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Successful branding never just happens. Give the best experience to your consumers when they make (or consider) a purchase. Learn the following tips to get there.

The Complete Guide to Successful Branding in 2023

Products represent a lot more than simply something that customers buy to satisfy needs and desires. Oftentimes, they are also a means for businesses to promote particular expertise to shoppers. That is precisely why firms go out of the methods to cultivate a particular new image.

According to one study, less than 35 percent of consumers actually trust the brands that they buy from.

1. Branding in a Nutshell

Before you build a brand, you want to choose what a brand actually is. As you may believe that it’s hardly more than the title and emblem of a business, in addition, it comprises the company’s voice and attitude. Consumers interact with brands if they buy into them or not, so they are building an experience every time they have some contact with you.

Branding is the procedure of employing a particular attribute to a company in the hopes that customers will associate a specific attribute with said firm. A high degree of brand awareness results in an organization’s image being viewed as popular. Consumers can not look at buying goods and services out of a particular business if they don’t know it is present.

Because of this, you’re going to want to concentrate on building brand awareness before you do anything else. As you may believe that a massive publicity stunt would be the very best means to accomplish this, that may not be the situation.

According to specialists from DesignBro, working with a company that may help you build a new identity from the ground up could possibly be important. Consider the number of companies you are able to recall-based only on their comparatively straightforward glossy logos. Probably, you are able to visualize quite a couple.

Remember that visual design is simply some of everything you want. You will want to set up a target market so that you understand what your group is assumed to be aiming for.

2. Honing in On a Single Target

Since branding can potentially lead to trust, you’ll want to better understand who your brand will speak to. Take some time to figure out what kind of consumer needs your product and figure out what other problems they might need solutions to.

Some specialists construct a research-based outline of a prototypical client they predict a buyer character. As you do not have to go this way, it will help to have a better grasp of what your clients need before you proceed any further.

Set a mission statement that spells out the reason you established your small business. Yet more, you do not have to go to this extreme. You do, but you wish to construct a brand that you genuinely believe in and use your personal beliefs to form the messages which you feed your prospective customers.

Hard amounts, if you’re able to find them, would be the ideal method to have a better picture of that may eventually purchase into your own brand. Startup companies frequently make the mistake of dismissing market evaluation reports and dip themselves deep into debt in the procedure.

Pay careful attention to whatever information you may find about your possible customer. If you can not say explicitly what type of person may want to purchase your goods, then it’s easy to envision that nobody could.

That may sound harsh, but it is true. Your brand is designed to give aid to individuals no matter if they understand they need assistance in some manner. Consider all the many surfer-themed fashion brands which you have seen come into vogue during the past 10-15 decades.

Just how a lot of those ever brought a marketplace of hardcore surfers? The solution is probably not one of these, but it does not matter since they could supply a laid-back image to folks who desired a means to escape from their everyday lives. You will want to locate a hidden want such as that and tap it to make sure that your brand reaches the best number of people possible.

Also read: Top 10 Helpful GitHub Storage For Web Developers

3. Defining Your Company’s Values

As customer confidence in important companies has been eroding, you have to work out a method to make people wish to think in the picture which you are promoting. That is hard if you do not think about your brand. Be certain that you clearly outline what you believe in and the way you believe that your brand stands apart from everybody else in the business section you cope with.

They are in a position to place themselves as a much healthier alternative to mass-market businesses. The ones that sell products which promise to be better for the environment also has done well to place themselves apart from the rest.

Considering the increased emphasis on solitude, you may wish to think about boosting your institution’s dedication to protecting your customers. This is particularly true when you are running a committed social networking marketing effort.

4. Deploying Your Finished Brand Image

Maybe the first thing to do if you finalize your new image is accomplished that no manufacturer is ever really finished. The general public perception of your organization will probably continue to evolve in the long term. This means you are going to want to utilize your branding substances on everything your business puts out. Ensure that your packaging and goods are all branded suitably.

On the flip side, you are going to want to go all out by means of your brand image. Each and every profile photograph and piece of this cover artwork on your website and societal networking accounts must reflect your own brand. Perhaps you will wish to set your logo as your own profile picture because this will make it much easier for your clients to recognize your own firm.

