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macOS Mojave drops Back to My Mac iCloud feature, Apple Remote Desktop recommended

When macOS Mojave is released later this fall, the operating system update will drop support for the Back to My Mac iCloud feature that lets you network with other Macs remotely. In place of Back to My Mac, Apple recommends iCloud Drive, screen sharing, and Apple Remote Desktop.
Apple turning ‘Losing Earth’ climate change report into TV series, video service to launch in 2019

Apple doesn’t seem like its slowing its original content efforts anytime soon. The company has been aggressively gaining rights to more original content over the past several months and today is no exception.
The New York Times reports that Apple has just landed rights to Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, a novel written by Nathaniel Rich.
More notably, Apple reportedly told the New York Times that it will begin offering its streaming TV services next year.
Apple has said it will start streaming its television offerings next year, when it will begin competing against Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in earnest.
Anonymous Content will be producing the show, along with Anonymous CEO Steven Golin, and Rich himself. Rich will also be working on a related book called Losing Earth, which will be published next year.
9to5Toys Lunch Break: Apple 21″ iMac $850, Apple iPad Pro Covers from $32, Belkin HomeKit Wemo Bridge $28, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
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How to Convert a PDF to Excel: Free Tools & Instructions
A PDF, short for portable document format, is commonly used to view shared documents. The PDF format preserves a document’s formatting, which means you can look at the document on any device. But the key word here is “view” — you can’t edit a PDF without using a specific PDF-editing tool, which is where things get tricky.
If you’ve got a ton of data already formatted in a PDF, you don’t want to waste time manually re-entering that data into an Excel sheet.
Luckily, you don’t need to: there are plenty of free tools you can use to convert a PDF to an Excel file. Since all of the tools function similarly, we’ll show you how to use one of the more popular options, and supply a list of alternatives you can try out.
PDFtoExcel.com is a fantastic free tool for a few reasons: it’s secure (your downloads are deleted soon after conversion, and your files are only accessible by software agents); it converts documents of all sizes; the data you import is extracted accurately into rows and columns for Excel; and you can use your .xlsx converted file for various Microsoft Excel versions (7, 10, 13), LibreCalc, OpenCalc, or other office suites compatible with MS Office.
Plus, you don’t need to create an account to use it, which makes the whole process simple and quick (I converted my PDF file to Excel in under three minutes).
Here’s how to use it:
Convert PDF to Excel
- Upload a file into PDFtoExcel.com.
- Choose the PDF file you want to upload, and click “Open.”
- Click the orange “Free Download” button.
- Click your downloaded file at the bottom of the browser.
- Launch Excel and open your new .XLSX file.
1. Upload a file into PDFtoExcel.com.
Open your internet browser and navigate to PDFtoExcel.com. On the website’s homepage, click the gray “Upload” button on the lefthand side. You can also drag and drop, or choose from Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive along the bottom — as shown in the screenshot below.
2. Choose the PDF file you want to upload, and click “Open.”
Clicking the “Upload” button will open a file window, where you can select the PDF document you want to convert to an Excel document. Highlight this document and click “Open” on the bottom-right corner.
3. Click the orange “Free Download” button.
Once you’ve uploaded the PDF document you want to convert, you’ll see white text indicating that the site is working to convert your file. When it’s done, an orange button will appear below the “Upload” field labeled “Free Download.” Click it, and your newly converted document will begin downloading as an .XSLX file, which is compatible with Microsoft Excel.
4. Click your downloaded file at the bottom of the browser.
Now, the PDF is downloaded onto your computer in an .xlsx format, which means it’s ready to use in Microsoft Excel (versions 7, 10, 13) LibreCalc, OpenCalc, or other office suite compatible with MS Office.
5. Launch Excel and open your new .XLSX file.
Open Excel, and go to “File” → “Open.” Find your .xlsx file, and click “Open.” Your document will successfully appear in your spreadsheet.
Other conversion tools work similarly to PDFtoExcel.com, but some offer unique benefits. Take a look at our list to decide for yourself if one of them suits your business’s needs more than the rest.
- Tabula: Tabula extracts your PDF data into a format that Excel can read without difficulty, but doesn’t change your PDF into an Excel document itself
- Tabello: Tabello is an easy-to-use Chrome extension that converts your PDF data to an Excel format right from your browser, but it’s only free for the first five conversions (after that, it’s five dollars per 20 conversions)
- Free Online OCR: This tool uses character recognition to extract text from PDF’s and convert it into Word, Excel, or Text formats; allows conversions for different language PDF’s, including Chinese and Japanese
- iSkysoft: This is a paid tool, but you can get a free trial; allows you to convert multiple PDF files into Excel, HTML, Word, or other similar formats
These tools enable you to avoid manually entering data into your Excel sheet (if it’s in PDF format, anyway). This frees up your time so you can spend it analyzing and reporting on that data, instead.
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Fortnite likely coming to Apple TV as ‘tvOS’ reference found in game code

