Several signals like flags and public art displays have gone up in support of the Ukrainians, as well as celebrities raising millions of dollars for the cause. In this time of despair, some are taking proactive measures to help with the crisis.

For example, major corporations have cut off their services to Russia. Smaller businesses are also taking a stance on the matter. An example is Carrera Cafe, a popular Los Angeles coffee shop located on the Melrose strip. In support of Ukraine, they put up an art exhibit named the “Fence of Love”, encouraging their patrons to buy padlocks and donating the proceeds to help support the Ukrainian cause. This project is in partnership with UNICEF.

Leveraging growing platforms for a good cause

It is no doubt that building a successful business from the ground up is difficult. However, as the influence of the business starts to grow, owners now have the capability to leverage their social media presence or growing communities to spread awareness on important causes,

Kia Illunian, the owner of Carerra Cafe, has steadily built up his reputation as a successful fine dining restaurant owner and entrepreneur. With his recent endeavor, he has meticulously laid out the foundation for success, everything from perfecting the menu to customer experience. He states, “It’s not just good food and service. It’s the entire process that helps to elevate the customer experience and plants a seed for them to promote our space.” Carerra Cafe is well known for its chic interior and its impressive latte designs featuring everything from logos to the faces of people.

 With an impressive 50K following on Instagram and 40 000+ foot traffic, Kia seeks to “use this opportunity to serve the community and bring more awareness to the cause of the Ukrainian People.” Aside from this project, Carerra Cafe has raised $10k for other charitable causes. 

The golden social media campaign

The secret behind Carerra’s cafe growing social media following is that: there is none. The standard behind every one of Kia’s endeavors has always been “go above the ordinary.” By creating memorable and unique experiences for customers, marketing does itself. 99% of the marketing content behind Carerra cafe is User Generated Content (USG). 

Carerra differentiates itself from other establishments with its printing technology which allows customers to bring in whatever design they like, and use that to create latte designs. Aside from that, Kia’s natural creativity inspires a fresh fleet of designs and artwork for the exterior wall of Carrera cafe. The cafe has partnered with companies like Netflix and even celebrities like Harry Styles.

Kia immigrated to the United States from Iran at a young age and he was encouraged to explore his innate creativity. He grew up learning the ropes of the family business, as well as testing his ideas, sparking his lack of fear for failure. As an entrepreneur, he always focuses on the opportunity rather than the potential for failure. This has allowed him to go out of the box and present opportunities for his customers to freely express themselves through art and food.

The pillars of life and community

From a young age, the concept of philanthropy was instilled in the fabrics of his family’s endeavors. With every business, they’ve always found ways to give back to the community.

A quote that Kia often refers to as a guiding pillar is “Lord, please grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change I cannot accept, and the wisdom to know the difference.” He often applies this mindset of knowing the difference between what he can’t control and the things he can change to help guide his decisions and focus his energy on the things he can change. Giving back to the community and the world he sees as something he can personally change.

Kia believes every successful business has the moral obligation to give back in one form or another. Success is the combination of hard work and good fortune “Those of us that have worked hard and been lucky in life need to show our gratitude for the blessings we have received. It’s a simple formula that will make the world a better place,” Kia says.

As more successful business owners incorporate the values of giving back, a virtuous cycle will be created between the customers, businesses, and the community at large.

The post Popular Los Angeles Cafe Launches Art Exhibit Campaign to Help Ukrainians appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The Founder of Masterclass, David Rogie, set his purpose to democratize education living by the motto  “Knowledge is power.” His learning platform ended up amassing over 100 videos from the world’s most renowned celebrity experts like Gordon Ramsey and Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

Today, young generations from all around the world flock towards online resources to up their skillsets and leverage them to create their own careers. Entrepreneurs are condensing their years of tumultuous grind and work into actionable and digestible courses for people who want to learn how to start their own ventures.

This provides a win-win solution for both the entrepreneur and the consumer. The entrepreneur makes a profit margin from the courses they put out, while the consumer gains valuable information and insights from someone that has been successful.

Taylor Ping is the founder, and CEO of Hierarchy Media, a branding and PR agency. Ping used her passion to create an agency that represents numerous high-profile individuals across Los Angeles. As Hierarchy Media grows, Taylor sees a more sustainable solution to offer value to as many people as she can— and that is through the power of education. One of her recent ventures includes training courses and a self-hosted celebrity podcast to empower and help people around the globe to attain success in business and life, called Dragun’s Den.

Here is why educating is the future of entrepreneurship.

Educating Gives Entrepreneurs a Greater Purpose

Once entrepreneurs hit a certain point in their ventures, the question that often arises is, what’s next?

