Amazon’s ‘Frupidity’ Is Becoming a Problem

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Amazon’s ‘Frupidity’ Is Becoming a Problem

“Frupidity,” the combination of “frugality” and “stupidity,” is becoming a problem for Amazon as the company manages various challenges.

Amazon has 16 leadership principles, according to Business Insider, with frugality being one of them. As the company faces an economic downturn, not to mention its first CEO change in its history, some are making the case that Amazon’s frugality is reaching a stupid level — otherwise known as frupidity.

Former executive Ethan Evans penned a blog post giving examples of the kind of frupidity Amazon seems to be experiencing.

At Amazon, I saw this in person in another way. A very good boss of mine, someone I respect immensely overall, was asked if our team, which had been together over two years and had shipped several products, could get team coffee mugs. At the time, part of the definition of Frugality at Amazon said that we didn’t spend money on T-shirts, which do not help customers. Rather than buck this trend, he bought the coffee mugs with his own money. Whether or not he was Frupid, he was coerced by the culture into an unnatural act. A tight knit, successful team wanted coffee mugs for crying out loud. This is a small, almost trivial cost. It would have been repaid literally 1,000 times if it helped retain or motivate one employee. Once can make the argument, of course, that the lack of corporate swag was a valuable symbol of true frugality. Perhaps you find this argument compelling; I do not.

Unfortunately, such instances appear to be happening in other areas as well. Insider cites an example of an employee who had to drive from Los Angeles to the company’s San Francisco office for a company outing. Rather than being able to take a flight, the employee had to drive — a trip that can take nearly seven hours one way.

Amazon recently missed expectations for its first quarterly results and has struggled to adapt as online spending has started returning to pre-pandemic normals. Like many others, the company has slowed hiring, is looking to offload unneeded warehouse space, and is counting on attrition to trim its headcount by as much as 100,000.

It certainly is not a surprise that frugality is one of Amazon’s leadership principles, especially in the current economic environment. The company does need to be careful, however, that frupidity doesn’t end up costing the company more than common-sense frugality.

Amazon’s ‘Frupidity’ Is Becoming a Problem
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Google’s North American Smartphone Share Grew 230% in Q2 2022

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Google’s North American Smartphone Share Grew 230% in Q2 2022

Google was the big winner among smartphone makers in Q2 2022, with its market share growing a whopping 230%.

Q2 2022 was not a good quarter for North American smartphone shipments, with the overall industry experiencing a 6% decline. Despite that, there were a few bright spots, according to Canalys.

Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the market, being the most popular smartphone models among NA buyers. Despite the overall downturn, Apple’s share grew by 3%, Samsung’s share grew by 4%, and Motorola’s grew by a mere 1%. TCL’s share dropped by 1%, while “Others” dropped by 61%.

The real winner, however, was Google. Despite its Pixel series not breaking the top ten most popular, the company saw a 230% increase in its market share, bringing it to 2% overall.

Google has struggled to make significant headway in the market, despite its Pixel line of phones generally receiving favorable reviews. It appears the company has finally hit a winning combination with its Pixel 6 redesign.

Google’s North American Smartphone Share Grew 230% in Q2 2022
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UK’s Atom Bank Embraces Four-Day Workweek, Extols Its Virtues

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UK’s Atom Bank Embraces Four-Day Workweek, Extols Its Virtues

As companies strive to regain a sense of post-pandemic normalcy, the UK’s Atom Bank is going all-in on the four-day workweek.

Companies large and small are trying to navigate the best path forward as they work to integrate in-person, hybrid, and remote work options. In some cases, employees are pushing back against corporate plans to return to the office. Atom Bank believes it has found a solution, moving to a four-day workweek and reaping the benefits.

According to Bloomberg, Atom moved to a four-day week six months ago. Since the change, the bank reports its job applications are up 49%, and retention rates are up as well, no doubt a result of what is perceived as a more desirable work schedule.

In addition to acquiring and keeping staff at an improved rate, the bank reported higher customer service ratings and fewer sick days being used.

“We firmly believe the four-day week is the future of working life,” said Anne-Marie Lister, chief people officer at Atom Bank. “We hope Atom’s experiences will encourage more businesses to make the shift permanently.”