All your articles and captions must represent the exceptional voice you’ve came up with for your own brand. If your manufacturer is snarky, then you will want your articles to reflect that. As you do not wish to be argumentative for debate’s sake, there is no reason why you can not distinguish your brand by showcasing your distinctive sense of humor.

Also read: Top 10 IoT Mobile App Development Trends to Expect in 2023

5. Framing Advertisements Through Your Brand’s Image

Those beginning a committed email marketing campaign are going to want to concentrate on producing a first impression, for example, so they can be certain any follow-ups will probably be well received.

Ask yourself the way your manufacturer would present itself and then use the response to that question for a framework of reference when replying to your potential customers. Some business experts have used this approach to think of private brands, which ought to help illustrate exactly how successful these techniques are.

Think about what someone might say about your company after they met your brand for the first time. You may want them to describe it using some specific words. As soon as you know what kind of adjectives you’d like to hear consumers using to talk about your brand, you’ll be in a much better position to figure out the best way to reach them.

You're reading The Complete Guide To Successful Branding In 2023

The Complete Guide To Linkedin Ads In 2023

Among the platform’s 690 million+ members, four out of five members have the power to impact business decisions. These movers and shakers also have 2x the buying power of typical online audiences.

Sponsored Content

Source: LinkedIn

Sponsored Messaging

While 89% of consumers prefer that businesses stay in touch via messaging, only 48% of companies currently interact with customers and prospects this way.

Text Ads

Considering 58% of marketers say that improving lead generation is one of their top digital marketing goals, LinkedIn Text Ads can be a way to cast a wide net on a budget.

Dynamic Ads

Dynamic Ads run in the right rail of LinkedIn and speak to audiences directly through personalization. When a Dynamic Ad pops up in a member’s feed, their own personal details, such as their photo, employer’s name and job title, are reflected back to them.

Source: LinkedIn

LinkedIn ad objectives

Businesses can work through all three stages of a sales funnel, from awareness to conversion.

The three main types of objectives are broken down below.

Through these impression-based campaigns, you can also gain more followers, increase views, and spark greater engagement.

Website visits: Get more eyeballs on your website and landing pages.

Video views: Share your business story, your latest product, or a day-in-the-life via video.

They can help meet these three objectives:

Website conversions: Inspire more website visitors to download an ebook, sign up for a newsletter, or purchase a product.

Job applicants: Spread the word about your company’s latest job opening with a job post.

LinkedIn ad formats

To help meet your ad objectives, LinkedIn has 10 different ad formats to choose from.

This section will break down each ad format and explain what goals each ad can help you achieve. We’ll also share LinkedIn ad examples and ad specs.

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, and lead generation.

LinkedIn carousel ad specs:

Name of ad: Up to 255 characters

Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to avoid shortening on some devices (255 total character limit)

Cards: Between two and 10 cards.

Max file size: 10 MB

Max image dimension: 6012 x 6012px

Rich media formats: JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated only)

No more than two lines in each card’s headline text

Source: LinkedIn

Once you start a conversation, your audience can select a response that speaks most to them. This type of ad lets you showcase products and services while also encouraging event or webinar signups.

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, and lead generation.

LinkedIn conversation ad specs:

Banner creative (optional and for desktop only): Up to 300 x 250px. JPEG or PNG.

Custom footer and terms and conditions (only): Up to 2,500 characters

Introductory message: Up to 500 characters

Image (optional): 250 x 250px using either JPEG or PNG

CTA text: Up to 25 characters

CTA buttons per message: Up to five buttons

Message text: Up to 500 characters

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, and engagement.

LinkedIn follower ad specs:

Ad description: Up to 70 characters

Ad headline: Choose a pre-set option or write up to 50 characters

Company name: Up to 25 characters

Ad image: Preferably 100 x 100px for JPG or PNG

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, lead generation, and job applicants.

LinkedIn spotlight ad specs:

Ad description: Up to 70 characters

Ad headline: Up to 50 characters

Company name: Up to 25 characters

Image: Preferred size is 100 x 100px for JPG or PNG

CTA: Up to 18 characters

Custom background (optional): Must be exactly 300 x 250px and 2MB or less

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Job applicants and website visits.