Entrepreneurs are always seeking ways to offer more value for their customers. But beyond a certain financial remuneration, there remains the factor of impact, purpose, and fulfillment. 

Why do people serve? It’s because it gives their lives more meaning. One thing all entrepreneurs can offer is their past experiences and the pitfalls they encountered on their journey. This information can prove to be very valuable, and inspirational for people that are aspiring to start their own ventures.

As a natural born educator, Ping’s recent endeavors include providing actionable advice to help empower the women and men around the world. Whether that means hosting a cryptocurrency learning group or designing a Masterclass on iPhone Design. Ping is always trying to finding more ways to offer better value to her community.

Sharing Information Breeds a Transparent and Collaborative Environment

It sometimes feels like we live in a zero-sum world. Entrepreneurial communities, on the contrary, share a common understanding of the tribulations that come with the role. That’s why when entrepreneurs in their communities witness success, the people that are most likely to celebrate for them are in fact not their own friends or family, but other entrepreneurs.

Knowledge used to be something that was held clad in an iron fist. Although to some degree this is still true, more and more entrepreneurs are sharing their strategies on how to find success in business and avoiding common pitfalls. This information can be widely found on platforms like Youtube, personal blogs and reputable publications

For Taylor, creating communities that facilitate this exchange of valuable information is crucial to her cause. She aims to empower women to start their own ventures, despite the voices in their lives telling them they can’t do it. Her mission is to turn the can’t into the cans.

Educating as a Form of Adding Continuous Value

As a company grows, CEOs may find it harder to personally connect with every one of their clients. It becomes increasingly difficult to service every client, especially the smaller ones. One way to tackle this is to offer lifetime access training courses. These courses can be bought one time, and used and reused to help someone get from zero to 100.

Finding ways to service more clients without deviating her attention from the clients she has now, is at the forefront of Taylor’s aspirations for Hierarchy. Taylor says, “I realize that the more I grow, the less ability I have to service all the clients I want. That’s why I want to provide them a resource that can help them, and scale this to help even more people grow their brands, without having me actually present in every single step of the process. I think this is where online courses and training come in handy.”

Conclusion

Education is at the pinnacle of development, and bringing it to the digital realm is a form of democratizing it. Entrepreneurs will find it increasingly valuable to share their lessons through scalable methods like course delivery. This can help facilitate the growth of more innovation and creative spirit amongst communities at large.

The post Female Entrepreneur Taylor Ping Demonstrates the Value Behind Education appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Before this recent update, users couldn’t create search campaigns directly in the app. Essentially, it was debuted as a check-in application to keep up with already-running campaigns. However, Google plans to upgrade the app in due time to offer a better user experience and enhance the lead generation process. It’s a welcome development at this time, as the company’s data estimates that 53% of consumers are more likely to engage online businesses as the year comes to an end.

A summary of the updates:

• Improved performance insights.
• Search Trends are now available.
• Ad creation “plus” button.

Explanations for performance fluctuations

Optimizing a campaign with performance changes in percentages can be pretty frustrating when you have no idea why these changes are happening – especially when they are negative. When they are positive, it’s also important to understand why, so you’d take note of the exact metrics and apply them in future campaigns.

Google rolled a new feature out to the insights page so users can now get actual insights on campaign performance fluctuations. The app can also be customized to send a notification to your phone when there’s a significant/urgent change. This allows you to address problems quickly or adjust costs efficiently. Sometimes, it may also send a recommendation on what you can do better.

“To improve the chances of success for your campaigns, you must regularly test new variables,” says Flynn Blackie, a Scottish entrepreneur and CEO of MOD Digital, a UK-based lead generation and digital marketing agency. “If you don’t run tests, your campaign will remain stagnant, and it won’t have the opportunity to excel. If you want insights into what’s working, to determine which tests are succeeding and which are failing, you need to know and understand your numbers. Keep records of each variable you test. ROI positive? Great, invest further. ROI negative? Okay, document and pivot. Understand why your campaign stats are changing so you can speculate, try again, and adapt.”

Monitor search trends in real-time

The mobile app now features a “Search Trends” window to keep users updated on the most searched products or services in a specific niche. The algorithm updates in real-time and enables businesses to stay abreast of emerging trends. Entrepreneurs are bound to lose a lot less in invested capital when they can target customers with products in current demand.

For example, a flower supplier may check the trends table and notice that more people are checking out “white roses” or “matted bouquet holders” within their locale. Now they know what more customers need and they can re-optimize their ads to spend more funds on campaigns for these products. Search Trends can also help vendors and suppliers to update their merchandise and in-store inventory.

Generally, the tab alerts business owners on what more people within a specified location need and are actively searching. It’s also a helpful way for aspiring entrepreneurs to conduct market analyses and determine which products are most needed and searched at specific times of the year within different locations.

