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5 Reasons You Should Own A 3D Printer At Home

Developments in 3D printing technology are ever-changing and the possibilities of what a 3D Printer can do are endless. When you’re on the fence about buying a 3D printer, you could be wondering whether you should make the investment now or wait.

You don’t have to wonder any longer, with 3D printers being more cost-effective than ever and easy to use, you too can reap the benefits of having 3D capabilities right in your own home! Still not convinced it’s the right move for you? Here are 5 reasons why you should own a 3D printer. 

1. You Will Save Money

When you have a 3D printer at the ready you can easily print items that you would otherwise have to buy. Do you need a new case for your mobile phone? Print one. With your own printer, you can create and design items for your home that will be more personalized and to your taste than what the stores would have.

With the capability to print with many different materials and colors, you can be certain that your printed items will look great and hold up over time. They even have a glow-in-the-dark filament, so you don’t have to buy decorative stars for the ceiling or Halloween decorations because you could make your own.

Being able to print replacement parts for things you already own can extend their life. Creating 3D printed items on demand does not require any additional machinery after you have your own printer and software. Not only will you save on the cost of those items you are printing, but you also won’t have to pay for the gas or the mileage on your vehicle.  

2. It Can Be Educational 

“Learn something new every day” is a euphemism for a reason. Lifelong learning is key to a successful career and what better way to challenge yourself to learn new skills by buying a 3D printer? Using a 3D printer will quite literally add dimension to your life and can engage you in new skills that you will enjoy.

Printing can be a fun way to help your children learn as well. Hands-on learning is always appealing to children and 3D printing is a great way to make education fun and interesting. With loads of applications that are geared towards printing with children, once you own a printer you can promote the educational goals and values that are important to you.

Even if your children aren’t interested in the actual 3D printing process, though it’s a safe bet they will be, you can still use the printer to create models, puzzles and learning manipulatives that can help your child with their homework.

Allowing your child the chance to design their own item to be printed will enhance their creativity and problem solving while they are being innovative. As long as all safety precautions are followed and your child understands that printers can be heated at high temperatures, there is no reason you can’t enjoy the educational benefits of printing at home with your kids. 

3. 3D Printing Is Fun

Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced pro you will quickly realize that 3D printing is fun. You create useable three-dimensional objects out of nothing but a printer and filament. While doctors are printing usable organs and the technology advances the practical uses are impossible to fully comprehend.

But you can’t downplay the fun that will come from just printing whatever you want to print. If you’re feeling like printing figurines to display is what gets you excited about printing that’s great. 3D printing doesn’t have to be all about what is useful and unique, if you would like it to that’s wonderful but as long as you’re enjoying your printer that is what matters.

As your confidence grows with your ability to print what you want you could find camaraderie with others who enjoy 3D printing at home. Buying yourself a 3D printer will put you in charge of what’s printed beginning to end letting you enjoy your time designing and creating whatever you think it the most enjoyable. 

4. It Can Be A Good Business

While maybe this isn’t the right option for everything, If you discover you really enjoy printing in 3D, you can turn your hobby into a business. In the same way, your printer can save you money, it could also provide a small income fulfilling other people’s needs.

Once you are proficient at printing things you could accept orders for those objects and sell them. There are websites where people place orders for things to be 3D printed and you can log in an accept the job. This could be an easy supplemental income for you if you are interested in it becoming one.

While personal 3D printers can range in cost and quality if you are hoping to make money selling the items you are printing it is best to invest in a higher-caliber printer that is capable of printing more consistently. Some low-cost printers are great for home use but can have some problems printing the same way every time which could affect the resale value of the item. 

5. You Can Express Yourself

Have you ever bought something and liked it but wished maybe it was a little bit different? 3D printing gives you the chance and technology to make those changes and create something that is specifically the way you want it.

If you have an idea for an invention that you would like to patent, it could take years to convince a manufacturer to build you a prototype but you could print your very own model for a fraction of the price and time, getting your ideas into the world faster and easier.

When you own your own printer you are limited by anyone but yourself, so if you dream up the perfect mask, you can print it. Your self-expression is only limited by what you can design–so it’s limitless. There’s no reason to wait for something you want to be created by someone else when you can do it yourself. 

Conclusion

While 3D printing has its own learning curve there is no better way to get ahead than by having your own printer at home to practice and reap the benefits from. Why would you spend money to buy 3D printed things from others when you could create the same thing and inspire your children at the same time?

With so many different kinds of printers to choose from it may seem overwhelming but with a little research you will find the right printer for your home and you will begin to see the miracle of objects being created right in front of you. The novelty of being able to create something out of thin air will never grow old, having a 3D printer of your own is a fantastic investment in you! 

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Why a Data-Driven Construction Process is the Only Way Forward

Being data-driven means building abilities, tools and a culture that acts on data. With the emergence of big data seeping in the construction industry, construction companies are adapting and innovating construction technology tools to process large quantities of construction data and extracting their value to their advantage. As more construction technology suppliers continue to study construction data and how to utilize them, it has become apparent that data-drivenness not only advances individual construction companies, it is vital for maturing the entire global construction industry. 

How do we create a data-driven construction company?

According to Carl Anderson in his book, Creating a Data-Driven Organisation, for a company to become data-driven, it has to have the following company qualities:

1. It must collect data.

For a construction company to be data-driven, it has to collect the right data. The collected data set must be relevant, timely, accurate, clean, unbiased and reliable. Data alone is not enough, quality data is what’s valuable.

2. It can access and query its data.

Other than being accurate, timely, and relevant, data must also be:

  • Joinable. The data must be in a form that can be joined to other enterprise data, when necessary. 
  • Shareable. For data to be joined, they must be shareable within a data-sharing company culture.
  • Queryable. There must be proper tools to query the data. Data reporting and analysis require grouping, filtering, and aggregating of data to prune large raw data into smaller sets of quality numbers and to compute metrics easily. 

