your very last clean clothing was *coughing* messed up.

3.Report your podcast in real life conditions. Allow your market to Sense your surroundings and life throughout the audio.

4.Decrease Photoshop. So you have a scar on your eyebrow? The vacation having magically included an additional 15 kilos on the photographs? Permit it to be. Let them see.

5.Online video informs all. Customers are searching for contextual signs in your video marketing. They want over a perfect set and set of scripts. They need to see who you really are. Provide them with a lot more to work with.

6.Inform the facts. So 2019 was a hard year? Inform them. And do not just brush it well with all the normal ‘Oh man, it had been a difficult season! ’ Tell them what gone improper. Tell them the way your cardiovascular system broke. Inform them about the night once you virtually stop. Let them know in regards to the faults that almost damaged you. Just inform them the truth.

Jody Milward, Founding father of Interpersonal Charlie

A game title changer for Instructors and Electronic digital course inventors going into 2020 will be to include a Self Liquidating Offer you (SLO) at the front end end of their Facebook Promoting. Because with the rising costs of Facebook ads, these offers weren’t profitable, over the years coaches have been told to drop the low ticket offers and focus entirely on High ticket sales.

But that’s The reason why they must be element of product or service collection in 2020. We are seeing individuals creating 6 statistics in under a season having a $27 supply. For instance, Allie Bjerk, runs Facebook or twitter ads to chilly website traffic on her behalf SLO by using a $27 provide. This has created nearly $500,000 in 9 several weeks by having an all round 2.4 by ROAS. So not only is she generating covering and leads her ad spend, she’s also making money. Then when she publicized her higher solution offer you she had a high quality viewers of buyers and of the people who signed up with, 70Per cent experienced purchased her $27 offer.

Then there is Ashley who may have an SLO for Freelance writers and it is addressing her advert commit as she expands her email list. Engaged community and her SLO was a major contributor to the success of her five figure program launch, by having people come into her community via a paid offer she’s seeing significant growth in her Facebook Group with a lively.

An incredible SLO cannot only deal with your ad invest but in addition make you dollars although bringing in a top quality market of buyers, as opposed to lots of tyre kicking low-cost qualified prospects who never ever even go and open your e-mails. Once the intitial front end offer you is combined in a sales funnel with complementary upsells, we’re seeing what starts with a $27 offer actually have the average order importance of $61 plus an average price every selling of $33.

So, rather than pouring money into free lead magnets and filling up your CRM with cheap unqualified leads, turning that lead magnet into an excellent low ticket offer to bring in quality customers who are actually paying to get on your email list, will make a massive difference to your Facebook Ad Budget and business in 2020.

(Notice: Want a supporting hands together with your computerized advertising endeavours? Or you would just like confirmed, workable advertising tools, strategies, and themes to put into action with your enterprise? Look into the newest package from DigitalMarketer, and you will be soon on your way aiding your small business expand.)

Get more info - BuzRush

[creativesage]

By Giselle Abramovich, at CMO.com

While technology is a powerful enabler, it’s only the first step in digital transformation, said Adobe CMO Ann Lewnes, Wednesday morning at Adobe Summit — The Digital Experience Conference.

According to Lewnes, in addition to technology, companies need to be focused on the right people to make a transformation successful.

“You need both right brainers and left brainers, as well as the ‘in-betweeners,’” Lewnes told the audience of 17,000 people gathered this week in Las Vegas. “We reskilled talent where we could and brought in new skills where we needed to. Our market researchers reinvented themselves and became data analysts. Our media team learned to love new ad formats and programmatic, and our designers became content machines to keep pace with digital’s demands. We brought in data scientists to do mix modeling and media attribution analysis. And a lot of digital natives.”

But above all else, Lewnes said, Adobe looked for people with a new mindset: people who weren’t afraid to experiment and challenge the status quo. With the right technology and people in place, the next step was transforming Adobe’s processes because transformation requires cross-company collaboration and accountability.

That has meant building a culture of testing, she said. The marketing organization at Adobe started off with one test a week and now does approximately 50 tests per month. The team tests everything from a color of a button to entirely new business models.

“And because we’re Adobe, we also have a very high creative bar,” Lewnes said. “In the end, a great idea and a great piece of creative is at the center of every great experience.”

Adobe’s transformation isn’t done yet, Lewnes added. In fact, she expects some big trends on the horizon that are going to change the game yet again. First, she said, mobile is growing with voice, augmented reality, and 5G. Next, addressable TV is finally allowing businesses to target individual households, while the “buy online and pick up in-store” trend is blurring the online/offline retail worlds. Finally, the explosion of video continues, with U.S. adults spending nearly six hours a day viewing video content, she said, citing Nielsen research.

Innovation Starts With Empathy And Culture 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sat down with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen (fun fact: the two went to high school together) to talk about what it takes for brands to truly innovate. Nadella pointed to the Microsoft Adaptive Controller, built to make gaming more accessible.

“[Our Adaptive Controller came from the] Xbox team who got really proximate with a community of gamers,” Nadella said. That team thought long and hard about what it could do to make gaming more accessible.” Even the packaging is accessible, he said.

“Empathy is at the core of all innovation,” Nadella said.

 When asked about what it takes from an organizational standpoint to be successful in digital transformation and innovation, Nadella said a sense of purpose, mission, and culture are really key.

Business today struggle with having to get a lot of things right: the customer experience, figuring out where the world is going, where technology is going, etc., he said. But as long as the company’s purpose and mission are clear to everyone who works there, the right decisions should be crystal clear.

What else is needed for smart decisioning? Data, Nadella said.

“The greatest asset that everyone in this room has is the data,” he said. “But it is sometimes locked up in silos. If [you] unlock the data and enrich the data … you can optimize outcomes.”

Going back to the importance of culture, Nadella emphasized the importance of changing the mindset from “know it all” to “learn it all” in order to drive innovation and, ultimately, business outcomes.

Nadella is bullish on the power of artificial intelligence—instinctual AI, specifically—and said he sees an opportunity for companies in creating new products using breakthroughs in AI. He stressed the importance of empowering all of the people within an enterprise and arming them with the right technology so they “can have a pride in their craft.” The tools, he said, must take the friction out of work and enable collaboration.

 But the hardest thing for a business to do is try and predict with high precision what consumers are going to like, need, and demand in the future. Whether B2B or B2C, their expectations of what companies produce will keep changing.

“I think [the power] in our capacity to innovate is the ‘no-regrets’ move,” Nadella said. “How do we build the long-term systems and experimentation harness on top of those systems? [And how do we] build the ability to rapidly, continuously experiment? You don’t have to be right all the time. ... Give credit to those who come up with a hypothesis and prove themselves wrong.”

That, he said, is a “no-regrets” system investment.

An Expanded Idea Of Storytelling

Reese Witherspoon (yes, you read that right), sat down with Adobe’s Lewnes to talk about the changing world we live in, where there is more transparency into the people and brands that you let into your world.

In acting, she said, the old-world approach gave very little insight into what people really thought about movies. Modes of measurement included box-office sales and critic reviews. However, actors and producers never got insight into engagement or heard whether people really enjoyed their movies, she said.

“Being able to interact with fans,” she said, “[has] expanded the idea of storytelling.”

Witherspoon talked of the launch of her clothing brand Draper Jones. She said she had been approached by several brands looking to collaborate with her in the past, but they just didn’t feel right. “They didn’t feel authentic to me and my brand,” she told attendees.

That was what drove her to launch Draper James. The key to its success, she said, is data, which “helps us be nimble,” she said.

