#HecklersHangout 20 - About ArCompany with @DannyBrown

Reblogged from Brian Vickery - Social Media Sport Analogies:

Originally, our plan this week was to talk to our friend Stacey Hood. Unfortunately, we found out this weekend that Stacey won't be able to make it. Brian and I talked about who we could schedule on such short notice, and we remembered that something very exciting happened. Hessie Jones announced the launch of her new company, ArCompany. This company is not just a launch from Hessie Jones.

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If you want to find out more about ArCompany. Danny Brown from our team will be on #HecklersHangout 20 with Brian Vickery and Margie Clayman this Thursday 7:00 p.m. EST.

Smart Business, Smart Marketing: How the Internet is Propelling Small Business Forward

This guest post is from Erik Gaandt, a freelance tech writer with extensive experience in website marketing

Marketing is one area where small businesses have experienced dramatic benefits due to the Internet, even in comparison to other operations. Although social media often comes up as the most popular and perhaps most prominent example of how Internet is used to benefit small business marketing, it is not the only one. Small businesses reap a number of benefits from Internet-based marketing through a number of methods, often much better suited to doing so than their bigger counterparts.

Advantages of Small Businesses in Online Marketing

 Here are some of the advantages that online marketing offers to small businesses:

Small businesses often specialize in niches of larger markets.

The problem with businesses entrenched in niches is that their products tend to cater to a specific clientele and cannot compete against competitors on an even basis outside of that clientele. As a result, small businesses specializing in niches are more dependent on their clientele to a larger degree than larger businesses.

To survive and perhaps even prosper, such businesses must be able to find and then hold onto customers who are interested in their products. The Internet and Internet-based marketing campaigns can help out such businesses because of their expanded reach compared to traditional mediums. Small businesses can reach out with minimal cost to potential customers at the places that those customers frequent, while those customers can in turn reach those small businesses through search engines and other online services directing them to relevant sites.

Feedback is vital to the success of a business’s marketing efforts in the long run.

Individual marketing campaigns can have enormous impacts on a business’s success, but the data distilled from those campaigns can help the same business refine its practices over time to improve its overall marketing. The problem is that such data are not available without the business spending to collect and compile data into an usable form. Small businesses tend to be disadvantaged in this regard because of a lack of both cash and expertise. However, collecting data from online marketing data is much easier due to tools and services, such as Google Webmaster Tools. Even small businesses can use the provided data to examine both the success of individual marketing initiatives and the flaws that prompted potential customers to turn aside.

Responsiveness is one of the most important qualities in online marketing.

Small businesses can outperform their counterparts on this point because of their closeness to the customers and their more nimble structures. For example, a corporation with multiple offices might choose to base its marketing efforts in one location, resulting in potential problems marketing in other regions due to lack of understanding. Furthermore, it is more difficult for bigger businesses to change directions once their resources have been invested. In contrast, the small business can react faster to changing circumstances and its personnel are closer to the ground, resulting in more responsive and relevant online marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

In short, the Internet is something of an equalizer for businesses. It has eased some of the difficulties that made it hard for smaller businesses to compete head-on against their bigger counterparts. Furthermore, the Internet’s accessible nature ensures that these advantages are available to all who are interested and can invest the time needed to learn its intricacies.

 Erik Gaandt, freelance tech writer in web marketing, enjoys sharing his insights on various marketing blogs. WhoIsHostingThis.com is home to hundreds of reviews on the most popular webhosts.

The Promise of Big Data: The Evil Twin

This post is a follow-up from my previous article, The Promise of Big Data: For Good.

As a database marketer, I relished in the richness of information that data gave me. Unlike traditional advertising which, to me, had no real basis for tracking or performance optimization, I took comfort in knowing that I had data to validate decisions.

The world today has emerged into data ubiquity and it is generating immense excitement among data scientists about the ever-growing strength of predictability. This is the essence of Big Data. According to Wikipedia,

“Big data is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are a constantly moving target currently ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set.“

This wealth of information now provides an avenue that allows ever-complex data sets to be analyzed like never before. This can include where people are more likely to live in the next 20 years based on population, migration patterns, geographical economics etc. Or, it can include the likelihood of people drinking less coffee in the southern states of the U.S. in the next 10 years.

Amazing stuff! The probabilities to affect change in a positive way are absolutely boundless. Now organizations are relying more on data to drive critical organizational decisions. On the same note, there is an equal and opposite reaction to Big Data.

