As a leader, a big part of your job is to communicate key messages effectively. This way, your team is clear and focused on the right things. Often, this means repeating yourself. Yet many of my coaching clients balk at this premise of sharing the same message again, fearing they might sound redundant, annoying, condescending, or even lazy.
This is the paradox of leadership communication. The habit leaders sometimes fear—repeating the same message—is often the secret weapon of influence, alignment, and credibility. Consider the impact of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s relentless focus on developing a growth mindset. There’s also ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi’s consistent emphasis on “performance with purpose.”
Here’s how I encourage you to think about it: Save your creativity and novelty for your internal processes and your product offerings. Communicate your message consistently and, yes, repeat yourself. When you repeat your message, you’re not a nagging boss, but rather a resonant leader.
The benefits of repeating yourself
There are three key benefits of repeating yourself: attention, believability, and speed. Attention might be the most obvious benefit. The more your audience is exposed to a message, the more likely they are to internalize, recognize, and recall that message. Marketers often reference the AIDA framework, which involves funneling customers through a sequence from attention to interest to desire to action, based on repeated exposure to a message.
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You can think of your own communication with your internal team in the same way. Given our fragmented attention spans and messaging overload, repetition can be the secret to garnering awareness and attention.
The second benefit of repeating yourself as a leader is believability, also known as the illusory truth effect. The phenomenon is exactly what it sounds like. In a 2021 research study published in the journal Cognitive Research, participants rated statements they had seen multiple times as more truthful than new statements.
The third benefit of repeating yourself is speed, as in speed to execution. Research from Harvard Business School’s Tsedal Neeley and her colleagues shows how what they call redundant communication can boost teams’ speed and confidence in execution. Put more simply, repeating yourself can reduce the time from communication to action.
Certainly, overexposure of a repeated message can go too far. However, the overexposure threshold is likely much higher than many of us would guess, based on these three real benefits of repetition. Repeated messages inspire attention, believability, and speed. Now the question is, how to execute this powerful, consistent messaging.
Your playbook on powerful, consistent messaging
Your first challenge is to identify the main message that you want to reinforce or repeat. Did you recently introduce a new vision, mission, strategic priority, or organizational values? Consider GM CEO Mary Barra’s frequent reference to her company’s vision: “zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion.” Do you have a mantra or rally cry? Consider Jeff Bezos’s “Every day is day one.”
Consistently repeating this new message will clarify and focus your team’s attention and efforts. The type of message and how you say it will depend on your industry, organizational structure, team dynamics, and personal leadership style.
How to strategically and optimally repeat your message
1. Label it. Be direct when referencing your message and label it. Use simple phrases like, “This bears repeating because it’s very important …” or “This is what we all need to commit to memory and focus on over the next fiscal year.” Call out the significance of the message and clarify why you’re repeating it.
2. Share the message in formal and informal contexts. You may introduce the message in a formal speech, and then reference it in meetings and informal conversations. Bring it up when you’re facilitating a Q&A!
3. Go multimedia. Beyond your verbal communication, reinforce your message across multimedia. This might include written material such as your organization’s website, corporate reports, and perhaps in your email signature. Be creative. You might even create a consistent visual depiction of the message on a presentation slide, one-pager, or infographic.
4. Leverage the network effect. While some leaders assume they should unilaterally “own” the message, encouraging others to share your message can rapidly amplify your message. Encourage and celebrate others who reference and repeat your message
5. Breathe new life into your message. Preserve freshness while retaining consistency by explicitly highlighting how the message is relevant over time with new data, stories, or challenges.
When you intentionally repeat yourself, you’re not a nagging boss. Rather, you’re a resonant leader. As a communication coach, I remind leaders: If you’re getting tired of saying it, that’s a sign you’re doing something right.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Texting etiquette is a good skill to have in today’s dating culture. Dry texting has become a common turn off. So if you are trying to impress your tinder match or keep the spark alive in your relationship, learn to write romantic text messages that will make her want you badly.
You can write short sweet texts or long text messages that will make her want you. It doesn’t have to be as fancy as, “Shall I compare thee to a summer day”; not all of us are Shakespeare. So whether you are looking for deep love messages for her or texts to make her think about you, here is a curated list to help you out.
200 Romantic Text Messages That Will Make Her Want You Badly
Not quite brushed up on your dating texting skills?? Don’t worry, we can help you come up with words to describe someone you love. Here are some examples to inspire you.
Texts to make her think about you
Want to be on your girl’s mind 24×7? Messages are a great way to make her miss you, especially if you’re in a long-distance relationship. Here are some examples of texts to make her think about you:
Text to make her think about you
I love when I catch you looking at me.
My heart races when I see you.
You are my happily ever after.
If loving you was a job, I’d be the most dedicated candidate. I’d even work for free!
You know what would be perfect right now? Cuddling with you.
Every moment without you feels like forever.
I can’t wait to come home to your beautiful face every night.
You make me breathless.
Every time you touch me, electricity runs through my veins.
I can’t explain the way you make me feel when I hear your voice or see your face, but I adore it.
I love the way you look at me. It makes me feel like I am the most important person in your life.
Now I understand what all those love songs and sappy poems are about
The day I met you, God fulfilled my prayers
You are the only person I want to come home to
I hope to spend all my tomorrows chasing your perfect smile
Thank you for letting me be myself
I still get astonished by your enamoring beauty
Just one message from you is enough to brighten my whole day
I want the kind of relationship where people look at us and say, I want what they have
Nothing makes me happier than your presence
This is what they mean when they say, “meant to be.”
