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Is Investing In Cryptocurrency Worth It? How Much Is Okay to Invest?

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Is Investing In Cryptocurrency Worth It_ How Much Is Okay to Invest_

When first encountering cryptocurrency, you might be very excited. Success stories advertising this or that exchange platform sound so realistic that you immediately feel ready to jump to the opportunity.

Still, along with stories of getting rich, there are tragic cases when people invested their whole living and were left with nothing. This fact awakens a lot of questions in your head, right? You wonder how to make clever investments, where to exchange your funds in a safe way, and how to build plans.

All of these inquiries are natural for every beginner. It’s actually perfect when you base your financial decisions on such questions, research, find your answers, and then apply this knowledge for your trades.

So, this short read is called to help you get these answers. We will try to make the complicated topic of cryptocurrency seem more beginner-friendly and give some pieces of advice on how to invest wisely. Read it till the end to get these tips.

What Makes Digital Currency a Sought-After Asset and Should You Buy It?

The reasons to purchase cryptocurrency are different for everybody. And none of them work for the other person but you. In other words, you should find your own motivation for trading and avoid copying other people’s behavior concerning investments.

Since the budget of every would-be investor is different too, you should think of a sum of money that is okay for you to risk. And again, here there is no formula to follow.

But what exactly makes cryptocurrency so unique? Here are a few reasons.

Reason 1. Cryptocurrency is fraud-proof.

When any crypto coins are created and bought, all confirmed transactions get recorded to the blockchain. After this, the records can’t be modified or erased. Identities of crypto coin buyers also get encrypted there to make the whole process legitimate. After such kind of record has been created, you, the buyer, are the legal owner of the coin because the cryptocurrency is decentralized.

What is more, every transaction is checked to make sure that a particular coin is spent by its real owner. Such identity management is called the security revolution as one of the best solutions against frauds and hacks.

Since identities are checked very thoroughly, blockchain technology finds a wider use in many different spheres of life beyond finance: logistics, healthcare, electronic device security, etc.

Reason 2. Cryptocurrency is easily accessible.

Millions of people choose to convert a part of their funds into cryptocurrency because of how easy it is to access and manage. One smartphone, one crypto wallet, and a stable connection to the Internet make it so simple.

The ease of use makes cryptocurrency even more valuable

Reason 3. Cryptocurrency is a durable store of value.

Compared to fiat currency, digital money comes in limited supply. This supply is calculated through specific math algorithms and is often reflected in the charts together with relevant prices. Market cap (capitalization) is the overall value of digital coins that have ever been mined. To read more on the importance of market cap for the value of crypto coins, check out a comprehensive article here.

Of course, there are other reasons to become a cryptocurrency owner or take up crypto trading. But further here, let us focus on investing advice.

How to Invest in Bitcoin and Altcoins Like an Expert

With such a reputation for secure and highly accessible money, cryptocurrency is a hot topic among investors. But we don’t want you to have an illusion that it’s very simple. Trading is quite a nuanced sphere where you can earn a fortune or lose.and government authorities still debate the legal status of crypto.

But if you are willing to take a risk, here are tips to make it minimal and achieve way more stable spin offs.

1. Choose reputable services to trade and store crypto.

The services play a huge role in trading. If they are official and work on a tested and modern algorithm, you place your investments in the right platform. Speaking of unpopular services which give very loud promises and say that every their client becomes a billionaire, we recommend you to avoid such.

Besides, always check whether the platform for exchange holds the necessary documentation for crypto coins you are going to buy. See if white papers are full and informative.

Among good and proven places to buy and store your digital funds, you can rely on Kraken, Coinbase, Binance, or the newer https://crypto-genius.io/. Bitcoin Prime has emerged as a simplistic and effective tool to pair you up with reliable brokers and make investments available for everyone. With as little as 250 USD, you can start the career of a trader.

2. Think where to store.

If at the initial stages of your trading you might be content with keeping cryptocurrency where you bought it, later on, there will appear the need to choose a wallet. Cold wallets (those working offline) are generally advised as more reliable and not easily hackable ones.

3. Research and choose good strategies for investment.

The final answer to the question ‘How do you trade like an expert?’ is actually hidden in becoming an expert. The more you consult professionals in the financial sphere and the more you study the smoother your trading will go. Find out about day trading and other simple but very fundamental things in the sphere.

