content marketing – Page 5

CITeR and Combating Facial Recognition Demographic Bias

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) isn’t the only entity that is seeking to combat facial recognition demographic bias. The Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) is doing its part.

The Problem

NIST and other entities have documented facial recognition accuracy differences related to skin tone. This is separate from the topic of facial analysis: this relates to facial recognition, or the identification of an individual. (As a note, “Gender Shades” had NOTHING to do with facial recognition.)

It’s fair to summarize that the accuracy of an algorithm depends upon the data used to train the algorithm. For example, if an algorithm is trained entirely on Japanese people, you would expect that it would be very accurate in identifying Japanese, but less accurate in identifying Native Americans or Kenyans.

Many of the most-used facial recognition algorithms are authored by North American/European or Asian companies, and while the good ones seek to employ a broad data set for algorithm training, NIST and other results document clear demographic differences in accuracy.

The Research

The Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) is a consortium of universities, government agencies, and private entities. The lead entity in CITeR, Clarkson University, has initiated research on “improving equity in face recognition systems.” Clarkson is using the following methods:

Establish a continuous skin color metric that retains accuracy across different image acquisition environments.

Develop a statistical approach to measure equity, ensuring FR results fall within a precise margin of error.

Employ new FR systems in combination with or instead of existing measures to minimize bias of results.

In this work, Clarkson is cooperating with other entities, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the FIDO Alliance.

The final goal is to make facial recognition usable for everyone.

Your problem

Is your identity company and its product marketers also working to reduce demographic bias? How are you telling your story? Bredemarket (the biometric product marketing expert) can help with strategic and tactical solutions for your marketing and writing needs.

Bredemarket services, process, and pricing.

If I can help your firm with analysis, content, or even proposals in this area, talk to me.

Iterate

If you face a daunting content challenge, start slow and iterate toward the final version.

And save your drafts in case your wi-fi goes down.

Or let Bredemarket do the iterating. Content creation is one of my services.

Bredemarket services, process, and pricing.

If Bredemarket can help you, let’s talk.

Understand, Adapt, or Create

When Bredemarket begins an engagement with a client, I usually have no idea what processes, templates, or practices the client already has. So I have to handle whatever is or is not there and either understand what is there, adapt it, or create what is needed.

Understand

In some cases clients already have a process.

For example, as I delved into the Sharepoint library for one of Bredemarket’s clients, I found a complete set of branding guidelines that covered logos, colors, and many other aspects of the company’s branding.

In that case, my job is to simply make sure that I align with the client’s branding, and that my content, proposals, and analysis work for the client aligns with the branding guidelines…or with whatever other process the client has.

Adapt

Sometimes the client has a process, but it needs to be adapted in some way.

Here’s an example I can publicly share: not from a Bredemarket client, but from my former employer Motorola (back when Motorola was one company). I was a product manager at the time, and products were developed via a “stage gate” process. At Motorola, of course, it was called M-Gates.

Our “Printrak” group (automated fingerprint identification systems, computer aided dispatch systems, and the like) was the odd group out in our part of Motorola (the part that would later become Motorola Solutions). Most of the people in that part of Motorola sold police radios that were manufactured in bulk. Therefore the stage gate process included a step for a limited production run of police radios before moving to full production.

That didn’t apply for the software we sold to government systems. For example, the entire production run for the Omnitrak 8.1 release was no more than a half dozen systems for customers in Switzerland, Oklahoma, and other places. A limited production run wouldn’t make sense.

So OUR stage gate process eliminated that step and went straight to full production.

Create

And then there are the clients who don’t have anything. In these cases, my invention hat goes on.

For one Bredemarket client, I was asked to develop several pieces of collateral, such as (ironically) one on process maturity, and several random pieces of content tied to a product release.

I decided to approach it more systematically by introducing a simple go-to-market process that defined the external and internal collateral required for a “high” tier product release and a “low” tier product release. Resisting my urge to define something thorough, I simplified the GTM process as much as possible, while still providing guidance on what a product release should contain.

The client rejected the idea: “we don’t need no steenking process.”

Not surprisingly, the process maturity content was never released either.

