Can the meta verse catch our imagination and make it so immersive as a real dream?
I am not a psychologist or a physicist….
Everyone is talking about “The METAVERSE”. Is this really a new concept?
…..I am not a psychologist or a physicist (thank God for that! my brain would explode with the heavy formulas!), though I wish I was one! to be able to connect the emerging new reality of the metaverse to both these fundamental sciences of psychology and quantum physics. However, I will be the end user of the metaverse and I understand a decent amount of technology that goes into creating this new universe called metaverse.
Here is how I understand the need of having a metaverse and envision a future with the metaverse impacting the 7 Bn humans on this planet.
The human mind always wanders to things beyond their physical location and space. So, we have dreams. Nature supported this concept as homo sapiens evolved. Imagination in our sub conscious mind or our wakeful state is what makes us humans different from other species.
We have always tried to capture this need of imagination and transporting ourselves into another world.
The 2 basic needs of the human mind being:
To conquer time
To transport ourselves into another time and location = gather experiences
So how I see the meta verse is an evolution of the human imagination with the innovation of 3D, 4D, 4D…. technology. Some call it Web 3.0
The first new verse had started with a camera and a picture taken when we wanted to capture time. But then as the then technology evolved to video cameras, we created 2 hours of immersing ourselves, our emotions in another world which led to the making of films.
Of course, films were not customised to each one of us. Yes, the gaming industry evolved to more customised simulations for example war games, which should have led to less wars!, as more boys and men imagined and satiated their imagination of shooting others and planes!! But this unfortunately could not stop wars even in the 21st century. However a teenage boy with no legs can play an immersive football game and score goals and feel the rush of adrenaline through him and make him a winner!
So now with the metaverse every individual can realise their own head space. The question is “Can we still beat nature’s 30 sec film called “DREAM”?” Maybe.
The meta verse is just the start, where we want to imagine not only while sleeping but also when awake!
The Metaverse consists of a 3D virtual world where users interact with various spaces and virtual reality components using digital avatars. We all know large IT companies, such as Facebook and Microsoft are busy exploiting its potential. We will soon see notions of 3D virtual reality in metaverse projects embodied in a range of spheres — from a virtual land market to an office space. Some of the short term use cases of this are gaming,remote work environment in virtual spaces, tourism, education, fashion, medicine, shopping, real estate etc.
The marketers are the first customers of this extended reality. There are big brands, big social media platforms who want to own this imagination of the human mind and sell more, easily giving their customers a real experience of what their products, services look like. Tickling the human imagination with more customised rooms, products, and services.
Yes, Metaverse has made it to the top contenders of the most trending key words of 2021. Metaverse is here to offer a parallel virtual universe to all of us. The Metaverse opens a whole new world of economic prospects, from virtual music events to NFT-based products, to name a few.
So, will “METAVERSE” just stop with being another commercial success for big brands and companies or will we be able to really change human lives with this immersive and imaginative technology.
Before I start dreaming future use cases of this new reality, a question that comes to my mind is how will the metaverse look in a non IOT world. Can it function in a non IOT world bringing back the 2 fundamental sciences of psychology and quantum physics together? along with our human desire to conquer time and transport ourselves into a different or unknown arena.
Will we be able to capture the Theory of quantum physics in which an infinite number of ever-growing alternate realities are created by our choices. In any alternate reality any choice that is made creates universes where each choice is explored.
Will we be able to catch “THE DREAM” as best as nature has been doing it for us? in 30 sec sleep mode, without the help of IOT!
Here I want to explore a life changing use case of the meta verse which can change the world 100 years from now. Will the Metaverse help me be in 2 places at the same time? Can I experience an alternate life experience? Can the meta verse quench my thirst sitting in a desert without having water around me?
The Big Tech billionaires are all headed to search another verse, away from our current universe – called Earth. This new verse can be exploring another universe or another planet, or creating an imaginary verse where all our dreams, needs, desires, and wants are fulfilled at the click of a button or a count down as the space shuttle takes off!
The future of this new verse whether “meta” or “mars” is linked to our need to transport ourselves to different experiences and the need is indeed important as our life span has increased over the last century. On average we accomplish our physical responsibity of pro creation, wealth creation, productivity by age 50 and then are living upto 100 and imagining immortality! So, what do we do with our imagination from 50 to infinite life expectancy.. Let it rust!
We need to create experiences to truly enjoy life.
As I envision the new verses, meta or mars will in the future have new experiences circulate within the 7 Bn people with science and technology providing them not only imaginary but real experiences like quenching thirst sitting in a desert to the need for humans to not be born again and again to experience different life situations. It will create the power to have the same 7 Bn experience different combinations of life in the real verse and the meta verse. Guess the need to explore space may cease then!
This exploration of the new verse and the future reality comes with a great amount of responsibility on our current generation and the big tech giants. The creation of a virtual universe can pose several challenges in the coming 50 years. The metaverse will still not be a replacement for the real world but it should represent an improvement on it in every possible way. Even looking at our 30 sec dreams, the psychologists are still deciphering them. So, as we create the new universes there will be many unanswered questions passed on to the next generation. These unanswered gaps towards creating a perfect new verse must be passed on carefully, articulately, and responsibly to the future generation to not only catch but to CONTROL THE DREAM.
With the rapid increase of users on digital platforms has been a great opportunity for brands and organizations to get hold of their customers, interact with them, acquire new customers, take feedback, make improvements and the biggest benefit has been measurable results of marketing campaigns.
Starting from the beginning of the journey to the end goal of a brand, one can easily make a high converting funnel with expert guidance.
The most effective generic funnel has always been Brand Awareness —> Consideration/ Engagement —> Conversion
With the help of social platforms, we can reach out to people who are found mostly on digital platforms. According to a recent study, on an avg. the user spends around 147 minutes daily on social media. Now the best part has been that audiences on these platforms are scattered which gives us the advantage to target users on basis of their demography and behavior. Example: Young generation up to the age of 27 are more active on Instagram while the elder generation still prefers Facebook. This number isn’t a universal constant but keeps on changing depending on the country, geography, literacy, income, and various factors.
With the help of targeting options available for advertisers, we can target the right audience with the right content at the right time to achieve the brand goals.
With the help of remarketing campaigns, we can target the customers who have already been our buyers or shown interest in our ad in any form. It might be a scroll to the bottom of the page, Clicks, search on the website, add to cart, checkout, add a payment method, etc.
Differentiating all these audiences with different events, we can create and feed content accordingly. Thus, increasing the conversion rate.
There’s an ongoing debate if paid media is beneficial or organic –
To achieve the best results, both approaches should be followed simultaneously. Though all the platforms are somehow decreasing the organic reach and visibility of content. It’s advised that paid media should not be neglected at any cost.
While Organic media gives long-lasting results if carried out constantly for a never-ending time, Paid Media gives instant results at any point in time.
Some of the biggest mistakes that brands should avoid-
Irregularity in maintaining a digital presence
Not having a brand identity
Not following brand guidelines
Ignoring Content
Ignoring Paid Distribution of ads
Being Impatient
Concluding this article, marketing is all about creating a perception. The best is to create the right one. Maintain distance from unethical marketing tactics. It might give short-term results but in long run, you will end up losing the trust of your customers and among competitors.