So, as you see, you are the only one who can tell if investing in cryptocurrency is worth the game. But you won’t know until you try, right? So, take time to think the trading idea over, be guided by your mind, not emotions, and make the right decision.

Complete Guide: How to use Stock Photos in your Business

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Complete Guide: How to use Stock Photos in your Business

‘.Once you discover royalty-free stock photos or photos . You open yourself up to a whole new world with tons of creative possibilities to exploit for your Business, brand or project. If you are one of those who think that a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the stock illustrations. Discover the best strategy to include images that make your website stand out with original content. By buying cheap photos, you can achieve a more significant visual impact on your designs without spending too much. You can find great high-resolution photos at rock-bottom prices in the StockPhotoSecrets Store!  Also, discover the best cheap image banks here.

But the question of how to use stock photos can get a bit confusing at first. And here, we will help you clarify the picture.

It’s exciting to learn that you can get high-quality professional photos to use in your Business for just pennies on the dollar. And unquestionably thousands of ideas come to mind to develop with them: the design of your website, your brand logo, your blog entries, your flyers and brochures, your advertisements, posters and decoration of your store or office, courtesy coffee mugs from your company, t-shirts to give to your customers, prints on products to sell. But is it allowed to use stock photos for all these purposes?

Cheap Stock Photos with Royalty Free License

Before starting, there is an essential point to keep in mind: Each image bank has its custom terms of use for the licenses they offer, and you should always carefully read the license agreement of the bank you use to make sure you understand. The rights that consume stayed granted to you on the photos and the restrictions that apply and corroborate that the use you want to give the images is covered by the certificate obtained.

Most severe and trustworthy image banks that offer cheap photos do so under the Royalty Free License. Besides, though, as we said, respectively, they personalise the terms of use of their images, the license has a basic structure common to practically all of them.

Here we will explain how to use stock photos in your work and your. Business based on these rights of use typical to all banks. Remember: you should always read the complete license agreement of the agency you use!

General Guide to Using Stock Photos

1. Royalty Free License

As we told you, Cheap stock photos usually come with a Royalty Free license, which allows you to use them legally and safely in your designs at a low cost. To learn more about stock photos and where to buy them, we recommend reading our guide to The Best Cheap Image Banks.

The Royalty-Free license is one of the best not only for its super accessible price (you can buy photos for between $ 1 and $ 20 each, and even for less than $ 0.30 with a subscription) but for the great flexibility in rights of use that he offers you.

By purchasing a Royalty Free license on a photo, you acquire the right to use said photo in designs for personal, commercial and editorial purposes, without time limit or geographic restriction. Besides, this license covers the repeated use of the image in multiple different designs, whether simultaneous or consecutive. All this, paying a single flat fee and without ever having to pay royalties or any extra costs.

It’s easy to see why it’s such a popular option: By paying the price once, you get the ability to use a professional, high-resolution photo for as long as you want . As many times as you want, and wherever you want.

2. Standard License

Another significant point to know is that the Royalty Free license has two variants. The main one is known as the Standard license. In almost all image banks, this is the default license that accompanies all photos, and the main prices advertised correspond to it. See here a list of the image banks that offer the cheapest Royalty Free licenses.

The Standard license gives you all the above rights, with two small but significant restrictions:

Copy limit: Although you can use the photos as long as you want and in as many designs as you want, there is a limit to the number of printed copies or digital reproductions you can make of the image. This limit is generally quite broad, around 500,000 copies.

Products for resale: Although you can use the photos for commercial purposes, these refer to designs linked to a business or profit-making activity and not direct selling. The Standard license prohibits stock photos in techniques applied to products you will sell or redistribute to generate income. (This does NOT include when you are a designer hired to develop a design . Or when you design something and then sell it to a single client, more on that later).

3. Extended License

Image banks, however, give you a way to bypass the limitations of the Standard license, albeit at a particular extra cost: the Extended license. It gives you all the rights to the previous one but adds unlimited copies and the right to use photos in resale products.

In almost all agencies, the Extended license comes in the form of a “pack”, including this extra rights battery. Still, in others, each added right is charged as a separate Extended license . Which can increase the image’s final cost depending on your intentions of use.

Other extended rights, such as multiple user rights . Allow you to add more people to the same user account to download and work with the photos.

