Mediaboss Marketing

I think it's safe to say that by about 2010, email marketing was a full-fledged marketing tactic. If your business wasn't using it to engage with consumers, then you may have been missing out on critical new lead opportunities. Today, I believe the golden egg is A/B testing. If youre not A/B testing, you may already be behind your direct competitors.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a marketing experiment where two different versions of a campaign or a piece of content are tested on your audience to discern which performs better. In other words, version A is shown to some of your audience and version B is shown to the others.

One of the things we love most about A/B testing as a marketing tactic is that it doesnt discriminate it can work for any business. It doesnt matter what industry your business is in. It also doesnt matter whether your business is B2C or B2B or whether you offer products or services you can use A/B testing to learn more about your audience and make changes so that youre reaching them in the most effective way.

When To Use A/B Testing

When is the best time to A/B test? The short answer is always. The more realistic answer is whenever you can.

With the chaos that is managing a business and dealing with many moving parts, it may be unrealistic to commit to A/B testing on everything you put out. While conducting continual A/B testing is ideal, its important to set goals and be intentional about your testing.

Here are the pieces of content that I recommend definitely A/B testing:

Emails

Webpages

Facebook ads

Social media posts

Blog titles

Calls to action

You also may want to conduct A/B testing to determine the optimal length of content and the best time to publish it.

Essentially, you can split test everything that your target audience sees from your business, and the more you can do so, the better grip youll likely have on what engages your audience the most.

The Main Benefits Of A/B Testing

1. Improved Content Engagement

Each time you A/B test and then use those results to inform the decision you make for future content and campaigns, youre making smart improvements to your content that are proven to garner more engagement.

For example, our team A/B tested the graphics for a Facebook ad for one of our multifamily apartment community clients. The results showed us which image style and coloring was most effective on our audience. Version B of the ad graphic garnered over 2,000 more clicks and had 20% more engagement. Since then, we've switched the style of images to be similar to version B and have seen a steady increase in engagement with our Facebook ads.

2. Reduced Bounce Rates

If you notice that visitors are leaving, or bouncing, quickly after arriving on your website, then you can use A/B testing on the copy, blog post headlines, images and more to see what best catches the eyes of your visitors. Ultimately, this can help you keep visitors on your website longer and reduce bounce rates.

3. Increased Conversion Rates

With A/B testing, you can figure out what kind of content converts more website visitors into buyers. With this marketing tactic, its extremely easy to see what works with your audience and what doesnt.

How To Conduct Efficient A/B Testing

Step 1: Pick one variable to test.

We've found that A/B testing works best if only one element is different for each version. You could use a different image for a social media post but keep the caption and URL the same, or use a different headline for a blog post but keep the image and body copy the same.

Step 2: Divide your audience equally and randomly when possible.

You may not always have control over the audience who views your A/B testing content, but with content like emails, you can control and split the audience evenly. Our team uses marketing automation software, which automatically splits traffic between the different versions, for our A/B testing.

Step 3: Test versions simultaneously.

You may not be able to fully trust the results if you test two different versions at different points in time. Unless the variable you're testing is posting time, keep the test versions on the same schedule.

Step 4: Give tests time to run.

Allow your tests to run for enough time to produce useful results. For example, no matter what content we're A/B testing, the minimum amount of time we run a test is a month.

Step 5: Measure your results.

There are many metrics you can use to gauge how your content performs for instance, bounce rate, open rate, exit rate, engagement and number of conversions. Choose one or two that align best with your main goal, and see which version performs better. In our experience, when it comes to A/B testing email subject lines, the open rate is a helpful metric. With website copy, weve found that measuring bounce rate and exit rate tell us whether our target audience is engaged.

Further, determine whether the results are statistically significant (i.e., large enough to warrant a change).

Step 6: Take action based on results.

Use what you learn even if its that your original content performed better than any of your other tested versions. As well, dont make only one change; apply what you learn to multiple facets of your content.

