Influencer marketing is a powerful tactic that targets consumers where they already spend much of their time: social media. Globally speaking, Instagram is the primary platform for many influencer-brand campaigns, but it's hardly the only one.

Take China, for example. Most of the major international social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, are banned by the government. That means that the country's influencers hold court on local services, of which Weibo and WeChat are the most popular.

And in the DACH region—which includes Austria, Germany and Switzerland—Instagram and YouTube are neck and neck, at least in terms of influencer marketing spending. According to Goldmedia data, sponsored content on the two platforms accounted for 34% and 31% of total influencer revenues in 2017, respectively.

Spending figures don't always tell the whole story. While Goldmedia took into account both monetary and nonmonetary compensation, such as product gifting, influencers may charge a premium for a post on a certain platform, which could inflate its share of spending.

But those findings make sense when looking at where consumers in the region follow influencers. According to a March 2018 survey by M Science for Wavemaker, social media users in Germany were just as likely to follow an influencer on YouTube as they were Instagram, each cited by 73% of respondents. Roughly half said they followed influencers on Facebook.

That said, the importance of Instagram for influencer campaigns is rising in nearly every market worldwide.

In a February 2018 survey by influencer marketing agency Activate, 88.9% of worldwide influencers said they were using Instagram for influencer marketing campaigns more than they did one year ago. Excluding posts on their feeds, Instagram Stories was the most popular tactic used for sponsored campaigns.

Instagram's rising popularity for influencer campaigns goes hand in hand with the platform's strong user growth, as marketers tend to go where their customers are.

India is one example of that. According to our latest forecast, the number of Instagram users in the country grew by an explosive 123% in 2017—the fastest growth rate worldwide. So it's no surprise that 78% of influencers in India cited Instagram as the platform that would rise in importance for influencer marketing this year, according to a December 2017 survey from influencer marketing agency Buzzoka.

Overall, we expect the number of worldwide Instagram users to rise by 18.4% to 714.4 million in 2018. Sweden will have the highest Instagram user penetration rate in the world, at 68.9% of social network users, followed by Indonesia (62.8%) and Norway (57.7%).

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," eMarketer's Jasmine Enberg and Debra Aho Williamson provide an overview of the global state of influencer marketing, including spending, top platforms and the role of influencers in the path to purchase. "Behind the Numbers" is sponsored by Mower.

A question I get asked often is “What is my brand’s story?” Let’s talk about that.

When I look at most brand stories that companies are putting out there, I feel they often look more like mission statements than stories. We once had a client whose brand story ran almost 1,300 words on their website. While it was interesting to the founding family of the company, it wasn’t interesting nor relevant to US consumers.

No matter the size of your company or the industry you work in, all brand stories are found the same way – and if your current brand story isn’t doing much, it can still be saved.

How do we find it?

Step number one is taking all of the data surrounding your brand. The data should cover every aspect of your brand from “Who buys our stuff?” and “Where do they buy it?” to which products sell best, who are our competitors, what are people saying about us, and so on.

Once you have the data, sort through it.

The data then needs to go through a 3 tier test.

Is this authentic?

Is this interesting?

Is this relevant?

You may be biased, considering it’s either your company, or the company you work for, so it’s extremely important to be hard on yourself here. It’s extremely important to think about what’s going on outside the 4 walls of your company, and be able to bring whatever it is your selling into the real world. This test will make sure you do that.

Authentic: When you explain your brand and work to others, are you using your own, authentic voice and excitement, or do you sound more like a lawyer?

Interesting: If you bring it up at brunch, are people interested? This is of course subjective to the type of group you’re at brunch with – mothers with 3 young children will have different interests and concerns than a group of young adults looking for their first post-college job, but the story should be interesting for the demographic it’s meant to be targeted to.

Relevant: Really, is this going to make a difference in anyone’s lives?

If you can meet on all 3 of these, your story will spread and that means you have a story worth talking about. What’s great about these tests are they’re all super cheap to run. Pull out a whiteboard, get into some thought experiment and get started. Go to brunch with friends. It’s a lot cheaper than anything else you’re going to do.