Data isn��t just helping her in her entrepreneurship, either. With streaming content, Witherspoon said, actors now know what’s popular, which actors people like, and which stories touch people’s hearts. Data has given her a more expansive sense of humanity, and, she said, as consumer behavior changes, she has been forced to adapt.

“If you don’t evolve, you expire,” she said.

[Entire post, click on the title link to read it at CMO.com.]

***

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***

[cyclone5000]

I was inspired to ask you this question because of the ccs content you've been reblogging (love that show btw). So as far as I know Japan is not a very gay friendly country, certainly not as friendly as some people believe. The MalexMale and FemalexFemale content is marketed to specific groups and usually shows them in ways that are kind of demeaning, like having one of the males being touched against his will (like full blown raped in some cases) by his future lover. (to be continued)

So my question is, how come Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura were able to get away with showing Gay couples in their shows (and well developed, healthy gay couples at that) back in the 90s? It was censored in America but Japan didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and as far as I know both shows were mainstream shows in Japan and marketed to large groups, not like Yuri and Yaoi normally are. Is it just cause they were side characters? Any chance you know the answer to this question?

uhhhh tbh I don’t know if there is a right answer to this…I’m unsure if I’m the one who can provide one at least. 

I’m not that well versed in this kind of stuff. And I’ll be honest, I’m little confused by this ask…I’ll answer it as best as I can. But, I’m just gonna tell you right off the bat that  this is 100% my speculation. Don’t take this as a serious answer :x 

With the way this kind of question is worded…it sounds like you’re comparing the same sex couples in SM and CCS to yaoi and yuri genres? And if that’s the case…well…your answer is right there… you’re basically comparing magical girl anime to pornography….

I mean, don’t get me wrong. Japan is definitely not an LGBT friendly place. But, the adult industry is all about fantasizing to the point of fetish-sizing. It is purposely formulaic. Why? Because a kink is marginally easier to sell than a person. And this is something that can be applied to international adult markets. Ever notice how there are several categories on porn sites, but no real variety within the category’s content?  Yeah that’s no coincidence. Adult entertainment is not about reinventing the wheel, they follow the patterns that are known to work.

Yaoi and Yuri definitely are applied this notion. I think the fact that it’s animanga further allows readers to detach it from reality. Like in the case with the yaoi genre, a huge premise behind it’s creation is ‘forbidden romance’ and its after effects. Caste systems, falling in ‘love’ with someone who you can’t have, power dynamics, the whole ‘i’m not gay but you did this one thing to me and now i can’t forget how incredible it made me feel and so i’m confused until this story reaches a conclusion’–all of this and more get cranked out to the extreme because it sells this romanticized POV of Taboo. 

It’s kind of a no brainer to see how incredibly inaccurate these genres are at depicting actual same sex relationships. But the whole point of the genre is…well not to. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing or anything. (I think a major issue within the adult industry and pornographic material is how unregulated it is in favor of it turning out a profit. Studies have show that people wind up believing what porn shows because of their lack of sex education…but adult industries don’t feel pressured to cared about that really…which does have a negative impact…lol i wrote a paper about this once).

I know bc of the nature of the Internet and stuff, Yaoi/Yuri is often lumped together with regular mlm and wlw love stories. Yes, you’ll find some sense of similarities on how sexual these stories can be. But I think there there is a major difference in yaoi vs shonen ai or yuri vs shoujo ai. And that difference boils down what kind of story the author wants to tell. And what kind of impression the author wants to leave in their reader’s minds. 

Which I’ll transition to SM and CCS now. These series had a specific story in mind, and in order to tell that story; the author(s) made conscious decisions to have characters and couples to display it. I don’t think that they ‘got away’ with anything. In the case with these two shows, in order to display themes and other elements of their fictional verse, they created gay characters to illustrate them in ways the other cast members couldn’t.  The gay and lesbian characters/moments weren’t just added in without consideration. They were an integral part to the plot. They had purpose. And with that in mind, they were created.  The reason why they are good and healthy depictions of relationships is because of the actual format of the genre. These are magical girl stories. The priority is telling a good story. I don’t think they were just token characters, they were woven into the plot extremely well. And if you have a well written character, that’s gonna have a way better impact than a ill written one. 

There was a lot of effort and care put into both of these series. That’s why they left a strong impact that’s still prevalent today. I don’t know too much about Japanese culture and stuff. Under my assumption, I don’t think they are focused on LGBT representation. It was the 90′s. It was rare to find anyone that pushed for proper representation right, hell it’s still rare in present day!  But even if it’s not a primary acceptance for the culture as a whole, for one reason or another, it was impertinent  to the authors. That’s why they made them, that’s why they were weaved into the story. Japan is known for its subtlety. These characters were homosexual, but it was quiet. No one was blunt about it at least. These could be factors of why it was broadcasted as widely as it was. idk for sure, but my gut does tell me that it was a  positive if anyone did oppose of it. 

Like, with SM, I couldn’t tell you what Takeuchi had in mind while conceiving the story…If I’m not mistaken. I believed she made the first ark and was pretty okay with it. But when she gained popularity she was asked to create more, and thus made four more SM series. If the publishing company is asking her to continue her story…chances are they’re gonna let her draw/write what she wants. SM was already a running series by the time Haruka and Michiru came about. That whole ark was specifically about the talismans they held. Takeuchi might have had her own reasons for writing a romance between them, but I personally don’t know what they are. If that’s what she wanted though, that’s what she was gonna do. If the story is good enough to pull in sales and readers, then it’s okay. I can’t remember if there was a big uproar about it. I don’t think there was at least. 

CCS is a little different seeing as it was created by CLAMP and a different publisher. CLAMP in of itself have always been kinda progressive. I mean, within this series alone…one of the big themes is love and memory. Specifically how those two things are so different person to person. I know that tumblr and other social media likes to comment about the gay couples in the show (I don’t blame them lol), but sometimes it’s easy to forget some of the…not so easy to accept romances in the show. There were a lot of romantic feelings between students and teachers. Most of them having a large age difference between them. There were some things that crossed over family lines too. Their push for risky romance, did not stop at just same-sex couples. It was all across the board. CLAMP has always been one of those authors teams that pushed ‘there are many versions of love and just bc you don’t like it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist’ mindset. Even if people didn’t agree with the message, it didn’t stop or deter them from their success. And again…I feel like if I was a publisher…and I had a material for long running success…I’d take it lol. CCS had a lot of promise. 

Hell, look at YO/I rn. The author was always straightforward about Victor and Yuuri being a couple. And they got it through to completion. Why? Because the story was good enough to win people over. I know that sounds like a simple answer to such a complicated issue (it’s really hard getting variety and representation in animanga) but if the team believes in a project, and there is promise in its creation…there is history of studios caving in and allowing it to get created. And this isn’t just for gay love stories. It goes for a bunch of different things…like, look up how Cowboy Bebop’s concept got created! It makes me laugh every time i think about it XD That is like a prime example of someone getting to make what they want and the result being outstanding. all bc the publisher didn’t care so long as they got one thing correct.

BUT I don’t know for sure. It’s not like I’m able to find direct interviews with the authors of SM and CCS. I don’t know what they were actually thinking when creating their stories. Or why they specifically designed the characters the way they did. 

But the same sex couples in these series will almost always be better than say other stories in the yaoi/yuri genres. And that’s just simply due to writing. The authors made characters to fit within their worlds. They didn’t just create characters that had slight variations of the same exaggerated animanga tropes. 

It’s kinda sad when I think about it. mlm stories are being catered to the female gaze while wlw stories are being created for men….why? bc according to publisher, those are the demographics that will purchase these works…I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I think that a lot of people have their preferences and types–but no one is gonna reject a truly good story! lol, even if there are gems within the same sex genres, make so mistake. They can be really hard to find.