At this point, there’s not many platforms that the battle royale phenomenon hasn’t landed on. Fortnite is available on PC/Mac, the major consoles, iOS and now Android this month. However, one device that doesn’t support it is Apple TV, but that could be changing soon.
Apple TV exec Jen Folse exits Apple for Caffeine social broadcasting startup

Jen Folse is a name that may be familiar to Apple keynote viewers. As the design lead for Apple TV, Folse has had stage time in recent Apple events where tvOS has been demoed. We heard a few weeks ago that Folse was leaving Apple to join other ex-Apple TV team members at Caffeine. Now the social broadcasting startup has made the news official:
22 states ask US appeals court to restore net neutrality, with tech company support

The battle to restore net neutrality protections continues as 22 states plus the District of Columbia have asked a US appeals court to reinstate the 2015 rules – with support from a number of tech companies …
Tesla could go to Apple for take-private deal, says investor – does it make sense?

There have been rumors of Tesla and Apple partnering up for years, but now they are intensifying in light of Elon Musk pushing to take Tesla private.
Ross Gerber activist Tesla investor is even now calling for Apple to take a stake in Tesla as part of the ongoing discussions for a take-private deal.
But does it make sense? more…
Apple could lose one of its highest-grossing iOS apps as Netflix looks to bypass iTunes billing
Comment: Apple will be making a mistake if it no longer offers a low-cost Mac mini

One of the oft-heard criticisms of Apple is that it no longer cares about the Mac now that the bulk of its income comes from the iPhone.
Apple does gradually seem to be trying to dispel that idea. The complete redesign of the MacBook Pro in 2016 demonstrated a continuing interest in the company’s top-of-the-range laptop, even if not all pro users were happy with the direction it took. The iMac got a shot in the arm with a Pro model. The Mac Pro is now elderly, but Apple has at least promised an all-new model. A rejigging of the MacBook range could finally see the death of the ancient MacBook Air.
All of which leaves the Mac mini …
This week’s best iTunes movie deals: Bundles from $25, 4K films starting at $5, $1 rental, more

The iTunes movie store has been refreshed this morning with a new batch of deals, including a number of bundles and 4K films from $5. You’ll also find this week’s $1 HD rental down below as well. As always, each of today’s deals (outside of the lone rental) will become a permanent part of your collection. Hit the jump for all of this week’s best offers.
Apple plans several ‘flagship outlet’ stores in India to boost new retail strategy

As Apple continues its struggle to establish a broader retail presence in India, the company may soon establish several large “flagship outlets” to supplement slowing sales, according to a new report from The Economic Times.
Apple increasingly switching from Taiwanese to Chinese suppliers to drive down costs
Apple Pay now accepted at all US Costco warehouses, coming soon to gas stations
How to Use Instagram Stories Stickers in Your Marketing