One of my favorite examples of this was done by Reeses. A few years ago they came out with a new product they wanted to test in the field – they were Reeses cups that were individually packaged but not wrapped in paper, and using some magic they wouldn’t make your fingers gross. They went to video game conferences and handed them out for free. This was interesting, relevant, and authentic for them gamers in discussion. Picture the conversation between them: ‘Hey, I just tried these new Reeses, they’re delicious, I can eat them without getting anything on my controller.’ That’s it. It passes all 3 tests.

I’ve often found that there may be push back at first. Many corporations who have done things a certain way for so long feel personally tied to the work, brand, and story the way it is. Not surprisingly, people are not always comfortable with change and are not going to be comfortable going where a company traditionally has not gone before. There may have been meetings and conference calls and time spent on the things currently in play that are not actually working, so, yes, there may be push back, but run it through the test and you’ll have proof that what is going on isn’t working. Again, it’s super cheap to do.

Once it’s confirmed there’s a story worth talking about, then it’s time to build digital experiences that bring the story to life. The goal is to always have people come to your story, explore it and allow them to understand it without having to sell something. When that’s working and people are talking about it, then you can start to do TV ads.

If you’ve found that your brand doesn’t pass through any (or all) of the tests, it can then become a company goal – how do we decide what fits all of these things, to the most people possible? Because at the end of the day, marketing is about selling more things to more people for more money.

Written by Ted Wright,CEO of Fizz

Starting today, Snapchatters will have an easier way to discover and unlock thousands of Lenses built by its global creator community.

Since Lens Studio launched in late 2017, creators have submitted over 100,000 unique Lenses through the tool, which have been viewed by Snapchatters over 2.5 billion times. 

With the introduction of Lens Explorer, Community Lenses will for the first time be discoverable alongside the main Lens Carousel, offering Snapchatters even more Lenses to play and express themselves with and boosting exposure for Lens creators. To get started in Lens Explorer, just tap the new icon (it’s a smiley face) that appears when the Lens Carousel is active. Tap a Lens tile to unlock a Lens and be taken directly to the Snap Camera or browse through the featured Our Stories. Unlock a Lens by swiping up on Snaps in these Stories. 

Lens Explorer will roll out slowly to Snapchatters on iOS only at launch and evolve over time, becoming more personal and increasingly easy to use. In addition to this added discoverability in Lens Explorer, Snapchatters can now also browse for Lenses within Search. 

Making Community Lenses more prominent within the app is just the latest way Snapchat is excited to be investing in the creator community. Previously announced but ongoing efforts include: Lens Studio Challenges, the Official Lens Creators program, industry outreach, and more.  

Since first launching Lenses in 2015, Snapchat has grown to become the world’s most engaged and creative AR platform. Every day, over 70 million Snapchatters play with Lenses, for an average of 3 minutes per day. Snapchat is excited by the loyalty, creativity, and variety of experiences being seen from the Lens Studio community to date and is committed to continuing to invest in the platform, making AR creation accessible to anyone and bring more and more diverse experiences to Snapchatters. 

More broadly, today's announcement is part of the company's ongoing effort to foster and support a creative and developer community. Recent examples include: 

• Launched in February, additional data and insights became available for Official Stories and creators who have cultivated a large audience on Snapchat, giving these Snapchatters a deeper understanding of their audience and what type of content drives meaningful engagement. The type of information shared included total story views, time spent viewing stories, daily reach and engagement metrics, and audience demographic information.

• Launched in May, Yellow is a launchpad program for creators, designed to help them turn their ideas for producing mobile content into reality through mentorship, networking events, commercial support and partnerships, funding and space in Venice, California. 

• Launched in June, Snap Kit is a brand new platform for developers, helping third-party apps integrate some of Snapchat’s experiences into their products, while ensuring Snapchat users’ account information is kept safe, secure, and private. 

China Media Group and China Arab TV (CATV) held a ceremony to sign the China Theater Broadcasting Agreement in Dubai. 

According to the cooperation agreement, popular Chinese TV series Ode to Joy, Beijing Youth, Jin Tailang’s Happy Life dubbed in Arabic by China Media Group will be broadcasted in the Dubai-based CATV. 

Wang Xiaohui, Deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Executive vice director of the Policy Research Office of CPC Central Committee and Head of the China Film Bureau and Senior Media Advisor Ollier Kafaya were present at the event and unveiled the launch ceremony. Li Lingbing, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Dubai, Sun Yusheng, Vice president of China Central Television (CCTV), Ossama Taleb Morra, CATV Senior Consultant, the press from both China and the UAE as well as about a hundred guests also joined this event.

