FitTech Development Features: Creating a Cutting-Edge Fitness App for a Healthier Lifestyle

If you have not incorporated a FitTech development fitness app in your personal training business to make a difference in your clients’ lives, then you should start now.

Smartphones, mobile fitness apps, wearable technology, and fitness websites can revolutionize the work of personal trainers. It can help provide more accurate data on their achievements, free up more one-on-one time with clients, and give more powerful tools to manage fitness businesses better.

This is why FitTech has become an integral part of the training business. Since mobile fitness apps can help trainers motivate their clients to increase their daily physical activity, many trainers are creating exceptional mobile apps to assist their clients in living healthier lives.

Continue reading to study how to create a fitness app for a healthier lifestyle (check Topflight Apps experience).

How to Incorporate Fitness App Development for A Healthier Lifestyle

1. Consider Your Ideal Audience

If you want your fitness app to be unique, you must understand your target audience. Think about what would make your users’ lives easier and the problems your workout app could solve. They could be workout plan apps, activity tracking apps, or nutrition software.

Once your users realize that you understand them, what they like, their behaviors, and what they need, you will find loyal users who will stick to your app for a long time.

2. Use a Customer-Centric Design

You must develop a customer-centric design to create your own workout app that will pull traffic and be popular among trainers. If the user interface is unsatisfactory, people will have difficulty using your fitness app.

The UI/UX design is the first thing people notice immediately they open your app, and if you can’t tie them down with your design, it will be challenging to have traffic on your app.

3. Test Your App Across Various Platforms

Releasing a fitness app without it going through the testing process is a recipe for disaster. Users will not use an app that runs poorly, is unreliable, and has many errors. So, you should ensure that your product is tested under various devices, display sizes, operating systems, and networks if you want it to be successful.

You must also check that the notifications are delivered correctly and that it works on low battery life before you release them to your users.

4. Work With a Budget

Before you start your fitness app development, list all the features you see in your future app and discuss these with your development team. This will give them an accurate understanding of what you want and how much you must budget. No matter how big your money fund is, it will ultimately determine the features of your mobile fitness apps.

5. Avoid Having Too Much Content on Your Mobile App

In a bid to have enough features to satisfy your users, you might be tempted to add too much content to your fitness app. This can be overwhelming and frustrating for your users. When you create a personal trainer fitness app, the load speed significantly determines the app’s success.

Too much content on your app can affect the load speed, frustrating your users. You should separate your users’ needs from their wants and prioritize accordingly.

6. Avoid Complicated Navigation

Modern mobile users prefer simplicity and convenience. If your fitness app is too complex to navigate, people will not use it. Apps are meant to make life easier and not more challenging. As much as creating a unique design for your app is essential, ensure it doesn’t make the navigation complex. Maintaining a balance between your app’s looks is a necessary point of emphasis.

7. Prioritize App Promotion

Developing a personal trainer fitness app is easy. However, the trickiest part is for people to use and accept the app. With so many fitness apps in the market, spreading the word and getting your app in front of your audience is crucial. And you can do this through marketing and promotion. You can get featured on the app store or contact people to get the conversation going.

8. Ensure Your App Is Fully HIPAA-Complaint

To create a gym app that will pull traffic, you must ensure it is fully HIPAA-Compliant. Most apps designed for tracking weight, diets, exercise, or checking medical info do not have to be HIPAA-Compliant. However, if these services share patient information with health professionals, the company must ensure those apps meet HIPAA regulations.

Being HIPAA-approved shows that a fitness app is armed with all the necessary security, which can make users feel confident about their data.

Conclusion

Health and fitness app development may seem arduous, but it is easy-peasy with the proper knowledge and resources. Ensure your app is on-trend with the latest technology and user-friendly, and see it succeed.

You can help others reach their fitness goals with a top-quality fitness app. So why not give it a shot and create your fitness app? Who knows, you might be the next big name! Remember, fitness app development is important.

Businesses Must Increase the Many Paths to Innovation

Do you sometimes wonder why there is less business innovation design than you might have expected? We often hear from our clients that things are working; therefore they are many paths to innovation.

In any successful organization, many things are working or it wouldn’t be a going concern. So it’s not surprising that people want to sustain that success. Yet, that simple impulse to keep what’s working can produce decisions that can slow or halt creativity and innovation. A new idea that doesn’t quite fit with prior assumptions often is quickly set aside. Mistakes are seen as problems that must be fixed in order to restore the organization’s smooth functioning.

It’s all very logical and well-intended but the effect is to resist any substantial change, gradually eroding the capacity for creative ideas and innovation and even actively opposing them.

Innovative companies understand this and take action to overcome these tendencies. They continually track their customers and competitors to quickly detect signals that may point to needed changes. Thoughtful experimentation is encouraged, not only as a way to test new ideas but to maintain the organization’s proficiency at implementing new ideas. There’s an awareness of the need to promote continual adaptation, rather than simply protect what’s working.

The truth is that there are many paths to innovation. Here are eight of them.

Employ crowdsourcing to expand the number of ideas

When Microsoft launched Kinect for the Xbox in 2010, it quickly became the hottest consumer device ever, selling 8 million units in just the first two months. Almost immediately, hackers began altering its capabilities to do things that Microsoft never intended. Yet instead of asking them to stop, it embraced the hackers, quickly releasing a software development kit to help them along.

Like Microsoft, many firms today are embracing open innovation to expand capabilities. Cisco outfoxed Lucent not by developing the technology itself, but by smartly acquiring startups. Procter & Gamble has found great success with its Connect and Develop program and platforms like Innocentive allow firms to expose thorny problems to a more diverse skill set.

As was the case with Alexander Fleming and penicillin, most firms will find that solving their most important problems will require skills and expertise they don’t have. That means that, at some point, they will need to utilize partners and platforms to go beyond their own internal capabilities of technology and talent.

Connect the unconnected

The reason that Fleming was unable to bring Penicillin to market was that, as a biologist, he lacked many of the requisite skills. It wasn’t until a decade later that two chemists, Howard Florey, and Ernst Boris Chain, picked up the problem and were able to synthesize penicillin. Even then, it took people with additional expertise in fermentation and manufacturing to turn it into the miracle cure we know today.

This isn’t the exception, but the norm. Darwin’s theory of natural selection borrowed ideas from Thomas Malthus, an economist, and Charles Lyell, a geologist. Watson and Crick’s discovery of DNA was not achieved by simply plowing away at the lab, but by incorporating discoveries in biology, chemistry, and x-ray diffraction to inform their model building.

Great innovation almost never occurs within one field of expertise but is almost invariably the product of synthesis across domains.

