3 Unusual Tactics For Making Your Testimonials More Persuasive

I bet you’ve seen this sort of advice before…

When using a testimonial, you should always:

• List the customer’s first and last name
• Include their photo
• Avoid unbelievable, over-the-top praise

Those are all fine tips to follow, but they’re really just starting points.

Optimizing your social proof requires just as much strategy and testing as improving a headline, hero image or call-to-action button.

Because if you just stick to blindly following ‘best practices,’ you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to squeeze more conversions out of your website or landing page. Here’s why:

Social proof affects different audiences in different ways. The complexity of your offer, the demographics of your visitors and a host of other factors all influence how persuasive your testimonials will be.

And that means you may want to try optimizing them in ways that seem counterintuitive at first.

Or even just plain strange.

I’ll get into more detail about this in a moment. But first, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what typically makes for a convincing and credible testimonial.

Don’t use testimonials unless you’ve seen these tips…

Plenty of articles have already been written offering great advice for using testimonials. And those tips can generally be summed up as:

• Include a photo and other details
  Providing the customer’s first and last name, location or any other relevant details makes testimonials more realistic. But an even bigger factor is including a (real) photo of the testimonial-giver. There’s plenty of research to back this up.
• Use testimonials from people your customers can relate to
  According to implicit egotism theory, we generally trust people who are either like us or who we aspire to be like. And that means strong testimonials are often from folks who reflect how your prospects see themselves.
• Use testimonials from people with authority (if possible)
  The most powerful testimonials come from people your audience sees as an expert or otherwise having authority. In essence, you’re ‘borrowing’ the positive feelings people have toward these individuals (this is called the Halo Effect) when you get their endorsement.
• Reinforce a specific benefit
  Emphasis on specific. Vague testimonials that say things like “great experience” or “tremendous value” won’t connect with anyone. And it might even hurt your conversion rate. Instead, testimonials should be used strategically as ‘proof’ to support specific claims you’re making on your pages.

• OR

• Quash a serious objection
  Research by MECLABS shows that placing testimonials near sources of anxiety (such as the ‘Add to Cart’ button) can ease objections and improve conversions. Bottom line: don’t just randomly sprinkle testimonials throughout your website. First, consider the role they’re playing on the page.

These tips make sense, right?

And if you’ve been in the conversion optimization game for any length of time, I suspect you’re already familiar with most of them.

Now, let’s dive into 3 lesser-known techniques for making your testimonials more credible, engaging and persuasive.

1) Try ‘long-form’ testimonials

Far too many articles give out generic advice like:

“Always keep your testimonials very short.”

Well, no. Not always.

Short, specific quotes from customers may work fine in certain situations. But sometimes a big, juicy testimonial can provide the exact dose of social proof that your page needs. Why?

For the same reasons that long copy can sometimes be more persuasive than short copy. Long-form sales messages often work great when your product is complicated, your audience has loads of objections or the price-tag is high.

As veteran ad man Jay Conrad Levinson puts it:

“Don’t be afraid to use lengthy copy. Of all the things people dislike about marketing, ‘lack of information’ comes in second, after ‘feeling deceived.’”

The trick is to ensure your long-form copy — or long-form testimonial — is interesting and relevant to your audience. Here’s an example:

Long-form testimonials make up the majority of content on Noah Kagan’s sales page for his How To Make A $1,000 A Month Business course. And some of them run well over 500 words!

Now, these testimonials work like sales copy in a number of different ways. But I want to point out one specific technique that makes them so effective: storytelling.

Several testimonials on the page tell raw, human stories about a problem the person was up against and how they discovered a life-changing solution thanks to Kagan’s course.

Take a look at this example:

Dave’s story kicks off with an emotional (and relatable) problem.

He then goes on to tell a story about how the course helped him, eventually building to the ‘climax’ detailing how his life changed afterwards:

In fact, some of the most effective long-form testimonials start with an emotional problem.

Here’s a prime example from the Sweat Block homepage, which was optimized by the team at Copy Hackers. This testimonial follows the tried-and-true problem-agitate-solve copywriting formula:

Now, a customer probably isn’t going to just hand you over a problem-agitate-solve testimonial by fluke. You may need to give them some guidance first.

So ask specific questions when requesting a testimonial. Things like:

• What made you seek out our product/service?
• What was the exact problem you needed to solve? How did it impact your life?
• How did our product/service solve this problem? How did it improve your [business/social life etc.]?

But even if you don’t take a problem-focused approach, the key to using effective long-form testimonials is to make sure they tell a gripping story.