I’m not Japanese. Hell I’m Indian-American. That’s like the double opposite of Japanese LOL. For SM and CCS, I don’t know what are the priorities for these publishing studios were. I’m just guessing that it’s success/numbers and thus they allowed for the story to take flow naturally. I don’t know for sure though. I could be completely wrong here. I’d urge you to try and find the answer elsewhere, I’m actually not like a super-fan about these kinds of shows :x hell I don’t really read yaoi or yuri anymore…

but I hope this at least created some kind of stepping stone for you to seek out the proper answer to your question. ^^’ sorry I wasn’t more help. 

[kadobeclothing]

45 Emerging Technology Stats to Know in 2020

As a writer who loves covering emerging technology and human being, I’m surrounded by technology.

Each morning, I wake up to my Amazon Echo’s alarm and ask Alexa about the weather. On my train ride home from work, I’m taking Snapchat selfies using AR filters. When I get to my house, I ask Alexa to turn the lights to a specific hue. Then I ask my smart TV to launch Netflix or play a basic VR game on my Google Cardboard. Before bed, I might check my fitness levels with a smart scale or use my toothbrush’s app to figure out what areas of my mouth I’m missing.

It’s safe to say that I’m a big fan of emerging media, technology, and innovation. As an individual, this technology is already impacting my life. As a marketer, I’m curious to see how brands could leverage smart technology. I’m not the only one who recognizes emerging technology as something that could completely change today’s marketing world. In fact, a Deloitte study found that a growing number of private companies are more heavily prioritizing emerging technology and hiring talent in their annual budgets. At the moment, a few buzzy topics include augmented and virtual reality, general and voice-based artificial intelligence, and smart home devices. And, with the dawn of 5G — a cloud-based high-speed wireless network — tech innovation won’t be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, a Deloitte study notes that many marketing firms are ramping up their information technology processes because of it. With all the technologies out there, it’s hard to cut through online chatter and determine which innovations are mostly just hype and which might actually change the way we market. While many of the major emerging technologies are getting more accessible, you could also still be wondering, “Which might be worth investing in for my industry specifically?” For example, if you run a B2B firm, you might realize augmented reality isn’t a practical technology to research. But, at the same time, you might look into AI software or services that can help your team work more efficiently or learn more about customers. To give you a bird’s eye view of some of the most buzzed-about innovations that could impact marketers in the near or distant future, I’ve collected 45 stats related to four types of emerging technology. Augmented and Virtual Reality For years, researchers have hypothesized that virtual reality, which provides viewers a completely immersive and interactive 360-degree visual experience, will hold the best opportunities in gaming, entertainment, and academic industries. Meanwhile, experts have also thought that augmented reality, a partially immersive but still interactive experience, will thrive in the world of branding and marketing. We have already seen these AR and VR predictions come to fruition as the gaming industry continues to announce games for VR headsets and brands have used AR to allow customers to preview products — such as furniture — in their own homes. Here are 14 stats that demonstrate the growth and opportunities of AR and VR. The AR/VR market is currently estimated at $1.6 billion (IDC) In 2019, 42.9 million people in the US used a VR product, and 68.7 million people used an AR once monthly. (eMarketer) Seven in ten media planners want to add AR to their strategies in the future. (Vibrant Media) In a 2018 study based in the U.K. and U.S., 90% of participants knew what VR was while only 65% were aware of what AR was. (GlobalWebIndex) 42% of people who use a VR headset at least monthly say they used a mid-range device such as the Google Daydream or Samsung Gear VR. (GlobalWebIndex) In 2018, 88% of companies with budgets between $100 million and $1 billion were already experimenting with different forms of AR. (Deloitte) A quarter of VR users believe it has a strong potential for brands and marketers. (GlobalWebIndex) While 43% of people who report using VR headsets once monthly say they own their own device, 35% of once-monthly VR users say they use a family or friend’s device. (GlobalWebIndex) 71% of consumers would prefer to shop at stores with an AR experience (Lumus Vision) 64% of consumers say VR has the most potential in gaming, while 52% recognize its potential in Film and TV. (GlobalWebIndex)

Image Source: GlobalWebIndex In 2018 mobile VR made $3 billion globally, in part due to purchases related to the mobile app Pokemon Go. (Digi-Capital) It’s estimated that AR platforms such as mobile and AR glasses-related apps will hit 2.5 billion installs in 2023. (Digi-Capital) Meanwhile, VR platforms are expected to see 30 million installs across devices by 2023 (Digi-Capital) Snapchat’s Q3 2019 Earnings Report notes that over 600,000 AR Lenses have been created through the company’s Lens Studio, This increased from 500,000 at the end of Q2. (Snap Inc.) Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence is so prevalent in 2019 that many of us don’t even notice all the ways we interact with it on a given day. In fact, all of the other technologies on this list require some type of AI algorithm to work smoothly. If you’re less familiar with AI, here are 12 stats to keep in mind: Over 37% of organizations have implemented artificial intelligence in some form. The number of industries that have implemented it has grown by 270% since 2015 (Gartner) In a 2019 ranking of the top 10 emerging technologies, the World Economic Forum noted, “social robots” as number two. (World Economic Forum) It’s estimated that 80% of emerging technologies will involve AI by 2021 (Gartner) 40% of marketing and sales teams say that machine learning and data science-based AI will be a crucial part of their future strategies (2019 Data Science and Machine Learning Market Study) It’s estimated that AI-based analytics and marketing software will give the average data analyst back one-third of their time, which could then be used for bigger projects or other tasks. (Gartner) At 2018’s F8 summit, covered by VentureBeat, Facebook said there were more than 300,000 chatbots on Facebook Messenger. (VentureBeat) The percentage of businesses that offer chatbots could grow to 80% in 2020. (HubSpot) 63% of businesses say they will consider AI in the near future due to pressures related to reducing costs. (BCG and MIT Sloan School of Business) The facial recognition market is estimated to grow by 20% in 2020. (VisionGain) There’s only a 1.4% chance that a marketing manager’s role will be taken over by artificial intelligence. (HubSpot) It’s estimated that this year, customers will be able to manage 85% of their enterprise relationships without working with humans. (Gartner) Online mentions of automation have increased by 70% year over year. (Adobe) Voice Assistants and Smart Speakers While voice assistants are technically a segment of AI, they’ve become so prominent in the emerging media world that they deserve their own section of stats. Over 46% of people use voice assistants. (Pew Research Center) More than 36% of consumers own a smart speaker. (Adobe) Of those who own a smart speaker, 54% say their voice assistant can easily understand them when they speak. (Adobe) Nearly 112 million people in the U.S. use a voice assistant once monthly across devices. (eMarketer) Roughly 34% of people who don’t own a smart speaker are interested in purchasing one. (GlobalWebIndex) According to a 2018 poll conducted by HubSpot via Lucid Software, 52% of consumers say they’ve used a voice assistant solely on their phone. (HubSpot)

Data Source: Lucid Software Millennials are the heaviest users of voice assistants, but usage is growing across age groups. (eMarketer) In a late-2018 test where the Amazon, Google, and Apple voice assistants were asked 800 questions each, all understood over 99% to 100% of the questions. (Loup Ventures) In the study noted in the above bullet, Google was named the “smartest” voice assistant because it answered more than 86% of the questions correctly. (Loup Ventures)

Image Source: Loup Ventures In Q2 of 2019, Amazon shipped 6.6 million of its smart speakers, maintaining the lead over competitors like Google. (Canalys) Amazon Alexa, the voice assistant associated with Amazon Echo smart speakers, now has over 100,000 Skills globally. (Voicebot.ai) By 2023, digital voice ecommerce is expected to triple to an $80 billion industry. (Juniper Research) Between August 2018 and February 2019, smart speaker ownership increased by 4% (Adobe)