Li Lingbing, Sun Yusheng, and Ossama Taleb Morra addressed the event. 

Li Lingbing said in her speech that the successful launch of popular Chinese films and TV series in Dubai will help foster the mutual understanding of each other’s culture and deepen the friendship between two peoples. She sincerely hopes that Arab friends could see that China is more open with an international vision and stands ready to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in a win-win spirit and create a better future with countries along the Silk and Road.

“China-UAE strategic partnership is deepening. The media from China and the UAE cooperate to launch the China Theater and broadcast popular Chinese films and TV series dubbed in Arabic. This move meets the demand of the era and plays a positive role in deepening the mutual understanding and communication of the two people,” said Sun Yusheng in his remarks.

Ossama Taleb Morra said in his speech that the cooperation between CATV and Central Radio and Television Station will allow people in the UAE and other Middle-east countries to enjoy the popular TV programs in China, which will also help narrow the gap between the two. He also said the Chinese TV programs have become increasingly popular in Arab countries, and Arab people welcome Chinese culture to enter each and every household in the UAE and hope the joint efforts could produce fruitful outcomes.

“China Theater” is a broadcasting brand created by Central Radio and Television Station that cooperates with the national television stations or mainstream media in overseas countries to broadcast popular Chinese TV series and movies dubbed in foreign languages at fixed time in those countries. 

In China, luxury brands are embracing WeChat as it opens up multiple easily accessible entry points for connecting with shoppers.

Shopping online has never been more easy or intuitive in China than it is now. The country’s digital retail industry used to revolve around its major e-commerce giants, Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com, but a leading social media platform in China is increasingly shaping consumer’s purchasing habits and global brands are jumping on board.

On June 19, European beauty retailer FeelUnique set up an e-commerce service within the WeChat app. More than one-third of Chinese consumers spend over four hours a day using the app, according to the World Economic Forum and Bloomberg Businessweek, using it for everything from paying their bills to messaging friends. FeelUnique’s new online store is entirely operated through a WeChat Mini Program, a lightweight sub-app that allows users to seamlessly browse and buy all of their cosmetics without ever having to leave WeChat.

“Our Mini Program represents an additional channel to drive consumer acquisition in China,” says Feelunique CEO Joël Palix. “It will leverage our existing WeChat presence—which includes an official account with over 100,000 followers and a WeChat store—by enabling customers to complete a purchase within the WeChat ecosystem.”

Since WeChat’s parent company Tencent first launched Mini Programs at the beginning of 2017, more than half a million have been developed, and more than one-third of users spend between $80 and $150 a month on them, according to Jisu App, completing transactions using Tencent’s own mobile payment system WeChat Pay. While companies create Mini Programs for all kinds of services, of those dedicated to e-commerce, Jisu App analysis finds that about one-third feature fashion and footwear brands. FeelUnique is one of the first pure-play cross-border retailers in China to develop a Mini Program.

WeChat’s social commerce model is not entirely unique to China; over the past two years, Instagram has been gradually rolling out a similar social commerce concept through shoppable posts that take users from a photo to a purchasing page with just one click. However, only five products can be listed at once. Facebook is also experimenting with commerce, but when it comes to the big brands, the social media platform is more about driving users to retailers than about becoming a retailer itself.

What makes WeChat’s efforts especially significant is that the app is more driven by key opinion leaders or influencers than its Western counterparts, says Thomas Graziani, cofounder of WeChat marketing consultancy Walk the Chat. “Influencers have a much higher price tag and generate tremendous sales,” he tells JWT Intelligence. “We all have in mind the Becky Li campaign, which sold 100 Mini Coopers in five minutes.”

In another sales “miracle,” when China’s leading WeChat fashion blogger Mr. Bags launched his own BaoShop Mini Program to sell his capsule collections with luxury brands on June 26, he sold out of his 300 limited-edition Tod’s mini backpacks in just six minutes. Each bag was priced at the equivalent of around $1,600.

Tencent first jumped into the online shopping arena by buying a stake in e-commerce platform JD.com in 2014, which allowed brands with official WeChat accounts to embed their online shops and later to create entire stores within their profile. Luxury brands were at first reluctant to step on board—globally, the digital arena has been a tough area for high-end brands to navigate because it means negotiating on luxury’s crucial aspects of exclusivity and tradition. However, the fact that nearly 95% of millennials, an important luxury market, are on WeChat, eventually made social commerce a no-brainer.