You can get Extended Licensed stock photos at very reasonable prices at Best Cheap Image Banks.

4. General Restrictions

There are also certain restrictions on the Royalty Free license that are immovable. There are not many, and they are based on common sense . But you still need to know them to know how to use and how not to use stock photos.

Sensitive use: It is prohibited to use stock photos .In designs that refer to society’s sensitive topics. such as violence, racism, discrimination, criminal or illegal activities, etc.

Negative connotation: Regarding photos with people, topics that may result in harmful. Unwanted connotation for the image of the model are also included . Such as serious diseases, addictions, political ideology, sexuality, among others.

Direct promotion or endorsement of products or services: It is not allowed to use stock photos that include models . In such a way that it appears that they are directly promoting or recommending a product or service. You can use a woman’s image to promote a clothing store. But you can’t add a speech bubble where she says that she loves shopping at that store, for example.

You will never be able to use stock photos in these ways in almost any image bank . And you may face legal trouble if you do.

You must bear in mind that sensitive use is mainly subject to interpretation . So, you should consult both a legal advisor and the image bank staff before using a photo for such purposes.

Diversity in Digital Marketing: How can your business be general?

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Diversity in Digital Marketing: How can your business be general?

Today’s consumers want to see real people’s reflection and be represented in marketing and advertising campaigns, so we must strive to focus on our customer.

One of the points that I told you about in the post the ten digital marketing trends in 2021 was Diversity and inclusion. Today we will examine deeper into this topic, and I am going to give you the keys to how you can apply it in your business.

Diversity Marketing is a marketing strategy that attracts and includes diverse groups of consumers, including groups based on age, physical appearance, ability, gender, race or ethnicity, sexual identity, beliefs, etc.

It is a general term that encompasses the intention and motivation behind the content of a marketing message or campaigns.

Applying Diversity in marketing is not necessarily about serving all audiences but about knowing who is attracted to your brand and ensuring that these user groups are represented and included in your marketing campaigns.

Diversity in digital marketing is not only about images. And it requires you to understand your audience, evaluate accessibility and user experience.

Why is Diversity Marketing Important?

Shutterstock conducted a study on the culture and people depicted in images. 88% of Gen X and 90% of Millennials believe that diverse representation in a marketing campaign can enhance brand reputation.

In 2019, Google and The Female Quotient conducted a survey that revealed that 64% of all respondents took action after viewing an ad deemed diverse or inclusive.

Another Stackla study found that 90% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support.

Diversity and inclusion in digital marketing are important because they make the public feel seen and heard. It also shows a more realistic image of society and improves those companies’ businesses that fight for better representation.

What are the Benefits of Diversity?

Reach more types of people, therefore increasing your pool of potential customers.

You get closer to your audience, generating greater trust and loyalty with your brand.

Brand recognition grows: People respect a brand that offers diverse and inclusive marketing and reflects its audience.

Better results, people are more likely to want to buy from a brand when they see Diversity and inclusion in your campaigns.

How to Include Diversity and Inclusion in your Strategy?

Know your audience: to represent your audience in your marketing campaigns. And you will first need to research ranges such as age, gender, income level, location etc .To be able to address them. By collecting data from your audience, you will understand them better. And better and know what they are looking for and what they want. I recommend that you do the Buyer Persona.

Use real content from real people – Visual content is one of the best ways. To implement Diversity and inclusion in your digital marketing strategy. One of the best ways to do this is through user-generated content. Taking images from real clients and advocates and making them a central part of your content marketing campaigns. Is more valuable than studio-generated content or stock footage.

Continuous Practice: Diversity and Inclusion is an ever-changing landscape. Staying relevant and making your content inclusive is a work in progress. Be sure to update your data, monitor behaviour changes in your customers, and conduct regular Diversity and inclusion research.

Efficiently Convert PDF to Excel With PDFBear

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PDFBear

Excel File is among the most significant computer programs because of the critical role it plays in many industries. It is the most widely used spreadsheet program in many business activities, classroom assignments, and even personal data management. Excel was first introduced in 1985. Ever since, it has succeeded in formula-based arithmetic and calculations, as well as other activities that may necessitate mathematical calculations. Excel has been adopted by many businesses, national and organizational industries due to its functionality and ability to serve as a visual basis for various applications.

