#it's moving more work into the realm the ceos can CONVINCE THE AVERAGE PERSON is ''unskilled''

[caffeineandsociety]

"there is no such thing as unskilled labor" doesn't begin and end at people in "menial" jobs doing nifty little tricks for you to gawk at on tiktok fyi

[ophirgottlieb]

Invitae Accelerates Growth and Progress

Invitae, Growth

This is a snippet from a CML Pro article posted on 8-9-2017. Written by Ophir Gottlieb LEDE Hello, All. This is Ophir writing. I had a chat with Invitae's CEO, Sean George, and its Chief Commercial Officer Katherine Stueland, two-days ago, just a couple of hours after earnings were released and I'm going to share what we spoke about while wrapping up the Invitae story holistically. PREFACE InVitae Corp (NYSE:NVTA) is our smallest Spotlight Top Pick, and also our riskiest. But, it is also the single Top Pick where we see the largest potential upside. Invitae was added to Top Picks on September 1st, 2016 for $7.42. As of this writing the stock is trading at $9.22, 24% higher.

Ticker Date Added Price Added Return NVDA 09-01-2016 $7.42 24%

INVITAE - THE RISK We're going to start where we usually finish when we discuss this company, which is simply a risk alert: Invitae has a special kind of risk relative to other Top Picks in that the company could fail — not in the sense that the stock drops and it’s a lousy investment, but in the sense that it could go away — as in, zero. We're starting here because what we're about to cover is a very bullish thesis, so much so it will be easy to get tangled in that web and lose perspective. We are bullish on Invitae -- extremely so -- but that doesn't mean we're right, and that doesn't mean there isn't risk. INVITAE - THE STORY Invitae is the opportunity so many investors say they welcome – say they search for. The opportunity to find the "Next Apple," or the "next Google." The genomics realm is growing and will become a part of main stream medicine in the near future. It has the potential to re-shape everything about the way we are treated medically. This is a world where pre-emptive care saves lives before diseases take shape. A world where risks are identified early and treatments are pinpointed, down to the individual person. Where people no longer suffer through years of agonizingly imperfect diagnoses, where doctors are finally empowered with the information they need to heal and prevent, rather than to react and to guess. InVitae has a simple goal: to bring genetics into mainstream medicine. So far, it's working. In the latest earnings call, CEO Sean George touched on the total addressable market (our emphasis is added):

[I]t's a huge opportunity, we suggest in all seriousness an addressable market of more than a billion people in modern medical systems worldwide. Invitae is building a business for the genomic era in which comprehensive genetic information and services are an essential and integrated part of medical care.

INVITAE- PROGRESS AND EARNINGS CALL Here is a quick chart storm of Invitae's progress with some discussion and highlights from the earnings call. Then we will get to our meeting with the team. We start with revenue, and as the company writes, "momentum [is] accelerating with more than 150% year-over-year growth."

We have hand entered that last bar -- revenue in the trailing twelve months is now just above $40 million, up from less than $15 million a year ago. Here is commentary from the earnings call:

Starting in 2017 we became convinced that our base business is on-track to become a runaway leader in diagnostic pediatric and adult inherited disorders making it the right time for us to accelerate our strategic plans for growing our business.

Now, as volume has increased, so too cost of each test has declined rapidly:

The average test cost Invitae $500 last year -- today that cost sits at $345. As of two quarters ago the company turned a gross profit, which is a fancy way of saying the average revenue received per test is now greater than the average cost. From the earnings call we got this: "Revenue collected per report delivered increased to $563." As revenue has jumped and average cost per sample have decreased, the company has also increased its gene reach:

This is from Invitae's CFO, Shelly Guyer:

[W]e accessioned approximately 30,500 samples in the quarter, this reflects not only year-over-year growth of approximately 140% but also a 17th consecutive quarter of double-digit sequential growth. Importantly, volume growth was seen across all clinical areas. As a result, we increased our full year volume guidance to 120,000 to 130,000 samples accessioned.

A great gene accession count allows for the testing of more diseases, with greater depth. Our final chart is perhaps the most stunning.

The insurers of 203 million people now cover Invitae tests. But that chart doesn't do the company justice. Here is the chart from three-quarters ago:

That chart stops at 160 million -- as of the latest earnings call, the most recent bar would reach over 200 million. So, before we move on to our discussion with the company we note triple digit percent growth in revenue, decreasing cost of goods sold (which means increasing gross profits), an outpaced growth in accessioned genes and now a tremendous moat in lives insured. More from the CFO:

[W]e have signed contract with all but one of the major payers and have been steadily layering in remaining regional private payers.