Atom could prove to be an example for companies looking for a fresh take on a new workplace normal.

UK’s Atom Bank Embraces Four-Day Workweek, Extols Its Virtues
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SEO for Lawyers – What to Know

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SEO for Lawyers – What to Know

In the legal field, there are many ways to stand out from your competitors. You can have a bigger office, more staff members, or even better marketing strategies than other lawyers in your area of practice. One crucial way to attract new clients is search engine optimization (SEO). 

In this post, we will go over what search engine optimization for lawyers is and how you can use its tactics to help grow your client base and become more visible on the internet.

What is SEO?

Digital marketing techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO) involve using search engines, notably Google, to drive organic (non-payment) traffic to a website and other online profiles. Using SEO, law firms can bring targeted traffic to their websites, directories, or blogs over the long term.

Due to the type of services they provide, lawyers frequently use SEO as their primary marketing strategy. Instead of searching on social media (though it’s important to also have a good social media plan), prospective clients most frequently use Google to search for lawyers in their region.

As a result, SEO is recommended for legal firm advertising.

It is already clear that the majority of people search online for legal assistance. Despite the value of social media and verbal, online search frequently dominates the research process.

Search engine optimization is the only marketing strategy your law firm can use to yield cumulative long-term returns.

For instance, content creation offers the following three opportunities:

1. Possibility of increasing traffic and keyword rankings
2. Excellent content to produce organic link-building opportunities enhances your capacity to rank higher in Search results even further.
3. The capacity to persuade website visitors to put their trust in you and get in touch with you.

SEO’s Benefits for Law Firms

For law firms, SEO is essential for the following reasons.

1. Find clients in your area looking for the service your law firm offers. 
2. Get a weekly, monthly, or yearly flow of organic traffic to your website. 
3. Amplify the brand awareness of your law firm. 
4. Obtain backlinks that will increase authority. 
5. A better and more engaging website experience

Why Do I Need an SEO- and Conversion-optimized Website for My Law Firm?

Since search engines like Google are the primary source for people to find businesses to hire, attorneys must have a search-engine-optimized website.

All of your efforts to develop and market your company and position yourself in front of your ideal target market should be founded on SEO.

Your website’s design is crucial as well. Having a high-ranking site with a poor design will reduce lead generation. It should be developed to increase understanding, promote trust, and motivate action.

How SEO Compares to Other Legal Marketing Channels 

Legal SEO versus Google Ads and PPC

If your marketing visibility is primarily from pay-per-click and sponsored ads, it vanishes once you stop paying for it. SEO for law firms is an investment. 

Your content and backlinks have a long-lasting, evergreen effect; in other words, their rankings continue to pay off for years. Conversely, good SEO tells Google that your law firm is the authority of your specific practice areas.

Social media marketing versus SEO

On desktop, search traffic converts ten times better than social networking traffic.

Search engines, especially Google, are increasingly used on the internet to filter out the noise because they have gotten better at deciphering the meaning of the words we type into them.

Given the prevalence of search, it only makes sense for lawyers who market themselves online to make sure their sites are designed and set up to be simple to use.

Conclusion 

SEO is a powerful tool to help lawyers stand out in search engine results. To get more clients, you should focus on generating quality content for your website and using SEO strategies to drive traffic back there. This will help you connect with people who may one day need legal representation.

SEO for Lawyers – What to Know
Brian Wallace

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Steve Jobs Was Right, and Tech Firms Are Screwing Up With Mass Layoffs

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Steve Jobs Was Right, and Tech Firms Are Screwing Up With Mass Layoffs

Tech firms are setting themselves up for problems by not following the Steve Jobs playbook for responding to an economic downturn.

Companies across the tech industry have started freezing hiring or laying off employees, including Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, Shopify, Tesla, and others. According to Business Insider’s Sawdah Bhaimiya, that strategy is a mistake that will come back to haunt those companies.

Bhaimiya makes the case that each layoff tarnishes a company’s reputation and brand and will hurt its ability to attract top talent down the road.

