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stridemarketing2 · 1 year ago

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5 Must-Know Dallas Branding Agencies for 2023 Success

In the bustling heart of Texas, where the spirit of entrepreneurship thrives, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to stand out in the crowd. This is where branding agency dallas tx come into play, helping companies craft their unique identity, and connect with their target audience effectively. If you're on the hunt for the top branding agencies in Dallas, Texas, to elevate your business in 2023, you're in the right place. In this article, we'll introduce you to five must-know branding agencies that are poised to make a significant impact on your brand's success this year.

Why Branding in Dallas Matters

Dallas, a city known for its rich history and vibrant culture, has emerged as a major hub for business and innovation. With a diverse market and a constant influx of new businesses, establishing a strong brand presence has become essential for success. Whether you're a startup looking to make a mark or an established business aiming to rebrand and reach new heights, partnering with a reputable branding agency in Dallas, TX, can be a game-changer.

Beloved Brands

When it comes to branding in Dallas, Beloved Brands is a name that stands out. With a mission to make brands more beloved, they specialize in brand strategy, training, and consulting. They have a track record of helping businesses, from small startups to large corporations, develop compelling brand stories and strategies that resonate with their target audience.

What sets Beloved Brands apart is their dedication to educating their clients. They offer comprehensive training programs to empower their clients with the knowledge and tools needed to maintain and grow their brand successfully. Their commitment to excellence and education makes them one of the top branding agencies in Dallas, TX.

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is more than just a digital marketing agency. They have a team of experts who understand the importance of cohesive branding in the online world. With a focus on building brands that thrive in the digital landscape, they offer services ranging from web design and development to SEO and social media marketing.

What makes Thrive stand out is their data-driven approach. They believe in making informed decisions based on analytics and market research. This approach ensures that your branding efforts are not only visually appealing but also highly effective in reaching and engaging your target audience. If you're looking for a branding agency in Dallas that combines creativity with data-driven strategies, Thrive is an excellent choice.

The Old State

For those seeking a branding agency in Dallas, TX, that specializes in web design and branding, The Old State is a top contender. With a focus on creating visually stunning websites and compelling brand identities, they've built a reputation for excellence in the design world.

The Old State understands that your website is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. They excel at creating user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing websites that leave a lasting impression. Their expertise in web design, coupled with their branding prowess, makes them a go-to choice for businesses looking to elevate their online presence.

Agency Entourage

Agency Entourage is another branding agency in Dallas that deserves a spot on this list. They specialize in digital marketing and branding, with a strong emphasis on storytelling. They believe that every brand has a unique story to tell, and they're experts at bringing those stories to life.

What sets Agency Entourage apart is their ability to create immersive brand experiences. From captivating social media campaigns to visually stunning websites, they have a knack for capturing the essence of a brand and conveying it to the audience effectively. If you're looking for a branding agency that excels in storytelling and creating memorable experiences, Agency Entourage is a fantastic choice.

Idea Grove

Last but certainly not least on our list of must-know branding agencies in Dallas is Idea Grove. This agency specializes in B2B tech PR and marketing, making them the go-to choice for tech companies looking to build a strong brand presence. They understand the nuances of the tech industry and have a proven track record of helping tech startups and established companies alike.

What makes Idea Grove unique is their integrated approach. They combine PR, marketing, and branding to create a holistic strategy that drives results. Their expertise in B2B tech branding is unmatched, making them an ideal choice for businesses in the tech sector.

Conclusion

Branding in Dallas is more critical than ever, and these five branding agencies are well-equipped to help your business succeed in 2023 and beyond. Whether you need help with brand strategy, web design, digital marketing, storytelling, or tech PR, there's a Dallas branding agency on this list that's the perfect fit for your needs.

Remember, your brand is not just a logo or a tagline—it's the essence of your business. Choosing the right branding agency in Dallas, TX, is a crucial step in shaping that essence and connecting with your target audience in a meaningful way. So, take the time to explore these agencies, their portfolios, and their unique approaches to branding, and make the choice that aligns best with your brand's vision and goals. Your success in 2023 could very well depend on it.

#branding agency dallas tx #dallas texas branding agencies

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mlmsoftware-india-blog · 2 years ago

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Top 5 Network Marketing Insurance Companies

Navigating the world of network marketing companies in the insurance field can be a maze of complexities. It's crucial to approach with caution and carefully evaluate any potential company before signing up. With so many different requirements and expectations, it's important to realistically assess whether you would be a good fit.

In this article, we'll be unveiling the top 5 network marketing insurance companies that are making waves in the industry.

World Financial Groups

Symmetry Financial Group

PHP Agency

American Income Life

Family First Life

World Financial Groups

Hubert Humphrey founded the World Marketing Alliance (WMA) after leaving Primerica in 1991. Alexander, Inc. was the company's original name, but it was renamed World Marketing Alliance. WMA's assets were purchased by AEGON in June 2001 and renamed World Financial Group, Inc.

As of 2022, WFG has approximately 53,200 independent life insurance agents in the United States and its affiliated network insurance agency in Canada. In September 2022, it renewed its sponsorship of the 2022 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling.

Symmetry Financial Group

Symmetry Financial Group, based in North Carolina, provides a wide range of insurance products for individuals and small businesses, including mortgage protection plans, term life insurance, final expense policies, and retirement plans.

Symmetry Financial Group appears to be a legitimate company, but because of its affiliate programme and low Symmetry enrollment fee, it has the potential to become an expensive investment. it seems to be a legitimate company due to its high quality marketing materials, training, and support, as well as its 100% Symmetry Guaranteed Buyback Plan.

PHP Agency

PHP Agency sells its products via a network of independent vendors. While this provides you with many more coverage options, it also means that the specifics of your policy will be heavily influenced by the provider you select.

Because PHP Agency's products are reliable through a variety of insurance carriers, NAIC ratings are assigned to each provider individually. The PHP Agency website features an online form that can assist you in locating a local agent in your area. You can contact your insurance agent directly if you have any questions or need assistance with your policy.

American Income Life

American Income Life MLM Insurance Company (formerly NASDAQ: AINC), headquartered in Waco, Texas, is a life insurance provider to labour unions, credit unions, and associations. In 1951, American Income Life (AIL) was established. American Income Life has established a reputation as a stable insurance company with a promising future. On August 8, 2019, as part of a company-wide rebranding of the Torchmark Corporation, American Income Life became a subsidiary of Globe Life.

Family First Life

Family First Life works with a variety of insurance carriers, so you can be confident that you will find coverage that meets your requirements. There are numerous types of life insurance policies available, including whole, universal, final expense, mortgage protection, and annuities. It's novel because it allows you to become one of their independent agents without having to do any heavy lifting. There's no need to guess what niche you should target with your new venture.

Conclusion

Choosing the right insurance provider is an important decision, especially in the world of network marketing where risks and uncertainties are prevalent. We have highlighted the top 5 multi level marketing insurance companies that can help provide you with the protection and coverage you need to ensure the success of your business. Remember to consider factors such as coverage, reputation, and customer service when selecting an insurance provider. With the right insurance partner by your side, you can rest easy knowing that your business is protected from any unforeseen circumstances. So, choose wisely and let your business thrive!

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/science/in-a-switch-some-republicans-start-citing-climate-change-as-driving-their-policies/

In a Switch, Some Republicans Start Citing Climate Change as Driving Their Policies

Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter.

WASHINGTON — When John Barrasso, a Republican from oil and uranium-rich Wyoming who has spent years blocking climate change legislation introduced a bill this year to promote nuclear energy, he added a twist: a desire to tackle global warming.

Mr. Barrasso’s remarks — “If we are serious about climate change, we must be serious about expanding our use of nuclear energy” — were hardly a clarion call to action. Still they were highly unusual for the lawmaker who, despite decades of support for nuclear power and other policies that would reduce planet-warming emissions, has until recently avoided talking about them in the context of climate change.

The comments represent an important shift among Republicans in Congress. Driven by polls showing that voters in both parties — particularly younger Americans — are increasingly concerned about a warming planet, and prodded by the new Democratic majority in the House shining a spotlight on the issue, a growing number of Republicans are now openly discussing climate change and proposing what they call conservative solutions.

“Denying the basic existence of climate change is no longer a credible position,” said Whit Ayers, a Republican political consultant, pointing out the growing climate concern among millennials as well as centrist voters — two groups the G.O.P. will need in the future.

It is at least partly opportunism, given that some lawmakers are simply reframing longstanding policies or priorities as “climate” policy. Still it is a significant shift, indicating that at least a few prominent Republicans see an advantage to breaking from right-wing orthodoxy that has long dismissed or openly derided concerns about the climate.