Now, our conversation. THE CALL We can start with insurance and the roll payors play. While there are literally hundreds of new genomics companies popping up, insurance companies are the gatekeepers. As Invitae becomes the gold standard in the industry it is creating a moat. I discussed this with Sean, and the idea that if payment speeds are increasing for Invitae that they may in fact be decreasing for other genomics providers. We can see evidence of Invitae's growing moat with their commentary not just on the call with me, but openly to Wall Street analysts:

Last quarter management provided detailed insight into the reimbursement trends impacting revenue growth and noted that we expected our efforts to operational these contract signed in the latter part of 2016 would result in significant revenue ramp in the second half of 2017. As you can see by the more than 150% year-over-year growth and nearly 40% sequential growth in revenue that lift has begun.

Insurers want genetic testing to become the standard -- it finds risks before they become full blown diseases and allows for treatment well before disaster strikes. With all but one of the major insurers left and 203 million lives covered, and payment speeds increasing, we can see this moat in plain sight. Shelley Guyer went on to say: "the increased reimbursement during the second quarter dramatically improved our gross profit." Invitae has projected revenue of $55 million - $65 million for full year 2017 and loosely discussed another doubling of revenue in 2018. I re-confirmed this loose guidance, although we are talking about Invitae proper. We now have to discuss Invitae's acquisitions. Acquisitions Invitae acquired two companies recently and the final impact was revealed on the earnings call. First, Invitae has acquired GoodStart Genetics. Good Start had $22.5 million in revenue in 2016 and turned a gross profit of $9.7 million and a net loss of 18.1 million. For the second quarter of this year, GoodStart recorded an estimated revenue of $5.2 million. Good Start accessions nearly 9,500 samples in this most recent quarter. For the second quarter of 2017 Good Start achieved gross profit of $1.6 million representing a gross margin of 30%. Invitae expects it will take up to three quarters to improve GoodStart's gross margins and that will result in an overall improvement in gross profit and gross margin for the combined company. Invitae re-iterated their long-term guidance of 50% gross margins across Invitae platform. Invitae acquired the company for about $40 million in in cash and stock. The rationale behind the GoodStart acquisition was as follows: * The company is a first entry point into the broader Perinatal market by way of carrier and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) capabilities in the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) sector. Recall from our prior conversation with CEO Sean George that Invitae's overarching goal. We learned that Invitae is in a pilot program and later this year is going to sequence babies at birth and follow them through life. This is where the company will turn on the genome management business – with the idea that if parents are going to run a genetic test on their babies, it might as well be comprehensive. With the service business of genome management, Invitae will stay in touch with the baby throughout life to stay on top of health progress. * GoodStart has strong relationships with clinicians, seamless customer experience, solid customer workflow tools. * The company will bolster Invitae's sales force with the addition of commercial team members covering ~500 IVF clinics nationally. * We also learned that GoodStart too has strong reimbursement with over 130 million lives under contract or in credentialing as of Q1 2017. Sean noted that the acquisition of Good Start (CombiMatrix) "enable(s) [Invitae to] deliver genetic information to inform healthcare decisions at every stage in a patient's life. This is a transformative moment for Invitae, for our industry, and importantly, for the patients we serve." Invitae also agreed to terms to acquire CombiMatrix -- this is officially a "pending acquisition." Here is the rationale behind that takeover: * Expand into prenatal, miscarriage and pediatric testing. Here's a helpful slide from the earnings presentation:

More rationale: * Adding more prenatal sample types and products of conception. * Accelerates conversion from chromosomal microarray to next generation sequencing (NGS) testing for perinatal and pediatric primary diagnostic testing. * Trusted provider of miscarriage analysis, historically covered by third-party payers. * Bolsters sales force with the addition of commercial team experienced in the perinatal space. In sum, the totality of Invitae with its two small acquisitions accelerates the company's stated goal of creating one platform, delivering diagnostic-quality genetic information to inform healthcare decisions throughout life. A company slide reads: The combined entities will also simplify multiple call points with a consolidated menu: one company, one platform, one sales force. LONG-TERM GOALS OK, that was the quarter that happened, the acquisitions that are upon the company and the goals, re-stated, or re-iterated, including the goal of having a cash flow positive quarter as of Q4 2018, and then onward. The CFO did explicitly state:

Longer term, we believe that the acquisition of Good Start and the proposed acquisition of CombiMatrix will contribute positively to cash flow allowing us to reach cash flow breakeven by the end of 2018.