Collaboration is key

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, but it wasn’t until 15 years later, in 1943, that the miracle drug came into widespread use. Alan Turing came up with the idea of a universal computer in 1936, but it wasn’t until 1946 that one was actually built, and not until the 1990s that computers began to impact productivity statistics.

We tend to think of innovation as arising from a single brilliant flash of insight, but the truth is that it is a drawn-out process involving the discovery of an insight, the engineering of a solution, and then the transformation of an industry or field. That’s almost never achieved by one person or even within one organization.

Question everything

Too often, we treat innovation as a monolith, as if every problem was the same, but that’s clearly not the case. In laboratories and factory floors, universities and coffee shops, or even over a beer after work, people are sussing out better ways to do things. There is no monopoly on creative thought.

But that leads us to a problem: How should we go about innovation? Should we hand it over to the guys with white lab coats? An external partner? A specialist in the field? Crowdsource it? What we need is a clear framework for making decisions.

As I wrote in Harvard Business Review, the best way to start is by asking the right questions: (1) How well is the problem defined? and (2) How well is the domain defined? Once you’ve asked those framing questions, you can start defining a sensible way to approach the problem using the innovation matrix.

Clearly, no one method can suffice. Look at any great innovator, whether it is Apple, Tesla, or Google, and you’ll find a portfolio of strategies. So the first step toward solving a difficult problem is asking the questions you need to define your approach. To paraphrase Voltaire, if you need to solve a problem, first define your terms.

Think of new business models

When Chester Carlson perfected his invention in 1938, he tried to market it to more than 20 companies but had no takers. It was simply far too expensive for the market. Finally, in 1946, Joe Wilson, President of the Haloid Company, came up with the idea of leasing the machines instead of selling them outright. The idea was a rousing success and in 1948 the firm changed its name to Xerox.

The tricky thing about disruptive innovations is that they rarely fit into existing business models and so the value they create isn’t immediately clear. Kodak made money by selling film, so was slow to adopt the digital cameras that the company had itself invented. Yahoo’s business was focused on keeping users on its site, so passed on the chance to acquire Google.

It’s not just products that we have to innovate, but business models as well

Size is not important

When most people think about innovation, they think about startups. And certainly, new firms like Uber, Airbnb, and Space X can transform markets. But others such as IBM, Procter and Gamble, and 3M have managed to stay on top for decades, even as competitors rise up to challenge them and then, when markets shift, disappear just as quickly into oblivion.

While it’s true that small, agile firms can move fast, larger enterprises have the luxury of going slow. They have loyal customers and an abundance of resources. They can see past the next hot trend and invest for the long term. There’s a big difference between hitting on the next big thing and developing it consistently, generation after generation.

Start at the heart

Many people think of innovation as discarding the old to make room for the new, but as Bain & Co.’s Chris Zook points out in Profit From The Core, smart companies realize that the bulk of their profits will come from current lines of business.

Take Google for example. Yes, it pursues radical innovation, like self-driving cars, at its Google X unit, but the continual improvement of its core search business is what made it the world’s most valuable company. That’s why Google, as well as many other innovative companies, follow the 70/20/10 rule.

The premise of the rule is simple. Focus 70% of your resources on improving existing technology (i.e. search), 20% on adjacent markets (i.e. Gmail, Google Drive, etc.), and 10% on completely new markets (i.e. self-driving cars).

Combine ideas

When we look back to the great innovations of the past, it is hard not to wonder how they could’ve gone differently. What if chemists had picked up on Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in weeks rather than years? How many lives could have been saved? Was there really no one who could have helped develop Engelbart’s vision of the personal computer outside of Northern California?

And now, the problems we seek to solve are significantly more complex than in earlier generations. That’s one reason why the journal Nature recently noted that the average scientific paper today has four times as many authors as one did in 1950. At the same time, knowledge has been democratized. A teenager with a smartphone today has more access to information than a highly trained specialist a generation ago.

That’s why now collaboration itself is becoming a competitive advantage.

Today, there are a variety of major efforts, such as the JCESR at Argonne National Labs to develop next-generation batteries, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, and the Center for Applied Cancer Science at MD Anderson that are forging a more collaborative approach. Increasingly, we’re finding that to solve really tough problems, we need to work harder to integrate people with diverse talents.

New thinking

Take a slightly broader view and it becomes clear that innovation today goes far beyond research labs, Silicon Valley pitch meetings, and large corporate initiatives. We all have something to offer and can add to the world’s knowledge in a way that may differ in degree, but not in kind, from the giants of the past.

Awesome Compliments That Will Be Valuable for the Rest of Your Life

How about learning to give awesome compliments? How easy do you find it to pay great compliments? An authentic compliment. Difficult for you? Seemingly a common thing, right? But difficult to do uncommonly well, don’t you agree?

As a leader or even as a peer, great compliments have never been more critically important than today. Not because they are expected, but to help in team motivation and engagement. While everyone is wrapped up in their own performance, people hardly take the time to recognize the work of others.

Whether you’re dealing with bosses, subordinates, or peers, a well-placed compliment will make you valuable, noteworthy, and better suited for leadership.

Why compliments?

When you recognize people’s skills and achievements, it makes you seem more selfless. Your attention to detail is appreciated. And if you believe what some scientific studies have to say on the subject, people who pay others compliments are seen as smarter. And more humble … a critical leadership quality.

Be specific

Understand what motivates people you work with and focus on paying compliments that will give attention to those things. For a business leader, it may be addressing and inspiring a crowd of subordinates. For a secretary, it may be her knowledge of office details. Regardless, compliment them accordingly, in the most natural way possible.

Timing is essential

Compliments are all about timing. They are usually most effective immediately after someone does something they deserve praise for. It’s right after the fact that most people want to hear that they did well. Let time pass and they will calm down, or convince themselves that they did well and don’t need anyone else’s approval.

But timing also involves calibrating someone’s mood. If you see a co-worker in a slump, a well-placed compliment might motivate him and remind him that what he does is significant.

Perseverance leads to mastery.

A sustained effort over time will typically lead to mastery. When I first started writing, a few of my friends laughed at my books. Rightfully so. It was full of typos, had terrible grammar, and had pretty mundane content. None of it was spectacular.

The perfect word to describe it: Mediocre. And the book sales reflected that.

Fast forward to today and you’ll see that my writing has been published in Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, Inc., and The Huffington Post.

People will often ask, “How did you manage to get published?” The answer is simple: Perseverance.

I spent 2 years writing 6 books, 180 Quora posts, and 30 editorial pitches before I got published by a major media site.

Even after this momentum, the website I just launched was slow in gaining subscribers. For example, in about 2 months I had only signed up around 520 subscribers. However, after those 2 months of churning out weekly articles, last night I had a breakthrough of 64 subscribers in just one night!