Source: Adobe Smart Devices and Appliances While you may not realize the significance that smart appliances and devices could have on marketing, this is something that I and my colleagues have been paying close attention to. Although this space is still young, it’s already seemingly providing interesting opportunities to bigger brands. As you can imagine, devices like smart TVs could provide great potential for content marketing and branded media, However, a more unique example of an appliance that could provide brand potential is the smart refrigerator. “I’m excited to see how a smart fridge that can tell me when my avocados are about to spoil can be leveraged by a brand to give me information that might serve me in that particular information, says Amanda Zantal-Wiener, a senior content strategist who creates content for HubSpot that covers news and trends. But, Zantal-Weiner’s excitement doesn’t end at smart-home appliances. She’s also fascinated by the world of smart cars “Until we start to see self-driving cars on the road, the idea of connected cars can also be used to help me do more than mindlessly scroll through my phone when I’m using a ride-hailing service, by serving as a distribution channel for real-time, relevant information during that trip. Everything is connected, and I’m excited to see which brands are able to adapt to that earlier on in a way that actually helps customers,” Zantal-Wiener explains. While the smart appliance space is still fairly nascent and harder to report on statistically at the moment, here are a few interesting stats that highlight why you should keep these technologies on your radar. According to a Fluent Survey, 55% of internet users already own some type of smart device. (Fluent) The same survey found that the most common device was a smart television, which 38% of participants owned. The next most commonly owned devices were lighting (17%), thermostats (16%) and security systems (14%), and kitchen appliances (7%). (Fluent) 31% of people ages 18 to 34 and 38% of people over 35 say that their main purchasing concern related to smart appliances is cost. (Fluent) Consumers over the age of 35 are more worried about hacking and data security on smart appliances than 18 to 34-year-olds. (Fluent)

Image Source: eMarketer The average cost of a smart-home device is expected to drop by 52% by 2023 (Juniper Research) In 2018, 70% of TVs sold globally were smart TVs. (Statista) Navigating the Future of Marketing Yes, creating voice assistant skills, leveraging AI, and building branded AR/VR experiences might be pretty inaccessible and costly to your company right now and in the near future. But, if you want to continue to innovate your brand, or be a competitive marketer in the far future, you’ll want to keep up with how technology and marketing possibilities are evolving. By keeping up with marketing innovation news, you’ll be more prepared to adopt new technologies when they are accessible in the future. For some detailed guides on emerging technologies that could or are already impacting brands, check out blog posts on artificial intelligence, voice technology, Snapchat, smart devices, and chatbots, and video game marketing — which can leverage of few of the technologies noted above.

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[unixcommerce]

Dina Apostolou of Microsoft: Mixed Reality Offers A Unique Opportunity to Enhance Sales Experience

I recently asked a number of CRM industry executives how they thought artificial intelligence could help SMBs with some of the big challenges they face using CRM applications.  This was all inspired by a poll question we posed to the Small Business Trends community, which found the following results:

Why Small Businesses Need CRM

One of those executives that offered her thoughts was Dina Apostolou, Global Product Marketing Director of Worldwide Business Applications for Microsoft.  And it just so happens I was able to have a fireside chat (and I mean literally a fireside chat) with Dina this week at Constellation Research’s annual Connected Enterprise conference in Half Moon Bay, CA.

A Closer Look at Small Business Tech Needs

Dina expanded on her thoughts on why AI can help SMBs get more out of CRM and Microsoft’s approach to bringing AI and CRM together.  She also explains what mixed reality is and how the company is bringing it to their customer base to help improve the selling experience, while also improving workforce productivity.  And she explains why she’s more of a talker than a texter.

Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.  To hear the full conversation watch the video or click on the embedded SoundCloud player below.

Some Still Don’t Know What CRM can Do

Brent Leary: Are you as surprised as I am that today in 2019 there are so many people who still don’t know what CRM can do for their business?

Dina Apostolou: You would think at this point, that technology is kind of been a little bit more profoundly known across all industries and all segments at this time, but there’s still a lot that are adapting to the change in the pace of technology, right? So while something as traditionally known as CRM, but then there’s all this other technology that’s entered the place, when you look at the MarTech stack, when you start hearing AI, the scary word of AI, I think that starts to concern some of those businesses that are smaller because they think costs. Right?

AI is NOT Just for Big Companies

Brent Leary: Right. And some of them think AI is just for big companies, but I mean, I’ve been to 25 conferences this year, and AI is front and center pretty much everywhere. Do you think there’s a disconnect with  those that think “AI is not for small businesses”, and that disconnect is causing small businesses not to understand what CRM could do for them? Because AI can really do a lot in the context of CRM.

Dina Apostolou: I agree. I think that there’s a lot of barriers that are actually limiting, anywhere from SMBs up to enterprise around AI. But I think that artificial intelligence is definitely something that, I would say, any SMB owner or you  work your way across different functions within that organization, they think expensive, they think job elimination. They’re not thinking of how it actually can support their business process.

Some Businesses are Definitely Struggling

And so I think they’re probably struggling to kind of grasp, like how do you break through and get it into your organization in a way that’s quicker time to value. Right? And either they don’t maybe have the in-house knowledge to help them walk them through that or maybe there isn’t an ecosystem there that’s able to help them to kind of see through that path. That’s unfortunate, but also a good opportunity.

A Look at How AI Can Help

Brent Leary: You kind of just segued into my next question is how does Microsoft help them understand how a CRM helps them, but also understand the benefits that AI has which could parlay into how CRM could help them?

Dina Apostolou: I think Microsoft’s unique in that we do see a lot of our customers, especially in this segment, as being on that path to of wanting a customer relationship management solution if they’ve been really comfortable with the productivity tools.

And so there’s a lot of good benefit, especially for us and how we’ve designed Dynamics 365 and our professional version of sales to accommodate those buyers that start to kind of outgrow what maybe a point solution could offer or what basic email could do in a sense of either marketing or sales engagement.

Creating an Onboarding Path for Customers

And some of that familiarity built in and having the productivity piece makes it pretty unique and it also makes it an onboarding path for customers that it doesn’t feel so big and clunky. First run experience is extremely important, right, because if you can’t get past that first run experience, you’re not going to win the customer.

So that’s an important aspect of it as well. I think the ease of first run experience on onboarding the rest of your organization, how do you build that into your products? So I think those are all important things that you have to accommodate for, for different segments of customers, understanding what their technical capabilities are.

Brent Leary: During your one of the keynote sessions, you actually had a fireside chat with Ray Wang, but he didn’t have a fireplace like this…

Dina Apostolou: He didn’t. This is nice.

Benefits of Mixed Reality

Brent Leary: I think he was asking a question around mixed reality. I think a lot of people may not, at least in the SMB community, may not understand exactly what mixed reality is. Could you kind of help understand, help them understand what mixed reality is and how it may be something that you have to be at least on their radar?

Dina Apostolou: It’s actually an important part of our portfolio. When you think about our business applications portfolio, we have a set of transactional applications, we have a set of analytical applications and then how we call it is observational applications. And that’s where our mixed reality apps fit into that and how they can kind of support a different solution area or a line of business. And that’s important because that’s data that’s coming in from a different means, right?

So we’ve talked a lot about, obviously, this conglomerate of data, but data being transactional, behavioral and observational, super important. So there’s different means of mixed reality, obviously. I can talk about the ways that we are bringing it to market and how it’s changing the workforce and how it’s changing use cases. So in our portfolio, we have customers that are using Dynamics 365 Product Visualize as a way to enhance a selling experience.