THE UPSIDE While Invitae had guided revenue in the $55-$65 million range by year end, with the combined entities that revenue target is now in the $90 million - $115 million range. But at CML we are looking well beyond the next year or two. In fact, I told Sean that within 4-years I believed Invitae could hit half a billion dollars in revenue. I can tell you that while Invitae has not put out official guidance beyond 2018 that $500 million didn't receive any push back, and if anything, felt a little conservative. They see a wide-open market, a growing leadership position, a growing moat, exploding revenue, lowering cost of goods sold, and the soon to be disruption that is their Exome product (you can read details about the Exome on the dossier that covers our first meeting with Sean Speaking with the CEO of Invitae). We see a company that, as of this writing, has a market cap of $390 million that could well show $500 million in sales in the mid-term with 50% gross margins and an ever-growing moat. And for the record, yes, the company does have a small foot print internationally, and CCO Katherine Stueland does have her eye on the prize there as well. We could be wrong about Invitae, which is to say, yes, companies that look like they are ready for a huge bolt forward do fail -- competition, poor execution, miscalculated costs -- all these things can overcome even the most bullish opportunity. But for now, we remain very bullish and see tremendous upside to this young genetics company that could in fact change the world, and in the process, see its stock price rise. We'll leave it with Sean's remarks:

In summary, we believe that we are winning the race to scale and we are uniquely positioned to change this industry for the better having recently taken some bold steps to do so. We can now apply our business model and industry leading capabilities to serve patients and their families across all stages of life.

SEEING THE FUTURE It's understanding technology that gets us an edge on finding companies like Invitae early, finding the gems that can turn into the 'next Apple,' or 'next Amazon,' where we must get ahead of the curve. This is what CML Pro does. Each company in our 'Top Picks' has been selected as a future crown jewel of technology. Market correction or not, recession or not, the growth in these areas is a near certainty. We are Capital Market Laboratories. Our research sits next to Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and every other multi billion dollar institution as a member of the famed Thomson Reuters First Call. But while those people pay upwards of $2,000 a month on their live terminals, we are the anti-institution and are breaking the information asymmetry. The precious few thematic top picks for 2017, research dossiers, and alerts are available for a limited time at an 80% discount for $19/mo. Join Us: Discover the undiscovered companies that will power technology's future. Thanks for reading, friends. The author is long shares of InVitae Corp (NYSE:NVTA). Legal The information contained on this site is provided for general informational purposes, as a convenience to the readers. The materials are not a substitute for obtaining professional advice from a qualified person, firm or corporation. Consult the appropriate professional advisor for more complete and current information. Capital Market Laboratories (“The Company”) does not engage in rendering any legal or professional services by placing these general informational materials on this website. The Company specifically disclaims any liability, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in any way connected with access to or use of the site, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages, including liability in connection with mistakes or omissions in, or delays in transmission of, information to or from the user, interruptions in telecommunications connections to the site or viruses. The Company makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this website. Any links provided to other server sites are offered as a matter of convenience and in no way are meant to imply that The Company endorses, sponsors, promotes or is affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, or endorse any information contained on those sites, unless expressly stated.

[dorothydelgadillo]

Should B2B Marketers Be Using Instagram Stories?

Instagram usage is on the rise, with one of the biggest areas of growth being Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories launched in August of 2016 and are now used by 400 million users every day.

More importantly for marketers, one third (1/3) of the most viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses. Is that enough to deem the platform a ‘good investment’ for companies in 2019? I took a deep dive into this topic and have concluded that Instagram Stories can be an effective way for B2B marketers to reach their audiences.

Here’s why…

Marketers have the functionality available to integrate links and CTAs into their stories

The timed, auto-advancing format makes it easy to tell a story using stories

Marketers can showcase authenticity with videos or images

The cost of ads remains relatively low compared to other platforms

Let’s dive into the nitty gritty, shall we?

What Are Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories allow users to share videos and photos to their “story,” which is not the same as adding content to their timeline.

When you open up the app on your mobile device, you can find Stories located right under the top bar, which includes the Instagram logo, your direct messages, and more. Each story is in a circle and you’ll see which of your friends have stories available for viewing by clicking on the circles.