Over time my writing has improved dramatically. My writing volume has also increased. It used to take me a few days to write an article. Now I can write a short article in an hour and the quality is better. This all happened because I stayed the course.

So when in doubt, always remember: to persevere.

2. It makes you mentally stronger.

I’ve failed a lot. One of my first jobs, when I was in high school, was working as a salesperson at a tuxedo shop. A few months in, I missed one of my shifts and was fired. I was really upset with myself.

I once tried to be a professional actor and met with an agent. She told me to find another career.

I once tried to be a professional writer. My first book was called “Push.” I think I sold a few Kindle copies. Mostly to family and friends. It was a long time ago.

Know what happened? I bounced back. For example, I ended up writing a second book called “The Resume Is Dead.” It has over 40,000 Kindle downloads and hit #1 in the Resumes category.

I guess I could have quit writing. But why do that when it’s my passion? Better to learn from my mistakes and to keep improving. At the end of the day, each of these experiences helped to shape me into who I am today.

Don’t spend time regretting your past. Do focus your energy on pushing forward.

3. It teaches patience.

Success isn’t built overnight. It’s built over many nights. Sometimes years. That’s why you’ve got to be patient.

This doesn’t mean you don’t create and build with passion and intensity. You absolutely want that. But if you don’t have patience, you might end up giving up at a time when you’re just inches from success.

If you’re seeing meaningful progress and continuous improvement, then it may make sense to continue to persevere. When I first started writing “The Resume is Dead,” I thought it would take a few months to finish it from beginning to end.

It took me an entire year. But despite all the times I got writer’s block or got a huge headache from proofreading the book, I never quit.

It’s the book I’m most proud of. And it was worth every minute.

Creating something worthwhile isn’t easy. Be patient.

Every Organization Needs These Types of Innovators

All organizations seek out the following type of innovators:

Generators

Generators find new problems and ideate based on their own direct experience. For them, physical contact with, and involvement in, the real-world alerts them to unresolved gaps and inconsistencies — problems that might be worth addressing as opportunities and possibilities. However, generators only find these problems at a high level; they do not necessarily gravitate towards articulating a clear understanding of a problem’s specifics or its potential solutions.

Across all organizational levels, generators are rare. Overall, just 17% of our sample were generators: 19% of executive managers, 18% of middle managers, 15% of supervisors, and 16% of non-managers. This means that, unless leaders are deliberate about including generators on teams, they may not be represented at all. Generators are perceptive of the world around them and initiate and proliferate opportunities. So, a lack of generators makes it more likely that an organization will miss opportunities for valuable change. Given the importance of cognitive diversity in groups, this is a potential detriment to innovation performance.

That said, there are some occupations where generators are more common than others. School teachers (56%), academics (38%), and artists (34%) are the occupations with the greatest proportion of generators; engineering (8%), strategic planning (9%), and manufacturing (9%) have the lowest proportion. This means a lack of generators may be acutely felt on certain teams in certain fields. For instance, there is a 71% chance a four-person team from a strategic planning department has no generators at all.

Conceptualizers

Conceptualizers define the problem and prefer to understand it through abstract analysis rather than through direct experience. Like generators, they like to ideate; but in contrast, they prefer to model the problem clearly — integrating the various parts, relationships, and insights together — which can then be used as the basis for one or more solutions.

Conceptualizers are the second rarest innovation style, making up only 19% of the sample. They are relatively evenly represented across most occupational levels, with 17%, 18%, and 17% of non-managers, supervisors, and middle managers as conceptualizers, respectively. But more executives — 25% percent — are conceptualizers. This likely reflects the specific cognitive demands for that role: executive managers must strategically plan for more distant goals, rather than execute more tactical tasks.

Conceptualizers are most common in jobs where understanding the definition of the problem is vital, such as organization development (61%), strategic planning (57%), and market research (52%). Conversely, conceptualizers are rarest in operations (7%), technical support (11%), and project management (13%).

Optimizers

Optimizers evaluate ideas and suggest solutions. They prefer to systematically examine all possible alternatives in order to implement the best solution among the known options.

Optimizers are most common among lower occupational levels (27% of non-managers) and decrease with a rise in occupational levels (23% of supervisors, 22% of middle managers, and 20% of executives). Because most solutions are implemented at lower levels of hierarchy, it makes sense that occupations at these levels are more likely to engage in optimization.

Optimizers are also most common in positions where practical, precise, and detailed plans, processes, and solutions are sought. Engineering (43%), manufacturing (38%), and finance (36%) had the highest proportion of optimizers. Product developers (9%), academics (10%), and school teachers (11%) had the lowest proportion.

Implementers

Implementers put solutions to work. They enthusiastically (and sometimes impatiently) take action, experimenting with new solutions before mentally testing them and then making adjustments based on the outcome of these experiments. Implementers are the most common innovation style, representing 41% of our survey respondents. Thirty-six percent of executive managers are implementers but are about as common among non-managers (41%), supervisors (44%), and middle managers (43%).

Individuals working in positions that require the achievement of short-term results, such as IT operations (64%), customer relations (51%), and administration (50%) favor the implementer style. Artists (6%), strategic planners (7%), and designers (10%) are least likely to be implementers.

The bottom line

Two findings should stand out to managers. First, innovation styles are, generally, not evenly distributed. It is striking that only about 17% of individuals in our study were found to be generators while 41% were implementers. Second, people tend to sort into different occupational roles and levels of management based on their innovation style. For instance, generators are predominantly found in non-industrial occupations and conceptualizers are most common in strategic planning and organizational development.

These two findings contribute to the same problem: the organizations and teams you are working with are likely to lack the right balance of styles and be insufficiently cognitively diverse. If cognitive differences are unevenly distributed (e.g., there are more implementers and fewer generators) — and if people will choose roles and organizations based on their innovative style preference (e.g., generators are more likely to become artists and teachers, not executives and engineers) — we would expect most organizations and teams to lack the ideal cognitive diversity for innovation.

Innovation Always Beats Invention

The invention is often viewed as a source of economic growth. It isn’t. It’s an innovation that generates new products, new services, new businesses, and new jobs. As a country, we need to be focused on innovation more than ever before.

Invention and innovation have been mashed together so thoroughly that it is hard to tell the difference between them—yet they could not be more different.

The implications of this confusion are important, steering budding entrepreneurs down the wrong path, crimping the growth of existing companies, and muddying public policy intended to support business.

It is time to clarify and redefine the difference between invention and innovation.