LinkedIn job ad specs:

Company name: Up to 25 characters

Company logo: 100 x 100px is recommended

Ad headline: Up to 70 characters or the option to choose a pre-set headline

CTA: Up to 44 characters if custom text; pre-set options available

Source: LinkedIn

Lead gen forms

You can learn more about lead gen forms here:

Goals: Lead generation

LinkedIn lead gen form specs:

Form name: Up to 256 characters

Headline: Up to 60 characters

Details: Up to 70 characters to avoid truncation (Up to 160 characters total)

Privacy policy text (optional): Up to 2,000 characters

Sources: LinkedIn

This type of ad lets you send a direct message to your audiences’ inbox, complete with a CTA.

Goals: Website visits, website conversions, lead generation.

LinkedIn message ad specs:

Message subject: Up to 60 characters

CTA button copy: Up to 20 characters

Message text: Up to 1,500 characters

Custom terms and conditions: Up to 2,500 characters

Banner creative: JPEG, PNG, GIF (non animated). Size: 300 x 250px

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, lead generation and job applicants

LinkedIn single image ad specs:

Name of ad (optional): Up to 225 characters

Introductory text: Up to 150 characters

Destination URL: Up to 2,000 characters for the destination link.

Ad image: A JPG, GIF or PNG file 5MB or smaller; the maximum image size is 7680 x 7680 pixels.

Headline: Up to 70 characters to avoid shortening (but can use up to 200 characters)

Description: Up to 100 characters to avoid shortening (but can use up to 300 characters)

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Job applications

LinkedIn job ad specs:

Name of ad: Up to 255 characters

Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to avoid shortening of text (desktop max of 600 characters); any legally required language must go here

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Brand awareness, website visits and website conversions.

LinkedIn ad specs:

Image: 100 x 100px with a JPG or PNG 2MB or less

Headline: Up to 25 characters

Description: Up to 75 characters

Source: LinkedIn

Goals: Video views

LinkedIn video ad specs:

Name of ad (optional): Up to 225 characters

Introductory text (optional): Up to 600 characters

File size: 75KB to 200MB

Frame rate: Less than 30 frames per seconds

Width: 640 to 1920 pixels

Height: 360 to 1920 pixels

Aspect ratio: 1.778 to 0.5652

Source: LinkedIn

How to create a LinkedIn ad in 9 steps

To create your own LinkedIn ad, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Create a LinkedIn Page if you don’t have one already

This is required to create Sponsored Content and Sponsored Messaging Ads. If you need help setting one up, read our guide on LinkedIn for business.

Source: LinkedIn

Step 2: Log in to Campaign Manager or create an account.

Source: LinkedIn

Step 3: Select your ad objective

Think about what type of action you want to inspire among your audience.

Source: LinkedIn

Step 4: Choose your target audience

First, you must choose a location, and then you have the option of adding job title, company name, industry type and personal or professional interests.

If it’s your first campaign, LinkedIn recommends a target audience of at least 50,000 for Sponsored Content and Text Ads. For Message Ads, 15,000 is best.

Source: LinkedIn

You also have the option of connecting with people you already know through Matched Audiences. You can do this by retargeting people who’ve visited your website or uploading a list of email contacts.

Learn more about Matched Audiences here:

Step 5: Select an ad format

Source: LinkedIn

Step 6: Create your budget and schedule

Campaign Manager will provide a budget range based on other competing bids for your ideal audience.

The initial 2-4 weeks are typically considered a learning experience to figure out what works (or doesn’t). For testing, LinkedIn recommends a daily budget of at least $100 or a monthly budget of $5,000.

Source: LinkedIn

Step 7: Start building your ad

If you opt for Sponsored Content or Text Ads, the Campaign Manager will share previews so you can get a sense of the final look of your ad. In the case of Message Ads, you’ll be able to send yourself a test message.

Step 8: Provide payment information

Before you can debut your ad to the world, you’ll have to provide payment information. Once that’s done, you’re ready to launch!

Source: LinkedIn

Step 9: Measure performance

Source: LinkedIn

Last but certainly not least, here’s the criteria LinkedIn itself says are vital to crafting a successful ad campaign on the platform.

Figure out your target audience

You can then further refine your target audience with company details (e.g. industry or company size), demographics, education, job experience and interests.

You can also A/B test campaigns with different targeting criteria, such as skills versus job titles, to learn which audiences connect better with your brand.