Don’t Bring a Yacht into the Showroom

So without having to bring maybe a yacht into a showroom with a customer, how do you use mixed reality in that sense to give a perspective buyer, especially in a luxury industry and space, the opportunity to go look at a yacht or multiple models of a yacht, right, or especially something that doesn’t exist yet that’s still in the manufacturing line.

And then you can shift towards guides and the ability to help your workforce to be able to conduct training and onboarding and education.  So it’s happening across different industries, that’s for sure and use cases. And some are more prevalent, I would say, in the enterprise space for us, but I think Product Visualize is a good example of one that is happening as we see it in the SMB space as well.

Brent Leary: I think Ray asked you voice or text.

Dina Apostolou: Text or talk.

Going from Voice to Text

Brent Leary: Right! I went right to voice or text. All right, so you said what?

Dina Apostolou: I said talk.

Brent Leary: And why did you say that? Because there’s just so many people texting. Why do you say talk?

Dina Apostolou: I say talk just because I feel like you lose that emotional connection over texting. Sometimes, you lose the context of your meaning, intent, so I just don’t feel the EQ part can always come out as part of text.

Brent Leary: I’m a talk person too. I would go with talk. I think in the future, people are going to be able to talk to their applications-

Dina Apostolou: That’s right.

Brent Leary: … and make it easier for them to get stuff done.

Dina Apostolou: Yeah. And there’s, again, new technology that’s happening around conversational intelligence, being able to scan calls and have the realtime feedback that can help a manager coach an employee in that situation, teach them situational leadership and how to address a customer on the spot. And so I think that, that’s an important element of both; how you relate to someone face to face as well as how technology is going to continue to advance, and we’re going to see more of that come across.

This article, “Dina Apostolou of Microsoft: Mixed Reality Offers A Unique Opportunity to Enhance Sales Experience” was first published on Small Business Trends

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[thereallaptoplf]

Social Media – A Leading Platform for Entrepreneurs

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To begin with, what is social media? I doubt if no one of you as an Entrepreneur knows the answer to this so-called ‘self-explanatory question’, however, I will fill in the rank of my duties and explain. As per Merriam-Webster, social media is widely defined as, “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and micro-blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).”

I’m certain you have seen how prevalent social media is and why such a large number of individuals, including me, a common user, and you, a blossoming entrepreneur, tune-in to use it at least once a day. It’s like a medication of the modern era. It keeps us in sync with global and local communities. Such a significant number of us wake up and check our social media profiles before whatever else, which formulates the justification of why social media is extremely important and self-evident for your businesses.

The overall significance of social media is growing exponentially every single day due to an ever-increasing number of individuals joining in. Everything considered the social media industry will undoubtedly boom in the coming years.

Because of how significant social media is, it’s no big surprise that it has such an enormous effect on businesses.

Social media is an astonishing social platform for entrepreneurs. Each business today should use appropriate social media diverts in the most ideal manner. Not on the grounds that it’s the common thing and every other business is doing it, but rather social media has the perfect audience for your business. As an entrepreneur, you cannot simply ignore the importance of social media for your business.

Facts

Here are some of the key facts that show the influence and potential of social media for businesses:

According to an infographic published by FME Extensions, 80 percent of the Netflix audience is driven via social media with the help of an AI recommender.

An average of 2 hours and 22 minutes is spent by an individual on social media

Social media ads are cheaper and effective than any other mean of advertisement

Today, around 3.5 billion people are using social media. Perse, they can be your potential customers

91% of retail brands utilize at least 2 Social Media channels

Comprehensive Analysis of Social Media

By boosting your brand on social media, no matter how small or big, you produce more revenue opportunities as well as interface with your customers better and serve them on a more elevated level. It really makes your digital showcasing simpler, interactive, emotional and most importantly productive.

Here is why every entrepreneur must use social media for his/her business:

Paid Advertisement

Social media advertisement is a proven strategy for many businesses, in fact, it’s a key to success for various businesses. We can comprehend that by just taking a look at the revenue of 9.16 billion generated by Facebook via ads.

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As an ever-increasing number of organizations effectively try different things with advanced promoting, they’re understanding that taking the social media course bodes well when compared to other conventional advertisement methods due to the following reasons.

Lower promotion costs

Targeted reach

Real-time performance analysis

Awareness

Social media has proven again and again that it can be great assistance in regard to brand awareness. Here is why:

Its helps in finding and engaging the most appropriate audience

You can use eye-popping visuals to spread awareness and grab the attention of masses

It facilitates direct interaction with customers

you can increase the brand engagement level by posting or sharing value content

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Every progression made to build brand awareness has its impact on the business not only for a short time but in the long run also.

Other important advantages of social media are:

Amplified brand trust

Better search engine optimization

Higher conversion rates

Increase inbound traffic

Real-time interaction with customers

Stratified customers

Famous Social Media Platforms

Following are the most renowned and broadly used social media platforms that can instantly get you up and running in terms of social media marketing:

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Conclusion

The wave of internet-based social interaction isn’t going to be wrapped up like a cone shop around the neighborhood at any point in the near future. That is why your business should exploit it in the most productive manner possible.

It’s significant for organizations of different kinds to comprehend that social media promotions are just getting greater and more brilliant. It’s is going to be the new normal of the future. Now the question is, would you say you are a part of it?

from http://www.socialmediaimpact.com/social-media-a-leading-platform-for-entrepreneurs/ from http://thereallaptoplifestyle1.blogspot.com/2019/10/social-media-leading-platform-for.html

[samuelpboswell]

Dave Gerhardt of Drift Outlines the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing

Drift is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern marketing, and their Vice President of Marketing Dave Gerhardt has been instrumental in establishing this reputation.  Taking on his first role as a marketing leader, he helped grow the chatbot platform from a startup with no market recognition to a $10 million company in less than two years. He also co-authored the book Conversational Marketing along with Drift’s founder David Cancel.  While his company has experienced powerful growth and attained status as a leading innovator, the journey hasn’t always been smooth and seamless. Dave says there are a number of things he wishes he would’ve known before getting started, and he shared them on Tuesday at B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange in Boston, dubbing them his “10 Commandments for Modern Marketing” (with a stated emphasis on the word modern).

The 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing

1. It’s never too early to start marketing, ever.

Ever see a construction site for a residence that won’t be finished for four more years? Did you notice the sign advertising the future apartments or condos? Dave references this as an example of getting out front with generating awareness.  “There’s too much noise and competition,” he argues. “You can’t think you’re just gonna show up and think people are gonna buy. Start as soon as you can.” [bctt tweet="My advice for you is: start marketing yesterday. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

2. You must build an audience. 

And you should do it in a way that has nothing to do with your product or service. This is a fundamental aspect of content marketing that unfortunately tends to get overlooked. People don’t want to subscribe to a podcast or YouTube channel that’s just trying to sell them something. Create things for people who are at least somewhat related to your business, and make sure it provides them with real value. 

3. You have to use social proof anytime you do anything in marketing. 

Customers are growing more skeptical and leery of brand promotions all the time. Even case studies don’t have the impact they once did, because – as Dave puts it – “they know a marketer wrote it, and then got approval from a customer.” Today’s audience wants to see what people are buying and using, so leverage your customers’ own words in the form of screenshots from review sites such as G2 Crowd, or posts on Twitter and LinkedIn. Drift’s social proof repository exemplifies this approach. 