One that will resonate with your target audience in a powerful way.

2) Show your warts (really, it’s OK)

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying you should post a testimonial that outright bashes your company.

That’d be weird. And, well, kind of dumb.

But I am suggesting that by leaving some minor ‘warts’ in your testimonials you can convey trust and credibility — if you do it the right way.

One study found that 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both positive and negative scores. And a whopping 30% suspect faked reviews when they don’t see anything negative at all.

As master copywriter Bob Bly puts it, “showing your warts” can be an effective marketing technique provided you:

• demonstrate why your product’s weakness isn’t important or
• show how you’ve designed your product to overcome the weakness

This tactic works because arguing against your own self-interest builds credibility.

In this Unbounce article, marketer and entrepreneur Pratik Dholakiya suggests testing a landing page testimonial that tells people who your product isn’t right for. This might involve including a line like:

“This product isn’t for [so and so], it’s for [so and so].”

The beauty of this approach is that it sends the message you want happy, long-term customers; not just quicks sales for short-term gain.

Some brands have used not-so-shiny testimonials in more creative ways to reinforce a key message.

For example, Ship Your Enemies Glitter used to feature a reviews section that told an unfiltered story about their product — one testimonial even mentioned a customer’s pending divorce.

OK, this is an extreme example.

The point is that people are skeptical of both online reviews and testimonials. But by slipping in a few “warts” (in a strategic way), you can give your social proof a shot of credibility.

3) Make your testimonial the ‘hero’

Got a beauty of a testimonial?

One that’s credible, relatable and aligns perfectly with the goal of your page?

Then don’t bury it way below the fold! Instead, play that sucker up big time in the hero section for every visitor to see.

Emphasizing the right testimonial immediately sends the message to prospects that your product solves problems for people who are just like them.

I used this strategy while optimizing a key sales page for LivePlan, which is a SaaS product that helps entrepreneurs write professional business plans.

Research showed us that many prospects had niggling doubts when they hit the page. They often wondered:

“Will this software work for my specific industry?”

It was a big barrier to signing up.

So we created a landing page that targeted just a segment of LivePlan’s traffic: people who wanted to write a business plan specifically for a café.

But instead of us telling the audience “this works for café entrepreneurs like you,” we wanted to prove it to them by making a relatable testimonial the hero of the page.

So we emphasized a quick story about how café owner Brian Sung used LivePlan to write a business plan faster and with less effort. Then we A/B tested the new page.

Here are the two hero sections we tested:

The testimonial-focused variant hauled in a 72% boost in paid conversions, which translated into a 53% increase in revenue (when you consider average order value).

There were a few other variables at play here. But ultimately, I believe that this relatable testimonial proved the hypothesis that LivePlan customers needed to feel confident that the product would work for their industry before signing up.

Other companies have also seen ‘wins’ by playing up testimonials like this as well. For example, Highrise saw a 102% lift in conversions when they tested a giant image and quote from one of their customers.

But again, having the right testimonials is key here. You can’t just pick one at random.

If you know headlines focused on “saving time” convert well, playing up a testimonial about how a customer “saved money” isn’t going to cut it.

Consider your goals and strategy for the page. Then select your social proof accordingly.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with testimonials, user-reviews or client logos — the bottom line is the same:

Social proof affects different audiences in different ways.

Following best practices is a great starting point. But to squeeze the most persuasive value out of your testimonials, you need to consider things like your audience’s level of awareness and their thought sequence as they hit your page.

Now, maybe the 3 tactics outlined here aren’t a great fit for your prospects. That’s fine.

But it is important that you make an informed, strategic decision about how you use any type of social proof.

Because just tossing testimonials randomly on a page isn’t doing your visitors — or your conversion rates — any good.

About the author: Dustin Walker is a copywriter and partner at Good Funnel — a marketing agency that does in-depth customer research to help online businesses fire up their revenue. Follow Dustin on Twitter @dustinjaywalker.

from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/2ma0Op0
via IFTTT

7 golden steps to creating an effective email newsletter

Do you remember the theme song to “The Golden Girls”? Sing it with us: “Thank you for being a friend. Traveled down the road and back again. Your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidant.” In the world of email marketing, guess whom your customers’ pal and confidant is? Ding, ding! Your email newsletter — and there’s research to prove it!