Craft your ad copy around a succinct, clear call to action

Your readers are busy. They need someone to spell out exactly what they should do next, otherwise, they might miss out on signing up for that career-boosting webinar or purchasing a new product that could simplify their life. Just make sure that your CTA matches the objective you initially selected.

Some effective CTA’s include “Register Now” or “Sign Up Today!”

Read Hootsuite’s blog to learn more tips about creating captivating CTAs.

Choose the right content

LinkedIn can boost your content so it finds the right audience, but that won’t keep people glued to the screen.

Try the techniques below to keep audiences hanging onto every word you say.

Sponsored Content:

Repurpose content from your blog, website and social media channels.

Use video, audio or other rich media elements.

Develop an emotional connection by sharing human interest stories.

Do more than just share trending news. Add your insights into the mix to show off your brand’s thought leadership.

Sponsored Messaging:

If encouraging brand consideration, share blog posts, webinars, or industry trends and analysis.

Text Ads:

Instead of including an object or logo, opt for a profile image when possible.

Video Ads:

According to LinkedIn, videos under 30 seconds saw a 200% lift in view completion rates, so keep them short and sweet.

Design videos for sound-off viewing and add subtitles.

Don’t save the best for last. Viewers drop off after the first 10 seconds.

Carousel Ads:

Use 3-5 cards to start, and test adding more cards later.

Create a carousel of content that speaks to a similar theme or break down a large piece of content into carousel cards.

Use visual storytelling to pique your audience’s interest.

Each carousel card description should include a CTA and clear, direct messaging.

Dynamic Ads:

Skip the brevity and be descriptive as possible in the main ad headline and text.

Include one clear message and CTA in each ad.

Promote organic posts as sponsored content

When time is of the essence, hop on Hootsuite to promote organic posts as sponsored content. You can target audiences based on their location, interests, or professional information.

Source: Hootsuite

Request a Demo

Easily plan, manage and analyze organic and paid campaigns from one place with Hootsuite Social Advertising. See it in action.

The Complete Guide To Todoist Filters

If you’re already using Todoist to keep track of your life, you might wonder how you can make it even more useful. The simple answer: Todoist filters. These have the power to streamline and better organize all your tasks, especially when you’ve added so many to-dos that you don’t even know where to start. The good news is you can use built-in filters or create your own. Read on to learn more.

What Are Todoist Filters?

Todoist already has a handy search bar to quickly find tasks. Todoist filters, though, take it a step further by letting you create custom searches for those you use often. For example, you might create a filter for calls or emails you need to respond to by the end of the day. You can filter by tag and due date to quickly see just those tasks.

If you have a few hundred tasks on your to-do list, simply scrolling through isn’t enough. Even if you carefully categorize them with tags and priority, you could still waste valuable time trying to find what you need and could easily miss an important task.

To really see how useful Todoist filters can be, let’s imagine a busy professional has several hundred tasks listed for the week. This could be a mixture of emails, calls, projects, and even things to do on their way home. When they log in to see their tasks at the start of the day, they want to get to work immediately.

They create a filter to first show only top priority tasks. They further customize the filter to show tasks that are due that day, possibly even tasks due before lunch. If they always handle emails left over from the day before the first thing in the morning, they’d customize the filter one more time to only show email tasks. Suddenly, that extremely long list only shows the handful of tasks the person needs to do as soon as they start working that day.

The same holds true for when they leave for the day. They’d filter tasks by Home along with the current day. They could also filter by person if they wanted to see upcoming tasks (such as extracurricular school activities) for their kids, spouse, friends, or charity organizations.

Best Default Todoist Filters

By default, Todoist gives you a few filters. These may vary based on the platform you’re using. For the purpose of this post, I’m using the free Web version.

The following filters are included by default without the need for you to create anything:

Assigned to me – only lists tasks that are assigned to you

Priority 1 – lists tasks labeled as Priority 1

No due date – only lists tasks without a due date

View all – shows all your tasks in one list

Out of these defaults, Priority 1 and Assigned to me are probably the most useful, as you can quickly see what your more urgent tasks may be.

Creating Your Own Filters

In the grand scheme of things, the default Todoist filters are extremely basic and may not be all that helpful. That’s when it’s best to create your own filters.

To make filters better, it’s important to use labels, dates (if applicable), and priorities when creating tasks. Otherwise, it’s difficult to create filters based on those criteria. You can create labels when creating or editing a task or by using the “Filters & Labels” section.

