Netflix is having a hell of a time, ain’t they? The once innovative content titans of Silicon Valley are now playing a desperate game of catch up. They’ve lost subscribers, they’re introducing commercials, and now they’re trying to promote the awkwardly invested Netflix Gaming. 

Netflix Gaming has been available for less than a year, and subscribers do not appear to be interested. According to Apptopia, less than one percent of Netflix’s subscribers have engaged with this new content. 

And yet, Netflix plans to increase its game catalog from 24 to 50 by the end of 2022. We just have one question:

Um… Why?

A letter to shareholders revealed that Netflix considers Epic Games and TikTok as competitors. Call me crazy, but I would have guessed that Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max would be more appropriate competitors. 

It’s like hearing Applebee’s call Wendy’s a competitor. They’re not really the same thing, are they? 

Fortunately, I am not among Netflix’s shareholders. If I were, I’d probably question the direction of this strategy. Tom Forte, D.A. Davidson senior analyst said on the matter: 

“One of the many advantages to Netflix in pursuing the strategy is the ability to drive engagement beyond when the show first comes out on the platform.” 

Mkay. Seems more like a marketing strategy than an argument for why gaming is the direction should go in. Maybe don’t spend $30 million an episode for Stranger Things? It was a pretty big hit when it was just $7 million an episode. 

In this difficult time for Netflix, the company’s COO Greg Peters has one take on this strategy: 

“We’re going to be experimental and try a bunch of things.”

Okay, that’s not particularly reassuring. 

“I would say the eyes that we have on the long-term prize really cater more around our ability to create properties that are connected to the universes, the characters, the stories that we’re building.” 

Alright, I can get behind that. World-building and fan-favor is often fun and super engaging. Whether its memes or parodies, fans love to play around with their favorite series and movies. Netflix has clearly noticed that a lot of fans share these experiences on platforms like TikTok. 

Can Netflix’s head of external games, Leanne Loombe, offer more insight into why gaming will be a worthwhile investment for the company? 

“We’re still intentionally keeping things a little bit quiet because we’re still learning and experimenting and trying to figure out what things are going to actually resonate with our members, what games people want to play.”

Okay so, no. She can’t offer more insight. 

Why can’t Netflix invest more in series that people will want to watch? Why cheap-looking games? 

Netflix Gaming Wants In On That Sweet Mobile Gaming Money

Ah, of course. Mobile gaming. Netflix saw the now decade old Candy Crush success and thought “us too.” 

Netflix recently acquired Finnish game developer Next Games for a whopping $72 million. This isn’t some cute little side hobby – this is a real, serious investment for a company best known for zombie-like binging and code for hooking up. 

This is head scratching, to say the least. Netflix is known for upending the television and movie industry. Experts in the field warned that the major networks (NBC, CBS, etc.) were going to catch up. Now, they have. You see Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+, and more

How did Netflix plan the coming competition? By throwing money at anything and everything. 

Co-CEO Reed Hastings said this about the company’s latest investment in gaming:

“We’ve got to please our members by having the absolute best in the category. We have to be differentially great at it. 

“There’s no point of just being in it.” 

It’s no wonder that Netflix is in trouble. I have zero doubt that Netflix Gaming will be an utter failure and total embarrassment. But, you do you girl.

Over the past decade, subscription-based services have taken the business world by storm. Cloud-based infrastructure makes it easier for businesses to start, scale, and succeed. Paying a simple regular fee to use a software or service helps keep all your expenses in order.

Nobody wants to get tangled up in too many subscriptions. And with so many services on the market, it’s easy to end up with more than you need. That’s why we’ve assembled 10 great subscription based services for your business needs.

1) Hive – Subscription based project management tool

Project management is one of the areas where cloud-based tools come most in handy. Real-time collaboration is a great way to keep track of everyone’s work and ensure that it all gets done.

Hive offers just that. On top of task management and time tracking, they offer a variety of views to help each team member visualize their work the way they see fit, whether it’s as a kanban board, Gantt chart, calendar, or table.

There are plenty of great project management tools to choose from, but Hive’s versatility puts it over the top. They offer quick integrations, automations, and even a built-in messaging system.

Pricing: Unlike the rest of these services, Hive only has a single paid subscription plan. They offer three options:

• Solo – Free of charge, for individual users.
• Teams – $12/user/month. Includes shareable forms, an in-app calendar, and Zoom and Slack integrations.
• Enterprise – Bespoke plans for enterprise customers. Include flexible add-ons, heightened security, custom analytics, and dedicated support.

2) Omnisend – Subscription based ecommerce marketing service

Marketing solutions aren’t exactly hard to come by, but what if your company has specific needs? For ecommerce brands, that’s where Omnisend comes in. This SaaS has everything you need to create successful, automated email and SMS marketing campaigns.

Tools like sign-up forms are geared directly towards ecommerce. They offer integration with all the major platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and dozens more. They also have some pretty extensive analytics tools to help you keep track of your campaigns’ success.

