February 2022 - Page 4 of 10

Everything You Should Know to Create a Useful Competitor Report

Analyzing and monitoring your competition is fundamental to any business success.

So what should a good competitive report include and how to take it from research to an action?

Why Does My Business Need a Competitive Report?

There are many reasons why a business may need a competitive report, and all of these are valid:

To better understand your target audience by researching how they find and engage with your more established competitor
For market research: Understand what is currently available on the market and where your business fits in
To get an estimate of your future marketing budget
To identify effective marketing tactics, etc.

Business owners that claim they don’t need a competitive report because they already know everything are clearly missing out. Competitive research is much more than copying your more successful competitor’s marketing tactics. Actually, it is not at all about that because copying would never bring you ahead.

Competitive research is about understanding your target market and distinguishing your unique value proposition and consequently your unique marketing strategy to conquer it.

So what should a solid competitive report include?

Competitive Benchmarking

Competitive benchmarking means collecting the performance data of your competitors and comparing it to your business. It is used to measure and monitor your business’s performance against its competitors.

You can choose your own performance indicators to track and compare.

These may include:

Public traffic data (from tools like Ahrefs, Alexa and Similar Web)
Organic rankings
Brand awareness and sentiment (based on brand mentions), etc.

This section in your report is going to always evolve but it is also fundamental because your whole competitive analysis will evolve based on KPIs you will identify as the most important for you.

Basic Overview of Competition

There are fundamental KPIs you are going to focus on and there are secondary metrics that will help you identify competitors to keep an eye on.

This section is about the latter. This basic section helps you look at your competitors’ secondary metrics at a glance to identify if there’s a definitive pattern to look deeper into:

Backlinks
Organic traffic
Social media followers
Social media engagement, etc.

Tools like Ahrefs, Keyhole and Similarweb will help you collect all the necessary data.

Detailed Dive into Organic Search Engine Optimization Tactics

Look at some key search engine optimization tactics your competitors are using:

Which keywords are they focusing on?
How are they optimizing their title tags and meta descriptions?
Are they optimizing their old content and how often?
What does their site architecture look like?
How are they organizing their main navigation?
What’s their internal linking strategy?
What are their most successful pages (i.e. those that rank for the most competitive search queries)?
What’s their semantic optimization strategy?

Try running a few of the most important pages through a tool called Text Optimizer to determine whether your competitors are doing a good job optimizing for search intent:

One of the most actionable steps…

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The Vitamin Deficiency Linked To COVID-19 Deaths

Low levels of this nutrient linked to high COVID-19 death rates found in 20 countries.

A large number of COVID-19 cases and high death rates could be related to vitamin D deficiency, a study has found.

Past studies have suggested that low status of vitamin D increases the likelihood of respiratory tract infections.

Vitamin D is crucial for immediate immune response through adjusting white blood cell reaction and reducing their production of cytokines.

Inflammatory cytokines are signalling molecules secreted from immune cells to promote inflammation.

An overload of cytokines would make a disease worse, as it is pro-inflammatory.

The COVID-19 virus triggers the body’s defence system, resulting in an extreme production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Researchers tracked data across 20 countries in Europe and found that vitamin D can help prevent coronavirus disease and death.

Older people are at the most risk of COVID-19 infection and the study shows that this age group across countries such as Italy, Switzerland, and Spain are seriously deficient in vitamin D.

Low levels of vitamin D in southern Europe seems to be related to factors such as avoiding strong sun and preferring the shade, and skin pigmentation, which reduces the synthesis of natural vitamin D.

Conversely, vitamin D levels are higher in Northern Europe as a result of vitamin D supplements, cod liver oil intake, vitamin D fortification of milk and dairy products in countries like Sweden and Finland, and less avoiding of the sun.

These may be a factor in Scandinavians being among the countries with the least cases of coronavirus and lowest death rates per capita.

Dr Lee Smith, study lead author, said:

“We found a significant crude relationship between average vitamin D levels and the number COVID-19 cases, and particularly COVID-19 mortality rates, per head of population across the 20 European countries.

Vitamin D has been shown to protect against acute respiratory infections, and older adults, the group most deficient in vitamin D, are also the ones most seriously affected by COVID-19.