3. It has the right people with the right skills to use its data. 

For a construction company to be data-driven, it has to have the right people to ask the correct questions of the data with the skills to extract the right data and metrics and to use that data for future steps. The right people should be able to utilise the data for:

  • Reporting. Reporting is basically extracting data and generating a report from it.
  • Alerting. Alerts are basically reports of what is currently happening. They provide specific data with well-designed metrics.
  • Analysis. The analysis is the investigation of data assets into usable insights that will help in decision making and drive actions using people, processes, and technologies. 

The hallmarks of data-drivenness

A data-driven construction company does at least one of the following three things that prioritize high-quality data and skilled analysis for future-proofed decision making, according to Anderson:

  1. A data-driven company performs continuous tests for process improvement. 
  2. A data-driven company has a continuous improvement mindset.
  3. A data-driven company is involved in predictive actions.

Data-driven processes demand transformation

Other than promoting an evidence-based culture, being data-driven makes construction processes and operations more precise, predictable and efficient. From greater demands in quality construction execution to building end-user comfort, data-driven efficiency demands for transformation in a lot of construction aspects.

Construction technologies and big data

The development and use of digital technologies and processes are essential in the required transformation of construction as an industry. Digitalization creates new functionalities along the entire value chain from the early phases of design to the final handover, up until the operational maintenance of a building project. The use of big data and analytics generate quality insights from the data gathered during the construction and the operations phase. Simulations and virtual reality identify clashes (clash detection) during the design stages. Using mobile connectivity allows real-time communication within companies and provide their construction teams with vital on-site information. 

A single platform for construction management

No two projects are identical but useful concepts and processes from one project can prove helpful when applied to another. The ideal goal is for companies to standardize these “lessons” for construction management to go through continuous improvement across projects. To facilitate the implementation of such standardization, using a company-wide software tool is ideal while taking note of the following steps. 

  1. Collect and consolidate construction project management data. Ideally, a monitoring system with a robust reporting tool should be in place to enable the continuous collection of project data.
  2. Standardize best practices. Evaluate individual projects and develop a list of best practice processes that can be used in a variety of different projects.
  3. Apply best-practice standards at the project level. Make your best practices mandatory and apply at the project level. 

Better management of subcontractors and suppliers

Poor coordination of purchasing materials and components delay projects and can create serious scheduling and costing problems. Hence, it is critical to integrate suppliers and subcontractors more effectively. Adopting construction technologies and related tools can help integrate the supply chain more closely and establish an agile and transparent supply chain throughout the entire project. These digital tools can improve service and reduce costs by providing end-to-end visibility and solution to the supply chain. 

BIM

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is gaining importance as a platform for central integrated design, modeling, planning, and collaboration. BIM provides all stakeholders with a digital representation of a building’s characteristics throughout its life cycle and provides several important opportunities. It facilitates a collaborative way of working among all stakeholders, from early design until operations and maintenance. By doing so, it promises great efficiency gains. 

Lean construction methods and management

A lean approach reduces complexity and uncertainty by reducing waste and non-value-adding activities throughout the entire value chain: it reduces, for instance, schedule deviations, waiting, stocks of building materials, transportation, rework and unused or underutilized resources. In that way, it makes processes more stable, predictable and efficient. That’s according to Lean Station. Other than improvements in cost and delivery, lean processes also better quality and safety with new digital construction tools that can help greatly in performing crucial safety processes and inspections.

Meticulous project monitoring

Project monitoring, especially on site, needs to be more real-time, forward-looking and future-proofed. It is also imperative for it to provide actionable data that can bring projects back on track. 

Smart buildings

With more technological advances being incorporated in modern buildings and construction, the cost of sensors, data storage, and computing services have gone down. With the prices getting more affordable, the general consumers and the government have been demanding greater energy efficiency in buildings and improved safety and convenience through connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). These improved and automated lighting and temperature controls and remote servicing also benefit the building owners and building end-users: reduced operating costs, reduced energy usage, greater comfort, and increased operational efficiency.

Construction software and apps play an important role in the implementation of the mentioned demands and needed transformations. They can also play a role in the crucial process of capturing as-built data from projects versus “as-designed”, which contains the original design drawings. The current construction industry transformation will rely increasingly on construction management software tools and BIM: they are capable of coordinating all stakeholders of a project and can facilitate on-site construction processes. The key is rethinking the approach to these construction processes and operations, that they can be receptive to these digital tools.

The Way Forward

The construction industry has been slow in adopting new technologies and is only embarking on a journey of the modern transformation. According to the World Economic Forum, this new era in construction will bring benefits for the wider society, the environment, and the economy by 

  1. reducing construction costs and adverse social effects
  2. improving the efficient use of scarce materials and reducing adverse environmental impact of buildings over time
  3. narrowing the global infrastructure gap and boosting economic development in general. 

This promise will unfold very soon, and very remarkably. Sweeping changes are taking place, however not yet on a wide scale. A lot of things are to be done. 

To move the industry forward, all stakeholders along the construction value chain should take action. The industry in its entirety should improve coordination and cooperation and agree on standards and common industry goals. Many of the challenges are common across the sector, but the industry remains variegated and fragmented. Construction companies have to choose their own paths of innovations and actions that suit their own visions and their clients’ needs to secure their individual futures and ensure an inspiring future for the entire industry.

About the author

Anastasios Koutsogiannis is Content Marketing Manager at LetsBuild.