Cartier was among the first luxury brands to fully take advantage of being able to build an HTML5 store within its official profile page on WeChat in 2016, following a slew of brands doing pop-up sales or linking to their official online store. Since then, brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton have followed suit, and Givenchy is the latest to launch a new WeChat boutique after first working closely with influencers and bloggers to sell exclusive products on the platform.

WeChat consistently develops new ways for brands and shoppers to engage with each other within its ecosystem. In March 2018, Tencent ramped up its efforts to catch up with e-commerce companies’ livestreaming pursuits, investing more than $1 billion in two Chinese livestreaming platforms. Soon after, L’Oréal harnessed a WeChat Mini Program to create a shoppable livestream event at the Cannes Film Festival. And in the household goods arena, Pinduoduo, a similar platform to Groupon, shot up to the number two e-commerce app in China in December 2017, gaining popularity by allowing users to gather WeChat friends to buy the same product, to get major discounts. And the social commerce craze shows no signs of slowing down.

“WeChat will keep rising as a main source for brands who want to trigger impulse buys,” Graziani says. “It is also a key component for new brands who want to tell their story via influencers. For more commoditized goods and brands, Tmall and JD will remain the main platforms. They are driven by search keywords, while WeChat sales are driven by social connections, impulse, and excitement.”

Source;JWT Intelligence

The work of trusted journalistic organizations is as critical as ever, especially when it comes to seeking information about current events online. 

In March, the Google News Initiative (GNI) kicked off with the goal of helping journalism thrive in the digital age. Today, we’re announcing steps we’re taking with the GNI to support the future of news in online video, and product features we’ve been working on to improve the news experience on YouTube.  

Supporting journalism with technology that allows news to thrive

We believe quality journalism requires sustainable revenue streams and that we have a responsibility to support innovation in products and funding for news. 

For example, in 2015 European publishers came to us to ask about how they could scale their video efforts, especially because maintaining video delivery infrastructure is costly. Working alongside them we launched Player for Publishers, a solution that enables news organizations to use YouTube’s video player to give viewers a world-class video experience across their own websites and mobile apps. Player for Publishers reduces costs and offers improved monetization for news organizations. 

Since then, we've expanded these efforts beyond Europe.

Today, over 100 publishers in more than 25 countries use Player for Publishers. 

As part of the launch of GNI in March, we announced funding to support the future of news. Today we are committing $25M to a YouTube-specific investment: 

 1/ Expertise.  We’re establishing a working group with news organizations and experts from around the world to help us develop new product features, improve the news experience on YouTube, and tackle emerging challenges. News organizations including Vox Media, Jovem Pan, and India Today are early members of the working group. We’re looking forward to having more join as we convene the group in the coming weeks.   

 2/ Innovation Funding. We will provide funding across approximately 20 global markets to support news organizations in building sustainable video operations. Provided on an application basis to news organizations of all types, these grants will enable our partners to build key capabilities, train staff on video best practices, enhance production facilities and develop formats optimized for online video. 

 3/ Support. We’re significantly expanding our team focused on supporting news publishers. These specialists will be based around the world and support partners with training and best practices in formats, audience development, day-to-day platform operations, and sophisticated technical integrations. 

News organizations interested in more information about these efforts can sign up here. 

Making authoritative sources readily accessible

Authoritativeness is essential to viewers, especially during fast-moving, breaking news events, so we’ve been investing in new product features to prominently surface authoritative sources: 

Providing more sources and context on breaking news 

After a breaking news event, it takes time to verify, produce and publish high-quality videos. Journalists often write articles first to break the news rather than produce videos. That’s why in the coming weeks in the U.S. we will start providing a short preview of news articles in search results on YouTube that link to the full article during the initial hours of a major news event, along with a reminder that breaking and developing news can rapidly change.  

Expanding Top News and Breaking News 

To make it easier to find quality news, our Top News shelf prominently highlights videos from news sources in search results (see the picture below on the left). And when a breaking news event happens, we want users to know about it. That’s why our Breaking News shelf highlights videos from news organizations about that event directly on the YouTube homepage (see the picture below on the right). Today, our Top News and Breaking News features are launched in 17 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria and more. We will double that number in the coming months. 

