Author: David

THE INBOUNDOUTBOUND MARKETING EVOLUTION -THE BUYER’SJOURNEY

THE INBOUND/OUTBOUND MARKETING EVOLUTION – THE BUYER'S JOURNEY

 

My introduction to online marketing consisted of a training course that heavily focused on a form of email marketing, mainly safelists, which I found to be a very confusing and overwhelming strategy that involved numerous email accounts and hundreds of advertising sites that took up all my time with very little results. After a while, I felt totally disillusioned and burned out with that and turned to social media marketing of sorts which was okay for a while but then became frustrating and nonsensical. 

Then by chance, I came across Inbound Marketing and it all made sense to me. “Inbound marketing” was a term coined by Hubspot which was founded in 2005, but invented and established nearly a decade earlier by Markethive (operating as Veretekk) way back in 1996 and known as Automated Marketing. For many companies needing to cater to the customer and prospects’ needs and as competition became more fierce they turned to inbound marketing to help give them the edge. 

 

Outbound Marketing

Prior to inbound marketing, we relied upon more traditional methods known as Outbound Marketing which included TV, radio and print ads, billboards, etc. Then with the internet, came paid and rented email lists, banner and display ads, most social media advertising, pop-ups, and pop-unders, etc. In direct contrast to Inbound marketing, these tactics have traditionally been thought of as interruptions and frowned upon, labeled as invasive, and often seen as driving an ideal buyer away. 

Outbound marketing aims at trying to reach as many people as possible, whether or not they are active buyers and in some cases has its merits. 

 

 

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy by which you drive prospects to your website rather than outwardly advertising your products or services. The idea is that bringing potential customers to your website will familiarize them with your brand and offerings through targeted content, tailored to the needs and basic questions of people and offering solutions. Ideally, you’ll build a virtual relationship with the prospect, making it more likely that they will choose your product or service when they’re ready to buy. 

Typically inbound marketing involves blogging or content creation and integrates email marketing, marketing automation, social media monitoring & publishing, SEO, and analytics all in one. It incorporates landing pages and a content management system that assists you in optimizing your content. 

Outbound marketing brings your offering to your prospects. Inbound marketing brings your prospects to you. 

 

Inbound Marketing is a marketing methodology focused on attracting, educating, and empowering consumers via relevant content that actually helps and guides them until they are ready to purchase your product or service. That road to purchase is the buyer’s journey, an active exploration or research process that a buyer goes through, prior to and leading up to the actual purchase.

Out With The Old – In With The New

Back in the day, when I needed to buy something I would pace the shopping mall, searching and comparing until I found what suited me. When I bought my car I went directly to the car yard, talked to the salesperson to learn my options, get answers to my questions, took it for a test drive, and bought it. 

Now I search online before I take a step out of my home and go directly to that store I found most helpful online or maybe buy it online. The way we buy is evolving and according to Google, buyers on average now conduct 70% or more of their research online to help them with a purchasing decision, even before they think about contacting someone in sales or reaching out to a company for more information on their products and services. 

With any sales and marketing method, it must continue to evolve just as consumers’ buying behaviors are evolving. So what does that mean for marketers in the digital world?

Inbound marketing is a strategic process that has several elements to it and some of those elements are not just technical but to gain an insight into the psychological aspect. We need to understand what stages a prospective buyer goes through before making a purchasing decision.

Another way of looking at it is that inbound marketing is designed to better align you and your business with the Buyer’s Journey, which is becoming the natural process that today’s buyer goes through when searching for a solution online.

The internet, along with inbound marketing platforms, has made it easier for marketers to engage customers at the various stages of their journey using content marketing. That’s one of the main reasons that 88% of B2B marketers are using custom content marketing, which is up a whopping 86% from 2015.

 

What Is The Buyer's Journey? 

The Buyer's Journey was first described in 1968, long before the internet, and was perceived as a linear process.   However, today’s customers are sophisticated, savvy consumers who do their research and the internet has made it very easy to access a wide range of information, so these stages are not so cut and dried and it is why we need to be customer-centric in our inbound marketing efforts, with consistent and current relevant content. 

Each stage of the inbound buyer’s journey requires unique content types that range from website pages and blog articles to downloadable offers and video demonstrations. So the new Buyer's journey takes place online and inbound marketers have a golden opportunity to go the extra mile by helping them reach a decision with custom content that will attract and delight the potential buyer. 

 

The three basic stages of the Inbound Buyer's Journey are Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. 

  1. Awareness Stage: Through online research, the buyer is trying to identify their own problems and looking for answers, resources, education, research data, opinions, and insight.  
  2. Consideration Stage: Once the buyer has identified their problem, they begin more heavy research of specific solutions for that problem, whether it’s a good fit for them which leads them to potential solution providers, partners, or vendors.
  3. Decision Stage: After engaging with enough expert, trust-building content, the buyer can filter their solution provider list down and make a confident decision in who they want to work with or buy from.

Inbound marketing is designed to help prospects discover your business in the early stages of the Buyer’s Journey and to educate them on the benefits of your solution for them, all while building trust throughout the process.

 

The Strengths Of Inbound

Although inbound marketing is the preferred method and considered to be more successful due to its not only holistic but an empathic approach, outbound marketing, albeit marketer centric, still has a place, and to determine which one suits your purpose, you need to consider your specific business, audience, and marketing objectives. 

One of the biggest advantages of inbound marketing and what gives it substance is that it focuses on providing value for prospects. It’s educational and in some cases non-promotional and as inbound marketing aligns with the Buyer's Journey, it builds a relationship between your prospects and brand and is not seen as an annoying interruption. Rather it helps the buyer as they are already researching and obviously ready to buy.

Another major strength of inbound marketing is the long term return on investment (ROI) Whether it be sweat equity or money that you’ve invested, this strategy tends to have slower results for the first few months, however, those initial stages are necessary to build your digital marketing assets. It allows you to build your presence online and rank higher in the search engines. 

Eventually, the value of those assets will increase and your outlay to maintain or improve will be less. Digital assets like blog articles and perpetual choice offers can continue to generate leads years after they were originally created without costing an extra cent. 

 

What About Outbound?

The biggest strength of outbound marketing is its ability to get in front of a large number of people quickly and build awareness. When it’s done correctly, you can launch an outbound marketing campaign, get seen by millions, and have new customers within a few weeks, but the results usually depend on the amount of money you invest. 

The more you spend, the more results you get and when you stop investing, the results diminish. With outbound marketing, you don’t accumulate many tangible, long-term assets that continue to generate leads as you do with Inbound marketing. Plus, these days, outbound is generally more disliked by the consumer.

Having said that, there are businesses that have found great success by using inbound or outbound exclusively. There are many that have utilized both consecutively and have had tremendous results. Your marketing strategy really depends on your market, your type of buyer, and your goals. 

 

What Are Your Goals? 

What are you trying to achieve? Do you want to build brand awareness? Drive traffic? How many customers are you aiming to get and what’s your timeline for that goal?

Inbound marketing is the best long-term strategy, however, it will take time and probably won’t dramatically increase business in the first few months. 

Outbound marketing, on the other hand, can help you get customers in the door quickly, but it comes with diminishing returns.

Ideally, the best strategy is to combine a little of both, by taking an inbound approach to both, using outbound for brand awareness, following up with inbound for relationship, and brand-building.

This means you are measuring results accurately and you’re aiming for long-term brand-building alongside short-term growth.

 

Looking After Your Brand And Reputation

It’s important to consider how the tactics you deploy will affect your brand’s image. Launching an aggressive cold-calling campaign or obnoxiously posting fruitless or misleading advertisements too much on peoples’ newsfeeds may get a few sales, but how will that affect your reputation long-term? 

You only want to use marketing tactics that your brand can be proud of and that your customers would approve of if they knew how you executed them. More often than not, the truth comes out and it’s incredibly difficult to overcome a bad reputation.

 

Balance Your Outbound With Inbound

Here at Markethive, we believe in an inbound-focused approach that also uses outbound marketing when appropriate. This means using outbound channels like the Banner program where you can purchase banner impressions from our Banner Impressions Exchange. Your banners are displayed internally at Markethive and externally on numerous domains. 

This will successfully get your business in front of potential buyers, then by using Markethive’s inbound tools you will be focusing more on assisting with the buyer’s journey rather than selling upfront. This works because people are more likely to engage in a brand that helps them understand the buying process, instead of simply asking for their money.

The Next Generation

Markethive has been in the Inbound Marketing business for 25 years and is an ever-evolving platform. Now integrated with Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency as of 2018, it’s certainly keeping up with the changes and advances the marketing realm is experiencing with many still stuck in the old school ways. 

Markethive is always evolving and right now in the process of building a new engineering team to take its funnels (Pagemaker System) integrated into its landing pages which are groups or otherwise known as Storefronts. A self-replicating system will be added to these pages and aligning autoresponders, along with assignment rotators. This makes it Turnkey for members to just walk in and gain great results of a powerful inbound marketing campaign, utilizing another unique feature within this system – the CO-OP engine. 

Markethive delivers a proven Inbound Marketing platform outfitted with email autoresponders, blogging platforms, landing pages, social media broadcasting, Tracking analytics, SEO, backlinking automation, messaging, ecommerce, and SEO which is designed to build a large loyal long-term customer base. The benefits of these systems are to “attract”, “convert”. “close” and “delight” an individual on the buyers’ journey. 

This next-generation platform also has multiple commerce platforms, digital media sites, along a social network bringing together a community of aspiring entrepreneurs and marketers evoking a collaborative mindset. Above all its other benefits, Markethive is a concept and a vision with a focus on providing a universal income for all and being built on the blockchain allows Markethive to pay its members for all activity, regardless if you’re a free member or upgrade to one of our loyalty programs or memberships. 

We believe sharing our resources with you as you build your business and seek to reach your goals, benefits all of us. We welcome all to our collaborative world and ecosystem for the Entrepreneur, Markethive, the Market Network, built for you, by you, and with you.

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

CRYPTOCURRENCY SPARKING A WAVE OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION

CRYPTOCURRENCY SPARKING A WAVE OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION

The future of finance is being redefined as cryptocurrency is becoming a thriving ecosystem, quietly encroaching on the territory of traditional finance institutions’. 

Over the last five years, Bitcoin users and transactions have averaged a growth rate of nearly 60% per year. Similarly, private and public investors have deepened their commitment to cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Stellar, and the upcoming Markethive Coin (MHV) along with a number of other cryptos across different sectors of the industry.

We are most definitely heading towards decentralized communities. Countries all over the world are taking notice of cryptocurrencies, particularly the countries that have suffered hyperinflation. One prime example is that of Venezuela, where inflation soared, trust in the national government policy, and currency plummeted led to a rise in the interest of cryptocurrencies.

 

Cryptography Begets Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has erupted into a $200 billion industry, sparking a wave of what is seen as a global disruption, however, in many ways a savior in this world of oppression and the autocratic system that society has been subject to. 

There is a rich history of innovation at the heart of cryptocurrency and blockchain. One of the core elements being cryptography and dates back to ancient times of nearly 4000 years ago in Egyptian and Mesopotamian writings only to enhance its linguistic appeal. 

Cryptography has been used throughout the course of history and evolved into being used to protect sensitive information with analog cryptography used in WW2. The science of cryptography continued to advance progressively throughout the centuries. It’s come a long way since then and as long as there is a need to protect sensitive data cryptography will continue to advance. 

Beginning in 1990, an entirely new form of cryptography, dubbed quantum cryptography, was under development by computer scientists hoping to once again elevate the level of protection offered by modern encryption.

Then came cryptographic techniques used to make cryptocurrencies possible. Cryptocurrencies leverage several advanced cryptographic techniques, including hash functions, public-key cryptography, and digital signatures. These techniques are used primarily to ensure the security of data stored on blockchains and to authenticate transactions.