Wondering how to get more from Instagram Stories? Have you considered using Stories stickers in your marketing? In this article, you’ll discover how to use Instagram Stories stickers to deliver engaging and useful Stories content. Find Your Instagram Stories Stickers To access all of the different Instagram Stories stickers, start a story post with a photo […]
The post How to Use Instagram Stories Stickers in Your Marketing appeared first on Social Media Examiner.
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How to Practice Ethical Decision Making at Work
It’s often clear what’s right and wrong in a situation, but occasionally, the lines can get a little blurry.
When you encounter so many diverse viewpoints on a daily basis, your wrong can seem right to someone else, and vice versa. In these instances, it’s critical you and your team knows how to make ethical decisions for the company.
Practicing ethical decision making can help you maintain an honest, supportive, and fair workplace culture, but it’s also necessary to ensure your company doesn’t get into legal trouble or face major losses down the road.
Ethical Decision Making
Ethical decision making is the process in which you aim to make your decisions in line with a code of ethics. To do so, you must seek out resources such as professional guidelines and organizational policies, and rule out any unethical solutions to your problem.
Making ethical decisions is easier said than done. Maybe your coworker lied to a client about a deal, but you personally like this colleague and want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or, perhaps you’re tempted to lie to your boss to avoid admitting your team missed a deadline. Whatever the case, it’s critical you have a tangible set of steps to follow the next time you need to apply your ethical decision making skills at work. Let’s take a look at those steps now.
Ethical Decision Making Model
When you’re making a major decision for your company, it can be tempting to choose the easiest or most cost-effective course of action — even if that option isn’t the best from an ethical standpoint. The PLUS model, a set of questions designed to help you make a decision from an ethical point of view, can ensure you’re doing the right thing.
The PLUS model is especially objective because it doesn’t focus on revenue or profit, but rather urges leaders to take a legal and fair approach to a problem.
PLUS Model:
P = Policies and Procedures (Does this decision align with company policies?)
L = Legal (Does this decision violate any laws or regulations?)
U = Universal (Is this decision in line with core values and company culture? How does it relate to our organizational values?)
S = Self (Does it meet my standards of fairness and honesty?)
Once you’ve considered potential solutions using these questions as a guide, you’re ready to implement the six necessary steps to make your decision.
Ethical Decision Making Process
When you come across a difficult problem that threatens your company’s integrity or beliefs (or could be illegal), you’ll want to employ these six steps to make an ethical decision.
Step One: Define the Problem
Use PLUS filters to define your problem, and how it might affect one of the PLUS acronyms. Is it illegal, or does it violate your company’s values? Make sure you’ve outlined the full scope of the problem — be honest with yourself about it, even if you’re partially at fault.
Step Two: Seek Out Resources
It can be difficult, if not impossible, to reach an objective solution on your own. To fairly evaluate your problem, you’ll want to seek out all available resources. These resources might be mentors, coworkers, or even friends and family, but they could also be professional guidelines and organizational policies. Make sure you’ve armed yourself with knowledge to understand the extent of the damage.
Step Three: Brainstorm a List of Potential Solutions
When you’re brainstorming a list of potential solutions to your problem, you don’t want to only consider what’s been done before. Stay open to new and different ideas, and urge other people to share their advice. Consider outside resources, including what other companies have done. Ultimately you’ll want a list of at least three to five potential solutions. This way, you avoid feeling like it’s an either/or situation.
Step Four: Evaluate Those Alternatives
Dive into your list of potential solutions, and consider all positive and negative consequences of taking each action. It’s important you consider how likely those consequences are to occur, as well. You’ll again want to refer to resources, guidelines, and standards. For instance, you might decide one solution has only one negative consequence, but that negative consequence has a high likelihood of happening. Another solution has two negative consequences, but both are extremely unlikely. These are important factors to weigh when making your decision.
Step Five: Make Your Decision, and Implement It
At this stage, you’ve got all the information you need to make a fair and ethical decision. If you’ve made the decision alone but need to share it with your team, create a proposal outlining why you chose this route, and what alternatives you considered, so they can understand your steps. Transparency is key. Your team needs to understand you used appropriate and objective measures to find a solution.
Step Six: Evaluate Your Decision