In recent weeks Senator John Cornyn of Texas — an oil state where climate denial runs deep — said he is helping write legislation to reduce emissions through “energy innovation.” Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said he wants to create a “Manhattan Project” for clean energy funding. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is exploring bipartisan plans to curb emissions from her position as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. And Representative Matthew Gaetz of Florida, who once called to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, introduced legislation to tackle climate change by encouraging nuclear energy and hydropower, as well as “carbon capture” technology, which aims to pull planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

There are subtler signs of this G.O.P. shift as well. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis this year, Republican leaders tapped Representative Garret Graves of Louisiana as the panel’s ranking member. Though he hails from a region dependent on oil and gas, Mr. Graves has struck a bipartisan tone and made a point of noting the deleterious effect sea level rise will have on his state’s economy.

But Republicans also are walking a tightrope. In the Trump administration, G.O.P. party orthodoxy has shifted strongly toward denying or dismissing the threat of climate change. Veering away from it could cause a lawmaker to lose campaign contributions and key political support.

“There’s a hesitancy I think on the part of Republicans to jump into a major policy without getting the cues from elites within the party and society as a whole that they’re going in the right direction,” said Steven Valk, a spokesman for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which organizes to bring Republicans and Democrats together on market-based solutions to global warming.

In almost all of the cases in which conservative politicians are cautiously staking out territory on climate change, they still do not acknowledge the extent of man’s responsibility for causing it. Putting a price on emitting carbon into the atmosphere is verboten. And they insist solutions do not need to include eliminating or even curbing the use of oil, coal and other dirty energy sources primarily responsible for heating the planet.

“If we can find strategies that allow us to reduce emissions while continuing to use fossil fuels, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing,” Mr. Graves said in a recent interview.

Likewise, Representative Frank Lucas of Oklahoma won praise when he took over as the new top Republican on the House Science Committee this year, and said that climate change has intensified droughts and storms. But in an interview Mr. Lucas also said reducing the use of coal, oil and gas is not a solution.

“I don’t believe that you create mandates for fossil fuels,” he said. “But if we work hard, we can create the alternatives that will cause the market to move toward them.”

And Mr. Barrasso, even as he promotes nuclear and other policies that he frames as climate friendly, characterizes Democrats as taking “drastic” positions. “What began as a conversation about cleaner energy, has transformed into punishing global agreements, and now full government economic takeover,” he said in a statement.

The result, political analysts said, is a fitful conservative effort. It is heavily reliant on funding for clean energy research and development, but could yet result in meaningful legislative action given the right political alchemy.

“I would say there’s an emerging consensus that the climate conversation this time around is real, and the interest of the public has caught up with the interest of the experts,” said Scott Segal, a fossil fuel lobbyist in Washington. “You never know how lightning will strike. There’s even a possibility that you can have action in a presidential year, though it’s not a particularly high percentage.”

On Thursday, Republican positions on climate change will face a test when the House votes on a measure to block President Trump from withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, the landmark 2015 pact among nations to cut global warming emissions. President Trump has said he is abandoning the accord.

In many ways the G.O.P.’s swing follows poll results. A record number of Americans now accept that climate change is real and a serious threat, though Republicans and Democrats still disagree on the cause. And a survey last year by Yale and George Mason universities of 1,067 registered voters found that majorities in both parties do agree that the government must address the problem.

Among Republicans, younger voters in particular are more likely to embrace climate action.

A new Pew Research Center poll found more than a third of Millennial Republicans agree that Earth is “warming mostly due to human activity,” compared with 18 percent of older Republicans. And nearly half of millennial Republicans say the government is not doing enough to “reduce the effects of climate change,” compared with 27 percent of older ones. (By contrast, 89 percent of Democrats say the government should do more).

The Green New Deal has played a role as well. The nonbinding congressional resolution calling for a 10-year mobilization to end fossil fuel use has unified Republicans against it. But the attention paid to it also has forced Republicans to offer their own solutions.

“You can’t beat something with nothing. And having a center right alternative to the Green New Deal makes sense,” said Mr. Ayers, the Republican political strategist.

Of course, climate denial is also alive and well among Republicans.

President Trump, who routinely mocks climate science, is preparing to announce a federal advisory panel to cast doubt on the overwhelming body of evidence that climate change is a threat. At a recent hearing at which former Secretary of State John Kerry testified on climate change, Representative Tom Massie, a Kentucky Republican, floated long-debunked theories that offer alternative explanations for warming other than human activity.

Democrats, for their part, said they are skeptical of new calls for compromise. Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who sponsored the Green New Deal along with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, accused Republicans of rebranding “tired and inadequate proposals from the past” like nuclear and carbon-capture funding.

“We’ll know the Republicans are sincere when they step forward for permanent tax breaks for wind and solar and electric vehicles and battery technologies and clean building technologies. Because we can deploy those technologies right now. But they only continue to talk about research on technologies that will not be deployed for a decade,” Mr. Markey said.

Still, the handful of Republicans who have long looked for ways to tackle the rise of planet-warming emissions urged Democrats to seize the opportunity to find at least some common ground.

“Republicans who used to deny climate change as a real problem just to avoid the issue are now confronting it,” said Carlos Curbelo, a Republican carbon tax supporter who lost his Florida House seat last year. “It’s still early, but I think it’s important to recognize that clearly it’s now a debate about solutions.”

For more news on climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.

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#science 37 news #science news gene editing #science news google #science news time #science news zinc finger #scienceexperiment

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adgradlife · 8 years ago

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Meet the Team Monday: Victoria Rose Garcia

Name: Victoria Rose Garcia

Major and Classification: Public Relations, Senior

Role on Social Media Team: Original Content/Rebrand Team Member

When did you realize you wanted to work in Advertising/PR?

I came into college completely undecided on what I wanted to major in, but I knew I didn’t want to do anything that involved a lot of science and/or math. With my advisor’s help, somehow I ended up in Dr. Wilcox’s 318J during the second semester of freshman year, and the rest is history.

What is your strongest/best talent?

Maintaining an impeccable, color-coded Google calendar.

When was the last time you were nervous?

Before my final internship presentation this past summer at Phillips 66.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

In May, it will be graduating from the #1 public university in Texas!

Where is your dream place to work and why?

Ever since I declared my major I’ve always known that I’m a bit more drawn to a client-side career rather than in an agency. So for me, my dream place to work would be in the communications or marketing department of a Fortune 500 company, because I want to/believe that I can make an impact in corporate America.

Favorite meme of all time.

I would consider myself a meme enthusiast so I can’t pick just one, but my top four are Joanne the Scammer, crying Michael Jordan, Kermit the Frog (all of them), and confused Mr. Krabs.

First concert you’ve ever attended.

Hilary Duff at the 2006 Houston Rodeo. I was 10 years old and it was life-changing.

#ut austin #university of texas at austin #meet the team monday #mttm #stan richards school of advertising and pr #public relations student #student

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heartfelthotinhouston · 5 years ago

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Douglas Elliman buys John-Daugherty!

Bill Rapp here with the Heartfelt and Hot in Houston Blog, and this is our newest segment: Douglas Elliman buys John-Daugherty! John Daughtery, flanked by Anne Incorvia, executive vice president, left, and Cheri Fama, president and COO. Luxury real estate firm John Daugherty Realtors has been sold to Douglas Elliman, a New York brokerage that shook the local industry when it expanded into Houston earlier this year. The deal, confirmed by Elliman Saturday morning, closed just a week after Daugherty lost two of its best agents to competitor Compass. Douglas Elliman buys John-Daugherty! Laura Sweeney, the Houston area’s top agent with sales of $130 million last year, and Lisa Kornhauser, the region’s No. 4 agent, joined Compass after each spending some 20 years at the stalwart Daugherty agency. Elliman, led by New York investor Howard Lorber and known for its multimillion-dollar listings and celebrity agents, expanded into Houston over the summer through a partnership with Sudhoff Cos. Houston-based Sudhoff, which specializes in the high-end condominium market, has rebranded as Douglas Elliman Texas. The company said it intends to expand to other Texas markets. Elliman operates 120 offices in the country’s largest luxury housing markets, including Beverly Hills, Calif., Aspen, Colo. and the Hamptons in New York. Douglas Elliman buys John-Daugherty! That is all for today folks from the Heartfelt & Hot In Houston Blog, make it a great day! The inspiration for today’s edition came from this original article: https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/New-York-s-Douglas-Elliman-buys-John-Daugherty-14923998.php If you are seriously considering moving right now you need to take action right now and talk to a reputable Real Estate & Mortgage Broker today, please call 281-222-0433 or visit: https://www.zillow.com/lender-profile/BillRappMortgageViking http://www.homesforheroes.com/affiliate/bill-rapp-1 https://www.billrapponline.com/ https://twitter.com/BillRappRE https://caliberhomeloans.com/wrapp https://onlineapp.caliberhomeloans.com/?LoanOfficerId=21493 https://mortgageviking.billrapponline.com https://highcostarea.billrapponline.com https://commercial.billrapponline.com https://doctorvideo.billrapponline.com https://doctorvideo.billrapponline.com https://sba.billrapponline.com/ https://veteransvideo.billrapponline.com https://fha203h.billrapponline.com https://privatemoney.billrapponline.com https://rei-investor.billrapponline.com https://manufacturedhousing.billrapponline.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsF3Rh4Akd1OAOAgTmzgqQg Read the full article