In a time where users have more control over their ad choices than ever before, it’s no coincidence that an increasing number choose an ad-blocking solution. Currently, 42.7% of internet users worldwide report using an ad blocker. And the technology has expanded beyond the desktop, it is also available for mobile devices and tablets.
Ad Blockers
So, what is exactly an ad blocker and why is it so popular among users? An ad blocker is an application (plugins or browser extensions) that removes or alters advertising content on a webpage. This application removes certain kinds of ads, such as pop-ups, banner ads, and many other common forms of online advertisement. It allows the users to browse the web without being annoyed by disruptive ads that slow the page loading time.
However, many ad-block users understand that publishers have the right to earn revenue on the content they publish. It’s often due to previous negative experiences with ads that users turn to ad-block technology. In fact, most internet users don’t mind ads as long as they are of good quality and don’t interfere with their experience.
Cons for the user
If the use of ad blockers continues to increase, website publishers will try new monetization models that might end up affecting the user. For example, we have already seen some publishers adopting the subscription-based model in which they start charging a fee to access the content they provide just like premium services do. It is an alarming situation as we might eventually lose open access to the content that we have today. On the brighter side, advertisers are now looking for ways to make ads less disturbing and more relevant thanks to new technologies like Unblockia´s solution.
What is Unblockia?
Unblockia is one of the leading companies in the Ad Tech sector that promotes a more transparent and respectful interaction between publishers, advertisers, and users while keeping the internet safe and free. It provides publishers and advertisers with the technology to deliver a better online experience to their users through Acceptable Ads.
Acceptable Ads are ads that aren’t intrusive or annoying. They are respectful, don’t interfere with content, and are clearly labeled with the word “advertisement” or its equivalent. These ads are created with users in mind and are presented in noninvasive ad formats that they are happy to see. At the same time, these ads allow publishers to start recovering the revenue they were losing due to ad blockers.
Delivering a good user experience while maintaining a profitable website is a big challenge for publishers. Without a doubt, new solutions like Unblockia are essential to build a strong and sustainable online future where the needs of users, publishers, and advertisers are met.
Today, we live in the world of the Web. It is common for companies to have websites and about 80% of consumers use the Internet to research on a business, product or service before making a purchase. But what if you do not exist on the Internet?
Establishing a web presence can prevent competitor from poaching your customers and simply setting up an appropriate company website can reel your target audience right in.
Websites can also improve customer service. As there is no downtime on the Internet, customers can be updated 24/7 and have their queries answered almost immediately. And what better way to provide them with value-added service than to share handy information on your website? Knowledge sharing is one method to connect with potential customers and eventually convert them into sales.
What is crucial is to build a website with the fundamental capabilities that garner and drive targeted traffic. Here are 10 website to creating an ideal website to attract visitors and generate revenue.
1. Know Your Target Market
The first step towards recognizing your target market is to have a proper understanding of the problems that your business tackle. Thereafter, identify the groups of people will be affected by these problems, these individuals will make up your target audience.
Make a list of your target audiences and group them accordingly to categories sure as profession, age, education levels, and gender. Find out how these groups of people may benefit from your products and services by questioning what they lack in their lives and meeting their needs where possible.
2. A Clear Navigation Bar
A clear navigation bar is a plus to any website. Choose simple names for the tabs on the navigation bar and the web pages – logical naming of both tabs and web pages should guide and direct visitors to a specific call-to-action.
3. About Us
The primary purpose of an About Us page is to inform the user about your company and what you do. The page should furnish visitors with the basic background information they need such as the company’s history, awards and achievements as well as social proof and authentic statements that can give your company image a boost.
4. Strong Headlines
There are millions of websites in the cyberspace competing for several keywords trying to be recognized as the first hit on search engines – but how exactly do you get people to read what you write?
Although good content and aesthetics are of great value to a website, a strong headline could give your website an edge over others. Pay special attention in crafting catchy and compelling titles for your headline and think out of the box to appeal to consumers and obtain the click-through.
Useful key words that trigger consumer action include Free, Discount, Guaranteed, Incredible Offer, 1-for-1 promotion etc. To truly persuade a visitor to constantly return to your website, use question words such as What, Why, When or How as visitors are often looking for answers to their various queries.
Take the subject “Driving A Car” for instance. 3 effective examples are:
“How to drive a car?”
“Why I Love Driving A Car?”
“10 Ways to drive a Car safety”
5. Integrate Social Media & Videos
Using Social Media and embedding videos in your content can direct traffic to your website on a regular basis. The inbound links to your website from high-profile social media platforms such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, Tik Tok and others will increase your search engine results page ranking.
Consider creating the following social media profiles:
Linkedin – A professional site to showcase expertise and reach out to potential clients based on skills set
Twitter – A social sharing platform where you can post relevant tips and information with links to corresponding articles on your website
You Tube – Upload short yet succinct videos to demonstrate useful tutorials and give advice to
Always include a link back to an appropriate landing page on your own website and ensure you include a call-to-action on the page, for instance “Retweet” or “Share this video”
6. Power Pictures and Graphics
Simplicity and succinctness are key in creating messages that are straightforward to understand. People are often impacted visually than textually; hence good graphic designs and images are more effective in engaging site visitors compared to text alone. A dynamic picture can drive higher consumer engagement which can lead to higher sales figures.
7. Provide Impressive Testimonials
Positive and impactful testimonials are excellent for boosting site traffic. If you are in the service industry that replies on customer service and referrals, positive and impactful testimonials that appraise your company’s services will drive greater traffic to your site. For instance, an outdoor event service business could have client testimonials about the excellent service delivery and efficiency.
8. Order Page
The main goal of any e-commerce website is to convert visitors to buying customers. The order confirmation page is usually called a ‘Thank You’ page.
It is only right to thank your customers each time they complete a payment and more importantly, it helps you to maintain healthy relationships and interaction with them, thereby increasing their returns to your site.
9. An Opt-in Box
The use of personal data is a sensitive issue today-companies need to gain consumers’ approval with regards to collection, storage, usage and distribution of their information. Using an individual’s data without approval can put an organization in trouble. Hence, providing an “opt-in” box for users will allow them to indicate their consent and method of contact from the company or organization, thereby recording their decision.
From the earlier times till today, logistics has become a vital part in the overall work process and because of the members involved in the Logistics department, all the work gets carried out smoothly.
In the beginning from 1950s onwards, there was a huge amount of work force available in this sector and due to India’s massive population, the different industries could expand their own respective businesses with the expansion of the Logistics department. Especially in the Manufacturing processes and in other factories, we could see many people working together on a manual basis and getting the work completed smoothly.
In my earlier organisation, I learned the entire work cycle by interacting with the different team members in the Logistics department. Each individual was assigned a particular task in getting the total work done and each one of them was doing their own part in this overall process. From the Logistics Manager to the Clerk, there were clear instructions and a hierarchy followed by each team member and every morning the entire Logistics department would assemble in the Meeting room and discuss the entire day`s schedule. There was a clear understanding between each team member and by the end of the day; some of these members would not even enter the office again. Another thing which I have observed is that there was no system in place to monitor each team members work done and still, the entire work was completed very smoothly. All the team members had respect for each other, and the senior management trusted them and gave them full freedom in completing the task for the organisation.