Not much is free in the marketing and advertising world, but we've found that A/B testing is one of the most cost-effective solutions. The insights and knowledge you can gain about your audience's preferences are invaluable, and you can use them across all levels of the content you produce.

Pay attention to your results, and weave A/B testing into the fabric of your business.

See the article here:
A/B Testing: The Benefits And How To Use It Efficiently - Forbes

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced Wednesday that he and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, have been diagnosed with the virus.

Hanks is there working on an as-yet-untitled Elvis Presley movie for Warner Bros. He is playing the singer's manager Colonel Tom Parker. Baz Luhrmann is directing.

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. told CNN the project was in pre-production at the time of Hanks and his wife's diagnosis.

"We have been made aware that a company member from our Elvis feature film, which is currently in pre-production in The Gold Coast, Australia, has tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus)," Warner Bros. said in a statement provided to CNN. "We are working closely with the appropriate Australian health agencies to identify and contact anyone who may have come in direct contact with the individual. The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and we are taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world."

"The individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment," the statement said.

Warner Bros. is owned by CNN's parent company.

The Sydney Opera House where Wilson performed said on Thursday that disinfecting efforts are underway there and health officials are tracking down concertgoers who attended the performance given by Wilson last Saturday.

A Sydney Opera House spokesperson told CNN that "the Opera House is in touch with NSW Health and Queensland Health and will be acting on their advice."

The spokesperson added that "This includes getting in touch with anyone, including patrons and staff, who may have been in contact with the couple while at the Opera House."

What happened

According to Hanks, he and his wife were alerted to something being wrong after they "felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches."

"Rita had some chills that came and went," he wrote on his Instagram post. "Slight fevers too."

The couple were tested for the coronavirus, he wrote, and found to be positive.

How it happened

Neither Hanks nor Wilson have said how they may have contracted the virus.

An official with Queensland Health, the Australian government department which is overseeing efforts to control the outbreak of the disease in that area, did not name the couple but said all of the new cases "contracted the illness outside Australia and traveled to Queensland with the virus," the publication reported.

Their ages

How they are doing

Chet Hanks posted a video on Instagram, saying he had just talked with them and "They both are fine."

"They're not even that sick. They're not worried about it," the younger Hanks said. "They're not trippin' but they're going through the necessary health precautions obviously."

Colin Hanks tweeted his gratitude for the support his family has received.

"My parents are receiving excellent care in Australia and doing well (and in good spirits) given the circumstances," he wrote. "Despite the fact I'm in LA and haven't seen them in over three weeks, we have been in constant contact and am confident that they will make a full recovery."

What's next

According to Hanks, he and his wife are taking it one day at a time.

"The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed," he wrote on Instagram. "We Hanks' will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?"

"We'll keep the world posted and updated," he added.

CNN's Sandra Gonzalez, Chloe Melas, Angus Watson and Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.

See the original post here:
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson: What we know - CNN

WU HONG/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

There may be a glimmer of hope may being the operative word in regards to Chinas movie theaters re-opening after being shuttered since the Lunar New Year holiday over the COVID-19 outbreak.

We hear from multiple sources, both industry and on-the-ground in the PRC, that China Film Group, the state-owned film enterprise that oversees theaters, dates films, finances, produces and more, is planning to re-open its Beijing offices as early as next week. That move would come as a positive sign to the major Hollywood studios that the PRC is slowly getting its exhibition back up and running, an infrastructure of some 70K screens that since their closing has amounted a $2 billion-plus loss.

The hope is for Chinas theaters to re-open by mid-to-late April in time for the May Day holiday (coincidentally, the global-day-and-date release of Disney/Marvels Black Widow on May 1), a maneuver that raises several questions rather than an expected boom for a country which saw its box office reach a high of $9.2B last year. Before China closed its theaters this year, its box office through the first 20 days of this year stood at $3.9B, +157% over the same period a year ago. The worst case scenario is for cinemas to re-open in the PRC by July.

