by Elizabeth Hines | Jul 24, 2018 | Blog, Current Events, Data/Analytics, Internet of Things, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Supply Chain
Automation in manufacturing can help create more, better paying jobs. But two leading economists have examined real-world data and concluded that the robots may be winning after all. Is it true?
Last year I wrote about artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential loss of American jobs. At the time, I thought; “Yes, people will lose jobs — that is inevitable. Automation, however, will create many more.”
Automation would create leaner, more efficient operations. Efficiency facilitates new market opportunities and business growth, which in turn would allow for expansion and job creation.
It felt like a good argument! And I wasn’t alone. If one looks at media coverage from last year, one can find plenty of references to “beating the robots.”
There was a palpable feeling, an energizing hope, that automation would, in fact, ultimately create more, better paying jobs. And these new jobs wouldn’t be the low-skill positions of their pre-automation predecessors, but rather higher-paying opportunities operating new technology and supervising automated processes.
In a paper last year, two of the most respected researchers on the subject said it was likely that increased automation would create new, better jobs, so employment and wages would eventually return to their previous levels.
It all seemed positive.
This year’s news
But wait. The same researchers — Daron Acemoglu of M.I.T. and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University — published an updated study that has gained a tremendous amount of attention. It was covered in-depth by the New York Times, with the title: Evidence That Robots are Winning the Race for American Jobs.
Sadly, their study appeared to be the first “to quantify large, direct, negative effects of robots.”
In referencing the difference in prognosis from last year to this year, the NYT article noted that the older paper was “a conceptual exercise” and the new study “uses real-world data — and suggests a more pessimistic future.”
I thought, I’m going to have to write a new article. It was tentatively titled, “I Take It Back: The Data Says the Robots May Be Winning.”
But as I sat down to write, something just didn’t add up. How did all this jive with the latest employment news? Only days ago, unemployment rates hit 3.9%, a rare low, mimicking rates we haven’t seen since 2000.
Taking in the whole picture
As I looked further into the study, I found that it covered 1990-2007, a lengthy but rather unique time in our economic history. The years from 1990 to 2007 saw a dotcom boom and burst. (Just for reference, unemployment rates rose sharply in 2009 and 2010, but have been on a steady decline since then.)
The robot vs. man study said that robots were to blame for up to 670,000 lost manufacturing jobs between 1990 and 2007. I’m not arguing with the study.
But they then go on to conclude the following: The numbers will rise because industrial robots are expected to quadruple. And from where I sit in 2018, I simply don’t see the facts to support that assumption.
Let’s look at manufacturing specifically. Are machines and automation blowing up the manufacturing sector? Well, yes and no.
Certainly manufacturing jobs have had a sharp decline over the last 20 years; that’s undeniable.
But since 2000, their percentage of the overall job market has held generally stable between 8 and 9%. And current employment statistics for 2018 show increases in the manufacturing sector.
Now, I’m not suggesting manufacturing jobs are “roaring back” by any stretch. But a positive trend line is … well … positive. The prognosis of a “pessimistic future” just doesn’t seem widely supported yet by the facts. Time, as always, will tell.
Of course, economists warn that employment rates aren’t the whole picture. While they may mimic that of 2000, they warn that the economy isn’t the same and that it is concerning that wages have been slow to rise even though unemployment has fallen.
From what I see now, however, I still feel optimistic that AI and automation will create leaner, more efficient operations that will, in turn, create new (even if different) jobs. To me, it still looks like the ones winning from the increasing technological advances in the manufacturing industry are, in fact, we humans.
This post originally appeared on EBN Online.
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by Fronetics | Jul 19, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
In part three of our series on effective lead generation and nurturing, we walk you through the components of effective landing pages that convert visitors to leads.
If you’ve been keeping up with our four-part series on effective lead generation, you should be up to speed on creating a valuable offer and a call-to-action that works. The next step in a finely tuned lead generation process is a landing page that converts.
Why does my offer need a landing page?
[bctt tweet=”Landing pages are crucial, and brands miss out on opportunities when they fail to optimize them. According to HubSpot, marketers see an average 10% conversion rate on landing pages — that represents a huge amount of missed opportunities.” username=”Fronetics”]
Landing pages are crucial, and brands miss out on big opportunities when they fail to optimize them. In fact, according to HubSpot, marketers have seen an average 10% conversion rate on landing pages — that represents a huge amount of missed opportunities. Brands that have it right, those that focus on designing for conversions, reap the benefits in big ways.