According to the Nielsen Norman Group’s extensive Email Newsletter Usability report (based on 270 email newsletters across 6 different countries), readers feel an emotional attachment to their email newsletters:

“Newsletters feel personal because they arrive in users’ inboxes, and users have an ongoing relationship with them… The positive aspect of this emotional relationship is that newsletters can create much more of a bond between users and a company than a website can.”

So how do we keep that bond with our customers and ensure we remain connected to our readers? Follow these seven steps and you’ll be golden.

1. Be informative

Being informative and relevant is the be-all, end-all in the newsletter realm. Telling useful and compelling stories is also how we catch up with friends. If your email looks like a newsletter, but isn’t full of valuable, interesting, educational content, then it isn’t really a newsletter, nor is it a very good friend. But what do people consider valuable content?

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, more than 40 percent of users said that each of the following aspects make for valuable email newsletters:

• Work-related news or company actions (mentioned by two-thirds of users)
• Items about personal interests and hobbies
• Items about events, deadlines, and other important dates
• Reports on prices or sales

Lisa Lillien, aka Hungry Girl, has an enlightening daily newsletter (with more than 1 million subscribers!). If you love food, but you’re watching your weight, she’s got the know-how on just about everything – including newly released low fat/cal sweets, eats, and recipes. Starting with just an email newsletter in 2004, Hungry Girl today has exploded into “New York Times” bestselling book deals, a Food Network TV show, and features on “The Rachel Ray Show,” “Good Morning America,” and more. Looks like an informative newsletter pays off!

Here are some examples of informative content you can include in a newsletter:

• Blog posts
• Tips, tactics, how-to’s, and tutorials
• Industry news/third party news
• Events, dates to remember, and holidays
• Interesting facts
• Reviews
• Photos
• Contests/contest winners
• Resources
• Company news: updates, improvements, new products, awards, volunteer projects, etc.
• Infographics
• Webinars or videos
• Testimonials
• Recipes
• Fan photos

2. Lose the (sales) hype

People like to be informed of sales, but selling shouldn’t be the main focus of an email newsletter — send your offers in promo-specific emails. Think of your newsletter as a trusted friend that your reader has let into their “home” (i.e., the inbox). If someone lets you into their home and you instantly transform into a pushy salesman, they’re going to think twice about opening the door for you again. Your newsletter is no different. If you want to plug a sale or a product in your newsletter, do so like a friend would: “Did you know we’re having a friends and family sale this Saturday? You can save 50%!” and leave it at that.

3. Keep it brief and aim for a click

Guess how long the average person spends reading a newsletter? 51 seconds. Don’t let that get you down, though — attention spans are spread thin. Keeping your content scannable with content blocks, brief blurbs, snapshots, takeaways, or bullet points, and including call to action buttons, will give your readers’ tired eyes some relief. But remember, friendship is give and take, and you deserve something too. Satisfy your readers with just enough info, but leave them eager to learn more. Lead readers back to your site, blog, or social media network for more info. The point of a newsletter isn’t to make a sale; it’s to build a relationship with your audience, to inform and educate, and to snag some clicks. All of which, with any luck, will eventually lead to a sale.

Put clear, strong, and specific calls to action after each content block so your readers know they need to “Learn More,” “Read More,” or “Watch the Video” for more juicy details. 

4. Be reliable and consistent

Flaky friends: We have them, we love them, but they’re unreliable, unpredictable, and the more they flake, the less likely we look to them for friendship. The same goes for your newsletter. If you tell readers to look for your newsletter each week, you’d better be there. Pick a frequency, whether it be daily, weekly, monthly — and stick to it. Make sure to tell readers on your opt-in form just how often they can expect to hear from you. Some people don’t like surprises, last-minute drop-ins, or no-shows.

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, “69 percent of users said that they look forward to receiving at least one newsletter, and most users said a newsletter had become part of their routine. Very few other promotional efforts can claim this degree of customer buy-in.”

5. Have a compelling opening line

First impressions are important for establishing any type of relationship, professional or personal. How you introduce yourself to someone can pique or fizzle the listener’s interest in continuing a conversation. The same goes for your email newsletter’s subject line. If the subject line isn’t compelling, interesting, intriguing, or thought provoking, your reader may not make it past “Hello.” In fact, as the Nielsen Norman Group found, “Some users who forwarded email newsletters on to others said they sometimes changed the subject line to make it more interesting.”

In your “From Label,” state clearly whom the email newsletter is coming from. Typically, use your company name instead of your personal name.

When crafting your newsletter subject line, avoid using generic lines like: June Newsletter, Your Monthly Newsletter, This Week’s Newsletter, The Insider. Make sure to take advantage of your pre-header, too — it’s like a secondary subject line (and possibly a second chance to make a good impression!).