“Analyzing trends can also give you insights on how to structure your creative strategy,” says Blackie, 18, whose brand focuses on hyper-optimized, personalized strategies for driving sales and revenue. “Identifying the most searched queries regarding your business and industry is useful when prioritizing points in your copy, starting with the most pressing (or highest resonating) information. I’ve also seen massive success when looking at the latest external/social trends, including the bits that may not be related to your business at all. Blending trend-relevant information into your messaging can offer immediate leverage over your competitors.”

For instant updates, you can create a custom notification to get alerts when fresh trends hit the window.

Create fresh campaigns from within the app

Users no longer have to wait to get to a computer to create ad campaigns. You can simply click the new “plus” button on the bottom right of your screen, follow through with the process, and launch a new campaign from within your mobile app. This feature almost works like an add-on for the Search Trends tab. It allows you to quickly create campaigns for currently trending products or services as soon as you get the alert.

Experts estimate that more business people are likely to advertise using Google’s services now that a mobile app exists. In due time, the company plans to upgrade the app to work as efficiently as the ad websites. The latest features have been completely rolled out and are now available to all Google ads customers. Visit Google’s Play Store or the Apple Store to download the latest updates.

The post Improved Lead Generation: Google Ads Releases Three New Features on Its Mobile App appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Exclusivity of Capital Investing

Venture capital’s purpose is to provide new companies with subsistence to grow their operations, but historically it’s been an exclusive club. Traditionally, only those with a net worth above a certain amount were privileged with an investor accreditation. Since 2016, the JOBS Act has allowed for the crowdfunding of new businesses, giving entrepreneurs access to a new capital market and individuals the ability to invest in early-stage companies. 

Rate of Start-up Growth is Decreasing

Still, despite the aggravated media stories about the rise of entrepreneur culture, the rate of growth for new start-ups is, in reality, quite low compared to a decade ago. Since the peak of start-up creation in 2015, the numbers have halved. This might be attributed to factors such as higher investment standards, longer rounds, and increased risk aversion towards company creation. 

In 2010, approximately 15% of Series A invested start-ups had revenues; this number has jumped to 70% in recent years. The trend has been for investors to extend the initial funding phase through “superfunding” and waiting for start-ups to grow quicker and outcompete their competitors. Although the volume of investments has experienced exponential growth in the past decade, the number of deals closed has decreased. There were more businesses created in 1980 than there were in 2013.

New Solution to an Old Problem?

The VC industry requires new solutions to help aspiring entrepreneurs meet their needs so that more innovation can rise to the surface. Changemaker Nobody Studios is taking on the challenge, providing opportunities for people around the planet to be involved in a radical, inclusive approach to business development and wealth creation. 

Serial entrepreneur Mark S. McNally built Nobody Studios—which he sees as his “last company”—on the principles of de-risking early-stage companies, putting people first, and improving accessibility for anyone to invest in projects they care about. Ultimately, Nobody Studios, a “Crowd Infused” venture studio, acts as a vehicle that brings together a community to solve the world’s problems. Here are four factors that will revolutionize venture operations, creating an ecosystem where both business and investors can thrive.

Build an Inclusive, People-First Culture

The foundation of every successful business is made up of intricate relationships between employees, employers, partners, and investors. Good managers lead productive and efficient teams. Individuals are more likely to be more engaged if they understand and align with the companies’ vision, as well as feel as if they’re an important contributor to the company’s success. Business deals are sealed with trust and the comfortability of knowing who you’re dealing with. Maintaining transparent processes in work relationships and decision-making creates an environment that encourages accountability and drives results.

Understanding that “relationships are the greatest assets” lies at the core of Nobody Studios. Firm in the belief that supporting and empowering people produces greater results, Nobody prioritizes putting people first. Building a community with the right, diverse mix of talent, from entrepreneurs and creatives to investors and the public, opens the ceiling for new businesses to grow and thrive. Giving founders the confidence that they not only have access to funding, but ongoing support, human resources, and public feedback helps them accelerate their growth and ultimately generate a greater ROI for investors.

De-Risk New Companies Before Significant Investment

Out of every 100 businesses created, 90 of them will fail. Common reasons are lack of demand and planning in the early stages, and lack of capital to scale. Crafting a successful business model takes time and rigor; those that fail to put in the mental dedication or lack a prominent “why” is unlikely to outrun their competitors.

Nobody Studios is dedicated to creating businesses that are outstanding. This means targeting compelling ideas with real market value, but following strict parameters to quickly and inexpensively test them. 

