Community-based digital spaces like Reddit offer great opportunities for advertisers to connect with their target audience. But to advertise successfully on these high-engagement platforms, you must first understand what differentiates them from other channels.

So, what exactly is a high-engagement platform?

High-engagement platforms are virtual gathering places that encourage users to participate constructively in discussions about their interests. Reddit users are not just passive viewers; they’re active participants conversing in highly specific subreddits where they invest time and energy into deep discussions. 

This makes Reddit a great place to run ads that build brand awareness. Users won’t just scroll past an ad for your product; they’ll engage in a conversation about it. But to get that brand engagement from Reddit’s users, you have to advertise the right way. High-engagement platforms require advertisers to take a more authentic, non-promotional approach, which we’ll dive into in detail. But first, let’s determine if Reddit is right for you. 

Should I advertise on Reddit?

Reddit knows they have a valuable audience for advertisers, so running ads there can be quite expensive. Therefore, you want to ensure that you’ll see decent ROI. Here are some indicators that Reddit is right for your brand:

1. Your Audience is Active on Reddit: The first step is identifying whether your target demographic uses Reddit. Tech-savvy, younger audiences (Gen Z and Millennials) frequent Reddit for in-depth discussions on everything from gaming to finance. If your product or service fits into a particular niche — like tech, fitness, or home improvement — there’s a good chance a relevant community already exists.

2. Your Brand Can Add Value to the Conversation: Redditors expect brands to be more than advertisers; they want them to provide value through insights, entertainment, or problem-solving. If your brand can share knowledge, tips, or solutions within a community, Reddit could be a strong fit. For example, a SaaS company could provide expert insights in subreddits like r/Entrepreneur or r/Marketing, while a beauty brand might thrive in r/SkincareAddiction by offering practical advice.

3. You’re Ready for Authentic Engagement: Reddit is known for its transparency and active user participation. Brands that succeed on Reddit are those willing to engage honestly and openly with users. If you're prepared to monitor feedback, respond genuinely, and build trust over time, Reddit could be an excellent platform to showcase your brand. Just make sure you’re ready to do the work.

4. You Have a Niche Product or Service: One of Reddit's greatest strengths is its ability to connect advertisers with communities built around specific interests. If your product serves a very targeted audience (e.g., gaming accessories, vegan food, or specialized software), Reddit’s subreddit structure will allow you to zero in on those consumers.

If you’re unsure, consider using an AI-powered forecasting tool to get a clear picture of how your campaigns will perform before you go live.

If you’ve decided Reddit Ads are right for you, we can help you get started. Here are our top tips for advertising on Reddit and other high-engagement platforms.

1. Find the right niche

Subreddits allow advertisers to target extremely specific interest groups. When creating ads, take advantage of Reddit’s robust targeting features. Make sure the subreddits you choose are relevant to your industry and target audience and have a high engagement rate.

For instance, if you're advertising a productivity app, you might consider placing ads in subreddits like r/productivity, r/getdisciplined, or even niche communities like r/bujo (for bullet journaling enthusiasts). This precision helps you ensure that your message reaches the most interested audience.

2. Use Reddit’s ‘Promoted Post’ format

One of the most popular ad formats on Reddit is the Promoted Post. This ad type appears organically within a user’s feed and blends in with regular content, making it less disruptive. Promoted Posts allow you to engage with users via comments, making them a great way to generate discussions. Redditors love to debate, so use this opportunity to ask questions and encourage comments on your ad.

Make sure the content feels native to Reddit, keeping the tone and style aligned with the subreddit you're targeting. Unlike eye-catching Instagram ads, Reddit ads should prioritize value, authenticity, and sometimes even humor to resonate with users​. Which brings us to our next point…

3. Craft ads that don’t feel like ads

Reddit users are particularly sensitive to blatant marketing efforts. So, when you run ads on Reddit, it’s crucial that your content doesn’t scream, “Look at me, I’m an ad!” Instead, think about how you can provide value or spark curiosity. You might include a helpful tip, an interesting fact, or a thought-provoking question. Consider using Reddit-specific jargon or references to better connect with the audience.

For example, your creative could incorporate memes, gifs, or pop culture references that are popular within the subreddits you target. The goal is to make your ad blend into the discussions happening in the subreddit.

4. Incorporate User-Generated Content

One of the easiest ways to create an ad that feels authentic is by incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your ads. For instance, you could highlight positive reviews or discussions about your product that have already happened on Reddit. This makes your ad feel more like a recommendation from a fellow Redditor than a direct sales pitch.