The word “newsletter” isn’t instructive or informative, and it pushes valuable information out of view in your readers’ inboxes.

6. Respond

Nothing’s worse than talking to a friend who clearly isn’t listening. You ask a question and all you get are crickets. Using a “do not reply” email address when sending out a newsletter indicates to recipients that any responses will not be seen or answered. Allowing customers to reply to your email newsletter, and in turn responding to those inquiries or comments, lets your readers know a friend is listening on the other end. You’ll also receive valuable insight, feedback, and questions that very well may improve your newsletter for next time.

7. Let them opt out easily

Breakups are rough, but would you rather someone break up with you calmly, or unknowingly throw you under a bus? A person unsubscribing from your newsletter is just a fact of life, and it’s nothing to take personally. However, the harder you make it for someone to unsubscribe, the easier it allows them to click that seemingly insignificant “spam” button, and under the bus you go. Let your readers go easily if they so desire (they can always come back!) and make your unsubscribe link easy to find. Otherwise, sitting in a spam box will only cause your delivery, open, and clickthrough rates to go down.

Creating a personable, presentable, and effective email newsletter takes work, but it creates a friendship with your customers that most marketing strategies can’t. Follow these seven golden steps, and your customers will “thank you for being a friend.”

VR Buzz is the inbox friend you’ve been waiting for Our biweekly newsletter delivers great email tips, guides, and inspiration like this. Subscribe

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in June 2013 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and relevance.

© 2017, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.

The post 7 golden steps to creating an effective email newsletter appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

from Vertical Response Blog http://ift.tt/1msqfYf
via IFTTT

Hey CMOs, This Is Not An Alternative Fact: Improving Customer Experience Can Increase Revenue

Sorry, I could not help myself with the "alternative fact" reference in the title. Just seemed appropriate given the context for as hard as it may be to believe for some, when a brand improves its customer experience, its revenue can and will increase, oftentimes significantly.

That was the overall finding of a recently-released Forrester report entitled "Drive Revenue With Great Customer Experience, 2017" which reveals the connection between customer experience quality and revenue growth across 13 different industries. The problem, or challenge as spelled out in the report is "many customer experience (CX) pros find it hard to show the connection between improving CX and growing revenue."

As organizations have struggled to show a direct correlation between improving CX and growing revenue, the new research uses Forrester’s CX Index data to model how CX improvements drive revenue growth through increased loyalty. For example:

• The high per unit revenue from the sale of a vehicle gives mass market auto manufacturers the highest revenue potential: A one point improvement in a mass market auto manufacturer’s CX Index score could result in $873 million in increased revenue.
• Traditional retail banks and direct banks are the two industries where the revenue upside from improving customer experience gets progressively bigger with higher CX Index scores: For traditional retail banks, increasing an already excellent CX Index score by one point drives revenue potential four times as much as increasing a poor CX Index score by one point.
• While the credit card industry has the lowest revenue potential related to CX Index scores, its advocacy revenue potential is 10 times greater than other industries, accounting for 31% of credit cards’ total CX-driven revenue potential.

Connection Problems

One of the paper's authors Maxie Schmidt, says there are two key reasons why so many brands have had problems showing the connection between improving CX and growing revenue.

1. Data challenges: Brands don't have the data they need to do that, at the level of granularity they need. Good CX leads to revenue because customers don't churn, buy more or get other customers to buy. But most companies cannot measure those behaviors at the individual customer level. And even if they could, they'd still not know the quality of each customer's customer experience. And data isn't available in a format that allows firms to correlate both.
2. Time lag: The revenue upside doesn't always materialize immediately. If a customer just bought a pair of shoes, it may take a while before the customer needs another pair of shoes and goes to buy at that store again. Depending on the love for shoes of that customer, of course ;-)

As for mistakes she sees brands making when it comes to CX she says one is trying to force the customer into a process instead of building a process around the customer needs. "This happens often also because companies are overly focused on optimizing their internal processes while they don't understand the customer perspective and the customer's journey," she says. 

Expectations Are Rising

As customer expectations continue to rise, businesses need to appoint a senior executive like the Chief Marketing Officer to deliver exceptional, end-to-end customer experiences. It’s a tall order, but if done right, enhanced customer experiences translate into not only increased revenue but loyalty and repeat business.

Download Should the Chief Marketing Officer Oversee the Whole Customer Experience? — written by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Vice President and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research and see for yourself how marketing leaders can create a basic blueprint to embark on a discussion about customer experience and how best to lead this key strategic initiative in their organization. 