To create your own filter, select “Filters & Labels” in the left pane. On Android, drag the menu up from the bottom and select “Filters.” In iOS, tap “<” to open the menu and select “Filters & Labels.”

Beside “Filters,” select the “+” button to add a new filter. (For this example, I’m creating a filter that shows overdue tasks. This works well for those tasks that get overlooked but still need to be done. This only works if your tasks have a due date.)

When creating basic filters, there are a few things to keep in mind:

If your query is based on a label, always use “@” symbol before the label name, such as “@work.”

If your query is based on a project/main section or only a sub-section, always use “#” before the name, such as “#Inbox.”

If you want your query to include a main section along with all of its sub-sections, use “##” before the name.

If you want to exclude a specific sub-section, add a “!” before the sub-section name, such as “##Inbox & !#Followups.” (This includes all sections in the Inbox parent section, excluding anything from the Followups sub-section).

If you want to search sections with the same name across multiple projects, use “/” before the name, such as “/Emails,” which could be a sub-section in multiple parent sections.

Creating Advanced Todoist Filters

Creating a basic filter is fairly easy. Simply use the name of a label, section, date, or specific word or phrase (such as overdue, recurring, no date, no label). However, you’re not limited to a single filter criteria. For example, in the section above, you saw how to exclude a sub-section in a filter.

To use multiple criteria, use the following operators:

“*” (wildcard) – Make your filter more encompassing with a wildcard symbol. For instance, search for all tasks assigned to anyone with the last name Crowder with “assigned to: * crowder.”

If you love creating search filters in all the productivity apps you use, learn how to master VLOOKUP in Excel and Google Sheets.

Most Useful Filters

To help you get started, Todoist has an AI filter query generator. It may not get things quite right but can give you a starting point.

If you’re not sure where to start to create your own filters, consider using some of the most useful filter queries, including:

Finding Todoist Filter Inspiration

Want to become a master of Todoist filters? All you need is the right inspiration. The Doist blog has 24 incredible and highly useful filters to get you organized quickly. These are also great examples of using more complex filters.

Frequently Asked Questions 1. How can I access my most used filters faster?

If you only have a few filters, going to the “Filters & Labels” section isn’t a problem. However, if you have dozens of filters, finding the right one can be time consuming.

2. Can I filter completed tasks? 3. Do I have to create a filter for all my searches? 4. How can I organize my filters?

It’s easy for filters to get out of hand. There are several ways to keep them organized:

Add your most used to Favorites.

Group similar filters with color-coded labels.

Drag and drop to organize filters the way you want in your Filters & Labels list.

If there are filters you no longer use, delete them. The fewer filters you have, the easier it is to find what you need.

Crystal Crowder

Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.

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Complete Guide To Python Stopiteration

Introduction to Python StopIteration

The following article outlines Python StopIteration as we know the topic ‘iterator’ and ‘iterable’ in Python. The basic idea of what the ‘iterator’ is? An iterator is an object that holds a value (generally a countable number) that is iterated upon. Iterator in Python uses the __next__() method to traverse to the next value. To tell that no more deals need to be traversed by the __next__() process, a StopIteration statement is used. Programmers usually write a terminating condition inside the __next__() method to stop it after reaching the specified state.

Syntax of Python StopIteration

When the method used for iterators and generators completes a specified number of iterations, it raises the StopIteration exception. It’s important to note that Python treats raising StopIteration as an exception rather than a mistake. Like how Python handles other exceptions, this exception can be handled by catching it. This active handling of the StopIteration exception allows for proper control and management of the iteration process, ensuring that the code can gracefully handle the termination of the iteration when required.

The general syntax of using StopIteration in if and else of next() method is as follows:

class classname: def __iter__(self): … … #set of statements return self; def __next__(self): if …. #condition till the loop needs to be executed …. #set of statements that needs to be performed till the traversing needs to be done return … else raise StopIteration #it will get raised when all the values of iterator are traversed How StopIteration works in Python?

It is raised by the method next() or __next__(), a built-in Python method to stop the iterations or to show that no more items are left to be iterated upon.

We can catch the StopIteration exception by writing the code inside the try block, catching the exception using the ‘except’ keyword, and printing it on screen using the ‘print’ keyword.