Now, in the present day and age, technology is advancing in a rapid state and most of the companies are accepting the new technologies in completing the said work and we are moving from large work forces to including machines in our everyday lives and, by including softwares in our everyday work.
At present, most of the organisations have many systems in place where each member logs in daily and completes the work.
From what I have observed, the work done in the Logistics department includes many team members who are constantly moving around from one place to another. It is not an office sitting job; majority of the team members are on the move throughout the day. Only the Logistics Manger is sitting in the office and updating the team`s daily movements to the senior management. But, if there are meetings to be attended in a client`s office, even the Logistics Manager would be on the move and attend the meetings and find out about the state of the ongoing project work.
In the future going forward 10 years from now, I can clearly see the reduction of the total work force and a huge dependence on the softwares to complete the work and also, the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in doing the same work.
Although, improvement should always be welcome and the country should move forward and bring out better initiatives in completing any work, at some stage, we would miss the interaction and the hustle-bustle between the different colleagues in a particular department.
The cross-border trade and taxlandscape globally has been undergoing exponential changes. With dynamic geopolitical situation, ever evolving regulations and introduction of new compliance requirements, increasing levels of enforcement is needed to achieve the multiple objectives of legitimate revenue collection, ease of doing business, trade facilitation, while ensuring hassle-free compliances. And technology is playing an enabling role to move from a more control-based tax and trade regime to a trust-based future.
Stewart Brand [i]once said – “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you are part of the road”. Hence, government authorities are proactively embracing advanced analytical technologies such as big data, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning as they see clear benefits with regard to increased transparency, risk management, fraud detection, trade facilitation, mutual co-operation and greater compliance. These trends are expected to increase as countries around the world continue to implement the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) [ii]and its requirements for more transparency in corporate tax reporting. Further, there is an increased collaboration between various multilateral agencies/ governments across the globe in exchanging of information via IT equipped databases, automated tools, etc.
In India, the technology led regulatory reforms have played a positive role in the field of both direct and indirect taxes, including customs, as well as policy making. Implementation of the landmark Goods and Service Tax (GST) in 2017 is one of the biggest examples of such reform. The direct tax arena has also seen an early adoption of technology. Additionally, introduction of faceless assessments of import and export entries under customs, integration of courier and cargo systems under one national customs portal ICEGATE[iii] and may other such initiatives in the pipeline clearly demonstrate government’s efforts and push towards digitization.
Even post the roll-out of GST, several forward-looking measures such as e-returns, e-registrations, e-way bills, e-invoicing, and QR codes, have been implemented by the government, which mark important milestones in India’s digitalization journey. As an outcome, India has witnessed an all-time high GST revenue collection from October 2020 onwards. In the recently released collection figures, the Finance Ministry revealed that the provisional net indirect tax collections [iv]for financial year FY2020–21 recorded a growth of 12.3%; 108.2% of revised estimates of indirect taxes for FY2020–21 has been achieved. This is a big win and testimony to the fact on how embracing technical tools can help achieve more legal compliance and revenue targets.
Another notable tech-based initiative by India Finance Ministry as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade has been the conducting of national Time Release Study (TRS) [v]started in Aug 2019 and institutionalized on an annual basis. It helps to diagnose existing and potential bottlenecks which act as barriers to the free flow of trade and take remedial actions for reducing the cargo release time at various Indian ports (sea ports, air cargo completes, inland container depots, etc.).
There is no doubt that technology and law have a complicated interrelationship. As a matter of fact, advancement in technology is almost always expected to outpace law making as seen recently with introduction of crypto currencies, electric vehicles, digital payment platforms, social media platforms, wherein the regulators worldwide are still struggling to define legal boundaries. But on the other hand, technology is helping in better implementation of law by giving more feedback to legislature. In addition, technology is redefining the legal field. Online research databases have replaced law books, digital contracts have replaced physical copies, and numerous other advancements are helping to simplify complex legal world. New technologies hold significant potential to support policymakers in law making, legal analysis and enforcement. As Andy Grove [vi]once said “Technology will always win. You can delay technology by legal interference, but technology will flow around legal barriers”.
And as government authorities embrace digitalization, it’s never been more important for individuals and companies to understand every detail of their online stories, both personal and professional (including those on Instagram too) 😊.
[i]Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog.
[ii]Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to tax planning strategies used by multinational enterprises that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to avoid paying taxes
Failure is an inevitable part of life, but SMART people know how to make it work for them. One of the biggest roadblocks to success is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is worse than failure itself because it stops you to a life of unrealised potential.
A successful response to failure is all you need.
When testing a new technology often founders and leaders fear failure.
DON’T fear failure
How can you avoid failure?
-Start Small
-Focus on the journey
-Educate yourself
-Trust yourself
-Ask for help
-Never be afraid of being called
Last but not the least keep referring to the below famous quotes by these legendry innovators and leaders and keep moving ahead:
A great leader is always aware of his ego. Because he believes in the words of Lao Tzu (a great Chinese philosopher) “knowing others is wisdom but knowing yourself is enlightenment”
He knows that the moment he gets aware of his ego he loses 99% of his enemies.
A great leader knows that his arrogance will be his downfall. A great leader knows that Socrates (father of the western philosophy) was right when he said
“The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing”
A great leader knows that to be a great leader he must be a great listener. He knows that ability to listen with patience is a superpower. He knows that one should never listen to reply but always listen to understand.
A great leader is a great follower. He believes in the wise words of Mark Twain (father of American Literature)
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years”
A great leader respects everyone equally as he believes in the wise words of Albert Einstein (father of Modern Physics)
“I speak and respect everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the University”
A great leader knows that Ideas are nothing and execution is everything. A great leader has a great vision. He knows that leadership is all about translating vision into reality. A great leader always promotes creativity and innovation because he believes in the words of Steve Jobs (founder of apple)
“Innovation is what distinguishes between a leader and a follower”
A great leader knows that his megalomania, narcissism and unscrupulous nature would be his downfall. A great leader believes in the words of Aristotle (father of political science)
“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know”
A great leader believes in constant learning because he knows that once you stop learning, you start dying. A great leader believes in Change as he believes in the Wise words of Winston Churchill (ex-Prime Minister of Great Britain)
“To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often”
A Great Leader knows that mistakes are inevitable, failure is inevitable. He knows that only dead people can avoid making mistakes. He knows that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
A great leader never makes the same mistake twice and he knows that success is nothing but one’s ability to tolerate failure.
A great leader is a man of morals, values and ethics and he believes in the wise words of Warren Buffet (the most successful Investor of all time)
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently.”
A great leader believes in simplicity and patience. He knows that nature doesn’t hurry and yet everything is accomplished.
As he believes in the wise words of Sir Isaac Newton (father of physics)
“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity and nature is pleased with simplicity and nature is no dummy”
A great leader doesn’t find faults or defects he is more interested in finding solutions.
As a product manager working in tech, I constantly face the challenge of operating at a high-capacity, managing multiple projects, clearing roadblocks, running back-to-back meetings, and building long-term strategies while living a healthy and joyful life. Staying productive is critical to career and life success.