Showcasing more local news, starting with the U.S.  

Many people want, value, and trust local news. And when a major event happens, local reporters are often the first on site to capture events as they unfold. We’ve begun testing features that surface local news in the free YouTube app for TV screens across 25 media markets around the United States, making it easy to access local news in the living room--our fastest growing screen. So far, local news has seen strong engagement, and we will be expanding it to dozens more markets like Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Kansas City. 

Providing context to help people make their own decisions 

We also believe users should be able to choose and make their own judgments about the information they consume along with context to inform their judgments. That’s why we’re rolling out a few new features that we will continue to build upon:

Giving users more sources of information on topical searches and videos

Starting today, users will begin seeing information from third parties, including Wikipedia and Encyclopædia Britannica, alongside videos on a small number of well-established historical and scientific topics that have often been subject to misinformation, like the moon landing and the Oklahoma City Bombing. 

Investing in digital literacy education 

Along with the Google News Initiative and Google.org, we have teamed up with the Poynter Institute, Stanford University, Local Media Association, and the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) to support MediaWise, a U.S.-based initiative designed to equip 1 million teens with digital literacy skills. Six incredible YouTube Creators, including John Green, Ingrid Nilsen, and Mark Watson, will be working with MediaWise to bring awareness to digital literacy and help educate teens.

We remain committed to working with the journalism community to build a more sustainable video ecosystem for news organizations. We know there is a lot of work to do, but we’re eager to provide a better experience to users who come to YouTube every day to learn more about what is happening in the world from a diversity of sources. 

Written  By Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer and Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer at Google

Omni Drives People-Based Precision Marketing at Scale Across Creative, Media and CRM

Leading global marketing and corporate communications company Omnicom Group, Inc. announced the roll-out of Omni, its people-based precision marketing and insights platform, designed to identify and define personalized consumer experiences at scale across creative, media, CRM as well as other Omnicom practice areas.  

Omni delivers a first-of-its kind, single view of the consumer that can be dynamically tracked and shared across all marketing practices.  Omni transforms the way Omnicom teams work, collaborate and deliver value, from insights generation to audience building, channel planning, creative development and message distribution.  All of the activities are continuously measured and optimized with attribution tied to client performance at every step of the consumer journey.  

At the core of Omni is the industry’s most robust people-based identity graph - a database of connected consumers built from multiple identity authorities including Neustar, LiveRamp, Experian and several others.  The identity graph links second-by-second consumer behaviors to reveal how people connect, engage and transact with brands; joining data sets using a methodology that respects regional regulatory and privacy practices.

Consumer behaviors are mapped to an equally comprehensive media inventory graph that delivers a precise view of the quality, value and availability of inventory in the marketplace.  This connected plan is activated through a work flow and content engine that enables Omnicom agency teams to efficiently deliver personalized messaging at scale.    

“When we launched Annalect seven years ago, we dedicated ourselves to transforming the effects of data and analytics on media. With Omni, we’re extending everything we’ve learned to transform the entire marketing process,” said Omnicom Media Group CEO Daryl Simm.  “Omni connects our talent around a single view of the consumer and inspires them to create the best integrated ideas that drive success for our clients.”

Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson added, “Until now, the idea of mass personalization was more of an aspiration than a reality.  Omni changes that.  This is precision marketing at scale and in action.  And the new platform can be leveraged by all Omnicom clients across multiple disciplines.”

Tony Harradine, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific, added, “'In keeping with our vision at OMG, Omni’s launch represents another significant step towards our ambition to create best-in-class data infrastructure and capability for our agency brands. We are hugely excited by this global innovation and are already realising its incredible impact for our agency brands and clients.”

Developed and hosted by Annalect, in partnership with OPMG (Omnicom Precision Marketing Group), Omni continues the group’s strategy of neutrality with no ownership interest in data or tech partners. This ensures the agility and flexibility to continuously source the right vendors and application partners in an ever-changing data and technology ecosystem.  Additionally, Omni is designed to integrate with marketing cloud providers, allowing clients to get the most from their first-party data and mar-tech investments.