The following () method in both generators and iterators raises it when no more elements are present in the loop or any iterable object.

Examples of Python StopIteration

Given below are the examples mentioned:

Example #1

Stop the printing of numbers after 20 or printing numbers incrementing by 2 till 20 in the case of Iterators.

Code:

class printNum: def __iter__(self): self.z = 2 return self def __next__(self): if self.z <= 20: #performing the action like printing the value on console till the value reaches 20 y = self.z self.z += 2 return y else: raise StopIteration #raising the StopIteration exception once the value gets increased from 20 obj = printNum() value_passed = iter(obj) for u in value_passed: print(u)

Output:

Explanation:

In the above example, we use two methods, namely iter() and next(), to iterate through the values. The next() method utilizes if and else statements to check for the termination condition of the iteration actively.

If the iterable value is less than or equal to 20, it continues to print those values at the increment of 2. Once the value exceeds 20, the next() method raises a StopIteration exception.

Example #2

Finding the cubes of number and stop executing once the value becomes equal to the value passed using StopIteration in the case of generators.

Code:

def values(): #list of integer values with no limits x = 1 #initializing the value of integer to 1 while True: yield x x+= 1 def findingcubes(): for x in values(): yield x * x *x #finding the cubes of value ‘x’ def func(y, sequence): sequence = iter(sequence) output = [ ] #creating an output blank array try: for x in range(y): #using the range function of python to use for loop output.append(next(sequence)) #appending the output in the array except StopIteration: #catching the exception pass return output print(func(5, findingcubes())) #passing the value in the method ‘func’

Output:

Explanation:

In the above example, we find the cubes of numbers from 1 to the number passed in the function. We generate multiple values at a time using generators in Python, and to stop the execution once the value reaches the one passed in the function, we raise a StopIteration exception.

We create different methods serving their respective purposes, such as generating the values, finding the cubes, and printing the values by storing them in the output array. The program uses basic Python functions like range and append, which should be clear to the programmer in the initial stages of learning.

How to Avoid StopIteration Exception in Python?

As seen above StopIteration is not an error in Python but an exception and is used to run the next() method for the specified number of iterations. Iterator in Python uses two methods, i.e. iter() and next().

The next() method raises a StopIteration exception when the next() method is called manually.

The best way to avoid this exception in Python is to use normal looping or use it as a normal iterator instead of writing the next() method repeatedly.

Otherwise, if not able to avoid StopIteration exception in Python, we can simply raise the exception in the next() method and catch the exception like a normal exception in Python using the except keyword.

Conclusion

As discussed above in the article, it must be clear to you what is the StopIteration exception and in which condition it is raised in Python. StopIteration exception could be an issue to deal with for the new programmers as it can be raised in many situations.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Python StopIteration. Here we discuss how StopIteration works in Python and how to avoid StopIteration exceptions with programming examples. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

A Complete Guide To K

Introduction

In the four years of my data science career, I have built more than 80% of classification models and just 15-20% of regression models. These ratios can be more or less generalized throughout the industry. The reason behind this bias towards classification models is that most analytical problems involve making decisions. In this article, we will talk about one such widely used machine learning classification technique called k nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm. Our focus will primarily be on how the algorithm works on new data and how the input parameter affects the output/prediction.

Note: People who prefer to learn through videos can learn the same through our free course – K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) Algorithm in Python and R. And if you are a complete beginner to Data Science and Machine Learning, check out our Certified BlackBelt program –

Learning Objectives

Understand the working of KNN and how it operates in python and R.

Get to know how to choose the right value of k for KNN

Understand the difference between training error rate and validation error rate

What is KNN (K-Nearest Neighbor) Algorithm?

The K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm is a popular machine learning technique used for classification and regression tasks. It relies on the idea that similar data points tend to have similar labels or values.

During the training phase, the KNN algorithm stores the entire training dataset as a reference. When making predictions, it calculates the distance between the input data point and all the training examples, using a chosen distance metric such as Euclidean distance.

Next, the algorithm identifies the K nearest neighbors to the input data point based on their distances. In the case of classification, the algorithm assigns the most common class label among the K neighbors as the predicted label for the input data point. For regression, it calculates the average or weighted average of the target values of the K neighbors to predict the value for the input data point.