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Toronto: Drone Filming Tips for the Best Videos Ever

Drone Filming has started to become popular and most of the experienced, as well as beginner filmmakers, are using drone shots in the films. As a professional, it is not difficult to understand the kinds of shots that will help in performing the best. However, as a beginner, it is crucial to have certain tips in your mind so that you can get killer shots while drone filming. You need to consider the tips that have been mentioned above so that you can help your footage become unique and stand out. 

Combine the different movements of the Axis

Your footage is not going to stand out if your drone is only moving forward and backward. It is your responsibility to add depth to the footage and to do so you must try different combinations of the axis movements. For example, you can fly up as well as backward and fly sideways when you are flying forward and up. Ensure that you are being gentle on the control sticks because steady and slow movements can help in making the footage cinematic. If you are not well versed with operating your drone, you can use the Tapfly method. This method will help you to fly your drone steadily and allow you to achieve complex flights easily. 

Orbit

Circling any particular object is responsible for adding a huge and great cinematic impact to the entire footage. You have the option of navigating circles manually by taking care of the target while flying sideways as well as moving in the opposite directions. You have to understand that circling any particular object is going to take the training. You can use the point of interest in intelligent flight mode. This mode will help you to circle any object smoothly, and you have to adjust the radius and height. This is one of the most important and crucial tips that you need to follow if you are interested in drone filming. 

Fly your drone at low altitude

Most people are responsible for assuming that drone filming is mostly associated with gaining height. Flying at a high altitude can indeed help in accommodating more shooting space; however, flying your drone at a low altitude can help in showing detailed objects and can also create immersive experiences. Apart from that, when you are speeding up, you have the freedom of conveying intense feelings through the footage. Ensure that you are paying attention to your flight environment, especially any kind of obstacle so that you can ensure the safety of flight. 

Follow the subject from various angles

According to www.store.dji.com, following a particular subject right from behind is one of the classic filming moves. However, it is not difficult to film your subject from various angles with the help of your drone and it is suggested that you try them. This is going to help in making your footage creative as well as intriguing and interesting.

Conclusion

Drone filming is extremely exciting. Ensure that you are keeping these maneuvers and techniques on your mind so that it becomes easy for you to get the best shots.

Martech

Ready for More? Scalable Shopify Plus Sites Support Online Merchant Growth

Ecommerce websites continue to flood the Internet, making it a greater challenge to remain relevant in a busy marketplace. Getting heard above the din requires creativity and an interactive site that attracts targeted traffic. Learn more about how Shopify Plus sites are scalable to support online merchant growth.

Be in Good Company

Choosing the right platform is a challenge for online merchants. It makes sense to find out the platform other industry leaders prefer. Selecting Shopify Plus means being in good company. Corporations that use the platform include Unilever and Kylie, a brand known for attracting heavy traffic. From special releases to epic sales, a robust platform can handle the traffic coming to a merchant site.

Provide an Outstanding User Experience

As the competition gets fiercer, it makes sense to provide an outstanding user experience. Shopify Plus is an award-winning eCommerce platform designed to accommodate high volume merchants. The cloud-based platform offers a seamless experience to encourage visitors to trust the site and make purchases rather than surfing away in frustration. Each year, the platform processes billions of dollars in transactions, making it a viable solution for large corporations.

Multichannel Capabilities

Making money means being able to sell a variety of products on all the leading marketplaces and social networks. Multichannel capabilities improve sales by putting businesses in the right place at the right time. Plus, it helps broaden brand awareness to ensure customers recognize the company and its offerings. Improved customer engagement encourages visitors to take action and come back for more.

Unlimited Bandwidth

Unlimited bandwidth means the site can continue to grow without worrying about slow loading times or a less than satisfactory user experience. Shopify Plus sites have 99.97 percent uptime to give users a fast and pleasant experience at merchant sites. With an SaaS model, smaller companies can also afford to invest in Shopify Plus because it helps reduces IT costs over time.

Accept Payments

As an online merchant grows, it becomes increasingly important to provide different payment methods to customers. Having the option to pay a specific way improves conversion rates and customer retention. With Shopify Plus, merchants can offer access to dozens of payment gateways such as PayPal and Bitcoin. Customers who can always find a method to pay for what they want at the site will return to shop in the future.

A Secure Online Environment

An online merchant must provide a secure online environment where customers feel comfortable sharing private information. Updated security measures ensure the site can safely capture and process payment data and other pertinent info to process orders and stay connected with customers. Providing the highest level of security builds trust in the brand and helps transform visitors into paying customers. Plus, fraud prevention adds another layer of security for online merchants.

Customizable Site

Be able to customize a site makes an online merchant look different from industry competitors. Developing a recognizable brand with a site to match improves brand recognition and encourages customer engagement. And, website owners can revamp their merchant sites to reflect current trends and offerings to ensure the site never looks outdated. Fresh content attracts search engines and targeted traffic to help online merchants grow their businesses to the next level of success. Shopify Plus designers and developers help companies find the ideal format for their online stores.

Online merchant growth requires patience, effort, and attention to detail. Choosing the Shopify Plus platform is the foundation for success. As the enterprise expands, the site will be able to accommodate the increased number of visitors and activities. And well-established companies discover a platform that does what they need better, faster, and with greater scalability than other platforms.

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How to Use Instagram Live in Your Marketing: A 7-Step Plan

Instagram Live works like Instagram Stories, which has about 500 million daily active users.

What makes it even better is that Instagram Stories shows up on top of a user’s feed, so they’re more likely to get a user’s attention more than regular content.

But it gets better than that. When you use Instagram Live, you’ll show up in the first place of Stories that are shown on top of the feed. In other words, Instagram live is like a shortcut to the top.

But that’s just the start. How can you harness it to get more attention, create connections, and build your brand?

Instagram Live in a Nutshell

Just a few months after Instagram Stories went out, Live Stories was rolled out.