#CommercialMortgageBroker #CommercialRealEstateBroker #CRE #ForSaleinHoustonHeights #HeartfeltandHotInHoustonBlog #HousesforSaleinHouston #HoustonRealEstateNews #MortgageBroker #MortgageViking #SBASpecialist #SunRealtyHouston

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txbuyers · 5 years ago

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New York's Douglas Elliman buys John Daugherty Realtors

Luxury real estate firm John Daugherty Realtors has been sold to Douglas Elliman, a New York brokerage that shook the local industry when it expanded into Houston earlier this year.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Sudhoff, Douglas Elliman form Houston real estate brokerage venture

The deal, confirmed by Elliman Saturday morning, closed just a week after Daugherty lost two of its best agents to competitor Compass.

Laura Sweeney, the Houston area’s top agent with sales of $130 million last year, and Lisa Kornhauser, the region’s No. 4 agent, joined Compass after each spending some 20 years at the stalwart Daugherty agency.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Compass poaches top Houston real estate agents from John Daugherty

Elliman, led by New York investor Howard Lorber and known for its multimillion-dollar listings and celebrity agents, expanded into Houston over the summer through a partnership with Sudhoff Cos. Houston-based Sudhoff, which specializes in the high-end condominium market, has rebranded as Douglas Elliman Texas. The company said it intends to expand to other Texas markets.

Elliman operates 120 offices in the country’s largest luxury housing markets, including Beverly Hills, Calif., Aspen, Colo. and the Hamptons in New York.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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thisdaynews · 5 years ago

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Democrats torch Trump failures on rural digital divide

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/democrats-torch-trump-failures-on-rural-digital-divide/

Democrats torch Trump failures on rural digital divide

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other candidates contend that the administration failed to accurately measure broadband availability. | Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo

technology

Several presidential hopefuls are pledging tens of billions of dollars for high-speed internet access in rural America, seeking to seize on discontent among parts of Donald Trump’s base.

Democrats are offering President Donald Trump’s rural supporters a reason to turn against him in 2020 — his failure to bring them the high-speed internet he promised.

Several presidential candidates including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have rolled out proposals for tens of billions in new federal dollars to bring fast broadband service to rural America, with Warren’s $85 billion plan leading the spending pack.

Story Continued Below

They call broadband yet another example of Trump letting down people who helped send him to the White House in 2016, including people in the same farm-heavy states suffering from the president’s trade wars. Trump’s challengers also say the slow internet speeds that prevail in much of the nation are a drag on the economy and a threat to U.S. competitiveness.

“I see that the country of Iceland has all hooked up, and we’re not,” Democratic hopeful Amy Klobuchar told POLITICO when asked about Trump’s record. The Minnesota senator pledges to connect all U.S. households to broadband by 2022.

Calling out the country’s “failure to invest in rural areas,” Warren wrote in a blog post last week that “both corporate America and leaders in Washington have turned their backs on the people living in our rural communities and prioritized the interests of giant companies and Wall Street instead.”

Trump pledged during the 2016 campaign to deliver broadband to rural Americans as part of a trillion-dollar national infrastructure package. Leaders of his 2020 reelection campaign also cited the need for rural connectivity earlier this year as they tried to pitch the Trump administration on a plan for a government intervention to spur along super-fast 5G wireless connectivity.

But Trump’s big infrastructure plan went nowhere in Congress, and the president has disavowed the idea of federal meddling in 5G, preferring to let the private sector take the lead. Meanwhile, rural areas continue to heavily lag cities in internet availability and speeds.

“Farmers and ranchers and producers literally cannot get online,” former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke declared while campaigning in Iowa this summer. “They can’t go to Tinder to find a date tonight. … I want to make sure every American has that opportunity.”

Many of the Democrats lay the blame for broadband’s persistently sluggish nationwide expansion on Trump and his Federal Communications Commission chief, Ajit Pai.

Warren and other candidates contend that the administration has even failed to accurately measure broadband availability, saying the number of Americans stuck with limited or no fast internet access could be far higher than the official FCC figures suggest. (The commission estimates that about a quarter of rural Americans lack access to internet fast enough to qualify as broadband, or at least 25 megabits per second.)

The first plank of a wide-ranging rural broadband plan Buttigieg put out this week is to “invest in new ways to more accurately map which communities lack broadband or wireless.” The current FCC outlook, his campaign said, is “inaccurate and perpetuates inequity.”

Many of the White House hopefuls suggest they can succeed where Trump hasn’t and aren’t shy about rolling out big numbers. Warren and Buttigieg lead the pack, recently proposing, respectively, $85 billion and $80 billion in federal spending on broadband — initiatives that would include what both called a “public option” to support local government-run broadband networks that are now illegal in many states.

Fellow contender Kirsten Gillibrand — who joins Warren, Buttigieg and Cory Booker in backing municipal internet service — last week floated $60 billion in broadband spending. Biden advocates a more modest $20 billion investment.

These platforms come as Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee recommend a $40 billion bump, creating additional pressure from Congress.

And the push made it to the Democratic debate stage July 30, when Klobuchar, among the leaders of the Senate’s Broadband Caucus, stressed the need for infrastructure cash. She revived Trump’s old call for $1 trillion in infrastructure, saying she would raise the money by hiking taxes on the rich and then “put it into rural broadband.”

Trump campaign officials and allies maintain that the administration has done a great deal on rural broadband even without billions in federal infrastructure funding — though in fact, his accomplishments mainly include more modest pilot projects, efforts to streamline internet rollouts and a rebranding of an existing rural broadband effort.

“While Democrats are picking numbers out of the sky, conveniently as they descend on Iowa, President Trump has been busy delivering real results,” said Trump campaign deputy press secretary Daniel Bucheli. “This administration has focused on expanding broadband infrastructure, including investments in the cutting-edge industries to include rural broadband.”

Trump’s effort to close the digital divide between urban and rural parts of the country “has been possible through a combination of private/public investment, regulatory reform and a booming economy,” Bucheli said.

Several administration players, from Pai to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, have touted rural broadband as a key executive branch priority over the past three years.

Trump claims a handful of victories on that front, including more than $600 million last year for a USDA broadband pilot program, executive orders and FCC actions aimed at streamlining the deployment of internet infrastructure, and improved coordination among agencies to marshal existing subsidies and improve data collection. This year, Trump and Pai joined to rebrand an existing broadband subsidy funding under a new name, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which promises $20.4 billion in government aid to support rural broadband over the next decade. (The name of the program is new, but the money is not.)

Yet none of the efforts comes close to the fresh billions the administration and lawmakers of both parties once hoped to direct to rural connectivity.

The Trump White House offered a $1.5 trillion infrastructure proposal last year that would have dedicated $50 billion for rural areas, as part of an overall plan intended to kick-start state spending on a range of transportation, economic and other needs with a bit of federal buy-in. That plan would have let state officials decide whether to spend that money on broadband, as opposed to projects like roads or bridges, so it was never clear how much of the $50 billion pot may have ended up going to internet access.

In any case, Congress didn’t bite on the proposal, and the most recent attempt at high-level infrastructure negotiations blew up in May as Trump erupted at congressional Democrats for investigating his administration.

“If I were in the White House right now, I would point to the fact that we had a plan,” DJ Gribbin, Trump’s former top infrastructure adviser, told POLITICO. “We took a big swing.”

Unless Democrats sweep the White House and both houses of Congress in 2020, rural broadband funding will likely require bipartisan wrangling. And some of the biggest cheerleaders for unlocking broadband infrastructure money have in fact been rural-state Republicans such as West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who co-chairs the Senate Broadband Caucus alongside Klobuchar and other senators. But Trump was unable to strike an infrastructure deal even when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress.

“We’ve still got too far to go, so I get impatient with it,” Capito told POLITICO. “We’re making strides; it’s just small steps to get to the last folks.”