The KNN algorithm is straightforward and easy to understand, making it a popular choice in various domains. However, its performance can be affected by the choice of K and the distance metric, so careful parameter tuning is necessary for optimal results.

When Do We Use the KNN Algorithm?

KNN can be used for both classification and regression predictive problems. However, it is more widely used in classification problems in the industry. To evaluate any technique, we generally look at 3 important aspects:

1. Ease of interpreting output

2. Calculation time

3. Predictive Power

Let us take a few examples to  place KNN in the scale :

KNN classifier fairs across all parameters of consideration. It is commonly used for its ease of interpretation and low calculation time.

How Does the KNN Algorithm Work?

Let’s take a simple case to understand this algorithm. Following is a spread of red circles (RC) and green squares (GS):

You intend to find out the class of the blue star (BS). BS can either be RC or GS and nothing else. The “K” in KNN algorithm is the nearest neighbor we wish to take the vote from. Let’s say K = 3. Hence, we will now make a circle with BS as the center just as big as to enclose only three data points on the plane. Refer to the following diagram for more details:

The three closest points to BS are all RC. Hence, with a good confidence level, we can say that the BS should belong to the class RC. Here, the choice became obvious as all three votes from the closest neighbor went to RC. The choice of the parameter K is very crucial in this algorithm. Next, we will understand the factors to be considered to conclude the best K.

How Do We Choose the Factor K?

First, let us try to understand exactly the K influence in the algorithm. If we see the last example, given that all the 6 training observation remain constant, with a given K value we can make boundaries of each class. These decision boundaries will segregate RC from GS. In the same way, let’s try to see the effect of value “K” on the class boundaries. The following are the different boundaries separating the two classes with different values of K.

If you watch carefully, you can see that the boundary becomes smoother with increasing value of K. With K increasing to infinity it finally becomes all blue or all red depending on the total majority.  The training error rate and the validation error rate are two parameters we need to access different K-value. Following is the curve for the training error rate with a varying value of K :

As you can see, the error rate at K=1 is always zero for the training sample. This is because the closest point to any training data point is itself.Hence the prediction is always accurate with K=1. If validation error curve would have been similar, our choice of K would have been 1. Following is the validation error curve with varying value of K:

This makes the story more clear. At K=1, we were overfitting the boundaries. Hence, error rate initially decreases and reaches a minima. After the minima point, it then increase with increasing K. To get the optimal value of K, you can segregate the training and validation from the initial dataset. Now plot the validation error curve to get the optimal value of K. This value of K should be used for all predictions.

The above content can be understood more intuitively using our free course – K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) Algorithm in Python and R

Breaking It Down – Pseudo Code of KNN

We can implement a KNN model by following the below steps:

Load the data

Initialise the value of k

For getting the predicted class, iterate from 1 to total number of training data points

Calculate the distance between test data and each row of training dataset. Here we will use Euclidean distance as our distance metric since it’s the most popular method. The other distance function or metrics that can be used are Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, Chebyshev, cosine, etc. If there are categorical variables, hamming distance can be used.

Sort the calculated distances in ascending order based on distance values

Get top k rows from the sorted array

Get the most frequent class of these rows

Return the predicted class

Implementation in Python From Scratch

We will be using the popular Iris dataset for building our KNN model. You can download it from here.



Comparing Our Model With Scikit-learn from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier neigh = KNeighborsClassifier(n_neighbors=3) neigh.fit(data.iloc[:,0:4], data['Name']) # Predicted class print(neigh.predict(test)) # 3 nearest neighbors print(neigh.kneighbors(test)[1])

We can see that both the models predicted the same class (‘Iris-virginica’) and the same nearest neighbors ( [141 139 120] ). Hence we can conclude that our model runs as expected.

Implementation of KNN in R

View the code on Gist.