 

 

Since then, a series of key events have continued to shape the sector

Year     Event

2009    Satoshi Nakamoto mines the first Bitcoin on a decentralized network

2011    Litecoin launches

2012    Ripple is founded

2013    The price of a single Bitcoin reaches $1,000

2015    Ethereum launches, introducing smart contracts into the crypto ecosystem

2017    Over 1,000 cryptocurrencies listed

2017    Bitcoin's price rockets past $10,000, reaching a peak just shy of $20,000

2018    EOS offers a blockchain-based infrastructure for decentralized apps (DApps)

 2019    Markethive, the first Blockchain-based Market Network introduces crypto coin (MHV)                 

 

Now, there are over 5,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation, some will stagnate and peter out and others will soar as they are built on innovative applications and have real use-cases giving rise to a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

 

The infographic below displays a cross-section of cryptocurrencies, stakeholders, and core applications across a sector that’s continuing to grow more important as we see the economic climate change dramatically.

 

Setting The Stage For The Bigger Picture

As cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continues to gain momentum, its longer-term ramifications will be a focal point. Essentially, its cryptographic foundation sets the stage for future developments in a financial economy.

  • Privacy

Anonymized transactions protect users’ data through cryptographic techniques.

  • Access

Providing a new financial model for 1.7B unbanked individuals around the world.

  • Efficiency

Steep reductions in settlement time and efficacy could save consumers $16 billion annually.

  • Security

Providing immutable, traceable records of security-rich transactional networks.

  • Programmable Money

Smart contracts could drastically eliminate manual and administrative work⁠, ultimately bypassing them altogether.

 

The Practical Advantages Of Cryptocurrencies

The cryptocurrencies of today go beyond just replacing cash. This new token-based economy is evolving, with unique solutions emerging in finance, security, identification, social engagement, the marketplace, digital media, and ownership. Cryptocurrencies are adding both value and utility to the digital economy, and to the global financial market as a whole.

  • Payments

Digital cash can be used for both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retailers for purchasing goods without the need for a trusted third party. 

  • Store of value

A new form of scarce native currency and a means of settlement.

  • Global Transactions

Borderless money that enables easy conversion between currencies.

  • Stablecoins

Crypto version of fiat which is tied to the value of resources like gold or the U.S. dollar.

  • Digital ownership

Digital handling, storage, and monetization of data.

  • Alternative finance

Digital assets such as collectibles, commodities, and tokenized securities

  • Decentralized utilities

Crypto-enabled networks, products, and services that exchange between assets.

 

Four Projects Set To Rock The Landscape

Cryptocurrency and blockchain offer cutting-edge advances that are diverse and transformative. These are just a few of the ways cryptocurrencies are breaking down barriers for people and companies worldwide, allowing them to grow personal wealth and enter the global market.

SPEDN auto-converts crypto to fiat for merchants, reducing exchange rate risk while offering convenient customer payment options. SPEDN makes it possible to spend Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without needing to cash out to fiat currency or load a plastic card.
 SPEDN currently supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the Gemini dollar (GUSD), and Zcash (ZEC), with many more coins coming soon.

 

ECOSC is a Malta-based company and has designed a platform using blockchain technology to embrace the oil and gas minerals and all products for trade. It is a global, decentralized supply chain management solution that aligns stakeholders, vendors, and buyers with the strategic management of supply and demand outcomes with cryptocurrency assets. 

ECOSC will reduce the risk of human error, counterfeiting, and fraud. It means less time will be spent processing documents and reconciling, which will increase the transaction process speed.

 

Blockchain Foundry provides custom blockchain consulting, development, and integration solutions that help leverage blockchain technologies. This firm targets governments and enterprises in need of customized blockchain solutions. 

Blockchain Foundry’s mission is to disrupt markets by leveraging the potential of blockchain technology. It eliminates middlemen, clearinghouses, and other mechanisms that can lead to errors, security breaches, or negatively affect your bottom line.

 

MARKETHIVE Market Network incorporates social media, digital media, ecommerce, ewallet, and inbound marketing that enables entrepreneurs, business professionals, commercial artists, etc, to utilize a blockchain-driven state of the art platform that encompasses every aspect of inbound marketing and social media engagement where it rewards all users’ activity with MHV and allowing all users’ to prosper on many levels. 

With the ability to take advantage of the many cottage industries within the ecosystem brings financial sovereignty, privacy, autonomy to every individual with a genuine opportunity to be in control of your future with peace of mind and set to champion the social media and internet marketing industry. 

 

The Blockchain Crypto Industry Is Expanding 

Worldwide, the numbers show that blockchain-based technology and cryptocurrency use is growing. Blockchain wallet users rose from nearly 9 million in 2016 to over 47 million recorded in March 2020.

Only 100 decentralized apps (DApps) were produced by developers in 2015. with that number skyrocketing to over 3,118 by 2020.

Overall, cryptocurrencies are helping to create an innovative and accessible financial system around the world giving back freedom and autonomy to the community at large. 

 

“Cryptocurrency deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy.”
                                                                                     Adena Friedman, President & CEO of NASDAQ

 

While the future of the new cryptocurrency economy is still taking shape, one thing is for sure, cryptocurrencies are infinitely changing the way we view and measure the value of money.

Grounded in decentralized and autonomous systems, cryptocurrencies are having an unprecedented effect in the financial world. Ultimately, cryptocurrencies will help to transform finance as we know it, delivering a slew of investment opportunities across the global economy and a more secure, autonomous way to engage and conduct business online. 

 

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

IMPRESSIONS – CLICKS – CONVERSIONS – REACH Are These Metrics Equally Important In Marketing?

IMPRESSIONS – CLICKS – CONVERSIONS – REACH 
Are These Metrics Equally Important In Marketing?

Do you just randomly post advertisements in the hope they bring results without knowing the statistics of the process? Sorting out the data produced by an online advertising campaign can be an intimidating task, especially if you’re new to online advertising. If you’re a marketer you will have heard of the terminology used to measure statistics of an online ad campaign but it’s not always clear or understood how they are differentiated and why all metrics are equally important. 

Many understand the importance of social media engagement, however, when it comes to strategy, it’s critical to know the difference between the key terms or metrics, that are frequently used, as it will help you make sense of your campaign statistics. It’s all about accurately measuring your data to know what’s working and identifying areas where you can increase your efforts or improve on your content where it’s not working so well. 

Defining The Basics Of Metrics

REACH  
Reach is the total number of unique people who can see your ad or content. If 1000 people in total have seen your ad, that means your ad’s reach is 1000.

The advantage of having accounts on various social media platforms and a central system that allows you to broadcast your blog or advertisement to those individual platforms have the potential to increase your reach into the millions. Markethive, with its proprietary blogcasting system, is the springboard and gives you the ability to create massive reach which is exponential and very powerful. 

For example, If I subscribe to your blog and I have 20,000 followers across all my social media accounts, and you have 15,000 subscribers each with a similar following, your blogs have now been potentially seen by around 300,000,000 people which by enlarge are not directly subscribed to you. 

Every time you publish a blog with Markethive as the core platform, that article is posted out to literally hundreds even thousands of social network news feeds and WordPress sites. 

 

IMPRESSIONS
Impressions are the number of times your content or advertisement is delivered and displayed on any given website or page. Let’s say that your ad from the previous example above popped up on those people’s screens a total of 3000 times. That means the number of impressions used for that ad is 3000.

Impressions are where your online advertising begins, and most likely where you will see the highest numbers as an impression is generated every time a webpage is loaded and potentially viewed. It’s important to note that just because the banner was displayed doesn’t guarantee the visitor saw it. 

It’s a bit like driving past a billboard on the side of the road, the ad is displayed continuously but it doesn’t mean that you took any notice of it. So, in a sense, every car that passes the billboard would represent an impression, as the potential for the ad to be viewed is there but no guarantee that every driver saw it.

Impressions are typically used for displaying banner advertisements across the internet on any site that allows this type of advertising. This comes at a cost that varies across the board and usually set by the management of the company website. See some comparisons here 

This protocol has now been preceded by a new system that is unprecedented, as Markethive, the social market network and ecosystem for entrepreneurs have developed a Banner Impressions Exchange (BIX) which is advertising as a non-fungible token built into an exchange.

This system delivers to the media buyer a transparent value for their impressions in an exchange type environment. This ensures open market principles, allowing the media buyer to buy impressions from the exchange similar to buying coins in a coin exchange. The market sets the price.


Image credit – Markethive Associate, Dan Bruning

Traffic Impressions Are Like Electricity
Traffic impressions are like electricity, in that they cannot be stored, they are only effective at the moment as is electricity. As electricity the rate or cost is determined by the utility at a set rate, as is the case across the world or as is now that case the price is determined in the exchange based on supply and demand, making its value determined by the demand and effectiveness. 

This also means third party sites can join the Markethive Banner Impressions Exchange to put their impressions up for sale based on the same principle of supply and demand and the free market driving the value accordingly. 

In the case of the Banner Impressions Exchange, impressions can not be rolled over to the following month. If they are not allocated to a particular banner advertisement or sold to a buyer within the present month, they are purged at the end of that month and replaced by the next month’s impression allocation.

 
CLICKS
Clicks are usually seen as the most important step in the online advertising process, as a click means you have an interested visitor and a potential sale. 

A click is recorded when a visitor clicks on your banner which takes them to your website where a lead is captured or the possibility of a sale. But when it comes to clicks in relation to impressions, you need the impressions to generate a click and since not every person who views your banner (which is counted as an impression) will click on it, you will always have more impressions than clicks. 

This ratio of clicks to impressions is measured by what’s known as the click-through rate (CTR). To calculate CTR, simply divide the number of clicks by the number of impressions.

For example, if your banner received 1,000 impressions and out of that you got 25 clicks, you would have a 2.5% CTR. The rule of thumb is that a banner with a high CTR is effective at grabbing a visitor’s attention, while a low CTR banner means that you may need to tweak something about the banner image or ad text to hopefully harvest more clicks.

Your ideal ad click-through rate takes time to determine. It’s not the same for everyone, and average CTR also depends on such factors as your industry and keywords, and how competitive they are.

Based on the internal data of Wordstream, they’ve determined that the average CTR across all industries in Google Ads is 1.91% on the search network and 0.35% on the display network. The graphic below shows the variation in the average click-through rate for twenty different industries.


Image Credit – Wordstream

 

CONVERSIONS
Conversions are the ultimate goal and end result that every marketer sets out to accomplish.

Generating conversions means that the purpose of the advertisement/banner has been achieved. The term conversion covers a broad spectrum of actions including capturing a lead, making a sale, or just having a visitor download an ebook or whitepaper, etc. It’s good to measure the effectiveness of any campaign by determining how many conversions are achieved to how many dollars spent. This calculates your return on investment (ROI). 

 

All Metrics Are Equally Important

When you’re analyzing your campaign data, it’s not a good idea to draw conclusions based upon only one metric. You always need to consider how each metric relates to the other. 

For example, (1) you may have an ad that has a particularly high CTR, but a disheartening conversion rate. Or the opposite, (2) you may have an ad that gets very few clicks, but when it does, it almost always converts. 

The first scenario is not ideal because you’ll spend a lot of money on clicks but have little to show for it especially if you’re using pay per click (PPC). The second scenario is not really okay either, because you won’t be able to properly scale that campaign to any significant size.

One of the most reliable ways to determine where best to channel your resources is by using a metric known as “Profit per Impression” (PPI). This metric takes both the beginning being impressions, and ending being conversions or (profit) points of the advertising process, and uses them to determine the ultimate viability of an ad campaign. 

This is particularly helpful when participating in Markethive’s Banner Impressions Exchange, where you can purchase impressions for your Banner Ad Campaigns. 

 

How Do You Calculate PPI?

The way to calculate PPI is to simply find out how much profit (not revenue) you generated from a campaign, and then divide that by the number of ad impressions it took to produce that profit. 

For example, if it took a total of 90,000 impressions to produce $20,000 in profits, then your PPI would be $0.22 ($20,000 divided by 90,000 impressions). This enables you to see how well your banners perform after all costs have been accounted for. Campaigns with high PPIs will ultimately be the best candidates for scaling and growth.