Portable Document Format files, on the other hand, aren’t the same as word processing or spreadsheet files in that they do not constitute formatting, rows, or columns. Among the most difficult tasks for any PDF converter software is accurate PDF to Excel conversion. PDFBear, on the other hand, excels at this.

PDF to Excel Conversion Tool of PDFBear

Efficiently convert PDF to Excel with PDFBear as it features an incredible conversion tool. With the PDF to Excel converter, you can quickly and easily create spreadsheets from PDF files. Bid farewell to time-consuming data entry tasks like entering numbers and formatting cells; the PDF to Excel converter can do it all with no additional software. The PDFBear’s PDF to Excel Converter is an online tool that converts PDFs to editable Excel spreadsheets while preserving the original file formatting. In other words, the tables, formulas, and other data in the PDF appear identically in the newly created spreadsheet. Once the PDF to Excel conversion is complete, you can make any necessary changes.

Using such a PDF converting service ensures that the quality of your files is not jeopardized during the conversion process. An extremely simple converter is useless if it jumbles all of your data. With PDFBear, you can be certain that the right information will be placed in the correct cell, row, or column. Your formatted Excel Spreadsheet will be as precise as you demand. PDFBear collaborates with Solid Documents to provide its users with the best possible results when converting PDF to Excel. This collaboration should validate PDFBear’s ability to handle your documents. In the long run, it should also provide its users with a hassle-free and accurate service. There will be no issues or problems if your files are incompatible with your operating system.

When using this PDFBear converter tool, you can be confident in your privacy and the security of your files. It employs and protects its users with 256-SSL encryption. While using this service, this function should keep any suspicious entities or programs at bay. After an hour, PDFBear will also discard any uploaded and formatted documents. While using this online tool, PDFBear should be able to cover all bases in terms of privacy.

The Process of Converting PDF to Excel

PDFBear can convert any file to PDF and ensure that it appears exactly as you created it, with no changes. Converting a PDF to an Excel file with PDFBear takes only a few steps. Check that you are always connected to the internet.

To convert a PDF file to Excel, first visit the website; then, on the PDFBear homepage, select “PDF to Excel” from the existing options; and finally, click “Select Files” through the drag-and-drop method or to upload your PDF file into the converter box. PDFBear verifies your file and starts its conversion automatically after a few seconds. Finally, once the PDF file has been converted to Excel, you can download and save it. Copy the web link if you want to share it on social media.

Other Incredible Features of PDFBear

PDFBear is a fully-featured tool for converting, deleting, and making other changes to your documents. This website provides you with more than twenty file utilities and converters. These utilities are organized on a single webpage, and you can use them all within the browser.

Delete and Add New Pages

With the help of this online tool, you can delete pages from PDFs as well as insert new ones. This tool, like its other feature, handles page removal and addition with ease.

PDF Merge and Split

PDFBear enables consumers to combine multiple PDFs from the browser in any order they want. When dealing with large file sizes, you can select the pages and export them as individual PDFs. PDFBear made merging easy and completed in seconds. If you need to split a PDF, you have two options. You can extract some pages from your document or split the PDF into additional pages.

PDF Conversion of Images and Vice-Versa

You can either extract all of the images from a PDF or convert each PDF to an image. You can save these images to your computer right away. PDFBear allows you to upload multiple JPGs and combine them into a single PDF. Margin and orientation can also be changed.

Repair a Corrupted or Damaged PDF

An even more incredible feature of this tool is the ability to repair PDFs and recover data from damaged PDFs. Although this built-in PDF repair kit cannot guarantee 100 percent data recovery and repair, it serves its purpose satisfactorily.

Add Signatures and Watermarks

An electronic signature can be used to sign a PDF file. PDFBear offers several methods for creating your signature. You can add an image or text to your PDF in seconds. The transparency and typography of the watermark can be customized as desired.

Takeaway

PDFBear is a quick and easy way to convert a PDF file to an Excel spreadsheet. PDFBear includes all of the features that users look for in an online tool. With this knowledge, converting PDF to Excel should be simple, quick, and, most importantly, accurate. It is indeed accurate and simple to use, but it also does not cost a fortune to use. By using this PDFBear tool, you will receive a high-quality, convenient, and simple-to-use PDF converter without spending any money.