This post is based on a previously published post in Forbes. 

from Oracle Blogs | Oracle Marketing Cloud http://ift.tt/2lSrgkK
via IFTTT

Why a Prospect You Want Chooses Your Competitor

You had trouble sleeping again last night.

Up until the time you got into bed, you were looking at their Twitter feed, their Facebook page, and their website.

It’s your competitor.

You’re completely preoccupied with everything they do … and for a seemingly good reason. Their customer base seems to keep growing and they keep expanding their offerings, while you’re just trying to keep your head above water.

You constantly ask yourself:

“What will it take for my business to be viewed like theirs?”

While it’s natural for that question to arise in your mind, it may stifle your progress if you’re thinking in terms of duplicating their marketing efforts.

Prospects don’t want to see a carbon copy of another business and you don’t want to obsess about competitors anymore, so I’m going to show you how you can immediately become energized about and sharply focused on your own marketing ideas instead.

The heavy lifting content marketing can do for you

Brian’s recent post about how to build trust and Sonia’s post about how to stop being boring are two sides of the same content marketing strategy coin.

The benefits of creating not boring content are essentially everything you wish to achieve with content marketing.

It allows you to build an audience of interested prospects who trust you to solve their problems.

They trust you because they know your personality. They know your sense of humor. They know your favorite analogies. Your word-choice preferences. What irritates you. What warms your heart.

They want to hear from you. You’re their go-to resource.

So, if a prospect chooses a competitor over your business, it’s likely because your competitor has revealed themselves to their audience in ways that you haven’t … yet.

What’s editing got to do with it?

The example we’re going to look at today comes from the service business world — specifically an editor who offers his services to clients — but you’ll be able to see how these ideas can be applied to any niche or product.

There can be a difference between what you think your prospect needs to hear and what your prospect actually needs to hear.

In order to explain why he is qualified to edit a prospect’s writing, an editor might write on his website that:

• He pays fierce attention to detail.
• He is a “grammar nerd,” with extensive training and experience.
• He loves working with writers.

And in order to explain the benefits that prospect will receive from hiring him, the editor might state:

• Your draft will be flawless when it’s returned to you.
• It will be returned to you on time.
• You’ll get feedback about common mistakes you make.

All of those statements sound informative and professional, but here’s a secret about writers:

Every writer thinks their final draft is perfect. Most only have someone else edit and proofread their work for good measure.

If a writer is your prospect, you have to do something else to win her business.

No one cares about how good you are until after they know they can trust you

Those bullet points above don’t impress the prospect, and even if they did, the majority of other editors offering their services on the web make the exact same claims.

When selecting an editor, the prospect is actually concerned about the intimate act of another person — a stranger — reviewing and revising her writing.

She wants to know if she can trust the editor with her draft and if she’d like working with him. She’s less concerned about whether or not the editor knows the difference between “compliment” and “complement.”

How do you get someone to trust you?

Even though you may superficially provide the same product or service as your competitor, you choose to attract the exact right prospects for your business.

When you decide to not be boring, you step into your power as a creative content marketer — an artist who reveals himself to his audience and builds trust.

Like your favorite painter or musician.

This is the fun part.

When you create a variety of content that helps your prospects with the issues they struggle with, the most important thing to remember is:

Information does not equal content.

If someone could find what you create on Wikipedia or your competitor’s blog, your content will not be the type that builds trust over time.

The type that builds trust produces a valuable, entertaining experience for your audience member and has a clear, unique payoff.

Your content is an opportunity for you to take knowledge you’ve acquired and supercharge it with your perspective. Then you’ll share your creations to reach the people who are attracted to your communication style.

The complete package

Now, you do have to provide an outstanding product or service once a prospect accepts your offer.

That’s why an editor should know the difference between “compliment” and “complement.”

All that trust you’ve built won’t help if you don’t fulfill your promise.

But think about the powerhouse force that is in motion when you’ve built enough trust to make a sale — and then meet (or even exceed) your customer’s expectations?

You’ve become the only reasonable choice for that person and made the competition irrelevant.

And when you nurture your existing customer base, you’ll get testimonials to display on your website that further demonstrate your trustworthiness. Those happy customers will also recommend you by word of mouth if someone they know needs a product or service like yours.

It all starts with smart content.

Consider that question from earlier again:

“What will it take for my business to be viewed like theirs?”