Related StoryColin Hanks Says His Parents Are "Doing Well And In Good Spirits" After Coronavirus Diagnosis

Such murmurs about exhibitions slow crawl back emerge in the wake of Chinas COVID-19 cases slowing down, just as cases in the U.S. and other countries are surging. CNN says that at its worst, such embattled provinces as Hubei reported thousands of new cases a day but according to Chinas National Health Commission yesterday there were only 24 new cases. Forty percent of those originated from abroad including travelers from Italy and the U.S.

On Tuesday, in a show of confidence, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited one of the most infected regions, Wuhan, which has 67,7K of the entire countrys 80,8K cases. Reports are that the government has cleared some neighborhoods free of infection, with temporary shelters used to isolate those diagnosed already closing.

In cities like Shanghai and Beijing, the government has encouraged citizens to return back to their way of life, though with extreme safety. In addition to hotels, restaurants and retail businesses resuming operations, we hear that Chinese exhibition offices have re-opened, and U.S. entertainment corps too like Universal and Imax, in accordance with government guidelines. Those rules include rotational shifts of no more than four hours per employee with 30% of the workforce occupying an office at one time, not to mention sanitization and personal safety protocols. Shanghai Disney recently reopened their Disney village with a limitation of no more than 5K visitors a day.

Theres also word that theaters can start applying to the government to reopen.

At the end of February, the Beijing Film Bureau and the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control issued safety guidelines for cinemas, which led some to believe that theaters were being given a greenlight to re-open. Response on Chinese social media was heated, some suspicious about handing out so many personal details and that such a move was too early with exhibition believing such guidelines were onerous.

Among the host of precautions outlined by the Beijing authorities are for cinemas to obtain permission from relevant departments and establish an epidemic prevention and control plan once resuming operations is approved. Seating inside auditoriums will be required to be in alternate rows, with no adjacent seats sold. Theaters will also be disinfected after every screening and at least eight times per day in public areas. Moviegoers will be asked for personal information which will be registered at the box office.

However, the local government the next day clarified that the directive was for future use, as a means to prepare for when cinemas come back online. Chen Bei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Beijing Municipal Government, in a video posted to Weibo by Beijing Daily News, said conditions were not yet in place to resume operations: We have not yet made a request to allow the film industry to open. The designation of such a guideline is to lay a solid foundation and prepare for the smooth start of business under the conditions allowed by the epidemic prevention and control situation.

That said, we heard that some independent exhibitors in the PRC actually did open for business, showing older movies from back in December, i.e. Sheep Without a Shepherd. However, in a recent given day there were only 20-30 showtimes listed on local ticketing website Tao Piao Piao in the 1.43 billion populated country, which would count as many as 100K showtimes daily when business is running normally. Macaus cinema and casinos have re-opened, we understand, as have some theaters in Yunnan province, in southwest China. Still, the big circuits remain closed.

USC professor and China expert Stanley Rosen tells us, China is a big place and Beijing is far away and unable to monitor every development. The central governments policy is to control the virus and get the economy moving again, which of course can be contradictory. Beijings policies are often contradictory, so local areas and local officials have to decide what they can do that will help the local economy and local stability even if it violates one of Beijings contradictory precepts. In this case, some localities with no cases of the virus may well have decided that the benefits to the local economy and a very bored public would justify a quiet opening of some theaters.

So once China Film Group throws its doors back open, what can we expect? Heres what some industry sources are expecting, though not definite in any way:

Many predict that the first wave of films to be released in China will be the older local one that were stockpiled, i.e. Detective Chinatown 3 and The Rescue. Even major studio international distribution execs believe its a good idea to lead with local movies to get the masses back in the habit of moviegoing. Unlike those U.S. titles that have been cleared in China, theres no concern that these have been pirated as they havent seen the light of day. Some say it would be good for the China box office to get two big features in before Disnys Mulan or Black Widow arrives (both of which havent been dated yet by China Film Group).

Those U.S. titles that have been cleared for release in China and are awaiting release Jojo Rabbit, Ford v Ferrari, Bad Boys 4 Life, 1917, Dolittle and Sonic the Hedgehog when will they be released? Will they all be dumped into Chinas cinemas on the same day? Is it worth releasing them given that theyre likely pirated? There really isnt a consensus here from sources, some believing that these pics may will still have a shot at making whatever money they can. Even though theaters can apply to reopen, some international distribution execs believe its a chicken-and-egg scenario. A chain like Wanda will want new movies, not old ones.

And what about Mulan? Given the back-up of product, it could go as late as a month-and-a-half, if not more, after the pics global day-and-date of March 27. By the time it hits China, wont it too have to worry about piracy? Those close to the film arent so worried. Should the movie become the blockbuster that it was built to be, that in turn would become a great selling factor in China. Should Mulan be pirated before its theatrical release, sources believe theres still an audience among Chinas moviegoers who would want to see the Disney spectacle, which is an homage to many of the local epic war pics that the country currently makes, on a big screen. A youhaoxi website recently reported that in a recent poll, the want-to-see for Mulan among Chinese moviegoers was north of 63%.

The question, of course, remains how many want to head back. A recent Weibo survey showed that out of 5,500 respondents, 88% said they would not return to cinemas until the epidemic is contained.

Stateside, despite all movie theaters remaining open, both at the Cinemark in New Rochelle, NY, a city which New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo designated a containment zone, sending the National Guard in, and in Santa Clara County, CA which issued a health ban of gatherings over 1k people, U.S. exhibitors remain worried.

As Chinas exhibition begins its healing process, an unfortunate bleaker picture at the global box office unfolds.

DeadlinesTom Grater contributed to this report

Originally posted here:
As Chinas Coronavirus Cases Slow, Are Re-Openings Of Movie Theaters Far Behind? - Deadline

This was taken at the last show of Metallicas Black Album tour, in Belgium on 1 July 1993. James Hetfield, the singer and guitarist, had walked to the very edge of what they called their ego ramp [the walkway into the audience]. Because they were touring The Black Album, I was shooting a lot in black and white. I noticed him, with the sunset behind him and the arms coming up, and it became one of my most famous Metallica pictures. It shows the connection between Metallica and their audience its as if they are almost dragging him in. The time of day was important: most bands dont like daylight, they want it dark. This was shot at twilight, which gives you the perfect balance and that sense of moment. Five minutes later, it would have been dark, and the shot would have looked nothing like that.

My aim when shooting a show is to give somebody something they would not normally have seen. And to create an image that is unusual or exciting, so when people who went to the show look at it, they see something thats special. People who shoot shows tend to panic, but if you do that, you get nothing. Stand back and wait. Think about what youre doing I learned that from Fin Costello. I dont find it hard to get original images from live shows, because I know what Im doing Ive done it for so long. Nowadays, a lot of bands want to control everything and they ban photographers from shows. Yet theyre quite happy, having thrown out the people doing it properly, to let anybody take bad pictures or film it on an iPhone.

Nowadays a lot of bands ban photographers from shows. And yet theyre quite happy to let anybody take bad pictures or film it on an iPhone

I first shot Metallica in 1984. Their drummer, Lars Ulrich, would call me me up, and I kept avoiding him. Id seen pictures of him, and I thought he was just this Danish guy who looked like a complete idiot. But then Metallicas manager, Peter Mensch, called me and said: Listen, stop being such an asshole. Go to San Francisco and shoot my new band. So I did, and that was the start of my relationship with them. In fact, the only reason I ended up shooting Metallica was because they wanted Iron Maidens photographer I was working for them at the time. To Metallica, Led Zeppelin (who I also worked with) meant nothing. But Iron Maiden meant something and Metallica wanted their photographer. Ive worked with them ever since. Ill give the group their due: they are very conscious of who they are, what they do and how they want to be photographed. But they are also very open to doing different things.