24. Nothing in the world is so important to me than you 25. I get the best curve on my face whenever I look at you 26. I never get tired of thinking about you because that is my favorite hobby. You make my heart beat faster, and I love that feeling 27. I have a longing to make you the princess of my world. Would you like to accept this prince? 28. You are the queen of my heart. I owe my smile and happiness to you 29. The greatest feeling in life is holding you closer. Girl, I need you 30. For others, you may be one person, but for me, you are the world 31. Do you know magic? Because I can see you everywhere 32. I am thankful for the moment when I welcomed you into my life 33. What on earth did I think about all the time before you? 34. Next time I hug you, I probably won’t let go for a long time 35. With you, time stands still. Every moment spent with you feels like an eternity of joy 36. The world may be chaotic, but in your arms, I find solace 37. In your smile, I find the strength to overcome any obstacle 38. You are the most incredible person I know, and I’m grateful to have you in my life 39. With you, each day is a new adventure 40. When I am with you, I feel like the luckiest person in the world
Deep love messages for her
Deep love message for her
No matter how long you’ve been in a relationship or married with a girl, she’d always appreciate a love note or message expressing your love for her. Here are some examples of deep love messages for her:
41. You are my best friend and my soulmate—I can’t imagine my life without you. 42. I can’t describe in words how much our little moments matter to me. 43. Everytime I think I can’t possibly love you any more than I already do, you prove me wrong. 44. Every day I continue to choose you, and every day that choice gets easier. 45. You’re the reason I wake up every morning. 46. In a crowd of people, my eyes always look for you. 47. You are the greatest gift the universe has given me 48. I want to grow old with you. 49. Your beauty, intelligence and kindness make me fall in love with you every day! 50. Loving you is the best thing that happened to me 51. You wanna know who I’m in love with? Read the first word again ❤ 52. The more years go by, the more I learn new things to love about you. You are the most amazing woman to me. 53. I’m a movement by myself, but I’m a force when we’re together 54. Every day of ours feels just like the very first day because I cannot help falling in love with you over and over again 55. I am beyond lucky to have fallen in love with my best friend 56. I love you a little more every single day 57. You are my first and only love 58. Loving you is the best thing I have ever done. And I will never regret it 59. Your heart is so full of love, and I’m lucky enough to find a place there 60. I love that you see all of me and love me anyway
61. My love for you is indescribable 62. You changed my world the day I met you and I have never looked back since 63. Knowing that you love me as much as I love you is the best feeling in the world 64. You are the muse behind all my thoughts and the melody of my heart’s rhythm 65. You are my biggest cheerleader 66. The thought of you warms my heart even during the cold winters 67. You are the only reason behind my every heartbeat 68. Your love is a gentle, soothing breeze that refreshes my soul on a stuffy, humid day. 69. You are on my mind every hour, every minute, and every second of the day 70. My happiness begins with you and ends with you 71. I start my day with you and end it with you. I am lucky to call you mine 72. Our bond is strengthened by God’s blessings and transcends beyond boundaries 73. You are the angel of my life. The day I met you, my life became brighter and happier 74. You are the reason for my happiness, the center of my life, and the whole of my heart 75. You are the light of my dark world. Whenever I fall into darkness, your light brings me out 76. Thank you for always making me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world 77. I love you more than I did yesterday but not more than I will tomorrow 78. You are the reason I believe in love at first sight. From the moment I met you, my heart was yours 79. In your eyes, I found the reflection of my soul. Forever grateful for your love 80. You are the melody that makes my heart sing. Forever grateful to have you in my life
Trust messages to make her fall in love
Romantic text messages play a great part in wooing your girl. If you haven’t exchanged the ‘L’ word yet but want to, here are some trust messages to make her fall in love:
Trust message to make her fall in love
81. If I could wish for one thing in life, I’d wish for you to see yourself through my eyes. Only then would you realize how special you are to me. 82. I hope to be the reason for your beautiful smile every day 83. So far, every moment we’ve spent together has been awesome. But I promise you, that the best is yet to come. 84. Do you have any idea how much I miss you every second of the day that we’re not together? 85. Whenever my phone rings, I hope it’s you. 86. Everytime I get a message from you, I smile at my phone like an idiot. 87. Being with you has made me a better person. Thank you so much for that. 88. I want to make you the happiest woman in the world. 89. Every time we embrace, I feel on top of the world. I love you. 90. Sometimes it feels like I’m dreaming, but then I realize it’s all real. Thank you for being mine! 91. I love you. Whatever comes our way and whatever happens, we’re in this together. 92. No matter how dull my days go, your presence makes everything in my life colorful. 93. When I see myself twenty years down the line, I see you sitting next to me 94. You’re my strength. You’re a woman every man would want by her side 95. You’re not an option. You’re my priority 96. Every moment I spend with you is my favorite 97. I’ve only got eyes for you 98. I am yours, today and always
99. I love to be myself when you are around me because you never judge me 100. There is nothing you could do that could stop me from loving you 101. One day, we will be holding each other’s wrinkled hands and expressing, “we did it.” 102. When I met you, everything made sense 103. Whenever I face a difficult situation, I look at you and it makes me feel better 104. I can climb a thousand mountains to see you smile 105. I found no other love story more magnetic than us. I can tell our story again and again to anyone. I love you, baby 106. I promise to love you till I get wrinkles and my teeth start falling out 107. Your gorgeous eyes have pierced my heart and made me fall for you 108. As long as I am alive, my heart will beat for you 109. I had no idea what it was like to want someone this badly 110. You are the biggest dream that came true for me. You are my everything 111. I have given you my heart, mind, and soul 112. How lucky am I to have fallen in love with my best friend? 113. My life feels complete whenever I see you around 114. I wish to walk with you on the beach, holding hands today and forever 115. I was missing something in my life. I didn’t know it was you until I met you 116. Each moment spent with you is a treasure 117. No matter what life throws at us, I will be by your side. You are the woman for me 118. I love your strength, your courage, your mind 119. You are the only person I want to spend my life with 120. I had given up on love but then you changed everything for me
Long text messages that will make her want you
Not all texts need to be short and sweet. Long romantic messages show that you’ve put in effort to make your girl’s day, and putting in effort is a very attractive trait. Here are some long text messages that will make her want you:
Long text message that will make her want you