Furthermore, PDFBear gives users the ability to quickly share, download, and save PDFs. It also protects and secures your file by automatically deleting uploaded documents after an hour from the time the system created the link for saving and sharing.

These Marketing Trends Will Be Everywhere Next Year

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These Marketing Trends Will Be Everywhere Next Year

Whether you rely mostly on social media to connect with your customers or use a blog to keep your audience informed, you’re always adjusting, adapting, and researching new marketing trends. And now that 2021 is nearly over, smart marketers like you may already be checking out the next trends for 2022.

Let us inspire you with the top marketing trends that will take your campaigns to a whole new level next year. These trends will help you better understand your industry and provide insights into where your marketing campaigns are headed.

Six Top 2022 Marketing Trends

The following are the top six marketing trends to watch out for in 2022.

More Value from Social Media Marketing

All businesses know the value of using social media to connect with their customers and followers. Almost all companies use social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube where they also contact different companies, clients, and influencers.

Using social media for marketing will continue next year as more and more brands realize the value of creating a strong online presence. Marketers also take advantage of the many features of social media platforms like how Facebook uses demographics to target sales.

Many businesses will likely continue using social media sites to connect with customers and use these to provide good customer service. Social media sites can also help announce offers, deals, and any updates. Businesses with no social media pages or that are not taking advantage of social media to connect with their customers should start this year. 

Take Advantage of Extended Reality (XR)

XR is going to be big next year, as many brands are realizing the value of this technology to help engage with their audience. Extended Reality is the combination of virtual reality or VR, augmented reality or AR, and mixed reality or MR.  XR enhances and may replace how customers view the world, using immersive text and graphics in a virtual environment that simulates the real world.

XR in marketing means consumers can qualitatively explore ads and check out even the smallest details before they decide on a product or a service. The technology is interactive and versatile and some businesses are already using XR and reaping its benefits. Some examples are the try-before-you-buy options in businesses, where consumers can check if a product like a piece of furniture fits well in their home. Consumers may use XR to view travel destinations or accommodations before they book their stay. Meanwhile, XR tours of real estate properties can change the way realtors and salespeople serve their customers.

Gain Insights from Machine Learning and AI

A lot of brands are now realizing the value of artificial intelligence and machine learning in marketing. These technologies can help marketers develop deeper insights to create new campaigns, new risk prediction strategies, and start new direct-response marketing efforts. Digital Authority Partners adds that AI also makes data-driven marketing less labor-intensive.

Artificial Intelligence provides a personalized experience for different users. AI can create a worthwhile customer journey, affect buying decisions, and create loyalty. Business Insider reveals that with proper human guidance, AI will reach its full potential. Those who understand how to use this technology can develop new paradigms and ideas which enhance their competitive edge in their respective markets. 

Virtual Marketing and Teleconferencing

Many businesses had to adapt to lockdowns and shut-downs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many also had to switch from running their businesses in a brick and mortar environment to a virtual storefront. In 2021, restrictions gradually eased in many places but many companies still operate virtually, and thus, it’s possible that virtual marketing and techniques like teleconferencing will remain next year.

Digital marketers and advertisers will continue to work from home with scheduled virtual meetings and teleconferences. Agencies may embrace this setup fully as this cuts down overhead or operational costs. Also, marketing teams can choose from different virtual technology, productivity, and communication tools to make virtual marketing easier and seamless.

Digital Marketing Best Practices

With just a simple blog site, a business can increase its online presence and secure more leads by 67%. What more leads or sales might they generate if they made use of social media platforms and websites?

Marketers and advertisers have learned to grow their business’ online presence and this practice will continue to influence the industry for many years to come. Nowadays, there are more tools and online technologies available for marketers such as site-building tools, stock image websites, and graphics creation sites.

Even someone new to digital marketing can easily dive right in by using smart and easy apps and tools. Marketers working on a tight budget can also use free-version tools to help them meet their marketing goals. Those who are not using digital marketing tools should consider this powerful option next year. A good stack of tools includes a social marketing tool, email marketing tool, and SEO tools. More optimized digital marketing strategies call for tools like conversion optimization tools, lead enrichment tools, graphics creation tools, and landing page or lead capture tools.