Now that you’ve implemented your solution, decide whether your problem was fixed or not. If there are unforeseen consequences, perhaps you want to consider alternative measures to combat the problem, or refer to outside guidance.
Ethical Decision Making Examples
Let’s take a look at a few ethical decision making examples, to give you a better understanding of how to act if anything like this happens to you.
1. Your team misses an important deadline, and you’re tempted to tell your boss you reached it anyway.
It might seem like a good idea to tell your boss your team is on-track, and then work quietly to make sure that becomes a reality, but in the long-run this will only hurt you and your team. First, if you don’t examine why your team missed the deadline, you won’t know how to fix the problem moving forward. Additionally, your boss is meant to be a helpful resource for you, and could help you combat the issue. Lying could destroy your reputation as a leader and employee if your team or boss finds out, and it will be difficult to then prove your integrity. Figure out the guidelines or steps you need to take, and follow those.
2. Your coworker is giving her sister a major discount on your product.
It makes sense — family is important, after all. But it’s not fair or ethical if some of your customers are receiving discounts simply because of who they are, and can even be seen as a form of discrimination. If the public finds out you don’t follow fair rules when it comes to pricing and discounts, your entire company’s integrity is at risk. Either mention to your coworker that you don’t feel it’s fair, or report the issue to your team leader.
3. You’re close to finalizing a deal when you find out some of the information you’ve provided the client isn’t true.
You’ve worked so hard to form a relationship with your client and provide them with persuasive and helpful information, and you’ve finally reached the end. Just when they’re ready to sign the deal, though, your coworker takes a look at your slides and lets you know some of the information is outdated and is no longer applicable to the deal. It’s especially difficult because your job relies on you hitting quotas, and you know your boss and team will be incredibly impressed with this deal when you close it.
Unfortunately, you could get into legal trouble for lying in a contract, and you don’t want to set a precedent of lying and essentially stealing from clients to close deals. Be upfront and own up to the misinformation, and then work with the client to create a new deal. Ideally, the client will appreciate your honesty. If not, at least you didn’t win a deal through false measures, which might’ve gotten you into bigger trouble down the road.
Using the PLUS model and these six steps, as well as your own judgment and the opinions of your team, should arm you with all the information you need to make ethical decisions at work even when they’re difficult. For more decision making advice, check out The Ultimate Guide to Decision Making.
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The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Trends in 2018
Marketing moves at the speed of light … er, at least it feels that way when you’re brainstorming a new campaign or strategy, and all of a sudden, a new statistic or technology release changes everything.
On a yearly, quarterly, and even monthly basis, new trends and techniques pop up and transform the way we attract, connect with, and market to our audiences.
But keeping up with the changes isn’t quite enough. To succeed in this fast-paced marketing world, you have to stay ahead of the game. That’s why we created this guide — influenced by some of our very own HubSpot experts — so you can bookmark and return to the most important marketing trends of 2018, time and time again.
Why Follow Marketing Trends?
If a certain marketing strategy or approach has consistently worked for your business, why change it? This just involves more time and energy, right?
Yes, but it’s worth it.
Marketing trends evolve for good reason. Google employees don’t sit around and say, “We’re bored. Let’s change up the algorithm of the search results page for fun.”
Nope. Changes in the marketing world happen because consumers change the way they shop, research, and spend their time and money … and changes in consumer behavior and priorities directly influence how they respond to marketing and advertising efforts.
Staying up-to-date on (and ahead of) trends helps your company save precious time and money and ensures you’re marketing to the right people who are in your target audience … and ready to buy.
So, sticking to your “reliable” marketing strategy might be cheaper in the short-term, but listening and responding to marketing trends will actually save you money and keep your business relevant in the long-run.
More so, digital marketing changes practically every day. It is the internet, of course. And if you’re not marketing on the internet, you’re already far behind the curve, my friend.
2018 Marketing Trends
Marketing refers to a wide range of activities that promote and advocate for a brand, so the term “marketing trends” is pretty vague. That’s why we’ve organized this section by the type of marketing, as you’ll see below.
Lots of things change in the marketing world, but we’ve chosen one or two for each section that we believe will best equip your business to succeed.
General Marketing Trends
Customers as Marketers
The marketing funnel is no more, my friends. Today, the flywheel — and a subsequent focus on service — have replaced the one-way direction of the funnel.