By keeping the Profit per Impression (PPI) metric in mind gives you more confidence and you will be more clear as to which ads will ultimately generate the most profit for your advertising campaign.

 

Another Factor To Consider – The Rule Of 7 – What Is It?

The Rule of 7 is a marketing principle that states that your prospects need to come across your offer at least seven times before they really notice it and start to take action. Your prospects can be exposed to your offer significantly more than seven times, but they need to see it at least seven times.

This helps them remember you amongst an overwhelming amount of marketing messages, other information or clutter, and positions you to get better results from your marketing efforts. It’s not just about banners – social media and all digital marketing require a thoughtful content strategy approach. This is accomplished by sharing content, interacting with people, and targeting ads to people who are interested in what you sell.

Socially-savvy companies like Markethive have the best of both worlds when it comes to marketing your business. It has the social newsfeed and specific storefront groups, inbound marketing tools, and now the banner impressions exchange. This gives you the ability to engage with prospects at every level of the buying process as it’s been proven that the more positive contact you have, the easier it is to develop and sustain relationships and ultimately attain more sales. 


 
What Can Marketers Do To Capitalize On The Rule Of 7?

So if the Rule of 7 involves encouraging repeat interactions with prospects, how do you do this?

  • Have a very clear idea of who your customers are. Develop a plan to make yourself visible amongst your target customers and know where they hang out or which websites they visit.

  • Make quality and consistent use of Banner Advertising on high profile sites with lots of relevant traffic.

  • Have a content marketing plan that gets your prospects to notice you, so you need to provide content they perceive will add value for them. Your blogs or articles should start conversations and prompt people to want to find out more about you and your product, so make sure you have the necessary calls to action to lead them to where you want them to go.

  • Amplify your content into social media. Ideally, your content will get you some SEO visibility, but broadcasting your content to the various social media channels will increase your reach.

  • Have an email nurture campaign. Don’t think of email as an opportunity to make sales. Think of it as a way to help and nurture your prospects and customers. Drive email opt-ins by offering helpful free content that they can subscribe to.

With these initiatives in place, you will start to develop a level of visibility that will mean your prospects are being more frequently exposed to your brand. This can all be achieved and facilitated within the Markethive Platform utilizing its comprehensive range of marketing tools. 

The result will be an increase in brand searches, an increase in the number of inquiries, leading to an increase in sales. Don’t expect overnight results, this requires a consistent, long term effort.

You need to have a bigger picture view to see how all these metrics and systems with all their different moving parts work together, especially when it comes to valuing impressions, clicks, and conversions. The best way to get a good understanding of how these factors work together and track your results is to constantly test and tweak your marketing campaigns. 

 

References; 260Digital B2B Marketing

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IN A DIGITAL UNIVERSE

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IN A 
DIGITAL UNIVERSE

GOING BEYOND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. The future is in technology, but the bigger future is in transcending it.

Right now we are experiencing exponential change with the term Digital Transformation re-emerging to what was a fuzzy and undefined topic where many talked about it but didn’t really understand its true meaning or purpose, to a newer more holistic model that is imperative for sustainability and going forward with purpose in this digital world. 

The word Digital in this context can be considered as a synonym for the pace of change occurring in today’s world driven by the rapid adoption of technology. Existing companies are put under tremendous pressure making many of them irrelevant as they are not keeping up with the changes. Because of rapid technology adoption, companies need to change how it operates to be able to create and sustain a competitive advantage of how users engage within the system.

There are two different types of organizations – Those that are just doing digital, and a new kind being digital innovators. These digital innovators are way out in front as they are disrupting every sector of the marketplace that is enabled by this new technology adoption.  The mistake many companies are making is they are just digitizing existing services or simply adding the technology and calling it digital transformation, but that’s not what digital transformation is now. 

 

So What Is Digital Transformation? 

Digital transformation was previously understood to be when a company went paperless, or when a brick and mortar company gets a website or starts a Twitter account, but it’s much more than that now. 

Digital transformation is a journey of strategic, planned organizational change that starts by empowering individuals and teams with new methods to create highly responsive strategies that are predominantly data-driven and a courageous culture of innovation. 

It is the right leadership that creates a high performing, innovative organization that is delivered by marketers and technologists primarily. It is transforming innovation, teams, and culture enabled by technology allowing collaboration, new levels of efficiency, and adding more value to users’ interactions and engagement. 


Image credit Brian Solis

“Business As Usual” Is No More

Once upon a time, “business as usual” was often good enough, but now with technology advancing exponentially, “business as usual” is dead. In a world where everything is connected, considered to be equally excellent and performance is reaching perfection, the biggest innovation is yet to be realized. We as human beings are the central point fuelled by digitization, mobilization, augmentation, disintermediation, automation, and more. 

The way we work will never be the same and the skills we need will be dramatically different. So how do we discover new opportunities in one of the most transformational times in human history?  Are you driving change or are you being driven by it? 

Disruption is ever-present in this new normal. Change has stopped happening gradually and it now happening exponentially as everything that was dumb and disconnected is now wired and intelligent. The next 20 years will change faster than the last 300 years.  

Increasingly, science fiction is becoming science fact. Exponential technologies are rapidly changing our lives and societies, every day and everywhere. Everything from smartphones to home appliances, cars, cities, and ports, even our bodies will be wired. 

One such example is that Elon Musk believes he can merge our minds with machines. His new venture called Neuralink is a thin mesh device that is inserted into the skull that is then connected to the internet so we can upload our brains and become superhuman. Really! He’s done some great things but I’m not sure this is a good thing for humanity. 

Musk suggests it’s a way of gearing up, but we don’t have to compete with technology in becoming technology. We can embrace it and as Gerd Leonhard, a futurist speaker says, “technology is not what we seek, but how we seek it.” 


Adapted by Gerd Leonhard

Two Primary Keys Go Hand In Hand

So this has created a new paradigm. The biggest innovation needed to be realized is that we need to go from dehumanization to re-humanization and have a different purpose. Not just profit, growth, jobs, and GDP, but people, planet, purpose, and prosperity. Technology is the key to this and the other key is ethics. 

Technology can do great things but someone has to decide what those great things are. Technology drives our future, but ethics defines it. I think it’s safe to say algorithms know the logic of everything but the feelings of nothing. It can’t comprehend emotional intelligence, so we need to invest as much in humanity as we do in technology.

Quantum computing fuels big data and the internet of things (IoT) fuels artificial intelligence and deep learning which in turn fuels robotics, however anything that cannot be digitized or automated will become extremely valuable. Human-only traits such as creativity, imagination, intuition, emotion, and ethics will become more important in the future because machines are very good at simulating, but not good at “being”.

Robots and software will take over some of our work, but this allows us to focus on things that cannot be automated. Technology is defined by automation, even knowledge is automated… just need to Google it. But what cannot be automated is understanding that knowledge. That requires human perception.  If we go beyond technology and data to reach human insights and wisdom, only then, will we have a perfect balance. 

How And Why = Holistic

Technology represents the “How” of change and humans represent the “Why”. The future is about holistic business models and the opportunity is to be liquid, learn, and be one step ahead of the inevitable. This will take complete transformations, not just single improvements, with a focus on new ecosystems, not individual systems.

The future is in our hands today, it’s not tomorrow. The future is not a time frame, it’s a mindset. There has been a boom in technology over the last 4 years and it seems in the last few months technology has come out on top, given the COVID-19 situation with the surveillance tools now being implemented. This crisis is a test of our humanity. The more we connect with technology the more we must protect what makes us human. 

Humanity is where true and lasting value is created as we engage, relate, and buy things because of the experiences they provide. The new way to work is to embrace technology, but not to become it. The future is in technology, but the bigger future is in transcending it.       

As I said before, technology drives our future, but ethics defines it. This is what went wrong with Facebook as it has been ethically irresponsible and said to be destroying the very fabric of human relationships by inciting anger amongst the users due to the threat of democracy and its censorious nature. The real damage being done is to people’s mental health, to a cohesive and functional society, and to free speech itself.  

Also, it has been documented that “data is the new oil”, but given the lack of ethics with data harvesting, it can also be addressed as “data is the new plutonium”. It can be used as a weapon. 

“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right (or the power) to do and what is the right thing to do.” – Potter Stewart. 

 

The Heart Of Digital Transformation

We need different skills, and we need to be comfortable and effective with driving change, or we will be driven by it. One company that is driving transformational change in the social media, marketing network sector is Markethive.  Here we get to enjoy our autonomy and free speech along with a sustainable balance between technology and humanity. 

Digital transformation is a process, not a destination. It’s not a workaround adding technology on top to an existing company, it’s a total re-work. It’s where systems and infrastructures are designed to be digital and can scale seamlessly and thrive in that domain. Markethive has been built and rebuilt from the ground up, starting off with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

The very fabric of Markethive is it’s collaborative and entrepreneurial nature of the community. Markethive’s culture is not fixed, but a decentralized, autonomous, fluid environment that is founded, built, operated, and used by entrepreneurs. It is self-governing, independent, and sovereign by design with a culture of innovation. It is the personification of Digital Transformation. 

Integrated with state-of-the-art blockchain, cryptocurrency, inbound marketing, and decentralized database technologies, Markethive has constructed a social market network that provides a “Universal Income” created exclusively with entrepreneurs in mind and will benefit greatly from its ultimate success. 

What to date has become the “norm” of social platforms having full access to your private and other data to use for their benefit is over. Your voice is yours, and yours alone, and you should benefit from it as well as your work and success you achieve through the Markethive platform. 

There are so many facets to Markethive. This is a mammoth undertaking and a continuous one. For as long as technology evolves so will Markethive along with the humanity within it. Check out the Markethive Blog Section which segments the many components of this complete Entrepreneurial ecosystem to understand what we have here.

 From the Visionary, Founder and CEO and of Markethive, Thomas Prendergast,

“Look beyond the looking glass. Markethive is not just this Newsfeed. But this Newsfeed is unique and the portal to the unlimited power of Markethive.”

 

Conclusion

Markethive’s continuous objective and mission are to provide a social environment, complete with an arsenal of technology, that champions the rise of the entrepreneur. We should embrace technology but not become it or be overcome by it. Anything that can be digitized or automated, will be, and anything that cannot be digitized or automated will become extremely valuable. Markethive with its collaborative community goes beyond technology and defines the real human values in this new digital ecosystem. Digital ethics is Markethive’s key differentiator. 

Join us at our weekly webinars on Sundays at 10 am (Mountain Time) to stay informed of Markethive’s evolvements as they happen. Witness the true collaboration and heart of Markethive and its members. The link to join the meetings can be found in the Markethive calendar.  See You there! 

 

Resources: Ionology, Gerd Leonhard

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

CRYPTO AD NETWORKS Overcoming The Adversities Of A Nascent Industry

CRYPTO AD NETWORKS
Overcoming The Adversities Of A Nascent Industry

The cryptocurrency sphere is no longer considered a craze only supported and bolstered up by tech geeks and anarchists. Cryptocurrencies have become a whole new financial class by themselves and Blockchain technology is at the forefront as we move into a new world where the recent events have seen complete economic chaos and we are now recession-bound on a global scale. 

Whether it’s a mining collective, a crypto exchange, an ICO or ILP with a specific use case,  or plain old marketing – inbound, affiliate, referral, the whole gamut, a myriad of opportunities has opened up for companies, and the individual, that is focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain, in order to create an ecosystem of self-sovereignty, financial and otherwise, along with transparency, and a trustless environment where society isn’t at the behest of the powers-that-be.    

However, getting the word out to the people en-masse has been inhibited and a hindrance to this emerging industry which is a concern to the advertising and marketing of the blockchain and crypto businesses.

  
Advertising Network Adversities

Traditional ad networks and social media giants like Google, Facebook, Youtube, et al have either outright banned any type of advertising/marketing content relating to crypto, or have placed unreasonable conditions such as requiring a license from a governmental authority. 

