Marketing on the Couch Marketing on the Couch

Data visualisation describes any effort to help people understand the significance of data by placing it in a visual context. Huge amounts of data are transformed into easily digestible formats that can be used to communicate complex ideas and patterns, which help businesses evaluate data to show performance.

Data visualisation is becoming a valuable tool for marketers, as it easily conveys data to mass audiences and can streamline client reports.

In this edition, we spoke to our own art director, Rob Harris, about data visualisation. Rob told us why data visualisation is so important, how he uses it for work, and what developments he sees coming up on the horizon.

Find out more about some of the products Rob mentioned in the podcast:

Plotly: https://plot.ly/
Data Studio by Google: https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio/
Datawrapper: https://www.datawrapper.de/
Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/
Visually: https://visual.ly/
DataHero: https://datahero.com/
Google Charts: https://developers.google.com/chart/

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Innovate UK works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy.

Since 2007 it has committed over £1.8 billion to innovation, matched by a similar amount in partner and business funding. It has helped more than 7,600 organisations with projects estimated to add more than £11.5 billion to the UK economy and create 55,000 extra new jobs.

In this edition, Luke spoke to Innovate UK’s chief development officer, Kevin Baughan about how it supports UK start-ups, the programmes it offers and the current trends in British innovation scene.

Carswell Gould is a big supporter of UK innovation and works with clients such as global number one university business incubator, SETsquared and revolutionary shower manufacturers, Kelda Technology.

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The UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) is the national trade association for angel and early-stage investment, representing over 160 member organisations and around 18,000 investors. Business angels in the UK collectively invest an estimated £1.5 billion per annum and are therefore the UK’s largest source of investment for startups and early-stage businesses seeking to grow.

UKBAA’s members include angel networks, syndicates, individual investors, early-stage VCs, equity crowdfunding platforms, accelerators, professional advisers and intermediaries. UKBAA acts as the voice of the angel investment community and strives to build and connect the angel investment ecosystem so as to ensure a coherent landscape for financing high-potential entrepreneurs.

In the latest episode of Marketing on the Couch, Luke spoke to Roderick Beer, the UKBAA's strategic relations director, about what the trade body does, his predictions for the next trend in investment and how it is helping more women become Angel Investors.

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Uber is the travel app that disrupted an entire industry, and one of the fastest growing start-ups ever and has been hailed as a benchmark for small tech firms to aspire to.

The company doesn't sit still and is constantly innovating within it's own business model. In the latest episode of Marketing on the Couch, Luke spoke to Fred Jones Uber’s head of cities for UK and Ireland about its plans for future innovations, its presence in the UK and his work for the company.

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Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks.

Started in the early 90s, marketing automation is currently used for email automation, contact and sales automation and more recently campaign automation.

With advancements in artificial intelligence, marketing automation is expected to broaden even further in the coming years, and to be able to be used for some of the more complicated tasks that marketers have to take on.

In this edition of the podcast, account manager, Zaynab Bostan tells us about marketing automation and how it has dramatically evolved since its inception in the 90s.

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The team has been celebrating the successful launch of the inaugural Venturefest South, which took place on Thursday 9 March, with a hugely successful one-day event that saw over 500 innovators, entrepreneurs and investors descend upon the magnificent Winchester Guildhall.

The event aimed to bring together these three ‘tribes’ to demonstrate tech innovations, pitch for funding and discuss ideas collaboratively to shape business growth in the region. Speakers from Uber, Innovate UK and Innovation People delivered keynotes, which inspired attendees with stories of disruptive business models and building the right team for their businesses.

Over the course of the day, 34 innovators showcased their products and services, ranging from a smart power socket to allow elderly people to live independently for longer, to a game that teaches children about online safety, to a start-up that improved digital connectivity in countries and communities without the internet.

In part two of the special Venturefest South series, Luke Thomas spoke to one of the event’s speakers, Roderick Beer of the UK Business Angels, and two of the dynamic innovators exhibiting at Winchester Guildhall.

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