Crowdsourcing Platform Estimize Beats Wall Street

Every quarter Wall Street analysts predict the earnings of companies, and it is no secret that 70% of the time companies beat those earnings projections due to a bias by the narrow perspective and motives of Wall Street.  There is an incentive to under project earnings in order to drive sales and also please the company that each individual analyst covers which is the main reason that the stocks beat sell-side earnings projections more often than not.  A better way to estimate stocks and some market indicators has been developed by Estimize using the technique of crowdsourcing.  Crowdsourcing in general is using groups of people to complete a task that are outside of the organization; crowd + outsourcing.

     

Estimize is a growing online community which includes a diverse group of people from many different industries who give their earnings estimates each quarter for publicly traded companies. The main principal of Estimize is using a much larger and diverse sample size along with sophisticated algorithms and analytics in order to achieve a more accurate estimate of a company’s earnings projections than ever before.  The Estimize consensus estimate has been more accurate than the traditional method 69% of the time and is regularly referenced in notable financial media sources such as Forbes, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Street, Investor’s Business Daily and Business Week.  and has been more accurate than the traditional method 69% of the time.

The Estimize philosophy is that they really do not care where their community members come from or if they have any qualifications because the accuracy of their predictions is analyzed and ultimately there is more weight to users with more accuracy.  An interesting development involves the ranking of individual Estimize participants according to their accuracy statistics which is creating some interest in them personally. This creates a reward for making accurate predictions in an increase in followers from the exposure which is also driving more total users to participate in Estimize. As the number of users increase on this crowdsourcing site the value of the data will also increase along with the potential for high ranking individuals to attract followers.  Watch out for the crowd Wall Street!

Estimize.com

       

Tinderella

Swipe left, swipe right, bam you have a match! Tinder is the new match.com for young adults, not everyone has one, and some that do have one are not proud to say they do. Tinder has become the new way of meeting people close to you - without actually meeting them! 

Yes, a little vain that you are deciding whether or not you like a person based on looks, so definitely not for everyone! The way the app works is you create a setting: male/female/both, distance preference, and age preference.  Once these settings are made the app will show you individuals who match your preferences, you then swipe right if you like what you see or swipe left if you don't. Tinder has also added new additions that you can go back on an accidental left swipe and set for different locations, but you have to pay a monthly fee for these additions. 

I have heard stories of people sitting at a bar and someone coming up to them saying "aren't you that guy from tinder?!" Great conversation starter! Meet neighbors that you didn't even know you had! Tinder is slowly but surely taking over the millennials when it comes to meeting new people. 

Take a look at what your Tinder experience can look like:

Tinder Stroll 

Lollapalooza

Every Chicagoan and music lover would know how big Lolla is here in Chicago. It's promoted everywhere; on CTA's, on top of taxis, train stations, and on radio stations. The radio always tries to have more listeners especially when they're giving away free 3 day passes to Lolla. It's really impressive how much work they do for promoting this huge event here in Chicago, compared to other festivals that happen here. Not only do they promote it throughout the city but within the internet, by doing entering certain contest to win tickets as well.

Personally for me what would make me go to these events is what artist is going to perform, the advertising does help me a little by trying to convince me it's going to be worth it and it's going to be a great experience, but it really all depends if you have the money to spend. It's not a cheap festival.

Making Big Purchases Online

                Since the inception of the internet, businesses and retailers have found a way to create an online marketplace. The internet is the perfect platform to buy and sell. The ability to house wide variety in both products and providers creates the ideal environment for the savvy shopper. To date, the internet has been used mainly to buy and sell small ticket items; clothing, services, furniture, etc. which has created a large pool of people who do not have the old barriers stopping them from possibly making large purchases online. The market is prime for selling cars and homes over the web, not just advertising but fully selling, and the technology is here to support big ticket shoppers in making the buying decision sight unseen.

                The largest difference between buying large and small ticket items is the ability to “showroom” the product. You cannot go down to your local house store and see what the home or apartment you are looking at in another city may be like. In the same way, it is difficult to walk onto a car dealership lot and try to experience the vehicle you are researching without any hassle. Luckily there are companies that have given this some thought. Matterport is a fast growing company that offers 3D and virtual reality showcasing of homes and apartments to other companies for utilizing when selling or renting a space. Capturing the images for the 3D tour is quick and easy, only requiring a cell phone, and allows the consumer to get a very real sense of the home. Creating a virtual reality tour is not quite as easy, requiring specific cameras and equipment to capture and view the tour, but this technology goes a long way to removing the barriers to making a big ticket purchase.

