Humans are innately inclined to spontaneously create a whole image out of impartial or missing visual elements. Based on this level of visual processing called Gestalt, consumers perceive non-rectangular (vs. rectangular) product rating units to be incomplete after vertical cutting, affecting their decision-making.

Why should you care? By understanding how the design of rating/review elements influences product preference, you can strategise your visual marketing techniques to positively shift buyer behaviour in the desired direction. Either rectangular (specifically bar ratings) or non-rectangular (specifically star ratings) formats can be tactically adopted in your business by looking at rating distribution, by identifying the audience more susceptible to the visual rounding effect and ways in which this effect can be prevented when needed.

Your business has customers, but they're not all created equally. 
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Some customers might purchase one product or service and leave. Others become loyal supporters and purchase many products or repeat service purchases over the course of a year, or two, or more. Which customer is then more valuable to you? 

Obviously the second group, but you need to be measuring lifetime value to know that. You need to know if the audience you are attracting is increasing or decreasing this value for your business. The way to measure it is known as your CLV, or Customer Lifetime Value. Knowing the CLV for different customers will greatly help you with business decision-making and business profitability.

Using the CLV metric, you can also determine, among other things:

• What products/services are in demand by customers with the highest CLV.
• Which products/services have the highest profitability index.
• Who your most profitable types of clients are.
• Which customer relationships are driving more than 80% of your sales.
• How much you can afford to invest in acquiring similar customers with a good profit margin.
• The exact amount you forecast an average customer will be likely to purchase over time.
• How you can understand the likes, desires and reasons your most loyal customers purchase from you.
  

Guest post by Grant Polachek, head of branding at Squadhelp

A brand is more than just the personality your company has in the market; it’s the heart and soul of your business, and having a strong brand is essential to your success in 2023 and beyond. 
If you want to shoot for success as an entrepreneur, you must understand the importance of crafting a unique brand around your company and its products. 
Creating a unique brand will help you stand out from the competition and build trust with your customers. Therefore you must dedicate enough time to the process and make sure you get it right. 

In this article, we'll use our experience finding the best one word business names and offering excellent branding services to thousands of  businesses to provide vital tips and strategies on how to go about crafting a unique brand in 2023. ​

‘Google My Business' is now called ‘Google Business Profile’. If you used to access your listing on the dedicated Google My Business website, you can still do that for a while, but in the next few months, it will transition to support primarily larger businesses with multiple profiles and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager”.

The BIGGEST CHANGE to GMB is that you can now claim or manage your Business Profile directly on Google Search or the Google Maps app, products we all already use. It can be on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone.

When you create organic posts or Facebook ads for mobile, images and videos should cover as much screen as possible to grab attention. Also, you want to make sure your video/image is responsive on the mobile device, so the viewer has no problem watching it in its entirety no matter how they use the phone or tablet.

Choose the correct aspect ratio that best suits different placements and formats and remember to check which placements support which aspect ratios. Below are some recommended aspect ratios for different placements and formats across the Facebook platform (this includes Instagram too):

Research(1) shows that YouTube is where Aussie millennials go to make up their minds, to connect with the world around them, and or self-development. 
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Aussie millennials, aged 26 to 40 (born between 1981 and 1996), have grown up in an everchanging world, and they’ve come to expect unprecedented access to information—wherever and whenever they want. Offering diversity of content and best-in-class personalisation, YouTube’s highly adaptable user experience and on-demand nature provides the sense of control that millennials crave.
YouTube is a big part of that world for both millennials and for the rest of Australia. Aussies of all ages are spending more and more time on YouTube, with over 15M Aussies spending more than 18 hours each on YouTube per month.

Research(1) shows that Aussie Gen Xers turn to YouTube to get things done, engage with their passions, and rediscover their childhood memories. What can your brand/business do to reach this unique audience?

Gen Xers, aged 40 to 55 years old (born between 1965 and 1980), grew up listening to Walkmans (I know I did☺), eating Neapolitan ice cream, and watching shows like Thunderbirds on TV — the only thing that was notably absent was the internet. Despite this, Gen X is embracing the multi-screen, multi-channel world that we know today. YouTube is a big part of that world for both Gen X and for the rest of Australia. Aussies of all ages are spending more and more time on YouTube, with over 15M Aussie adults spending more than 18 hours each on YouTube per month.
But what exactly are Gen Xers watching on YouTube? As a business owner, it's important that you understand the role the platform plays in their lives.