Marketplace Value

The invention is accurately perceived as a cornerstone of innovation. It generates new ideas, patents, prototypes, designs, breakthrough experiments, and working models. However, it’s an innovation that transforms these inventions into commercial products, services, and businesses. Ultimately an invention is only valued by the marketplace when customers use it or buy it. For example, the technology behind flat-screen TVs was invented decades ago. The breakthrough innovation was the application of that technology to the public’s insatiable appetite for crystal-clear digital pictures on big-screen HDTV.

For the past 30 years, I have been teaching courses in the process of innovation in executive education programs at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and consulting with firms worldwide on the topic. When I started, the application of the word to new products and services was uncluttered by different interpretations or spins. But over time, marketers discovered “innovation.” They found a word that evokes a good feeling without the burden of being specific. Do you want to avoid saying “new and improved”? Just say the product is the result of innovation. The word has come to mean just about anything that is new, which is too broad to be useful.

Competing with innovation for attention is an invention, which is also surrounded by an aura of good feeling, conjuring up images of the computer being built in a garage and the inventor emerging as a billionaire folk hero. As a result, the invention has been linked in the public mind to succeed in the marketplace, and that is not so.

When a new idea surfaces or a new patent is filed—that is an invention. It is the classic eureka moment when a person has an idea for a better mousetrap and sets about creating it, putting off concern about who will buy it for another day. At a different level, much of the basic research done in R&D labs in corporations and at universities is the invention process. It is research for the sake of building knowledge, which is certainly important, but not done with the thought of commercialization.

Meeting a Need

Innovation is a very different concept. When a need is identified and a product or service is developed to meet that need, you have an innovation. People talk about the “invention” of the lightbulb or the “invention” of the iPhone, when in fact neither Thomas Edison nor Steve Jobs was an inventor. They both used existing technology in new ways with an eye toward a big market for the result. They were innovators.

This is not simply an exercise in definitions. Entrepreneurs work tirelessly to form and build businesses, and they need all the help they can get. When they are launching their first enterprise, it is important for them to understand that an invention, no matter how inspired, will not be worth much if nobody wants to buy it. For established businesses looking for new profit centers, it is important to understand that brainstorming new product ideas is worth far less than identifying consumer wants and needs and developing products or services to meet them. For policymakers trying to figure out how to support a region’s entrepreneurial spirit, understanding the difference between invention and innovation can lead to distinctly different approaches.

My message for an inventor is to think more like an innovator. His or her success rate would almost certainly go up. I was talking recently with Michael Schuster, whose product, HydroRight, easily converts a standard household toilet into a dual flush system, using less water to flush liquids and more for a “full” flush. He told me that he had at least 60 good ideas for inventions, but he focused on HydroRight because it taps into people’s wish to conserve water and it fulfills that wish for less than $20.

Sales are skyrocketing at Home Depot (HD) and Amazon.com (AMZN). Sure, he has patents on the small inventions needed to create his innovation, but it is not the patents that are making money. It is widespread acceptance in the marketplace.

My message for those running established businesses, perhaps built on a single successful product and seeking to expand, is to learn the innovation process. Spending time at the front end on what the marketplace needs, rather than trying to build a slick marketing campaign around a nifty invention that nobody cares about, is such a certain way to succeed that a business plan can include the guarantee of new revenue streams courtesy of innovation.

Public Policy Support

It is in the public policy arena where there is the greatest opportunity to stimulate the economy through support for innovators. Here in Chicago a colleague and I have established an annual recognition event, the Chicago Innovation Awards. True to my definition of innovation, nominees must have brought a product or service to market and show proof of impact. Two years ago a winner was a then-small firm named Groupon.

Some years ago we recognized Archipelago, which became the electronic trading platform for the New York Stock Exchange. At the low-tech end, we honored HydroRight this year, as well as Liftaem, an inflatable hospital mat whose innovation is a way of sliding patients from one bed to another with virtually no effort.

Those responsible for economic development would do well to pay special attention to innovators. Ask any one of them about how a certain level of investment would turn into a specific number of new jobs, and each will have a solid, practical idea. A particular interest of mine is to work with innovators on strategies for manufacturing their products in the region where the innovation was born. Public policy designed to help those who have already taken the entrepreneurial risk and brought a successful product to market is, I believe, a high-percentage play, an important consideration where scarce taxpayer dollars are involved.

Cities and states spend a lot of money trying to lure new businesses. They should focus instead on businesses large and small that have already made a commitment to the region. Ask them about their ideas for new products and services, and help them bring their new innovations to market. Keep the process simple and straightforward. One innovator told me he looked into government programs and “they added up to a whole lot of nothing.” People who are in the day-to-day work of running a business, especially small enterprises, don’t have a lot of time or money to spend on the process. They need focused, direct, and prompt action.

There are inventors and there are innovators. One is creating a product with the dream of success. The other brings a product to market knowing with certainty that there is a need to be met. Understanding the difference and acting on it can provide an important stimulus for the economy in the challenging years ahead.

Time Management Apps for Your Web Browsing

Picture this: You go online with the intention to get a specific time management task done. But along the way, you get distracted by email, Facebook, app/software updates, browser tabs you forgot you left open, a tweetstorm from your favorite celebrity, and that other thing you were supposed to do online yesterday.

Wouldn’t it have been great if you had some kind of time management app or web tool that stopped you from wasting 45 minutes before finally remembering what you went online to do in the first place?

Online distractions can be a real problem for those who aren’t mindful or disciplined enough to resist unproductive browsing habits, but there’s no reason why even the most distraction-prone individual can’t train themselves to become more intentional users. Tools like time management apps and browser extensions can be a big help when just getting started.

If you want to start being a more productive web user who has more free time to enjoy, consider downloading or installing one (or several) of the following tools.

RescueTime

RescueTime is one of the most popular time management applications that you can use on both the desktop and mobile web to track your time spent browsing websites and apps. A free membership gets you this plus the opportunity to set goals on how you want to spend your time, as well as weekly and quarterly reports. You can also use the tool to get alerts about when you’ve spent enough time on a certain activity, block specific websites, log achievements throughout your day, and more.

Trackr

Want to see exactly how much time you’re spending on specific websites? Trackr is a simple Chrome web browser extension that displays a nice pie graph and corresponding legend to give you a visual idea of where you’re spending you’re time. According to the developer, it only tracks active time on a web page — meaning if you leave lots of browsers open, it won’t detect mouse movement or any other actions on the web page that counts toward the track. Go F*ing Work**

This one isn’t exactly for people who prefer proper language. Like Trackr, Go Fing Work is a Chrome extension that acts as a website blocker. Just tell the extension which websites you want to block (like Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, etc.), and then every time you try to visit it, you’ll be dissed and sworn at for even trying. You can, of course, put the extension on pause for as little as five minutes or as long as 48 hours, but the extension will ask you if you’re fing sure before doing so! More »

StayFocused

If you’re not too keen on having profane language spewed at you by the previously suggested browser extension, you may want to try StayFocused as a similar, much more polite alternative. StayFocused is also a Chrome extension that works by limiting your access to time-wasting websites. This particular extension allows you to limit access for a specified amount of time — say, for an hour of productive time. You also can set a daily maximum time allowed for access, but when that time is up, those websites will be inaccessible for the rest of the day.

