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The reorganization memo released Monday didnt mention any workforce reductions. But the changes will mean thousands of job cuts in areas such as field sales, said a person familiar with the restructuring.

Microsoft reorganized its sales and marketing operations in a bid to woo more customers in areas like artificial intelligence and the cloud by providing sales staff with greater technical and industry-specific expertise.

The company unveiled the steps in an email to staff Monday that was obtained by Bloomberg.

The memo didnt mention any workforce reductions. But the changes will mean thousands of job cuts in areas such as field sales, said a person familiar with the restructuring who asked not to be named because the workforce reductions arent public. The company had 121,567 employees as of March 31.

Commercial sales will be split into two segments one focused on the biggest customers and one for small and medium clients, according to the memo. Employees will be aligned around six industries manufacturing, financial services, retail, health, education and government. Theyll focus on selling software in four categories: modern workplace, business applications, apps and infrastructure, and data and AI.

Microsoft is in a pitched battle with companies like Amazon.com and Alphabet for customers who want to move workplace applications and data to the cloud, as well as take advantage of advances in artificial intelligence. The company, which has not dramatically overhauled its sales force in years, wants to tailor those teams better for selling cloud software rather than desktop and server solutions.

There is an enormous $4.5 trillion market opportunity across our Commercial and Consumer businesses, according to the email, which was sent by Worldwide Commercial Business chief Judson Althoff, Global Sales and Marketing group leader Jean-Philippe Courtois and Chris Capossela, the companys chief marketing officer.

In the consumer and device sales area, Microsoft is creating six regions selling products like Windows software and Surface hardware, Office 365 cloud software for consumers and the Xbox game console. The group will also focus on new areas such as the internet of Things, voice, mixed reality and AI.

Microsoft will track metrics including large companies deploying Windows 10, sales of Windows 10 Pro devices and competition against Alphabets Chromebooks and Apples iPads.

Microsoft aims to expand its consumer business by creating desire for the same creativity tools that people have at work through Surface, Windows devices and Office 365, according to the memo.

In addition, gaming is growing rapidly across all device types and is evolving to new scenarios like eSports, game broadcasting, and mixed reality content and we will drive growth in this category as well, according to the memo.

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Microsoft announces global sales-force, marketing reorganization - Seattle Times

A free, eight-week-long coding workshop for students in grades eight through 11, kicked off June 12, at Northern New Mexico College.

The program will be one of three classes run by the Albuquerque-based Cultivating Coders, this summer. The other two will take place on the Navajo Nation and in the South Valley during the same period of time, June 12 to Aug. 4.

The companys goal is to get high school students excited about computing and software development, according to president and founder Charles Ashley III, who believes computing is just as important as reading and writing.

To date, Cultivating Coders has run 11 workshops throughout New Mexico and will soon bring workshops to Mississippi and Florida, as well. The company partnered with the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and the Espaola School District to bring the class to 13 students in Espaola.

Ashley compared Espaola to his hometown of Chicago.

The regions are different but the circumstances are the same, he said. I relate to these kids. (In Chicago) you were either drug dealing and gang-banging or you were playing sports. I see a lot of that in Espaola. These kids dont feel there are a lot of options and when, as a teenager, you feel you are without options, you get into trouble.

The program provides free instruction, breakfast and lunch, as well as a free laptop that students get to keep at the end of the eight weeks, thanks to a grant from the Foundation. Ashley said he hopes to make the program as accessible as possible, and would even possibly like to provide transportation to and from the class, in the future.

Technology for rural communities is a real potential game changer, Gwendolyn Warniment, the K-12 director at the Foundation, said. I think Cultivating Coders is an amazing organization that has figured out that beautiful place where change happens.

Other Cultivating Coders workshops have been funded by various private donors and grants, including a grant from Microsoft.

The class begins by teaching students the coding languages HTML, CSS and other basic computer science skills.

The students then learn JavaScript, and finally, spend their last two weeks in the class coming up with project ideas based on something that affects their community. The class votes on the ideas and then groups form to create websites for the projects.

Instructors Kyle Hagler and Dana Yazzie are leading the workshop.

Hagler is a University of Florida computer science graduate and a former instructor at a coding camp in Vancouver, Canada.

Yazzie was a student of the first Cultivating Coders class in Farmington, and has since led six Cultivating Coders workshops and taken a remote developer position at WSI, the worlds largest internet marketing company with more than 80 offices worldwide, according to their website.

We selected her for the Espaola camp because I know her background and her empathy is a great fit for this area, Ashley said of Yazzie.