Democratic presidential aspirants contend they can do better.

Blair Levin, a former FCC official under the Obama and Clinton administrations, said the broadband talk from the presidential hopefuls is “not an accident. This is a reflection of what the candidates are hearing on the campaign trail … in living rooms and in coffee shops.”

That has underscored the need to make connectivity a centerpiece of 2020 in a way it wasn’t the last several election cycles, said Levin, who helped create a national broadband plan nine years ago.

“This is a profound shift,” Levin said. “Americans understand that without broadband, they’re not going to be connected to the economic and civic life and that they need it.”

Trump’s GOP defenders insist the administration is still making headway. Some Republicans on Capitol Hill emphasize attempts at optimizing the use of existing substantial subsidies and efforts to fix the shoddy broadband mapping, which some see as a prerequisite to high-dollar investment.

“I think we’re building up steam in lots of different ways. We just need to harness that together,” said Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), a Broadband Caucus co-chair who disputes that any letdown has occurred.

But the administration’s modest boosts to capital investment don’t provide the more holistic super-charge that the U.S. may need to light up the whole country with high-speed broadband, according to some consumer advocates and industry providers.

Shirley Bloomfield, who represents more than 800 rural telecommunications providers as chief of the trade group NTCA, said in an interview that she came away “disappointed” after meetings with Trump officials early in the administration failed to result in muscular rural broadband policies or funding.

“You don’t have that complete coordination, which would have really created a national strategy for how we’re going to tackle broadband connectivity for all Americans,” she said. “I think people got distracted by a lot of other topics and … felt politically kind of backed into their corners, and I think the window closed.”

But, Bloomfield added, “There’s always 2021, you know.”

#digital #divide #Foreign #Politics

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visionnepal3-blog · 6 years ago

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National Cheat Sheet: Moody’s launches CRE data portal, Trump’s childhood home hits the market … & more

Clockwise from top left: Trump’s childhood home in Queens seeks $2.9M via bidding process, Moody’s Analytics’ new commercial real estate data portal will compete with CoStar, a report claims some 55,000 Keller Williams agents could be inactive ‘ghosts,’ and shopping mall operator Simon Property Group has a record fourth quarter in the midst of nationwide retail woes.

Moody’s new CRE data portal to compete with CoStar The Real Deal has had its eyes on a potential showdown that became a reality this week when Moody’s Analytics officially made public its plans to give real estate data behemoth CoStar Group a run for its money. The financial services information giant has launched its commercial real estate data portal, known as the REIS Network, through which users will be able to access data from firms like CompStak and Rockport VAL. Moody’s named the portal after the commercial real estate data company it snapped up for $278 million last year. CoStar had long been interested in buying REIS, but antitrust concerns dissuaded the two parties. “Our goal is to become a leading source for data and analytics for commercial real estate transactions,” said a statement from Moody’s Analytics Accelerator executive director Keith Berry. [TRD]

Keller Williams could have 55,000 ‘ghost’ agents, report claims More than 160,000 agents in the U.S. appear on Keller Williams’ official roster, but as many as 30 percent of those individuals could actually be “ghosts,” or agents who are inactive, don’t have a license or, in some cases, are dead, sources told Inman. Keller Williams president Josh Team acknowledged the numbers were off, but disputed Inman’s sources, stating that the amount of “ghost” agents likely stood between 10,000 and 15,000. Team noted that Gary Keller, who returned to his namesake firm last month as CEO, “took immediate action” when he learned there were agent count “inconsistencies” in January. [TRD]

Simon Property Group has record Q4 despite mall industry woes Malls nationwide have taken a hit in the so-called “retailpocalypse,” but that didn’t stop Simon Property Group from having a record fourth quarter. The retail giant’s net income increased by 25 percent in the last three months of 2018, to $712.8 million, as its funds from operations jumped 3.5 percent, to $1.2 billion. CEO David Simon said in an earnings call that he was “excited” about the ways in which the mall industry has had to adapt. “There’s always been disruption in our industry,” said Simon, noting that he was “concerned about a few retailers,” but that ongoing unrest in the space is “something we’ve been able to withstand.” The good news for Simon came as Tom O’Hearn, CEO of fellow shopping mall titan Macerich, said the company expected more store closures in 2019. [TRD]

US commercial property sales almost set a new record in 2018 The total value of U.S. commercial properties that sold for $2.5 million or more in 2015 was a record $569.9 billion. In 2018, the total value nearly hit that record, clocking in at $562.1 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics data cited by the Wall Street Journal. Property prices increased by 6.2 percent from 2017 to 2018, due in part to the fact that there’s “still a lot of capital out there chasing deals,” Ariel Property Advisors president Shimon Shkury told the outlet. “When you have less inventory to choose from, you’re going to be a little bit more aggressive in pricing.” [TRD]

MAJOR MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Trump’s childhood NYC home seeks $2.9M via secret bidding President Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens has hit the market for $2.9 million. Trump’s father built the Tudor-style house in the 1940s, and Trump lived there until he was around 4-years-old, the Wall Street Journal reported. In recent years, the home has been available for rent. Prospective homebuyers will participate in a sealed bidding process that is meant to keep the process “low key,” Compass agent Edward Hickey, who has the listing, told the Journal. “One of the reasons we’re doing it the way we are is to prevent a circus atmosphere,” Hickey said. “We anticipate that there will be a lot of curiosity.” [TRD]

Miami mansion sets record for highest single-family home sale A waterfront mansion has broken its own record for the highest single-family home sale in Miami-Dade County. The 10-bedroom, 14-bathroom home on Indian Creek Island sold for $49.9 million — breaking the record it set when it sold for $47 million back in 2012. A limited liability company managed by Russian lawyer Andrey Kaydin sold the property to Angouleme Holdings II Limited Land Trust, which may be managed by a Qatari businessman. The home is one of 40 properties on the private island, which has been dubbed the “billionaire bunker” due to its über-affluent residents, who include activist investor Carl Icahn and car dealership magnate Norman Braman. [TRD]

WeWork planning to open its first location in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is getting its very first WeWork, sources told TRD. The co-working giant, now known as “The We Company” following a recent rebranding, plans to lease what was once the Creative Artists Agency Building. Former CAA executives Michael Ovitz and Robert Goldman still own the four-story edifice, which was designed by architect I.M. Pei. The building has a Roy Lichtenstein mural in its central atrium, a 94-seat screening room and an underground parking lot. Sony Music operated out of the building until it relocated to Culver City more than a year ago. WeWork, which also said this week that it would open in South Africa, declined to discuss the deal. [TRD]

Penthouse in San Francisco seeks record sale with $41M price tag A San Francisco penthouse could set a record for the priciest home sale in the city if it snags the $41 million it’s asking for, the Wall Street Journal reported. The apartment in Related California’s 56-story Avery tower, which is currently under construction, has four bedrooms, a gym and a private rooftop terrace. It’s also near the shuttered Transbay Transit Center. There are some doubts as to whether the penthouse will actually sell for $41 million or take a price chop. Compass analyst Patrick Carlisle told the outlet that San Francisco’s luxury market has seen slower sales amid stock volatility in the technology sector. [TRD]

Amid deep freeze, Chicago realtor rents hotel rooms for homeless A Chicago realtor and her husband rented out 20 rooms for the homeless when temperatures in the Windy City dropped below zero last week, the Chicago Tribune reported. Candice Payne, 34, a managing broker at 5th Group Realty & Management, and her husband paid $70 for each room at the Amber Inn in Bronzeville after convincing a group of people camped outside in the South Loop to take her up on the offer. The next day, Payne and friends paid for rooms for even more people. “We wanted to get as much of them out of there as possible,” Payne said. “This is just regular people trying to help.” Payne’s efforts earned her accolades this week on Ellen DeGeneres’ morning television show. [TRD]

Johnny Cash’s ex-Tennessee estate up for sale at nearly $4M A lakefront estate once owned by music legends Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash is up for sale, according to Forbes. The Texas businessman that currently owns the 4.5-acre estate in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee, is seeking to sell the land to a developer or builder for $3.9 million. A buyer would then be able to divide it into several residential lots. “It’s been on the market for a while, but we didn’t have an appraisal like we have now and also the permission from the owner to sell it to a builder-developer… and allow it to be split up,” listing agent Stan Peacock of Crye-Leike told the outlet. Most of the home that Cash once lived in on the property was destroyed in a 2007 fire. [TRD]

Source: https://therealdeal.com/2019/02/08/national-cheat-sheet-moodys-launches-cre-data-portal-trumps-childhood-home-hits-the-market-more/

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biofunmy · 6 years ago

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In a Switch, Some Republicans Start Citing Climate Change as Driving Their Policies

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WASHINGTON — When John Barrasso, a Republican from oil and uranium-rich Wyoming who has spent years blocking climate change legislation, introduced a bill this year to promote nuclear energy, he added a twist: a desire to tackle global warming.