121. You are a breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine in this journey of life. 122. Since the time I’ve met you, my life has become a better place; I laugh a little harder and smile a bit brighter, just because I have you. 123. I can spend an eternity with my arms wrapped around you;I never want to let you go. 124. You are a beautiful person, inside and out. I am so lucky to have you as my partner. 125. If someone were to ask me about my ideal wife, I would just say your name. You have surpassed all my expectations. 126. I have never felt so amazing about any girl before. We have a connection that can’t be described in words. 127. At first glance, I knew you were going to be mine. I thank God every day for making it come true. 128. You make me feel like the most special man on Earth 129. To find love is to find joy, peace and happiness. All these have existed in my life ever since you became my partner. 130. You make every moment a memory that I will cherish forever 131. You’re the first person I want to tell when things go wrong and when they go right 132. Every single morning I thank God for you 133. Just like a boat with no sailor, I feel the same in your absence-—completely lost 134. All you have to do is show up to make my day so much better 135. From the moment we met, I knew you would be mine and I would be yours for the rest of our days 136. We drive each other crazy sometimes, but we always work our way back to each other 137. Meeting you was the event that changed my life forever. I can’t wait to see what our future holds for us 138. We are meant to be together, and I cannot imagine a single moment without you 139. You are the most beautiful flower in my garden. Keep blossoming and keep filling my life with fragrance. 140. I wish I had met you earlier, because life would have been so much more fun. Now that you are with me, I never want to let you go
141. There are seven wonders in this beautiful world. But I’m sure they’ve missed the eighth one — you. 142. Baby, your smile is like the radiance of the sun that can melt any cold stone heart, just like mine. 143. Although the night sky may seem magical, nothing is more magical than you 144. You are my sunrise, and I love you more with every passing day 145. In your arms, I found my world. In your eyes, I found myself 146. Honey, you have captured my mind. From waking up to going to sleep, I keep thinking about you. 147. Holding your hands and hearing your voice makes me feel as though I could live forever 148. You are like a constellation in the night sky. Looking at you fills me with wonder and awe 149. You are an evergreen flower that will never wither 150. You are the missing piece in my puzzle. With you, my heart feels complete and my love knows no bounds 151. You are the missing piece in my puzzle. With you, my heart feels complete and my love knows no bounds 152. My love for you is like a never-ending melody that resonates in my soul. You are my greatest inspiration 153. When you smile at me, I feel like I am flying higher than any bird. When you kiss me, it feels like drowning in a sea of bliss 154. Every time I imagine you close to me, my heart skips a few beats. Your sweet smile, pretty eyes, fragrant hair, everything is beautiful to me 155. There’s just no end to the things I want to do with you. I want to walk with your hand in mine. I want to pull you into a street corner and make out till the taste of your lips sticks on mine. I want to feel your body close to me every night I drift to sleep 156. Every second that you’re close to me, I feel like I am in heaven. Just being in your presence makes me think I can touch the sky 157. There’s no one else I desire but you. You have slowly become my entire universe—the love that defines my existence. Now, my heart is yours forever 158. I find you special because the entire universe conspired to delicately place you in my life 159. A life without you feels like an ocean without water and a body without a brain. I am nothing without you, my darling. 160. You are the first and last thought each day, my sun, moon, and stars rolled into one. I want to be the source of your happiness, my princess
Charming text messages for her
Whether you are in the talking stage, in a relationship, or already married, a cute text is a fool-proof plan to make your girl smile. Here are some examples of charming text messages for her to help you out:
Charming text message for her
161. I realized fairy tales can come true when I found you. 162. Your voice is music to my ears. 163. Only hearing your name is enough to give me butterflies. 164. You’re my paradise. 165. Your smile is the cutest thing in the world. 166. If you were a movie, I’d watch you over and over again. 167. You make my heart melt! 💕 168. They say nothing lasts forever. Can I be your nothing? 169. Whoever said nobody is perfect clearly didn’t meet you. 170. I always wake up smiling. I think it’s your fault. 171. A million kisses to my favorite lady. 172. Just thinking about you puts a smile on my face. 173. You’re cuter than any cat picture 🐈 174. If Van Gogh had you as a subject, the sunflowers didn’t stand a chance🌻🌻🌻 175. Can I borrow a kiss? I promise to give it back 😘 176. If I were a stop light 🚦, I would turn red every time you passed by, so that I could stare at you a bit longer. 177. Treat yo’ self… to an evening with me! 178. We go together like peanut butter and jelly 179. You. Me. Chocolate. The perfect love triangle 180. I love you to infinity
181. Missing your beautiful face already 182. You are one in a million, baby 183. You’re the right person for me! 184. You and I are the same kind of strange 185. Our story isn’t a high-tech thriller, but our little narrative has its charms 186. We are cute together 187. If I could, I would send you thousands of kisses over the phone 188. Baby, you have the purest soul I have ever met 189. Thinking of you and smiling 190. The sound of your voice magically makes my day better 191. Just thinking of you makes me smile even on a busy day 192. I need to look for a doctor because when I see you, I lose control over my mind 193. The way you touch me sends shivers down my spine. 194. Nothing in the world is as sweet as you, not even honey 195. Seeing your wallpaper on my phone makes me smile like a fool 196. It is incredibly impossible not to think about you 197. Hey, stop coming into my dreams. Come to my home instead 198. If I were an artist, all my canvases would be filled with your face 199. All I need is you right here 200. You are the embodiment of perfection because I can’t find a single fault in you
If you’ve recently got a girl’s number and are not confident about texting her, don’t worry. Knowing how to write romantic text messages that will make her want you badly takes practice. Here are some tips on how to text a girl.
Tips on how to text a girl
FAQs
1. How can I touch her heart with words?
The key is to be genuine. Whether you use someone else’s quotes or write your own, make sure you mean them. Here are some prompts you can use to compose words to describe someone you love:
Be specific: Compliment her eye color, hairstyle, beauty marks, freckles, etc. Don’t get hung up on appearance only. Show admiration for her humor, intelligence, kindness, etc. Tell her how she adds value to your life. Show how much you cherish her
2. How do I emotionally connect with a girl over text?
Here are some tips:
Be vulnerable Share your personal experiences Have some deep conversations Text frequently, don’t disappear for long periods of time without any notice
3. How do you make a girl feel for you over text?
Be confident Be silly and have fun Use humor Keep your tone positive and enthusiastic; don’t make her feel like it’s a burden to text her
To sum up
Getting a girl’s number is just the beginning. How you text her later plays a great role in determining whether or not she says yes to a relationship. Sprinkle some occasional romantic text messages that will make her want you badly. Even in committed relationships or marriages, texts are a great tool to keep the spark alive. So go ahead, text your lady something sweet and make her smile.
Both Russia and Venezuela have blocked access to the encrypted messaging app Signal, .
The Russian news service broke the news about the block on the Signal app in Russia. Russia’s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor restricted the app due to “violations of the requirements of the Russian legislation whose fulfillment is necessary to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes,” according to the Russian report.