Also, their policies could change in the blink of an eye without any warning, such as YouTube banning cryptocurrency channels, or Facebook’s constant run-ins with blockchain ads.  
                                                                         
And even if you somehow do find a way to run crypto ads, you’ll be restricted in a variety of ways that would severely impact the success and reach of your campaigns. For instance, 

  • Everything is dependent on whims and fancies of the network, and its changing policies towards crypto. 
  • Little to no targeting options on the audience you seek to engage
  • The requirement to share a lot of personal information.
  • Campaigns will be put under stricter scrutiny, and go through a longer review period
  • Restrictions on the type of payment methods you can employ
  • Limited number/type of websites where you can advertise

Furthermore, as technology keeps evolving, it is crucial for businesses in the sector to keep pace and grow along with it. This is why it’s become vital for advertisers, and publishers, to seek out alternatives. 

A Real Need For Cryptocurrency Ad Networks

Cryptocurrency ad networks are niche online advertising platforms connecting advertisers and publishers who share a common objective of promoting cryptocurrency marketing campaigns. Like with any other ad network, publishers offer their ad space and advertisers pay to use that. 

Crypto ad networks offer a myriad of benefits, such as:

  • Connecting predominantly with advertisers and publishers from the Crypto sphere. 
  • Multiple ad options like banner ads, sponsored articles, press releases and more          
  • Targeted audience of a younger generation and people already interested in crypto 
  • A requirement of little to no personal information
  • Faster campaign approval process.
  • Custom-designed crypto banners
  • Dedicated customer support 
  • Cryptocurrency payment methods

 

 Below are 3 prominent Cryptocurrency Ad Networks helping the industry grow. 

COINBOUND

While Coinbound’s ad network is one of the newer entrants in the field, the company backing it is a renowned name in the crypto marketing world that manages marketing for top cryptocurrency companies. Coinbound offers prime personalized services with a high degree of flexibility and one of the lowest CPMs of all networks.

  • Geo-targeting of the audience with specific interests, and other demographic data.
  • Multiple display ad-options.
  • Connecting only high-quality publishers, and advertisers in the crypto industry.
  • Free crypto banner Ad designs by an award-winning in-house design team.
  • Low CPM rates with high conversion and click-through rates.
  • Ability to target audience for specific sites and pages.
  • 24/7 support.
  • Press release issues and accessibility across top media publishers. 
  • Alexa Rank 248,912 at the time of this publication.

 

COINZILLA

Another ad network making its mark is Coinzilla. It was founded in 2016 and has strict rules regarding the quality of websites and content used in its network. It currently promotes over 200 brands with 500 publishers in its ranks. 

  • Multiple advertising options such as native advertising, CPM, pop-up/under, etc.
  • Only high-quality websites, older than 3 months, with optimal site speed and Alexa rankings.
  • Strict adherence to rules on ads, with instant bans to faucets, giveaways, false promises, etc.
  • Allows casinos, ICOs, exchange promotions, affiliates, etc.
  • Alexa Rank 27,739 at the time of this publication.

 

MARKETHIVE

To add to the mix we now have a decentralized option, and that is exactly where Markethive trumps the other ad networks. Taking away the middleman, the social market network connects advertisers and publishers directly to offer a transparent, cost-effective, and censorship-resistant ad platform. 

  • A complete ecosystem that is free to join.
  • Decentralized with delivery to multiple domains.
  • Markethive blockchain capable of managing a global advertising industry and instantaneous micropayments.
  • Payouts in MHV coins.
  • Censorship resistant, with publisher retaining full control on what to display on their website.
  • Suited for both big and smaller players due to low barriers of entry, yet safe and reliable network.
  • Banner Impressions eXchange – (BIX). First of its kind where you can purchase impressions from a Markethive associate at very low CPM rates. 
  • Detailed and reliable analytics.
  • Alexa Rank 5,649 at the time of this publication.

 

Coming Up In Markethive… 

Markethive is making great headway to incorporating a press release and sponsored article platform as well as social newsfeed boost, newsletter sponsorship, and gamified video advertising which enables you to build powerful campaigns. These are all part of the cottage businesses within Markethive that are designed to be facilitated by the members, not the corporate body, with the purpose of generating an income for the users. 

CEO and Founder of Markethive, Thomas Prendergast is behind the scenes working tirelessly along with the engineers preparing to launch these unique platforms;

“So we have just made a major turn in our system and have a lot of work to do. A landing page to sell/buy our impressions from an exchange, to make that page a template in the Page Maker for your use, and gearing the system for the next Entrepreneur Two direction building the Press Release exchange. Producing several Press Releases to promote our new Digital Media Impressions Exchange. This is also a time for you to get a head start sharing this.”

 

A Perfect Opportunity

Markethive Entrepreneurs have a perfect opportunity right now to reach out to 3rd party sellers to meet with and discuss getting their impressions listed on their sites. Sites like the ones mentioned above. Collaboration will result in creating a monster of an ad network that will be immune to the idiosyncratic and censorship behavior of the tech giants. 

Also, in the interim and as an introductory offer in celebration to the newly launched BIX, you as Markethive Entrepreneurs have the ability to advertise your Markethive referral page and offer free banner ad impressions for joining you at Markethive.

 

The Prime Objective Of Alexa Ranking

The Alexa ranking measures traffic on any given website from subscribers and visitors that have the Alexa Extension installed. Alexa rank is a measure of website popularity. It ranks millions of websites in order of popularity, with an Alexa Rank of 1 being the most popular. 

Alexa rank is calculated using a proprietary methodology that combines a site's estimated traffic and visitor engagement over the past three months. Although every website’s goal is to achieve a low Alexa ranking, it has no bearing on the number of digital impressions a site generates so there is no negative effect on banner impression sales.

Sites that have Alexa ranking like Chronicle of around 16,000, charge $66 CPM, and estimating their impressions from Worth Of Web, we can estimate they are receiving 13 million impressions per month with a potential income over $8.5 million. 

AMBcrypto has an Alexa rank of 53,893 and charges $5,500 to run a banner duration for a month. They average about 100-200 banner ads per month displayed based on IP address, time, and random rotation.

However, if you have not installed the Alexa Browser extension, please do so. It does help to give Alexa more accurate data with visitors.
https://www.alexa.com/toolbar

 

Crypto Advertising Market Growing

There are quite a few more crypto ad networks catering to the crypto sphere such as Bitmedia, Ad Shares, Cointraffic, Ad Dragon, Coin Ads, Mellow Ads, Propeller Ads and now we can add Markethive to the list with its Banner Impressions eXchange operating live now.

Markethive with its BIX Banner Impressions Exchange has created a non-fungible impressions token that is now traded in an open market assuring all purchases and set by the free market insuring you pay the right rates for advertising. You might call it free enterprise we call it a fair market for the entrepreneur from Markethive.

Conclusion

Connect with entrepreneurs, techies, crypto nerds, artists, innovators, musicians, and professional members both subscribers and traffic. You can get the first-mover advantage by advertising your product or service on Markethive and Markethive subsidiaries. The average user comes to Markethive to learn how to build an Inbound Marketing campaign, promote their services, connect with other members, and discover services to purchase.

Markethive, the complete market network on blockchain, provides a valuable inbound marketing platform, commerce portals, and a social network where users can learn, engage, expand markets, and be introduced to trusted providers. Markethive provides education, mentoring, direction, and professional services all the while earning MHV coin through its micropayment faucet system. This is just the beginning of the next-generation network built for the crypto-preneur.  

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Gemini vs Coinbase which one is better?

Gemini vs Coinbase – which one is better?

Gemini vs Coinbase – which one is better?

According to a recent report, cryptocurrency searches have almost tripled over the last six months. This is in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic which has brought the world to its knees. People are fully aware that the ongoing crisis is going to adversely affect the economy hence they are looking for a haven to store their wealth. Normally they would turn to gold, but as they say “cryptocurrencies are the new gold.” This leads us to the next very critical question; what is a cryptocurrency? I would like to believe that most of my readers have come across this term before because cryptocurrencies have been making headlines and grabbing so much attention lately. However, for those who have never heard of this term before, you have so much catching up to do; but don’t you worry because I’ve got you covered.

Cryptocurrencies are digital coins whose operation is exclusively online.

Most of them do not have a physical representation. Also, they have the same uses as the fiat money we are accustomed to. Some common cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Monero. One of the many ways in which cryptocurrencies differ from traditional money is in the way that they are acquired. While traditional money is distributed by central banks, cryptocurrencies are bought from online exchanges. As a beginner in crypto, you need an exchange that is user-friendly and available in your country. Very many people want to embark on their cryptocurrency journey but do not know just where to start. Today there are very many exchanges to choose from; Gemini and Coinbase are two of the biggest and most trusted exchanges out here. The following “Gemini vs Coinbase” review explores the two exchanges in such a way that you will be able to make an informed decision about which one suits you best

Gemini vs Coinbase: what is Gemini?

Gemini is a well-respected cryptocurrency exchange which was founded in 2015. Its mane is a reference to the zodiac sign that depicts a pair of twins which is quite clever because it is the brainchild of the Winklevoss twins. Its creators are two of the earliest investors in Bitcoin. With its headquarters in New York and strict compliance with existing regulation; the exchange has quickly become a favorite among high-volume investors and institutional traders. One of its outstanding features is that it offers extra security to its users, unlike most other exchanges. This exchange is all-rounded; it allows its users to purchase cryptocurrencies using fiat money which is not the case for many exchanges. It also offers an “on and off-ramp” to cryptocurrency making it a direct competitor with the likes of CEX.io, Kraken, and Bitstamp. It also offers users a lot of extra security features that are lacking in many exchanges.

Distinctive Features

  • Has highly respected staples of the cryptocurrency industry
  • Offers both bank and wire deposit options
  • Responsive customer support
  • Allows both cryptocurrency and fiat money withdrawals
  • Offers advanced trading options in the form of different kinds of buy and sell orders
  • Within the US, it accepts deposits made using Automated Clearing House (ACH)
  • Gemini supported states include Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Canada, and the US
  • Accepts both cryptocurrency and fiat money
  • Offline storage of cryptocurrency and fiat money to protect from hacking

Coinbase Vs Gemini: what is Coinbase?

Coinbase is arguably the most popular digital currency globally. Its headquarters are currently in San Francisco, California and it was established by Fred Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong in 2011. Coinbase is user-friendly and easy to maneuver as compared to other exchanges. It also offers various options for buying and purchasing different digital assets. Most cryptocurrency exchanges are advanced with sophisticated buying and selling options such as ‘limit orders’ and ‘market orders’. It is the absence of these sophisticated features that make Coinbase well suited for beginners. Once you get accustomed to the exchange you can then progress to GDAX which is a more advanced platform that is associated with Coinbase.

Distinctive features

  • Available in over 100+ countries including USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, and Australia
  • It offers very responsive customer support
  • Deals with both cryptocurrency and fiat money
  • Offers simplified instant buying options
  • Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are available
  • Both the money and cryptocurrency are stored offline for protection from hacking

Gemini vs Coinbase: How is Gemini better than Coinbase?

  1. Better security

First of all, both exchanges take their customers’ protection very seriously and have additional security measures in place. They both separate the users’ money from the money which they use to operate. And also enforce the two-factor authentication which decreases the likelihood of an account being hacked or phished. Those are just a few of the security measures that both exchanges have put in place.

Gemini however, takes some extreme measures to secure its customers’ funds. They have secured the few digital assets that are stored online in a hot wallet using Amazon Web Services which high level of security controls. Also, only high-level employees can access the coins stored on hot wallets not to mention the hot wallets are accessed through multi-factor authentication (more advanced than two-factor authentication). They use two-level cold storage whose access to cold storage requires the simultaneous actions of more than one employee, thus increasing security. Both hot and cold wallet keys are secured on hardware that has passed a high level of security checks. Lastly, security hardware comes from different manufacturers to prevent supply-chain issues. These extreme measures could be the reason why it was picked by the Chicago Board Options Exchange to settle its Bitcoin futures in 2017. Its high-security precautions make it a better alternative for professional traders who store large volumes of cryptocurrency. However, be advised that exchanges are not suitable for long term storage.