IG Stories are pictures or videos that disappear approximately 48 hours after being posted. This lets users share more without overposting on their feeds. It’s a casual way of sharing what’s happening, without having it archived forever.

Instagram Live, unlike Facebook Live, isn’t meant to last long. Once it’s over, they’re gone, and won’t be visible on a page of a user anymore. It’s one way to become spontaneous, and an excellent addition to Instagram’s set of features.

Aside from broadcasting, Instagram Live Stories can also be a form of interaction. Users can submit their comments and questions. It also lets broadcasters and viewers have a real-time interaction with one another. 

It’s also an excellent way to discover new content. The platform’s Explore page now has a section called “Top Live” which allows users to search and watch the most popular Live Stories.

Why You Should Utilize Instagram Live

Instagram receives the highest engagement among all other social media platforms, but its saturation caused big issues for its post reach. So, if you’re utilizing Instagram for your social media marketing strategy, you need to stay competitive to remain on top of your game. But how do you do that? Well, by keeping up to date with its latest features.

Now, we’ve briefly discussed Instagram Live’s benefits:

  • Authenticity
  • Improved user-engagement
  • Cost-effective in producing content
  • Builds a sense of urgency
  • Greater brand awareness

Overall, Instagram Live is a helpful feature that reaps a lot of benefits. But still, this feature is underutilized.

How to Use Instagram Live

Prepare for your live broadcast

If you want to have a successful Instagram live broadcast, then you need to prepare ahead of time. This is true, especially if it’s your first time going live on social media.

Treat it as if you’re giving a business presentation. You need to outline your speaking points, write your script, list down some Q&A questions, and most importantly, practice!

One of the best ways to prepare yourself for an Instagram Live broadcast is to record yourself in front of a camera first. Watch the recording again, and make necessary adjustments if you can.

Promote your live broadcast ahead of time

One of your main goals is to reach as many users as possible. The best way for you to get a larger audience is to appear on Instagram Live’s Explore Page.

According to Voy Media, a New York social media agency, “Just like with Instagram’s algorithm with regular posts, if you’re generating high engagement and viewers from your live forecast, it means that it’s high-quality and interesting with other users as well. So, the more viewers and engagement that you’ll be getting, the more will you able to get featured on the Explore Page.”

That’s why you must promote your Instagram Live beforehand. If you want to get a lot of views and engagement, then your audience has to know ahead of time.

See to it that you write a post with the live video as your topic to create a buzz about it. That way, you’re maximizing your chances of getting more viewers aboard.

Use it for product teasers and launches

Another trend about Instagram Live that businesses can utilize is to use it to tease viewers regarding product launches. In fact, it’s an excellent platform to build a lot of hype around what you sell.

Whether you’re teasing your followers for a future product launch or introducing a new product line, it’s a great way to generate tons of excitement around your business.

To utilize this strategy in your Live broadcast, get your most in-demand product and release a few details about it. Creating this kind of mystery will excite your followers even more!

After releasing the teaser, you can ask your customers to sign up to get more information. Having this approach creates an element of exclusivity in your live videos, which entices users to act immediately, and increases the number of leads that you get.

Invite influencers to participate

The Instagram Live strategy takes advantage of the “limited time” nature of the video stream. Unless you have replays of your videos, most users are aware that they only have one chance to join your forecast.

For instance, offering limited-time promo codes is an excellent way to boost a sense of urgency. But there are other options that you can try, as well, such as asking influencers to participate. You can ask to make a big announcement during the stream.

When you partner with influencers, they’ll post about your products and services, exposing you to thousands (or millions) of followers who drives traffic back to your brand’s website.

Announce promotions and flash sales

Another great way to boost your live video’s viewership is to announce that you’re offering limited time promotions in your broadcast. 

Therefore, if you have a discount, giveaways, promotions, and other campaigns that you want to offer to a selected group of people, then you better announce it beforehand. As soon as you go live, you can offer the discount codes and coupons to your viewers.

Host a Q&A session

Your customers might have a question on something, so being able to address it takes off the need to look it up by themselves.

Hosting a Q&A session on Instagram Live allows you to answer questions about your products and services.

Through the “Live Request” feature, users can personally join the video chat. This allows face-to-face interaction with your viewers, giving them a more personalized experience as they could be able to talk to you, one-on-one.

Create product demonstrations

For you to attract plenty of new users, you need to show them that you understand their needs and that you can offer the best solution for them.

Once your audience will get to know you better, their trust for your brand will build over time, until they believe that your products will serve them best and that you can cater to their needs.

Product demos and tutorials are a great way to engage your audience because it precisely shows them how your product works and how it solves their problems. During the stream, make sure that you know what you’re talking about and that you efficiently demonstrate every process to your audience.

To Wrap It Up

Overall, Instagram Live is another effective tool for reaching, connecting, and engaging with your audience in an all-inclusive platform.

So, make sure that you apply these Instagram Live tips to get the most out of your marketing efforts on Instagram.

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Conversation Marketing: Intercom, Drift, and Gist 

The way people communicate has changed. These days, people are far more likely to message back and forth in a conversation thread on their phone than take a call or even email.

In response to these changing communication patterns, a new form of marketing automation called conversational marketing has emerged.

The main benefits of conversational marketing lie in its ability to shorten the lead generation process and target potential customers when they are most engaged. By using marketing automation software with either chatbots or live chat functionality, conversational marketing engages potential leads then and there, often when they are browsing a businesses’ website.

With many marketing automation software platforms available in the market, your ability to take advantage of conversational marketing depends greatly on the platform you use.

Let’s take a look at some of the major functions of conversational marketing platforms in the marketing automation software space and see how the major players compare.

Email Marketing

Intercom doesn’t offer email marketing functionality, at least not in the typical sense anyway. While the platform doesn’t give users the ability to send broadcast or drip campaigns via email, it does give businesses the power to send personalized, one-off email communications to leads or existing customers.

