While many editors’ origin stories start with a love of literature, Lacey Knight’s started with a disdain for the English language as a whole. Throughout her early life, Lacey viewed English as just another thing to “know” rather than a tool to be leveraged. (Spoiler Alert: That changed.)
Lacey’s calling was delayed because it was delivered in Spanish. As Lacey learned “por favor” and “gracias,” she also learned about the nature of language: its movement, its rhythm, its significance, and most importantly, its place in her life.
Lacey realized just how connected she was to the power of expression behind language, rooting her career in a love for the written word while utilizing her passion and truly-honed skill to help others reach their goals through copywriting, ghostwriting, and blogging.
“I know there are amazingly talented people out there who have a lot to offer but who may not have the tools to best reach their target audience in a relevant and effective way,” says Lacey. “I hope to be a cog in the wheel that gets these great people to where they are going; you achieving your dream is my dream.”
Lacey has always been a dream-catcher, capturing the beauty of achievement and knowledge, as well as a seeker of Truth, even before she knew what that meant.
Fostering love in everything, even from afar, is one thing Lacey does exceptionally well (which admittedly comes in handy in the marketing world). Before Lacey had access to her true love, equines, she sat on the sidelines learning about them, growing love and expertise before she even got in the saddle.
Viewing life as art in action, Lacey has joined the Gravity Junction team from the painted skies of Colorado. She and her family are nestled below a mountain range with plenty of beautiful horses nearby to keep her passions burning with fervor.
You can rest easy knowing Lacey is certainly wearing matching socks and is readily open to debate herself about comma placements and capitalization. (The nature of language, amiright?)
Having Lacey in our corner is having another advocate in your corner, something we always aim for.
“I often tell people, ‘I'm better in writing.’ They think I am joking.” However, Lacey’s talent is no joke, and we’re beyond blessed to have her here in the saddle at Gravity Junction.
An Athens Georgia native, Nickie’s roots are grounded in the same familiar areas that Gravity Junction calls home. Introverted at first, getting to know Nickie on a deeper level, like many good things in life, takes time. Her words are always meaningful and poignant, and the relationships she treasures are earned. Gotta say, we love and appreciate this quality about Nickie. Not to mention, listening is her superpower, a skill this world desperately needs!
As an Emannuel College grad, Nickie studied business administration, consistently made the Deans and Presidents Lists, and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Not only is Nickie incredibly bright, but she's also a stinkin’ great person. Nickie has traveled the world to help others through missionary work. Her travels extended to New York, Africa, Honduras, and Thailand. She brings a boatload of experience to her office managing role. This may have something to do with the fact she’s been working in accounting and office roles since she was, oh you know, 17 years old. NBD.
When she’s not crunching numbers or ensuring offices run smoothly, you can find Nickie shopping, thrifting, or hanging with her puppy-eyed fur babies, Junior and Daisy.
“I just want others to be able to say that I do my job, and I do it well. I like to make the lives of those around me easier and more functional. Your work is safe in my hands.”
We’re BEYOND pumped to have this hardworking overachiever join our team.
Please provide us with any/all email address you would like for us to add to your Google Analytics account. These emails must use Google/G-mail as the email service provider. You can add multiple email addresses, using a comma to separate.
Kari is a Chicagoan with a penchant for dipping sauces, warm weather, copywriting, and content creation. From a young age, Kari knew she wanted to be a writer and decided in junior high school that she would someday become a journalist. Well, as you may know, print journalism took a hit (newspapers just aren’t making the same splash they used to) and Kari pivoted her career aspirations as a student at Illinois State University.
Graduating with a degree in public relations, Kari started her career as an intern at a large PR firm but quickly learned that digital marketing was more of her forte. From there, Kari left the agency world and spent time at both nonprofit organizations and in corporate settings.
After cutting her teeth for five years in traditional 9 - 5 roles, Kari took a leap of faith and took her career into her own hands, deciding to pursue freelance marketing. In December of 2019, fate so happened to introduce her to Gravity Junction and since then she has taken on roles with the SupaNova team writing blogs, editing copy, and drafting social media for a handful of clients.
When she’s not behind a computer screen, you can find Kari milling about the city, trying out new bars and restaurants, exploring different neighborhoods, and walking through (and enjoying White Claws in) her favorite parks.
Your monthly hosting & maintenance package includes an SSL certificate for your website. This will add a low level of security as well as aid in your SEO rankings. Please fill out the following few questions so our team can properly register your SSL certificate.
VR is short for virtual reality, a computer-generated simulation in which a person interacts with a surreal, life-like, three-dimensional environment using electronic accessories such as goggles with a screen or gloves with sensors.