If your competitor’s business seems less interesting now … good. You’ll have a lot more free time to get to work.

Image source: Gwen Weustink via Unsplash.

The post Why a Prospect You Want Chooses Your Competitor appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/2lk1DXY
via IFTTT

Follow Your Curiosity, Find Your Passion & Keep it! Here’s How (FS204)

On the podcast today we interview someone who actually found out how to make his living doing something he loved.

And, I swear to god, if he can do it with this niche, there’s at least a chance for you to do it in whatever topic that’s got you excited.

Because this guy, Ross Symons, literally makes little paper animals.

THAT’S. IT.

Origami, that’s the interest Ross pursued.

No, I’m serious, ORIGAMI! Little. Paper. Animals.

Is there something you’re dreaming of pursuing? Or something that’s growing in interest for you?

Chances are, if you’re like a lot of us, you can’t even tell — your life is so crammed with responsibility, obligation, and, as Ross puts it, “What you THINK you want” that you can’t hear that little spark of true interest in you.

If that’s you, LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE. It’s a heavy duty, full-on glorious, interesting, quirky and human example of someone finding their own way.

My dream for you listening to this would be:

• You trust more that small voice inside yourself.
• You decide to actively pursue what interests you personally.
• You research your situation a little to see if you’re choosing success over your self, your happiness.
• You see with fresh eyes how wonderfully diverse are the ways the internet can enable you to grow an audience, serve customers and earn revenue!

That’s what I want for you. So, let’s dive in!

It’s better to listen on the go!    Subscribe on iTunes 

Subscribe (how to)   iTunes   Overcast   Pocket Casts   Stitcher   Soundcloud   RSS  

“Are you pursuing SUCCESS over your SELF?”
Tweet This

---

Want help defining your own success?

Listen if you’re into this conversation you HAVE TO check out our free training on how to journal for vision and motivation.

It’s ALL ABOUT getting into your self, finding out what turns YOU on, what lights YOU up, what tickles YOUR bits.

Watch The Training Now

---

Show Notes

Ross Symons (@white_onrice) • Instagram photos and videos

Home – White On Rice Origami

from Fizzle http://ift.tt/2ljPJ0h
via IFTTT

Thinker, Mover, Shaker, Spy: How One Man and His CIA-Backed Company are Changing the Way the Government Collects and Analyzes Your Data

The name Alex Karp may not mean much to you now — but it’s about to. That’s because Alex is the brains behind Palantir, the closest thing to a “killer app” the U.S. government has — a system which allows one to discern meaningful context and insights from a swamp of seemingly meaningless data.

With scraps of what appear to be unrelated information, Palantir can craft intuitive charts, visual graphs and vital forecasts — showcasing ties and links on everything from the locations of wanted criminals to hotbeds of human trafficking.

What does this mean for the rest of us? Everything.

What is Palantir?

The name “Palantir” comes from a fictional stone in the Tolkien universe that allowed the user to see things happening in different areas — much like a crystal ball. This modern version ties together wisps of information to track, monitor and make connections in everything from wars to law enforcement.

A few of Palantir’s more notable moments include:

• Helping U.S. forces track down and kill Osama Bin Laden
• Assisting the Marines in Afghanistan by doing forensic analysis of roadside bombs to predict insurgent attacks
• Sifting through 40 years of documents to convict Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff
• Locating Mexican drug cartel members who murdered an American customs agent
• Finding the hackers who installed spyware on the Dalai Lama’s computer

How Palantir Works

Emerging from its secretive cocoon of James Bond-like technologies and insights, Palantir is poised to change business as well. Pharmaceutical companies use Palantir to help them analyze and predict drug interactions. Hershey uses Palantir’s technology to help it increase chocolate sales. J.P. Morgan Chase uses Palantir to help it in the fight against mortgage fraud.

Imagine someone using your identity to open a home equity line of credit and siphoning funds to a computer in a cybercafe in Nigeria. Palantir can piece together these connections across data from bills, home and I.P. addresses to help eliminate the problem before it balloons into a massive loss (and a huge headache for whoever has had their identity stolen) — and it can do it all in seconds. Staff at J.P. Morgan Chase estimate that Palantir has saved them hundreds of millions of dollars.

In short, the brainchild of an eccentric philosopher is quickly becoming one of the most lucrative and profitable private tech companies. You may recognize the name of its largest stakeholder too — Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor behind PayPal and Facebook. And Palantir is poised to potentially go public — making Karp Silicon Valley’s newest billionaire and doubling Thiel’s original investment in the company.