Pricing: Omnisend comes in three tiers:

• Free – $0/mo. Reach up to 250 contacts. 500 emails/mo.
• Standard – Starts at $16/mo (pricing based on contact list size). 6,000 emails/mo.
• Pro – Starts at $59/mo. Unlimited emails. 3,933+ free SMS credits.

3) Identity Guard – Subscription based data theft protection

Identity theft protection services are often geared towards individuals and families. But while security may start at home, your business’ data is just as precious.

If you’re looking for data theft protection for your business, look no further than Identity Guard, an AI-driven subscription based service by AURA. They offer robust data breach protection as well as employee protection plans, all backed by IBM’s iconic Watson AI.

Pricing: Breach protection comes in two plans:

• Value – $36/year per activation code
• Total – $120/year per activation code. Includes bank account and credit monitoring.

Employee benefit plans are custom-built.

4) Zoho CRM – Subscription based CRM platform

Zoho offers a staggering range of cloud-based software solutions, including email, customer service, docs, HR, and much more. But their first, foremost, and perhaps best offering is their customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

Zoho has great customer solutions for businesses big and small. You can micro-manage operations with their detailed analytics, or streamline your process with automated workflows. On top of all that, it’s totally customizable, so you can create your ideal workspace.

Pricing: Zoho’s CRM comes at five tiers:

• Free – $0. Includes up to 3 users, essentials like leads, documents, mobile apps.
• Standard – $14/user/month. Includes automated workflows and custom dashboards.
• Professional – $23/user/month. Includes real-time notifications and inventory management.
• Enterprise – $40/user/month. Includes AI, mobile SDK, advanced customization.
• Ultimate – $52/user/month. Includes advanced BI and highest possible feature limits.

In addition, you can buy Zoho CRM Plus, which combines 8 other Zoho services, for $57/user/month. Bigin, a pipeline-based CRM for small businesses, starts at $7/user/month.

5) HubSpot CMS Hub – Subscription based content management system

Like Zoho, HubSpot offers a wide range of software solutions for businesses, which they call “hubs.” You can buy these hubs individually according to your needs or combine them for discounted bundle pricing.

Their content management system (CMS) is one of their more impressive hubs. It includes handy tools for secure website hosting and building, including a drag-and-drop editor and mobile optimization. On top of building websites, HubSpot makes it easy to scale with multiple plans and performance monitoring.

Pricing: HubSpot CMS Hub comes in four plans:

• Free – $0. Allows for 1 blog and up to 25 web pages. Includes analytics, hosting, SEO, drag-and-drop editor.
• Starter – Starts at $23/mo. Includes 50 web pages, ad management, URL mappings, payment support, reporting dashboards. Removes HubSpot branding from site.
• Professional – Starts at $360/mo. Allows for up to 100 blogs and 10,000 web pages. Includes custom analytics, advanced SEO, dynamic personalization, content staging, video hosting, site tree.
• Enterprise – Starts at $1,200/mo. Includes highest limits on all features, custom objects, site performance monitoring, web apps, sandboxes, permissions.

A 14-day free trial is available. Add-ons such as custom SSL and limit increases can be built into your plan.

6) Penji – Subscription based graphic design service

Content management is one thing, but where do you get the content itself? When it comes to graphic design, Penji offers professional-quality designs on a subscription basis.

With Penji’s unlimited model, you can get as many designs as you need. Their plans cover everything from logos to social media graphics. They even design websites and apps. With a global team of full-time designers, they deliver quality designs in a matter of days.

Pricing: Penji offers three plans:

• Pro – $499/mo. Includes unlimited graphic design, illustrations, logos and branding.
• Team – $699/mo. Includes unlimited web designs, app designs, presentations, and animated graphics.
• Daytime – $999/mo. Includes USA daytime designers, same-day turnaround, and a dedicated art director.

All plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee.

7) Rippling – Subscription based HR and IT cloud service

This enterprise software solution is one of the best options out there for payroll maintenance, but it’s got much more than that. It combines workflow automation with HR and IT tools, helping enterprises streamline their employer-to-employee processes.

If you’ve been making use of this list, you’ll be especially happy to hear about Rippling’s app management. You can set up, manage, and disable employee apps in one simple place, ensuring that you’re using everything you need and nothing extra.

Pricing: Unfortunately, Rippling doesn’t offer transparent pricing on their site. Because they cater to enterprise customers, they offer quotes based on businesses’ precise needs. At the very least, their core platform costs $35/mo, with an additional $8/user/mo for payroll services.

8) Moz Pro – Subscription based SEO tool

Moz was founded as SEOmoz in 2004 as a site for some of the world’s earliest SEO experts to share their research. Basically, they wrote the book on SEO.

Moz Pro isn’t the cheapest option for SEO on the market, but it uses its history of experience to its advantage. They offer robust, eminently useful data to give your business the search engine boost it needs, crawling your site to precisely pinpoint issues.