I’ve had better luck with other Bredemarket clients, defining go-to-market, proposal, and other processes for them as needed.

Be Prepared

Providing product marketing expertise is much more than writing about a product.

Before I write a word of text, I ensure that the content aligns with the client’s strategies…or my own strategies if the client doesn’t have any.

And of course I ask questions.

When Was The Last Time You Repurposed Something?

Did you ever write something and never touch it again?

What a waste.

I remember a time that I wrote a blog post emphasizing that your prospects don’t care about your technology.

Then I created a related landing page about using Bredemarket to create technology content that converts.

Two for the price of one?

Actually more, once you count the entries on the information pages, the podcast, all the social media (even on X), and many other items: 31 in all.

Make it 32, since this is an abbreviated version of my October 2023 post “How I Expanded 1 Idea Into 31 Pieces of Content.”

Thirty-two for the price of one.

See https://bredemarket.com/contact/ to contact me.

Why Biometric Marketing Experience Beats Biometric Marketing Immaturity

I know that the experts say that “too much knowledge is actually bad in tech.” But based upon what I just saw from an (unnamed) identity verification company, I assert that too little knowledge is much worse.

As a biometric product marketing expert and biometric product marketing writer, I pay a lot of attention to how identity verification companies and other biometric and identity companies market themselves. Many companies know how to speak to their prospects…and many don’t.

Take a particular company, which I will not name. Here is the “marketing” from this company.

We have funding!

We have long lists of features!

We offer lower pricing than selected competitors!

We claim high facial recognition accuracy but don’t publish our NIST FRTE results! (While the company claims to author its technology, the company name does not appear in either the NIST FRTE 1:1 or NIST FRTE 1:N results.)

We claim liveness detection (presentation attack detection) but don’t publish any confirmation letters! (Again, I could not find the company name on the confirmation letter lists from BixeLab or iBeta.)

So what is the difference between this company and the other 100+ identity verification companies…many of which explicitly state their benefits, trumpet their NIST FRTE performance, and trumpet their third-party liveness detection confirmation letters?

If you claim great accuracy and great liveness detection but can’t support it via independent third-party verification, your claim is “so what?” worthless. Prove your claims.

Now I’m sure I could help this company. Even if they have none of the certifications or confirmations I mentioned, I could at least get the company to focus on meaningful differentiation and meaningful benefits. But there’s no need to even craft a Bredemarket pitch to the company, since the only marketer on staff is an intern who is indifferent to strategy.

Because while many companies assert that all they need is a salesperson, an engineer, an African data labeler, and someone to run the generative AI for everything else…there are dozens of competitors doing the exact same thing.

But some aren’t. Some identity/biometric companies are paying attention to their long-term viability, and are creating content, proposals, and analyses that support that viability.

Take a look at your company’s marketing. Does it speak to prospects? Does it prove that you will meet your customers’ needs? Or does it sound like every other company that’s saying “We use AI. Trust us“?

And if YOUR company needs experienced help in conveying customer-focused benefits to your prospects…contact Bredemarket. I’ve delivered meaningful biometric materials to two dozen companies over the years. And yes, I have experience. Let me use it for your advantage.

Expertise is Everywhere

The Italian baseball players, fueled by espresso, defeated the U.S.

But who can help you defeat your competitors?

The strategic biometric product marketing expert, and…

…the tactical biometric product marketing writer.

Oh, wait…they’re the same person: John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket.

Expertise is everywhere.

Take the first step to biometric dominance. https://bredemarket.com/mark/

…we allow our competitors to drive the conversation.

Grok.

Don’t surrender your message…and your prospects…to the competition.

Let Bredemarket help you create customer-focused, benefit-oriented content.

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers

Stop losing prospects!

Your Prospects Hate Your Complex Technology

If your product marketing pitch to your prospects concentrates on the complex technology in your product, your prospects KNOW that you don’t get it.

Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes.

Grok video from a Google Gemini image.

Understand the problems your prospects face. Ask questions.

The Seven Questions I Ask.

Demonstrate a customer focus and talk about how your product benefits your customers.

And craft the correct product marketing content.