2. Lower fees

Gemini outperforms Coinbase when it comes to fees; they are your best bet to save as much as possible on fees. It does not charge fees for deposits or withdrawals and it only charges a 0.25% or even less fee for trading. Coinbase on the other hand charges around 1.49% for bank transfers and purchases and 3.99% for credit/debit card purchases. Thanks to their very low fees, Gemini is the best alternative for high-volume traders. Most professional traders feel that Coinbase eats a very huge chunk of their profits.

Coinbase vs Gemini: How is Coinbase better than Gemini?

  1. User-friendliness

Coinbase certainly beats Gemini when it comes to user-friendliness. Their website is not only easy to maneuver but also quite responsive. They offer an immediate option for buying and selling digital coins. You can signup, make a deposit into the site and successfully buy your first cryptocurrency in just a matter of seconds. Although the registration at both Gemini and Coinbase is pretty much alike, Coinbase is much easier for a beginner to maneuver. There are no confusing terms, you just log in and conduct your transactions. Gemini is friendlier for experienced traders because it has more advanced features; it offers a clutter-free interface, clean and the options are set out. However, for an absolute beginner, Coinbase is the charm.

  1. Higher trade volumes

Most new users make their first few purchases using Coinbase because it is very user friendly; it is therefore not surprising that the exchange trades more coins than Gemini. For instance, in 5 months. Coinbase can trade over 5.20 BTC while Gemini only trades 1.7 BTC.

  1. Coin availability

While both platforms offer a small variety of cryptocurrencies, Coinbase has a better coin availability than Gemini. They provide Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash; while Gemini provides Bitcoin and Ethereum only. This makes Coinbase a better option for traders who prefer to deal with a wider variety of coins.

  1. Extensive deposit methods

Coinbase and Gemini both have different ways of funding their customers’ accounts. However, Coinbase offers more extensive deposit methods; their customers can buy their digital coins using a debit card, a credit card or a bank transfer. While Gemini only offers the bank transfer option. Cryptocurrency deposits are welcome for the specific cryptocurrencies supported by either exchange. Withdrawals follow the same deposit methods for either exchange.

  1. Offers higher purchasing limits

Coinbase does not give any clear limits on new customers; instead, these limits are dictated by factors such as account verification, buying history and account age. The customer’s limit is shown on his/her account’s verification page. Bank transfer limits can reach up to $5,000 per week while credit card limits can go up to $60 per week. Gemini, on the other hand, has predefined bank transfers purchasing limits of $ 500 per day. Therefore, Coinbase is your better option if you are looking to immediately lock in a price higher than $500. Lastly, both Gemini and Coinbase offer wire transfers for those users looking to deposit larger sums; though prior direct communication with them is mandatory.

Conclusion

There you have it! Our complete guide of Gemini vs Coinbase. I hope that helped in distinguishing between the two exchanges. Coinbase is recommended for beginners; despite its high fees the convenience and user-friendliness are commendable. It is also the best option for you if you want to use a credit card. Gemini, on the other hand, is best for experienced traders, those who want to take their trading to another level. It is also a great option when it comes to saving on fees. With both sites being trustworthy, secure and very responsive to their customers; the winner of the Gemini vs Coinbase battle boils down to the user’s needs and preferences. What do you think? Which one is better? Is it Gemini or is it Coinbase?

Article Produced By
Zerocrypted

https://zerocrypted.com/gemini-vs-coinbase-which-one-is-better/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE ON YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS?

HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE ON YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS?

MARKETING HAS EVOLVED OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS, SO WHAT'S NEW?

I came across an interesting theory by Mark Schaefer, Blogger, and Keynote Speaker of all things marketing, and I thought it was quite on point. This puts a broader perspective on how we conduct our marketing efforts and how things have changed over the last 100 years. 

The role of marketing is changing dramatically. We are in the third rebellion where consumers are now in control. The customers are telling our stories. The customer is the marketer.

Back in the 1950s, advertising was a promise to consumers. An extraordinary promise and generally people just took the advertisers at their word. They’ve believed their claims. Advertising started to heat up and as the competition became more fierce, these claims became more remarkable until they became just lies. So the first consumer rebellion was "the end of lies". 

 

The advent of the second rebellion came around the mid-’90s by the sound of a phone line dial tone connecting to the internet signal. It was the dawn of the information age and enabled by technology, where anybody could gather info on any company or government that left the companies terrified. Now the consumers can do their own research, compare products and claims. This was the second rebellion, led by technology, "the end of secrets".

Now we’re in the third rebellion, "the end of control". Today we are experiencing that consumers are now in control. They are a lot more skeptical about what they’re are being told through bold advertisements, so now what? What does a business do to win over a customer these days? 

Before the internet, we mostly kept our brand experiences to ourselves. Maybe we told a few people in our innermost circles. Only a minority of people were motivated to complain or compliment the brand, wrote, or called the company. Once the internet arrived, a few more emailed companies their thoughts.

Then came social media.

Image by contentgroup 

 

In the mid-2000s as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube launched, marketers discovered that not only could they advertise there, but consumers could express their feelings and share their experiences with brands there. Suddenly consumers had the same kind of broad media platform that brands had enjoyed for years. Social media reversed the communication flow of brand messages and turbocharged it.

Social media is producing little pockets or groups of consumers engaging and sharing positive or negative information about their experiences of any given brand or company.  Markets are now conversations and customers are in control of those conversations. Businesses can no longer buy their way in, they need to be invited and that’s what marketing is about today. 

 

How Can We Connect With Potential Customers?

We can go to the core of where our customers are who are sharing their thoughts or grievances with their peers. By listening and engaging more on channels such as social media, customer support, forums, and the like, we can experience and understand the consumers’ point of view. 

Connecting with them through writing blogs and articles, consistently, of interesting and relevant information will create an authoritative presence, perhaps meet a customer’s need and provide a solution that perhaps can’t be recognized in a short advertising message. This is otherwise known as content marketing which can create conversations and is a good way to be invited into the consumers’ hearts and minds. 

We can’t always control what people think of our brand, but we are able to influence it and reduce any negative experiences by being present and mindful of consumers’ perspectives. It’s a known fact that solving problems can have a greater impact on the individual who will sing your praises and even become a loyal advocate. The humanity that causes consumers to brand experiences also promotes understanding, forgiveness, and enthusiasm. 

BE MORE HUMAN in everything you do and every engagement you make. It’s about building relationships and connecting at an authentic and genuine level. The most human company wins. 

  • It’s not just about our “why.” It’s also about their “why.”
  • What is their “purpose”? Many people only buy based on their beliefs.
  • Technology should be used to help your company be more compassionate, receptive, fascinating, and useful.
  • Marketing isn’t about making promises. It’s about keeping promises.

 

Content Marketing Of All Types Still Rule

There are many different forms of Content Marketing, such as blogging, video tutorials, digital media, email newsletters, white papers, free reports, etc, and yet many people are confused about the entire concept. 

Content Marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers or loyal followers. The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell, whether it’s a product, a belief, a cause, or a corporate or personal brand. In other words, you’re educating people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you. 

All businesses are now coming online as part of the next normal searching for different and various ways to not only make their presence known but also to offer the best experience for their prospects. Content marketing is a proven way to build an audience that builds your business. Here are some basic principles to note;

  • People generally don’t want “advertising” when making purchasing decisions, they want valuable information. 
  • It’s content that people desire and seek out, and it’s great content that Google wants to rank well in the search results so those people can find your business. 
  • It’s content that spreads via social networks, generating powerful word-of-mouth exposure for savvy content marketers. 
  • It’s beneficial content that is the best way to achieve what advertising is supposed to achieve but doesn’t do so well online getting people to know, like, and trust your brand.

 

Remember, content drives the Internet, and consumers are looking for information that solves a problem, not an immediate sales pitch. Think about how to create content that makes your customers’ lives better, then the trust, credibility, and authority that content marketing creates knocks down sales resistance, all while providing a baseline introduction to the benefits of a particular product or service. 

If your content looks like an advertisement, it will be overlooked or thrown away. Make your “advertising” too valuable to throw away by wrapping it in wonderfully beneficial, readable content.

The individuals and businesses that are having the most success online tend to have a high ratio of valuable content that seemingly has no sales agenda, and mixed with periodic promotional messages. They tend to build on a number of blogs answering any questions or allaying any objections they feel a reader or prospective buyer might have even before they realize they need or want to buy a product or service. 

You will still need a strong call to action to close the sale, the trick is to keep the balance right. Use your content to build a desire for your product and create a steadfast relationship with your audience, then ask for the sale. 

Producing stellar content for your marketing is great, but that’s only one part of the equation…

 

The Other Part Of The Equation

Your content must then be properly leveraged to help you acquire customers. Even great content doesn’t distribute itself. It needs a vehicle for people to pass it along or share it, discuss its merits, hash over its controversies, blog it, mash it, tweet it, and even swipe it. 

Social media is a prime platform to distribute your content along with digital media, and the vehicle to get your content out to multiple platforms across the internet is the next generation inbound marketing platform and social network, Markethive. But blockchain-driven Markethive is more than just a vehicle, it’s a place to call home when writing your content. It’s your property and cannot be confiscated.   

As Markethive moves forward with its integrations, and upon joining, you receive a (CPanel), control panel, and WordPress system built into your assigned domain, a subdomain of hivesfeed.com AKA username.hivesfeed.com. This way you control all your content, without the worry or hassles of government overreach, and anti-freedom regulations designed to stifle the start-ups and the small entrepreneur. And let’s not forget digital sharecropping…

Digital sharecropping is a term coined by Nicholas Carr to describe a peculiar phenomenon of Web 2.0.

“One of the fundamental economic characteristics of Web 2.0 is the distribution of production into the hands of the many and the concentration of the economic rewards into the hands of the few.”

In other words, anyone can create content on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, but that content effectively belongs to the company. The more content we create for free, the more valuable the company becomes. We do the work, they reap the profit. So effectively, these companies become your landlord.

What if you moved all of your marketing to a site like Facebook? It’s local, it’s free to sign up, and it makes businesses feel like they’re doing something avant-garde.

But what happens when Facebook thinks you’ve done something that violates their terms of service and deletes your account? Or changes the way you’re allowed to talk with your customers?

“If you’re relying on Facebook or Google to bring in all of your new customers, you’re sharecropping. You’re hoping the landlord will continue to like you and support your business, but the fact is, the landlord has no idea who you are and doesn’t actually care.”

 

Build Assets You Can Control

Many content creators and bloggers have put millions of hours into their craft only to find it deleted and their internet presence and followers wiped out… myself included. But providing you have a safe haven to create and publish your content, then platforms like Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and many more search and social sites are all superb tools to add to your marketing mix.

The thing is you will want to spend most of your time and creative energy building assets that you control.

 There are three assets you should be building today and should continue to focus on for the lifetime of your online business or creative passion you want to share and continually build a following, which Markethive can help you with…

  1. A well-designed website or storefront with your own domain.
  2. An opt-in email list with a high-quality autoresponder
  3. A reputation for providing impeccable value

 

Free System – Free Speech – Autonomy

What makes Markethive different is that it’s built on a transparent blockchain system, the platform is completely decentralized delivering on our principles of privacy, transparency, autonomy, and free speech. Markethive is not spying on you, shadow banning you, or terminating accounts because of your opinions or beliefs. 

Whether you’re a Trump supporter or cryptocurrency enthusiast Markethive has no hidden agendas. We are a collaborative community that wants everyone to succeed in their own right. Furthermore, with the KYC and wallet coming into play soon, fake and hacking accounts that can result in the termination of an unwitting and innocent individual along with years of their hard work, will be a thing of the past and left behind with the social media of Web 2.0. 

 

Monetizing Your Personal Brand On The Internet

Monetizing your personal brand can take a considerable amount of time. Many aspiring bloggers and podcasters have the misconception that they can make money from their newly created blog or podcasting platform in a matter of weeks or months, but you need to build a sizable audience that cares about you and that just can’t happen overnight. 