Stories are sequential collections of timed, 15-second videos and images that stay viewable for 24-hours. Because they can stay viewable for so long, and because viewers can always go back during that time period and watch segments again, they’re an excellent way for you to connect with friends and celebrities, or *cough cough* for brands to connect with their audiences. Users can add ‘flair’ to their story content (images, videos, etc.) right inside of Instagram -- this flair can include hashtags, stickers, location tags, and more. This is another way to make the content more engaging for viewers and to draw attention away from the feed and to the stories.

Now that we know what Instagram Stories are and the benefits of using them, let’s dive into the details on how brands can use them to get Instagram users into their sales and marketing funnel and ultimately convert them into brand advocates and consumers.

Integrate Links and CTAs Into Instagram Stories

Most marketers, especially those who play in the ecommerce or inbound realm, understand the importance of using CTAs (calls to action) to convert strangers into known contacts.

CTAs put the next action a user should take front and center, and when we’re doing our job as marketers right, that CTA will direct the user to content that either gets them the answers they’re looking for or connects them with a business representative that can help. CTAs done right are valuable. Instagram Stories offer far greater potential to convert your Instagram audience into leads for your business than a typical Instagram post that show up in the feed.

Why?

When you post on your Instagram timeline, you aren’t able to directly tag your image or video with a URL and there certainly won’t be a button to drive traffic from your image to your site.

In fact, Instagram only allows one live link per account and that’s in the bio section -- so if you’re looking to drive Instagram traffic to various pages or campaigns, you have to select which link is most important, add it to your bio, and then in your post content tell users to visit your bio for the link.

That’s not the case with Instagram Stories. With Instagram Stories, you can include a CTA in each individual piece of content within the story-- a major game changer for B2B brands that are focused on measurable marketing outcomes.

Take a look at this example: 

And speaking of measurable outcomes, get this: Reports suggest that links in Instagram Stories were generating “swipe-through rates” of 15%-25% within a month of the functionality being rolled out. So, not only is this added functionality available for marketers, but it’s actually delivering results in the form of users who are taking direct action. They’re engaging with this content and they’re taking the next step with the understanding that they’ll be taken away from Instagram and moved towards a more branded, company-specific experience. As an added bonus, Instagram Stories create a sense urgency on the part of the viewer. With quick, 15-second, timed clips that are the hallmark of the Stories experience, users know the content will go away soon so they must act fast (aka click on that nifty CTA) or else they might lose out on the opportunity.

Use Stories To… Tell Stories

Storytelling is a fundamental human experience that unites people and drives stronger, deeper connections.

When you tell a story to your audience, you’re able to do three crucial things:

Build a deeper connection with your audience

Teach your audience something new

Engage with your audience

It’s up to you to discover what story makes sense for your brand to tell, but here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Showcase Your Company Culture

Companies such as Mention and Mailchimp have used Instagram Stories to build a deeper connection with their audience and to provide a more personal look at who they are. Mention had their employees from all over the world provide a small clip of how they were celebrating the holidays and the Mention marketing team compiled them all for a chain of Instagram Stories. This is a great way to use Instagram Stories as it’s personal, shows that there are people behind the brand (which builds trust), and it’s a fun way to get the point across that Mention is a diverse company that’s worldwide. Mailchimp did something similar but in an even more up close and personal way with their employees. If you go to their Instagram page and look through their stories, you’ll see stories that are labeled with the names of a few of their employees. Once you click on them, like this story about Tamera, you get an inside look at who the employee is, what they do, and where they’re from.

By showcasing your company’s culture, you show Instagram viewers that as a company, your culture and the people behind what you do are important to you, they deserve to be recognized, and that without them, what you do just wouldn’t be possible.

2. Engage In Collaborations

Collaborations with influencers and/or other companies are common in marketing and Instagram Stories allow marketers to do this with ease. One example of how this can be done is to launch an Instagram Story takeover. An Instagram story takeover allows your audience to see your branded content from an influencer, partner, team member, or customer’s point of view.

With this type of campaign, you’re able to engage each other’s fanbase and, ultimately, build brand loyalty. When the right company and influencer partner up, it can be a powerful exchange of value that can grow both users' audiences.

3. Showcase Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is another way to showcase your brand’s expertise and build trust with audiences to whom you can provide an effective and valuable solution or product. When it comes to B2B, this is a great way to get executives and engineers involved to explain how technology works or a product is built. For example, A robotics company can have engineers, developers, designers or other leaders explain and demonstrate the value of these robotics tools in manufacturing or other business use cases.