Besides being meticulous about the process, living in an era dictated by “speed, innovation, change and disruption” means you need to “go big and bold,” McNally said. Better yet, for “those with a big enough vision, who can also be flexible enough to adapt the vision to changing conditions and market feedback — that’s the gold.”

Thinking large, planning ahead, and being prepared to receive and apply constructive feedback from the market is crucial for a business to excel. 

Invite the Crowd to Participate

Access to investment pools is extremely limited, especially for investors that don’t have an excess of funds. This limits the opportunities for interested individuals to invest in projects that benefit society and potentially earn a dividend on its success, as well as caps the opportunity for entrepreneurs to raise money to grow these businesses.

Allowing the public to participate in more investment projects encourages people to become more educated on investment opportunities and entrepreneurship. This might lead to the creation of a more financially literate society. With improved financial literacy comes better investment decisions that can lead to more positive innovation in the world.

McNally explains what the phrase “Crowd Infused” means for his company, that is “the opportunity for anyone to be a part of building compelling companies that will shape the future. That opportunity can include contributing ideas, offering feedback or joining discussions, or even joining the team to help build new companies. 

“And the way we’ve set up our company, it also means you get to see the financial upside as a result.” Nobody Studios is allegedly the only venture studio that leverages crowdfunding and offers investors and contributors lifetime equity across its portfolio.

Think Globally to Generate Value and Impact

Solving the world’s problems takes innovation, financing and enough people to care about it to make it happen. Climate change, economic inequality, gender disparity, and racial injustice are amongst the primary targets that are supported by impact investment.

Judging by the remarkable growth of impact investments in the past decade, there appears to be a sizable opportunity for private companies to devote and allocate more capital towards building impact projects. The Global Impact Investing Network issued a report detailing the growth of impact investment as an asset class, stating it would reach between $400 billion to $1 trillion in assets under management by 2020.

Upholding SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) will continue to be a deep challenge for governments around the world with a $2.5 trillion annual deficit in funding. COVID-19 has only exacerbated these issues and proved the necessity of technology and science innovation to save lives and entire economies.

Private investments will pose solutions to problems societies will face, including unprecedented crises. For example, online streaming and video platforms have made it possible to conduct work and run companies of thousands of remote workers.

Nobody Studios embraces a global perspective in its commitment to build compelling companies that solve meaningful problems. It catalyzes change by taking its companies into markets where no one else is currently going. And if necessary, it may even establish non-profit organizations to advance its impact. By adopting a global perspective, the studio can reach regions lacking economic infrastructure, create jobs, and enrich commerce, and enhance people’s lives. 

A new wave of business creation is upon us. The crises and transitions the world has undergone in the past decade have only spurred interest among the public to activate some form of change. Efforts to build and scale companies are surging, facilitated through a mix of private and public funding. Out-of-the-box thinkers like Nobody Studios are part of that transition from traditional venture investing, to a model that is inclusive of the public and mindful of building strong, internal communities to fuel successful projects that can change the world.

The post 44% Decline in Startups: Nobody Studios on Crowd Infused Ventures appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Also, this is just for the average person. One can only imagine how much more people whose businesses revolve around social media would have to spend on their phones daily.

Unfortunately, as social media opens doors of better opportunity for genuine hustlers, the shady bunch are getting free passes as well. Fraudulent/fake influencers are growing bolder and less conscientious everyday. Influencer fraud is basically something social media users who claim to be powerful enough to sway people’s interests commit.  In reality, they have none of the assets an influencer would ordinarily provide. 

Marketing companies seek out influencers as a more personal, effective way of reaching out to potential purchasers of their products. Now, you can’t do that if a person’s followers aren’t even real. Fake influencers have bought their followers, who come in the form of either obligated and uninterested followers, or worse: bots. Some of them even impersonate influencers, where they use a stock photo of a stranger to market one or more individuals’ collective objective to commit this fraud.

Spreading the Proverbial Virus in Major Social Media Platforms

“Instagram isn’t the only one that’s a major part of the future, but it’s the one with the most potential, in my opinion. It’s already massive but they continue to innovate,” says Nick Rogers, CEO of Pvsted, a social media growth agency. And he isn’t wrong. Instagram is one of the major platforms onto which fake influencers direct their focus. Over sixty percent of influencers grow their Instagram profiles artificially.

Research has shown that companies spend an average of 8.5 billion dollars in a year to hire social media influencers to market their products. Influencer fraud causes a loss of about 15 percent of the total amount. Essentially,  companies lose 1.3 billion dollars annually due to fraudulent influencers.

Influencer fraud is a rising problem. It’s not only annoying; it also wastes an insane amount of useful resources.