The cybersecurity tracker on Friday that Russia has restricted access to Signal “on most internet providers.” NetBlocks also noted the app “remains usable with ‘censorship circumvention’ enabled” in Signal’s settings echoing to users who’ve been blocked from their messages in both regions .
The blocking of Signal in Venezuela occurred in the long shadow of the country’s disputed presidential election results from the end of July. Venezuela’s electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner without publishing any evidence of his win, sparking protests from detractors and supporters of Maduro’s opponent Edmundo González, according to the .
Both regions have been cutting off access to other similar social media apps possibly as a way to quiet dissenting voices. earlier today for a period of 10 days claiming that the company’s owner Elon Musk was inciting hatred and “violated” his social network’s rules. also reported a “mass YouTube outage” in Russia on Thursday.
That’s the kind of immediately regrettable text you’ll now be able to salvage on Android Messages. This week, Google announced a bunch of new features coming to its Android mobile platform, and perhaps most useful among them is the ability to edit messages after they’ve been sent.
The update is for Google’s default Messages app, and works pretty much the same way the edit option functions in other messaging apps like WhatsApp. Once a text is sent, tap and hold on the message, then when the menu pops up, tap Edit. There, you can fix your frightening textual faux pas and help to cultivate a world of clearer communication.
Courtesy of Google
There are a couple of caveats. You can only edit messages within 15 minutes after sending them (just like in WhatsApp) and once you do a small bit of fine print will appear by the timestamp saying that the message was edited. Of course, the recipient will still see all your embarrassing typos if they are prompt enough to view the message before you can change it.
The other Android updates Google announced this week include better smart home controls, the ability to switch between devices mid-call, and more WearOS controls for devices like Google’s Pixel Watch.
Here’s some other news from around the consumer tech world.
Car Thing Refunds
Spotify says it will refund any of its users who bought a Car Thing, the company’s first and only hardware device that was released in 2022. Spotify discontinued the Car Thing just a few months after its launch, and it announced this month that it would be disabling all the devices by the end of 2024. The company initially said it wouldn’t be offering replacements or refunds for the dashboard-mounted music streaming box, but after significant customer backlash, Spotify relented. Or at least has softened its stance, even though it hasn’t exactly guaranteed refunds for the $90 device. (Instead, the company says customers can contact customer service and request a refund.)
It’s not a great look for Spotify, which is now facing a class action lawsuit from Car Thing users who are frustrated the company decided to stop supporting the device entirely.
Amazon’s Drones Take Off
Amazon’s delivery drone program had all but crashed and burned in recent years, as it has struggled with slow or botched deliveries and an inability to convince the Federal Aviation Administration to let it expand. But the Everything Company’s drones may be able to find some new lift at last, as the company says it has successfully gotten FAA approval to fly some drones out of line of sight of the operator, which could significantly expand their operations.
Amazon’s quest for delivery dominance has caused it to make some questionable ethical decisions, like making it more complicated for users to opt out of Amazon Prime or making its employees work so hard they have to pee in bottles.
Even with this green light for takeoff some problems still exist that may keep the drones grounded, like the fact that there might not even be much customer interest in the program, or the fact that the drones struggle to fly on especially hot days.
Richard Mille Scores an Ace
The new new RM 27-05, a collaboration between Richard Mille and tennis star Rafa Nadal.
Photograph: Richard Mille
Let’s be honest, collaborations between watch brands and celebrities are usually pointless. But no such criticism can be aimed at what Richard Mille and Rafael Nadal have been doing for the last 14 years. The original RM 027, the pair’s collaboration that launched in 2010, started things off as they were destined to continue, showcasing increasingly audacious missions to go ever more lightweight, rugged, and just plain technically crazy. The RM 027 weighed less than 20 grams, then the RM 27-01 just 18.83 grams. In 2015 came a new case architecture. The 2017 RM 27-03 boasted 10,000 gs of shock resistance. Then, in 2020, the RM 27-04 punched this shock resistance up to 12,000 gs.
The new RM 27-05 continues the lightweight battle—remove the straps and it comes in at 11.5 grams. This is thanks in part to the monoblock case made of Carbon TPT B.4, a material previously used in Formula 1 race cars. Compared to normal Carbon TPT, B.4 is denser, the fibers are stiffer, and the resin is around 30 percent tougher. What does this mean? Thinner pieces can be machined, so you get weight reduction without losing rigidity. The manual movement inside has been shaved down to be lighter, too, and is 0.6 millimeters thinner.
Finally, to make sure all was well, the RM 27-05 underwent a series of tests no watch should be subjected to: vertical and horizontal shocks, and 300 g accelerations. Yes, it’s limited to 80 pieces, but when you consider each one costs $1,150,000, Richard Mille should recoup the considerable development costs.
WIRED’s Jeremy White contributed this writeup of the RM 27-05.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
By next year, people around the world will send and receive 376 billion emails every day. Inboxes are jam-packed, so capturing your customers’ attention is only getting harder. Want to stand out and get more clicks? Stop obsessing about your subject lines. Instead, focus on email relevance and quality.
A ZeroBounce report suggests that 47% of people open a brand email not because of the subject line but because they always get relevant messages from that brand. Subject lines come second in enticing someone to open an email, the report shows, based on a survey of American and European email users.
So, how can you make your emails better, deliver constant value and boost your metrics? Here are eight habits to adopt today.
1. Make sure people recognize you
Since email open rates often hinge on trust in the sender, you must be instantly recognizable in people’s inboxes. Make sure your “From” name is consistent across all the different types of marketing emails you send. For instance, if your sales team contacts prospects, their “From” name should reflect your brand, such as “Paul from Entrepreneur” instead of “Paul Jones.”
The value your emails deliver carries the most weight, but it will only make an impact if you send those emails regularly. To determine your sending schedule, be realistic: How many emails can you commit to? If all you can send is one newsletter a month, that’s fine — as long as you show up in the inbox like clockwork.
3. Segment your email list
Sending the same email to all your subscribers is unlikely to drive engagement. Your customers are in various stages in their journey with your business. Some may be new sign-ups yet to make a purchase, while others are regular customers. Use filters to create separate groups and reach out with emails that make sense to each segment.