You could also sponsor an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, where you sponsor experts in your industry to answer questions from the community. This will help establish your company as a thought leader in your industry and generate more interest in your product. Just make sure not to blatantly plug the product, as a sales pitch will make the whole thing seem insincere. A better call to action would be to offer a downloadable resource on the topics discussed, like a guide or whitepaper. You can require email submission for people to download the whitepaper then retarget them with email marketing.

5. Respond to comments

One of the biggest advantages of Reddit ads is the ability to engage directly with users in the comments section. Redditors are known for leaving detailed feedback, suggestions, or even criticisms. Brands that respond thoughtfully to comments — whether positive or negative — build credibility and trust within the community. A friendly, helpful presence in the comments can turn a critical post into a valuable interaction.

Engaging also shows that your brand is approachable and willing to listen, which is a big deal for Reddit users who prioritize transparency and authenticity. Plus, you can clarify any misconceptions or share additional insights about your product​.

6. Automate campaign management

If you’re running ad campaigns on platforms like Google or Meta and want to expand to Reddit, Marin makes that easy. Our optimization suite makes creating and managing ads a breeze. Plus, it unifies all your different publisher accounts, so you can report on and manage everything in one AI-powered control center. 

Reddit's marketing offering is still pretty basic, but Marin has been helping marketers manage their campaigns for decades. Determine exactly how much money you should spend on Reddit and all your other marketing channels with our Budget Optimizer. Automate campaign management with our script-based customizations and rule-based optimizations. Unlock growth opportunities with Insights. And so much more.

Curious to understand how Marin can supercharge your revenue growth on Reddit? Chat with an expert to learn more.

Our PPC Doctors are at it again, answering your toughest paid media marketing Q's. Got a question for the docs? Share it here. First up, let's make sure your privacy policy is covering all the bases.

Q: I’m going to start using Google’s enhanced conversions. What do I need to change about my privacy policy to use enhanced conversions ethically and comply with GDPR?

A: Great question! We here at PPC Doctors only endorse ethical marketers. You’ll want to make sure your privacy policy clearly communicates what kind of data you’re collecting and why. Mention that your site gathers personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, or home addresses and that this data is hashed (meaning it’s converted into a secure, unreadable format) before being sent to Google for better conversion tracking.

It’s also a good idea to include a bit about why you’re doing this — that the purpose of sharing this data is to improve the accuracy of your conversion tracking and ad performance measurement and that it won’t be used for anything else without explicit consent.

Be sure to highlight that users have control over this process. Let them know they can opt in or out of data collection through your cookie consent banner and that they can change their mind at any time if they decide they don’t want their data to be used this way. And, of course, mention that all of this is being done in compliance with GDPR, using tools like Google’s Consent Mode to make sure their preferences are respected.

Here’s an example:

Our website uses Google's enhanced conversions to provide you with a better browsing experience and more relevant ads. This means we may collect personal information, such as your email address or phone number, when you interact with our site. Rest assured, this data is anonymized and shared with Google solely to improve the accuracy of our advertising.

Your privacy is important to us. We only use this data with your consent, and you can opt out through our cookie consent banner. We adhere to all GDPR guidelines, ensuring your data is handled safely and transparently.

For more details on how we handle your information, please review our Privacy Policy.

Q: I’m running ads to get leads for my real estate site. I’m targeting keywords like “homes in Austin, Texas” and driving traffic to my website, where they can see a list of houses for sale. The thing is, my cost per lead is pretty high. How can I lower it?

A: To lower your cost per lead for real estate ads, try narrowing down your keyword targeting to more specific terms like “affordable homes in Austin” or “luxury homes in Austin” to attract a more relevant audience. Instead of sending traffic to a general listings page, create dedicated landing pages that highlight unique value propositions, such as “Top New Listings in Austin” or “Best Homes Under $500k.”

Consider using lead magnets like a free home valuation or local market report to capture more qualified leads. Implement negative keywords to filter out irrelevant traffic and experiment with different ad formats and creatives to engage potential buyers more effectively. Finally, leverage audience targeting options, such as custom intent or retargeting, to ensure your ads are reaching people who are more likely to convert.

Q: I run search marketing for a dental franchise and have noticed a significant decrease in leads across my Google Ads accounts. Clicks for some terms have actually surged, but we aren’t getting any more leads. Any idea why?

A: I hate to give this diagnosis, but it sounds like you’ve become a victim of click fraud. Click fraud occurs when your ads receive clicks from sources that have no intention of converting, such as bots or malicious competitors.

One common culprit in the dental industry is Google’s Search Partner network. This network extends your ads to various websites beyond Google, but it's often less transparent and more prone to invalid traffic. Sometimes, the traffic split from Google’s main platform versus Search Partners can shift suddenly, causing a spike in low-quality clicks and a decline in conversions​.

