Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways More marketing doesn’t always mean more customers. Businesses often lose revenue through poor targeting, unclear positioning, missed leads and weak conversion processes. Distinguish visibility from buying intent, make your value proposition easier to understand, audit the handoff from inquiry to conversation, and stop celebrating conversions that don’t create customers. Calculate the economics after the sale, treat retention as part of growth strategy, bring sales, marketing and operations to the same table, and run a controlled test before raising the budget. There is a conversation I have had many times with…
Author: Staff Writer
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways A flat, AI-generated talking head can earn a view without ever earning trust. Faking a customer or owner can cost far more than a film crew, and you may not even own the result. Give every story an arc, then film the life your people describe, not just the interview. Last month, I stood in a breakout room at a franchise conference and played three videos for a small group of brand leaders. The first was an AI-generated ad: a woman with perfect abs, a glowing bottle of juice, four…
The U.S. government isn’t doing enough to fight the surge in cyberscams, and partnerships with the private sector remain fragmented and voluntary, an investigation into the global scam industry led by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress has found.The government doesn’t even have a unified accounting of how much money has been seized from overseas scam compounds, nor how much has been returned to victims, according to the report, released Tuesday by ranking Democrats Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Don Beyer.Citing findings from a yearlong investigation into global scams by The Associated Press and FRONTLINE, the report called…
People often underestimate some expenses when planning for retirement. In my conversations with older adults about their in-retirement finances, they’ve repeatedly mentioned the cost of dental care. The reasons are straightforward: Our teeth get worse as we age, and yet dental care isn’t covered by Medicare (except for emergency dental procedures for people who are hospitalized).There are three main avenues to covering dental costs during retirement: dental insurance, a Medicare Advantage program that covers dental care, and paying out of pocket. Buying stand-alone dental insurance Older adults can purchase stand-alone dental insurance with monthly premiums typically around $25 to $50.…
Lego recently announced that Daft Punk, the French electronic duo that split up in 2021, is entering the Lego universe in a partnership that spans “product, content and brand experiences.” What the brick is this, you ask? Yet another damn licensing deal, now absurdly mashed up with a defunct electronica band? As much as I dislike Lego’s reliance on IP licensing, this one makes all the sense in the world from a pure creative philosophy perspective. After speaking with Daft Punk’s and Lego’s creative leads, I think this is a contender for Lego’s best collab yet. [Image: Lego] The first…
Yesterday, Apple released a significant new software update for the iPhone: iOS 27.2 is packed with new features and bug fixes, adding more functionality to your phone. But the software’s greatest enhancements bring new functionality to the company’s new artificial intelligence chatbot, Siri AI. Here’s what you need to know. Siri AI gets smarter and more capable When Apple released iOS 27 last month, it included dozens of improvements to the iPhone’s operating system. But by far the star feature of iOS 27 was the completely revamped Siri AI. The new chatbot is Apple’s attempt to compete with more entrenched,…
According to Ipsos, two-thirds of American marketers would fail a basic marketing test. The market research company’s study found that most marketers couldn’t answer even basic questions about the fundamentals of their own profession. Fully 40% didn’t know what “positioning” meant, 54% didn’t know what “above the line” meant, and half didn’t know what “penetration” meant. Not surprisingly, the study sparked panic in the form of dozens of articles and Linkedin thought pieces blaming the decline in marketing fundamentals for everything from bad advertising to the discipline’s waning influence within the corporate hierarchy. Rather than add to the fearmongering, I’d…
Thirty-four days before reporting to federal prison, Elizabeth Holmes opened her private life to a film crew. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim kept filming for about three years, and the result, You Can See Everything, opened in theaters this month to huge box office and wide acclaim. The title echoes a scene in which Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, promise the camera it can indeed see everything. The film invites a true-crime reading. But as someone who builds agentic customer experiences for brands, I see a story about how trust is won and what happens when the product can’t…
Why would anyone trust Meta? After all, this is the company that became the world’s avatar for shameless and exploitative data harvesting. The same data mastery that powers one of the most effective advertising platforms ever made also gave us Cambridge Analytica, whistleblowers like Frances Haugen and Sarah Wynn-Williams, and unflattering films like The Social Dilemma and, just this month, The Social Reckoning. In the Axios-Harris Poll 100, Meta scored a lowly 59.6, down in the basement with ByteDance and X. Publishers have their own reasons to be suspicious. Meta once vastly increased the reach of its properties, and even…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways The greatest value of data is the ability to understand, predict and influence behavior. When prediction becomes influence, people can be steered while believing they’re choosing freely. Leaders must decide where persuasion ends and manipulation begins. The same tools used to improve engagement can also cross ethical lines. Entrepreneurs should prioritize transparent, secure and accountable AI systems with clear permissions and verifiable actions to protect autonomy and build lasting trust. Most conversations about data focus on privacy. I believe that framing misses the larger issue. The real issue is autonomy.…