But Republicans also are walking a tightrope. In the Trump administration, G.O.P. orthodoxy has shifted strongly toward denying or dismissing the threat of climate change. Veering away from it could cause a lawmaker to lose campaign contributions and key political support.

“If we can find strategies that allow us to reduce emissions while continuing to use fossil fuels, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing,” Mr. Graves said in a recent interview.

“I don’t believe that you create mandates for fossil fuels,” he said. “But if we work hard, we can create the alternatives that will cause the market to move toward them.”

Among Republicans, younger voters in particular are more likely to embrace climate action.

“You can’t beat something with nothing. And having a center right alternative to the Green New Deal makes sense,” said Mr. Ayers, the Republican political strategist.

Of course, climate denial is also alive and well among Republicans.

Still, the handful of Republicans who have long looked for ways to tackle the rise of planet-warming emissions urged Democrats to seize the opportunity to find at least some common ground.

For more news on climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.

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jamesgeiiger · 6 years ago

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Profiting off presidency? Trump biz takes hit since election

NEW YORK — When workers pried the Trump name off another Manhattan building earlier this year, it capped a bad few weeks for the president’s businesses.

Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Scotland had just posted millions of dollars in losses, one of his hotels in Panama had rebranded itself a Marriott, and New York officials announced they were looking into how he avoided paying tens of millions in taxes.

All that, along with the daily drumbeat of Trump tweets and headlines about investigations into his administration, led Austin, Texas, tech executive Gary Barrett to finally give up hope of ever turning a profit on an apartment he bought as an investment in a Trump tower in Las Vegas.

“People with enough cash to buy these units seem to be shying away from the Trump name,” says Barrett, calling it “the Trump effect.”

From golf fees and licensing deals to prices for Trump condos, many metrics used to gauge his business in the first two years of his presidency are down as the divisive comments and policies so beloved by his political base have turned off a group just as dear to him — the affluent who fuel his businesses.

“He can be very polarizing. … The brand has been diminished,” says Jeff Lotman, CEO of licensing firm Global Icons. New York brand consultant Robert Passikoff puts it more bluntly: “The Trump brand has lost its mojo.”

Though it’s difficult to know just how badly Trump’s privately held businesses are hurting, Associated Press interviews with two dozen club members, condo buyers and real estate experts suggest the impact has been broad and sustained, with the same political divisions among voters playing out on the links and in clubhouses and condo board meetings.

The Trump Organization did not respond to repeated requests for comment but has said in the past its core operations are strong.

From the beginning, though, there were signs that mixing politics and business were backfiring. It started when Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, calling some Mexican immigrants crossing the border illegally “rapists,” and then snowballed the next year following the “Access Hollywood” tape of him boasting about grabbing women by the genitals.

Macy’s and Univision severed ties with his brand, mattress maker Serta stopped licensing his name, NASCAR and the PGA booked events that used to be held at his Doral resort in Miami elsewhere, and the TV network that aired his “Apprentice” — NBC — ended its relationship with him.

Then Trump blamed “both sides” at the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the summer of 2017, and more than a dozen charities and other organizations cancelled galas and other parties at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. A hotel in the Soho section of Manhattan that had a licensing agreement to use his name took it off its building, following a decision by one in Toronto to do the same.

The revolt has extended to new Trump hotel ventures aimed at those who can’t afford $450 or more to stay at his big-city hotels. Early last year, the Trump Organization announced the rollout of two chains — one mid-priced, the other budget — and said it had signed letters of intent for possible deals with more than 20 developers.

Today, only one deal, in Mississippi, has been announced. Hotel experts say potential partners don’t want to deal with the controversy the Trump name brings.

“In today’s politically charged environment, everyone is cautious,” says Lee Hunter, CEO of consultancy Hunter Hotel Advisors in Atlanta. “You want as many guests staying with you as possible.”

Trump’s condos in New York have taken a hit, too.

An AP analysis of sales data from brokerage CityRealty shows prices per square foot have fallen in nine of the 11 Trump-branded buildings in Manhattan in the first 10 months this year after dropping last year, too. Since Trump has taken office, prices have fallen 9 per cent on average and are now down to levels not seen in five years. In that time, Manhattan condos overall have risen 29 per cent.

CityRealty consultant Zach Gutierrez says Trump buildings are suffering partly because they look dated next to all the new luxury buildings that have gone up in recent years. But he adds that it doesn’t help that some apartment hunters won’t even consider a Trump building now.

“His politics are definitely alienating people,” Gutierrez says.

Ivanka Trump’s business has been hit by the political backlash, too.

The president’s daughter shut down her company making dresses, shoes, handbags and other accessories in July after boycotts against her brand and after retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom decided to drop her line, the latter specifically citing weak sales. Her company said at the time that business was strong and that the shutdown was triggered by Ivanka’s desire to focus more on her work as a White House adviser.

Ivanka’s brother Eric Trump is similarly optimistic about his father’s 17 golf resorts around the world, telling the AP earlier this year that the clubs are doing “spectacularly.”

The few public numbers available suggest otherwise.

Financial reports released by the British and Irish governments in October show two Scottish resorts and one in Ireland lost millions last year, the fourth year in a row of losses. Revenue at his public course in the Bronx fell 9 per cent in the first six months of this year, on top of a 7 per cent drop for all of last year. Revenue from his Doral golf resort in Miami, which generates the bulk of Trump’s golf revenue, is estimated by Forbes magazine to have plunged 26 per cent last year.

Another business facing trouble: Trump’s “condo-hotel” business, in which people looking for income buy hotel rooms in Trump hotels and hand them over to his company to rent out to guests.

“When I bought, it had to do with the Trump name. It was a respected name,” says Terry Gould, who sold two condos in his Trump’s Vegas tower last year out of frustration with what he says was the puny income from them. “I don’t know what the market sees in it now.”

The Washington Post says private documents it has seen show income to condo-hotel owners at a New York property dropped 14 per cent from 2015 to 2017. The newspaper reported a similar drop at a Trump hotel in Chicago.

Previously, Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric have said that new limits their father has placed on his businesses, such as agreeing not to strike any new business overseas, have indeed slowed deal-making. But they said that might be the price to pay for their father being president.

To be sure, it hasn’t been all bad news. Trump’s businesses still hauled in at least $453 million in revenue last year, according to the president’s financial disclosure.

His Washington hotel, which took in $40 million of that, is doing a brisk business with Republican Party officials, lobbyists and business groups that can lose or win big on changes in regulations and laws.

Foreign diplomats and dignitaries and groups with ties to the governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries have held events or stayed at the hotel, too. Referring to his decision to throw a party there in June, the Philippine ambassador wrote in a newspaper op-ed, “Since several other embassies have also held their national day celebrations at the Trump hotel which were well attended — I decided — why not do it there, too.”

The Trump Organization has promised to donate any profits tied to foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury to allay conflict-of-interest concerns, and made a payment of $151,470 to the agency earlier this year to cover 2017. The company has declined to provide details on how the figure was calculated.

Trump’s summer White House at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club — where he has spent 71 days of his presidency — is benefiting from political spending, too.

A group backing New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur’s re-election campaign spent more than $15,000 on rent and food for an event at the club, and fellow New Jersey Rep. Daryl Kipnis spent $8,000 the next year. Both lost in the midterms.

A group supporting the president’s 2020 re-election — Donald J. Trump for President Inc. — spent more than $50,000 at the club since he was elected, part of a $3 million spending spree by the group at Trump properties.

Taxe dollars spent at Bedminster to put up and feed aides and other support staff for the president’s many stays have helped Trump’s company, too — a full tally of which has not been made public.

Then there is all the untapped opportunity abroad after the presidency. Since the election, an AP review of trademarks around the world shows the president has received approval for dozens of trademarks in China and other countries to set up new businesses and license products.

Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University, thinks Trump will move fast to make money off those trademarks after he leaves office, particularly in emerging markets where newly wealthy consumers are less concerned about his divisive comments and policies.

“He’ll go to work and put product underneath them and his business will be worth a lot more,” Chiagouris says.

Others are less optimistic.

Consultant Passikoff has been surveying consumer attitudes toward Trump for 30 years and says his data shows the brand was so popular at one point that Trump could get people to pay 30 per cent more than they would for rival brands on hotel rooms, steak, bottles of vodka and other goods and services.