SelfControl

Are you a Mac user? SelfControl is a free Mac app that allows users to block pretty much anything they want — websites, mail servers, or whatever else. Be warned, though: Unlike the Chrome extensions mentioned above, which can be bypassed just by deactivating them, SelfControl keeps working even after you restart your Mac. So when you set a time limit to block distractions, make sure you really don’t need them during that period of time. More »

Forest

Okay, so maybe you’re more of a mobile addict. If you are, you’ll want to check out Forest — a premium app available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices that takes a super nice approach to beat smartphone addiction. Planting trees! You plant a tree whenever you want to focus on your work, and as you do, the tree grows. If you leave the app, the tree is killed. There are also browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox too, so you can grow your forest on the web too! More »

Moment

If you’re an iPhone addict just looking for a simple, free app to help you kick your bad habit of constantly checking your phone and spending way too much time on it, consider Moment. See exactly how much time you’re spending on your phone, set alerts to remind you to get off the thing every X minutes, and set a daily limit that warns you when you’ve reached it. You can also track which apps you use the most to get an idea of what’s most addicting to you. More »

BreakFree

Another smartphone addiction app available for free for both iOS and Android devices is BreakFree, which monitors your app use and then recognizes patterns of overuse so that it can send you a warning to take it slow. It apparently uses an advanced algorithm to calculate your “addiction score,” which you can see maintained in real-time. There’s just one big downside to this one — it needs yourLocation Services to be turned on, which can really suck the battery life out of your device, so make sure you consider this before trying the app out. More »

Cold Turkey

Cold Turkey is another all-in-one time management tool built for the desktop web. With the free version, you get to set a maximum block period, create multiple custom groups for block lists that cater to specific occasions, and also enjoy the convenient work/break timer. The pro version gives you a lot more including a scheduling tool, the ability to block applications, the opportunity to set up wildcards or exceptions, work/break intervals, and something called “frozen turkey” for locking yourself out at specific times of the day. More »

Freedom

If you’re willing to pay for a great time management app that really covers everything, Freedom might be the app for you. You can try it for free and then decide whether you want a monthly, yearly, or permanent subscription. Freedom can cover all devices including those that run on Mac OS X, iOS, and Windows. Block any apps or websites that you want, schedule “Freedom” sessions, and build new habits with lock mode. The app is super clean and simple, but also a very powerful tool for helping you become more productive.

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Creative Visual Design Content: The Best Ever Solution of Visual Design

We are always on the lookout for creative ideas for doing standard things. Standard things like annual reports of companies. Enter Warby Parker and its application of creative visual design content to its most recent annual report.

A creative mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.

Never heard of Parker Warby? As they write on their website, Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective. The objective was to create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point.

Eyewear with a purpose

Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses. This means that 15% of the global population cannot effectively learn or work – a problem that Warby Parker is determined to address. They’ve partnered with non-profits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.

Eyewear startup Warby Parker just released its 2013 Annual Report, a perfect example of how important tone is in creating great visual content. This very different approach to a year-end report uses a calendar format, highlighting company events on each day. Some events are significant company milestones; others are little anecdotes showcasing office life and culture.

Wow … what a change from the typical financial results and strategic initiatives that typically fill the pages of annual reports.

The report is an excellent example of a brand showcasing its ideas, creativity, and culture in a visually engaging way. At its core, the strategy of content marketing is not just about distribution and visibility. It is about telling the world who you are and what you stand for. This design goes a long way in turning customers into brand advocates.

The design shows how to empower your content. So many companies just don’t take advantage of their great content, or they don’t know how to present their content in a creative way. Often, in the end, they are fighting for survival as we all are. However, brands that can express their personality, their creativity, and passion, and manage their content in a way that speaks to people will create loyal customers.

types of visual content — Types of visual content.

Here are nine important takeaways all brands can learn from Warby Parker’s design approach to creating great content.

Push the edge to be different

What does the Warby Parker (http://www.warbyparker.com/annual-report-2013/#march-11 class trip have to do with eyeglasses? What does it matter? It is an interesting story, and Warby Parker uses the story to illustrate its personality and culture. Your content should be relatable, valuable and interesting for your audience. If you capture these qualities, your marketing will create a captive audience with ever-increasing brand loyalty.

Creative visual design content … utilize visual design

First and foremost, prioritize visual design in your efforts. Presenting your content in a visual format has some benefits. First, humans recognize and process images much faster than text; this is why visual content has much greater appeal. A study by 3M showed that 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.

Second, using a diversity of image types makes your content continuously fresh, which encourages readers to explore more. In the Warby Parker design the combination of photography, illustration, videos, and data visualization keeps the eyes interested and moving around the page. More time on site means more engagement with your brand.

Apply data in comparison

If you are going to visualize data, display a comparison—that is what makes the visualization more meaningful. The infographics revolution has brought with it many missed data visualization opportunities in the form of single-data-point pie charts and big numbers with fancy typographic treatment. Distilling data into a statistic removes the context and comparison that makes it insightful. Don’t fear complexity; take advantage of the opportunity to add clarity with many visualization design elements.

Show your personality

Business is becoming increasingly personal—not in the waiter remembers my name sort of way, but more in the way that we crave more personal connection in a web-based world. People want to know that the businesses they support are run in a way they can relate to, that its employees are people they might hang out with and potentially even someone who could become a good friend.

Marketing content is all about making connections. Your level of success has a lot to do with how your readers react to what you write. People connect with your brand because they relate to what you’re saying to them. They want to feel that your content is specifically crafted with their interests and needs in mind. In other words, it should feel personal.

Show off your people

Your customer community wants to know that there are humans behind your brand, and they want to know more about them as people. Don’t make the mistake of hiding your people, relationships, interactions, and office pranks behind a shield of professionalism. These things are most often as interesting as your products and services … and certainly as how much money you made last year. In today’s marketing landscape, whether you are a product or service-oriented business, you are selling your culture, and your culture is your people.

The growth in content consumption is not just because people are looking for a satisfactory distraction from work. Customers have an appetite for real, interesting information. The vast knowledge-sharing that the web has facilitated has brought with it an increased curiosity and hunger for understanding. Don’t believe that everything you do at the back end of your business is boring. Turn it into engaging content that will deepen your customers’ understanding of what your world is all about.