Troubleshooting the Influencer Fraud Problem

Of course, marketing brands have taken the liberty to tackle this issue head-on. The first step in fighting influencer fraud is to identify what it looks like in the first place. Fake influencers do not have real followers, and therein lies the chink in their armor. Companies filter out fake influencers by the amount of engagement they received from their alleged ‘followers’. Engagement on social media looks a lot like non-generic comments instead of mere likes and standard, unspecific comments.

Fake influencers may also post too little content. If a person genuinely relies on their sway in social media as a means of income, it’s a given that the fruit of their labor will show on their profiles. A company only needs to do a quick search. It’s as easy as looking up someone’s YouTube channel. From there, it’s simple enough figure out that there is a disproportionate connection between the influencer’s number of subscribers and the number of videos they’ve posted on the site. A big red flag could be where an influencer’s follower count has suddenly boosted inexplicably in a short amount of time. This could be an indicator that these followers have either been bought or do not exist.

Marketing companies or brands could also hire experts to vet these influencers. This is indeed a worthy investment which will bring about greater profits than losses. More brands should, therefore, look into this aspect – the safety aspect – of their marketing strategy.

Getting to the Root of the Influencer Fraud Issue

But what about the inherent problem of people resorting to buying their followers or subscribers in the first place? Yes, many ill-intentioned people commit influencer fraud. However, there are some who have simply failed to grow their social media presence online. Is there truly no hope for the ambitious? For those who have tried and failed to grow their reputation on social media? For those who are thus tempted to turn to drastic measures?

Indeed, there is always hope. To nip this whole issue in the bud, one of the solutions is pretty simple. We can and should encourage these people to turn to the proper methods of growing their social media profiles.

There are specialists who focus on assisting influencers in the pursuit of growing their reputation in the marketing world. Pvsted Media (pronounced ‘Posted’) is one of these specialists. Pvsted Media is a marketing agency that helps aspiring Instagram influencers build a solid personal brand for themselves. Nick Rogers, its head, summarizes the company’s approach: “Our strategy is centered around helping our clients be genuine people on social media. Avoiding giveaways, fake followers and bots and opting for slow, controlled growth of a real audience that loves them. This is our specialty.”

To Invest, or Not to Invest?

One could either opt for investing their money in buying fake followers. They will, of course, risk their credibility on the advertising market. Or they could simply channel those same funds into growing their brand authentically. Sure, the latter takes a little more time, but with the right specialists, it shouldn’t take them too long to see results.

Take Pvsted Media, for instance. Richard Garcia was their first client. From his humble beginnings, some commonly allege that he will be the next Grant Cardone. Garcia managed, with their help, to hit 140k followers in a single year.

They do this by focusing on three key areas in order to build an online presence. Firstly, a person’s personality on camera. Secondly, the making of a memorable tagline. And lastly: the usage of effective, relatable storytelling methods to hook an influencer’s audience.

“We’ve had enough of people taking advantage of business owners and getting them fake followers and no real results,” Rogers goes on to say.

An aspiring influencer should thus really take the time to sit down, and to conduct research on how best to go about building a personal brand which really, genuinely attracts interested followers. Influencer fraud gets a person easy money. But quality work gives a person sustainable profits. And one may simply solicit the help of experts to get the job done.

Hopefully, every involved party will take effective measures to curtail this immensely frustrating predicament in the world of advertising.  

The post Influencer Fraud: A Rising Threat to Marketing Agencies appeared first on Grit Daily News.

This is where AI marketing comes into play. Essentially, it’s a type of marketing which utilizes AI to call the shots after collecting data taken from the observation of people and trends. A good example of AI marketing would be Facebook’s usage of it in its advertisements. Facebook uses an algorithm that tailors ads to match its users’ specific preferences. There are many aspects to this whole process, but basically, users are narrowed down by their age, gender, location, interests and so on. Machine learning comes into play here. It determines whether or not a user will care about the ad presented to them. Thus, certain ads get higher action rates than others depending on the user’s collected data.

Artificial Intelligence Marketing – Better than Real Marketers?

Of course, this doesn’t mean that artificial intelligence will do all the work for people in the marketing business. Yet. General artificial intelligence can essentially emulate human intelligence in terms of thinking critically and handling complex tasks instead of one task at a time (which is what ‘narrow AI’ does). However, at this point of time, general AI will not fully take over the functions of a human marketer.

What it will do is quicken the process of obtaining leads and potential customers for brands. With the kind of speed AI provides, a company’s return of investment (ROI) can be boosted to greater heights. AI in the marketing field basically enhances the value of business productivity by up to forty percent.

Another plus side of using artificial intelligence in marketing is that AI can understand people at an emotional level. Seventy-six percent of customers ideally expect brands and companies to understand what their needs are. And it’s AI that is currently the best horse to bet on in this department, seeing as it has the capacity to study data based on, for instance, a person’s past purchasing behavior.  That’s why websites like Facebook truly flourish when it comes to advertising products.