Focus On Analytics and Customer Habits

Successful marketers study data and use it to create better marketing campaigns. Marketers must focus on site metrics to determine what works and what’s not integrated with their strategies. Site metrics will tell marketers whether their targeted content is working or their personalized ads are reaching specific groups. Knowing all these can guarantee a higher return on marketing investments in the long run.

As most marketers know, customer habits affect the way consumers choose and buy products or services. Also, consumers have changed over the years and are now more selective when it comes to branded media they support and those that they set aside. Because of these new trends, brands must use analytics to create targeted ads to capture their buyers’ attention. Learning how to analyze data will allow marketers to offer the right ads at the best time and on the most appropriate channel.

Wrapping It Up

It’s another year, another chance to wow consumers with winning marketing campaigns. Successful digital marketers understand present-day and upcoming trends. The world is fast-changing and customers adapt new and better buying habits year after year. It’s a must for marketers to stay ahead of these trends and be quick to know what their customers are looking for. 

You Need This Financial Safety Net Now

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You Need This Financial Safety Net Now

Safety nets are meant to catch you when you stumble. They don’t stop you from falling, but they can help make your recovery faster and smoother than it should be.

So, what financial safety net do you need to have? The answer is an emergency fund.

What Is an Emergency Fund?

An emergency fund is a collection of savings that you set aside for the sole purpose of paying for emergency expenses. These expenses must be urgent and unpredictable, and they can’t be resolved with the help of your regular budget. When you encounter this type of expense, you can withdraw the necessary funds from your emergency savings to recover from the situation as quickly as possible.

As an example, imagine that the water pipes in your home freeze. This is unpredictable and urgent — you don’t want to spend days without running water. So, you call a plumber to safely thaw your pipes and fix the problem. Once your plumber is done, you can pay their fees right away using some of the savings sitting in your emergency fund.

Why Do You Need an Emergency Fund?

The main benefit of an emergency fund is that you can respond to an emergency expense right away. You can react and work to resolve the issue immediately.

Another benefit is that you can manage an emergency expense without disrupting your budget. Withdrawing from the fund should have no impact on your ability to cover essential expenses for the rest of the month, like your bills and your groceries. Everything continues as normal.

And finally, emergency funds offer peace of mind. You don’t have to panic when an emergency expense crops up — you’re ready to pay for it. Having the safety net in your back pocket should eliminate unnecessary financial stress in your daily life.

What Can You Do Without One?

You might not have an emergency fund at the moment. So, what can you do to handle an emergency expense?

You could get a direct deposit loan and use borrowed funds to recover from the emergency. Click here to see the application requirements for an online direct deposit loan to see whether you’re eligible to apply. If you are, you can fill out an application and wait for the response. You just might get approved for the loan when you need it most.

Another option is to put the expense on your credit card and then steadily pay down your balance later on. It’s essential that you do this when your balance is nowhere near the limit — you don’t want to accidentally max out your credit card. Furthermore, there are many users who ask is it illegal to use a business credit card for personal use.

How Do You Build One?

Starting an emergency fund is simple. First, you have to take a close look at your monthly budget to see how much you can reasonably set aside each month for emergencies. Open a savings account — this will be your new fund. Add the amount that you set aside for emergencies into that new account every month.

To simplify things, you can automate your payments between your checking and savings accounts. Automating allows you to continue making contributions without even thinking about them.

As time goes on, your emergency fund will grow and eventually become a strong safety net. You’ll know that it can catch you any time something goes wrong.

How Storytelling Impacts the Brain

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Storytelling Impacts the Brain

For at least 30,000 years, from what we know from cave writing and paintings, stories are the most effective way of communicating. Today neuroscience explains why this is the case from the knowledge of how the brain works.

Can we infer how storytelling impacts the brain and how to use it to tell stories that engage readers in marketing?

The answer is definitely yes. Storytelling impacts the brain because it is still a narrated story, only in a digital medium.

What is Storytelling?

We could summarize that storytelling is the art of telling a story that connects directly with people’s emotional aspect.

Storytelling has always been a widely used resource in traditional marketing, adapted perfectly to the Internet world. Currently, the objectives are the same, only the medium changes.

The concept of storytelling goes hand in hand with another important marketing concept: the engagement or commitment of the target audience. Good storytelling creates greater engagement, translated as greater interest and loyalty to the brand.