Create emotion

In his book, Contagious, Wharton professor Jonah Berger showed that one of the key reasons people share creative content is because it arouses a person’s emotion. His point is… content has to go beyond just being useful; it has to be unforgettable. Rather than trying to churn out quantity, take the time to figure out what kind of emotions move your audience.

In doing so, it’s important to remember that not all emotion is created equal. In his research, Berger identifies that certain kinds of emotions – those that get people “aroused” like awe, passion, and anger – are much more likely to drive shares than those that make people feel toned down – like sadness, relaxation, or contentment.

Don’t be afraid to shake things up.

Integrate products/services naturally

Your products and services don’t have to be ignored. In the midst of all the other ways to add to your design, you often can overlook them. Feature your product or service naturally within content, but don’t make it an abrupt deviation from the other fun stuff. This means that you will want to tone down your calls-to-action and any other hard-sell tactics. Use them as an opportunity to remind viewers what you do, without killing all those good vibes you have been building.

Share how you are awesome

One important element of marketing is about bringing attention to how awesome you are. However, this doesn’t mean your awesomeness-recognition abilities should be limited to your pursuits. Calling out the big (and little) wins of others—vendors, customers, ex-employees, maybe even competitors—shows that you are not afraid to give credit where it is due. This fresh perspective will add authenticity to your content.

Amplify who you are

Your content is a perfect place to let your audience know why you do what you do. Clearly articulating the values that give your company meaning helps you connect with people on a level beyond the business transaction, and it attracts people that share those same ideas. This powerful means of communication helps truly differentiate your brand—more than low prices, and fancy features could ever do.

Do you have a lesson about making your content creation more creative you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.

It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to learning to learn. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

It’s up to you to keep improving your continuous learning from all around your environment.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s teamwork, collaboration, and learning? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a teamwork or continuous learning workshop?

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

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How to Create Your Own Remarkable Images

It is nothing new to hear that using remarkable images for your blog posts is an important part of presenting your work to your viewers. Pictures and images can either make or break a product’s or article’s success. Why is that?

Well, most of us are very visual people and are either drawn in or turned off by certain colors or images that we come in contact with. In fact, we’re trained to be this way thanks to all the media and advertisements that we’ve been visually bombarded with since childhood.

Due to this need for creating visually appetizing imagery, many have found great success as graphic designers and other similar creative careers. However, for as much as many of us would love to be able to jump in and start using Photoshop and Illustrator to create and design amazing graphics and images today, such an idea is too far out of reach.

Those programs take time to learn and they cost a boatload of money — both of which many people can’t always swing, especially when they just want to create something here and there.

In the past, creating those creative, captivating and dynamic images was something that the average person couldn’t do without the help of a designer or experienced photo editor. However, as time has gone on, the need for easy ways to create your own images is one that has grown and continues to do so.

Why Create Unique Images?

Is there good reasons to create your own images to use in your posts? I mean, sure, they can be a fun little side thing to do after tediously editing your post, but are there benefits?

Absolutely! Here are a few benefits you may not have thought of.

People Like To Look At Something New

Since stock photos are widely used, then people who use them run the risk of using something that someone else in a similar niche or post topic has already used or will use soon. This can result in viewers seeing the same picture on two different sites that aren’t related to each other. Though it’s generally not that big of a deal, this sort of thing does happen.

Another great reason to create your own images is that you can create an image that relates directly to your post at hand and is unlike anything that your viewers have seen before. Create something truly epic and you can increase the chance of getting more social shares and more traffic — it’s a win-win situation.

It Is A Lot Less Expensive

Why spend a ton of money every month on stock photos when you can create your own butt-kicking images for a few bucks or for free? Many of the options below that I will list will give you the chance to source free images that you can use to create unique pictures on free image creating or editing platforms.

That means that all you’ll be spending is a bit of time and creativity to create something really cool.

Better For SEO

Queen Google is all about authentic and unique, and anything that falls below that standard is not all that impressive to her. Even though stock and vector photos can be brilliant and appealing to the eye, so many people have jumped on board with using them that they’re no longer unique.

Although it is true that the Google bots that crawl a site cannot literally see a photo as we do, Google’s algorithm is becoming increasingly smarter and can detect if a photo is indeed — unique. It’s not certain how large the effect of using stock photos is for SEO, but even if the impact was small, there is still an impact that you could avoid. By creating your own images, you are sticking to Google’s new rules of creating a whole post that is truly individual and evergreen.

Ready to dive in? Let’s go!

Sourcing Truly Free Images To Create A Unique Image

There are quite a few sites where you can source and download pictures free of charge. However, the ones that I’ll list below are likely ones that you have comes across before.

New Old Stock

Looking for a photo with a vintage feel? How about using authentic, vintage images fro public archives that are free of any known copyright restrictions? New Old Stock has a ton of truly vintage that you could use as part of your image creation.

But I’m not done yet. These sites and the photos on them are merely suggestions to provide a base for your image creation. Simply using them may be fine for some, but I want to show you how you can take these pictures and create something entire unique from them.

StockSnap.io

StockSnap photos are beautiful, captivating and free to use. The images on the site fall under the Creative Commons CCO License which means that you can copy, modify and distribute their images for whatever purpose you have in mind without needing permission or having to pay. The search bar makes it easy to find a photo that fits your needs.

Life Of Pix

This is another site where you can go and source beautiful imagery that are free and have no copyright restrictions. The Gallery on the site organizes the photos into certain categories to make finding a type of picture easier. As a side note, they also have videos free of copyright restrictions.

Creating Your Unique Images

Canva

This is probably my favorite online image creating platform. I was lucky enough to stumble across it after it first launched and I’ve been hooked ever since.

You can choose from one of the preset design options like a Twitter or Facebook post that you can use and set that as your featured image for your site or you can set your own custom dimensions and go from there.

Each of the predesigned options come with a set of images and design ideas that you can use to help jumpstart your image, but if you’re feeling truly creative, you can start from scratch and use the thousands of free shapes, lines, icons, fonts, and banners to create anything from a captivating photo to a stunning infographic.

Just as an example, you can see the image I created here using nothing more than the fonts, lines and banners available on Canva. Since everything I used was from the free options in the editor (there are both free and premium elements), I am free to download and use the image as I please and all it took was a bit of my time.

You can use this for more than creating a blog post image. You can create Twitter or Facebook headers, design a poster, create a unique Instagram picture and a large infographic image. There are options to upload your own images and icons so that you use your own elements in your design.

Piktochart

If you’re looking to create an infographic for your site or blog post, then this is an awesome site where you can do just that. The great thing about this type of imagery is that people tend to gobble them up. When an infographic is done right, they tend to get shared like crazy. Therefore, spending the time to craft one is well worth the effort.