Successful people across a wide range of industries have stated it takes tenacity, persistence, and resilience and you need to adopt a three-year mindset to achieve meaningful success with your personal brand. You just establish your voice, create that content, and keep grinding it out, year after year. Eventually, if you work hard and stick with it, you can gain enough critical mass to monetize an audience. It’s not that easy.

 

Monetizing Your Personal Brand On Markethive

By utilizing Blockchain Technology, Markethive is able to reward the hardworking content creators by paying you for writing and publishing your blogs instantly and continuously. This is all part of the micropayment faucet system within Markethive. Additional benefits include receiving MHV Coin by your readers which adds more value to bloggers who have increased subscriber levels.

Furthermore, Markethive pays you to sign up, it pays you to use the social media platform with every post and activity you perform. It also pays you to promote it. Remember Markethive is built on the Blockchain and this is why they can pay you and offer you the security and privacy other platforms don’t. This makes it so much easier to earn an income online while furthering your influence and building your personal brand with no fear of ever having it taken away from you. 

Go sign up, it is free to use all the marketing and blogging tools, get paid 500 MHV Coins on joining and enjoy the tipping feature. Yes, that’s right, we at Markethive “Tip” Instead of “Like”. It stands to reason if they tip you they like you. This is creating universal income for all entrepreneurs who are active.

The Complete Social Market Network of Web 3.0

Markethive, The Complete Social Market Network that is built for the people, is becoming well-known for its generous Infinity Airdrops and continuous micropayments faucet system so it really does PAY to be active and engaged. 

By joining Markethive you build relationships with thousands of other like-minded individuals who are actively building a business, blogging, researching, building an audience and their personal brand, etc. basically being “entrepreneurs” and advancing their businesses. You can join with these people as friends, group members, and subscribers of theirs via Blog Casting, Blog Sharing, and Blog Swiping. 

The Markethive Community is exploding and at the heart is a collaborative and supportive ethos that gives a real helping hand to those that are just starting out and is a treasure trove of new technology revenue-generating systems for the seasoned marketer. 

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

Resources: Mark Schaefer; Copyblogger

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Global Business Speaks English

Global Business Speaks English

Ready or not, English is now the global language of business. More and more multinational companies are mandating English as the common corporate language—Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and Microsoft in Beijing, to name a few—in an attempt to facilitate communication and performance across geographically diverse functions and business endeavors.

Adopting a common mode of speech isn’t just a good idea; it’s a must, even for an American company with operations overseas, for instance, or a French company focused on domestic customers. Imagine that a group of salespeople from a company’s Paris headquarters get together for a meeting. Why would you care whether they all could speak English? Now consider that the same group goes on a sales call to a company also based in Paris, not realizing that the potential customer would be bringing in employees from other locations who didn’t speak French. This happened at one company I worked with. Sitting together in Paris, employees of those two French companies couldn’t close a deal because the people in the room couldn’t communicate. It was a shocking wake-up call, and the company soon adopted an English corporate language strategy.

Similar concerns drove Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten—Japan’s largest online marketplace—to mandate in March 2010 that English would be the company’s official language of business. The company’s goal was to become the number one internet services company in the world, and Mikitani believed that the new policy—which would affect some 7,100 Japanese employees—was vital to achieving that end, especially as expansion plans were concentrated outside Japan. He also felt responsible for contributing to an expanded worldview for his country, a conservative island nation.

The multibillion-dollar company—a cross between Amazon.com and eBay—was on a growth spree: It had acquired PriceMinister.com in France, Buy.com and FreeCause in the U.S., Play.com in the UK, Tradoria in Germany, Kobo eBooks in Canada, and established joint ventures with major companies in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Brazil. Serious about the language change, Mikitani announced the plan to employees not in Japanese but in English. Overnight, the Japanese language cafeteria menus were replaced, as were elevator directories. And he stated that employees would have to demonstrate competence on an international English scoring system within two years—or risk demotion or even dismissal.

The media instantly picked up the story, and corporate Japan reacted with fascination and disdain. Honda’s CEO, Takanobu Ito, publicly asserted, “It’s stupid for a Japanese company to only use English in Japan when the workforce is mainly Japanese.” But Mikitani was confident that it was the right move, and the policy is bearing fruit. The English mandate has allowed Mikitani to create a remarkably diverse and powerful organization. Today, three out of six senior executives in his engineering organization aren’t Japanese; they don’t even speak Japanese. The company continues to aggressively seek the best talent from around the globe. Half of Rakuten’s Japanese employees now can adequately engage in internal communication in English, and 25% communicate in English with partners and coworkers in foreign subsidiaries on a regular basis.

Adopting a global language policy is not easy, and companies invariably stumble along the way. It’s radical, and it’s almost certain to meet with staunch resistance from employees. Many may feel at a disadvantage if their English isn’t as good as others’, team dynamics and performance can suffer, and national pride can get in the way. But to survive and thrive in a global economy, companies must overcome language barriers—and English will almost always be the common ground, at least for now.

The fastest-spreading language in human history, English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide—that’s one in every four of us. There are close to 385 million native speakers in countries like the U.S. and Australia, about a billion fluent speakers in formerly colonized nations such as India and Nigeria, and millions of people around the world who’ve studied it as a second language. An estimated 565 million people use it on the internet.

The benefits of “Englishnization,” as Mikitani calls it, are significant; however, relatively few companies have systematically implemented an English-language policy with sustained results. Through my research and work over the past decade with companies, I’ve developed an adoption framework to guide companies in their language efforts. There’s still a lot to learn, but success stories do exist. Adopters will find significant advantages.

Why English Only?

There’s no question that unrestricted multilingualism is inefficient and can prevent important interactions from taking place and get in the way of achieving key goals. The need to tightly coordinate tasks and work with customers and partners worldwide has accelerated the move toward English as the official language of business no matter where companies are headquartered.

Three primary reasons are driving the move toward English as a corporate standard.

Competitive pressure.

If you want to buy or sell, you have to be able to communicate with a diverse range of customers, suppliers, and other business partners. If you’re lucky, they’ll share your native language—but you can’t count on it. Companies that fail to devise a language strategy are essentially limiting their growth opportunities to the markets where their language is spoken, clearly putting themselves at a disadvantage to competitors that have adopted English-only policies.

Globalization of tasks and resources.

Language differences can cause a bottleneck—a Tower of Babel, as it were—when geographically dispersed employees have to work together to meet corporate goals. An employee from Belgium may need input from an enterprise in Beirut or Mexico. Without common ground, communication will suffer. Better language comprehension gives employees more firsthand information, which is vital to good decision making. Swiss food giant Nestlé saw great efficiency improvements in purchasing and hiring thanks to its enforcement of English as a company standard.

M&A integration across national boundaries.

Negotiations regarding a merger or acquisition are complicated enough when everybody speaks the same language. But when they don’t, nuances are easily lost, even in simple e-mail exchanges. Also, cross-cultural integration is notoriously tricky; that’s why when Germany’s Hoechst and France’s Rhône-Poulenc merged in 1998 to create Aventis, the fifth largest worldwide pharmaceutical company, the new firm chose English as its operating language over French or German to avoid playing favorites. A branding element can also come into play. In the 1990s, a relatively unknown, midsize Italian appliance maker, Merloni, adopted English to further its international image, which gave it an edge when acquiring Russian and British companies.

The fastest-spreading language in human history, English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide—that’s one in every four of us.

Obstacles to Successful English-Language Policies

To be sure, one-language policies can have repercussions that decrease efficiency. Evidence from my research at Rakuten—along with a study I conducted with Pamela Hinds of Stanford University and Catherine Cramton of George Mason University at a company I’ll call GlobalTech and a study I conducted at a firm I’ll call FrenchCo—reveals costs that global English-language rules can create. Proper rollout mitigates the risks, but even well-considered plans can encounter pitfalls. Here are some of the most common.

Change always comes as a shock.

No amount of warning and preparation can entirely prevent the psychological blow to employees when proposed change becomes reality. When Marie (all names in this article are disguised, with the exception of Mikitani and Ito) first learned of FrenchCo’s English-only policy, she was excited. She had been communicating in English with non-French partners for some time, and she saw the proposed policy as a positive sign that the company was becoming more international. That is, until she attended a routine meeting that was normally held in French. “I didn’t realize that the very first meeting after the rule came out was really going to be in English. It was a shock,” Marie says. She recalls walking into the meeting with a lot of energy—until she noticed the translator headsets.

“They’re humiliating,” she says. “I felt like an observer rather than a participant at my own company.”

Compliance is spotty.

An English mandate created a different problem for a service representative at GlobalTech. Based in Germany, the technology firm had subsidiaries worldwide. Hans, a service representative, received a frantic call from his boss when a key customer’s multimillion-dollar financial services operation ground to a halt as a result of a software glitch. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake for both the customer and GlobalTech. Hans quickly placed a call to the technical department in India, but the software team was unable to jump on the problem because all communications about it were in German—despite the English-only policy instituted two years earlier requiring that all internal communications (meetings, e-mails, documents, and phone calls) be carried out in English. As Hans waited for documents to be translated, the crisis continued to escalate. Two years into the implementation, adoption was dragging.

Self-confidence erodes.

When nonnative speakers are forced to communicate in English, they can feel that their worth to the company has been diminished, regardless of their fluency level. “The most difficult thing is to have to admit that one’s value as an English speaker overshadows one’s real value,” a FrenchCo employee says. “For the past 30 years the company did not ask us to develop our foreign-language skills or offer us the opportunity to do so,” he points out. “Now, it is difficult to accept the fact that we are disqualified.” Employees facing one-language policies often worry that the best jobs will be offered only to those with strong English skills, regardless of content expertise.

When my colleagues and I interviewed 164 employees at GlobalTech two years after the company’s English-only policy had been implemented, we found that nearly 70% of employees continued to experience frustration with it. At FrenchCo, 56% of medium-fluency English speakers and 42% of low-fluency speakers reported worrying about job advancement because of their relatively limited English skills. Such feelings are common when companies merely announce the new policy and offer language classes rather than implement the shift in a systematic way. It’s worth noting that employees often underestimate their own abilities or overestimate the challenge of developing sufficient fluency. 

Gauging Fluency

Job security falters.

Even though achieving sufficient fluency is possible for most, the reality is that with adoption of an English-only policy, employees’ job requirements change—sometimes overnight. That can be a bitter pill to swallow, especially among top performers. Rakuten’s Mikitani didn’t mince words with his employees: He was clear that he would demote people who didn’t develop their English proficiency.

Employees resist.

It’s not unusual to hear nonnative speakers revert to their own language at the expense of their English-speaking colleagues, often because it’s faster and easier to conduct meetings in their mother tongue. Others may take more aggressive measures to avoid speaking English, such as holding meetings at inopportune times. Employees in Asia might schedule a global meeting that falls during the middle of the night in England, for instance. In doing so, nonnative speakers shift their anxiety and loss of power to native speakers.

Many FrenchCo employees said that when they felt that their relatively poor language skills could become conspicuous and have career-related consequences, they simply stopped contributing to common discourse. “They’re afraid to make mistakes,” an HR manager at the firm explains, “so they will just not speak at all.”

In other cases, documents that are supposed to be composed in English may be written in the mother tongue—as experienced by Hans at GlobalTech—or not written at all. “It’s too hard to write in English, so I don’t do it!” one GlobalTech employee notes. “And then there’s no documentation at all.”

Performance suffers.

The bottom line takes a hit when employees stop participating in group settings. Once participation ebbs, processes fall apart. Companies miss out on new ideas that might have been generated in meetings. People don’t report costly errors or offer observations about mistakes or questionable decisions. One of the engineers at GlobalTech’s Indian office explained that when meetings reverted into German his ability to contribute was cut off. He lost important information—particularly in side exchanges—despite receiving meeting notes afterward. Often those quick asides contained important contextual information, background analyses, or hypotheses about the root cause of a particular problem. He neither participated in the meetings nor learned from the problem-solving discussions.