The broad roll-out of Omni comes after several months of implementing the platform on select creative, media and CRM business engagements.  Deployment of Omni will continue across Omnicom’s leading agencies in the coming months.

dubizzle, the UAE’s leading classifieds platform, has announced the appointment of two new senior members of staff to its regional advertising team. Jonathon Padron will join as Head of Ad Operations - AMEA and Chadi Antonios as Head of Sales/Advertising - GCC.

Currently receiving over 17M visits per month, dubizzle has been the dominant platform for users to buy, sell and find things within their community since its launch in 2005. Throughout this period, the firm has experienced consistent growth, and its investment in new talent reflects the continued drive towards strengthening its position as a leader in the online classifieds space.

Both new joiners come with a wealth of knowledge in the advertising space and will lend great value in expanding the capabilities of the team.

Anthony Blackford, Director of Advertising AMEA, commented: “I’m super excited to add both Chadi and Jonathon to the team given the years of experience they both bring to the table. Jonathon is coming from the US, undoubtedly the global leader in Ad tech and is clearly an expert in his field. Chadi comes with a proven track record of building several successful media sales teams in the region, including Yahoo and 7wai. I have no doubt we’ve made 2 excellent hires and am excited about the future.” 

Jonathon Padron, dubizzle new Head of Ad Operations AMEA said: “I am humbled by the opportunity to join such a high caliber organization in the trailblazing world-city of Dubai. It is exciting to be part of an innovative global team seamlessly connecting buyers and sellers. I look forward to continuing to delight our users and enabling marketers to reach their customers at the right time, in the right context.”

Jonathon joins dubizzle from the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., where he led site and ad technology product development, oversaw vendor and partner management and handled Content Management Systems. Prior to this role, he worked as a Senior Analyst at one of the leading media measurement and analytics companies, comScore, where he developed analytical reports on areas ranging from market sizing and competitive intelligence.

Commenting on his new position as Head of Sales/Advertising - GCC, Chadi Antonios added: “The way I look at it, you always want to work for a brand that you consistently use or experience, and dubizzle is one of those brands. I am honored and delighted to lead and empower the commercial team at dubizzle, the number one classified destination in the region.  And looking forward to working with our agencies and partners to bring innovative solutions and personalized experiences to users and advertisers across the MENA region.”

Chadi brings over 15 years of experience leading digital strategy in markets in the Middle East as well as North America, most recently as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Pixelbug, a Mixed Reality technology company based in Dubai/Canada. Previously, Chadi led Digital Strategy and Partnerships at 7awi, a leading online media publisher in MENA, where he built their commercial department from the ground-up, driving a digital transformation strategy with a focus on adopting new technologies including Augmented Reality.

dubizzle is the 10th most visited website in the UAE (SimilarWeb, May 2018).

When  it  comes  to  the  psychology  of  success,  the  first  thing  you  need  to  ask  yourself  is  why  you  want  to  be successful.  By  success,  I refer to  achieving something  in  your  life  that  you  currently aspire towards.  What is emotionally  driving  you  towards  it?  You  might  say  you  want  a  "pay  rise",  or  "more free time"  however  these  are objectives, as opposed to the fundamental reason why. The "why" is what you need to consider, it is your emotional driver  behind your objectives. For example, the true  reason  for  wanting  that  pay  rise  may be  because  you  have a young family and wish to build a beautiful home for them to create unforgettable childhood memories in, or being able to spend more precious time with your family whom you may rarely see due to work.  It’s  these  emotion-based reasons that  direct  and  push  us  forwards and always deserve reflection to meet our aspirations. 

High  Level  Goal  Setting

Another facet of the psychology of success is high-level  goal setting. It is easy for us to  set goals and not actually stick to them. We are all guilty of writing down a long list of new year's resolutions, only to find that within a few weeks our good intentions are long forgotten. I believe this transpires when we overwhelm ourselves with the pressure of multiple goals that only serve to drag  us down. This  is why  I  recommend  "high  level"  goal setting.  That is, identifying what  are  the  most important  things you really  want  to  achieve within 6 - 12 months, and write them down. In order to achieve the high level goals you have written down, your next order of business is to come up with the actionable steps  that bring you closer towards  them. 