AI in Language and Marketing

It certainly would be great to start investing in artificial intelligence to boost an advertising company seven steps forward, no doubt. And the method of using AI in marketing is taking the world by storm these days. The issue here, however, is that there are various AI-based solutions to advertising to choose from. So, which solutions produce a better result?

That truly depends on what a business is trying to achieve.

For Jan Rautenbach, the CEO of Kvell Group, a good approach to AI marketing lies in its connection to linguistics. Kvell Group has recently worked with the Texas University Language Laboratory as well as world-class linguists and psychologists to apply AI in their latest software. This software has the capacity to infer a personality profile for customers based on their usage of language – also known as linguistic inferencing.

“From a historical perspective, Artificial Intelligence programs have been focused on cognitive computing, computer vision, and deep learning algorithms. Very little has been done to provide Artificial Intelligence with insight into the human beings they are decoding. This is where our approach differs from the marketplace at the moment,” Jan says. “We help computers understand human language.”

Indeed, this groundbreaking focus on a new, more personal aspect of artificial intelligence could take the marketing game to a new level. One can only sit back and watch eagerly as more and more new players deal their cards in the world of AI marketing.

The post Meet Artificial Intelligence, the New Head of Marketing appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Omid Farhang, Asmirh Davis and Jorge Hernandez have co-founded a shiny new marketing brand: Majority. And, of course, there’s Shaquille O’Neal, NBA superstar. He will be running the forefront alongside them as an active partner. This company serves the sole purpose of addressing the issue of diversity in the realm of marketing. “Until the industry and the system that was made to keep us out is dismantled, I will never see the change within my lifetime,” Asmirh Davis says on their drive behind Majority.

The three consider having someone of O’Neal’s caliber backing their corner as an invaluable asset to possess. This is due to his significant influence in the world of sports marketing. He will not only sit back and watch the others deal the cards. O’Neal has expressed a desire to take on a more active role. He’ll be making the effort to open doors and create greater opportunities for the company. He will also possibly take part in creative pitch meetings.

“Most marketing agencies still struggle to meet a twenty-five percent diversity target,” O’Neal said. In justifying the brand name, he adds: “We want to flip that diversity ratio to turn the minority into the majority.”

This Marketing Agency’s Game Plan for Inclusion

As of now, Majority has revealed one of its clients: goPuff, the on-demand delivery app. Majority strives to build from a diverse foundation. And they’ll reflect this in goPuff’s audiences. This will, in turn, allow it to build bridges in the long-term with local partners, communities and its customers. Their approach in pursuing clients will be more people-based and personal.

Atlanta: A Growing Advocate for Diversity in Marketing Agencies

Choosing Atlanta was no coincidental move on their part, either. Dubbed the ‘black mecca of the South’, Atlanta possesses such a heavy influence over America’s pop culture. It’s no wonder that Majority has made the strategic choice to move its location to this city. Black culture has steadily risen in Atlanta for over 40 years. O’Neal and Farhang have, thus, made an unspoken expression of their views on the debate on racial discrimination. This movement cannot be more timely. The recent, raw events which sparked the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement are now being addressed dynamically.

Besides, Majority, other companies seeking to reflect inclusion onto the industry also flock to this beautiful city. Positive Passionate Motivated Advertising LLC, a marketing agency headed by one Brandon White (professionally known as Positive B White), stands among these. Brandon’s current mission is to promote the very figure Shaq himself looks up to: Earl Lloyd.

Drawing from Inspiration

Earl Lloyd was one of the first African American basketball players who joined the ranks of the NBA giants. Following that, he went on to break many more barriers in both the basketball industry and the world of business. Nicknamed ‘The Big Cat’, Lloyd went on to win an NBA championship during the Syracuse Nationals. He then eventually gained the title of the first African American assistant and later the bench coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1986. Much like Shaquille O’Neal, his career didn’t die with basketball. He went on to invest his interests in various companies like Chrysler. He earned the title of the first African American executive in the Dodge division. Lloyd had enjoyed an illustrious, groundbreaking career until his retirement.

Shaq recalls the influence the man had on the industry. Upon the passing of Lloyd in 2015, he commented: “I urge all the children to learn about your basketballers. Thank you to all the pioneers who paved the way for young African American men.”