Having a female teacher is also inspiring for the only two female students in the workshop, Judith Perez, 16; and Rique Fernandez, 17, both of whom discovered the program through a recommendation by their social workers.

Im really interested in (coding), Perez said. At first I wanted to be a veterinarian, but this seems pretty cool.

Perez is excited to use her newfound coding knowledge to create websites where she can share her writing something she is also passionate about.

It feels good (to be in the class), she said. Its like that weird stereotype that girls dont do as much stuff as boys do and were here doing it too, which is really fun.

Fun and empowerment is exactly what Cultivating Coders hopes to provide its students with.

Ashley said he hopes, through the workshops, as well as the ongoing mentorship and after-school coding clubs that Cultivating Coders offers, there will be an explosion of talent in New Mexico in the next few years.

Most of the Espaola workshop students are in high school, but two students, Gabriel Duran, 13, and Eduardo Juarez, 13, are in eighth grade and found the workshop through their involvement in their schools gifted students program.

For these two, and other young students, the goal is not to immediately make them employable, as is the goal with which the adult Cultivating Coders workshops began, but instead, to put them on a path of computing. Duran said he sees himself pursuing a career in computer animation, while Juarez is considering software development.

Ashley noted how gifted the boys are and said he hopes some day they will create the next Facebook.

See the article here:
Program Aims to Cultivate Coders - Rio Grande Sun

Students from Oklahoma Baptist Universitys Paul Dickinson College of Business recently earned Google certifications in internet marketing. The business school competed for the first time in the 2017 Google Online Marketing Challenge. This practical experience was one of many that OBU students undertake in their courses to better prepare for their future careers.

The Google Online Marketing Challenge provides undergraduate and post-graduate students direct experience with online advertising and marketing. The Challenge began in February 2008 and is open to any higher education institution from anywhere in the world. Student groups receive $200 to spend on Google AdWords advertising while working with a local business of their selection to devise effective online marketing campaigns. In this process, students develop an online marketing strategy, run the campaign, assess their results and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing, all in just three weeks.

Dr. Daryl Green, assistant professor of business and Dickinson Chair of Business, stumbled across the Google challenge while researching for a class.

When I read about this Google challenge, I was excited for our students, he said. It provides a practical experience in internet marketing on a real landscape. We set out to assist about nine local organizations. I did not expect to see so many of our students become Google certified. Its a difficult process.

The Google AdWords certification is a professional accreditation that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of AdWords. An AdWords certification allows individuals to demonstrate Google recognizes them as an expert in online advertising. Students must pass two of the AdWords certification exams (the AdWords fundamentals exam and one of the following: search advertising, display advertising, mobile advertising, video advertising or shopping advertising) to become an AdWords certified professional.

Dr. Green adds, Our students were certified in record-setting time. They achieved these certifications in less than 3 weeks.

There were nine teams who participated from OBU in the Google AdWords campaign. Sixteen students became Google AdWords certified, including Connelly Rader, McKenzie Lumry, Jessica Schooler, Brittany Watts, Christina Roach, Sarah Hancock, Michael Vetter, Daniel Maranell, Emmalee Ewbank, Brad Adams, Zachary Romoser, Summer Templeton, Bailey Davis, Kailey Moore, Jacob Vanderslice and Samuel Guillaume.

Many companies across the nation are looking for students who understand digital marketing. Emmalee Ewbank, a non-business major, appreciated the opportunity to achieve her Google certification.

I learned that Google AdWords is a lot more intricate than I anticipated, but anyone can definitely understand it if they take the time to do so, she said. I value having the opportunity to gain knowledge over different subjects and this was another chance to do just that. I definitely think it is a necessity for students to have an understanding of internet marketing due to the major influence the internet has on our everyday lives.

For more information about the Paul Dickson College of Business at OBU, visit http://www.okbu.edu/business.

Originally posted here:
Students earn Google certifications - Shawnee News Star

In the era of Lahren, O'Reilly, Maher and Yiannopoulos, outrage is all the rage. Outrage culture pulls in massive internet traffic, and gets people talking loudly on both sides of the issue. But we've seen it more and more in the world of film marketing in recent times. Just this year we have had the debacle of women-only Wonder Woman screenings, and Beauty and the Beast's "gay moment", resulting in bans and calls for boycotts on both. Because of their sudden divisiveness, everyone was talking about these films, and the idea that going to see them was going to help shut down bigotry was a real, tangible thing. Both of them went on to see huge box office revenue. It's hard to say whether the surge in interest caused the subsequent ticket sales, but it certainly didn't hurt. The question is, though: should we be encouraging outrage culture in film marketing?