An Adoption Framework

Converting the primary language of a business is no small task. In my work I’ve developed a framework for assessing readiness and guidelines for adopting the shift. Adoption depends on two key factors: employee buy-in and belief in capacity. Buy-in is the degree to which employees believe that a single language will produce benefits for them or the organization. Belief in their own capacity is the extent to which they are confident that they can gain enough fluency to pass muster.

The two dimensions combine to produce four categories of response to the change, as shown in the matrix “Four Types of Employee Response.” Ideally, employees would fall in what I call the “inspired” category—those who are excited about the move and confident that they can make the shift. They’re optimistic and likely to embrace the challenge. But undoubtedly, some employees will feel “oppressed.” Those people don’t think the change is a good idea, and they don’t think they’ll cut it.

The reality is that without buy-in, employees won’t bother to brush up their language; without belief, they’ll lose hope. I’ve identified some guidelines managers can follow to help people along. Rakuten’s Mikitani has successfully implemented a version of this framework.

Leaders and managers can help employees move from one box to another more easily than you might expect. There are fairly simple strategies that aid the shift, typically involving some combination of a strong psychological boost and practical training. To shift employees from “frustrated” to “inspired,” for instance, managers must offer constant encouragement and an array of language-development opportunities. To shift employees from “indifferent” to “inspired,” managers must work on improving buy-in—once these employees feel invested in the change, their skills will follow.

Improving belief in capacity.

Managers can use four strategies to help people boost their belief in their ability to develop language proficiency.

Offer opportunities to gain experience with language.

Whether through education, employment, or living abroad, experience tends to give people the confidence they need to succeed in this task. You can’t change past experience, but you can provide opportunities, such as overseas language training and job rotations, that open new doors and allow employees to stretch their skills. Rakuten has sent senior executives to English-speaking countries like the UK and the U.S. for full language immersion training. Employees have also been offered weeks-long language-training programs in the Philippines. Although not easily scalable to 7,100 Japanese employees, the programs successfully produced individuals with functional English skills. Rakuten also plans to send more than 1,000 engineers to technology conferences outside Japan.

Foster positive attitudes.

Attitudes are contagious: People’s faith in their own capabilities grows when they see others around them—peers, managers, friends—having positive experiences with the radical change. The reverse is also true, unfortunately. Managers can model good risk-taking behaviors by showing that they too are trying new things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes.

Mikitani focused his personal attention on middle managers because he knew that collectively they could influence thousands of employees. He encouraged them to constantly improve their own language skills and even offered to teach them English himself if need be. (Nobody took him up on the offer.) He also encouraged managers to support their subordinates in their efforts to develop their language proficiency.

Use verbal persuasion.

Encouragement and positive reinforcement from managers and executives—simple statements like “You can do it” or “I believe in you”—make all the difference. To mitigate turnover threats at Rakuten, managers identified talent that the company wanted to retain and tailored special programs for them, all the while cheering them on. Also, Mikitani repeatedly assured his entire workforce that he would do everything in his power to help every employee meet his or her English-proficiency goals. He made it clear that he believes that with effort everyone can adequately learn the language of business and that he did not want to see anyone leave the company because of the English-only policy.

Encourage good study habits.

Companies need to contract with language vendors who specialize in helping employees at various levels of proficiency. The vendors need to be intimately familiar with the company context so that they can guide employees’ learning, from how best to allocate their time in improving skills to strategies for composing e-mails in English. Rakuten considers language development to be part of every job and grants people time during the workday to devote to it. Every morning, employees can be seen flipping through their study books in the company’s cafeteria or navigating their e-learning portals.

Improving employee buy-in.

Shifts in buy-in call for different measures. But they don’t operate in isolation: Buy-in and belief go together. Strategies that can help people feel more confident include:

Messaging, messaging, and more messaging.

Continual communication from the CEO, executives, and managers is critical. Leaders should stress the importance of globalization in achieving the company’s mission and strategy and demonstrate how language supports that. At Rakuten, Mikitani signaled the importance of the English-language policy to his entire organization relentlessly. For instance, each week some 120 managers would submit their business reports, and he would reply to each of them pushing them to develop their language skills. I surveyed employees before and after Rakuten implemented the adoption framework. Results indicated a dramatic increase in buy-in after Mikitani showed his employees that he was “obsessed and committed to Englishnization,” as he put it. The vast majority of the employees surveyed said that the policy was a “necessary” move.

Encouragement from managers and executives—simple statements like “You can do it” or “I believe in you”—make all the difference.

Internal marketing.

Because a language transformation is a multiyear process whose complexity far exceeds most other change efforts, it is crucial to maintain employee buy-in over time. At Rakuten, the now-English intranet regularly features employee success stories with emphasis on best practices for increasing language competence. Companywide meetings are also held monthly to discuss the English-language policy.

Branding.

Managers should encourage people to self-identify as global rather than local employees. It’s difficult to develop a global identity with limited exposure to an international environment, of course. Rakuten tackled this challenge by instituting an enterprisewide social network to promote cross-national interactions. Employees now interact and engage with colleagues worldwide through the company’s social networking site.Adopting a universal English policy is not the end of leadership challenges posed by global communication. Using English as a business language can damage employee morale, create unhealthy divides between native and nonnative speakers, and decrease the overall productivity of team members. Leaders must avoid and soften these potential pitfalls by building an environment in which employees can embrace a global English policy with relative ease. In this way, companies can improve communication and collaboration.

When I asked Mikitani what advice he’d give other CEOs when it comes to enforcing a one-language mandate, he was emphatic about discipline. CEOs need to be role models: If they don’t stick to the program, nobody else will. Mikitani even holds one-on-one performance reviews with his top Japanese executives in English. “If you forgive a little,” he says, “you’ll give up everything.”

Mikitani doesn’t fear resistance. He believes, as I do, that you can counteract it—and ultimately bring about significant transformation in employees’ beliefs and buy-in. A global language change takes perseverance and time, but if you want to surpass your rivals, it’s no longer a matter of choice.

 

Tsedal Neeley is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School and the founder of the consulting firm Global Matters. She is the author of The Language of Global Success. Twitter: @tsedal

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

IS CRITICAL THINKING BEING SUPPRESSED?

IS CRITICAL THINKING BEING SUPPRESSED? 

What Exactly Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Ban Anything That Upsets The Status Quo 

Over the last few years, YouTube has made headlines with its incessant banning of videos and de-platforming of influencers’ accounts causing loss of income and online presence. Last year, Youtube de-platformed a myriad of ‘alt-right’ and so-called ‘conspiracy’ groups and removed these channels from the video streaming site. 

Youtube also started targeting cryptocurrency content creators and YouTubers who operated channels that discussed bitcoin and other digital assets. In late 2019, YouTube officials removed a massive number of cryptocurrency video channels for very little reasoning. The company typically just tells the person that the channel had “violated community guidelines.”

This week Bitcoin.com was also censored for sharing a video about their bitcoin mining pool. Bitcoin.com’s YouTube account was given one strike for allegedly “violating community guidelines”. This begs the question,  “Who or what consists of their so-called community?” 

When YouTube, the online video-sharing platform first started back in 2005, it was a community of people sharing ideas and fun videos with very little moderation and censorship. Now it’s looking more like the Ministry of Propaganda.  For the last three months, YouTube, now under the ownership of Google, has taken part in historic amounts of censorship regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki said that any videos that were in opposition to the World Health Organization (WHO) narrative of the COVID-19 outbreak would be removed.  

Subsequently, Wojcicki’s ruling was carried out as many videos were banned that portrayed another opinion or fact that went against the WHO narrative regarding the ‘official’ coronavirus data. YouTube and Wojcicki decided to shelter the public from progressive ideas and data that just may have some truth in them because it went against the authorities. 

Since the beginning of this virus and the panic it has caused, we now have proof as more research is taking place from many respected scientific think tanks, and epidemiologists are now trying to tell the public that the lockdowns were very irrational. 

Despite the proof, Youtube has banned a number of videos that go against the ongoing fear-mongering narrative. When a video was posted on Youtube that featured Dr. Daniel W. Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi from California, the video got 5 million views before it was removed. 

 

Youtube also banned a video called “Plandemic,” which featured Dr. Judy Mikovits soon after it was published on the online video sharing platform. Youtube, however, does allow videos that rebut Judy Mikovits, Daniel W. Erickson, and Dr. Artin Massihi’s narratives. The company has no issues allowing rebuttals that stay on course with the fear-mongering narrative.

Whatever the veracity of the doctors’ claims, YouTube’s censorship of unorthodox ideas in the name of protecting the public from misinformation is misguided and counter-productive. Sheltering the public from ideas, even bad ones, only makes society more susceptible to dangerous error. Knowledge is power and surely we should be able to think for ourselves and have the ability to investigate.

 

Across social media, censors have been racing to limit the flow of information that questions these new laws imposed. Facebook also conceded it had been working with state governments in California, New Jersey, and Nebraska to remove pages for anti-stay-at-home protests events that are popping up all over the platform. 

Ron Coleman, a prominent First Amendment lawyer said in a recent interview. 

“It’s the kind of totalitarian thinking and conduct that has cost millions of lives in recent world history. The fact that it’s being done by private companies and not government doesn’t change that.” 

 

The former head of biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design at Rockefeller University, Dr. Knut M. Wittkowski, recently told the public that Youtube had banned his video that went against the lockdown, and over-reaction narrative after it gathered more than 1.3 million views. 

Wittkowski, who holds two doctorates in computer science and medical biometry, believes the coronavirus should be allowed to create “herd immunity,” and that short of a vaccine, the pandemic will only end after it has sufficiently spread through the population.

“With all respiratory diseases, the only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity. About 80% of the people need to have had contact with the virus, and the majority of them won’t even have recognized that they were infected,” he says in the now-deleted video.

Wittkowski told The Post, saying he had no idea why it was removed. 

“I was just explaining what we had…They don’t tell you. They just say it violates our community standards. There’s no explanation for what those standards are or what standards it violated.”

Dr. Andrew Kaufman’s videos were also removed when he spoke out against the stay-at-home narrative and the data spread by people like the epidemiologist Neil Ferguson dubbed Professor Lockdown who broke his own rule after convincing Prime Minister of the U.K. Boris Johnston to enforce the stay at home rule. 

 

YouTube’s Latest Target

Now Youtube has banned one of Bitcoin.com’s videos for sharing information about their mining pool. The video removal was based on the company’s “sale of regulated goods” policy and the video allegedly went against “community guidelines.” 

The Bitcoin.com account was given a single strike, which gives the account a one week probation period. Two to three strikes could lead to far worse restrictions against the Bitcoin.com account that merely shares information and resources about cryptocurrency solutions. 

Bitcoin.com’s CEO Mate Tokay has spoken out against the Youtube censorship in a tweet letting the company and Wojcicki know they have been immoral, irrational, and illogical. 

 

Censorship tends to manipulate reality and it has engendered evil numerous times over the course of history. Social media platforms are private companies and they can impose any restrictions they choose, but what they choose to censor seems to be agenda-driven and in line with the status quo of authoritarianism. 

 

Critical Thinking Not Allowed

YouTube seems to ban videos that allow for critical thinking. Cryptocurrency is one sector that gains grassroots attention and makes people think critically. Censorship and the fact they allow fake news and propaganda certainly unveil the true colors of YouTube that it just may not have the best interests of the global community in mind.  

YouTube has banned videos that question the ‘official’ COVID-19 statistics because people are now realizing that a virus with a 99% survival rate isn’t as devastating as we first thought. As they scurry to remove the videos as soon as they emerge, it’s too little too late as millions have already seen them and the information that may just deliver a different point of view or perhaps even the truth. 