4. Personalize each message
Segmenting your email list is the first step to email personalization. But if you want to build further trust in your brand, make every subscriber feel as if you wrote that email just for them. Address their pain points and provide easy ways to alleviate them. Offer fresh ideas and content that caters directly to their needs. This approach fosters a deeper, instant connection.
5. Listen to your audience
Want to improve your email content overnight and increase engagement? Dive into your customer support tickets, social media channels and industry forums to find out exactly what people are discussing. If you host webinars, save all the questions people ask in the chat. Gather all this info in a document, and you’ll have a steady stream of relevant topics in your emails.
28% of the email users ZeroBounce surveyed said the length of an email doesn’t matter as long as that email is tailored to them. Once again, we see how important segmentation and personalization are. However, 66% stated they prefer short emails, so if you can make your emails both relevant and short, you’ll get higher open rates. Bonus: you’ll probably spend less time on your email marketing.
7. Infuse warmth into your tone
Before you send your next email, take a moment to read it out loud. Ask yourself, does it sound like a conversation you’d have with your customers in person? Corporate jargon can be a communication barrier. Consider toning it down and infusing your emails with more warmth and personality. In the age of AI, sounding more human helps you stand out.
8. Make unsubscribing easy
Allowing subscribers to leave your email list easily isn’t just sensible; it’s also a critical email deliverability rule. Recent sending requirements from Google and Yahoo emphasize that people should be able to unsubscribe from emails with just one click. Consult with your email marketing platform and test your unsubscribe process. If you don’t follow this rule, you may see a spike in spam complaints, which can relegate your emails to the spam folder.
Bonus tips: ensure your emails arrive in the inbox
Adopting the good habits above will give you a boost in clicks, but imagine putting all this effort into your emails only for them to land in spam. To help them go to the inbox, remember to:
Remove invalid contacts and avoid bounces – your bounce rate should never exceed 2%.
Authenticate your emails to comply with Google and Yahoo‘s requirements.
To prevent spam complaints, avoid emailing people who haven’t given you permission.
Finally, sending emails from a reliable platform is critical to your email deliverability. Choose a trustworthy company and get expert advice if you suspect your emails aren’t landing in the inbox.
Instant messaging app Signal is best known for its privacy-related settings, though with phone numbers being the heart of the platform since its inception, there was no way to fully hide your own number until now. Earlier today, Signal announced that you’ll soon be able to create a unique username (not to be mistaken with your profile name), which you can share with others via a link or QR code — as opposed to sharing your number. You’ll be able to change your unique username as often as you want, but it needs to contain two or more numbers at the end, as part of Signal’s anti-spoofing efforts. You can even delete your username entirely, as it is an optional feature.
Naturally, you’ll still need a phone number to sign up for Signal, but note that with the new default, your number will no longer be visible to everyone (you can change this setting manually, if needed). There will also be a new option which prevents people from finding you by your number; they will need to have your exact unique username to do so. In other words, people who already have your number won’t necessarily know that you are also on Signal, which is a good thing if you prefer to stay anonymous in this platform’s public groups.
As is the case with any new feature, the likes of spammers and scammers will eventually find a way to abuse usernames, as you won’t be able to verify their numbers instantly. Pro tip: when you see new contacts that appear to be your acquaintances, always double check with them through other means — preferably in person, or at least via a phone call. You may look out for these new Signal features in a few weeks’ time, or you can get an early taste in the beta release.
The third new feature, which is not enabled by default and which Signal recommends mainly for high-risk users, allows you to turn off not just your number’s visibility but its discoverability. That means no one can find you in Signal unless they have your username, even if they already know your number or have it saved in their address book. That extra safeguard might be important if you don’t want anyone to be able to tie your Signal profile to your phone number, but it will also make it significantly harder for people who know you to find you on Signal.
The new phone number protections should now make it possible to use Signal to communicate with untrusted people in ways that would have previously presented serious privacy risks. A reporter can now post a Signal username on a social media profile to allow sources to send encrypted tips, for instance, without also sharing a number that allows strangers to call their cell phone in the middle of the night. An activist can discreetly join an organizing group without broadcasting their personal number to people in the group they don’t know.
In the past, using Signal without exposing a private number in either of those situations would have required setting up a new Signal number on a burner phone—a difficult privacy challenge for people in many countries that require identification to buy a SIM card—or with a service like Google Voice. Now you can simply set a username instead, which can be changed or deleted at any time. (Any conversations you’ve started with the old username will switch over to the new one.) To avoid storing even those usernames, Signal is also using a cryptographic function called a Ristretto hash, which allows it to instead store a list of unique strings of characters that encode those handles.
Amid these new features designed to calibrate exactly who can learn your phone number, however, one key role for that number hasn’t changed: There’s still no way to avoid sharing your phone number with Signal itself when you register. The fact that this requirement persists even after Signal’s upgrade will no doubt rankle some critics who have pushed Signal’s developers to better cater to users seeking more complete anonymity, such that even Signal’s own staff can’t see a phone number that might identify users or hand that number over to a surveillance agency wielding a court order.
Whittaker says that, for better or worse, a phone number remains a necessary requisite as the identifier Signal privately collects from its users. That’s partly because it prevents spammers from creating endless accounts since phone numbers are scarce. Phone numbers are also what allow anyone to install Signal and have it immediately populate with contacts from their address book, a key element of its usability.
In fact, designing a system that prevents spam accounts and imports the user’s address book without requiring a phone number is “a deceptively hard problem,” says Whittaker. “Spam prevention and actually being able to connect with your social graph on a communications app—those are existential concerns,” she says. “That’s the reason that you still need a phone number to register, because we still need a thing that does that work.”
WordPress.com and Tumblr owner Automattic is adding another company to its portfolio with today’s news that it’s acquired the all-in-one messaging app Texts.com for $50 million. The app brings all your messaging apps together in a single dashboard, including iMessage, Slack, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Messenger, LinkedIn, Signal, Discord, and X, with plans for more in the future, a company blog post announced.
Though other companies have tried to do something similar — like Beeper — Texts.com offers end-to-end encryption of your chats and other features users have always wanted, like the ability to schedule messages at a time that’s convenient for the recipient, not just for you. In addition, you can mark messages as unread even on services that don’t offer that feature, allowing you to remember to check that message again when you return, as well as get summaries of long group chats you’ve missed.