First thing’s first, I prescribe disabling Search Partners. Go into your campaign settings and uncheck the Search Partners option. 

Then, continue to monitor your campaigns. Keep an eye out for unusual patterns like very low cost-per-clicks (CPCs) or high click-through rates (CTRs) with low conversions. These could be indicators of click fraud. If you see spikes in impressions or traffic from unusual locations, you have options. You could exclude suspicious IP addresses, add queries that are driving bad clicks as negatives, tighten audience targeting, or start using a click fraud detection tool that blocks bots.

And that's all for this week! We'll be back in two weeks to answer more critical questions. To have your question answered by the experts and potentially be included in next week edition, submit it here.

Running ads across Google, Bing, Amazon, and social media is necessary for online vendors and sellers. So why is analyzing the performance of those ads so complicated?

Data fragmentation and walled-garden publishers create roadblocks for retail marketers. You’ve got ASINs on Amazon, SKUs on Google Shopping, Meta Advantage Plus, and more – making it hard to align data and get the full picture of a product’s performance. Manually unifying cross-channel data for each product is a tedious process that you honestly don’t have time for.

It’s time to break down data silos with an AI-powered reporting and optimization platform like Marin. Here are five problems you’re probably facing today that Marin can solve.

1. It’s hard to compare product performance across channels

Retail marketers need to be able to compare conversion rates by publisher to spot sales trends. What if a product suddenly starts driving a significantly higher conversion rate on Amazon than on Google? You’ll want to identify that variance immediately to understand what’s working on Amazon and apply what you've learned to your search and social campaigns.

We make it easy to analyze how every product is performing across publishers. No more pulling data from each ad platform and unifying it in a spreadsheet. Marin marries cross-channel data for each SKU – and pulls in conversions and revenue from your source of truth, too. It also matches SKUs to ASINs, making it easier than ever to compare performance between Amazon and your other ad channels. 

Thanks to Marin’s data visualization suite, you’ll never need to do manual data pulls or create visualizations again. The data model is unified and built-in. It’s all right there in the app, so you can move at the speed of business when making critical decisions about where to spend your next dollar. And if you like using spreadsheets, it’s one click to open our reports in Excel.

2. Your sales are impacted by social media trends

If sales for one specific product suddenly skyrocket, congratulations - an influencer may have recommended it to their audience. If you sell in the beauty, lifestyle, fashion, or wellness spaces, you’ve probably experienced this more than once. It’s important to recognize those surges the second they happen so that you can capitalize on them. 

Marin’s Alerts will keep you on top of unexpected shifts in performance by sending a report straight to your inbox. The Alert’s thresholds are totally customizable, but a common one is for campaigns where spend has increased or decreased more than 70% day over day. If any campaigns meet your chosen thresholds, you’ll be emailed a report with all the relevant data and details, making it easy to decide what to do next. And once you’ve determined your next move, you can update budgets, bids, and settings for all your ads right in the Marin grid.

If you’re looking for something more turnkey, our Anomaly Detector might be for you. This AI-powered alerting tool doesn’t require any setup. It automatically identifies deviations in performance and sends a sharable, actionable email explaining what changed and what to do about it. 

3. You need an optimization suite that understands the big picture

Jumping from one ads manager to another can be frustrating, especially since some UIs work better than others. And many campaigns share the same goal across publishers, but thanks to those pesky walled-gardens, you have to navigate through each interface to change ROAS targets for a campaign group. But not with Marin.

Our optimization suite is a command center for all your bidding needs. Tweak bids or targets for all your different campaigns in one grid. Or, unify everything with Marin Bidding. Our bidding algorithm runs across all your channels, so you can map Google, Bing, and Amazon campaigns that share a ROAS target to one Strategy in Marin, making optimization management easier than ever. With one click of a button, update targets across all your PPC publishers. You can also mix and match Marin Bidding with publisher bidding if you prefer.

The TL;DR? You tell the AI what to do. You handle the strategy because that’s what you rock at. Marin automates implementation and performance monitoring based on the strategy you choose.

4. Distributing budget across campaigns and channels is complicated

What if you could ensure that every campaign always has the most efficient daily budget possible? With Marin, you can. Simply set a monthly spend goal for a category of campaigns that share a budget, like brand, non-brand, or by geo. Then, choose a ROAS target. Once you’ve customized your settings, Marin’s AI will allocate your overall budget across campaigns by updating publisher daily budgets, giving the majority of spend to the products with the most marginal opportunity to drive revenue. The algorithm runs daily, so it’ll pick up on any shifts in the SERP and adapt daily budgets as needed. Sounds blissful, right? Let our AI take budget allocation off your plate. Learn more about Marin’s industry-leading budget allocation tool here.