“Once you’ve lost the brand value,” he says, “it’s hard to get it back.”

——

Condon can be reached on Twitter at @BernardFCondon.

Profiting off presidency? Trump biz takes hit since election published first on https://worldwideinvestforum.tumblr.com/

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lucyariablog · 7 years ago

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How Financial Services Companies Build Relationships Through Content

When it comes to innovative content marketing and customer service, let’s just say the financial services industry hasn’t taken a leading position. Yet as customer relationships evolve from in-person transactions to omnichannel engagement, consumer-facing banks and insurance companies have realized it’s time to step up their game.

Why the lag?

“One of the primary drivers as to why banks are late to the party is the legacy systems they are dealing with,” says Steve Facini, chief marketing officer for ondemandCMO, a New Jersey-based marketing firm. He works with financial clients and worked for Citibank. “Today’s banks grew to the sizes they are through acquisitions, so it’s difficult for them to integrate all of that information into one system. It’s also a heavily regulated industry,” he says.

As a result, being a few beats behind has opened the door for fintech – financial services companies focused on technology and innovation – to swoop in and offer a better user experience than traditional banks can manage, hence the success of brands like Lending Tree, SoFi, and Rocket Mortgage from Quicken Loans. “They are focusing on specific niches of banking and can do it better and quicker. However, even though fintechs might have a better widget, they have a problem gaining trust, and therefore, it’s tough for them to scale,” says Facini.

#Fintechs have a problem gaining trust so it’s tough for them to scale, says @FaciniSteve. Click To Tweet

In other words, winning the loyalty of today’s customers requires a combination of cutting-edge, customized digital, and mobile engagement, as well as the credibility gained from offering industry-leading expertise during the in-person branch experience.

Winning customer loyalty requires cutting-edge engagement + credibility of industry expertise. @DawnPapandrea Click To Tweet

Why do banks need to master both? Consider this: More customers than ever are using mobile banking (49% of millennials, 31% of Gen X, and 16% of baby boomers), according to J.D. Power’s 2017 Retail Banking Study. Yet 71% of banking customers visited a branch an average of 14 times over the past year.

More customers than ever are using mobile #banking via @JDPower research. Click To Tweet

How banks are picking up the pace

Take a look at what some banks and financial companies are doing to gain a marketing edge.

1. They are re-imagining their physical presence to be more experience-based

“Physical presence is still the No. 1 driver of customer acquisition … period,” says Gina Bleedorn, chief experience officer at Adrenaline, an experience design agency based in Atlanta. That’s why banks are heavily investing in branches even if they are limiting the number of branch openings. To maximize remaining retail space, banks are gradually redefining their purpose.

“Technology is enabling routine transactions to occur outside of the branches, whereas traditionally tellers facilitated them. Now, banks are looking to have a dialogue and give advice and consultation to the customer. The new branch purpose is not in depositing checks – it’s in providing value,” Bleedorn says.

The new branch purpose is not in depositing checks – it’s in providing value. @ginableedorn #fintech Click To Tweet

It’s also about creating community connections and building relationships.

Case study: Northwest Resource Federal Credit Union

When Northwest Resource Federal Credit Union wasn’t generating enough new business, it decided it needed a brand makeover. The company hired Weber Marketing Group, a branding agency focused on financial clientele. Today, the credit union operates under a new name, Trailhead Credit Union, and it has transformed its look and messaging to connect with the urbanite spirit of Portland, Oregon, residents. It’s essentially a bank that feels more like a neighborhood hangout, even offering free temporary tattoos to kids (way cooler than lollipops!).

Everything from its signage to its website celebrates individuality and a grittiness that you won’t find from more corporate banks. In fact, the About Us page of its website proclaims: “This is not the cookie-cutter, same-as-a-million-others place to bank.”

Since the rebranding, Trailhead has set growth records for new accounts, loans, and branch and web traffic every month, according to Weber’s case study – all thanks to its commitment to celebrating the culture of its customers.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty

2. They are getting on board with educational content

Finances are complicated, and banks able to teach customers something or curate the massive amounts of data can win customer loyalty, says Bleedorn. That’s why firms like Charles Schwab host educational workshops.

Banks able to teach customers something or curate massive data win customer loyalty. @GinaBleedorn #fintech Click To Tweet

In fact, educational content can be one of the key differentiating factors among competing institutions. “If I can teach you and advise you, or help you select a product, that is huge,” says Bleedorn.

Check these out:

Liberty Mutual recently launched a partnership with HowStuffWorks and Amazon’s Alexa to provide educational content through the voice-activated home gadget. Users can ask Alexa to “open Liberty Mutual” to access educational kits on topics like how to prepare for a hurricane or questions to ask your car mechanic. If you don’t have an Amazon Echo, you can access the MasterThis content portal on Liberty Mutual’s website.

Society of Grownups, the educational arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., recently closed its physical location to focus on free online financial literacy courses – something that resonates well with its younger audience. The classes last 25 minutes and offer free downloads. The site also features a blog and tools to help guide financial decision-making. There’s no hard sell for MassMutual either, making it a pure content marketing play.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Society of Grownups Designed to Delight and Educate Audience

3. They are homing in on millennials

Content marketers across industries have been trying to crack the code as to how to keep millennials engaged, and in banking (which is traditionally geared toward older people and their wealth management needs), it’s a shift we’ll be seeing more and more.

“Millennials are not only a huge generation of their own, but they are influencing the other generations. They are the early adopters,” says Bleedorn. And because they do their research online before making any decisions, when they go into a bank branch, they expect a higher level of expertise, she says.

Case study: Santander Bank

This past November, Santander Bank launched a new content marketing strategy aimed at connecting with millennials who may be a couple of years away from applying for loans. “We wanted to talk to people earlier in their decision-making process, and wanted our content to be found when they had lifestyle questions,” says C. Decker Marquis, senior vice president and director of digital, social media, and multichannel marketing for Santander.

.@SantanderBankUS creates helpful content instead of stories around #banking products, says C. Decker Marquis. Click To Tweet

The content, under the umbrella of Prosper and Thrive, lives at the site thehub.santanderbank.com, where a dozen articles are published each month on topics that fall into three categories: saving up, mastering debt, and living life. What’s surprising is that viewers are more likely to find tips for a summer “staycation” or how to find a budget wedding gown than stories focused around banking products.

“You wouldn’t necessarily think about coming to a bank for the types of stories we feature, but we want our audience to feel like we understand them and their goals,” says Marquis. And Santander works closely with content management, social distribution, and SEO partners to ensure the content is discovered.

Before launching, comprehensive research into its target audience provided Santander with enough insight to convince the executive team that content for millennials was a good investment.

“We want to be there for those in-between moments, before customers look for a home-equity loan,” says Marquis. So far, she says, they are meeting their engagement and conversion goals, driving traffic to their core banking website, and gaining insights about the audience through surveys. The next step will be figuring out how to repurpose the content across all channels, including inside the branches. Overall, the strategy is to attract would-be customers and win their loyalty so that when they’re ready to shop for banking products, Santander will be top of mind.

4. They are experimenting

Another thing that resonates with the digital generation is innovation. That’s why some banks are launching innovation labs to showcase their future-forward efforts to the public. Part of the rationale could be to counter (or keep up with) the fintech movement, but it’s also a way to generate buzz.

“A brand innovation play says ‘look how innovative and dedicated we are to being ahead of the curve,’” says Bleedorn. Although many of the well-known experimental spaces are found internationally, among institutions doing this in the States are USAA, with its design studio in Austin, Texas, and Bank of America’s “customer experience” lab located above one of its Silicon Valley branches.

Case study: America First Credit Union

The America First Credit Union recently opened an innovation space in Salt Lake City, Utah. As one of the largest credit unions in the United States, the American First Innovation Center is designed to test new technology and get real-time consumer feedback. Bleedorn’s team at Adrenaline helped launch the project.

Among the space-age features: on-demand hologram conferencing with off-site experts, real-time polling about what’s important to each customer, and new teller cash-recycler machines to test. “It’s a really cool space designed to figure out what technology people want to use, and how they want to use it,” says Bleedorn. Once the credit union knows which things are working, it will begin rolling out to the branches.

5. They are finding the right balance between digital and human

At the end of the day, people want to feel important and be known on an individual level, says Facini. That is why banks are trying to go all-in on personalization. “Knowing your customer’s needs and anticipating their next move is critical moving forward,” he says, pointing out that consumers expect their digital banking experiences to be as efficient as the business they do with the Amazons and Zappos of the world.

Facini cautions, however, that financial health sometimes requires a human touch, and customers can’t have a relationship with an algorithm. “The banks that will be able to win are those that can figure out how to use technology to scale that one-to-one personal relationship,” says Facini.