If your business isn’t wildly technical and it doesn’t make sense to involve a team like the one I mentioned above, it doesn’t mean that you can’t showcase leadership from your CEO, your CIO, or whoever else can speak to the what, why, and how of the company, product, or service.

4. Create Episodic Content

Due to the ephemeral nature of Instagram Stories and how the 15-second video clips link together (ie. once the first clip is over, the next automatically plays, and so on) it’s a great way to create episodic content. In the B2B space, this episodic content can focus on:

Breaking down technical concepts

Giving demonstrations of products

Showcasing how-to do something/use a product

Longer-form storytelling

In the digital age, you can’t show an image or a video of your product on your website and expect a million people to see it and purchase it. An image doesn’t do a lot to convince people of WHY they need it in their life. A video does a bit more, but to really create effective marketing that converts, you must tell the right story to the right audience at the right time. Instagram Stories are a small, yet effective way, for B2B marketers to do just this.

Create authenticity

Authenticity is crucial in any business -- regardless of the service or product you sell. With so many options at the fingertips of consumers when they’re doing online research in support of a purchase, an element of trust and authenticity can be the thing that sets your business or product apart from the competition. They need to trust that your product is right.

They need to trust that your C-level management is in business for the right reasons.

They need to know that you want to truly help them versus just making a couple of dollars. And if you don’t provide authenticity to build trust, a competitor will. Not sold on why authenticity is essential yet? Take a look at these stats and see if they change your mind:

This survey revealed that 86% of people say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support.

An overwhelming 90% of Millennials say brand authenticity is important, proving that younger consumers prefer 'real and organic' over 'perfect and packaged'.

57% of respondents indicated that less than half of brand-created content resonates as authentic.

On average, 20% of consumers (and 30% of Millennials) have unfollowed a brand on social media because they felt their content was inauthentic.

How can you use Instagram Stories to create authenticity?

Capture moments that convey your brand message whether they’re picture-perfect or not.

The typical Instagram audience isn’t expecting (and doesn’t really want) content that looks like it took 24+ hours and 1 million dollars to create. They want to know that your company cares, that the employees are passionate, and that at the end of the day, they’re receiving a great product or service.

It’s important to make sure you’re following these best practices and tips for Instagram Stories to ensure you’re putting out professional content, but ultimately, authenticity beats perfection every time.

The Cost of Ads Remains Relatively Low

For B2B marketers who are just dipping their toe into the Instagram Stories pool, the fact that the cost of ads is relatively low is important. You don’t need to throw your entire marketing budget at the platform. Instead, you can test and identify if Instagram Stories is effective or not at reaching your audience and encouraging them to take action - and then double down on your budget if it makes sense.

Having said this, data shows that running ads on Instagram is at least twice as cost-effective as running ads on Facebook, with the CPM (cost per mille) on Instagram ads at around $5 versus $10 on Facebook. In addition, Instagram ads won’t EVER charge you more than you choose to spend. If you decide that $10 per day is your limit, that’s what you’ll spend.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a small, mid-sized or large business. It doesn’t matter where you’re located. It doesn’t matter how big your team is. Businesses of every size, all over the world, can run Instagram Stories through Marketing API, Power Editor, and Ads Manager optimized for reach.

Getting Started

With everything listed above, it’s easy to see how B2B marketers can win with the right Instagram Stories strategy - assuming that Instagram is where your audience is. Ready to dip your toe in? Here are some actionable next steps you can take:

1. Have a content plan ready

Like you would with an editorial calendar for your blogs or social media, if you want to be successful with a long-term Instagram Stories strategy, make sure you think ahead and integrate this into your overall content plan. Remember, your Story content doesn’t have to be perfect, just authentic.

2. Start with a comfortable budget and adjust once you begin gathering data

You don’t have to kick off an Instagram Stories campaign by going all in. You can always increase or decrease budget based on your learnings.

3. Test, test, and then test again

Everything could look perfect on paper, but when you actually get your Instagram Story up and live, you may find that what you expected to happen isn’t actually happening.

Remember to be agile and make strategic adjustments. Instagram Stories is just another platform to attract your target audience, so don’t forget the principals you follow when creating blog content, website content, or anything else.

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/should-b2b-marketers-be-using-instagram-stories