It is How our Brain Works

When we read something, for example, the ingredients of a recipe, two areas are activated in our brain, Wernicke’s and Broca’s, connected and related to understanding and processing language. That’s it. No other area of ​​the brain is specially activated in that specific process.

However, if someone later tells us the “story” of how her grandmother made that recipe, she tells us about the exquisite aroma and flavours added to the smell of wood from the country house on a green hill … changes everything? What happened to yourself when reading this very short story?

The answer is that many more areas of the brain have been activated. We can say that the areas of language compression and processing have been involved and the sense of smell, sight, taste, and even motor areas if you have seen yourself walking down the green hill

In short, storytelling impacts the brain, setting everything in motion. Therefore there will be greater remembrance, as Maya Angelou says:

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Question of “Wiring” of the Brain

Why does the format of a story, with its sequences of events, facilitate learning and recall so much?

The answer is that this happens because we are so “designed”. Our brain is “wired” for short sequences of cause and effect. It is estimated that around 70% of our thoughts are in a narrative format, whatever we think.

Our brain, as it receives information, tries to relate it to existing experiences. In this case, a part of the brain called the cerebral insula is activated, which seeks these similar past experiences to feel emotions, joy, disgust.

In other words, we link metaphors and events automatically. Our brain is looking for the cause-effect relationship from something that we have previously experienced.

Brain Chemistry

We have seen how the brain works with narrative and how storytelling impacts the brain concerning its structure and neural circuits. However, there are other, no less important factors that have to do with the brain’s chemical processes.

It is the case of oxytocin. Experiments show that this hormone, called by some the “love hormone”, acts on empathy. Empathy is essential in the narrative process because it makes us feel part and even protagonists of a story.

But it is not the only chemical response of the brain. Cortisol also comes into play in stress, serotonin, and dopamine, which generates pleasure. That is a chemical cocktail that remain activated when storytelling hits the brain.

Tips for Practical Application

You can draw many conclusions and ideas for storytelling, but here are five fundamentals that should never be missing.

1. Tell Emotional Stories

If you want to be much more persuasive in a conference, an article or wherever you interact, tell your own or other people’s stories and above all, do it with all possible emotional ingredients. In this way, you synchronize the minds of others with yours and your ideas.

2. Involves

It’s about getting the other to make your story theirs. A persuasive narrative will make the other mention your account as if it were your own.

3. Simple is Better

The complex and detailed is not better. On the contrary, our brain better grasps and remembers what is simple, plain and sincere.

Using simple language and low complexity is the best way to activate brain sections that truly relate to the situation and events in the story.

4. Don’t use Common Places

The brain practically does not react to well-known, widely used terms. Instead, It is always attentive to what is new and different. It is a question of economy and survival. What is familiar to you no longer represents danger, whereas what is new can represent a threat. For this reason, it reacts quickly to these stimuli.

5. Target your Audience

The story must remain directed specifically to the type of audience you want to impact. If you tell a story that is alien to the audience’s interests or feelings, it is difficult for you to gain their attention. If there is no attention, everything else will not work.

How To Get The Expected ROI For Your Marketing Investment

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How To Get The Expected ROI For Your Marketing Investment

Measuring the impact of a marketing campaign helps a business determine whether there is a corresponding growth in profits due to a marketing initiative. The lessons that a company learns by accurately assessing the return on investment (ROI) of its marketing campaigns help stream future marketing campaigns for better returns.

The funds you invest in marketing activities may be revenues generated by the business or from small business financing offered by lending companies. Regardless of the source, you need to ensure that the funds are invested wisely for optimum results.

This article will show you how your business can get the expected ROI from the marketing initiatives. Let’s explore this further.

What Is The Return On Investment (ROI), And Why Is It Important?

Return on investment (ROI) is a significant business performance indicator that compares the investment in a business venture with the returns generated from that expense. It measures how successful an asset is over time and helps make smarter decisions in the future based on data.

Marketing ROI, specifically, is attributing growth in profit and business revenues to marketing campaigns in a business. It helps your company evaluate the impact of its market initiatives in general or the impact of specific marketing campaigns.

Marketing ROI is essential for several reasons:

1- To justify a marketing budget

To justify a budgetary allocation by top management, marketers need a marketing ROI to demonstrate how spending in marketing and advertising will impact the company’s bottom line. You need to justify your marketing spend, particularly if you’ve accessed small business financing for your company.