I have introduced the endless possibilities of a world that benefits from Big Data. However, there are personal and cultural consequences to the use of Big Data to serve the greater good. Data can lead to a loss of privacy. Face it, you are going to be asked to opt-in to sharing your data more often. Privacy as a hot topic is bringing issues of disclosure and data usage front and centre. Customers are becoming more and more aware and alarmed by how their data is being used. Consider two recent events in the news:

1. Job Seekers are being asked for Facebook Passwords

Laurie Dillon Schalk brought this article to my attention through Twitter. This was shocking to me. Imagine: you are going in for your dream job and you are asked, as part of the interview process, to divulge your Facebook information so the potential employers could peek into your profile. How would you react? This goes beyond privacy. Laurie tweeted to me,

Completely unacceptable to ask candidates 4 FB passwords. Violation of the worse kind. I don’t know how & if widespread.

This has gone beyond a standard security check. The wealth of data on every individual now gives employers more information at their disposal. Think of it: the more information you create, the more fodder you are feeding to this data well. The long term implications: you as a user will be less transparent in your posts–more guarded about what you share. Will big data encourage the antithesis of social media?

2. How Companies Learn Your Secrets

This is the story of how “Target was able to use their predictive analytics to determine a customer was pregnant. They had mailed her some promotional material, much to the surprise of her father, who made the discovery. According to this article: “Most of the people I spoke with here agreed that Target made a mistake in that case, but they believed the error wasn’t in collecting the data and then using it for marketing so much as doing so without permission.”

It’s one thing to use data to analyze and predict competitive pricing like Walmart’s Rollback Price model, however, organizations are just starting to see the “massive amounts of data to predict everything from what their customers are going to start buying to which of their employees will complete a certain project on time.” Data is also increasingly easy to collect and store, ripe for analysts to sink their teeth into.

The Government has a lot to gain from the information we feed them.

And maybe the Enemy of the State is humanity’s eventuality. We are already seeing instances of it today right here in Canada:

Canada’s “tabled” web surveillance legislation seeks to “monitor and preserve the Internet surfing activities of internet customers” in an attempt to prevent electronic criminal communications. This will further suppress or elicit more guarded online and mobile usage.

Michael Geist, Law Professor at University of Ottawa, and esteemed critic in Internet law states, “One thing (the government) has never provided is the evidence to show how the current set of laws has stymied investigations or created a significant barrier to ensure that we’re safe in Canada.”

It’s clear that we may not be able to stop he growth of big data and its evolution. That would mean we would have to change our practices: limit our usage of internet, mobile, and social networks. By virtue of using these technologies we are putting bits of our information into servers about what we’re doing, where and when. The power of this information presents amazing possibilities. But along the way, as consumers, we must become cognizant of its impact to our personal information, more importantly information that we prefer to keep private.

I’d be interested to hear what you think. What’s your impression of Big Data? The Big Brother of tomorrow or the purveyor of a better society?

@Miikinc does #Movember: Encore

So, this features the wardrobe in its entirety. I hope you liked my version of promoting #Movember. I’m gonna go shave now!

• So, don’t forget to donate to #Movember. Share this post with others and drive awareness to this important cause: http://mosista.co/hessiejones
• Go to Miik, buy some amazing clothing. And 10% of online sales this month go to Movember!

Terry Pleated Skirt in black. Details here.
Sal Reversible Cowl-Neck Top in fuchsia

Olivia Cowl-Neck Colour-Block Dress in black and deep purple. Details here.

Maria Hourglass Seamed Top in red. Details here.
Hanna Banded Tunic-Length Skirt in black. Details here.
Lisa Leggings in black. Details here.

Patty Casual Pant in black. Details here.
Madeline Asymmetrical Top in Red. Details here.

Dale Shoulder-Detail Dress in Navy. Details here.

Emily Soft Blazer in black. Details here.
Sandy Tunic Tank in Teal. Details here.
Lisa Leggings in black. Details here.

It was a fun #Movember. Thanks for your support. See you next year!

About Miik [pronounced: mick/mik]
Miik designs simple yet striking clothing for active women who don’t want to sacrifice comfort to look great. Using sustainably sourced fabrics like bamboo, Miik creates pieces that feel unbelievably soft against your skin and are flattering on so many body types. Once you try on Miik you’ll never want to wear anything else!

Miik is designed, milled and sewn in the Toronto area. Visit www.miik.ca for a complete list of retailers or to shop online.

Visit Miik for a complete list of retailers or to shop online.