Many people in my network ask me, “How do you stay productive? How do you have it all?” While there’s no one-size-fits-all some answers can be found below :
01. Mindsets
“Everything begins inside your mind. With the right mindset, you will succeed.” — Tony Horton
I start with defining what personal productivity is and things to be mindful of when it comes to being and staying productive.
3️⃣ Action > Perfection. Making progress is more “productive” than being perfect.
4️⃣ Iterate. Finding your productivity system is an iterative process. Try different things and see what works best for you.
5️⃣ Create leverage. Find high-leverage activities that will produce outsized results. Make 1 decision to save 1,000 decisions.
03. Systems
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” — Paul J. Meyer
You don’t have to wake up at 4:30am everyday to be productive. Productivity is a lifelong commitment to finding what works for you. There is no universally perfect productivity system; you must be willing to experiment and get ready to mix and match different systems!
1️⃣ Have a system to capture and organize information as it comes in. Capture everything and then organize it – task backlogs, project trackers, intentions list, daily to-dos. Do what works for you.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney
Below we shared a set of productivity tactics that have worked well for us. There are hundreds more out there, and you will need to find out what works for you through trial and error.
1️⃣ Block time on your calendar for your to-dos. This not only brings clarity to WHAT to do, but also to WHEN to do it.
2️⃣ Audit your time to be more aware of whether how you spend your time aligns with what you value in life. Bundle this with a weekly reflection to set intention for the following week.
3️⃣ Learn to set boundaries and say a clear no without feeling guilty.
4️⃣ Apply the Yes! No. Yes? Model to articulate what we want, protect what we value, and stand up for everything and everyone that matters to us.
7️⃣ Invest time in delegating and shift your thinking from “how and what” to “why, when, and who” to empower others to learn and grow.
8️⃣ Decide if a synchronous meeting is needed and how to run productive meetings with a clear sense of purpose and closure.
To conclude, being productive may look different each day. Be intentional about how you spend your time and continuously improve your systems and tactics to find what works for you!
In today’s fast paced digital era, there is a clutter of brands popping out of everywhere and anywhere to catch the attention of customers on digital screens and trying to convert them into loyal customers. The marketers are facing unprecedented challenges in achieving their objectives of having customers be loyal to your brand with the hope that they follow the brand on social media platform, endorse your brand and spread the positive word about your brand digitally.
Sometime back a marketing colleague from the industry was discussing with me the scenario of catching the customer’s eyeballs. Expecting consistent loyalty from the ever-demanding customers has become a daunting task as part of brand management. Thanks to the advent of social media, the customers are empowered more than ever, and their loyalty can swing anywhere and anytime depending on their off-line or online brand experience.
I agreed on the points raised by my colleague, but I didn’t want to give my point of view using marketing strategies, management jargons, statistics etc. I was pretty much sure that he may already be bombarded with various marketing gurus’ theories and the abundance of marketing related content available online.
So, I gave my perspective by asking him if he would join me during my next visit to my hair salon. He gave me a weird look which was not unexpected as it may have not made sense to him at that point of time, but I liked his instant response that he was more comfortable going to his regular salon. Bingo!
I asked him why he would stick to the same salon, his answers were brisk as below:
1) The salon is a neat place with good, experienced hairdressers
2) His regular hairdresser knew what kind of a haircut suits him based on the previous umpteen visits to the salon
3) The hairdresser also understands how to change hairstyle suiting his personality depending on new fashion trends
4) The hairdresser gives him a free good head massage that relaxes him post every haircut and sometimes induces him into a facial package when his face looks haggard
5) The cost is not at all high for the services the hairdresser offers him
6) The salon is located close to his house
7) Last but not least, he enjoys the entertaining chats during the hair cut that revolves around his favorite topic of movies and sports while at the same time the hairdresser provides him insights on the local area activities and updates that he may not get to read in the local newspapers.
I was impressed with his customer loyalty to the salon, and I just translated his experiences into a familiar marketing lingo addressing each of his point as below:
1) Quality Products and Services
2) Understanding and Personalizing Customer Needs
3) Improvised Services by Pre-empting Trends
4) Offering Value-Added- Services
5) Offering Value-For-Money
6) Location of Convenience
7) Educate, Engage and Entertain Customers
Digitally the way we communicate with our customers may have changed but the customers’ expectations about product and services may not have drastically changed.
Consistently offer quality product and services with VFM (Value for money) pricing, backed with integrated marketing and periodic research to gauge the consumer and competition trends. In all probability you will have consumers loyal to your brand even when the competition is fighting for the eyeball attention on digital screens. Conquer the marketing funnel using the right MarTech, and AdTech!
My industry colleague couldn’t wait to pay his next visit to the salon to interact with his new “messiah of marketing” so that he could pay closer attention to his experience in order to apply similar marketing skills in his quest to build customer loyalty towards his brands both offline and online!
Remote working has significantly impacted various aspects of workspace culture, environment, and interaction across industries. Remote working was only available to few people from the IT industry before, but pandemic led changes have brought digitalization and induced rapid global transformation to many other industries which were initially perceived as traditional and required physical presence.
Though the remote working practices were adopted as a necessary measure during the pandemic; they seem to be here to stay. WFH (Work from home) / remote working is the ‘new normal’. There are many companies that have decided to switch to work from home permanently and many other companies have adopted the Hybrid Work model. Employees are not ready to return to the offices and this has forced companies to adopt technologies to support remote work styles. Orthodox work culture will not survive in the era of digitalization.
Global Competition: New technological advancement and adoption has opened the door of global opportunities for job seekers as well as employers. If someone is staying in Delhi (India) and is not flexible to move to another city due to various reasons, they had to look for options only in Delhi. This has changed and the employee can now apply anywhere and can work remotely. Likewise, employers do not have to look for talents only from the location of their office. This is bringing global talents to one platform.
Missing Human interaction: While this is good for many, there are other dimensions to be investigated. Many employees still prefer to work in physical offices and miss bonding with their team, gossiping with others! or just meet a new person from another team during coffee/tea break.
According to an article published in Forbes on 13th Oct,2021, a study by Condeco shows that “nearly half of U.S. companies offered remote work options already in 2019. In 2021, this number increased to 58.6%”.
Remote working can benefit the companies and can increase profits in many ways:
Reduced infrastructure cost: Remote work eliminates overhead costs like lease expenses, office furnishings, utilities, insurance, supplies, upkeep, and repair. Workplace cost and benefits statistics by Global Workplace Analytics reveal that IBM saved $50 million in real estate costs by allowing remote work.
Increased productivity: An employee’s productivity depends on his/her lifestyle. Same 9 to 5 work schedule might not work for everyone. This flexibility will allow employees to work during their most productive hours and this will certainly increase their productivity.
Employee Retention: Flexible remote work will help in employee retention by keeping them happy and healthy. Remote workers have better work- life balance which results in happy employees. Happy employees mean reduced attrition.
From the employees’ perspective, remote work has also created a different expectation where many companies expect the employees to be available 24*7. This is the other side of the same coin. There is a tradeoff here.
We should not hesitate to adopt new technologies if it makes our life easier and better. At the same time human interaction and emotions should not be missing. This is a time where companies are doing their best to be in the list of most employee friendly companies, while others are still clinging to 6 days a week work culture. For these orthodox companies, the well-being of their employees working for them does not matter.