AR, short for augmented reality, is an interactive experience where your real-world surroundings have digital elements. Think Pokémon Go: a real-life environment with added digital components for playing, learning, etc. That Instagram filter you used yesterday to make it look like you were wearing makeup? Yep, AR, and life-altering AR at that.
The difference? VR changes your world completely, like transporting you to a fantasy video game or drinking rose on a beach, when in reality, you’re on your couch in your favorite pair of Nike joggers.
With AR, you’d still be on your couch in your living room, but maybe you’d have some new virtual home decor to test out. You’d get to see how that brand new 65” Samsung would fit with your current decor, or even test out a new media console.
What do VR and AR bring to the table when it comes to marketing?
I don’t know about you, but even just reading the definitions get our wheels turning from a business and software development standpoint. VR + AR software development concepts introduce ENDLESS opportunities to bridge the gap between experience and action.
Virtual Reality (VR) marketing offers a digital experience to promote products and services.
Two common misconceptions with VR currently is that it’s only for techies and gamers and that it must be expensive. Neither is accurate. Like many other experiences nowadays, all that’s required is a smartphone.
For marketing, this is like allowing your consumer to LIVE in your advertisement.
So, instead of watching someone else crack open a Coke on TV, it’s like you’re experiencing it firsthand. Picture this:
You look down, and you see your own hand holding the bright red Coke can. The can is so realistic you can almost feel how cold it is just by looking at the condensation running down the sides. In your ears, you hear the crisp noise of the “pop” and the light “whoosh” of the carbonation exiting the can. You want to take a sip so bad, but something in you tells you to enjoy the moment instead.
Within moments you find yourself grabbing your keys to head to the grocery store so you can purchase your own can of Coke.
How much more likely is that outcome in comparison to if a consumer saw an advertisement on their TV? As marketers, we have to take into account all that dead space between a viewer and their screen. The further they are from the interaction, the further they are from the action.
In addition to promoting existing products, VR marketing can:
Show off products in development
Allow viewers to come to you, as VR brand experiences are heavily sought after
Distinguish your brand as VR continues to gain popularity
AR brings “Try it before you buy it” to a new level
Just like the furniture example we briefly mentioned earlier, an AR shopping experience is like online shopping on steroids. AR allows for testing out home products, clothing, accessories, makeup, and more, without leaving your home.
Digital pioneer, Facebook, has thrown its hat in the ring with various AR applications. Their first effort towards an AR-related advertisement allowed prospects to try on virtual sunglasses.
And, what’s the biggest pain of clothing shopping? The dreaded fitting room. Say goodbye to lugging around and trying on 50 lbs of clothing.
With the touch of a button or tap of a finger, AR lets you test out products from Sephora, L’Oreal, Perfect Corp, Topshop, and Timberland without having to get off the couch.
In addition to trying out products, AR marketing can:
Bring your products into your consumers’ environments, which psychologically brings them far closer to getting purchased
Upgrade your customers’ sales experience, increasing business and sales
Tailor shopping experiences to suit individual shopper needs
Take your branding materials to the next level with scannable materials that connect users to additional features, information, and connections with your brand
The future of VR and AR
According to the Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Market forecast, the augmented reality & mixed reality market was valued at USD 2.98 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 27.44 billion by 2025.
As mentioned, VR and AR are being utilized in marketing now, and are only going to become more popular with time. Getting on board ASAP is the smartest thing you can do for your company because you can stand apart before competition grows.
What can your business do to prepare for this software?
Whether you’re an expert or a novice, we encourage you to start or continue the conversation with your marketing and dev teams. Position yourself as your consumer, think strategically about both your market and services/products and how the customer experience would benefit from an interactive experience.
Our advice would be to start small, nail it, then grow more and more. An example would be testing out a product in development with AR so that you can gain valuable feedback. This would allow you to learn while you grow. It also ensures your time and efforts on the backend are being experienced positively on the frontend.
Tools
Start learning + exploring accessible AI tools + resources + software with Google AI For Free
While AR and VR often come across as overwhelming, we hope that we made an intimidating topic more approachable, as well as your VR and AR goals more achievable.
When it comes to mixed reality marketing, slow down. Learn the basics. Start small. Test it. KILL IT. Incorporate feedback and scale the process. Go a little bigger. Repeat until you’re crushing your competition by being ahead of the VR/AR game.
Our team at Gravity Junction, Atlanta’s top digital marketing agency, is here to bring you all of our AR/VR tips at the speed of light! As a group of stage-5 nerds, we love gabbing about software development.
We hope you read this with your favorite mug and coffee in hand! And, if you want your day ruined, go check out this computer-generated fictional celebrity while we’re on this techy topic. Abrupt ending? Hey, that’s showbiz, baby.
AR and VR are wonderful technologies that have the potential to change the world.