But Karm fears the change that money will have on Palantir. An “I.P.O”, he says, “is corrosive to our culture, corrosive to our outcomes”. But at the same time, Palantir has to make money in order to thrive. It seeks out big contracts with major players and counts Democratic strategist James Carville, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and former C.I.A. director George Tenet among its advisers.

But what does all of this mean for you?

Big Brother vs. Big Data

One need only look back a few decades to remember that making money and changing the world are often at odds with each other. While still graduate students at Stanford, Sergey Brin and Larry Page wrote that “advertising-funded search engines will be inherently biased toward the advertisers”. Then they founded Google, which makes fistfuls of money off of advertising.

Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg championed a “society of complete openness” while being incredibly secretive about how it mines the information you share to target ads to you. A search engine and a social network are one thing – but something that can tie everything about you together in seconds – has much more serious and far-reaching implications.

But Palantir knows that privacy concerns about it are not unfounded. Courtney Bowman, a former employee at Google, now works at Palantir as a “civil liberties engineer” — helping lawmakers understand how to use modern technology while keeping privacy safeguards in place. One of Palantir’s features includes a series of safeguards designed to limit who can see what. Another feature includes an “audit trail” to let investigators see that certain rules and regulations with regard to data handling, were followed precisely.

And although these features are wired into the system, using them is not required. “What keeps me up at night is that we have to keep thinking about this as we grow into new marketing and new regions,” says Mr. Bowman. “[a]s you move into higher levels of computing complexity, you can’t retreat into the argument that [the technology of finding hidden things] is neutral.”

With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility

We’ve seen what could happen when commerce and surveillance combine. One Palantir employee pitched a Washington law firm on ways that they could expose WikiLeaks – which included cyberattacks and disinformation.

Although the idea was never formally executed, the pitch papers and emails between the two groups were posted online by hacktivist group Anonymous. Because of the sheer size of Palantir, coming to a consensus on how its service is used can be difficult. According to an article in the New York Times, some employees don’t want Palantir helping Israel because of their position against Palestinians. Palantir still has contracts with the Israeli government. But currently, they are not working with China. Nor are they working with tobacco companies.

At its core, Palantir still has a great deal of finding itself to do. As the company continues to grow, it’s easy to lose sight of its goals as it scales to accommodate massive growth and change. Palantir’s ability to remain steadfast in the face of corruption and very hot, sensitive issues will remain a focus, as will its very difficult decision as to whether or not it should go public.

Still, there’s a great deal of untapped potential for technology like this – especially for marketers. What are your thoughts on this kind of big data mapping and analysis? Do you feel that Palantir is poised to become the next big game changer in commerce much as the Internet was decades ago? Or do you feel it’s more of a fad that will only see limited use outside government, military and law enforcement areas?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!

from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/2mwFojA
via IFTTT

3 Reasons to Attend Modern Marketing Experience 2017

Oracle Marketing Cloud customers, partners, and team members alike are gearing up for our flagship event, Modern Marketing Experience, April 25-27 in Las Vegas.

We’re hoping to see you there! Understanding that your time is in high demand, and your to do lists are always-evolving, here are three reasons why Modern Marketing Experience is a valuable and vibrant event to add to your calendar:

1.    Select your experience based on topics relevant to your interests. This year’s event offers session content focused on six themes to support marketers’ evolving education: Brand Experience; Data Driven Marketing; Marketing Automation; Cross-Channel Marketing; Mobile Marketing; and Account-Based Marketing. Think of the events grounds as a one-stop shop forum to learn about the most helpful and progressive strategies, tactics, and technologies driving modern marketing. 

2.    Garner wisdom from the brightest in the marketing crowd. Hear from leading brands across a variety of industries, segments, and specialties on their digital marketing success. Modern Marketing Experience is packed with customer and partner presentations that offer the input necessary to help you find value in your usage of similar tools and techniques. With fresh ideas and proven use cases, you are likely to walk away with new insight on old tricks by hearing from successful organizations that know how to most effectively leverage marketing technology. Celebrate excellence in Modern Marketing at the annual Markie Awards where we recognize innovation in a variety of categories.

3.     Enjoy the show(s)! In addition to the high-value keynote and sessions focused on marketing to help you in your career, the event offers an opportunity to enjoy Vegas, home to countless inspiring and entertaining shows. Take an extra day to enjoy The Strip and one of the many concerts, magic shows, and musicals. Maximize your experience with an invigorating performance!