Drift has recently introduced email functionality into its platform. Like Intercom, the focus remains very much on the live chat tool and the email functionality is almost like an afterthought. Drift has designed their email tool to ‘deeply integrate’ with their chat feature. While this is great from a user perspective, it doesn’t allow businesses to send anything more than one-off emails. 

Gist has always had email marketing functionality, giving businesses the ability to communicate with leads and existing customers through email however they like. The Gist email tool includes broadcast functionality, drip campaigns to nurture leads and one-off email.  – including emailing your list and collecting email addresses.

Winner: Drift may be suitable if you are only communicating with your clients one-on-one, otherwise Gist is a better option to build your database.

Chat

Intercom is first and foremost a live chat platform. Intercom is by no means new to the game, and have fine-tuned their offering over this time. While Intercom does offer impressive functionality, the standout here is the simplicity and visually appealing look of their product, both in the front end for users and the back end for businesses. 

Like Intercom, the chat is at the core of Drift’s offering. It makes sense that its chat functionality is impressive. In addition to a simple, user-friendly interface for both businesses and front end users, Drift offers businesses the ability to really hone in on leads and send individual leads directly to certain team members based on pre-set criteria. 

At a glance, much of the functionality offered by Intercom and Drift is also there in Gist’s live chat feature. One added perk is direct integration to Facebook, giving businesses greater flexibility over where they continue the conversation with clients.

Winner:

If you are just looking for a simple, good looking chat feature with no other extras, you may do better to go for Intercom. 

Help Desk

Intercom offers an impressive Help Desk feature that is well integrated with its chat tool. Using a combination of the two, businesses can set up chatbots to answer commonly asked questions and help existing customers after hours. The tool also enables businesses to create a Knowledge base software or knowledge base of articles for quick reference in the future. 

Similarly, Drift does offer tools to support current customers via chat, although they pail in companion to the help desk offered by Intercom.

Gist’s help desk tool is similar in many ways to that offered by Intercom. Like Intercom, the Gist tool allows businesses to set up chatbots to answer questions and create a knowledge base of articles to save time for both your team and your customers. The real benefit of the Gist help desk tool is its ability to track and save data on every customer interaction, not just those that happened through chat. 

Winner: While Intercom and Drift both offer good help desk tools, the ability to track customer interactions across different platforms is just too good. This one goes to Gist.

Knowledge Base

Both Intercom and Drift offer a fully functioning knowledge base with many similarities. Both platforms allow businesses to quickly create and edit articles, organize and save drafts with ease. One big plus for Drift is the integration of their knowledge base and their bot building tool, allowing businesses to easily add this functionality to custom chatbots. It’s worth noting though that the bot functionality is only available on Drift’s top tier packages.

Similarly, Gist offers complete knowledge base functionality with many of the same features. One nice benefit Gist offers is the ability to easily add rich media like images and videos into your articles. 

Winner: While all platforms offer a good knowledge base product, the competitive price of Gist makes this the best option. 

Meetings

Both Drift and Gist offer inbuilt meeting scheduling tools on their platform, allowing businesses to seamlessly facilitate meetings between leads and their sales and marketing teams. While both tools offer similar functionality like the ability to book meetings through live chat and bots, Drift’s tool includes the ability to send links with one click schedule. 

While Intercom offers over 100 integrations, including some of the major scheduling tools, they do not have an inbuilt tool. 

Winner: While Drift and Gist both offer impressive meeting scheduling tools, the addition of one-click scheduling wins this for Drift.

Marketing Automation

While intercom doesn’t specifically offer a Marketing Automation tool, they include features called ‘smart campaigns’ and ‘targeted messages’ that serve a similar purpose. In a nutshell, these tools can be used to create automated drip campaigns and automated messages to leads.

Like Intercom, Drift offers some marketing automation tools for businesses to segment users and market to them based on the actions they take on your page.

In addition to automated messaging within the chat tool, the marketing automation feature within Gist enables businesses to automatically tag site visitors based on their actions, communicate and store this information in your CRM system as well as subscribe users to drip campaigns.

Winner: You can’t go past the all in one marketing solution offered by Gist.

Event Tracking

Both Drift and Gist offer a similar level of event tracking, enabling businesses to track the movements of leads on their site and use this data to market to them. Intercom doesn’t currently offer event tracking capability.

Winner: While both Gist and Drift offer a similar level of tracking, the functionality, and scale of data within Drift make this a better option.

Chat Bots

All platforms offer chatbot functionality, each with a few unique benefits. Drift’s chatbot tool is perhaps the most advanced, offering businesses the opportunity to customize their bots and integrate these into their sales cycle.

Where Intercom shines is the creation process, with a visual bot builder ensuring this process can be done by even the most tech-shy business owner.

While the Gist chatbot tool isn’t yet quite as slick as that offered by Intercom and drift, it’s worth noting that this feature is included as part of the platforms standard package and is available for far less cost than you would pay with Intercom or Drift.

Winner: The super easy bot builder wins this for Intercom. 

Forms

As they are primarily live chat tools, neither Intercom or Drift offers a forms tool. As part of their email marketing platform, Gist offers several customizable forms to help businesses launch their sales funnel and get leads on the hook.

Winner: Gist by default.

Pricing

Let’s break down the pricing structure of each platform.

Intercom

Intercom offers all three components of its software separately or bundled together. While this allows businesses to tailor the perfect solution to suit them, it can be confusing and may work out to be more expensive.

As a complete solution, Intercom starts from $136 per month for the Essential plan, going up to $202 per month for Pro. It’s worth noting that some major integrations like Salesforce and Zendesk are only available on the Pro plan.