2- Calculating the success of a marketing campaign

Marketing ROI assists marketing teams in quantifying the impact of marketing campaigns and documents which efforts are most effective in driving revenues. This becomes a reference point for future decisions so that budgets are allocated to online and offline channels with optimal returns.

With this data, you can adjust your budget to allocate more funds to marketing channels that have high returns.

3-. Determine allocation of marketing budgets

There are various online and traditional marketing options that you can explore as a business. You may also combine these options in a marketing mix. A marketing ROI helps dictate how to distribute the marketing budget across the various channels depending on which channels bring in the most revenues.

4-. Comparison with competitors

Monitoring your marketing ROI enables you to make comparisons with other similar businesses within the industry. Using that information, you can establish how effective your marketing initiatives are relative to competitors in the industry and fine-tune your marketing budgets to adopt best practices.

How To Get The Expected ROI For A Marketing Investment

Now that you’re familiar with what marketing ROI is and why it’s essential, we’ll look at what you need to do to get your expected ROI.

-Have well-defined goals

Having clear objectives makes it possible for a business to craft marketing campaigns and advertisements that deliver on expectations. Rather than focus on marketing ROI alone, you can also focus on broader marketing objectives such as brand awareness and online media engagements such as unusual traffic boosts on social media or your landing page.

Have clear goals and how these objectives can be taken into consideration when measuring the marketing ROI.

-Establish marketing costs

Any marketing investment has various costs associated with it. The costs range from the creative development of content where a business may outsource content creation to freelance writers to the overheads involved in coming up with advertisements, promotional expenses, media buys, and so forth.

Clear marketing costs help marketers develop well-thought-out methods of measuring marketing ROI and what they need to consider in their ROI calculations.

-Tracking marketing data across various channels

In today’s omnichannel market scenario, a consumer’s buying journey might take them through various platforms before they finally make a buying decision. A consumer may encounter a link on a blog post that leads them to subscribe to your mailing list. The consumer may buy by getting to a landing page from a marketing email.

Having effective measuring tools empowers the business owner to attribute consumers’ buying decisions to various channels. Marketing analytics and online page analytics help determine the effectiveness of online and offline platforms, giving more accurate insights for marketers to measure marketing ROI more effectively.

How To Measure The ROI (A Basic List-Guide)

Many businesses find calculating their marketing ROI a complex exercise, and it can be. That’s because determining a marketing ROI takes into consideration several factors. First, your calculations need to boil down to a specific period in which you measure your marketing expenditure and the revenue realized.

Secondly, you’ll decide what metrics you’ll use in calculating ROI. Will it be gross profit, net profit, customer lifetime value, or the average sale value? You’ll decide based on what parameters mean the most to your business.

The simplest way to calculate marketing ROI is by comparing sales to your marketing costs.

This is the equation you’ll use:

  • (Sales Growth – Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost = Marketing ROI

To get the percentage marketing ROI, you multiply the result by 100.

For instance, if you’ve invested $10,000 in marketing and you’ve generated revenue of $30,000, then:

(30,000-10,000) / 10,000 = 3

Nonetheless, this formula is too simple and may not yield the most accurate marketing  as it overlooks certain critical factors. For instance, it assumes that all sales growth within the period is attributed to the marketing campaign.

Here’s a more accurate marketing ROI calculation that subtracts organic sales growth from the sales growth realized.

  • (Sales Growth – Organic Sales Growth – Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost = Marketing ROI

Even with this formula, it’s still crucial to define what the “marketing cost” is. It can be the simple cost of goods used to derive the Gross Profit of a sale. However, you may decide to go deeper and calculate the ROI by factoring in additional costs used when calculating the Net Profit. Such costs include overheads, media buys, and so forth.

You can also calculate marketing ROI by using customer lifetime value (CLV) using this formula:

  • Customer Lifetime Value = (Customer Retention Rate ) / (1 + Discount Rate / Customer Retention Rate)

This helps determine the value of an individual consumer to a brand and is helpful in measuring long-term ROI through a buyer’s lifecycle.

Conclusion

Accurately calculating your ROI for marketing investment is critical to ensure the correct marketing spend for maximum returns and guides future marketing campaigns. You can confidently approach lending institutions for small business financing for marketing when you’re clear on the anticipated returns.