A previous study found that 75% of people in institutions, such as hospitals and care homes, were severely deficient in vitamin D.

We suggest it would be advisable to perform dedicated studies looking at vitamin D levels in COVID-19 patients with different degrees of disease severity.”

The study was published in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research (Ilie et al., 2020).

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7 Creative Product Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign

On-point product marketing is why Webflow was able to enter the no-code website market with competitors like Wix and Squarespace and still generate 4 million monthly users. Brands like Webflow, Drift, and Close prove you can grow and succeed in a completely saturated market.

With everyone else seeking to beat out the competition, you need to find a way to do it differently, better.

Product marketers lead the business to where they need to play in order to win.

In this article, we’ll break down seven product marketing examples from brands that put their audience first and communicate value to stand out from the competition. You’ll learn why they work, with key takeaways to inspire your marketing efforts.

1. HEY

To grab attention and pique interest, show potential customers the value you provide on the first impression. Use this to sell visitors on why your product is right for them.

Basecamp’s email startup HEY does this well. It targets people’s pain points around using email and positions the company as their savior.

The brand also picks up on the very corporate feel of other email providers and takes a sharp turn in the other direction to give users a breath of fresh air.

HEY demonstrates its positioning in the messaging on its website. Its homepage is a masterclass in compelling copy, starting with the headline:

David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising, believed headlines were the most important part of the copy. Many users will only ever read your headline. Use it to clearly communicate your value.

HEY’s headline sets the tone. But it’s more than a clever play on words (“Email’s new heyday”). It’s a bold statement that echoes their beliefs: “Email sucked for years. Not anymore – we fixed it.”

It also does what every compelling headline should: be relatable. Many share the opinion of Basecamp founder and CEO Jason Fried when he says email is no longer exciting:

“The last time I think anyone was really excited about email was like 16 years ago, when Gmail launched.

“Not much has changed since then. … We’re trying to bring some new philosophical points of view.” [via Verge]

Professor of communications at the University of Buffalo in New York shared his thoughts with the BBC on why people no longer enjoy email:

“Many people dread email because it is a conduit for unwanted advertising, a wide range of spam, and flat-out attempts to scam or ‘phish’ us. It’s generally impersonal and work-related.”

In three sentences, HEY taps into this problem and positions itself as the solution. The final sentence of intro copy works to push readers to find out more.

“HEY’s fresh approach transforms email into something you want to use, not something you’re forced to deal with.” What is that approach? You’ll have to click the call-to-action to find…

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4 Questions When Seeking Clarity

Leaders with clarity are like the Loch Ness Monster. Even when you see one, you’re not sure they’re real.

Confusion is good when you stop and reflect. Confusion is dangerous when you put your head down and pedal harder.

The wrong question:

“What should I do?” is the wrong first question. There are a million things you could do. Five hundred thousand are perfectly acceptable.

You amplify confusion when you multiply options.

The first question to clarity is about identity, not options.

Before you ask, “What should I do?” ask, “Who am I?” Who you are informs what you do. Identity determines function.

“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.” Frances Hesselbein

You can’t do the ‘right’ thing until you know who you are. I’m not talking about morals. I’m talking about what’s right for you.

4 questions:

#1. Who do you aspire to become?

Take the ‘who am I’ question to the next level. Who do you aspire to become? Reflect on how you want to contribute to the world. What will be true of the world if you achieve your aspirations?

Don’t focus on organizations and bank accounts. Focus on people. How will the world be better if you achieve your aspirations?

#2. What do you love?

I met a leader yesterday who has loved the weather since he was seven. He works for NOAA. He said, “I can’t believe I get to do this every day.” He’s probably related to the Loch Ness Monster.

#3. What are your talents?

You were born with aptitudes and inclinations. Don’t get into needlework if you hate details.

#4. What opportunities are available?

Clarity comes as you step forward. Don’t wait for perfect opportunities.

Clarity is saying ‘yes’ to a few things and ‘no’ to a million good things.

How might people find clarity in a confusing world?

Image source: File:Loch Ness Monster.jpg

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The Obesity Drug That Leads To Dramatic Weight Loss

Once-a-week injection of this drug led overweight or obese people to lose more than a fifth of their weight.