Case study: Bank of America

In the spirit of Apple’s Genius Bar, Bank of America deployed 3,800 “digital ambassadors” last year to work in branches and assist customers who were interested in maximizing the bank’s online and mobile services. The in-person demonstrations and mobile app hand-holding are great examples of putting a human face onto a digital experience.

Conclusion

Whether banks latch on to some or all of these trends remains to be seen, but consumers should certainly expect to see an overall commitment by banks to improving brand experience. “It’s about your reputation and what people think about your brand,” says Bleedorn. “Financial services has taken cues from retail and is headed in the right direction.”

Expand your financial services content marketing skills. Make plans today to attend the Financial Services Industry Lab on Sept. 8 at Content Marketing World. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How Financial Services Companies Build Relationships Through Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/08/financial-services-relationships-content/

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hotspreadpage · 7 years ago

Text

How Financial Services Companies Build Relationships Through Content

Why the lag?

#Fintechs have a problem gaining trust so it’s tough for them to scale, says @FaciniSteve. Click To Tweet

Winning customer loyalty requires cutting-edge engagement + credibility of industry expertise. @DawnPapandrea Click To Tweet

More customers than ever are using mobile #banking via @JDPower research. Click To Tweet

How banks are picking up the pace

Take a look at what some banks and financial companies are doing to gain a marketing edge.

1. They are re-imagining their physical presence to be more experience-based

The new branch purpose is not in depositing checks – it’s in providing value. @ginableedorn #fintech Click To Tweet

It’s also about creating community connections and building relationships.

Case study: Northwest Resource Federal Credit Union

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty

2. They are getting on board with educational content

Banks able to teach customers something or curate massive data win customer loyalty. @GinaBleedorn #fintech Click To Tweet

Check these out:

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Society of Grownups Designed to Delight and Educate Audience

3. They are homing in on millennials

Case study: Santander Bank

.@SantanderBankUS creates helpful content instead of stories around #banking products, says C. Decker Marquis. Click To Tweet

Before launching, comprehensive research into its target audience provided Santander with enough insight to convince the executive team that content for millennials was a good investment.

4. They are experimenting

Case study: America First Credit Union

5. They are finding the right balance between digital and human

Case study: Bank of America

Conclusion

Expand your financial services content marketing skills. Make plans today to attend the Financial Services Industry Lab on Sept. 8 at Content Marketing World. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How Financial Services Companies Build Relationships Through Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

How Financial Services Companies Build Relationships Through Content syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm

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othersportsnews-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Olney: Texas mulls what to do with Yu Darvish at the trade deadline - Buster Olney Blog site

New Post has been published on https://othersportsnews.com/olney-texas-mulls-what-to-do-with-yu-darvish-at-the-trade-deadline-buster-olney-blog-site/

Olney: Texas mulls what to do with Yu Darvish at the trade deadline - Buster Olney Blog site

Following the Texas Rangers conquer the Kansas Metropolis Royals 8 times ago, FanGraphs pegged their prospects of creating the playoffs at a stable 29.five p.c, an encouraging number for a team that prolonged ago noticed the Astros operate away with initial spot and lap the relaxation of the AL West. With Cole Hamels back from damage, and with Yu Darvish pitching at an All-Star degree, it appeared that the Rangers had been about to make a drive.

But a whole lot of that hope was turned to rubble in the course of an unattractive 96-hour stay in Baltimore, where the Orioles swept a four-match collection from Texas. In just 1 7 days, Texas’s playoff prospects had been minimize in fifty percent, and basic supervisor Jon Daniels signaled to the sector that he would take cell phone calls on Darvish.

The collapse in Baltimore has accelerated the Rangers towards a conclusion that has loomed above them all year: Is Darvish a aspect of their potential or not?

Darvish turns 31 several years aged upcoming thirty day period and will be a cost-free agent in November, unless the Rangers shock the baseball planet by locking him up to an very costly extension for anything in the assortment of $a hundred and fifty-200 million. The Rangers could test to execute the similar maneuver that the Yankees pulled off last period with Aroldis Chapman: New York swapped the closer to the Cubs in a bundle of prospective clients that bundled Gleyber Torres and then re-signed Chapman in the offseason. The Rangers could take edge of the fascination in Darvish from teams this sort of as the Cubs, Astros, Dodgers and Yankees by dealing the suitable-hander for a substantial-end prospect now — and then re-signing him.

But it’s extremely unusual for a team to trade a substantial-end player and then indicator him in cost-free agency, and as rival evaluators watch the Rangers test to determine what to do with Darvish, some feel that the dilemma of investing or not investing him will come down to whether or not the Rangers feel they’ll be equipped to re-indicator him. If they feel they’ll re-indicator him, some evaluators believe that, the Rangers will maintain him through the trade deadline and maintain him as aspect of the longshot endeavor to make the playoffs this year.

If the Rangers feel Darvish is likely to depart, then they’re almost certainly likely to trade him, people evaluators believe that. Just one cited the illustration of the Boston Pink Sox’s handling of Jon Lester in the year ahead of he became a cost-free agent: The Pink Sox produced an provide of about $70 million — not shut to marketplace worth in the eyes of Lester and his camp. When Lester mentioned no, the Pink Sox moved him in the course of the period to Oakland.

The ripple effects of the Rangers’ uncertainty about Darvish are staying felt all through the marketplace. At the very least 1 team desires to wait to see what transpires with Darvish ahead of creating a transfer on a commencing pitcher. Some evaluators feel Darvish’s appearance on the trade marketplace — at the very least for dialogue — is muddying the waters for the Oakland Athletics as they test to set up a suited offer for Sonny Gray.

• Jorge Mas desires to buy the Miami Marlins, and there are people in baseball who want to see it transpire. Mas is Cuban-American, and some rival executives believe that he would give the Miami marketplace the very best feasible possibility for progress in specialist baseball.

But resources with know-how of the bidding say that whilst Mas’ provide is rock-stable economically, it is not as substantial as the Marlins’ possession would favor — and the Marlins have kept other suitors in perform as they drive for a increased profitable bid. Meanwhile, Mas is mentioned by resources to be escalating impatient with the process, and he desires a resolution sooner instead than afterwards. Other bids for the Marlins could be built on feasible bricks of minority possession, which provides anything of a dilemma when the remaining price is expected to be increased than $1 billion because it’s tough to be expecting people to kick in a few of hundred million pounds whilst ceding command to other individuals.

So Big League Baseball watches and waits, possessing some influence through guidelines to get the Marlins across the complete line. It could be that even though Mas does not have the best bid, in the eyes of the Marlins’ homeowners, he provides the most available summary.

Meanwhile, the team’s baseball operations are trapped in purgatory, to a diploma. There has been speculation that other teams could be interested in a Giancarlo Stanton or Christian Yelich offer, but the Marlins aren’t truly in a posture to very seriously weigh presents on possibly of people gamers. The contracts of Stanton and Yelich signify a major amount of money of the team’s personal debt that fears some interested bidders, but they are also the franchise’s most eye-catching belongings, so the upcoming proprietor will by natural means want to weigh in on what really should transpire — with Stanton, significantly.

Also, it will be really tough for the upcoming proprietor to transfer Stanton under any circumstance devoid of sabotaging a rebranding work. The Marlins’ background is littered with fire income, and in the eyes of Miami baseball followers, dumping Stanton whilst ingesting some of his enormous deal could signify company as regular. The upcoming proprietor will in all probability have to develop some fairness ahead of very seriously contemplating transferring Stanton — or possibly talk to the recent homeowners to do that soiled perform as soon as feasible ahead of ending the order of the team months afterwards.

But no subject who wins the bidding, no subject if Jeffrey Loria decides to keep the team and no subject whether or not Stanton stays or is dealt, the process that is taking part in out with the sale of the franchise is in preserving with its bumpy background.

Trade deadline developments

The sheer glut of slugger sorts in the course of the past offseason was the initial indicator that this summer’s trade marketplace was likely to change into a buyers’ marketplace because so many of people gamers experienced to settle for 1-year deals, with many now offered for trade. On top of that, fifty percent of the divisions are staying won in runaways — the Astros, Nationals and Dodgers — by golf equipment armed with deep daily lineups. With small extra than a 7 days remaining ahead of the trade deadline, there really don’t seem to be any contenders with problematic roster holes now that the Nationals addressed their bullpen dilemma.

For opportunity sellers, it’s a tough marketplace in which to get serious worth in prospect return, and success could be measured by how substantially wage is get rid of. Presented this truth, the endeavours to gown up trades to make them seem extra eye-catching than they essentially are could access new amounts of inventiveness.