4. Copywriting is everything. 

Dave, you’re a man after my own heart. As an avid proponent of the written word and its enduring value, it was nice to hear such adamance of Mr. Gerhardt on the matter. If you haven’t, he suggests picking up a copy of Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins. It was originally published in 1923, but remains entirely relevant today. Why? Because it’s about writing influentially for human readers. [bctt tweet="Copywriting is so powerful because it gives you the ability to sell without ever having to pick up the phone. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

5. There’s a story behind everything. 

“There’s no boring products,” Dave opines. “There’s only boring marketers.” We as people are wired to engage with and remember stories. Not only is this format highly compelling, but as I’ve written before, storytelling also builds trust.

6. It won’t stick unless you name it. 

Even the most interesting concept or idea will likely fail to gain traction if you don’t give it a name that people can associate with it. This is especially critical to creating a category. Dave emphasizes that you shouldn’t get too caught up on what the name will be – just make sure you have one. For instance, he says his team went back and forth endlessly on what to call “conversational marketing,” until they finally settled on the simple and straightforward eventual choice, which has since become an integral part of Drift’s brand. 

7. You have to stand for something as a brand today. 

The safe, conservative route of leaning toward neutrality and avoiding controversy no longer flies. In some cases, your brand’s stance can tie to more serious societal and political issues; Salesforce announced earlier this year that it would no longer do business with retailers selling semi-automatic weapons. But it can also be something less touchy, and more directly pertinent to your industry. Drift famously took a stand against lead forms and gated content, which were viewed at the time (and still are viewed by many) as mandatory elements of a results-oriented content strategy.

8. Creativity is a competitive advantage. 

The rush amongst marketers to develop the most proficiency with tools and the biggest tech stack is misguided. “Marketing technology is table stakes,” Dave says. “Creativity is the variable for success today.” He adds that while many functions of these technologies will become automated, if they haven’t already, AI and machines will never replace creativity. [bctt tweet="Your differentiator isn’t your tech stack. It’s creativity. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

9. Personal brand is the new company brand. 

This makes some executives uncomfortable. There’s a prevalent concern that encouraging employees to develop their personal brands will make them more likely to get noticed and poached by competitors, or that these employees will say something that doesn’t jibe with the brand positioning. But Dave believes these are the necessary risks a modern marketing operation needs to run. “We all want to work with real people, we don’t want to work with logos.” Effectively engaging your team will make them more likely to be aligned with your company’s voice, and less likely to leave.

10. When they go left, you have to go right. 

Or zig when they zag, if you will. Constantly trying to outdo or outspend your competitors in the same channels and tactics is a losing strategy, Dave says. “The best way you can compete in marketing is to stack the deck. Find the gaps. Go to where people are not today.” 

Heed this Marketer’s Creed and Prosper

I’ve had the privilege of sitting in on many informative, eye-opening sessions at B2BSMX, but I think Dave’s will go down as my favorite. From the moment he took the stage, informing his audience that he didn’t have any slides and would be reading off a piece of paper because he had a baby eight weeks ago and has barely had a free moment since, the Drift marketer oozed genuine authenticity, and every one of his commandments resonated with me personally.  More objectively, given what he and his team have accomplished, it’s tough to argue with this set of guiding principles for the new age.   If you enjoyed this recap, make sure to check out the rest of our coverage from B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange 2019: 

Sangram Vajre on Mastering ABM through the T.E.A.M. Framework

Sandra Freeman of Engagio Explains How to Avoid the ABM Upside Down World

Seasoned CMO Maria Pergolino Charts the Path to Creating a Category

B2B Marketing Spotlight: Omar Al-Sinjari, Sr Digital Marketing Manager, RelayHealth McKesson #B2BSMX

B2B Marketing Spotlight: Alexandra Gobbi, CMO at Secureworks #B2BSMX

The post Dave Gerhardt of Drift Outlines the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/08/modern-marketing-commandments/

[ralphlayton]

Dave Gerhardt of Drift Outlines the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing

Drift is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern marketing, and their Vice President of Marketing Dave Gerhardt has been instrumental in establishing this reputation.  Taking on his first role as a marketing leader, he helped grow the chatbot platform from a startup with no market recognition to a $10 million company in less than two years. He also co-authored the book Conversational Marketing along with Drift’s founder David Cancel.  While his company has experienced powerful growth and attained status as a leading innovator, the journey hasn’t always been smooth and seamless. Dave says there are a number of things he wishes he would’ve known before getting started, and he shared them on Tuesday at B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange in Boston, dubbing them his “10 Commandments for Modern Marketing” (with a stated emphasis on the word modern).

The 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing

1. It’s never too early to start marketing, ever.

Ever see a construction site for a residence that won’t be finished for four more years? Did you notice the sign advertising the future apartments or condos? Dave references this as an example of getting out front with generating awareness.  “There’s too much noise and competition,” he argues. “You can’t think you’re just gonna show up and think people are gonna buy. Start as soon as you can.” [bctt tweet="My advice for you is: start marketing yesterday. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

2. You must build an audience. 

And you should do it in a way that has nothing to do with your product or service. This is a fundamental aspect of content marketing that unfortunately tends to get overlooked. People don’t want to subscribe to a podcast or YouTube channel that’s just trying to sell them something. Create things for people who are at least somewhat related to your business, and make sure it provides them with real value. 

3. You have to use social proof anytime you do anything in marketing. 

Customers are growing more skeptical and leery of brand promotions all the time. Even case studies don’t have the impact they once did, because – as Dave puts it – “they know a marketer wrote it, and then got approval from a customer.” Today’s audience wants to see what people are buying and using, so leverage your customers’ own words in the form of screenshots from review sites such as G2 Crowd, or posts on Twitter and LinkedIn. Drift’s social proof repository exemplifies this approach. 

4. Copywriting is everything. 

Dave, you’re a man after my own heart. As an avid proponent of the written word and its enduring value, it was nice to hear such adamance of Mr. Gerhardt on the matter. If you haven’t, he suggests picking up a copy of Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins. It was originally published in 1923, but remains entirely relevant today. Why? Because it’s about writing influentially for human readers. [bctt tweet="Copywriting is so powerful because it gives you the ability to sell without ever having to pick up the phone. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

5. There’s a story behind everything. 

“There’s no boring products,” Dave opines. “There’s only boring marketers.” We as people are wired to engage with and remember stories. Not only is this format highly compelling, but as I’ve written before, storytelling also builds trust.

6. It won’t stick unless you name it. 

Even the most interesting concept or idea will likely fail to gain traction if you don’t give it a name that people can associate with it. This is especially critical to creating a category. Dave emphasizes that you shouldn’t get too caught up on what the name will be – just make sure you have one. For instance, he says his team went back and forth endlessly on what to call “conversational marketing,” until they finally settled on the simple and straightforward eventual choice, which has since become an integral part of Drift’s brand. 

7. You have to stand for something as a brand today. 

The safe, conservative route of leaning toward neutrality and avoiding controversy no longer flies. In some cases, your brand’s stance can tie to more serious societal and political issues; Salesforce announced earlier this year that it would no longer do business with retailers selling semi-automatic weapons. But it can also be something less touchy, and more directly pertinent to your industry. Drift famously took a stand against lead forms and gated content, which were viewed at the time (and still are viewed by many) as mandatory elements of a results-oriented content strategy.

8. Creativity is a competitive advantage. 

The rush amongst marketers to develop the most proficiency with tools and the biggest tech stack is misguided. “Marketing technology is table stakes,” Dave says. “Creativity is the variable for success today.” He adds that while many functions of these technologies will become automated, if they haven’t already, AI and machines will never replace creativity. [bctt tweet="Your differentiator isn’t your tech stack. It’s creativity. @davegerhardt #B2BSMX" username="toprank"]

9. Personal brand is the new company brand. 

This makes some executives uncomfortable. There’s a prevalent concern that encouraging employees to develop their personal brands will make them more likely to get noticed and poached by competitors, or that these employees will say something that doesn’t jibe with the brand positioning. But Dave believes these are the necessary risks a modern marketing operation needs to run. “We all want to work with real people, we don’t want to work with logos.” Effectively engaging your team will make them more likely to be aligned with your company’s voice, and less likely to leave.