                Traditional real estate and rental advertising online contains a smattering of photos, perhaps a floor plan, and maybe a video of someone actually walking through the home. Matterport’s 3D and virtual reality technology provides all three, but keeps the experience in the hands of the consumer. The consumer has the ability to “walk through” the house at their own pace. They can stop and focus on the flaws or features they want to see, get a real sense of the floor plan, an actual floor plan with measurements, and get all of this from their own home computer or phone. This massive leap in transparency will help online consumers drastically in making their decision to purchase. 

Sample Listing

Venmo

How challenging has it been in the past to share a meal with a group of friends or coworkers? Nothing affects a divine restaurant experience like the dreadful talk of equally dividing up payment. With physical cash a distant memory for most and only a gifting method preferred by the tooth fairy the digital banking app Venmo is streamlining the way that we handle the distribution of financial obligation & payments. Venmo is part social media and part secure banking network. Allowing any user with a debit card to seamlessly transfer money to virtually anyone worldwide via app.  Venmo syncs with other social media apps like Facebook providing you access to newsfeed of friends who are also utilizing Venmo.  Venmo has made spending money fun, the platform allows users to unapologetically publicize each money transfer with a text statement that will publicly post on your timeline. With the largest percentage of users being ages 18-30 it’s opened up a whole new world for social sharing.

Although this is technology that could be comparable to mobile transferring between major banks like Chase and Bank Of America the non-threatening attitude of the app promises users the easiest transfer. With checks already a thing of the past, people are continuing to praise the app for the abilities to transfer large funds for payments of household bills and rent without a delay or interest rate. It’s a convince factor which allows people to be more financially responsible and respectful.

Wherever consumers go, merchants are likely to follow. Venmo provides instant publicity to friends of customers utilizing Venmo at restaurants and stores worldwide.  The company is expected to expand their marketing strategies to provide visuals along with the text in the news feed to help enter new markets and attract the attention of international chains. Five months after launching in 2012, Venmo was acquired for $26.2 million by Braintree. The company handles payments for Uber, Airbnb and LivingSocial. Collectively, Braintree companies are responsible for over $8 billion in payments a year. The app continues to grow at a 15% rate every month.  Bill Ready, CEO of Braintree explains how the company profits “We make money when merchants use us to accept payment but we don’t charge consumers for that.”  

Although the company won’t release its actual percentage of users to the public the platform continues to make a growing presence in the app world. Venmo is also anticipating the idea of revolutionizing civic responsibility between its young users. Marketing specialists of the company anticipate a donation feature to help easily support charities that utilize the Venmo platform. Why do people love Venmo? It’s fast, free of high percentage rates and fees and lets you connect financially with your existing social media networks.

Beacon Of Hope: Pushing Mobile Technology

Mobile Marketing

Beacon Of Hope: Pushing Mobile Technology

Though beacon technology is still in its early stages, columnist Anthony Bursi believes that this form of customized, personalized marketing has the potential to revolutionize retail.

Anthony Bursi on March 19, 2015 at 11:35 am

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Beacon technology has been in the news for its potential to revolutionize the retail industry and bridge the gap between mobile technology and brick-and-mortar sales. With iBeacons and push notifications being all the rage, I wanted to test this experience firsthand, especially after Safeway announced it was deploying beacons in select Seattle stores.

What followed, as I describe below, was slight disappointment but overall optimism for this fledgling technology.

The Skinny On Beacons

First, a little background on beacons and how they work. Beacons are low-powered radio transmitters that use Bluetooth technology to monitor the proximity of mobile devices. When a smartphone is near the beacon and has the retailer’s app enabled, the beacon can trigger push notifications that promote special offers and useful content directly to the device.

This kind of hyper-local connectivity makes retailers salivate. And why not? The market is primed for this type of engagement. According to a Swirl study, 80% of customers are more likely to engage with retailer apps while shopping if they receive notifications on deals and discounts. Furthermore, 62% of respondents will engage if the content is customized to their likes and preferences.

Locating statistics on the prevalence of beacons in stores has been difficult, but it appears that many retailers are open to experimenting with this technology.

Sephora

In March 2015, Sephora launched a beacon trial in their San Francisco store, during which they discovered that 82% of customers opted in to receive messages.

I downloaded the Sephora app, enabled in-store notifications, and visited a Downtown Seattle location to see if there was a chance they shipped a few beacons to the Pacific Northwest.

Sephora In-Store Notification & App

Alas, I failed to receive any onsite notifications. By the third time I was asked if I needed any help, I copped to my ulterior motive.

The nice but seemingly confused representative directed me to their Skin IQ station, an interactive touchscreen that identifies what skin products are right for you.

Sephora Skin IQ Station

Although it wasn’t what I was looking for, it got me thinking about how this digital station is the precursor to advanced mobile engagement. Instead of using the station to watch videos, scan barcodes for more information, and read product reviews on the big screen, customers can freely move about the store while simultaneously interacting with beacons on their phones.