Your primary objective for a landing page is to get visitors to submit their contact information in exchange for the offer. At this point in the process, your potential customer has already engaged with your call-to-action, meaning he or she is interested in your offer. When they get to your landing page, everything they find there should affirm their choice to and assure them that the content they are about to download is going to be relevant, interesting, and valuable.
Designing landing pages that convert
So what are the hallmarks of a great landing page? Starting with the basics, your landing page should briefly, simply, and clearly describe the benefits of your offer. It’s important that there be as few distractions as possible. For example, make sure the page doesn’t have a top navigation menu. Bonus points for including ways to share your offer on social media.
Additionally, you should make sure that your landing page doesn’t include links to other things on your website, as they can distract the lead and perhaps send them somewhere else on your website where they can find the information you’re presenting in your offer.
As you design your landing page, keep this checklist in mind:
- Is it clean, organized, and clearly presented?
- Is there any ambiguity about where or how leads should enter their information?
- Does it describe the benefits of my offer?
- Is it free of extraneous or distracting content or links?
- Is it mobile-friendly?
- Does it contain easy ways to share on social media?
If you follow these tips for landing pages that convert visitors to leads, we’re confident you’ll start to see an uptick in your website conversion rate almost immediately.
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by Fronetics | Jul 18, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Once you’ve decided how to create and package a valuable offer, the next step in an effective lead generation is creating calls-to-action that convert leads.
If you read part one of our four-part series on effective lead generation, you’re familiar with the first step in creating a campaign that will generate a high volume of quality leads: creating a valuable offer. So what’s next?
In part two of this series, we’re exploring how to draw visitors from reading content on your website to taking a desired action.
When we talk about this second step, we use the term “call-to-action” (CTA). It refers to the tool that asks the reader of your content to take the next step — rather than just assuming they will do it. A call-to-action can be in-line text with a hyperlink, a button, or an image-based web-banner.
Why do you need a CTA?
CTAs are the vital step where you ask your potential client or buyer to take an action that moves them one stop closer to your objective of connecting them with your company. But plenty of marketers forget this crucial element of an effective campaign.
If you’re offering high-value content (like an ebook, webinar, infographic, or product demonstration), but you aren’t including a specific CTA, you’re not giving your audience direction for obtaining the offer — and you’re probably missing out on plenty of qualified leads.
[bctt tweet=”If your CTAs aren’t effective at capturing the attention of your prospective leads and persuading them to click, then no matter how impressive your offer or how well-written your content, it’s pretty much useless.” username=”Fronetics”]
A CTA is yet another opportunity to optimize your campaign. Remember that you’re competing with every other brand in a fight for the attention of your audience, and you need to make the most of every opportunity to draw them toward your business.
Keep in mind that if your CTAs aren’t effective at capturing the attention of your prospective leads and persuading them to click, then no matter how impressive your offer or how well-written your content, it’s pretty much useless. Your CTA can be used on product pages, in display ads, email, social media, direct mail, or pretty much anywhere you’re marketing your offer.
Elements of calls-to-action that convert leads
Not all CTAs are created equal. As you think about incorporating a call-to-action into your offer, keep in mind these 4 tips for maximizing its productivity:
1. Choose your location wisely.
Back when people read newspapers, editors would place important news “above the fold:” high enough on the page so the reader wouldn’t have to unfold the paper to see it.
A well-placed call-to-action follows the same principle, and should be high enough on the page so your target lead won’t have to scroll down to see it. You should also place a second CTA further down within the offer.
2. Be clear.
You don’t want to leave your reader puzzling about what will happen when he or she follows your CTA. State the offer clearly, and be specific. For instance, rather than “download now,” say “download your free ebook.”
3. Don’t hide your light.
Your call-to-action should stand out on the page. Choose contrasting colors for your CTA, so it draws the eye and doesn’t blend into the rest of your text.
We’ve found, in many cases, our clients have the most success with calls-to-action that are image-based (particularly in emails). A really well-designed, attractive, image-based CTA can effectively draw click-throughs in a way other kinds of calls-to-action can’t. Give it a try!
4. Link to a landing page.
Send potential leads to a targeted landing page that is relevant to what they are looking for. Your CTA should send them to a page that will convert them into a lead.
For more information, check back in with our next post, when we explore how to create a landing page that converts leads.
How do you design calls-to-action that convert leads?
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by Fronetics | Jul 10, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
As with many things, blogs improve with age — drawing more traffic, generating more leads, and building more credibility with search engines.
The average lifespan of a tweet is around 15 minutes. And a Facebook post’s lifespan is about 6 hours. But the lifespan of a blog post averages two years. TWO YEARS.