The other day, the Seattle Mariners picked up David Phelps from the Marlins in a trade for no much less than four prospective clients, which seemed odd. The thirty-year-aged Phelps is acquiring a stable but unspectacular period and is creating $4.six million — very good funds. He will be eligible for arbitration all over again this winter, assuming the Mariners tender him an provide.

4 minimal leaguers would seem to be to be a heckuva return in a marketplace that will soon be flooded by relief options. Brayan Hernandez was the most important prospect in the offer, rated anyplace from No. six to No. ten on the prospect listing of an corporation with a relatively skinny farm process. The other a few?

Pablo Lopez, a 21-year-aged suitable-handed pitcher with a five.04 Era in the Substantial-A California League

Brandon Miller, a 22-year-aged suitable-handed pitcher and previous sixth-spherical select pitching in the Midwest League

Lukas Schiraldi, a suitable-handed pitcher who turns 24 this 7 days and has a 4.fifty eight Era in 37 &frac13 innings in A-ball.

In the eyes of some rival evaluators, it was a vintage circumstance of a team making an attempt to pad a offer to make the illusion that it yielded much extra internet than it essentially did.

• The Indians are hoping to incorporate a utility player, but the reality that they dug into conversations about J.D. Martinez implies that they could also have explored an alternate to Carlos Santana, who has slogged through a disappointing period — a .240 batting common with ten homers. It would be an straightforward pivot for the Indians to make with no prolonged-expression fallout because Santana is in the last year of his deal ahead of he reaches cost-free agency. Presented the glut of posture gamers offered, there will in all probability be several sluggers offered in the last times ahead of the trade deadline, from Jay Bruce to Mike Napoli to Yonder Alonso to other individuals, and the Indians could incorporate any person else. But Cleveland is expected to get Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis back from the disabled listing in the upcoming few of months.

• Speaking of solutions, the Yankees are prepared to assess the still left-handed-hitting or switch-hitting initial basemen who could shake cost-free in the marketplace — possibly Alonso.

• The Giants player drawing the most trade fascination is utility male Eduardo Nunez, in accordance to resources, because of his versatility and athleticism.

• The Brewers have fascination in attaining Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler the Pink Sox and other teams have also inquired.

• The Dodgers are between the teams evaluating Mets reliever Addison Reed.

• Rival evaluators aren’t entirely guaranteed that the Orioles will essentially trade Zach Britton ahead of the July 31 deadline because it could be that the bundle of prospective clients presented will be much less than exceptional. Other teams have been making an attempt to gauge how healthful Britton is following he skipped two months with elbow issues earlier this period. It is taken as doctrine by some teams that even when a pitcher heals, as Britton evidently did, an elbow breakdown is a precursor of a more substantial dilemma to come.

Baseball Tonight Podcast

Friday: Roch Kubatko of MASN on the Orioles’ designs leading up to the trade deadline Karl Ravech and Paul Hembekides on the teams that really should most covet Zach Britton and Jessica Mendoza on the re-emergence of David Selling price.

Thursday: Ivan Nova on the return of Starling Marte and the Pirates’ momentum Bob Nightengale goes immediate-fire on trade things Boog Sciambi wins the argument on why the umpires really should be mic’d Mike Trout and Bryce Harper on Harper and Trout.

Wednesday: Travis Shaw on his transfer to the Brewers, his significant year and the conversations he has with his previous Boston teammates Tim Kurkjian on the significant trades pulled off by the Yankees and Diamondbacks Rob Biertempfel on the turnaround of the Pirates John Fisher of ESPN Stats & Information and facts digs into what a team would buy with Sonny Gray.

Tuesday: A dialogue with Mookie Betts Keith Legislation on Carlos Correa’s damage Sarah Langs and the Numbers Recreation David O’Brien on Freddie Freeman’s potential at 3rd base, Julio Teheran and the Braves.

Monday: Jerry Crasnick on the enhancement of David Selling price a dialogue with Aaron Choose Todd Radom’s uniform and logo quiz and the 11th-biggest logo of all time.

And today will be greater than yesterday.

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adgradlife · 8 years ago

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The Evolution of a Brand: Rebranding Texas AdGrad into TAPR

In Spring 2009, Dr. Gary Wilcox selected five advertising master’s program students for a semester as the first social media team of Texas AdGrad. Their goal was to establish a presence for the Department of Advertising and Public Relations on the social media sites, which were continuing to grow in popularity. The students running the social profiles with Dr. Wilcox were getting hands-on experience with managing a social media portfolio, which was (and still is) a valuable skill set being requested by agencies and clients for young, new hires.

Fast forward to Spring 2017 and the department has been rebranded into The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, and the Texas AdGrad social media team has grown to a class of nearly 30 undergraduate and graduate students. The social media portfolio managed by the team now includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Weibo and YouTube. The class is split into three teams: original content, management, and analytics. Programs such as Spredfast, Google Analytics and NUVI are utilized to manage the portfolio of social sites and analyze the influence of their original content, the traffic to the School’s website and engage with their following.

The original content team works on producing content highlighting the current happenings of students, faculty, alumni and industry. Covering career achievements, trends and innovations, the original content team produces text, photography and video content for the full portfolio of social media sites. Each semester, the content plays to the strengths of the unique students selected for the team. Some semesters, there is a strong interest and talent for video content. Other semesters, the team has strong writers and, therefore, the original content consists of more long and short-term pieces. During the Fall 2016 semester, Samsung lent the class a Gear 360 camera and VR headset to explore the process of producing, editing and viewing 360-degree photography and video. The team has enjoyed using the gear and will be posting new content in correlation with the Spring 2017 rebranding campaign. After hearing how much we loved its product, Samsung gifted the tech to the social media class to continue using. Thank you, Samsung and our rep Lillian Brown!

“The beauty of this class is that it’s a working lab of hands-on learning for the students,” said Dr. Wilcox. “It’s their voices that are representing the School.”

Always willing to listen to the ideas presented by the students in the class, Dr. Wilcox has been entertaining the discussion of rebranding Texas AdGrad for several years. There has been confusion in regards to who the true ��AdGrads” are: graduate students, undergrads or alumni who are the graduates of the program. Additionally, the undergraduate program is advertising and public relations, yet the name only references advertising. So, Dr. Wilcox worked with faculty, alumni and several semesters of the social media class to identify the concerns about the Texas AdGrad brand and goals of what a new brand should address.

Some of the key goals of the rebranding were that the brand still be linked to The University of Texas at Austin, as it is the social media presence and representation of The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations. There also needs to be no confusion on whether the name is referring to graduate students or undergraduates. The intention is that all the School’s programs are included in the brand identity: advertising and public relations, of undergraduates, masters, and doctoral students, faculty, and alumni.

Many ideas were passed around, marinated on, nixed and morphed. Full whiteboards and walls of Post-its with acronyms, unique words and number variations ensued. Research was done on the top name variations, and those that had major conflicts or concerns were cut. Ultimately the name TAPR (pronounced “tap-er”), which obviously stands for Texas Advertising & Public Relations, was chosen by the team leads of the Spring 2017 social media class: Mary Dunn (Team Lead), Abby Bollinger (Original Content Team Lead), Merryn McNeil (Management Team Lead), Jessica Scaff (Analytics Team Lead) and Kaci Lambeth (Art Direction Team Lead).

Then came time for developing a new logo to go with the new name. The original logo was a star in motion that acted as a recognizable icon of Texas AdGrad for many years. The social media team collected nearly two dozen logo ideas from faculty, a Texas Creative course and the social media team. The top nine ideas were voted on by the social media class and narrowed down to the top three favorites. From there, the class voted on the final winner, designed by Kaci Lambeth, a Senior Advertising Major in the TexasMedia sequence and the acting Art Director for the social media class for the Spring 2017 semester. Her design was an evolution of the original star, keeping with the motion theme.

Rebranding Texas AdGrad into TAPR will involve more than just a name and logo change. Beyond changing profile handles and updating the cover photos as of March 22, the team will address classes and student organizations to increase student awareness of TAPR. The social media team will encourage all students to follow and engage with the School’s social media accounts for original content highlighting current students, faculty and alumni, organizations, campus life, industry news and internship/job opportunities.

The term “Texas AdGrads” is being gifted to The Richards School’s graduate students through the student organization, the Advertising Graduate Council (AGC). If you’re curious, the doctoral students are referred to as “Texas AdDocs” and have their own student organization, the Advertising Doctoral Society (ADS).

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Story by: Mary Dunn

#university of texas at austin #tapr #rebranding #stan richards school of advertising and pr

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