In the world of the marketing funnel, customers were an afterthought. Once they became a paying customer, businesses considered them obsolete — until, of course, it was time re-sign that contract.
The flywheel, on the other hand, places the customer in the center. Since word-of-mouth marketing is the single most powerful marketing tactic, it’s wise to not only serve your customers but also equip them to become advocates for your brand. The flywheel illustrates this process: excellent service as its own marketing strategy.
What does this mean for your business? Place a heavy emphasis on customer service. Train and equip your customer service team to not only handle requests and problems but also delight and empower your customers.
Content Marketing Trends
All kinds of businesses in all kinds of industries are starting blogs, investing in content marketing resources, and paying for content-related advertisements. Why? Because 47% of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep, and 70% of people would rather learn about new products through content than traditional advertising.
But contributing to a blog isn’t quite enough in today’s content dog-eat-dog world. To ensure your content is as effective and accessible as possible, you must pay attention to what type of content resonates most with your buyer persona.
Video Content
Video as a marketing tactic isn’t a new idea, but its effectiveness and popularity have definitely skyrocketed in the last year. In fact, YouTube is the second most popular social network behind Facebook. Also, when both video and text are available on the same page, 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service.
The heightened impact of and interest in video means that the investment you put into video will pay off — literally. In the past, companies would create video and hope it reached and influenced its audience. Now, consumers and followers are literally begging for more video from their favorite organizations.
Alicia Collins and Megan Conley, video producers and editors at HubSpot, weigh in: “This [consumer behavior] also indicates that video can be used throughout all parts of the flywheel — not just as an asset for marketing. When incorporating video, businesses have historically used it as a means of introducing their brand and product or service offerings. But that’s not the case anymore. Video can be a valuable addition to both sales and customer service efforts.”
In the past, video was limited due to costly resources and production. Today, it’s much more accessible. With a lower cost barrier, video has become less intimidating to incorporate into your marketing efforts. You don’t have to hire a production team or marketing agency; all you need is a smartphone and editing software.
What does this mean for your business? Create video! Start at the bottom-of-the-funnel and create video assets for your sales and service representatives. “Video as a conversion asset versus a brand awareness asset is much more valuable and yields a higher ROI,” Alicia and Megan report.
These videos can also be lower quality and still as effective, meaning a smartphone and decent lighting is all you need to connect with your audience. For more information on how to use video for your business, check out our guide here.
Native Advertising
When your brand pays to feature content on a third-party website, you’re investing in native advertising. The point of native advertising is to naturally, organically advertise your brand or product within another environment, such as a publication, video, or graphic. Unlike traditional advertising, which is designed to interrupt and stand out, native advertising is designed to blend in and promote your brand to a new audience.
Native advertising has been around half a decade, but campaigns are still as successful as ever, if not more. Because they don’t “feel” like traditional ads, consumers are more likely to consume and explore native advertising efforts. In fact, consumers view native ads over 50% more than banner ads.
Buzzfeed is a popular publication and blog that routinely partners with brands for native advertising. In the example below, Google Home has published content on back-to-school recipes, and the only mention of the brand is in the byline. Google Home is advertising their product by incorporating their brand into otherwise native content.