The company explained its interest in the messaging platform in an announcement, saying that the acquisition allows it to move into a “fourth market that’s integral to the modern web experience: messaging.”
With the acquisition, Texts.com founder Kishan Bagaria will join the company as the new head of messaging, along with the rest of the distributed Texts.com team.
The Verge first reported the news of the acquisition.
Speaking to the Pivot podcast, Automattic owner Matt Mullenweg explained that, in part, some of the desire for the deal was born out of personal frustration — everyone has multiple messaging apps, and it’s hard to track who you messaged on each one.
“I found myself sort of getting very behind and so went out in the market and actually Automattic ended up making some investments in this space over the last few years, including in Element, which is a Matrix company,Beeper, which is another app, which has some similar things, but differently, and came across Texts, and was really just taken with the product,” he explained.
In addition, he said he likes to work in areas that you can spend the rest of your life on.
But Mullenweg also pointed to the current regulatory framework as something that made the deal more viable. With the EU regulations, he believed that it would be more difficult for Apple, Google, and Meta to block a smaller player like Texts because it’s user-centric, runs client-side, and is 100% encrypted.
“So it’s just as secure as their desktop apps,” he said. (Apple has fought against opening up its iOS platform to third-party app stores because they’re less secure than its own. It couldn’t make that same argument with Texts.com).
Mullenweg also believes that putting a messaging app in the hands of a company like Automattic — a sizable company not one considered a part of “Big Tech,” — will allow it to develop Texts more quickly and maintain its focus. He suggested that big companies, like Google, often don’t get messaging right. (In fact, Google had so many different messaging initiatives at one point, it became a running joke). Plus, iMessage has been locked into the Apple ecosystem which excludes people from participating, if they don’t have an iPhone or Mac. U.S. teens, in particular, are locked into the Apple universe because of the blue bubbles, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.
The Automattic founder also said that Texts.com fits into the company because of its user-centric values tied to the way it tries to support everything people use for messaging.
“As users, we use all these things. And the companies want to pretend you don’t, but we all do. So that’s also something we’ve taken a big approach for…we just tried to integrate with everything. Open source also makes it easy, because people can write plugins for anything,” he said. “So I think if you keep those three things in mind, you can compete with the big guys, and in fact, thrive.”
Texts.com isn’t yet open to the public, but a waitlist is available.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It’s a common issue among businesses of all sizes, startups and franchises. It plagues the customer experience, strains sales teams, and overcomplicates or creates unnecessary billing. What may have started with simplicity in mind after staying on the core of your messaging has turned into expanded service offerings, sometimes without clear reasoning or need. An overcomplication of products or services, typically by adding too many, depleting servicing of the core offerings, and other complications arise, removing the ease of access and simplicity the core customer base has enjoyed. All can lead to a drop in sales, dissatisfaction, and, if prolonged, continued loss of market share.
Why do businesses stray from simplifying their services?
Too many startups and businesses get stuck in this ongoing trap of trying to match competitors or thinking that more products or services increase sales. Competing franchises commonly do this with benefits and even product or service naming. The constant pull to innovate, offer and announce something new, and be more top of mind to intended audiences can pull businesses into continuous change and unique offerings that distract from the excellent, existing services already offered. Additionally, efforts towards brand realignment or placing the entire brand into new messaging that aligns differently from the core audience regarding values, market segment, or need can cause significant disruption or even PR nightmares.
What can be done to maintain a balanced service offering and customer experience?
There will always be a need to innovate, better serve an existing customer base, and maintain market share in an ever-increasingly volatile market. Constant change will remain consistent. However, that does not mean that every brand’s reaction to change is a change of its own. Depending on the market segment, consistency may be the best, most profitable strategy to stand out in the loud noise of change from competitors.
In business, and frankly, in life, there is sometimes nothing easier than reacting to change with more change. Change occurs for no reason, an impulse to change for the sake of change (without strategy), or change because someone (likely a competitor) is changing or revamping their offerings to the market. Just because someone else is embarking on change for the sake of change does not mean your business should also change. Best steps first — map or remap your customer experience strategy.
Start with breaking down barriers for your current customer base. If a startup, a vital part of any customer experience strategy right after mapping how customers find you is how easy it is for those potential customers to purchase first, purchase well (best fit for their needs), and purchase again. Start to build key messaging around how your startup fills a need better than what is currently available and how your services are more accessible to utilize than anyone else. Part of that key messaging should include a commitment to consistency and reliability with systems that continuously offer simplistic processes. As a startup, you are taking market share from others for a reason. When growth happens, remember what first propelled that growth.
For an existing business through the startup phase, the magic happens when simplicity can be maintained. New employees must be hired through launch and scale, and additional layers and systems are established. It is so easy to build layers that have added complications. With each layer, a founder or CEO must understand that it represents another wall between the customer base and revenue. While it is true that only some employees are customer-facing and even revenue-generating, their importance in keeping the business streamlined, simplistic, and consistent matters as much as hitting sales goals or keeping accounting up to date.
Stop trying to be everything to everybody. It is a phrase used often and commonly overlooked. If your startup or existing business is winning with clear key messaging, has a core audience that remains loyal and advocates for your brand, and scale looks like your brand continues to be a market leader for the solutions offered, do not let up on that core. Use it as a selling point in the sales strategy your brand incorporates. Too often, sales techniques and selling points sound more like an encyclopedia than bullet points of solutions. Or worse, service offerings are just repackaged solutions already offered that only add complexity and do not differentiate your brand from competitors.
A simplified sales strategy — including the sales funnel, offerings, and ease of customer access and journey through the sales process and service after the sale — is rare. Think about the last time you needed assistance from a massive Fortune 500 call center or online support. If the customer journey experience your brand has developed is a better experience over rivals, use it in sales! Most have been dissatisfied with service from others in the past, and it is overlooked by many in sales as a selling point.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Public messaging strategy for any startup or business must include a broad, audience-capturing strategy designed to build and keep a solid customer base. As entrepreneurs and startups, hours are spent planning strategies for public messaging and brand awareness. While time and money are well spent, in many cases, it assumes your family, friends, closest colleagues and collaborators, vendor partners, and other verticals understand what you do. Guess what: They probably do not. In many cases, clear messaging should start here.