[bctt tweet=”80% of our website traffic comes from blog posts that are over six months old. HubSpot discovered a similar trend: 76% of its monthly views came from old posts, as well as 92% of the company’s monthly leads!” username=”Fronetics”]
In fact, we find that 80% of our website traffic comes from blog posts that are over six months old. HubSpot discovered a similar trend: 76% of its monthly views came from old posts, as well as 92% of the company’s monthly leads!
Why is that? Because, as with many things, blog posts improve with age. Search engines give value to older content that has had more time to accumulate social shares, likes, and referrals from other web pages. The more relevant a blog post proves itself to be to readers over time, the higher it will rank in search engine results.
Optimizing older content
Blog posts also give marketers an opportunity to dust off older content and rework it to be relevant and up-to-date to target audiences. Using analytics tools, marketers can track posts that had high traffic and conversion rates and work on optimizing the content. Updating older posts with new statistics, relevant keywords, and spruced-up calls-to-action will breathe new life into your older content.
Lead-generation tool: your blog
A blog is an excellent lead-generation tool. But, as I’ve written before, it takes time to generate leads and sales. Patience is a virtue, but it’s a particularly difficult one to keep in mind when you’re trying to grow business and keep your boss happy.
Your posts need time to start drawing traffic — and then, from traffic comes leads. Here’s why blog posts, like a fine wine, will continue to improve with age and why you shouldn’t give up on your efforts.
Video: Why blogs improve with age
Takeaway
With high-quality, relevant content, your blog will pay off. You should keep tending to your already published content, particularly those posts that prove to be a consistent source of traffic.
Update information; add links to new related posts or other relevant resources; and seek opportunities to insert or update calls-to-action to current offers and campaigns. Making sure those older, consistently popular posts continue to serve and engage your readers will increase your chances of conversion.
And, don’t forget: Something that doesn’t get a lot of views in the first week may be a huge traffic source and lead converter in a little time. Many content management systems, like HubSpot, can generate attribution reports, which tell you which web pages users most often visit before converting to a lead. Compare these pages with your high-traffic pages that don’t make the list to see how you can create more opportunities for lead conversion on the pages earning the most traffic.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 25, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Aiming to deliver value outside the sales funnel allows your business to build long-term relationships with customers, rather than focusing on a single sale.
Congratulations! You closed the deal. You hammered out the terms and set up the billing. But, according to marketing experts Mark Bonchek and Vivek Bapat, now the real work of growing revenue begins.
Successful 21st century businesses focus on what happens after they close a sale, not the transaction itself. That’s because consumers — and B2B customers — have higher expectations than ever before. They read reviews, listen to webinars, and download white papers before they buy, and they expect a better experience after.
Purchase brands vs. usage brands
Bonchek and Bapat describe two types of brands: “purchase brands” and “usage brands.” The usage brands “focus on the moments of truth that happen after the transaction, whether in delivery, service, education or sharing.” As a result, they command greater loyalty and higher prices than competitive brands that are content to end their relationship with an invoice.
[bctt tweet=”Suppliers need to shift focus from persuading people to buy, to persuading them to become a committed advocate for their brand.” username=”Fronetics”]
What does that mean for you as a supplier? You need to shift your focus from persuading people to buy, to persuading them to become a committed advocate for your brand.
“Be” the B2B customer
B2B accounts are complicated. They have many decision makers and many points of contact. You may have a sales team with multiple reps and sales support people on one account.
With so much going on, it’s important to “be” the customer. Try to identify and understand the people who depend on your product or service to get their work done every day. Those are the people you need to impress.
“What is the likelihood that you would recommend Company X to a friend or colleague?” According to Bain & Company, this is the one question that most closely correlates to customer satisfaction. “High scores on this question correlated strongly with repurchases, referrals and other actions that contribute to a company’s growth.”
And what makes people recommend a product or service? Success while they’re using it.
Social media: An important part of the B2B relationship
Bonchek and Bapat say, “The purchase and usage mindsets are equally, or even more, relevant for B2B brands. Business solutions tend to have longer life cycles than consumer products and there is an even greater opportunity to deliver value outside the sales funnel.“
So yes, you may have to tweet. And stay present on LinkedIn. Because your customers look there to follow trends and find good information to help run their businesses. Industry forums, YouTube, and Instagram are also great places to provide value beyond the sale.
Don’t worry if you’re not a creative genius. Most of us aren’t. Do try to talk about issues that are relevant and maybe even unsettling to your industry. If your customers are having a problem, chances are other businesses have the same concerns and vice versa.
You probably have an opinion, maybe even a solution. Use social media to share it with a larger audience, your users will thank you for it.
How do you deliver value outside the sales funnel?
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