But, in the long run, only the ‘fittest’ companies will survive.
Intuition – The X factor critical to generating ideas collaboratively but not something one expects over a Teams workshop involving a dozen people across five time zones, multiple languages and ethnicities. Unlocking the power of collective intuition had been my forte in the hundreds of workshops I had conducted during the pre-COVID decade. I was a firm believer that the revolutionary efficiency of Zoom/ Teams could never deliver the magical inefficiency of unstructured intuition and ideation. Physical workshops were the Hogwarts of collective intuition, and “Remote Meetings” were the Death Eaters! I had completely stopped doing such workshops.
As COVID dragged on, Teams, Zoom and Google Meet tried to address the issue with rooms, Whiteboard and Jamboard. I experimented with these shiny new toys but quickly realized that remote meetings had become camera-off, mute-on time capsules when people multi-tasked; learning new ways to jam about ideas was an extra behaviour change no one wanted to do.
One year into COVID, I found inspiration from an unlikely source. My middle-school son was attending remote classes and he was sharing ideas with his classmates! His teachers had found a way to keep self-learning and collaborative intuition alive. There were no new shiny toys, just basic stuff- Google Search( text, images, Youtube), Google Slides, PowerPoint, the laptop’s camera, and the Chat inside Google Meet.
I had my Eureka moment- stick with the familiar, just tweak it to make it a little unfamiliar.
Define the challenge and expectations with the decision-maker, not the minions co-ordinating the workshop
Zero meeting time for information sharing; send everything as pre-reads a week in advance
Energy is the key to intuition so break up the workshops into several 2-hour sessions
Child-like output format: create a simple, visually evocative frame that can hold 7-15 words to headline the idea (e.g.billboard, front of pack, etc.)
Create trigger questions and populate the frame with idea starters to fire participants’ intuition
Encourage people to submit their ideas a few hours ahead of the session. Curate the ideas into themes
In the session, invite creators to explain their ideas. Allow them to use a few supporting slides by sharing their screens
Use the trigger questions and ideas to generate more ideas
Do not use the session to operationalise the ideas; stop at overall ‘explore/discard’
Let the core team work through the operational implications and send it out as pre-read for the plenary session with the decision-maker and stakeholders.
Close the exercise with a final 60min decision-making session
Cameras on! Ensure 100% attention throughout the session.
Can this make ” Remote Intuition” scalable, fun and effective? The answer is Yes!
Want to find out how? Let’s chat over a coffee, WhatsApp me at +6593891694
About 15 years ago, the early disciples of Direct-To-Consumer [DTC] brands, began spreading the word – DTC as a business model was about lower prices, higher margins, and one-to-one customer relationships. Fast forward to today, the DTC landscape is crowded with brands jostling for consumer mindspace. With customer acquisition costs rising and Apple’s iOS ATT update resulting in a reduced ability for facebook and email marketers to track, understand user behavior, target audiences and measure performance accurately – there hasn’t been a more important time than now to leverage and build a powerful marketing technology stack that puts customers at the front and center of a DTC brand’s strategy and mission in order to survive.
Successful DTC brands today focus on building a deep understanding of their customer, strengthen their offerings, educate, entertain, and remind their customers with a single goal to convert visitors to buyers and grow customer lifetime value.
Technology has been at the forefront of a DTC entrepreneurs arsenal influencing daily decisions from understanding a customer’s first order, to building a content strategy leveraging analytics and research, gaining a better understanding of on-site visitor behavior in the storefront, or targeting audiences that are most likely to convert.
Below are ten powerful ways DTC brands leverage technology to scale to 8 figures and beyond profitably.
Let’s dive in.
Building a content first strategy with powerful SEO for brand discoverability
Building a search engine optimized site that is discoverable with high quality content that educates your customers across the customer journey is a good starting point. Additionally, customer journey mapping, with creating a content strategy as a fundamental foundation to communicate with your customer personas and on-site conversion rate optimization yields a flywheel for continuous growth. As we know it a brand without content is faceless, it has no way to get repeat business, grow a customer base and compete against companies with similar products. A real brand has a strong email list of subscribers, authority in their niche and a community of raving fans who consume their content and buy their products again and again. The world’s best DTC brands leverage content to tell their stories to customers and address “why” they exist to serve the customer. Organic content costs less than paid for each marginal visitor – its upfront investment is offset by reduced customer acquisition cost (CAC), more loyalty and a much longer ROI window.
From product pages, blogs to social media the best DTC brands leverage content marketing to build engagement and trust with the brand. Below are ways in which successful DTC brands leverage different technology platforms and applications to provide a full funnel experience by embracing content as a primary pillar.
Top of Funnel Content: focuses on educating the audience, entertaining, engaging the customer and addressing a specific pain point or need they are looking to address. Creative assets for paid social such as images, sales videos, testimonials, UGC can be created via technology platforms such as Canva, Snappa, Adobe Spark, Visme, Vimeo and Wistia are great to build rich experiences on the website and creative assets such as carousels, videos, collection ad formats besides create Instagram stories, Instagram reels that particularly work well for DTC brands. UGC platforms Cohley and Pixlee help brands connect with customers and engage them with authentic conversations inviting them to discover the brand. Building on-site personalized quizzes can further improve time on site and grow engagement with your customer.
Middle of Funnel Content: focuses on helping educate, informing and building trust with the customer. The focus here is to solve for why your product or service would help fulfill the customer’s needs. Building social proof by integrating platforms like Trustpilot, Yotpo are great. Brands integrate chat via Paloma, ManyChat and MobileMonkey that help DTC brands engage, inform and retain visitors on the website – channels such as Instagram and facebook messenger accelerate customer experience and brand credibility.
Bottom Of Funnel Content: this is where the rubber hits the road. Ensuring your store has product optimized pages with a goal to ensure a frictionless path to conversion with one click upsells, a seamless add to cart experience, a secure check-out with a post-purchase cross sell opportunity to grow average order value (AOV), conversion rates (CR) and customer lifetime value (CLV) are big rocks that aid conversion optimisation. Landing Pages that are AMP optimized for quick mobile downloads and desktop optimized separately are important to ensure a rich customer experience and reduce bounce rates, load times and improve conversions. Ensuring message match between ads, content and product offer pages is key not only to ensure a high-quality score when running facebook and google ads but also is key to increase conversion rates and lower cart abandonment. By adopting technology software such Unbounce and InstaPage to launch custom landing pages in a drag and drop environment DTC brands are able to drastically improve customer experience, drive customer retention and prevent a leaky bucket. Apps such as Zipify and Candy Rack are two of the top-rated apps on the Shopify app store that allow you to easily create upsell and cross-sell offers.
Nik Sharma, CEO of Sharma Brands states, “If you invest in SEO today, you will reap its ROI over 12 years”. For some brands, relevant search volume will allow them to scale to tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of qualified shoppers per month through search engine optimization (SEO).
To do that requires a combination of three factors.
One, optimizing your collection and product pages for high-buying-intent keywords. Two, optimizing those same pages for technical considerations – correct H tags, alt image tags, and load speed. Three, producing additional content for non-buying-intent keywords. By leveraging SEMRUSH, BackLinko and Ahrefs a seamless search engine optimised storefront with organic traffic can be built, growing the stores brand authority while driving conversions.