Pricing: Moz Pro offers four plans:

• Standard – Starts at $79/mo. Includes 3 campaigns, 300 keyword rankings, 60 tracked URLs, 100k page crawls per week.
• Medium – Starts at $143/mo. Includes 10 campaigns, 1,500 keyword rankings, 200 tracked URLs, 500k page crawls per week.
• Large – Starts at $239/mo. Includes 25 campaigns, 3,000 keyword rankings, 500 tracked URLs, 1.25 million page crawls per week.
• Premium – Starts at $479/mo. Includes 50 campaigns, 4,500 keyword rankings, 1,000 tracked URLs, 2 million page crawls per week.

9) Tableau – Subscription based business intelligence service

You can have all the fancy subscription based software in the world, but it won’t get you anywhere if you’re not paying attention to what works. Tableau is a leader in business intelligence (BI) and analytics. They offer a robust array of digestible data to help your business work smarter.

Tableau is trusted by customers ranging from Whole Foods to Pfizer, Nissan to Charles Schwab. Powered by Salesforce, they also offer integrations with SQL, AWS, and dozens of other cloud services.

Pricing: Tableau offers three cloud-based plans for teams:

• Viewer – $15/user/mo.
• Explorer – $42/user/mo.
• Creator – $70/user/mo.

They also offer server-based plans (on-premise or public cloud), a Creator plan for individuals, and embedded analytics.

10) Bit.ai – Subscription based service for workplace collaboration

The final piece of the puzzle that brings your whole business infrastructure together: collaboration. Plenty of cloud-based offerings include collaboration tools, and many businesses use free tools like Slack and Google Docs to power their communication.

Bit.ai combines all these features and more. Think of it like a document editor that’s also a content manager. It lets businesses share, create, and keep track of the content they put out, all with robust communication. They also integrate easily with tools like Tableau, OneDrive, Google Suite, Miro, Trello, Facebook, and more.

Pricing: Bit.ai offers three plans:

• Free – $0. Allows for up to 5 members, 50 documents, 1GB storage. Includes content library, integrations, collaboration tools.
• Pro – $8/member/month. Allows for unlimited members, unlimited documents, 500GB storage. Includes export, bulk import, version history.
• Business – $15/member/month. Allows for unlimited storage. Includes trackable documents, priority support, engagement analytics, guest access.

Bit.ai also offers custom plans for enterprise customers.

Believe it or not, networking works. Whether you hate meeting people or socializing, if you want to grow your business, you need to do some networking. And when you want networking to work for you, you must be pushy and assertive but politely. Read here to know the ways to improve at networking.

Here are 7 Ways to Improve at Networking

Identify Your Goals

The first thing you need to do is to determine what you want to get out of the task. Ask yourself, what am I looking for? Once you understand your goals and objectives, it’s easier to identify which events to go to. This way, you can find which ones are better aligned with your business to get more productive results. This will also assure you that your efforts won’t go to waste.

Research the Events

Once you determine your goals and lined up a few events to go to, do a bit of research. Try to get as much data about them as possible. It is also highly recommended that you get to know the people attending these events. If you see a company you’re interested in, you should find out more about them before going.

Wear the Appropriate Clothing

They say, “dress to impress,” and this rings true when attending networking events. Choose clothes that will make you feel comfortable while suitably dressed for the occasion. You can wear bright-colored clothes for a casual event and be the ice-breaker. Or add an accessory that can be a conversation starter. This way, socializing becomes more effortless and will get you more people to network with.

Practice Makes Perfect

It pays to rehearse what you’ll say to people about your company. You can stand in front of a mirror and practice your pitch so you won’t have to forget an important detail. Remember to include your achievements to make them see how your business will help them improve theirs. A little bit of humble brag will go a long way.

Create a Killer Business Card

There will be exchanges of business cards at these events, so make sure that yours will stand out. There are many websites you can go to where you can design your own. Ensure that all pertinent data is on it, so people aren’t left hanging. In addition, make sure that your design will grab attention and won’t have the card end up in the trash bin.

Be Prepared

Make sure to set yourself at ease and relax, especially if it’s going to be a long event. Get your socializing skills warmed up by getting a drink, if applicable. This can also set the mood for the event to help you start talking to people. Once you get the conversation going, you should engage in active listening. 

As much as you want people to absorb what you’re saying, you should do the same. Allot a time for each person you talk to and stick to that time. Then, excuse yourself politely to start conversing with other people. Hand over your business card and move on to the next prospect.

Don’t worry about offending people, many networking event attendees understand the transactional nature of them. Give them a promise to follow up and end the conversation. 

Follow the Best Practices

After you go to one event, analyze your moves and try to make a pattern of what worked. This can help you avoid mistakes such as wasting your time with one company and other similar situations. Also, think of the best lines that will quickly convey your message. Think of networking as speed dating, so arm yourself with the best pickup lines.