Piktochart lets you choose from a selection of both free and premium templates, but you can skip the predesigned options available and create something from scratch for free. If you’re a creative person, then designing one of these shouldn’t be too hard, but you can always look for inspiration via a Google Search.

The editing options within Piktochart also make it easy to design more than just infographics. There are options on the site to create reports, banners, and presentations. You can also shrink the size of the canvas and create a smaller but stunning blog post image too.

Pic Monkey

Pic Monkey is a free online photo editing and creating tool. The free service lets you edit an existing image or design an entirely new one and it comes with some great features that make it easy to do so.

Crop and resize pixels of an image
Sharpen and adjust exposure
Apply visual effects like Black and White or Sepia Filters
Add fonts, textures, frames, and overlays to images. You can even upload your own overlays or icons to use in the picture.

If you don’t want to use an image like the ones available on the sites mentioned above, then thats fine. You can edit the canvas size and color and build on that instead. There are certain features on the editor that require you to upgrade to the pro version of PicMonkey, but most of what you need to create a new picture is free.

Google Slides

Though Google Slides was designed for creating presentations, you can utilize it for creating images for your article as well. You don’t have to stick with the predesigned layouts and themes there either. There are plenty of online resources where you can source free Google Slide Templates and use them to create a captivating image.

You can upload your own background and other images, have access to and use all the 400+ Google Fonts and plenty more to help you craft a unique image.

The bottom line

Creating an image from scratch may seem like just another time-consuming and unnecessary task to add to the workload of creating a blog post, however, don’t view it that way.

Creating unique images can captivate your viewers, it’s something Google says it wants, and it can boost your shares and traffic to that post and website in general. Really, creating your own stunning image could be the best part of your entire post. Plus, just think of the money you can save by doing this instead of paying for stock photos that everyone is already using.

All the image creating resources listed above take a bit of time to learn, but they’re much easier to use than something like Photoshop and Illustrator; playing around with one for an hour or so will have you on the right path in no time.

There are sure to be plenty of other free options for creating images for your blog posts. Do you have a favorite resource for doing this? Be sure to share in the comments below.

How to Create Killer Call-to-Action for Your Blogs

Oh, if only that were true. I’d probably read through more than once. However, now that I have you thinking about the proper way to motivate someone, I’d like to share some tips on how to craft a clear and engaging call-to-action (CTA) for your marketing campaigns.

What Is a Marketing Call to Action?

In marketing, your call to action is part of your advertisement that tells your target audience what they should be doing once they click on your PPC ad and hit your website or landing page. The simplest example of a call to action is “Buy now!”

The more information you can provide your potential customers with your CTA, the better it will be for all parties involved. You can let your audience know what to expect when they click on your ad, and you can help dissuade the wrong users from clicking by means of a clear and direct message.

Use a strong command verb to start your CTA

It’s all about being clear and concise with your CTA. You don’t have a ton of space in your ad to get your point across, with the character limit set at 35 characters per description line, so it is important to get straight to the point. Let your audience know exactly what you want them to do, and don’t dilly dally – start the CTA with the desired action.

Run an e-commerce website? Start your CTA with words like “buy,” “shop,” or “order”
Promoting a newsletter or white paper? Start your CTA with words like “download” or “subscribe”
Want someone to request more information? Try “fill out a form for…” or “find out how…”

Let’s refer to that white paper example. If you’re a marketing agency promoting your latest tips and insights, you want to be sure to that your audience understands exactly how to access that white paper. If your CTA read something like “Our latest white paper is available” you may not get a great click-through rate, as folks might not be sure where or when they can expect to get their hands on it. A call-to-action such as “download our white paper today!” is much more direct and informative, which should help improve CTR.

Use words that provoke emotion

You want to be able to elicit a strong response from your audience as a result of their enthusiasm. If your CTA is enthusiastic, then your audience will be enthusiastic too. Take a CTA like “buy now and get 50% off!” – not only are you providing them with a massive benefit, but who wouldn’t be thrilled to get their order for half off?

For someone looking to book a trip with their family, a CTA such as “plan your dream vacation today!” will excite them about the notion of a family trip and make them eager to click on your ad. A small, yet effective element here is adding an exclamation point to the end of your CTA in order to provoke that enthusiasm. It makes your CTA pop and gives it a little extra kick.

Select audiences that you need to reach to achieve your website’s goal.

=> Once you have your goal in place, it’s time to pick your audience. Start by writing a list of audiences your company naturally engages.

=> After writing out a list of potential audiences, answer the following questions:

● Which audience(s) is most critical to achieving the website objective?

● In what ways can you segment your potential target audiences out further?

● Segment by demographics, psychographics, location, industry, an individual’s role in

the organization and average annual revenue?

● Are certain demographics or characteristics of these audiences more important than

others?

● Are there any audiences who are unlikely to ever visit your website?

● What audiences do other stakeholders identify as important?

● What can these audiences do to fulfill your website’s objective?

Give your audience a reason for the desired action

In other words, what’s in it for them? Will it help them do their jobs better, lose weight, or save money? This will tie in heavily with your value proposition, or unique selling point (USP). Your USP is arguably one of the most important pieces of acquiring new leads, so creating a nice USP/CTA mash-up is a great way to increase clicks. A good example of this would be something like “call today to schedule your free consultation!” Not only have you stated the action you want the user to take (call today), but you have also provided them with a reason why they should take that action (a free consultation).

Map content to your target audience’s biggest questions or problems.

=> Here are some questions for brainstorming your content strategy:

● What is your target audience looking for online?

● What your company offers better than competitors/peers?

● Which of your competitive advantages does the audience care about?

● What questions would the target audience have before they could complete the CTA?

● What problems do they have that you can solve?

● What content you can create that answers those questions and solves those

problems?

● What content will influence them the most to take action?

Take advantage of the fear of missing out

This is actually one of my favorite tactics when it comes to a successful CTA. Fear of missing out, otherwise known as FOMO, is an extremely effective motivator. When people think they might lose out on an opportunity that might not come around again, they’ll be mighty quick to hop on the bandwagon.

One of the best uses of FOMO in your CTA is to mention a sale or promotion that your company is holding, and which won’t last forever. You probably get emails with this sort of messaging all the time, I know I sure do. I’m talking about messaging like “Shop today! Sale ends on Monday,” perhaps during a three-day weekend. Or even “buy now while supplies last!” during the holiday season. It’s tough to ignore a prompt like that, especially during a time-sensitive, under-the-gun type of situation (e.g. the Christmas season). Similar to provoking enthusiasm as we discussed earlier, provoking fear of missing out on your CTA is sure to get you some additional clicks.