Output

#Top observations present in the data SepalLength SepalWidth PetalLength PetalWidth Name 1 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 Iris-setosa 2 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 Iris-setosa 3 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 Iris-setosa 4 4.6 3.1 1.5 0.2 Iris-setosa 5 5.0 3.6 1.4 0.2 Iris-setosa 6 5.4 3.9 1.7 0.4 Iris-setosa #Check the dimensions of the data [1] 150 5 #Summarise the data SepalLength SepalWidth PetalLength PetalWidth Name Min. :4.300 Min. :2.000 Min. :1.000 Min. :0.100 Iris-setosa :50 1st Qu.:5.100 1st Qu.:2.800 1st Qu.:1.600 1st Qu.:0.300 Iris-versicolor:50 Median :5.800 Median :3.000 Median :4.350 Median :1.300 Iris-virginica :50 Mean :5.843 Mean :3.054 Mean :3.759 Mean :1.199 3rd Qu.:6.400 3rd Qu.:3.300 3rd Qu.:5.100 3rd Qu.:1.800 Max. :7.900 Max. :4.400 Max. :6.900 Max. :2.500

Step 3: Splitting the Data

View the code on Gist.

Step 4: Calculating the Euclidean Distance

View the code on Gist. View the code on Gist.

Output

For K=1 [1] "Iris-virginica"

In the same way, you can compute for other values of K.

Comparing Our KNN Predictor Function With “Class” Library

View the code on Gist.

Output

For K=1 [1] "Iris-virginica"

We can see that both models predicted the same class (‘Iris-virginica’).

Conclusion

The KNN algorithm is one of the simplest classification algorithms. Even with such simplicity, it can give highly competitive results. KNN algorithm can also be used for regression problems. The only difference from the discussed methodology will be using averages of nearest neighbors rather than voting from nearest neighbors. KNN can be coded in a single line on R. I am yet to explore how we can use the KNN algorithm on SAS.

Key Takeaways

KNN classifier operates by finding the k nearest neighbors to a given data point, and it takes the majority vote to classify the data point.

The value of k is crucial, and one needs to choose it wisely to prevent overfitting or underfitting the model.

One can use cross-validation to select the optimal value of k for the k-NN algorithm, which helps improve its performance and prevent overfitting or underfitting. Cross-validation is also used to identify the outliers before applying the KNN algorithm.

The above article provides implementations of KNN in Python and R, and it compares the result with scikit-learn and the “Class” library in R.

Frequently Asked Questions Related

How To Use Google Tasks: The Complete Guide

Whether it’s taking out the garbage or picking up your suit from the dry cleaners, there are always things you need to get done. You may already have a to-do app installed to stay on top of things, but you can bet that Google would like you to try their Task appg.

If you like apps that keep things simple, then you just might like the Google Tasks app. At least you have the assurance that the app is from a company whose other services you’re probably already using.

What Google Tasks Has to Offer (Android)

Besides offering a very essential feature for a to-do app, Google Tasks also makes the app easy to use. Tap on the “Add a new task” button and add what you need to do. To add details to your new task, tap on the “+” sign.

If you select the uneven lines, you can add details to your new task, and by tapping on the Calendar icon, you can also add a date. So far, there are no options to add an image or a specific time to your task.

You can also change your list’s name if you’re not happy with the name. Tap on the three vertical dots at the bottom-right, and there you can either change the name or delete altogether. At the top you can also change the order you see your tasks. For example, you can either sort them by date, or you can order them in the way you created them.

There’s also the possibility of adding sub-tasks to your already-created tasks.  If you’ve already created your task, just tap on it, and the “Add subtasks” option should be the last one.

Tap on the dropdown menu to the side of the name of the task, and you can move your task to another list. When you’ve completed a task, tap on the empty circle to the side of the task, and it will be placed in the completed tasks list. To edit your task, just tap on the pencil icon.

Drag and Drop Your Tasks

Placing your tasks in a different order is also possible. Long-press on the task you want to move and drop it in the order you want. You can even make a particular task stand out from the rest by placing the task slightly to the right  of where you drop it.

Having a task placed slightly to the right from the rest is something that can’t be done on the desktop version.

Google Tasks on Your Desktop

Once you have the new design, you’ll see a couple of icons right below your profile picture. One of those icons will be Tasks, and it will have a blue circle with a while pencil in the middle.

This last option does not appear on Tasks for Android. Instead, it offers an option to delete all completed tasks.

How to Add an Email to Google Tasks List

If there’s an email you’ve been meaning to answer but just keep forgetting, add it to your task list. Just find the email and drag it to your already-open task list.

Conclusion

Fabio Buckell

Just a simple guy that can’t enough of Technology in general and is always surrounded by at least one Android and iOS device. I’m a Pizza addict as well.

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