2. Ensuring a healthy channel mix while building traffic
Once a DTC brand builds a great product that solves a specific need or pain-point of the customer, saves time, money or solves a problem – then the next ideal step is a laser focus on building traffic. Traffic = store visitors. As John Mac Donald, President & Founder of The Good, a conversion rate optimization firm states, “Visitors come to your store only for two reasons – to research your products and understand if it solves their problem or need and to purchase as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Your job as an ecommerce marketer is to get them what they came for with the least friction”.
As an young DTC brand, a focus on growing organic traffic, improving on-site conversion rate through conversion rate optimization and establishing a retention strategy via email and SMS marketing to grow your short-term LTV (60-day LTV) will deliver profitability in order to better prepare you to scale in the future.
Early DTC brands that have seen success aim to push revenue via organic traffic to 20%+ and email marketing to 25% to build for profitability.
Once brands hit 15M+ and are a maturing DTC brand, direct organic traffic should contribute to at least 40% of total traffic. As DTC brands build sizeable organic traffic and continue to grow with a goal to deeply understanding their customer personas, they grow higher quality traffic to drive to their storefront and scale business further by a focus on paid advertising via search and social. A focus on full funnel advertising optimized at an SKU and price point level to win profitable sales, building high converting creatives rooted in analytics focused on time tested principles that accelerate the customers journey should be the focus all with one primary goal – get visitors to make a purchase. Further brands build intelligent remarketing campaigns that separate customers, visitors, browsers, and cart abandoners. Search engine marketing (SEM) is leveraged to make sure that the store “owns their real estate”: the top results for branded searches. Google ads versus Facebook ads shouldn’t be pitted against each other; but instead work together to build an omnichannel presence across search, shopping, and social media. A healthy store has a 40-60 organic to paid traffic mix or an ideal 50-50 organic to paid traffic mix.
None of this is possible to track and measure without using the rich machine learning capabilities and algorithms of the big three – facebook, google and amazon ad platforms and pixels or even first party and third-party data technologies.
3. Optimizing for the conversion always! Growing revenue per visitor as a goal.
When DTC brands focus all efforts into cutting down wasteful expenditure testing ads with small budgets first, always testing 6-8 creatives and remarketing to existing customers while prospecting to new potential customers only – they see a lift in conversions and conversion rates besides improved return on ad spend (ROAS). When brands test both ads and funnels leveraging the AIDA model and rapidly iterate creative assets to optimize for the conversion, paid advertising finally pays off and allows brands to rapidly scale, grow new customers and drive repeat purchase rates and average order value.
By accelerating on-site conversion rate optimization actions, focusing on bespoke photography and video asset optimization, site speed and mobile optimized AMP pages for quick load times, brands are able to build profitable ecommerce funnels that reduce friction points to conversion such as your offer, return rates, bad reviews, poor product quality, creative, account optimization goals or an incongruent message or visual between your ad and landing page structure. Testing each element of the ecommerce funnel – ad imagery, headlines, copy, blog copy, video, testimonials, social reviews creates a frictionless path to conversion with a coherent message to the consumer. Further conversion rate optimisation does not end with the purchase – post-purchase retention strategies help further drive engagement, cross-sell and upsells that consistently grow brand loyalty, increase repeat purchase rates reducing average time between orders.
By personalizing the customer journey across touchpoints, focusing on product assortment optimization, directing paid dollars to acquire ideal customers and ensuring message match between the ad and landing page, DTC brands are able to greatly impact conversion rates and volume. Marketing software such as Adobe Spark Post, Canva, no limit creatives allow entrepreneurs and marketers to rapidly test creative performance and build stunning creative assets. Conversion Optimisation Software (CRO) software such as Omniconvert, Optimizely and VWO enables brands to conduct RFM segmentation, cohort analysis and launch customer surveys to better understand customer clusters with varied lifetime value, on-site behavior and intent. This helps every marketer to successfully focus on profitable growth.
With heatmaps, rapid A/B testing and software such as HotJar, Microsoft Clarity, brands are able to optimise on-site product page experiences. Further, auditing customer reviews on your store and on Amazon can play a part in strengthening the product offering and service capability.
DTC brands personalize cart recovery by installing LiveRecover. They recover about 20-25% of abandoned carts at minimum. All these actions are an essential part to conversion rate optimisation for the storefront online.
4. Accelerating LTV with retention programs via email marketing, SMS marketing, informative newsletters, community building programs for your brand
If you aren’t leveraging email and SMS marketing, you are leaving a pile of cash on the table. Nik Sharma, CEO of Sharma Brands says, “Good retention is about coming up with plays that keep your product in the top 15-20 things in a person’s head at any one time”. Simply put – email marketing and SMS marketing are those #1 and #2 retention channels!
No other channel matches the ROI of email marketing. For every $1 spent email generates $38. Well performing email marketing has the potential to drive 20%-30% revenue.
Email is the most important touch point between brand and community. It helps convince people to engage, consider, buy and express, take interest, engage and influence buyers. With customer acquisition costs likely to continue to spiral upwards, investing in email marketing to build a direct relationship with the customer and “own” the relationship is critical.
As Chase Dimond, Co-Founder of Boundless Labs says, “I think email’s important for a lot of reasons. First – with the iOS 14 update and cookies going away, it’s going to be even more important to control your audience and really have predictable revenue.
The goal is to get to a point where you can press send and you know that this campaign is going to drive you X number of clicks and X number of sales and the revenue per recipient is this.
And with Facebook and some of these other channels, those are obviously very effective for what I do. We are dependent on top-of-the-funnel traffic, but they’re going to become a lot less precise, a lot less predictable. So having a channel like email marketing where you own, and you control your destiny is going to be super important”.
Marketing automation platforms such as Klaviyo, Privy, Active Campaign and Sendlane allow marketers to not only establish a one-to-one relationship with the existing and potential customers but leverage deep learning to build segments and communicate with your customers to inform, educate and convert more visitors to customers.
By focusing on a healthy mix of both campaigns and flows. Ensuring your core flows welcome series, cart and browse abandonment and post purchase series are always activated. Building a cadence of list hygiene and cleaning to ensure healthy engagement rates – email marketing can become a highly profitable channel.
Merchandising emails with top-sellers and bundled offers to drive repeat purchases help grow a DTC brands average order value (AOV).
Post purchase emails are critical to keep customers engaged, thanking customers for purchases made and launching cross-sell and up-sell opportunities over time grow AOV. Educating your customers about how to use your products leveraging newsletters, build social proof and valuable feedback. Email Marketing helps shore up organic traffic through a continuous stream of existing customers visiting your site to explore new products, engage with your blog and feel part of a community.
With the iOS 15 ATT updates, we will see a potential impact on opens leading to our inability to accurately understand revenue, IP based activity, ability to serve dynamic content, list segmentation, build automated triggers and logic, launch list hygiene and offboard unengaged subscribers. Ensuring UTM tracking is accurate and consistent to enable last click reporting through Google Analytics would be key. Collecting historical data to adequately read without open data would help create a baseline to benchmark against. Updating segments to utilise recent creation, clicks, purchases and site sessions to build segments of engaged contacts. Auditing all automated flows for use of opens and identify any elements of the program reliant on Geo-IP. Implementing batched re-engagement series for pre-iOS 15 list hygiene would go a long way in making informed and intelligent decisions to boost the health of your email marketing program.