You can view more details, session highlights, and speakers at the event page. 

from Oracle Blogs | Oracle Marketing Cloud http://ift.tt/2lMM8eJ
via IFTTT

The Persuasive Power of Analogy

An elderly man storms into his doctor’s office, steaming mad.

“Doc, my new 22-year-old wife is expecting a baby. You performed my vasectomy 30 years ago, and I’m very upset right now.”

“Let me respond to that by telling you a story,” the doctor calmly replies.

“A hunter once accidentally left the house with an umbrella instead of his rifle. Out of nowhere, a bear surprised him in the woods … so the hunter grabbed the umbrella, fired, and killed the bear.”

“Impossible,” the old man snaps back. “Someone else must have shot that bear.”

“And there you have it,” the doctor says.

Persuasion come from understanding

At the heart of things, persuasion is about your audience understanding what you’re communicating. Understanding leads to acceptance when the argument is sound, well-targeted, and the conclusion seems unavoidable.

When it comes to creating effective understanding, analogies are hard to beat. Most of their persuasive power comes from the audience arriving at the intended understanding on their own.

The doctor could have simply said that the old man’s wife had to be cheating on him. But the analogy allowed the cranky patient to come to that conclusion on his own, which is much more persuasive.

Let’s take a second to make sure we’re all on the same page with analogies. It first helps to distinguish them from their close cousins, metaphor and simile.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses one thing to mean another and makes a comparison between the two. A simile compares two different things in order to create a new meaning while using the words “like” or “as.”

An analogy is comparable to a metaphor and simile in that it shows how two different things are similar, but it’s a bit more complex.

Rather than a figure of speech, an analogy is more of a logical argument. The structure of the argument leads to a new understanding for the audience.

When you deliver an analogy, you demonstrate how two things are alike by pointing out shared characteristics (a hunter with an unloaded umbrella and an elderly man who is “firing blanks” sexually). The goal is to show that if two things are similar in some ways, they are similar in other ways as well.

Let me give you an example of a killer persuasive analogy. It comes from that master of sophisticated rhetoric, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

No, really.

The Terminator analogy

Schwarzenegger is an advocate for renewable energy, both for California and the world at large. Given his celebrity status and prior political experience as Governor of California, he has quite the platform to share his views.

Just over a year ago, Arnold published a piece on Facebook called I don’t give a **** if we agree about climate change. That provocative title set the stage for what could be called a “terminator” analogy, in the sense that it puts any intellectually honest person in an inescapable box that supports the conclusion Schwarzenegger wants you to arrive at.

First, Arnold says forget whatever you think about climate change. He goes so far as to say that climate change deniers can assume that they’re right.

He then turns to the facts of the here and now:

• 7 million people die every year from pollution
• 19,000 people die every day from pollution from fossil fuels
• Renewable energy is driving economic growth

Then, Arnold turns to an analogy that illustrates his argument in a very personal way:

“There are two doors. Behind Door Number One is a completely sealed room, with a regular, gasoline-fueled car. Behind Door Number Two is an identical, completely sealed room, with an electric car. Both engines are running full blast.

I want you to pick a door to open, and enter the room and shut the door behind you. You have to stay in the room you choose for one hour. You cannot turn off the engine. You do not get a gas mask.

I’m guessing you chose Door Number Two, with the electric car, right? Door Number One is a fatal choice — who would ever want to breathe those fumes?

This is the choice the world is making right now.”

Talk about putting someone in a box — literally. By sidestepping the controversy over climate change and making the outcome of exposure to fossil fuel emissions a matter of personal life or death, Arnold likely changed the minds of more than a few reasonable people.

Now, this is the internet. So, I’m sure some people simply refuse to be swayed no matter what, and some trolls probably said they’d rather choose the deadly Door Number One than do anything perceived as good for the environment.

Well, there is a way to set up a real-life demonstration of this analogy if anyone’s interested.

Why marketing analogies work like a charm

I shared Schwarzenegger’s analogy because it’s a brilliant example. But keep in mind that unlike with contentious social issues, your prospects want you to convince them.

If someone has a problem they want solved or a desire they want fulfilled, they want to find a solution. If they’re currently a part of your audience, they want you to be the solution.

That means they want to understand why you’re the best choice. Which means they want to be persuaded.

And that’s the essence of content marketing strategy. Tell your particular who exactly what they need to hear, exactly how they need to hear it.

The right analogy, at the right time, told the right way, may be exactly what they need to do business with you …

And there you have it.

The post The Persuasive Power of Analogy appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/2mvFuYI
via IFTTT