Business Growth and Marketing News & Tips 4-3-22

Happy Sunday! Let’s take a moment and have some fun this morning and look at the future. Let’s briefly talk about The Metaverse and why business owners and marketers might want to explore it further.
 
What is The Metaverse?
 
The metaverse is a virtual world. More specifically, the metaverse isn’t a singular place. The metaverse is many virtual worlds. Facebook recently announced that their company would be rebranding as Meta to build and focus on their own virtual world. They’ve committed over 10 billion, and basically the future of their company to the endeavor. 
 
But Meta doesn’t own the metaverse. It’s just one virtual world. Some of the top virtual worlds include Decentraland and The Sandbox. Each is its own metaverse. Meta Horizon Worlds is owned and controlled by Meta. (Centralized) Just like Facebook, you’ll need to sign-up for an account and abide by the rules set by Meta. Decentraland, in contrast, is a virtual world that’s not owned by a corporation. (Decentralized) It’s built to be user-owned and built on the blockchain. This is where the concepts of The Metaverse and Web 3.0 intersect. There is a difference between the two concepts. Don’t worry, we’ll be talking more about Web 3.0 in the near future.
 
So, why would real-world businesses and marketers care about virtual worlds? 
 
Before going further, let us just say that all of these concepts are still in their infancy but they’re evolving quickly. There are many skeptics that believe that these concepts will only be relevant for nerds, gamers and people that only want to stare at screens all day instead of interacting with real people in the real world. But this is exactly what people said about social media. When we talk about Web 3.0, and the next generation of what the internet will become, The Metaverse(s) will be at the heart of it all. 
 
But it’s all fake, right? Why exactly should we care?
 
The Metaverse feels like a game at this point. But in the future, billions of people will be buying, selling, building relationships, interacting in real ways, and the line between the virtual and real-world will blur.
 
This newsletter is meant to get you information quickly. So we’ll give you some examples. Here are just a few ways that you might engage with The Metaverse in the future as a business owner or marketer that sells products or provides services in the physical world.

1. You can buy a property that you actually own, that has real value. Outside of building your own castle, complete with dragon and moat, business owners could own land in a popular region in The Metaverse and set up shop to promote and sell real-world products and services. Imagine putting up a permanent billboard for your company, on land that you own in Times Square. This is the long-term potential of getting in early.
2. Virtual events will be another opportunity where you will interact in the virtual world. One application would be educating your target audience about a product or service that they need in the real world, just like you do now. Imagine selling tickets or even selling physical products and services during these events where people will pay you right on the spot with crypto payments.
3. Networking. Meeting and starting relationships with people in the virtual world can cross over to the real world. It’s just another way to make a connection, no different than social media. 
4. Sponsorships and advertising. Do I need to say more? Virtual eyeballs are no different than real eyeballs. Marketing in The Metaverse is going to be no different than social media or the real world. Many large brands have already set up shop and are getting ahead of the competition. 
5. Real-world commerce. Here’s a great video from Walmart that demonstrates how The Metaverse and the real world may collide in the future. View Video

MARKETING AND GROWTH NEWS

What you need to know:

Instagram Live for business – a guide for newbies and professionals.

Google confirmed it would no longer “log or store IP address information.”

Instagram SEO best practices.

LinkedIn adds Newsletters for Company Pages.

Conspiracy theories. What’s true and false about Big Tech.

Instagram now lets all users tag products in their posts.

Podcasts and how starting one could help your business. 

Augmented reality. Snapchat acquired a “mind-controlled headband maker” to drive the company’s long-term AR research.

Instagram trends for 2022.

Other business stories that we’re watching…

The Federal Reserve voted in March to increase interest rates for the first time since 2018. Increases will likely come six more times in 2022.

455,000 jobs were added in March, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.7%.

That said, there are a record 5 million more job openings in the US economy than the number of available workers. Plus, the number of workers who quit their job jumped 94,000 from January to 4.35 million. That’s 1.8 jobs for every unemployed person.

Record high 4.4 million Americans voluntarily left their jobs in February.

YOUR WEBSITE

How a great website builds trust

There are so many specific things that directly affect success, and equally, so many intangibles.

I guess we need to start with the classic quote “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” right?

A website can either pull someone in immediately and turn them into a customer for life or turn them off in ways that push them away forever.

Listen now and subscribe!

FOUNDATIONS

The Ins (and Not Outs) of Inbound Marketing

One of the ways to improve your marketing fortunes is to lean into the power of inbound. This is a popular methodology for today’s marketing teams, and for good reason.

The value of an email newsletter list is no secret. When someone commits to receive your newsletter in

Great marketing doesn’t happen by accident. At least, not usually. If you just put out a few ads and hope for the best, you shouldn’t expect to get much in return. Bringing in people to explore your brand and your products or services takes skill, hard work, attention to detail and plenty of experiments. Aside from developing something that customers will want to buy, mastering the marketing process for your business is likely the biggest hurdle between you and the success you desire.

One of the ways to improve your marketing fortunes is to lean into the power of inbound. This is a popular methodology for today’s marketing teams, and for good reason. This article will dive into the basics of this customer-centric take on not just marketing, but running your business.

Read more about Inbound Marketing

CULTURE AND INSPIRATION

Did Van Gogh really say these words? Who knows. But the message is really important for business leaders and marketers… quit talking and start doing. Start today, and before you know it, you’ll have something great. We guarantee it.

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