It's not like outrage marketing is a new thing. The Moon is Blue, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Ecstasy (which was denounced by no less than the Pope), and The Last Temptation of Christ, all traded on their salacious reputations. The key difference between film marketing then and now is, as you've probably guessed, the internet. Social media virality enables ideas to spread like wildfire, even if they start on the micro scale.

We saw this with Mad Max: Fury Road. A relatively small men's rights blog called Return of Kings declared the film dangerously feminist and called for a boycott. Their minor (if stupidly misogynist) outcry was met with the hammer of overwhelming internet righteousness, and the war cry went up to enter the gates of Valhalla via screenings of Fury Road.

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Now, I don't know about you, but I love Fury Road. I find it hard to get angry about anything that would make more people see this movie. However, the more I try and look at the situation impartially, the easier it is to worry about the direction outrage marketing is taking us. For three reasons: it increases the divisiveness of ideas and beliefs in the population; it can be used improperly to tank a film; and it allows our beliefs to be tokenistically and cynically used for financial gain.

First off, divisiveness. We already have a polarized society, particularly in America. This past year has shown that more than ever. David Wong at Cracked has written and spoken eloquently on the subject of the city-rural divide in the country, and how transgressive metropolitanism alienates people living outside cities. Outrage marketing can only reinforce that.

In the same way that hearing Beauty and the Beast was banned likely conjured up an image for city-slickers of the typical Neanderthal country-bumpkin, it likely did similar for people living in the more rural parts of America. Hearing the news probably made many think of the worst possible example of a liberal-hipster. They probably thought "How desperate are they to get the gay agenda across that they feel they have to force feed it to our children?" And instead of this "gay moment" opening up a conversation that lead to greater understanding on both sides, it devolved the debate into people shouting at each other on social media, and both sides calling the other out of touch. All this over a "gay moment" that was about as gay as Bruce Willis.

Secondly, outrage marketing can tank a film. Remember A Dog's Purpose? Probably not. It tanked at the US box office. If you do remember it, you remember it as the film that tortured a dog by throwing it in to water to get a realistic drowning scene. Horrific, yes? PETA called for a boycott, Best Friends Animal Society pulled their association, there was mild general outcry.

Except it was a hugely misleading story. Snopes explains it in more detail in their article on the subject, but essentially the dog was fine, just a last minute change spooked him for one take. All safety precautions were properly observed, and the dog was unfazed and unharmed. Of course, the TMZ article that created the uproar had already done its damage. With its reputation in shreds, A Dog's Purpose paddled in and out of American cinemas with little fanfare. Outrage media cuts both ways.

Finally, and most importantly, let's talk about the exploitation of our beliefs. Beauty and the Beast is a great example of this. We've already established that it's "gay moment" was about as mild as dollar-store salsa. In fact, before talk of the "gay moment" entered the headlines, the main debate over the movie was fairly mundane. Will this be better than the original? Is it just a cash-grab remake? Why is there so much auto-tune on Emma Watson's voice?

A lot of people were considering giving it a miss (in as much as it is possible to avoid a Disney movie). But with the "gay moment" in the headlines, suddenly the film became an LGBTQ battleground. If we didn't see it we were potentially helping bigotry, and undermining the cause's wider exposure in one of the country's biggest family taste-makers. By the time we found out how hardly "gay" it was, tickets had already been bought.

Whether the controversy was deliberate or not, advertisers, marketers, and so on, now know for sure that, even with the most token of token sops to a cause, they can galvanize a community and turn them in to box office dollars.

If promoters know that outrage marketing will work, they will use it. We as consumers have to be discerning, and if we're voting with our box office dollars then we have to vote for films that pay more than lip service to our ideals. Is it like Wonder Woman, where if a female-led, female-directed, female-gaze enabling movie succeeds it will lead to more of the same? Great! Vote away. Or is it a "gay moment" less gay than the Mariana Trench? Maybe save your money.

Have a happy blockbuster season!

Original post:
FILM | Outrage marketing, should we be encouraging it? - Popdust

Since the launch of the internet, brands have been taking their businesses online and utilizing the many benefits that online marketing has for them. As the Internet grew, more and more brands have started to take it upon themselves to promote their content on the internet to attract more customers and increase their revenue. Today, it is possible to run an entire business on the internet without having to rent office space or employing even a single employee. When it comes to driving traffic to your presence on the internet, which we all know is the secret ingredient to online success, brands, companies and website owners often finds that it is one of the most difficult tasks. Not only do you have to drive traffic to your online properties, but you also have to consider the authority your brand has on the internet.