5. Building A Frontline of Defense with Customer Service:
Martech platforms such as Gorgias go a long way in not only reducing churn but also leveraging data to build customer service as not only brand advocates and grow one-on-one relationships with the customer. Customer service is a brand’s frontline of defence. Customers are the first to know when something is wrong, broken, or if anything can be done better. By identifying the needs, concerns, and issues of the customer faster than anyone else, brands can also fix or address problems before it gets any bigger and becomes damaging to the company.
It is important to keep the customer happy. If it is their first-time ordering from a brand and they have a less than stellar experience, they are most likely not going to order again. They will not give any of the company’s second products a try, such as the more expensive purchases or subscriptions. That is why customer service helps in not only preventing any bad experiences but building a trusted relationship. By offering simple solutions from a technical standpoint, such as dealing with refunds or providing a shipping label, the customer is excited that the brand provided them with a solution. Tools like Gorgias help drive stellar customer service enabling brands to leverage data to cross sell and up sell products, retain or win back customers and provide exceptional customer experience.
6. Scaling with Facebook Ads Profitably
Why facebook you may ask? With more than 2.9 BN monthly active users worldwide, facebook is the largest social network. Besides the continuing challenges with Apple’s iOS updates, it is estimated that ad spends would continue to rise by 32% on facebook in 2022 per eMarketer. While CPMs have risen by +47% on facebook in the US and +54% YOY for ecommerce brands – there simply put isn’t a single channel replacement for facebook that provides better or similar returns.
Facebook and Instagram are the highest performing, most efficient channels out there why? This is because of the humongous data they are sitting on. Facebook pixels are over 8 million websites on the internet. facebook knows about their users through their conversion tracking algorithm more than anyone else.
On the buy side of the facebook platform it is important to focus on five key areas to leverage the power of the platform profitably.
Feed the facebook algorithm with a variety of ad creatives, testing every part of the ad while leveraging a consolidated account structure, ensure message match and congruence between ad and landing page
Set clear prospecting goals only targeting new users to be able to retarget to existing users for scale and profitability
Build audience exclusions while setting up retargeting for visitors, cart abandoners, engagers, and varied customer segments
Calculate facebook budgets and CPA targets based on profitability goals
Eliminate single account ROAS goals while focusing on SKU based goals
Embrace Adobe Spark, Pixlr X, Snappa, Adobe Premier Rush to create outstanding Facebook ads that convert.
7. Always refining the almighty offer to grow AOV and short-term cash multiplier LTV 60 days
Focus on understanding different customer segments and their purchase trends, what they are willing to recommend and what they have returned. If you have excess inventory, BOGO is a great promotional offer to increase customer engagement and generate sales. Free shipping belongs on every customer list. Conversion rates are known to increase when you use free shipping. Free returns set customers minds free and gets them to purchase more. Threshold free shipping can incentivize shoppers to add more items to their cart increasing both AOV and LTV. At all times, merchants must cater for what people really care about – which is almost never a brand or founder story – but something relevant to their needs.
Limited edition and low in stock are great ways to drive urgency besides money back guarantees. Product bundling including starter kits and special edition seasonal items. A membership or subscription program is a powerful way to bring your customers into an exclusive club and generate some guaranteed revenue. If your membership is structured well, you can get your customers to spend more than they would otherwise. Store credits are a great way to get your customers to come back again and incentivise the next purchase.
Bolstering your business with a robust live chat experience, customer service platform such as Gorgias or building a customer review via UGC with Okendo would work wonders for your brand. This would help in driving more traffic by showing reviews in paid and organic marketing channels including Google Ads, Google Search and Google Shopping. The above tactics all go a long way to improve average order value (AOV) and LTV 60 days i.e., a cash multiplier for the brand.
8. Capturing demand through Search Engine Marketing with Google Shoppingand Google Ads
If brands want to be wherever their customers are, then this is one of the foundational steps. If someone finds a brand on Facebook or they see the brand on Amazon, one of the next things they’ll do is search for same brand on Google and so as DTC brands, we want to show up there for branded search.
Now you might be asking, if someone is searching for me by name, won’t my organic search do the trick? Because I’m going to probably rank for my own name number one. And the answer is, yes you most likely will rank at the top organically for your own brand name. There are very rare exceptions that you would not. However, there are likely going to be some ads above you.
Branded Search Ads help prevent competitors from poaching a brands customers. Search Ad spend is still growing at 20% per year. Google Shopping makes up 55-60% of all retail paid search clicks per Search Engine Journal. One of the reasons why Google Shopping is so popular is because the return on ad spend (ROAS) is just consistently strong.
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is the holy grail. Once you install the GTM container pixel on your site, you’ll be able to manage all your pixels from the GTM user interface. Launching Google Tag Manager on site, also makes sure you have a much less chance of accidentally breaking your site trying to add pixels. More importantly it will help you track the holy conversion and other key actions such as add to cart, order value, product or item bought, sales revenue and much more.
9. Launching private label brands on Amazon FBA and leveraging Amazon Advertising
Amazon is quickly becoming a destination for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands looking to expand their reach and increase their sales. Since third-party sellers joined Amazon in 1999, they’ve grown to account for 58% of Amazon sales.
DTC brands that have an already established store can leverage 300 million active customers across 180+ countries via Amazon. It is one of the most efficient ways to reach new customers with 66% of new product searches beginning on Amazon.
Positive Customer Reviews can boost the brands perception and drive organic traffic to their store thereby improving conversions and sales. This means healthier profit margins.
With Facebook ads costs rising post Apple’s iOS ATT rollout by almost +45-55%, Amazon PPC ad costs could be cheaper depending upon the category. DTC Brands could leverage market intelligence platforms such as Jungle Scout and Helium10 to make real time decisions on their Amazon FBA strategy based on their inventory availability, new product launch strategy, gain competitor insights and feedback from customer reviews to continuously iterate the product and improve product features, packaging and after-sales service. Brands could even launch bundled offers to push excess inventory or plan to push sales during peak holiday seasons to maximize both sales volume and profitability
10. Measuring what Matters
Successful DTC ecommerce brands know their growth is tied to a fundamental set of metrics. Visitors, Conversion Rate, Operating Expenditure, Contribution Margin and Customer Lifetime Value are some of the key metrics that when tracked and measured, lead to informed decision making and a profitable DTC commerce business with more cash in the bank. Other key metrics such as Net Promoter Score, Customer Acquisition Cost, Purchase Frequency, Average Order Value, Time to First Response and CLV to CAC ratio are additionally important metrics to track.
A holistic view of these metrics cannot be attained in the absence of technology driven software such as Google Analytics, OmniConvert, Tydo, Ramp, Settle and more.
Successful DTC brands start with a mission to create world class products that best serve the customer to deliver exceptional customer experiences with customer lifetime value as their north star. Some of the world’s best DTC brands such as Glossier, Beardbrand, Lalo, Qalo, and many more power their DTC technology stack leveraging these world class software applications and platforms mentioned in the article above.