Drift

Drift’ pricing is refreshingly simple compared to Intercom. All services come bundled together and are available in three packages. For small businesses, Drift offers the majority of the functionality of the platform for free for up to 500 users per month.

For businesses with more site traffic, the Standard package will run you $50 per month including 2 team members. This also includes custom greetings, a live view of site visitors and email sequencing. Additional team members can be added for $25 per month.

Top of the line is the Pro package for $500 per month. This includes access for 5 team members as well as the ability to automatically schedule meetings and sync data with your CRM platform.

Gist

If you are on the fence about Gist, they offer a 21-day free trial to get a feel for the platform. 

Similar to Drift, Gist offer a free plan to small businesses with up to 500 contacts per month. Next is the Standard plan for $29 per month which includes reporting, email marketing, ticketing, knowledge base, and a lead qualifying bot.

Top of the line is the Pro package for $79 per month. This includes all features as well as chatbots, automated meetings, event visualizer and marketing automation.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSEO

5 Tips for Effective Web Design and Boost Business

These days, every business requires an engaging website as it is one of the most important elements for a business. However, a website is more than just exceeding in limited aspects like solely content or design. A functioning website needs to have a design that feeds into your visitor’s experience, functionality, and suitably complements your content.

Your site needs to clearly and accurately communicate with your visitors what your business is about, why you do what you do, and the type of people you do it for. The five tips listed below will help you create an effective web design and create the impact you desired.

1. Keep users in mind

Technically your website is about your business and you, but in reality, it is a lot more about your consumers and the market. Your site is about speaking to your visitor about the market and how you can help them with whatever they are looking for. That means the website design is for them, the content you created is for them, and the sales funnel has to be created with your visitors in mind as well.

You need to be clear on what your brand represents to your visitors and the market. So, you need to be clear who your visitors are, their behavior pattern, and the type of content they are looking for on a site.

2. Optimize the load speeds of your website

If the people that come to your site are met with awfully slow load speeds and inept design, they will be far gone before you have the chance to make your pitch. According to a study, 75 percent of internet users will make judgments about the credibility of a business solely based on the look of their website. And a Kissmetrics infographic shows that you have already lost 25 percent of your potential customers by the time your site reaches four seconds of loading time.

If your site hosts data-intensive photos and graphics, it takes much longer for it to load than a cleanly designed and sleek site with minimal graphics. So, when developing your website, use design elements smartly for quicker load speeds and maximum impact. Several websites are photo-heavy, so ensure you reduce your photo file sizes as much as you can while still maintaining quality. Clever use of white space, text, and color can also go a long way.

3. Implement calls-to-action

The instance people land on your website, do they know the next step to take? They won’t know what action to take or pages to view without any direction. One of the several elements that point to the next step visitor should take on a website is CTA. While several people know this, it can be challenging to use them accurately to guide visitors through your site. It is easy to load your website with several bottoms of the funnel call-to-action and forget that you still need to properly nurture your visitors with several other calls to action that are more middle/top of the funnel.

After going through your website, are you finding most of the pages with only a CTA for consultation, trial, and demo? Then, it is time for you to update your website. Take the time to add CTA that provide the resources to educate your visitors and help them take care of their needs. Once your visitors recognize your website for this, they will feel more comfortable using your service to see if you can offer the answers they need.

4. Design should be unique and simple

Whether you are designing your site on your own or hiring a professional website design company like SketchCorp. Brisbane, your aim is to develop a site that reflects your brand. The first impression is very important as it can either attract or repel visitors. If you use any of the run-of-the-mill template and your site is similar to the tons of others on the internet, you may never be able to create an impact on the visitor’s mind.

Your site homepage can clinch the deal for you; this is why you should make sure it is the anchor for your entire website and remarkable enough to catch the attention of your visitors. Bad website design is awful for your business and can make you lose a significant number of customers. Your potential and customers look forward to flawless navigation. And a clean, user-friendly, and simple website design without any unnecessary embellishments and frills is the way to go.

5. Optimize your business for mobile access

The way people perceive and access the internet has changed. Through the years, the number of people using the internet from desktops has reduced significantly, while considerably more people now access the internet from their mobile devices. Now, mobile devices have become the most popular platform to access the internet, and this is particularly true for the younger audience.

When you create a website, you must optimize it for mobile users; else you will be losing business. Your business website design must be very responsive. And that means you need to design it to be visually adjustable to the screen shape and size of whatever devices it appears on. However, the most functional and responsive sites are not only about having the feature to adjust to new screen sizes, but the site must also be easy to navigate and intuitive. So, whatever you do, ensure you hire a talented web designer to help you create responsive website design.

Conclusion

The tips above can help you integrate different techniques to improve the look of your site and eventually gain potential customers. So, when creating a website, your primary goal should be to build an excellent web design that is not only engaging, interactive, and eye-catching but also has an incredible load time.

It is essential to note that sometimes, good fixes are not essentially quick fixes. Good fixes require persistence, effort, a lot of testing, and investing. As you continually enhance your website designs, you will be able to convert your potential customers.

Martech

Understanding the role of ISPs

 

It’s easy to overlook the role of ISPs (internet service providers) in our world. ISPs play an increasingly important role in our constantly connected lives, and we don’t really think about them until we have an issue with our internet.

 

So, what do ISPs do exactly? Here, we break down the role of ISPs and how you can compare different providers to choose a good one.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

 

What do ISPs do?

 

ISPs provide internet access to businesses, households, and individuals for a fee. They rely on a range of technologies – fibre optics, copper wiring, satellite, wireless, and others – to deliver internet access. This access usually comes in the form of a plan, which specifies bandwidth, speed, contract or no lock-in contract, and price.