Instead, many entrepreneurs immediately feel tasked with getting what they perceive as the “best messaging” to as many as possible. Mistakes, such as ad spending with no clear direction or strategy are made. We have all seen the little league sponsorship, billboard ads and ineffective social media ad buys. Before any spends are made, the strategy must come first.
For those lucky enough to start with referrals and a strong lead flow, build and own that before launching into costly campaigns, as it is almost always easier to build on an existing customer base than trying to spend time and money pursuing new audiences. While eventually necessary, maximize what you have before launching into new ad spends. For those who have to build from scratch or start with just a few core customers, it is vital that strategy comes first and consistency second. If what you do cannot be explained by your own family and closest friends and colleagues, how can the general public adequately explain or be compelled to purchase?
Start with your inner circle
First, you. Start over if you cannot explain the problem you solved in two to three sentences. Depending on how long it takes to explain, anything from key messaging to all-new brand strategy work may be needed. The fastest way to determine what is required is when working on the explanation or “elevator pitch,” how quickly can you get to the core of the message that the ideal customer will care about and visually see themselves benefiting, rather than the capabilities or capacity your business offers that you care about.
Far too often, entrepreneurs and founders get stuck in their messaging, using an ongoing explanation of features, capacities and how great the company or customer service is rather than directly addressing the customer’s need or problem. Every part of key messaging must be narrowly focused on solving customer problems, making better solutions for their needs and making the path to those solutions easy to utilize.
Second, speak with your inner circle. After multiple conversations, if your own family, friends and colleagues cannot adequately explain what you do and why you do it, how can a potential new investor or new customer?
This is a practical and undervalued way to start developing key messages and different sets of “elevator pitches” for different audiences, depending on the spread and diversity of your customer base. The best way to start is to choose those not involved in the same industry yet understand how vital getting key messaging right is to your business. While they may already understand some elements of your business beforehand, how you solve problems and provide solutions typically is not understood.
Consider this an inner circle focus group, and get them to ask questions and make suggestions. While not all will be helpful, you may be surprised by some of the responses, and if conducted properly, it will get you thinking about how much is being left on the table regarding sales with a lack of understanding from your customer base.
Third, customer base. Your customer base should be your most vital referral partners, with vendors a close second. Do they fully understand everything offered by your business to purchase more than what they currently are and to start referring others?
Too often, startups in growth mode want to push to gain more traction with a broader audience without first building on the existing audience currently purchasing. Start by asking this question: Has the purchasing power of the existing customer base been maximized, and is our public messaging strategy working to pursue this outcome? Does the existing customer base feel your brand’s value and see increased spending on higher-cost goods and services as an investment and a better purchase?
How do key messaging, education of services and brand positioning employed by your business produce outcomes where existing customers would recommend not only purchasing from you but purchasing higher priced and better-valued goods and services repeatedly?
Build with public messaging strategy
Every successful marketing strategy must include a solid public messaging component that presents to the right audience the problems solved and the solutions offered. Without it, you may have the best solutions to save millions for other businesses or organizations. Yet, only some will understand how those solutions directly help or address their problems or needs.
Public messaging must capture a feeling of value, preferably by finding a space where your brand is seen as the only or the best place to purchase. From there, messaging must own that value, hold onto it and consistently tell that story repeatedly.
IRL (short for “In Real Life”) had big plans for the future of social network messaging. The concept hinged on the idea that IRL would facilitate more in-person meetups and events through shared calendars, polls, public community pages, and more.
In June 2021, nearly two years after launching, IRL announced 400% growth over a 15-month period, more than $200 million in funding, and that it achieved “unicorn status” with a $1.17 billion valuation (unicorn status refers to companies that reach $1 billion in valuation without being on the stock market).
“That’s a remarkable amount of money for an app with roughly 12 million monthly users and no revenue,” The Verge reported at the time, ironically foreshadowing the news that’s just come to light — IRL did not make money, and almost all of its users were fake, The Information reported on Friday.
Following an SEC investigation (which was initiated in December 2022), a spokesperson for IRL told the outlet that 95% of the app’s “20 million” users were “automated” or “bots.”
“Based on these findings, a majority of shareholders concluded that the company’s going forward prospects are unsustainable,” the spokesperson said, adding that IRL would be shutting down, per Fortune.
The collapse of the once-supposedly promising venture comes after a string of problems that arose earlier this year. In April, Nicholas Grant, a former employee at IRL, filed a complaint against the company, claiming it retaliated against him after voicing skepticism and concern over the accuracy of IRL’s user numbers.
That same month, IRL’s board of directors suspended CEO and co-founder, Abraham Shafi, following a report of an alleged “pattern of misconduct,” The Information reported. Shafi stepped down as CEO following the allegations.
Twitter is getting an upgrade with some brand-new features.
CEO Elon Musk took to the platform on Tuesday to announce the release of several new additions, including encrypted messages and calling.
With latest version of app, you can DM reply to any message in the thread (not just most recent) and use any emoji reaction.
Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow. This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if…
Encrypted direct messaging should be available to users as soon as Wednesday, and calls will follow at a later undisclosed date.
Musk first mentioned the addition of encrypted messaging in his “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App” plan in November 2022, after purchasing the platform in October 2022 for $44 billion.
Since taking over Twitter, Musk has implemented paid verification, which was mentioned in his November plan, and last month he added the option for users to buy and sell stocks on the platform through his partnership with social trading company eToro.
Musk has been under fire for his “hard-core” leadership style after former employees reported grueling hours and sleeping on office floors. Additionally, since taking the helm, he has laid off nearly 6,000 workers, an 80% reduction of the company’s staff.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
A successful public relations (PR) campaign should be a consistent, audience-building machine that helps you reach your target audience while sharing a positive message about your brand. Getting media coverage is a great way to raise awareness for your company and can help you attract new investors or customers. Before you start sending out news releases and pitching story ideas to reporters, it’s essential to take a step back and define what success looks like for your campaign.
Many entrepreneurs believe their business idea is so good that it should be in every media outlet. However, this is not a feasible or realistic goal. To have a successful PR campaign, you need to start with strategy and be realistic about what can be accomplished. You need to have messaging that goes beyond describing what problems your business solves. You need to explain why it matters. Additionally, you need to determine how you will measure success.