“Every time I see a notice in the news that such and such technology company has cut X percentage of their workforce, I don’t forget that,” Danny Allen, chief technology officer at software firm Veeam, told Bhaimiya. “So you’re sending a message that also has a brand impact that you don’t necessarily want to be associated with.

“Employees remember and people looking for jobs remember how organizations acted during the economic downturn.”

Allen went on to expound on the two specific ways layoffs hurt a company:

“One is simply the loss of innovation, cutting resources,” said Allen. “You’re cutting your investment in future technology, that’s number one. Number two, when you cut 10% of your workforce, you’re sending the message to your employees that we care more about money than we do about you.

“And employees have a long memory, so if you’re cutting people that uncertainty is very disconcerting.”

How Steve Jobs and Apple Thought Different

Interestingly, Steve Jobs had a very different approach to dealing with an economic downturn, arguably one far worse than the current downturn.

“We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst,” Jobs said. “What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place — the last thing we were going to do is lay them off. And we were going to keep funding. In fact we were going to up our R&D budget so that we would be ahead of our competitors when the downturn was over. And that’s exactly what we did. And it worked. And that’s exactly what we’ll do this time.”

Jobs’ approach is the very opposite of what current companies are doing and directly addresses the two issues Allen raises:

• Rather than risking innovation by losing some of its best people, Apple doubled down, intent on innovating through the downturn rather than simply trying to weather it and pick up innovation afterward.
• Jobs reiterated the value he and the company placed on the people who worked there. As Jobs said, Apple had put forth a tremendous amount of effort getting the people it had. Why lose them over a temporary downturn?

It’s safe to say Jobs’ approach is a significant factor in Apple being where it is today. The company’s innovation continued unabated, and its employees felt respected and valued, confident the company had their backs.

Today’s tech companies should take note…or pay the price later.

Steve Jobs Was Right, and Tech Firms Are Screwing Up With Mass Layoffs
Matt Milano

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How To Increase Sales and Traffic With eCommerce Mobile App Development

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How To Increase Sales and Traffic With eCommerce Mobile App Development

There is no doubt that the popularity of online shopping keeps increasing year by year. Customers prefer to use their PCs or smartphones for making purchases of everything from drinks to apartments. That’s so simple, efficient, and profitable that no buyer can stay aside from such an attractive offer.

As a result, the popularity of eCommerce apps has also grown. According to the latest statistics, more than 90% of the time mobile users spend on mobile software. And almost 80% of people have an experience with online shopping. So developing an app does really make sense. This is your opportunity to increase traffic, sales, and revenue in the end. 

If you haven’t launched a mobile app for your project yet then hurry up to do it. While you doubt your rivals attract customers, sell their goods, and get insane profits. And if you have already developed mobile software for your company then take care of its promotion. Make people want to install and use your app. Try these tips to make your eCommerce mobile apps truly popular and efficient.  

Follow the Requirements of ASO

The basic principles of App Store Optimization are called to promote your application in the App Store and Google Play. By using proper keywords, adding informative descriptions, placing relevant screenshots, and so on you will allow users to find your software among thousands of other apps.  By increasing your recognition, you’ll notice a higher amount of downloads.

In general, ASO is powerful enough to guarantee the following benefits:

– increase retention rate. It demonstrates that the number of active users installing your app is much higher than the number of those customers who have uninstalled it;

– scale the loyalty of users. Paid ads also boost your mobile app traffic but organic search forms a loyal community of people truly interested in using your software for a long time;

– further app improvement. By getting feedback from your users you will be able to detect bugs and get rid of them efficiently. 

Take Advantage of Email Marketing

Newsletters and promotional emails aren’t dead in marketing meaning, as you may think. No matter new and original advertising tools, email marketing is still known as one of the most efficient and low-cost tools to reach desired goals. By sending regular emails and newsletters you are able to share with subscribers new information about your sales, promote special offers, gift them with personal discounts, and so on.

Many companies use email marketing to announce the launch of their apps. You can propose users download the app and get special benefits, for instance, a coupon or early access to a new collection of your products. 

Use a Landing Page

A customized landing page is a great mobile eCommerce platform to promote your shopping offers. It helps in brand recognition so potential buyers can find out more about your company. In addition, powerful CTA elements will intrigue users and motivate them to try your software for a better shopping experience. 