A weekly injection of semaglutide can reduce body weight by more than 20 percent, a study has found.

Semaglutide — which is now approved by the US FDA for weight management — is known as an anti-diabetic medication and typically prescribed in 1mg doses.

For this study, participants who were obese or overweight received a higher dose at 2.4 mg alongside a low calorie diet and increased physical activity.

Participants, on average, lost over 15 kg and more than 30 percent of people lost one-fifth of their weight — an equivalent of 20 percent.

The drug, like incretin, a natural hormone in our body, lowers blood sugar hence is prescribed for people with diabetes.

Professor Rachel Batterham, a senior author of the study, said:

“The findings of this study represent a major breakthrough for improving the health of people with obesity.

Three quarters (75%) of people who received semaglutide 2.4mg lost more than 10% of their body weight and more than one-third lost more than 20%.

No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss—this really is a gamechanger.

For the first time, people can achieve through drugs what was only possible through weight-loss surgery.”

Semaglutide can take over the regulating appetite system by mirroring the incretin hormone known as GLP-1 which reduces appetite and hunger.

The researchers believe the medication will help obese people to lose weight and so can lower the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 as well as diabetes and heart disease.

Professor Batterham said:

“The impact of obesity on health has been brought into sharp focus by COVID-19 where obesity markedly increases the risk of dying from the virus, as well as increasing the risk of many life-limiting serious diseases including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease and certain types of cancers.

This drug could have major implications for UK health policy for years to come.”

For this study, about 2,000 overweight or obese adults received an injection of 2.4mg semaglutide every week over a 14-month trial.

They were also given guidance and consultation on lifestyle changes about increasing physical activity and cutting down calories.

Participants on semaglutide lost 15.3kg of their weight with a -5.54 reduction in BMI, whereas those who didn’t receive the medication had a 2.6 kg weight loss with a -0.92 reduction in BMI.

Furthermore, the semaglutide group experienced a reduction in blood pressure, waist circumference, and blood sugar levels.

Professor John Wilding, the study’s first author, said:

“This is a significant advance in the treatment of obesity.

Semaglutide is already approved and used clinically at a lower dose for treatment of diabetes, so as doctors we are already familiar with its use.

For me this is particularly exciting as I was involved in very early studies of GLP1 (when I worked at the Hammersmith Hospital in the 1990s we were the first to show in laboratory studies that GLP1 affected appetite), so it is good to see this translated into an effective treatment for people with obesity.”

The study was…

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How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 17 Tips for 2022

Promoting your brand on Instagram requires building an engaged following — and that’s no easy task.

If you’re just starting out and you’re wondering how to get more followers on Instagram, make sure you know who you’re trying to reach. Put together a strategy that will describe your target audience and outline how you are going to attract them to your account.

Remember that buying followers is not the way to go when growing your Instagram presence. Neither is creating clickbaity content. Good audience research and high-quality content will help you build a real audience of people — not bots.

Keep reading to find out how to get more followers on Instagram (the right way).

Or, for a TL;DR list of tactics, watch this video from our friends at Hootsuite:

How to get more followers on Instagram for free

1. Define your brand’s tone of voice and personality

This might sound obvious, but your brand should have a tone of voice and an attitude that leaves a consistent impression. You want to make sure your online personality feels approachable and personable.

Creating content where an employee, or better yet, a customer explains your product or service can make your brand more relatable. If your brand is in the lifestyle arena, you could create an aesthetic that communicates the lifestyle of your customers.

Despite your end goal, all your posts should have a consistent brand personality and visual language, so they are easily identified as, well, yours.

2. Put together a social media marketing strategy

A good social media strategy should tie in with your overarching business goals and include your social media marketing objectives.

Do you want to build brand awareness? Boost sales? Or drive traffic to your website?

Knowing where you want to go is the first step in getting there. The team at Hootsuite prepared a helpful template to guide you in creating your social media strategy — you can download it for free here.

3. Understand your perfect audience

Without a good understanding of who you are targeting, you are throwing feathers into the wind.

Your target audience can be defined by their age, location, occupation and how they use Instagram. They most likely have common issues and concerns, or lifestyle aspirations, and your content should answer these concerns, inspire and engage them. How you acknowledge them, will make your target audience more likely to follow you, and keep following you for the long term.