10. When they go left, you have to go right. 

Or zig when they zag, if you will. Constantly trying to outdo or outspend your competitors in the same channels and tactics is a losing strategy, Dave says. “The best way you can compete in marketing is to stack the deck. Find the gaps. Go to where people are not today.” 

Heed this Marketer’s Creed and Prosper

I’ve had the privilege of sitting in on many informative, eye-opening sessions at B2BSMX, but I think Dave’s will go down as my favorite. From the moment he took the stage, informing his audience that he didn’t have any slides and would be reading off a piece of paper because he had a baby eight weeks ago and has barely had a free moment since, the Drift marketer oozed genuine authenticity, and every one of his commandments resonated with me personally.  More objectively, given what he and his team have accomplished, it’s tough to argue with this set of guiding principles for the new age.   If you enjoyed this recap, make sure to check out the rest of our coverage from B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange 2019: 

Sangram Vajre on Mastering ABM through the T.E.A.M. Framework

Sandra Freeman of Engagio Explains How to Avoid the ABM Upside Down World

Seasoned CMO Maria Pergolino Charts the Path to Creating a Category

B2B Marketing Spotlight: Omar Al-Sinjari, Sr Digital Marketing Manager, RelayHealth McKesson #B2BSMX

B2B Marketing Spotlight: Alexandra Gobbi, CMO at Secureworks #B2BSMX

The post Dave Gerhardt of Drift Outlines the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Dave Gerhardt of Drift Outlines the 10 Commandments of Modern Marketing published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[josephborrello]

Magnitude and Direction, Issue #36 | 28 Jun 2019

Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication

↩ This issue's hardware section is a special feature on flexures: moving, mechanical components and devices that are comprised of only one piece. How do you achieve this? By varying material cross-sectional area dramatically from one region to another, thereby creating regions of high compliance. The result are the "8 P's" of flexures and compliant mechanisms: 1. Part count (reduced by having flexible parts instead of springs, hinges) 2. Productions processes (many, new, different enabled by compliant designs) 3. Price (reduced by fewer parts and different production processes) 4. Precise Motion (no backlash, less wear, friction) 5. Performance (no outgassing, doesn't require lubricant) 6. Proportions (reduced through different production processes) 7. Portability (lightweight due to simpler, reduced part count designs) 8. Predictability (devices are reliable over a long period of time) What does that look like, exactly? Check out this video that gives a breakdown of the kinds of things you can do with flexures. Once you've done that, check out this repository of designs for compliant mechanisms, free to download and use (3D printer required for at least some designs). For this week's Moment of Inertia, I'll be talking more about flexures as well as the larger category of materials of which they are a part: mechanical metamaterials - objects of great personal fascination, as well as a crucial component of my PhD research.

Software and Programming

Steven Spielberg is writing a horror series that you can only watch at night - courtesy of the time and location data gathered from your device. Adobe Research and UC Berkley have unveiled a tool that can detect photoshopped faces with 99% accuracy, leveraging the very same kind of machine learning approaches that made the faked faces in the first place. "If GPS stopped working, it would cost the US economy $1 billion a day." Now consider how easily GPS can stop working: you don't even need a cyber attack, human negligence is more than enough.

Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine

⚗ People frequently like to throw around the term "chemical" when they really mean something more like "toxin". On the Mirra skincare blog, M&D regular (and CEO of See Thru) Lisa Guerrera breaks down how we got to this place as a society and how it impacts essentially every vertical of the beauty and wellness industry. ⚗ Turns out Google's been dedicating millions of dollars into cold fusion research over the past several years. As you might guess, the research has only returned negative results (which are still very important!) as well as some promising new materials science developments. (To my readers who aren't in academia, sorry the full article is paywalled. I'm kind of surprised Google wasn't generous enough to pay the extra money for an open access publication.) Did you know that since the early 2000s we've known the average color of the universe? Did you know that it's an incredibly bland color called "Cosmic Latte"? Isn't that a special drink at Dunkin' Donuts right now?? Researchers at Brown University taught a robot to write in Japanese. Then, the robot looked at a bunch of other languages and figured out how to write in those two, all on its own. If you left a modern building in an earthquake zone for over 1000 years, the odds are pretty good that it would collapse at some point due to an earthquake. The Colosseum, while it has been shaken up a few times due to earthquakes during its almost 2000-year life, is doing pretty well as far as buildings in earthquake zones go. This longevity may be due to the way its foundation was constructed, which has acted as a seismic "invisibility cloak", shielding it from the greatest dangers. ☠ From reader Adam Casson of Inscope Medical: Direct to Consumer startups abound these days and, in the pure consumer space, there have been several successes already. The same can't necessarily be said for healthcare. This article from AngelMD breaks down some reasons why.

Mapping, History, and Data Science

Two very interesting articles from The Verge in this edition of M&D about some industry-specific transformations being wrought by tech. The first: the prevalence of music streaming (and the business model that comes with it) is impacting the length of songs (and I don't mean post-recording edits). Up next: Hollywood is starting to turn to AI/ML to help make movie casting and production decisions. Given the many egregious examples of algorithmic bias in the world of contemporary AI, I'm inclined to say this is not a good decision. Check out the oldest recorded footage of a total solar eclipse, captured all the way back in 1900! You might think New York has bad traffic but on TomTom's 2018 congestion report we didn't even make the top 40.

Events and Opportunities

Plenty of NYC's STEM-related meetups and get-togethers are still going strong...

Tuesday, 7/2 NYDesigns holds a special pre-July 4th edition of its Women in Tech after work happy hour. As always, Individuals who identify as female and men are welcome to attend, too.

DUE Monday, 7/8 Apply to The Bridge is a cross-disciplinary, collaborative, virtual residency program run by the SciArt group for artists, scientists, technologists, and creative professionals.

Tuesday, 7/9 The Life Sciences NYC meetup group hosts Michael J. Flanagan, PhD, Executive Director of Genspace for a discussion on community labs and their place in the wider biotech innovation landscape.

Tuesday, 7/9 The New York BioPharma Networking Group (aka NYPBNG) is back and holding their next meetup at Tir Na Nog.

Wednesday, 7/10 A bunch of groups I help run are getting together for Health Tech Connect's next meetup, which is being co-hosted by the Mount Sinai Innovators Group. It promises to be a great evening of networking and brainstorming.

Thursday, 7/11 The Nanotech NYC meetup gathers at Houston Hall for their next social event - always a great place to meet other people interested in or working with nanotechnology, plus a variety of other technical fields.

Some other upcoming events to keep on your radar...

Wednesday, 7/17 The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies has returned after a long hiatus (they were still involved in the Art History Happy Hours at the Brooklyn Museum, to be fair) and is back in a new home and with three great talks about Manhattan-themed history.

Map of the Month

➕➕➡ How many US counties does it take to get one NYC? Find out with this map.

Odds & Ends

MS Paint may be no more, but someone made a javascript app that replicates the interface and experience. I give you JS Paint.

[lindyhunt]

2019 Tech Trends: Users Weigh In and Make Predictions

As we continue to wax nostalgic -- or something like it -- on 2018 and look ahead to the next year, we wanted to get a sense of how users feel about the past, present, and future of tech.

We've covered our top news stories of 2018, and looked back on which predicted tech trends for this year seemed to flourish the most. Now, we want to know what users think of the tech road ahead, and which trends show the most promise.