Source: Buzzfeed
What does this mean for your business? Native advertising isn’t new, but it’s still just as effective. It shouldn’t replace all content marketing efforts, but it should definitely be added to or upped as part of your overall marketing strategy. Look for publications that are relevant to your brand, such as HuffPost for lifestyle brands or Entrepreneur or Inc. for business or B2B brands. The process of publishing native advertising content is typically pretty straightforward, as long as your content isn’t blatantly promotional.
Social Media Marketing Trends
According to the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), social media spending will account for almost 20% of marketing budgets in the next 5 years.
Social is an important part of every business’s marketing strategy. It allows brands to connect authentically with their audience and provides a fun, informal outlet to let brand personality and character to shine through.
It’s also an ever-changing medium, and it’s important to stay up-to-date with the ever-changing trends and best practices.
Permanent vs. Ephemeral Content
Not all social media is created equal. Different content types and lengths perform better on Facebook than Twitter, and some platforms encourage hashtags while others don’t.
And now, in 2018, Instagram and Facebook Stories have created another new type of content: temporary. Instagram and Facebook Stories are photos and videos that live for 24 hours then disappear “forever”. (Not really … there’s an Instagram Archive where all your Stories reside after they expire. But you get the gist.)
Kelly Hendrickson, a social media marketer at Hubspot, says: “Ephemeral content versus permanent content is often dictated by the social platform, as well as by the audience’s behavior on the platform.”
Take Instagram, for example. “Stories are soaring in popularity, and the user behavior on Stories leans toward playful, low-fi, quick content with heavy use of features within the UX (gifs, boomerangs, polls, etc). Their fleeting design isn’t the only differentiating factor. Instagram Stories can be heavily edited, too, with filters, GIFs, colored text, and more. Because of these fun additions, brands have added a brand new strategy for producing and publishing ephemeral content that varies from their other social media content.”
Permanent content is a little different. “Instagram can organically serve up a wall post across a wide span of time, so there is less of an opportunity for brands to be timely (who wants to see New Year’s post when they’ve already given up on their resolutions?!). Since Instagram users are more active on weekdays, during the standard workday, it seems users are looking for a break! It’s critical to use your brand voice and point-of-view to find how you can serve your audience during that break. Should your presence be inspirational? Beautiful? Informative? Playful? Trendy? They all have a place on Instagram’s permanent wall, it just needs to match your brand’s message.”
What does this mean for your business? Instagram and Facebook stories are a chance to showcase a little more of your brand’s personality and flair. Kelly says, “The combo of a running clock and a lively audience is a huge opportunity for brands to lean into quick, in-the-moment content that showcases the more light-hearted elements of their brand. Succinctness and clarity are key in content.”
Don’t shy away from adding new content just because you haven’t done so before … it’ll expire in 24 hours, anyway! For more information on creating Instagram (and Facebook) Stories, read our guide here.
Micro-Influencers
Influencers play a major role in modern marketing, but their influence isn’t limited to major celebrities and big brand names. Micro-influencers have found their niche in the social media world, too.
Micro-influencers are social media promoters that have smaller following, typically between 100,000 and 1 million. These folks might have a smaller follower base, but their posts pack more punch due to their engagement levels. Also, because they’re considered “average” and “everyday” people (unlike hard-to-reach celebrities), people view micro-influencers like friends and family — in that they’re more likely to trust their recommendations.
Rosie, known as The Londoner, is a popular travel and lifestyle influencer on Instagram. She only has 340,000 followers, but they’re fiercely loyal and engaged with her posts. The below image shows that: with almost 36,000 likes, Rosie is garnering almost 11% engagement.