While still relatively new to small businesses and website owners, the interest companies have in influencer marketing has increased by approximately 900% since 2013. Media Kix reports that around 80% of internet marketers report influencer marketing as an effective strategy for boosting their online businesses to new levels. They also report that as much as 84% of all internet marketers are already using influencer marketing in some way either to promote their own brands or their customers brands. These statistics are solid proof that thousands of brands are already using influencer marketing and that they are seeing good results from it. If you are not currently utilizing this marketing method and struggling to determine how you can use it to the advantage of your own brand dont worry. With so many companies using influencer marketing, you have one significant benefit you can learn from the ones that have succeeded to ensure your first campaign is also successful. Lets take a look at seven top social media influencers to get a better idea of how influencer marketing might benefit your business and, of course, what you could do to launch an effective campaign.

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski was born in Russia and is currently a third-year medical resident. Most people know him simply as Dr. Mike. He is quite active on Instagram, with a following that reaches of 1.9 million. Dr. Mikes Instagram account quickly grew from just posting photos with himself as the main object while he was working and while he was at the gym. He also frequently posts pictures of himself with his dog. He often talks about healthy lifestyle choices and encourages his followers to adopt these lifestyle choices. Dr. Mike is also popular on SnapChat and Twitter.

Jake Paul started out on Vine with just a couple of videos, which quickly went viral and generated him more than 17 million followers to date. Today, Jakes videos are still very popular on Vine, but he has also gained acknowledgment on Musically, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Vine. His videos have been viewed over four billion times and he has also become an actor thanks to his videos. Thanks to his stardom, Jake was also able to start his own venture, TeamDom. Today, many big brands like Universal Studios, Beats, and Coca-Cola are relying on Jake Paul as their influencer. He is also considered to be one of the top social media influencers on the internet.

Furious Pete is another icon on social media and is often used by top brands to promote a variety of items, including workout programs and supplements. Furious Pete survived both cancer and anorexia, and, today, he is one of the most popular bodybuilders on the internet. He has more than five million subscribers on his YouTube channel and has started his own line of clothing, as well as a series of supplements tailored toward the fitness needs of his followers. Pete also hosts a television show in Germany and is often sponsored by different brands, which he then endorses in his videos.

Kristina Bazan was able to utilize social media as a way to become famous within the fashion niche and, today, she is the spokeswoman at LOreal Paris thanks to her influence on social media. Kristina has also launched her own fashion blog, Kayture, and was able to hire a team of people to work with her. She is often hired by high-end brands, including Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Guess. Kristina has more than 2.4 million Instagram followers and is also active on other social networks.

When it comes to online marketing and running a business online, Neil Patel has become the go-to guy. He started out assisting local companies with SEO, but, today, he is one of the most famous people in the internet marketing and online business niches. He is an expert in various fields, as well as the co-founder of Hello Bar, Crazy Egg, and many other ventures. Neil is often used as an influencer by Viacom, GM, HP, Amazon and many other companies. Hes Facebook follower count is reaching close to one million and he has over 250,000 followers on Twitter, and he is active on many other social media platforms as well.

Jennifer Selter has worked hard on growing her following on social media. She started out as a front desk clerk at her local gym, but, today, she boasts with over 11 million Instagram followers, as well as millions of followers on her other accounts. She went viral due to a booty-boosting fitness program that she developed, but she is quite popular in the fitness niche today not only amongst those who would like to boost their booty. Jennifer is also used by many companies as an influencer and, thanks to her current success, she is now planning a line of her very own workout clothes.

Paloma is based in Houston, Texas. She started out with a simple interior designing blog about 10 years ago. Her blog quickly took off and attracted the attention of numerous magazines. In addition to publications and magazines approaching her, many high-end home brands, including One Kings Lane and Kitchen Aid, also started to use Paloma as an influencer for their marketing campaigns. Paloma has over 70,000 followers on Instagram and over 180,000 followers on Pinterest and

Social media influencers are using a lot of different techniques to help put the products and services of their clients in front of potential customers. Many of these social media influencers have seen a lot of successful results when it comes to promoting content to their followers and you can definitely learn a thing or two from them. These social media influencers weve featured here are some of the best and will help you come up with an idea of how you can utilize this marketing method to grow your own business but, dont let these be the limit of your creativity.

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Original post:
Top 7 social media influencers who are killing it - TNW