 

Bandwidth is the number of data uploads and downloads your ISP provides you within a given period of time. It’s usually expressed as a number of gigabytes in a month. Some plans give you unlimited bandwidth or data.

 

Your Internet-connected devices access the internet through an ISP so you can do things like view websites and download files. In turn, the servers supporting your website views and file downloads do so through their own ISP.

 

For your household or business, you only need to pay one ISP for the one connection. Then you can set up a network or allow multiple devices to access your connection through Wi-Fi or Ethernet cables. You can also get mobile broadband on your phone, tablet, and computer.

 

What information do ISPs keep?

 

ISPs can potentially know just about everything about you depending on what country you’re in. ISPs in the US are allowed to collect and sell detailed information on their customers.

 

ISPs don’t have as much power in Australia. Local ISPs are required by law to collect only the metadata of their customers, for a minimum of two years. According to the government, the data collection rules were introduced to facilitate national security and criminal law enforcement purposes. Certain government agencies can access this data without a warrant.

 

Metadata includes your name, date of birth, and your other account information. It encompasses the time, date and duration of your communications and whether the communication is phone, text, email, or some other medium. ISPs will also collect metadata relating to your IP address and your bandwidth usage. It covers your email addresses and phone numbers and those of your recipients. It will also incorporate the location of the communication equipment you’re accessing, like the relevant cell phone towers. Plus, make sure to be aware ISPs have been hacked. 

 

If you’re worried about privacy, using exempt services like iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Skype, and FaceTime can help you get around the metadata collection. Using a VPN (a virtual private network) could give you extra protection in terms of privacy.

 

How to compare and shop for the best ISPs

 

When it comes to plans, connection quality, and service, ISPs can range considerably. The most important step is to work out what you want from your internet service, whether that’s some light browsing or unlimited data allowance for gaming and streaming.

 

Availability and type of connection

 

Start by considering whether the ISP services your area and connection types offered. The type of connection is largely determined by your location, but you’ll generally need to switch to the nbn™ within 18 months of it becoming available in your area. Options available could include cable, satellite, ADSL, fibre optics, mobile, and more. ADSL relies on copper wiring technology, which is slower than fibre optics. The largely fibre-optics based nbn™ network is replacing ADSL across Australia, but some of the old copper wirings will remain for connection types of FTTN (fibre to the node).

 

On the other hand, cable broadband uses coaxial cable and tends to be faster and more reliable than ADSL as quality and speed don’t depend on distance. nbn™ connections likely offer the best connection options, with FTTP (fibre to the premises), FTTC (fibre to the curb), hybrid fibre coaxial, and other connection options offering fast and reliable service standards. Mobile broadband is another connection option that’s great for on-the-go internet access.

 

Combination of speed, bandwidth, and price

 

Balance the ISP’s offerings in terms of price, speed, and bandwidth rather than opting for the cheapest plan. A cheap ISP might end up costing you more if the speeds are slow or unreliable. At the same time, you want to ensure the ISP’s plans offer sufficient bandwidth for your requirements, whether that’s light browsing or streaming videos most nights. Check the ISP’s evening speeds for an indication of what peak-period speeds will be like.

 

Customer support

 

Consider customer support and how easy it will be to get customer support if you have any issues. If you’re a business, do you need a plan with priority support?

 

Terms and conditions

 

Whether you live in a small apartment in Minneapolis, Minnesota or a huge house in Australia, it makes no difference and it’s important to consider additional terms and conditions like whether a new router is included with your plan. Weigh whether you’re happy to be locked in for a long-term contract or whether you need an ISP that offers no-lock-in plans.

 

You might be looking for options and add-ons like a bundled phone line, static IP addresses, and mobile broadband – so, does the ISP offer these? Other features and freebies could make certain plans more suitable for you. For example, you might get free sport and music streaming if you use certain services, without the data counting towards your limit.

 

ISPs play a big role in our everyday lives, and your choice of an ISP has a huge impact on your internet service. Compare how prospective ISPs measure in key terms such as speed, price, and bandwidth. Review additional terms and conditions, and check out their customer support system to get a good idea of how they measure up against each other.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

5 Types of MarkTech Software and How It Can Power-Up SMEs

As marketing evolves, marketers search for solutions to streamline and scale their daily marketing activities without spending too much time or effort on them.

Choosing the right vendors and products can benefit SMEs and help them establish their presence in our fast-growing and competitive market.

To succeed, SMEs need to invest in the right tools that will make their Marketing Technology Stack their most powerful ally to compete with the largest brands out there.

What is MarTech?

MarTech is a blend that comes from the words “marketing” and “technology”.

Here is the definition:

“Marketing is a function that relies increasingly on technology, and as more technology tools emerged to meet the needs of modern marketing, these Marketing Technology tools have collectively become known as MarTech.”

Modern marketing is all about finding the best set of tools to promote your brand to people all around the world.

While competing with big brands might seem a little terrifying at first, there’s nothing that SMEs can’t do when they employ the right tools.

Now Let’s See 5 MarTech Tools SMEs Need to Start Using Right Now

1. Email Marketing Automation Software

With 3.9 million users, emails have become one of the most efficient digital marketing channels marketers use to promote their products.

The first thing you need to do to start your email marketing is to search the market for a good email marketing platform that suits your needs and company goals.

Out there, you’ll find a plethora of MailChimp alternatives to provide you with the right technology and knowledge to plan and automate your email marketing strategy.

Moosend, for instance, is a great alternative to help you design your next email campaigns and automate them.

How it helps

Since sending emails to every single subscriber of yours by hand can be extremely time-consuming, the need for email marketing automation is dire.

A platform like this will simplify the process and allow SMEs to reach multiple subscribers at once in the most effective way possible.

And since, emails are one of the best ways to build customer relationships and brand credibility, using an email marketing platform will allow you to get more with less effort.