Source: Instagram
Here’s another example: Non-celebrity beauty influencer @ling.kt only has 1.2 million followers … but it’s a much more dedicated, engaged follower base. In the below image, Ling mentions a brand partnership and receives over 103,000 likes — which is almost 10% engagement.

Source: Instagram
Micro-influencers are the future of influencer marketing. It’s tempting to look at the number of followers to determine how influential a user is, but the true influence lives in engagement rates. Micro-influencers deliver engagement (read: clicks, subscribes, and purchases), drive social buzz through more personal posts, and are much more cost effective.
What does this mean for your business? Don’t be swayed by high follower numbers. Instead, hop on Instagram and do some research on who’s active in your industry or niche. Search your brand hashtag and any generic hashtags related to your product or brand. A micro-influencers follower base might be small, but they’re loyal and interested in what that influencer has to say. Paying for a post or two will go a long way with those users.
Search Marketing Trends
61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. Are you one of these marketers? If so, have you figured out how exactly you plan to improve your SEO and organic presence?
We encourage you to start with the trends below. Optimizing for the following consumer behavior will help your business become more discoverable online.
Voice Search
Let me guess — you’ve used Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Google Assistant in the last month or so. Am I right? Probably, because digital and voice-based assistants have taken over the world … or, at least how we search for and consume information.
Lately, digital assistants have accounted for a greater number of search queries than ever. Not only do they answer very short informational queries, such as “Who is the actor in Mission Impossible?” and “What’s the weather in Boston today?”, but they’ve also started to process more local, customized searches. These are typically like, “Where’s a nearby coffee shop I can work from today?”, “How late is it open?”, and “Do they serve iced coffee?”
Because of this emerging behavior, businesses need to respond and change the way they frame information. Instead of catering to Google’s manual search algorithm, content should be framed around questions.
What does this mean for your business? Aja Frost, an SEO strategist for HubSpot, says: “Businesses should look at a topic and say ‘What questions could users ask about this?’ Then, they should plan sub-topics accordingly and look for opportunities to insert questions as headers. This will allow voice assistants to easily grab questions and recognize content as solutions.”
Aja also encourages businesses to look for featured snippet opportunities, which are the information previews Google provides when users search for definitions or questions. Voice assistants typically pull responses from these boxes.
Mobile-First Indexing
48% of consumers start mobile research with a search engine, and the first position on Google search results on mobile has a 31.35% click-through rate.
It goes without saying that mobile usage is skyrocketing, especially for search queries and research. Due to this, businesses should ensure their website is discoverable and readable via mobile devices — both smartphones and tablets. Website speed is also becoming important as Google prioritizes better performing websites in their search engine results pages (SERPs).
What does this mean for your business? If you’re not already, get familiar with how to design and optimize your website for mobile use. This typically requires a responsive design — meaning your website will “respond” and change its design and layout as users access it on their desktop versus their smartphone. For more information on this, check out our guide here.
Technology in Marketing Trends
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In general terms, artificial intelligence refers to a subset of computer science that teaches machines to do things that would require intelligence if done by a human. Think of tasks like learning, seeing, talking, socializing, reasoning, or problem-solving. When completed by computers, they’re considered AI.
AI has completely infiltrated our daily lives and tasks. When Spotify recommends a song, Facebook recognizes and tags a person, or you text a friend using Siri, you’re tapping into AI. As we utilize AI more and more (especially as consumers), marketers and businesses will need to respond.
The point of AI isn’t to replace humans or the need for a human touch. It’s to improve and expand our ability to connect with our audience and help them solve their problems quicker and more thoroughly. In fact, authenticity in marketing is more important than ever to consumers. AI is also incredibly helpful when collecting and analyzing data and making data-driven decisions.
What does this mean for your business? Research ways you can incorporate AI into your business and marketing operations — not only to better serve your consumers but to also make your life easier. For more information on AI, read our guide here.
Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)
Virtual reality is viewing a computer-generated, lifelike scenario. Augmented reality is viewing the real world augmented with visual, haptic, olfactory or visual additions. VR and AR offer different experiences, but both are making waves in the marketing world in 2018.
And they’re affecting your lives, too. Ever watched a 360° video on Facebook? That’s VR. What about IKEA’s IKEA PLACE app that helps you visualize virtual furniture in your very real room? That’s AR.
Right now, VR and AR are being used to supplement and improve customer experiences online and at events. In the future, though, marketers will need to integrate VR and AR into their marketing efforts … or risk falling behind. Marketers thus far have been slow to adopt this trend due to pricey equipment and bulky headsets, but as VR glasses and AR apps become more accessible, businesses can expect to add this technology to their marketing strategy.
What does this mean for your business? VR and AR might not be necessary for your business and marketing strategy today, but you should definitely start thinking about it. The near future could bring about a mass adoption of VR glasses — not unlike smartphones or tablets. And if everyone has one, your business must, too. For more information, check our out guides on VR and AR.
Chatbots
More than half of consumers expect a response within 10 minutes to any marketing, sales, or customer service inquiry. How can this be humanly possible?
It’s not … for humans, anyway. Enter: Bots.
Bots are powered by a computer program that automates certain tasks, typically by chatting with a user through a conversational interface. Bots are made possible by artificial intelligence, which helps it to understand complex requests, personalize responses, and improve interactions over time.
Bots provide quick, easy solutions to problems — no matter how complex. No longer is the need for live chat or a literal one-to-one digital conversation. Bots provide the perception and dedication of a 1:1 service experience while working with hundreds of customers — something that no customer service representative or team would ever be able to do.
To the consumers who hate repeating themselves to multiple sales or service representatives (33%, to be exact), listen up. Chatbots are and will be making your lives much easier. If employed correctly, they manage conversations at scale and aggregate data from multiple sources of data — from calendars to knowledge bases to blog posts and videos.
What does mean for your business? Jon Dick, VP of Marketing at HubSpot, says: “It’s on you to make things as easy as possible. Your buyers want to use live chat? You should give it to them. They’ve had the same problem three times in the last month? You should already know, and have a plan to fix it.”
Not sure how to breach the subject of chatbots? Read our guide here … and keep an eye out for future HubSpot products that might help. *wink*
Privacy in Marketing Trends
In the marketing world, data is valuable currency … and not just valuable to you, as a marketer or business owner. Whether their email address, credit card information, or smartphone location, consumers also view their data as precious and privileged.
And it’s your responsibility to take care of it.
GDPR
Whether a software company, bank, government agency, or lemonade stand, each and every business operates using data. It’s the lifeblood of all things marketing, sales, service, and more.
And hackers know it. When data breaches happen, precious information is siphoned into the wrong hands, leading to untrustworthy businesses and exploited consumers.
That’s why the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enacted in May of this year. The GDPR is an effort by the EU to give greater control to consumers over their data. Under the GDPR, organizations must ensure that their data is collected legally and safely and that those who collect and manage said data will protect it and respect consumers’ rights.
Following the GDPR guidelines might seem like a burden, but being fined for non-compliance will feel much heavier; fines range from 10 million euros to 4% of a company’s annual global revenue. Is this a risk you want to take?
What does this mean for your business? Do your research! Read our GDPR guide and peruse our GDPR checklist to ensure your business is compliant.
Over to You
You’re up to speed … for now. If your current campaigns and advertising don’t align with these trends, don’t fret. Slowly apply these changes to your marketing efforts, and be sure all of your activities are compliant and legal.
As long as you’re keeping a thumb on the pulse of current marketing trends — and remain open to change — you and your business will never fall behind.
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Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac brings optimized storage, enhanced Touch Bar support, and more

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