As FEE.org explains, “Youtube’s censorship of dissenting doctors will backfire.” By taking down the videos, YouTube has limited the extent to which that social learning can happen and insulated the error from debunking. If anything, YouTube’s censorship has lent additional credence to whatever mistakes they made by feeding into the narrative that the powers-that-be fear its truth. The debunking is being drowned out by outrage over the censorship. And the Streisand Effect (how censorship can boost something’s publicity) is causing it to spread even more.

As more people realize and get sick and tired of the tech giants’ antics the more they will migrate to other platforms that do want to genuinely help people understand and change the world, giving back freedom of choice and allowing citizens to think for themselves. Once upon a time, there was nowhere else to go but now things are changing.  

 

Image credit: observatory.tec

Markethive Encourages Critical Thinking

We have a future here where we can operate on a platform of decentralized data, a platform that advocates self-sovereignty. Markethive is a next-generation Social Market Network, built on the Blockchain that has positioned itself as a complete ecosystem for Entrepreneurs. 

Incorporating its cryptocurrency consumer coin (MHV), it provides prosperous solutions for all business owners, marketers, commercial artists, etc, who require an online presence ensuring privacy, and autonomy along with no measures in place to ban you, terminate your account or censor your content.

Markethive's foundation is built upon integrity, transparency, and autonomy. As we live in a not so perfect world, there is always negativity, topics, and opinions that individuals may not agree with or even find offensive. You will have the ability to filter your newsfeed and block any, what you consider, unsavory characters, or content, remembering your newsfeed is your property. There are no corporate officials deciding for you. That gives people the right and freedom to choose for themselves who they wish to communicate with what they wish to see. There is a saying “Live And Let Live” and I consider these wise words.

 

Markethive’s Design And Vision

Markethive is a decentralized, autonomous, fluid environment which includes manifestations of intellectual achievements, social habits, innovation, music, literature, technology, commerce, and the arts. A central “hub” built using blockchain technology, is designed to encourage “reciprocal interchange” of ideas, knowledge, or skills as well as providing for exchange, sales or purchases of goods, services, and commodities. 

This premier hybrid social network includes news feeds, blogging platforms, video channels, chat channels, groups, image sharing, link hubs, resume, profile page, with additional platforms for ecommerce and digital news site. 

But more than a social network, Markethive has also delivered  “Inbound Marketing tools” like broadcasting, capture pages, lead funnels, autoresponders, self-replicating group tools, traffic analytics, CMS, and more. This is provided for free to you and what’s more, you are paid for learning and using the platform. Markethive’s focus is on the rights of the people and providing a user-friendly, rewarding solution that is so much in need of right now. 

 

Markethive Is About To Start Its Engines

Markethive is in BETA at the moment as engineers are working tirelessly to implement all facets of this monumental system that caters to the entire worldwide market of entrepreneurs. That includes small businesses, local businesses, regional businesses, global businesses, cottage industries, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, affiliate marketers, software innovators, musicians, churches, political platforms, political candidates, distributors, network marketers, innovators, and dreamers! 

The engine power that Markethive has will make this a goliath in social media, inbound marketing, cryptocurrency, ecommerce, and digital media distribution. 

Many systems within the platform are up and running now and as we near the completion of the Markethive wallet we are continuously growing as more people become aware of who and what we are and stand for. Intrinsically, Markethive gives the power back to the people. It has been built for the people, by the people and is of the people. We will reach that moment when the whole world will notice as we rise up as a giant voice of the ENTREPRENEUR! 

Join us at our weekly webinars for updates on Sundays at 10 am (mountain time) Markethive Weekly Meeting Link – meet.google

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Reference: Bitcoin.com
 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

A BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED FUTURE Empowerment Autonomous Trustless

A BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED FUTURE
Empowerment Autonomous Trustless

Blockchain technology is becoming a tidal wave of innovation and practical blockchain applications are becoming more mainstream. It’s moving beyond the hype of a couple of years ago and now bearing fruit, bringing real benefits to individuals and organizations. 

Blockchain can be a tricky concept to get your head around, but to put it simply it is a tool that offers industries the ability to increase productivity and revenue, cut costs, ensure transparency and reduce wasted time and paperwork. It’s a new foundation underpinning our everyday tasks. 

The pivotal advantage of blockchain is that there is no central hub. It has the transparency of a distributed ledger combined with the cryptographic security of an immutable data chain that makes this technology an ideal instrument for any business to exchange and validate information. Blockchain is a baseline technology that can be configured in various ways to suit different purposes and accommodate individual businesses across the board. 

 

The Business Value With Blockchain

There are a few key areas where blockchain can add value to businesses and individuals, 

Cost Reduction
Businesses no longer have to pour profits into logistics, intermediaries, and administrative paper trails. The blockchain can streamline supply chains, cutting out the middleman and banishing processes that slow efficiency and eat profits.

Revenue Creation
The blockchain does away with administrative and collaborative boundaries, allowing for innovative strategies that simply weren’t viable before the advent of Blockchain technology. This is a new freedom, where distributed ledgers and cryptography pave the way for new infrastructure and revenue models. 

Consumer Impact
New business models provide the opportunity to meet the previously overlooked needs of consumers and communities. In the medical field, for example, where remote patient care and record-keeping may have been an issue in the past, blockchain advances provide ways to overcome those barriers using synchronized records and smart care devices on the network.

Freedom And Equality
Entrepreneurs, writers, and all types of creative artists are able to attain recognition, financial sovereignty, data privacy, and autonomy now that Blockchain has been utilized and is what drives the next generation social market network. Working online is at an all-time high and with the rise in social media and online marketing activity, blockchain makes it more equitable bringing true freedom for the individual. 

Blockchain Disruption

Blockchain is already making waves in financial services, tech companies, healthcare, social market network, and digital media. Below are two infographics from Visual Capitalist that were inspired by a McKinsey study researching a combined industry analysis with more than 90 distinct use cases. 

The Problem with Centralized Infrastructure

Today on the Internet, we must constantly trust one another with sensitive data, transactions, and records. Most of our interactions on the Internet run on centralized web servers, and massive amounts of user data often exist in a single database. Current databases are designed to be controlled by “trusted” admins who can read, alter, block, and even delete data. The centralized architecture of the Internet today is not only inefficient but vulnerable to censorship and targeted attacks by both hackers and internal bad actors.

The Value of Decentralization

The decentralized architecture of a blockchain is a global network of computers simultaneously running the software and validating the chain of transactions is what ensures that the transaction record is never compromised. Decentralization is critical as an architectural principle. It makes a blockchain network less likely to fail, harder to attack, and harder for bad actors to game the system.

As blockchain adoption spreads, it can become a driving force for promoting equitable societies, solving complex economic issues, and transforming how we live and work every day.

 

 

Two Practical Applications Of Blockchain

1. Smart Contracts
Blockchain and smart contract technologies function well in instances where legal contracts are required to maintain ownership rights and data privacy laws. These customizable, self-executing smart contracts on the blockchain can be easily managed by all parties. Smart contracts allow the decentralization of trustless transactions, worldwide and on a large scale. These can encompass different kinds of interaction, not only human-to-human but also human-to-machine and machine-to-machine.

 

Issues with ownership rights and royalties are commonplace within the entertainment industry. To navigate these issues, blockchain technology offers an unchangeable, traceable, real-time distribution, and reporting network for all involved. Ujomusic is one such application that is helping artists track their royalties worldwide. In the music industry, blockchain technology can bring artists and fans closer together, allowing listeners to pay micropayments to artists for listening to their songs directly.

Artists are not always paid in a reasonable time by major players who control the music industry, sometimes even waiting years to receive their earning for their work. By utilizing smart contracts, artists and studios can ensure that intellectual property agreements are met by other parties and smart contracts could be implemented that instantly pay artists once certain requirements are met.


Image credit Disruptor Daily

 

Data privacy issues, massive scale surveillance, also known as dataveillance and lack of freedom of speech in the social media realm have become a distinct problem. Markethive, a social media, and inbound marketing platform have not only addressed these issues to empower the individual, but it has also utilized smart contract technology.  

This is in the form of the Markethive Coin (MHV) which is a fungible cryptocurrency consumer coin, and the Incentivized Loan Program (ILP – Smart Contract). This enables all users to generate an income by just using the platform and the first-mover advantage of share acquisitions consisting of 20% of the company’s net revenue.  Markethive is a collaborative decentralized platform where its Entrepreneurial members can achieve viability and self-sovereignty. 

 

The Framework Of A Smart Contract 

Smart contracts help you exchange money, property, shares, or anything of value in a transparent, conflict-free way while avoiding the services of a middleman. Built upon the blockchain, a smart contract is usually:

  1. Pre-written logic in the form of computer code
  2. Stored and replicated on the blockchain
  3. Executed and run by the network of computers running the blockchain
  4. Can result in updates to accounts on the ledger (i.e. payment for an executed contract)

Using the Ethereum platform, smart contracts can be programmed using basic logic. On the most basic level, they can:

  • Perform calculations (i.e. calculating interest)
  • Store information (i.e. membership records)
  • Send transactions to other accounts (i.e. payment for a good or service)

But most importantly, it is important to know that smart contracts are autonomous. They are not controlled by anyone – instead, they self-execute based on a set of instructions that two parties have agreed to, which is the code.


Image credit Visual Capitalist

 

Benefits of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are appealing for a variety of reasons:

  • Autonomy: There is no need to rely on third parties, which could be biased or not have your interests at heart.
  • Trust: Your documents are encrypted on a shared ledger, and all parties can have access to them.
  • Redundancy: Documents are duplicated many times over on the blockchain, and can’t ever be “lost”.
  • Safety: Documents are encrypted, making them near-impenetrable by hackers.
  • Speed: These contracts automatically self-execute, saving you precious time.
  • Savings: Smart contracts save you money by taking out the middleman.
  • Precision: Smart contracts execute the exact code provided, ensuring zero errors.
  • Transparency: For organizations like governments, they could add another level of transparency to dealings. Blockchain technology can set up a decentralized system that prevents any form of voting fraud or suspicious movements in the network.

The blockchain is already a disruptive technology, and with these benefits, the potentiality of smart contracts is an amazing step forward for fairer, faster, more lucrative, and trustworthy systems for the companies, organizations, and individuals who embrace it. 

2. Digital IDs
Reportedly, over 1.1 billion people worldwide still have no way to prove their identity according to the World Bank. Simultaneously, companies and financial institutions in both traditional and digital markets are being required to follow more stringent know-your-customer (KYC) initiatives.

Despite this, many providers are still not sufficiently meeting these standards; to further complicate things, regulations vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Markethive have migrated to the blockchain to securely and privately verify users. 

Blockchain’s multi-factor verification process eclipses the levels of security that traditional password protection offers. Identities are secured for the decentralized web, for example, data sharing by third party companies has resulted in intrusive advertising. Blockchain-based identification means that no third parties can access your personal data without your consent.   

The thing to be aware of is companies and platforms that claim to be blockchain-based but have a centralized identification protocol. There will be resistance from these entities that profit from the current system where people have no control over their personal data. Big companies manipulate data, so they are not very interested in decentralizing that type of information.  

The existence of blockchain-based, yet centralized ID platforms could cause confusion among organizations and the general public. However, it's likely that the advantages of the best decentralized platforms possessing enough reach will inevitably make themselves known to the masses, so that eventually a few dominant platforms will emerge. As we move forward the majority will realize the advantages of a completely decentralized system that offers security, transparency, privacy, and gives control back to the users. 


Image credit Disruptor Daily

Conclusion

The world is waking up to the impressive capabilities of the blockchain. As a foundational technology that anything can be developed and augmented on top of it, the potential applications of the blockchain go way beyond just payments or cryptocurrencies. In fact, the blockchain will revolutionize how we interact with intellectual property, capital markets, insurance, healthcare, government, social media, and internet marketing, along with many other sectors. 

Forward-looking companies that convert to the blockchain to improve the privacy and security of their data and create an environment that is unfettered from political and nefarious agendas, will be the winners on top. 

Just about every company that migrates to the blockchain and new companies launched built upon the blockchain, will prosper, as long as they deliver and make their prime agenda to benefit their customers.

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden