Hannah's Marketing Blog

For this post I will be discussing a few points from the article,  "Data Fluency: A Call to Action for Higher Ed (and everyone else)," by Todd Kelsey. One idea I wanted to touch on is how quickly the workplace is changing. This is certainly nothing new but, as technology continues to rapidly evolve, so do our professions. As stated in the article, "not only does the data show some jobs disappearing, but many new jobs will be created" (1). Kelsey goes on to emphasize how difficult it is to anticipate when the changes will happen. This brings up a good point such that people should become educated not only about data itself, but other aspects like career outlook. This is one reason I chose to major in business analytics as I knew it is a growing field. Another interesting point from the article is how MIT has a new AI College which "is integrating data and ai across all disciplines, in recognition of the changes in the workplace" (1). I believe this is a ch...

As mentioned previously, I work in the marketing department for a small company. We are considering switching our existing CRM system, Salesforce, to HubSpot. I was asked to investigate the HubSpot demo and provide my team with insights on using the platform and my opinions about it. When navigating the marketing portion of the demo, I received a pop-up titled, "Write content in a flash with AI." It shared information about HubSpot's AI content assistant. I have an image of the pop-up below. As stated in the above image, the AI assistant can be used to generate ideas and create content across multiple HubSpot tools. This includes the creation of emails, social posts, blogs, landing pages, and more. The short video demonstrates how to use the AI which involves simply typing the "/" character in the writing box. From there, many selections beginning with "generate" populate, including "generate" ideas, paragraphs, sentences, and outlines to nam...

Last year I attended a career fair at Benedictine University. One of the representatives I spoke with thought my double major in marketing and business analytics was a weird combination. She said so, and that she had never seen anything like it. I was surprised by her response. I did not think marketing and business analytics was really that odd or uncommon. Nonetheless, she made me concerned about the majors I selected - was it the wrong choice? Would other employers think as similarly as she did? As I read the interview questions with Courtney Quinn, Senior Marketing Manager at CompTIA, I quickly realized that this is far from the truth. As Quinn said, "data is everything to marketing, and it will only increase in importance." Earning a degree in both business analytics and marketing is especially beneficial as they go hand-in-hand. Marketing needs data, and data provides valuable insights into marketing. Further, Quinn mentioned how "we truly need marketers with data ...

I read the article by RaiseGuide on how to ask for a raise after graduation or certification. This is a relevant article to me as I am pursuing my master's of business administration while working for a company. Knowing how to ask for a raise based on this milestone is important as it will help me determine my career outlook. One aspect I liked from the reading is how we should have a "conversation about your performance" instead of one to "ask for a raise" (1). Discussing money is a nerve-wracking task for anyone, at least in my opinion. I had to do it when I was first hired, and again when I became a full time employee. I always feared saying the wrong thing or not saying enough. Changing my mindset about what we are discussing (from something that is scary to something that is normal, and that everyone does) will make the task less daunting. I was not aware that pay increases are about 4.6% (1). Since master's degrees cost quite a lot of money, I had exp...

I read an article by Entrepreneur that discussed strategies to generate ecommerce revenue. The reading begins by explaining how these quick tactics employ for immediate funds. The first recommendation is brand partnerships, which involves partnering with "like-minded entrepreneurs" that can compliment your business. Other ideas include hosting virtual events, investing in email networks, and pre-orders. For this post, I wanted to discuss the second strategy, that is, calling your customers. Initially, I though the article was referring to cold calling. As defined by Investopedia , cold calling is "the solicitation of a potential customer who had no prior interaction with a salesperson" (1). This was one of the most common forms of marketing, however, it has declined in recent years. Another interesting note is that cold calling has about a 2% sucess rate (2). Check out the Investopedia article for more intriguing facts on this topic. Alternative calling methods has...

I recently discovered an AI-based image generator by Midjourney. As a relatively artistic person, I quickly became interested in exploring this tool's capabilities. What initally sparked my interest was the art I saw posted by Generative AI on LinkedIn. The page shares images that users had created in Midjourney including a chonky Chipmunk and "what-if" scenario if Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had a family. It's funny that such different photos could have one thing in common, that is, artificial intelligence! AI can clearly make a wide range (if not limitless) style and type of art. Not only that, but the tool can create something factitious that appears to be real. As it continues improving, I am sure the AI-based images will fool many into thinking it produced an authentic image. According to its website,  Midjourney is "an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species." You can...

Melanie Martinez is a well-known alt-pop artist, singer, and songwriter. She has over 14 million followers on Instagram , 16 million monthly listeners on Spodify , and dozens of songs. As a big fan of Melanie, I am familiar with her style as I have watched and listened to her content over the years. Recently, I came across an AI cover of Melanie singing Cradles. You can listen to it  here . Again, Melanie did not sing this song, but it sure sounds like she did. The AI system took the original song and made it sound like Melanie was singing. This was likely done by analyzing Melanie's songs, understanding her voice and techniques, and creating a result that matched her artistry as well as that of the song. The AI did a great job with this and produced a very successful result. In fact, it is so realistic that the publisher had to state multiple times that it is not real. The voice model was created by AIVERSE , which I had not known or heard about about previousely. I did a bit of r...

Neuralink is Elon Musk's AI brain-chip company that is developing neural-interface-technology. Specifically, they are creating a "device that would be embedded in a person's brain, where it would record brain activity and potentially stimulate it," according to an article from  Insider . The intention is that this technology can help better understand and treat neurological disorders. This includes the study and treatment of such conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It all sounds futuristic, at least in my opinion. However, as artificial intelligence technology continues to advance, we are only getting that much closer to making something like this a reality. According to Insider, the company is developing two pieces of equipment: a robot that implants the chip, and a chip that is implanted in a person's skull. The chip is "connected to 1,024 tiny electrodes, no thicker than a human hair" according to an article from  BBC  (1). This would...