All you need is to create a one-page website with a detailed description of your app’s features and advantages. Don’t forget to add downloading links so the visitors of your landing page can easily reach your software. 

Promote Your Apps on Social Media

Depending on the type of your business, you may be interested in investing more funds in SMM marketing. It means you need to grow the number of subscribers and share with them viral content. Such an approach is powerful because an average user spends approximately 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media every day. 

If you have a successful account on social media platforms you should definitely promote your app. There are many ideas on how to encourage your subscribers to do it. For instance, you can explain the beneficial eCommerce app features and customers’ benefits. Launch a relevant hashtag and let people share their opinions about your offer. Thanks to using the power of your social media accounts, you can make your app popular too.

Launch Referral Marketing

Have your friends ever shared with you any link, product, or app? This is an example of referral marketing. It means the recommendation of something to other people for a bonus. Person A only needs to have a unique affiliate link or code to share it with user B. After user B installs your app, user A will receive a reward. 

As you can see, the mechanism of referral marketing is very simple. No need to invest funds in software ads – your users will be your ambassadors for free. As a result, you can reach your planned goals: increase the number of app installs, save money on advertising campaigns, scale your loyal community, etc. 

Try to Work with Influencers 

Influencer marketing isn’t a new thing. You can contact social media personalities with great bases of subscribers for cooperation. Such influencers may advertise your mobile eCommerce app without noticeable signs of traditional advertisement. That’s the point of native marketing: by working with influencers you’ll make your ads look like friendly recommendations. 

As a result, online buyers will be much more excited to purchase your products using your mobile software. Once the social media personality shares a recommendation with them, they may rely on it and give your offer a chance. 

Develop Your Business with a Mobile App

A mobile app is a key to massive sales nowadays. It allows you to reach new target audiences, motivate your loyal customers to make orders, improve conversation rate, increase brand recognition, build better relationships with customers and, finally, reach your business goals. 

It seems you can generate mobile app sales. It’s possible that your app isn’t good enough to bring you desired results. Then you must improve it to make its features and interface user-friendly. But if your software is great but traffic and sales leave much to be desired then rely on the listed above tips. Make a step forward in your eCommerce success now and your business will demonstrate better results soon.

How To Increase Sales and Traffic With eCommerce Mobile App Development
Brian Wallace

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Microsoft Takes Aim at Salesforce With Viva Sales

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Microsoft Takes Aim at Salesforce With Viva Sales

Microsoft has unveiled its latest attempt to take on Salesforce, launching Viva Sales, “a new seller experience application.”

Microsoft has been working on challenging Salesforce’s dominance in the CRM market for years. The company’s latest effort is the Viva Sales tool, designed to with with any CRM and integrate its data with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365.

“The future of selling isn’t a new system. It’s bringing the information sellers need at the right time, the right context, into the tools they know, so their work experience can be streamlined,” said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft. “Empowering sellers to spend more time with their customers has been our goal — and we’ve done that by reimagining the selling experience with Viva Sales.”

Viva Sales allows sales reps to tag customers in Outlook, Teams, or Office apps, automatically capturing the data as a customer record. The software then uses AI to help move a customer through the sales process, prioritizing the next steps and providing valuable insights. The AI also helps sellers with recommendations to improve customer engagement and follow-through.

“Sellers rely on digital collaboration and productivity tools to connect with customers and close deals, but a lot of the insights they uncover with these tools don’t make it into the CRM,” said Paul Greenberg, founder and managing principal, The 56 Group. “Microsoft is taking on this challenge by offering a solution that complements the CRM. Viva Sales automates the busy work, captures critical information about the customer and helps sellers get the job done.”

Salesforce clearly sees Microsoft as a significant threat to its business, with many believing its acquisition of Slack was a way for the company to better fend off the Redmond giant.

While Viva Sales works with any CRM, the app could represent a significant foothold effort. If companies find that Viva Sales lives up to expectations, it’s one more piece of Microsoft software integrated into their workflows. Eventually, they may find a full switch to the company’s CRM is the next logical choice.

Microsoft Takes Aim at Salesforce With Viva Sales
Matt Milano

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