Shared Drive, Different Avenues – Marketing Agencies take Charge

Brandon White’s current endeavors serve a purpose similar to that of Shaq’s. White wants to promote an iconic yet criminally overlooked figure in basketball history. He does this by actively helping the Earl Lloyd Foundation to obtain a commemorative stamp for Earl Lloyd with the U.S. Postal Office. He has already ardently pursued various avenues available which could promote Lloyd. For instance, by successfully advertising the Earl Lloyd Way, a street named after Lloyd at West Virginia State University. He has also hosted several petition signing events for the legend. White has faithfully attended the Earl Lloyd Classic hosted by the same university for five years now.

“I’ve been working with Lloyd’s son, Kevin, for over a decade, providing awareness about how crucial his father, Earl Lloyd, is to our history,” White says. “With Shaquille O’Neal being such a powerhouse marketing force, a partnership with his marketing agency would boast of great benefit. We could continue to provide awareness of the NBA’s first African American barrier breakers.”

A Paradigm Shift in Atlanta: Call for Diversity in Marketing Agencies

Furthermore, Brandon has also seen the shift of movie production from Los Angeles and New York as a ripe opportunity. He’ll be able to use his advertising company, Positive Passionate Motivated Advertising LLC, as a means to promote greater diversity in advertising.

Here, both Brandon and Shaq dream of a better world where inclusion in marketing agencies comes as second nature instead of an afterthought. Shaq’s active inclusion in Majority has brought a new player to the game. And Atlanta already has active existing players, evidently seen in Brandon’s efforts with his company and the Earl Lloyd Foundation. Up-and-rising giants in the marketing world are certainly something Atlanta should look out for.

“A lot of people talk about it,” Shaquille O’Neal said in an interview. “I’m tired of talking about it. I want to do something about it. I just want to make progress.”

The post Shaq’s New Marketing Agency Pushes for Greater Diversity in Atlanta appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The industry has evolved so remarkably in the past five decades with technology constantly opening up better channels of operation at the turn of every decade. With fully efficient virtual studios, high-tech streaming channels, live performances over the internet, and social media for easier promotion, it’s not surprising that independent artists now make up nearly 40 percent of the global music industry, as NPR reports. However, as the going gets easier for the passionate people, the shady bunch are also getting free passes.

Like most other industries, scammers have been thriving alongside legitimate managers in music since the days of vinyl records and cassette players. From record labels syndicates and promotional frauds to talent scouting scams and full-blown con artists, it’s upsetting how technology improved the industry and also made it more vulnerable to people looking to rip others off.

This is 2021, the peak of an era when random people can simply reach out to others in social media DMs, claiming to be the golden ticket to long-lasting success. Somehow, people are still falling relentlessly for these cons, especially the rising talents itching to carve out a niche for themselves.

The record label organized scams

The topic of record labels turning artists into money-making machines without the master rights to their art has been debated for far too long. Record labels are supposed to make the journey easier for upcoming artists by investing in them through recruitment and development, music production, promotion and distribution, management, and copyright enforcement. In return, they receive a percentage of the artist’s earnings through nearly all fund-generation channels.

The way the music industry is set up does not exactly permit artists to own the masters of their songs and albums. They cannot maximize the profit-earning opportunities without breaching their original contracts. Essentially, a record label takes you under their wing the moment you sign over the rights to your intellectual property.

In recent times, many registered record labels are openly exploiting emerging artists by playing to their FOMO senses. They preach about how no single artist has ever made it without a solid label backing and how they can bring the world to your feet. They come up with incomprehensible contracts, set up phony meetings with their own lawyers, and cajole young talents to sign away their futures for meager cuts of their earnings.

“Labels sign artists everyday without the intent to help them grow in any way,” says Tony M. Fountain, founder and CEO of Now Entertainment magazine, a music industry publication. “Some use the right of first and last refusal in their contracts to their benefits and leave it up to the artist to make themselves popular and drive demand, while the label still maintains control of future business.”

To prevent these strategic cons on a quick whim, Fountain advises, “Watch out for the contracts where they try to control too much of the process, including the parts you can decide for yourself such as where you record. A label is essentially a loan company and you have to pay them back. They may have partnerships in place that you don’t know about. Also, look for things like packaging and shipping costs especially if you’re not releasing any physical albums.”

Also, many labels do not have access to the distribution channels and publications they may promise in the beginning, eventually leaving growing talents with high hopes and virtually no results. Some may even go as far as promising song placements in movies and other theatrical productions. In the end, if you’re lucky to have a YouTuber with 5K subscribers playing your song in the background, consider yourself lucky.

Straight-up fake labels

Several artists have told horror tales of receiving professionally crafted emails that seem to come from top labels including Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, EMI, Sony Music, and others. Even when the attached website domain is an obvious flunk such as “http://universalmusic.tk”, a few unfortunate people out of the thousands pitched might just fall prey.