According to Swirl, 65% of 1,000 surveyed smartphone owners would rather learn of a promotion from their phone over a sales associate. Furthermore, 79% of users who read or opened shopping-related push notifications made a purchase.

By investing in beacon technology, Sephora is letting customers personalize their shopping experiences with primary information coming from a trusted source: their phones. What’s more, the customer service representatives serve as bountiful sources of supplemental knowledge that reinforce buying decisions.

Target

Next, I turned my beacon testing to Target. Again, I downloaded the app and enabled push notifications with little luck upon touring the store. What I did find was another opportunity for Target to integrate its existing mobile experience with the retail one.

Prior to the 2014 holiday season, Target partnered with Point Inside to develop detailed in-store maps on their app to help shoppers navigate the aisles. After browsing on the app, I added a USB flash drive to my cart and was given the option to find said item in a nearby Target. It’s at this moment where beacon technology could take this already good mobile experience to the next level.

Target In-Store Map

Let’s explore a hypothetical scenario. Upon entering the store, I would like to have received a push notification that the item in my cart was still available and could be found on the third floor. Once the flash drive was located, a beacon could relay information about what devices it was compatible with or send me a promotion for a similar product or category.

Apple

The release of Apple Watch creates a new opportunity for marketers and retailers to grab users’ attention. The focus shifts from broadcast notifications to more customized, if not personalized content. The user has the power to select what apps get his attention, leaving it up to the brand to customize the proper experience.

Many companies have already begun this process. CNN recently updated its app so that readers can select 12 news categories they’d like to be notified about on their smartwatches. Furthermore, they’ve scaled down their headlines and teaser copy so that the smartwatch “acts as a gateway” to their app where more in-depth content exists, like live streams and video.

Amazon, too, has thrown its hat into the ring. The Apple Watch Amazon app is set to allow 1-click ordering, voice search, and saving products to one’s Wishlist.

The next step is to synchronize beacon technology and Apple Watch. Before the smart watch was even on sale, Marsh Supermarkets had already announced its plan for merging the two technologies — sending recipe ideas and saved shopping lists directly to shoppers’ wrists.

The possibilities for more personalized content could extend beyond classic retailers and into the services industry. For example, healthcare providers could use the stats gathered (heart rate, physical activity, etc.) to supplement patients’ memories when recounting medical history during check-ups.

Conclusion

Beacon technology is still in its early stages. Some argue that the technology is built in closed networks that do more harm than good for retailers and marketers — and that downloading separate store apps or third-party apps creates more obstacles to customers in the long run.

Regardless, it’s hard to deny that there’s value in customizing experiences. A happy customer is one who feels their shopping experience is unique to them, and keeping a customer is a lot easier than recruiting new ones.

Blog 1: Moon Palace Resort

Have you ever been to Cancun Mexico? Swam in the Gulf of Mexico? Experience all inclusive food & drinks? If you haven't you are missing out on a great experience, on a beautiful resort called, Moon Palace. A seemingly boundless stretch of beautiful beach overlooking the Caribbean Sea is the backdrop for your elegant and fun-filled all-inclusive vacation. At Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort we offer you everything you need to enjoy an all-inclusive vacation.

To look for more info you can go on your website www.moonpalaceresort.com and look at all our deals and plan your vacation, wedding, and excursions on the website. Also reach us in our Twitter feed, Instagram, and Facebook. 

#MoonPalaceCancun

Blue Apron and Youtube

Without cable I have become an avid viewer of Youtube, following various accounts including family vloggers (video-bloggers), beauty gurus, lifestyle, and health and fitness. One major thing that I have noticed is companies who are reaching out to these Youtube personalities to slip their company name into their videos, use their products, or they even end up sponsoring different videos. The companies often offer a discount code through these Youtube personalities and often times I find myself immediately looking up the company and its products just out of pure curiosity. One company that really grabbed my attention just based on their marketing strategy is Blue Apron. 

Blue Apron is a subscription delivery service much like the current trend of subscription boxes. This subscription box comes with everything you need to make the meal with the recipe provided. Online you can customize how many people you would be feeding as well as the types of meals that you like to eat. They are utilizing Youtube social media with family daily vloggers. ItsJudysLife has been a big promoter of this and with over 1 million people subscribing to her channel, they are reaching a huge market. Judy shows how simple and easy it is to make gourmet meals when you really don't have the time. Judy isn't normally the chef in the household and with three daughters under the age of three, its easy to understand that things get crazy. She talks about how excited she gets when her shipment arrives and shows the viewers her cooking the meals as well as serving them to her family. Judy then mentions how you go about ordering the meals online and offers you a discount of two free meals when you order. The viewer usually hears about Blue Apron in almost every vlog. 

This makes me very likely to purchase the product because I can actually see it in use and by someone that even though I have not met them, feel like real people and this is their true opinion about the company and its products.