If you’re not sure where to start, follow our guide to building audience and buyer personas.

4. Develop a consistent look and feel for your brand

Think of your Instagram grid as an important first impression.

Instagram is a visually driven social network so a consistent visual approach will help to build your brand personality and make your posts recognizable at first scroll.

Every post on your Instagram…

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How to Live Your Purpose in Three Steps

New Book Giveaway!

20 copies available!!

Leave a comment on this guest post by John Stanko and Jim Dittmar to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of their new book, “The LEADERS Model: Essential Practices for Today’s Leaders.”

Deadline for eligibility is 2/19/2022. International winners will receive electronic version.

We love to talk about purpose. We buy books about it. We listen to others talk about it.

The problem is: We don’t believe it’s possible.

Oh, there are a rare few who seem to soar into the purpose stratosphere where the view is breathtaking and the returns rewarding. But that’s them, and this is me.

Where is me? Me is in the reality that there are bills to pay, kids to raise, corporate ladders to climb, and dirty jobs to do (right, Mike Rowe?).

Attainable or fairytale:

Our parents told us, “Adults all have to do things they don’t like. Grow up! It’s part of coming of age.” I had a man call me for coaching once who loved acting and hated accounting, which he was doing at the time. He had made a life decision and wanted to run it by me for my feedback. His decision: He was going back to school to get a master’s in accounting! He believed purpose was a fairytale.

Purpose is real and achievable for everyone.

How to live your purpose in three steps:

Know your purpose. Please, no flowery, “I exist to care for the planet and help people.” That’s not a purpose; that’s a fairy tale.
Do things that connect to your purpose every day. Do that for enough days and the way to purposeful living will “magically” emerge. The path emerges as you move forward.
Stop talking yourself into “responsible living” and start talking yourself into meaningful work that gives you a chance to do what you love as often as possible.

Purpose is a fantasy only for those who think it is.

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” John A Shedd

What prevents people from living their purpose?

What suggestions might you add for living your purpose?
John W. Stanko is the founder of Urban Press, a publishing service designed to tell stories of the city, from the city and to the city. John is the author of 50 books, including The LEADERS Model: Essential Practices for Today’s Leaders, which he co-authored with Jim Dittmar, the founder, president, and CEO of 3Rivers Leadership Institute.

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The Strong Personality Trait That Indicates High IQ

This character trait is linked to a high IQ.

Being conscientious is linked to having a high IQ, but only among females, a study finds.

People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.

Among males, however, those who are more careless and indifferent have higher IQs.

The study of school children also found that introverts who are conscientious get the best grades.

Fear may also be a factor in driving up grades, the Swedish research found, since neurotic pupils got better grades.

Neurotic people tend to worry more, which may motivate them to work harder if their worries are stoked by the system.

Ms Pia Rosander, the study’s first author, said:

“We have a school system in Sweden that favours conscientious and fear-driven pupils.

It is not good for psychological well-being in the long term if fear is a driving force.

It also prevents in-depth learning, which happens best among the open personality types who are driven by curiosity.”

The study included 200 pupils entering secondary school at 16 who were followed for three years.

The results revealed that girls who were eager to please got better grades.

On the other hand, boys were more likely to be curious, but the system tended not to feed their curiosity.

Ms Rosander said:

“Greater conscientiousness, i.e. getting things done, arriving on time, etc. may be a way for boys to compensate for a lower IQ.”

The study also found that introverts get better grades, probably because extraverts have so much to distract them.

Ms Rosander said:

“My studies clearly show that the school system needs to be more individualised.

How else can we support talented pupils with the ‘wrong’ personality type, those we call under-performers, who are capable but lack the ability to plan their school work, for example?”

The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Rosander et al., 2011).

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52 Offbeat Inspirational Quotes for Writers about Craft and Business

52 Offbeat Inspirational Quotes for Writers about Craft and Business 18&63,h=A>>12&63,n=A>>6&63,o=63&A,u[l++]=i.charAt(a)+i.charAt(h)+i.charAt(n)+i.charAt(o);while(d ‘ + data.settings.title + ” : ” }}} ]]>

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Michael Hyatt & Company Has a New Name!

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