Self-Belief

You  must  believe in you.  You must believe you are capable of achieving your goals, worthy of success, and have trust in your positive traits and abilities to get to where you want to be.  It is about having  an  inner  confidence that you deserve the things that you want in life. You  might  desire  that  dream  home, exciting holidays, more time with your family,  but  what  prevents  you  from  attaining  these things can be self-doubt and self-sabotage.  It is that quiet yet convincing inner  voice telling  you don’t  deserve  it,  a  fear  of  success  because "I  am  not  good enough".  The  reason  the majority of  people  don’t  become  successful  is  that  they  fear  one  of  two things: 

●They  won’t  become  successful  and  will  let  themselves  down 

●They  won’t  know  what  to  do  with  themselves  if  they  do  become  successful 

Your  environment

The  way  you  overcome  these  fears  is  by  surrounding  yourself  with  people  you  aspire  to  be  like.  In  some  way  I  feel this  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  psychology  of  success.  Observing  the  individuals  a  person  spends  most  of  their  time with  is  usually an accurate indicator of where  that  person  is   in life. You  are  the product of your environment.  Yet your environment is also a product of you. Meaning proactive people, who tend also to be successful people, will recognise if their environment is not suitably geared toward their goals, and they will change it.   

If you have big dreams, there is no other way to achieve them than via setting high-level  goals. It is imperative you  find  the  self-belief  to put one foot in front of the other, take control of your environment, surround  yourself  with  individuals who inspire you and drive you forward, and remain completely focused on the life you want. 

Words by Ebraheem Al Samadi, CEO & Founder of Forever Rose 

According to the Nielsen Global Trust In Advertising Survey, 92 percent of people trust recommendations from friends.

That means if you aren't receiving word-of-mouth recommendations for your business, you're missing out on the single most effective and trusted means of attracting new clients.

And despite the prolific influence of social media on modern society, an extensive fact base has been established by marketing researchers that reveals that the vast majority of sharing of information about brands is actually offline, rather than online. While going about our day to day, we engage in many conversations that often lead us to the exchange of ideas regarding brands, products and services -  sometimes those recommendations are obvious in our conversations, yet other times extremely subtle. According to research, “more than two-thirds of those conversations we participate in involve a recommendation to buy, consider or avoid a brand.” Therefore as you can see, word-of-mouth communication is a critical part of the consumer decision making process. 

Why is word of mouth so powerful in comparison to traditional advertising? I see the two key factors being trust, and consumer targeting.  

Trust. Not surprisingly, we trust our friends more than we trust billboards. We know brands pay to place their ads in print, online and broadcast platforms. We are acutely aware that advertorial recommendations are coming from the brand itself. Ads will always provide a glowing product or service review - brands don't provide a fair and balanced review of themselves, the good with the bad. And because ads are just that - ads - we tend to take them with a grain of salt.  Our friends, however, will tell it to us straight. They have no ulterior motive to tell us whether they believe a brand is useless, or fantastic, and as a result we’re more likely to take on their recommendation as a genuine, unbiased and accurate. The bottom line is consumers trust fellow consumers, while we highly likely to treat brand-led advertising with caution and scepticism. 

Better Targeting. Word of mouth is also a much more targeted form of marketing. For instance if you are selling baby shampoo, in targeting your message at potential customers you might choose to advertise on TV during morning programs when you predict your target consumer is most likely to be watching - you would be operating under the assumption that many women with young babies may be "stay at home" mothers, who watch day time television. Yet while a segment of the audience you actually reach may in fact be in the market for baby shampoo, many may not. Ultimately you cannot accurately predict your viewership, it's more of an educated guess. Word of mouth however, is much more focused. A friend is less likely to pitch to you the technical advantages of their new Macbook Pro unless they know the conversation is somewhat relevant to your interests and lifestyle. Friends and colleagues share common bonds, meaning that if your product appeals to a particular individual, it is likely to also appeal to his or her close network of peers. 

So how can you as a brand harness word of mouth and leverage it to your advantage? 

1. Start by investing in building relationships with the people that matter most, giving them words to share, and making it easier for them to spread those words for you. 

2. Be  sure to specifically request referrals from happy customers and client, they will be your best and brightest advocates.  

3. Additionally, foster positive word of mouth within your own business network, through suppliers, strategic partners and business associates, to ensure those who understand your brand and share buy-in can also spread positive and accurate messaging within fertile networks where new business opportunities exist.

Written by Medy Navani, Founder & Creative Director of Design Haus Medy