Know your devices

Creating a killer call-to-action is important, that’s no secret. But I also urge you to consider customizing your CTA based on the device being used by your audience. Google considers desktops and tablets as the same device, as the screen sizes are roughly the same, and people use them for search in similar scenarios. An example of this would be a person sitting on the couch at night, who sees an ad on TV for a product they’re interested in. The next thing they’ll probably do is grab their laptop or tablet and search for more information on it.

However, mobile devices tend to have different user behavior and search intent than desktop/tablets, making it prudent to tailor your CTA based on the device. Users who search for something on their desktop or tablet are typically still doing their research, and are not quite ready to commit. But users searching for something on their mobile phone are often looking for “instant gratification” or fast results.

Someone could be walking down the street when they see an ad on a moving bus, whip out their phone, and quickly search for what they saw before it leaves their brain. Their search will also likely result in a phone call to complete the desired action, rather than browsing a website. My advice is to create a more phone call-centric CTA for your ads that appear on mobile devices. You could try something like “call now to get started” or “call us today for more information,” and that should help guide your target audience to take the action you want them to take.

There are two ways you can make this tactic even more effective:

Google gives you the ability to set a mobile preference for your ads, which allows you to designate certain ads to only appear for searches completed on mobile devices. With this option, you can focus your CTA on generating more phone calls.
You can also enable call extensions, which allow you to display your phone number alongside your ads. This option is available for all devices, and I strongly recommend that you take advantage of it, but Google automatically adjusts the way your call extensions are displayed on mobile searches. Instead of your number appearing, a small “Call” button will be displayed, allowing for one-touch dialing. This is what is known as Google’s “Click-to-Call” function.

Don’t be afraid to get a little creative

It’s important that you keep your CTA’s fresh, much like you should with your ad copy in general. A good, old-fashioned A/B test is a great way to identify which CTA’s bring you clicks, and which CTA’s bring you frowns. While your tried and true calls-to-action like the ones we’ve already discussed is always good to use, you really never know how they’ll perform in your account until you actually use them.

PPC is definitely a game of trial and error (which is why it can be frustrating!), and your calls-to-action are no exception to the rule. Something could look great on paper, or may sound great when a colleague recommends it to you, but the only way you’ll absolutely know for sure if something will work for your account is if you test it out. Your target audience may not respond well to what could be considered a “surefire CTA,” which is enough to make you pull your hair out. I recommend not only testing different CTA’s but being creative with them too. If your target audience isn’t responding well to your ads, you might as well try to think outside the box a bit!

Elisa Gabbert shared some examples of creative CTAs in a blog post if you are looking for some additional inspiration, while Dan Shewan examined what makes some call-to-action examples so effective in a separate post, so do your research!

Use numbers when possible

We, consumers, respond well to seeing numbers such as pricing, discounts, promotions, incentives, etc. It helps us to determine whether or not it’s worth splurging on items we desperately want but probably aren’t essential to everyday life. So when the opportunity arises, why not appeal to your target audience that way?

I am always a big proponent of including pricing information in your ad copy in general, and that includes your CTA. If a user sees your pricing information in your ad and decides to click through to your site, then you know they are still interested in the product or service you are offering. Now you know you have yourself a valuable click and an increased chance at generating a conversion. But, if you don’t include your pricing information in your ads, someone may click through to your site, excited about your products/services, but then get scared off by your prices; now you have yourself a less-than-desirable situation. This leads to the dreaded wasted spend in your account, and who wants to deal with that?

Try experimenting with your pricing information in your CTA, as well as any other applicable numerical information. A CTA such as “Shop today for TVs under $300!” not only shows a user how little they will pay for a TV, but it also hits on the FOMO element as well (pretty sneaky huh?). If you are running a special promotion for shipping, you could try something like “order by Sunday for 1-day shipping.” Maybe you are an auto body shop looking to incentivize your audience with a discount; your CTA might look something like “Book today! 15% off your next visit.”

Learning Creativity, Change, and Our Education System

Have you ever done any reading about learning creativity or ways to improve our educational system?

Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference are pretty low.

– Tom Peters

One of the outside interests of this agency is learning creativity. We want to start this article with a very creative 3-minute video done by a young student. His subject? The need for change in our education system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwYSMwrAczo

We are the ones that believe that not enough is being done to increase the learning of creativity in our schools. So, therefore, we like to read and engage in discussions on ideas on learning reform and creativity in our schools.

Change and learning creativity.

Banks used to open and operate between 10 and 3. Now, who can bank between 10 and 3? The unemployed. They don’t need banks. They got no money in the banks.

Who created that business model? And it went on for decades. Do you know why? Because the banks didn’t care. It wasn’t about the customers. It was about banks. They created something that worked for them. How could you go to the bank when you were at work? It didn’t matter. And they don’t care whether or not a customer was upset he couldn’t go to the bank. Go find another bank. Yes and they all operate the same way, eh?

Now, one day, some crazy banker had an idea. Maybe they should keep the bank open when people come home from work. They might like that. What about a Saturday? What about introducing new technology?

And so technology can contribute to change. Things can change. Yet not in education. Not even with the introduction of technology. Why?

Poor kids lose ground in the summertime. The system decides you can’t run schools in the summer. Why?

You know, I always wonder, who makes up these rules? Did we ever do it? Well, it just turns out that in the 1840s we did have, schools open all year. They were open all year because we had a lot of folks who had to work all day. They didn’t have any place for their kids to go. It was a perfect place to have year-round schools. So this is not something that is ordained by the education gods.

So why don’t we?

Educators and those who want to contribute, there’s some stuff we can do. And we’ve got to do better. We have to start with kids earlier, we have to make sure that we provide support to young people. We have got to try new things much more often. We’ve got to be creative and we have to let the students be creative to learn creativity. We’ve got to give them all of these opportunities.

Here is another short 2-minute video we would like to share. It is about the next generation learning in our education system. Also done by children. Even younger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0pZE8WW_Ro&feature=youtu.be

Kids bring to the curriculum vast differences – differences in gender, maturity, personality, interests, hopes, dreams, abilities, life experiences, situation, family, peers, language, ethnicity, social class, culture, probable and possible futures, and certain indefinable qualities, all combined in dynamic, continuously evolving ways so complex they lie beyond ordinary understanding.

Today’s reformers seem unable or unwilling to grasp the instructional implications of those differences and that complexity. They treat kids as a given, undifferentiated except by grade level, with the core curriculum as the lone operative variable.

It’s dumping creativity on the street.

So here is the thing. Our students recognize the problem. Why can’t education leaders?

Remember … we can truly understand facts about learning only in contrast to other facts.