So, we surveyed over 2,400 people across the U.S., UK, and Canada, asking them about three key things:

Which tech trends they understand the most

Which tech trends they think will be the most successful or popular in 2019

Which tech trends they're most excited to experience next year

Here's where users weigh in on 2019 tech trends.

Understanding Tech Trends

First, we wanted to know which tech trends users understand the most. We asked: Which of the following technology trends could you confidently explain or define? (Select all that apply.)

Out of the 16 options we listed, there were five top tech trends that about a third of users indicated they would feel comfortable explaining or defining.

Out of those five, the category of smart home topped the list. While this could include smart speakers -- which ranked #4 on the list -- the former outperformed the latter in terms of user understanding.

Smart home expands beyond just speakers, however, and also includes things like appliances and other home devices, like refrigerators, that use artificial intelligence to complete such tasks as letting you know if you're out of a certain food item.

As for the relatively high awareness of smart speakers, that could be explained the launch of a few high-profile smart speakers this year, including the Google Home Hub and Facebook Portal -- both of which have been advertised during primetime television and sometimes featured celebrities.

      View this post on Instagram

    #HeyGoogle add even MORE wool blankets to my shopping list. Having a lil too much fun with my Google Assistant 😆😆😆 #ad

A post shared by AWKWAFINA (@awkwafina) on Oct 16, 2018 at 9:43am PDT

At the same time, fewer people indicated that they could confidently define what a voice assistant is -- which is particularly interesting since that technology is what often powers these smart speakers. Our previous research has hinted at some confusion as to what exactly a smart speaker is, since formal vocabulary isn't always associated with technology we use daily. 

"I think voice is incredibly intuitive, and that lots of people don't even think about using it," says HubSpot VP of Marketing Jon Dick. "Asking Alexa [Amazon's voice assistant that powers Echo speakers] for the weather doesn't scream 'voice assistant' to me."

User Predictions for 2019

Next, we wanted to see what sort of tech trend predictions users are making for the year ahead. We asked, "Which of the following technology trends do you think will see the most success or popularity next year? (Select all that apply.)", using the same list of 16 trends from the previous question.

Although there were a few discrepancies in these results from those where users were asked about their comprehension of tech trends -- for instance, more users said they anticipate high success from artificial intelligence (AI) than those who said they could confidently define it -- smart home once again topped the list, with smart speakers falling close behind.

Again, these results could be due to the high-profile nature and heavy advertising of certain smart devices launched this year. Where users see a higher prevalence of a certain type of technology within pop culture, it could add a sense of mainstream popularity. In turn, that could lead to predictions of smart home success in 2019, with more advanced and improved devices beyond smart speakers entering the market.

One trend that was particularly interesting to see in the top five was virtual reality (VR). We've covered that technology quite a bit over the course of 2018 -- from what it's like to use a wireless headset to what's stopping VR from going mainstream.

When we surveyed another sample of users for the latter, the reason that most users gave for not wanting to buy a VR headset was that it "wouldn't benefit" them. And while many users don't see the direct impact or value-add of owning this type of hardware, it seems that many still see it as gaining momentum -- or at least some semblance of popularity or success -- in 2019. (Meanwhile, here's a look at predictions for some of the top VR business use cases.)

What Users Are Most Excited About

Finally, we wanted to know what users are looking forward to the most in 2019. We asked: Which of the following technology trends are you most excited to experience or hear about next year?

Again, smart home and smart speakers both made the top five. But when we asked users earlier this month about their plans to purchase a smart speaker, exactly half said they had no plans to buy such a device at all. But out of those who did indicate plans to buy a smart speaker, 17% said at the time that planned to do so fairly soon -- within the next six months.

Self-driving cars, meanwhile, seem to be an area of excitement for users in 2019 -- perhaps because this technology is rolling out quicker than some may have predicted. (A small fleet of Waymo autonomous vehicles, for instance, already hit the road this year.) And it's a technology around which many companies are actively working to build consumer awareness, with a heavy emphasis on their presence at the 2019 annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). We went for a spin at the 2018 edition of this event, and here's how it went.

As for 5G and AI, these were two of the 2018 top tech trends predicted at CES in January.

Out of the two, 5G appears to have a longer road ahead, as it didn't permeate the mainstream quite as much as some may have hoped in 2018. However, there continues to be quite a bit of industry excitement around this technology as well, with the topic dominating discussion and sessions at February's Mobile World Congress event.

And while 5G may not have made quite the mainstream splash this year that some predicted, looking ahead to 2019, it could remain integral to the development of digital communication and connectivity -- especially since it can help power such wireless technology as VR or self-driving cars. 

AI seems to have played the most vital role in many of the other technologies appearing on this list, as it's what powers many of them. In a nutshell, AI is a way of replicating the intelligence or thought process of humans that's required of certain processes, like answering questions, navigating transportation, recognizing someone's face, or even determining what's in your refrigerator -- which is where the smart home comes in.

So, as all of these areas of technology continue to expand and evolve, and power the new products and capabilities that have launched this year, it could be argued that AI was not only one of the most pivotal tech trends of 2018, but will continue to be in the next year -- and, potentially, many years to follow.

"Tech season," as it were, officially kicks of in early January 2019, and we'll be there -- where, once again, industry experts are scheduled to speak to their top predicted trends of the year to come.

Stay tuned.

Featured image credit: Google

[jamieclawhorn]

Forget bitcoin! I think artificial intelligence could be the next big growth sector

As ever, investors are always looking for the next big thing. In the last couple of years, there has been a considerable amount of interest in bitcoin. The virtual currency has increased significantly in value, but has also been exceptionally volatile. Some investors may have generated high returns from buying the cryptocurrency, while others are likely to have lost money after its decline from almost $20,000 in December 2017 to around $5,500 today.

However, with bitcoin seeming to lack real-world potential in terms of its application, its appeal could be relatively limited over the long term. In contrast, the future for artificial intelligence (AI) could be exceptionally bright.

Increasing usage

AI is essentially where a machine exhibits some degree of human intelligence. It has been around for a number of decades, but seems to be gaining traction across a variety of industries at the present time. For example, it is now used by a number of companies to perform administrative operations which would previously have been undertaken by people. As such, there is not only a potential cost saving, but machines may be faster and more efficient than their human counterparts when performing such tasks.

However, the application of AI is far wider than simple administrative tasks. It is being used in medicine to identify illnesses and diseases, the media sector is using it to create more focused advertising campaigns, while retailers are using AI to suggest online purchases based on a range of data that they have available.

AI’s applications, therefore, are not only focused on profit. It is improving people’s lives in a variety of areas, such as healthcare, leisure and security. As such, it seems likely to gain traction over the medium term, with investment in the segment likely to increase significantly as a result of its generally positive impact.

Investment potential

AI is already here and is helping to make businesses more efficient and profitable. Unlike bitcoin, there is not a question of whether it will become a reality in terms of replacing traditional currencies. As such, it may offer less risk than the virtual currency from an investment standpoint.

Certainly, it is unclear as to the rate of future development of AI, in which areas it will become increasingly prevalent and how policymakers will seek to regulate it as it becomes increasingly advanced. However, bitcoin arguably has more pressing problems, such as its lack of scalability and security concerns. As such, the potential for it to eventually replace traditional currencies seems to be relatively low.

With a number of listed companies investing heavily in AI, whether that is through their own technological development or the utilisation of existing technology in their processes, it could catalyse growth across a number of industries. Investing in it now may prove to be relatively high risk, but it could also lead to impressive profitability in the long run as it becomes an increasingly important part of all of our lives.

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