The best way to ensure a successful PR campaign is to bring on a trusted PR firm or PR expert to advise your company on the best steps. Beginning with a sound strategy, a PR advisor can map out realistic benchmarks and expectations, and they will have solid media connections to ensure a successful campaign.
When starting a new PR campaign, your company needs to reach the right audience and determine what action that audience takes upon hearing your message. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive traffic to your website? Boost sales of a specific product or service? Once you’ve determined your goal, you can start thinking about how best to measure success.
Identifying your target audience is another critical step. After all, there’s no sense in reaching people who are not interested in what you do. When you know who you’re trying to reach, you can create messaging that resonates with them and pitch story ideas that will capture their attention. You should also have a good idea of which media outlets will reach the most significant number of people in your target audience. A solid PR firm can help determine which publications will be best and likely has ties with them that ensure the timing of your message reaching readers lines up with your goals and overall strategy.
Your public relations strategy should focus on which journalists and media outlets are most likely to be interested in your story and will reach your target audience. Remember that PR is a long game — it’s not just about getting one story placed in a top-tier publication. A well-executed PR campaign will secure multiple placements in targeted media outlets over time. This will increase your chances of reaching your target audience and achieving your desired business objectives.
Messaging
Secondly, what is the best approach for the story? Beyond describing what problems your business solves, do you have messaging explaining why it matters? Your message should be clear, concise and engaging enough that someone who knows nothing about your company will want to read more.
Your messaging should also address the following questions:
Who are you trying to reach?
How are you going to help them?
Why should they care?
Answering these questions will help focus your PR efforts and ensure your message resonates with your target audience. Creating targeted messages for different audiences will make it easier for reporters and editors to understand how your company can fit into their stories.
How do you determine success? Review your goals from the start of planning your PR campaign. Did you and your PR team or firm set goals or benchmarks for the number of media outlets that run your story? Or the quality of articles written about your business? While coverage in high-profile publications is always nice, it’s not necessarily indicative of a successful PR campaign. Keep your overall strategy in mind and look to it to determine success.
You can use several different metrics, but the most important thing is to choose ones that align with your overall goal. For example, suppose you’re trying to increase brand awareness. In that case, you might track social media mentions or the number of people who visit your website after seeing an article about your company. Or if boosting sales is your primary objective, then tracking conversion rates would be more appropriate. Once you’ve selected the metrics you’ll use, make sure to establish baseline numbers so you can track progress over time.
A more effective way to measure success is by looking at whether or not your PR efforts are helping you achieve specific business objectives —such as generating leads, increasing web traffic, or boosting sales. Keep track of metrics such as web traffic referrals from media placements and conversion rates from press mentions to understand better how your PR campaigns are performing. This data can then be used to adjust future campaigns accordingly. If you don’t have specific objectives before launching a PR campaign, it will be difficult to measure its success.
A successful PR campaign requires strategy, targeted messaging, and evaluation against specific objectives to be truly effective. A successful PR campaign depends on having clear goals, knowing your target audience, and choosing success measures that align with those goals. By planning your campaign strategy and defining what a successful campaign looks like upfront, you’ll be in a much better position to achieve your desired results.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Going from unknown to must-have in your client acquisition process can be a challenging task. But it is not impossible. By following a few simple steps, you can increase your sales and become an authority in your industry. Below are three easy steps that anyone can follow to achieve this goal:
1. Targeting
When it comes to selling your product or service, choosing the right audience is crucial. It will help ensure that you’re offering a solution to a problem that your potential customers actually have. And it will also increase the chances of making a sale.
First and foremost, it’s important to have a clear understanding of who your ideal customer is. This will require some research and analysis of your current customer base, as well as a deep dive into the needs and pain points of your target audience.
Once you have a better understanding of who your ideal customer is, it’s time to start narrowing down your target audience even further. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as demographics, interests and behavior.
When crafting your messaging, it’s important to keep your target audience in mind. Catering your messaging to the stage of the buyer’s journey that your average customer is at is crucial. For example, your average customer doesn’t yet understand the problem that your product or service solves. Then it’s not effective to talk about how awesome your offering is. Instead, focus on educating and informing your audience about the problem and how your solution can help.
Once you’ve honed in on the right messaging for your audience, it’s important to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Most businesses use similar phrasing, deliverables and outcomes when describing how they can help customers. By changing just one of these aspects, you can create an uneven playing field and tilt the odds in your favor. For example, offering a performance-based model or pay-on-completion pricing can set you apart from competitors and make you more attractive to potential customers.
3. Leveraging press
When it comes to marketing and growing a business, leveraging public relations can be one of the most effective strategies. Not only does it increase brand credibility, but if done right it has the potential for short- and long-term lead generation results. Boosting personal and company reputation attracts and converts qualified sales leads at an increased rate compared to competitors. Utilizing press with a well-oiled sales and marketing funnel is like adding the cherry on top to a gourmet cake.
Boosting your personal and company reputation through press can attract and convert qualified sales leads at an increased rate compared to competitors. Utilizing press with a well-oiled sales and marketing funnel is like adding the cherry on top to a gourmet cake.
So, how can you effectively leverage press within your business? Here are some tips:
Identify your target audience and develop a plan to reach them. This includes determining which publications and outlets your audience reads or watches, as well as identifying relevant journalists and influencers to target.
Create a press kit that includes all the necessary information about your business, such as your mission and vision, key differentiators and any recent accomplishments or newsworthy events. Make sure to include high-resolution photos and branding materials.
Develop a list of compelling story angles that showcase your business in a positive light and highlight the value you provide to your customers. These can include customer success stories, industry trends and expert insights from your team.
Reach out to journalists and influencers with a personalized pitch that outlines your story angle and the value it offers to their audience. Be sure to follow up with them to ensure they receive your press kit and to answer any questions they may have.
Monitor your press coverage and track its impact on your business. This will help you identify which outlets and stories are generating the most engagement and leads, and can inform future PR efforts.
By following these tips, you can effectively leverage press to increase brand credibility and generate leads for your business. In today’s competitive landscape, standing out from the competition is crucial and leveraging press can be a powerful tool in achieving that goal.
In conclusion, going from unknown to must-have in your client acquisition process requires a combination of targeted messaging, effective positioning, leveraging press and building a community. By following these steps, you can increase your sales and become an authority in your industry.