Smarte Digital is a boutique ecommerce growth marketing consultancy with a mission to scale DTC brands that are between 2MN-30MN+ profitably.
The relationship that people have with the consumption of content in digital platforms is constantly changing.
As an audience, our needs change, the way we consume information and what we expect from the online experience when we enter a website or an app. The truth is that as digital consumers we are increasingly demanding.
All the parts that make up the digital world make a great effort to adapt to these demands.
One of these is to provide a pleasant online experience. What factors can determine this? A well-worked UX (user experience), and that the user finds advertisements according to their interests.
It is on this last point that we decided to work in order to contribute our technological value.
Five years ago, together with Ricard Luquero and Pablo Salinas, we founded Adpone, an advertising technology company with a very clear mission: to shape the future of advertising with in-house technology to achieve high performance.
We developed a technology that is little known to most people: a solution that places premium brand ads on websites from all over the world.
This solution meets the needs of digital players so that they can continue to offer their audiences free and quality content.
What are website owners and advertisers looking for? Let’s break it down.
Publishers want to make the most out of their traffic.
By monetizing advertising inventory
The vast majority of websites generate income through advertising. This can be done in different ways, but it is usually done by placing banners or videos in the body of the website.
By ensuring a great online experience
Journalists and content creators make a great effort to generate original and quality content, and to position it organically in search engines. All this, to build trust in their audiences and make them want to return to the website.
For this to be possible -and at the same time profitable- the advertising they show must be consistent with each content.
Advertisers seek to make good impressions.
By reaching their target audiences
Every advertising campaign has at least two parts. The first is to design compelling creative content. The second, to implement this campaign by placing the ads on websites according to their content. This used to be done intuitively, now it is done through advertising technology.
By placing their content in the right place
Context matters. Let’s imagine that a user is reading a news story about the use of toxic fertilizers in soy production and suddenly a banner of a brand of soy-containing veggie burgers appears. Obviously the impression of the brand will not be positive.
Agencies like Adpone are responsible for placing the ads in the right context.
In short, providing a pleasant online experience, having a profitable website and providing adequate advertisements is possible thanks to adtech companies.
The future success and effectiveness of leaders and senior executives will depend on how well they respond to the increasingly important role of digitisation through their business models. Regardless of the sector or size of their organisations, leaders must place technology, not as a function of the business, but right at the heart of it.
This is a topic we discuss frequently within Criticaleye’s global membership Community of leaders and, encouragingly, almost all have digital transformation high on the agenda.
The relationship between digitisation and sustainability is also top of mind for C-suite executives. The pandemic may have been the tipping point for many on ESG(Environment, Social and Governance) issues, but senior teams are now seeing a convergence between digitial innovation and the focus on creating organisations which are sustainable and responding to climate change.
Digitisation is revolutionising the business landscape, but what does this mean for the capabilities and leadership styles of executives at the top of organisations? One thing is clear, senior executives have had to adapt quickly. Leading innovation and digital transformation requires flexibility, agile thinking and a mindset that is open to learning from others.
Digital capability
Speed of change is forcing a lot to happen all at once. Technology is now integrated across the whole business. It is not a separate function anymore, such as where the responsibility for ‘technology’ was typically siloed.
The question often arises about the need for technology expertise at the top table. Of course, having an experienced CTO or digital evangelist is important, but building a top team which really understands what new technology can do and will bring to the organisation and customers should be the focus. Our Members generally agree that leaders need to empower teams and technology experts across the organisation, as well as playing a key role in how digital transformation is organised and communicated.
Internally, the use of digital solutions to facilitate remote-team management, ensure wellness, and improve productivity is getting to be an increasingly important agenda item. This is not just to do with automation. It’s about the ability to have real-time data which makes a huge difference when employees are going through uncertainty and rapid change.
Leading digital organisations
The past two years have demonstrated what is possible when organisations are forced to make big decisions quickly. Along with more strategic challenges, such as pivoting business models, leaders have had to revisit their softer skills and ask themselves whether they have a leadership style that is fit for the future. Leaders need to be creative and work differently.
When it comes to technology adoption, these new leadership skills are also coming to the fore. Previously considered ‘soft skills’, we’ve seen a lot more focus from leaders on developing their capabilities in this area. Now more than ever, senior executives need the ability to be open, authentic, agile, collaborative and innovative.
Few executives have emerged from the last two years unchanged. It’s clear that some have acclimatised to the new world – and adapted their own styles accordingly – but they are going to be tested harder, their leadership skills will be under greater scrutiny, so they should take time to reflect on their approach.
Law is a tool of ‘social engineering’ which may be used to create, modify or mould social norms. Even the other way round is true as the society also induces introduction, amendment and repeal of laws to reflect the present state of the society. Technology in different forms has always been a part of our society and share a similar symbiotic relationship with Law. Sometimes Law requires innovation and change in the technology, while on other occasions, technology forces changes in law to appropriately regulate interaction of the society with a particular technology. It will be useful to consider one example from each of these categories to appreciate this symbiotic relationship between Law and Technology.
Illustration 1- Card Tokenization
RBI has introduced card tokenization which prohibits merchants from storing customer card details on their servers and mandates the adoption of card-on-file (CoF) tokenization as an alternative to card storage. Enforcing adoption of this new technology will safeguard customers from the security vulnerability of their card details getting stored and misused by the merchants. This will help the customer be safer while online shopping as the actual card details will not be shared with the merchant, instead, a token that is unique to each card, device and token requestor, would be used to verify the credentials. RBI’s push towards technology for implementation of regulations is a big step for a digital, advanced India.
Illustration 2- Regulation of Cryptocurrencies
Technology advancements, if not backed by the law, remain dubious and reflect uncertainty amongst the masses. Blockchain technology has already revolutionized many sectors of our economy including finance, banking and logistics and supply-chain and has huge potential to change the way value is presently created and transferred through the Internet. Cryptocurrencies, which are based on Blockchain technology, have exponentially grown in popularity and adoption. Though cryptocurrencies are issued by decentralized communities and do not have backing from any government, common people, corporations and even the Governments of few countries seem convinced about the potential of this new technology. El Salvador has in fact declared Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, to be the legal tender in the country.
Increasing adoption of this technology by society has forced Governments across the globe to come up with regulations around cryptocurrencies. Most of the countries in the world have either passed regulations or are at some stage of formulating regulations around cryptocurrencies.
Thus, Law and Technology regularly interact, complement, and influence the progress and development of each-other in a symbiotic manner.
We, at Crypto Legal, assist Blockchain and Cryptocurrency related projects in navigating through the uncertain and complex regulatory regime. Though there is no specific legislation regulating cryptocurrencies in India; however, a cryptocurrency project needs to ensure compliance with all other laws and regulations which may relate to corporate law, banking and payment laws, tax laws and other laws which may apply to the business model of the project. For instance, we assisted a metaverse gaming company is structuring its gaming token and preparing agreement for sale of tokens ensuring that the project complies with applicable laws and at the same time offers incentives to the players in form of tokens.
The symbiotic relationship between law and technology mandates that regulatory regime for any emerging technology like cryptocurrency must evolve gradually through an iterative process between the regulators and the society/community.