2. Subscription Analytics Software

Now that you’ve found the perfect software to attract more customers to your SMEs, the next step to ensure that your business will keep thriving is to track your business metrics.

To do so, you need to invest in a good subscription analytics tool that will show you which elements work well and which don’t. 

A great subscription analytics software that allows you to monitor your active customers and your monthly or annual growth is Profitwell.

Here’s an example of  what the metrics dashboard looks like:

How it helps

When it comes to SMEs with stricter budgets, knowing which elements have the biggest profit and greatest loss can determine the success of a brand.

With a tool like Profitwell, SMEs can optimize and measure their subscribers’ efficiency and take certain actions that will reduce their MRR churn, and increase their ARR.

Tracking brand performance will give SMEs the chance to improve their digital marketing strategies and establish themselves among larger brands.

3. Social media Software

Facebook and Instagram are some excellent media platforms to promote your products, either through sponsored ads or social media and influencer marketing.

With 37% of consumers using social media to find inspiration for their next purchase, neglecting to use social media ads can reduce your brand visibility significantly.

To take advantage of these platforms, you can start by using Facebook Ads, a tool that promotes do-it-yourself ads for everyone with or without expertise.

Here’s what the Facebook Ads quick creation looks like:

How it helps

Facebook ads have the lowest median cost per click compared to other famous social media ads like LinkedIn.

While the cost can vary depending on the number of impressions you want, Facebook ads can work well with since they can find you cheaper clicks to match your budget.

Facebook ads can help SMEs create awesome Facebook lead ads that will have maximum visibility due to Facebook’s massive number of users.

4. Employee Management and Communication Software

The success of a business doesn’t lie exclusively on successful product marketing, but also on the excellent communication and co-operation between different teams like your product and marketing team.

A good platform that can benefit SMEs not only with its simplistic user interface but also with its integrated apps is Slack.

How it helps

Slack’s success stems from apps, shared channels and search features that SMEs can get for cheaper prices.

Using some of the best Slack apps like Google Drive, Meekan and Monkey Test It can help SMEs get more things done and contribute to the simplification of the communication process.

5. App Connectivity and Integration Software

To save invaluable time, SMEs need to find software that will automate most of their daily activities and let them focus on other important tasks.

Since the main advantage of using MarTech is the ability to automate pretty much everything, using a web automation tool like Zapier will make your business tasks easier and faster to complete.

Here’s what a Zap looks like:

How it helps

Zapier offers a selection of more than 1.500 integrations to help you connect your apps.

For example, through the platform, SMEs can connect popular apps like Trello and Gmail to create new cards from new labeled Gmail emails.

By creating Zaps, SMEs will be able to mix and match triggers that will save time and provide updates about important tasks.

Takeaway

Using MarTech software is the best thing SMEs can do to increase their productivity and visibility in a market where businesses constantly try to surpass one another.

Adding such tools in your MarTech stack will help your business grow and connect with your target audience in the most cost-rewarding way.

So, what are you waiting for?

Start building your MarTech stack now and you’ll see your business go from zero to hero in no time.

Author bio

Marilia Dimitriou is a Creative Writer working for email marketing software Moosend. Her passion for writing has made her find new ways to combine the art of Creative Writing with SEO Copywriting. When she’s not writing articles, you’ll find her spending time on her drabbles.

InsightsMartechProducts

Shopify and Other Advanced eCommerce Platforms Can Benefit Your Online Business 

Planning an online store is both challenging and exciting! The thought that you will give shape to your online business is inspiring. However, you also need to do all the work to get your website running. You need to make sure that it functions in the best way possible so that your customers have a good time navigating through your website. It is the reason why you need to opt-in for eCommerce platforms. 

The digital world is expanding at a fast pace! And your website needs to have all the features to impress your online audience. When you are opt-in for fully integrated eCommerce platforms, you can impress your online customers effortlessly. To know more about this, you can opt-in for Sun Bowl Systems Shopify help.

Some of the unique advantages of eCommerce platforms are:

It makes website navigation smooth and easy

If your customers aren’t able to navigate through your website, then they can’t see the services and products you have to offer! Hence, you need to make sure that your website interface is smooth and easy to navigate. The eCommerce platforms like Shopify, make it easy for online viewers to shift from one menu to the other without any disturbance. 

You have access to an excellent customer service 

It’s not you alone who requires customer service! Even your online users need it as well. You can opt-in for an eCommerce platform which will help your brand to reflect a positive brand image. When the consumers notice that they aren’t receiving the service they want, they might leave your website and never revisit it. It is interesting to note that the same applies in the case of software. When you know that a platform is not getting supported, make sure that you can escalate it to an in-house team. There’s no need to inflict this on your customers. 

You will not witness any downtime issues 

When you are opt-in for an eCommerce platform that’s operating at the best level, chances are you will see a significant boost on the website’s performance. You will not find your online users getting deterred by any error message that otherwise could have stopped them from completing the online purchase. It saves you valuable time that you can spend in expanding your business. Else you might have to spend the time troubleshooting all your platform related issues. So you can spend your time enhancing your online brand reputation, website presence and also improve the customer experience. Also if somehow Shopify or any other eCommerce platform stucks and makes you a trouble, you can migrate Shopify to WooCommerce for instance and make the customer’s experience even better.

You get a secure platform

No online user wants to be on a platform that can get them into trouble. They want to secure payment channels so that their customer and financial data doesn’t get compromised. Also, they want to browse through a website that doesn’t have irrelevant pop-up ads, which leads to counterfeit sites. An advanced eCommerce platform helps to keep your site secure from all these negative factors and save it from any online reputation damage.

These are some of the important reasons for you to opt-in for an advanced eCommerce platform! You can choose the platform by researching online and after determining what your business most requires.