It should be instantly obvious that you are about to be scammed when a supposed record label sends you a PayPal account or Bitcoin wallet to credit before getting started, but sometimes, excitement clouds better judgment.

The “glittering gold” managers

This is one of the oldest scams in the book, and of course, it still plays to the eagerness of upcoming artists with hopes of getting to the top with solid backing.

These days, these faux managers are everywhere – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even on LinkedIn. They come up with the most larger-than-life profiles, mentioning names of globally renowned artists they “managed before fame”. Others claim to have garnered millions of streams on major platforms for their artists, even supplying links as proof. They can get you collaborations with Drake and Beyoncé and get you a slot to perform at Coachella. Some would go as far as posting screenshots of fake DM conversations with Rihanna and Megan Thee Stallion.

“There are different types of managers such as artist managers, business managers, and tour managers,” says Fountain, a former record label owner. “Artist managers typically get about fifteen to twenty percent of an artist’s income, so if you’re not making any money you have no need for a manager. Once you’re already making money and have so much going on that you need help managing everything, this is when you’ll need a manager. They do not play the role of PR agents, investors, and other things so many artists assume they do. They may help to schedule your studio sessions, photoshoost, or help you find the best public relations or ads agency for your campaign, but they do not pay for any of these services with their own money.”

These scams usually play out in two major ways. In the first scenario, they may take the artist under their rather soggy wing, getting weekly checks from struggling talents for doing absolutely nothing. They secure collaborations with other lowly artists, features in spam-ridden low-ranking websites, and when your music gets published, it performs poorly on every single platform due to poor promotion. Eventually, the artist realizes it’s a waste of time and moves on. Of course, they can’t get their money back.

In the second scenario, they bill a certain amount as a down payment for any “fish” in their net, and when the funds are cleared, they vanish into thin air.

As Fountain recommends, you should only hire a manager when your schedule becomes too difficult to manage. “Once your schedule becomes too overwhelming for you to handle on your own and you begin looking for a manager, make sure to ask around about them. You read the reviews on Amazon before making a purchase and ask around town before carrying your car to a local shop. Why wouldn’t you do the same when it comes to your career?”

A & R fraud

The “Artist and Repertoire” division of any label or company is responsible for talent scouting and recruitment. The first sign of an A & R fraud setup is charging upcoming artists for auditions. They are supposed to be scouting, so why attach a fee? Most times, the label’s top management would be in the dark about this, but if they are aware of it, the entire label is most likely trash.

The fake publicist’s cookbook

Fake publicists are some of the wildest in the game. They come in many shapes and forms and it takes special guidance to not fall prey to these sharks. The music industry is extremely competitive and while talent and passion provide a lot of the necessary momentum, artists still need to promote their songs to gain relevance.

Shady PR people would show up all over the place, even on Facebook and Instagram ads, popping out 10-image carousels showing artist features on Forbes and top magazines, Spotify playlists, top podcasts, and YouTube channels, all backed up with the promise of “going global” in no time.

Most of the time, their scams are the swiftest, often lasting through the time it takes to convince you of their powers and the moment you make that first cash transfer.

“Traditional publicists can’t guarantee you anything,” Fountain explains. “They write up a compelling story on your behalf and pitch it to publications. They follow up with those publications as well. However, if your story isn’t newsworthy or interesting enough, it’s not their fault if no one covers the story.”

“A good publicist will have connections at various publications and know which to target depending on your campaign goals,” he continues. “A bad one will just get you placed anywhere to make it seem like they’ve done something for you, when in reality, they’ve just wasted your time. For example a country rap artist being placed on a site prominently about gangster rap isn’t going to help their career.”

To avoid scammers, always stay a step ahead

One word – research.

If you’ve ever doubted how information equates to power, look no further than the music industry. To know is to be armed. Young artists need to cultivate a habit of looking deep into anyone they may intend to work with, especially in the long run. If they claim to have helped any reachable acts climb the ladder, connect with these people and verify their claims. When a contract is presented to you, hire a personal lawyer to review and advise before you proceed. Never let your guard down for a second, especially when their stories and bios sound too good to be true.

There’s no shortcut to success. The best way to stay safe is to educate yourself about the industry.One excellent resource to learn the “un-sugarcoatedtruth” would be Fountain’s newly published book with the bluntest title we’ve seen in recent times, “Secrets Of The Music Business: How Not To Get F*cked As An Entrepreneur With A Dream“. The book doesn’t waste your time with information that’s available off the web but offers crystal insights on the right avenues to spend your funds on as a growing artist, the real deal with record labels and contracts, and of course, sidestepping the endless stream of scammers.

The post Decades Later, Upcoming Artists Are Still Falling For These Scams in the Music Industry appeared first on Grit Daily News.