I am a rock photographer, not just hard rock or metal. I am particularly known for metal because I worked for Kerrang! magazine in the 80s, but that was more because instead of going to Leeds to shoot the Pet Shop Boys, I could go to Hawaii to do Aerosmith. Where would you rather go? And at the time the National Union of Journalists made sure that if you shot colour you were paid twice as much as for black and white, and Kerrang! was full colour.

The worst photoshoot I ever did was the first time I worked with Led Zeppelin in 1979. I was young, and really impressed. Robert Plant walked up to me and said: Do you know how to take a Robert Plant photo? He poked me in the chest and said, quite nastily: Quickly. I was shooting a cover for Sounds magazine, and I did the shoot, but I was so nervous that I did Plants photoshoot, not mine. I did what he wanted, which resulted in a very boring picture. I came away and I thought: I will never let anyone do that to me again, and I never have. I was so naive that he completely threw me. Dont let them do that to you, because if you do, you are just going to get a boring portrait.

Born: London, 1957.

Training: A course in fine art at Wimbledon College of Art.

Influences: Fin Costello.

High point: My Jimmy Page picture getting displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.

Low point: Shooting the first Spice Girls US tour. The band were OK, it was everyone around them.

Top tip: Always take control. Never let the subject take control.

Ross Halfin was due to speak on the Super Stage at The Photography Show in Birmingham, which has been postponed until September.

Link:
Metallica out on the 'ego ramp': Ross Halfin's best photograph - The Guardian

JUPITER, Fla. Responding to the concern about the potential spread of the coronavirus, Major League Baseball joined other professional sports leagues on Tuesday by closing team clubhouses to all but players and other essential personnel.

Among the concerns of Cardinals players was if more actions will follow.

Whats next? asked third baseman Matt Carpenter. Are they going to cancel the season? I dont know if keeping the media out is going to save us all from the coronavirus.

The answer to Carpenters question, at least at the moment, is no. A statement on Monday night from MLB said spring training games will go on as scheduled and there are no current plans to delay the start of the regular season, as will happen in the professional leagues in Japan and Korea.

The immediate effect of closing major-league clubhouses is that media members will at least temporarily not be allowed in the locker rooms to interview players. All of those interviews must now be done outside or in a designated interview room.

I heard about that when I got here today, said pitcher Adam Wainwright. Everybody knows the media is carrying the coronavirus.

On a serious note, Wainwright said, They are just trying to control it as much as they can. Do we know yet what it does to people our age? I know they said the elderly folks, and guys in the clubhouse were looking at me.

Its something you just dont want to spread. We want to be able to play a season without having to worry about the fans. Controlling it now seems to make sense.

If you look at how numbers are projected to spike, just from my limited exposure of watching the news about it, I dont think its a bad thing to be cautious. It looks like we are going to see a lot more cases here, now that they have started testing for it. People just need to be careful.

Wainwright noted that he had heard one of the recommendations for controlling the virus was to have people stay away from venues that attract a large crowd.

I cant think of any place that draws a bigger crowd than a 50,000 -seat baseball arena, he said.

There have been games played before empty or virtually empty stadiums in the past. One recent occurrence came during riots in Baltimore a few years ago.

Wainwright hopes the situation does not reach the point where that becomes necessary.

Its harder for me to play in front of small crowds than large crowds, he said. Well see. I cant speculate about what I dont know.

Another concern, at least among the media, is that players might actually enjoy not having reporters in the clubhouse and this might create a movement to install that policy going forward, with or without a threat of spreading a disease.

Sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable in there, Wainwright said.You cant have the same conversations you might otherwise.

Carpenter said banning the media from the clubhouse will have at least one other effect.

Its going to make your jobs harder, he said. And you are going to find out which guys want to talk to you.

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View post:
Cardinals and MLB close clubhouses to media in effort to control spread of coronavirus - KSDK.com