5. Expanding to new channels is daunting

If TikTok gets banned in the US, are you ready to start advertising on Lemon8? Retail moves fast, and your brand can’t take years to establish a presence on the next major social media app.

Marin simplifies the process of testing new channels. You can review the performance of your products at the SKU level by publisher to decide where to start. For example, if you’re seeing success with Amazon Ads and want to test out Google Shopping, simply navigate to Marin’s Product Performance report to understand what your top-performing ASINs are.

Then, you can use our bulk-create tool to build Google Shopping campaigns for those products that you already know drive sales. That way, you’ll put your best foot forward when launching on Google. And you can do all the analysis, campaign creation, editing, and performance monitoring necessary to test a new publisher without leaving Marin. No more hopping from Amazon Ads to Google Ad Manager. Marin will be your mission control center, making it possible to do all your reporting and editing in one window.

…And so much more!

We’ve barely scratched the surface of what Marin can do for your retail media and shopping campaigns. Our customizable platform can solve almost any paid media problem, and automate almost any optimization or reporting workflow. But don’t take our word for it – we’ve got a plethora of case studies detailing how Marin has revolutionized one paid media program after another. And if you want to discuss your unique business needs with a Marin expert, we’re more than happy to chat.

Time to dive deep on our patients' questions about targeting new customers on Google Ads, bringing a PMax campaign back from the dead, and advertising on Meta as a healthcare brand. Got a question for the PPC doctors? Share it here.

Q: I’m a B2B software marketer, and I want to make sure my Google Ads only target new site visitors. I don’t want to spend money on returning visitors. How can I do that?

A: To ensure your Google Ads only target new site visitors and avoid spending on returning visitors, you'll want to use audience exclusions. Here’s how:

Set up a custom audience in Google Ads that includes all users who have previously visited your website. Then, apply this audience as an exclusion to your campaigns. This tells Google Ads not to show your ads to anyone who has already visited your site.

Alternatively, you could use GA4 to create an audience segment specifically for new users and import it into Google Ads. You can create the custom segment by defining conditions that exclude users who have already visited your website. You can also exclude users who have triggered specific events or pageviews associated with returning visitors. Once this segment is created, you can import it into Google Ads and use it to target only new users. This option is great if you want to exclude specific types of past visitors, like those who engaged with your site.

Lastly, Google recently released a new ‘customer acquisition’ bidding goal for PMax and search campaigns. If you navigate to a search or PMax campaign’s settings, you’ll see ‘customer acquisition.’ There, you can set your campaign to bid for new customers only. This only works for a few campaign types, but it is a quick and easy way to target new customers! 

Q: I’m trying to recover from a month-long data outage after an agency broke our tracking setup. Before the outage, my PMax campaign was spending about $1,000 a day and close to hitting my target ROAS of 3. But since there is no data for the past month, it’s hardly spending anything now. I just finished fixing the tracking setup, so I have conversion data for the past few days. What is the fastest way to get my PMax campaign to bounce back?

A: I'm sorry to hear about the agency's error and understand your frustration, but rest assured we can get things back on track. There are two routes you can take:

First, you could loosen your target ROAS and increase your daily budget. This will give the algorithm some breathing room to find new conversions while gathering fresh data. Adding high-quality audience signals, like customer lists or past converters, can help guide the algorithm toward likely converters.

Alternatively, you could switch to a “Maximize Conversions” strategy. This will help the algorithm quickly gather data. Once you have enough conversions, switch back to your original settings. Aim for at least 20-30 conversions over a few days to give the algorithm enough data to identify patterns and optimize effectively.

And don’t forget to exclude the outage dates from bidding calculations!

Q: I’m doing marketing for my dental clinic and currently run ads on Google. Should I try advertising on Meta, too? Any insight on how medical clinic ads perform on Instagram and Facebook?

A: First thing’s first, make sure you're running Local Services Ads on Google—those are usually the best way for a dental clinic to find new patients. But adding Meta ads can absolutely help, too!

To make the most of it, you'll want to offer a compelling new patient special. A discount or a unique package can grab attention and entice people to book an appointment. Make sure your ad creative is visually appealing and "scroll-stopping." Think high-quality images or videos of your beautiful office, friendly staff, or even short testimonials from happy patients (just be mindful of HIPAA regulations). Remember, Instagram thrives on visuals, so this platform could be especially effective for you​.

Targeting is key on Meta. Use their advanced targeting tools to reach people in your area who may be looking for a new dentist. You can focus on specific demographics or even interests, like those related to dental health. Research shows that a significant percentage of consumers use social media to make informed health decisions, so having a presence there can build trust and attract new patients.

Lastly, keep it easy for users to book an appointment. The call to action in your ad should link directly to a form where they can schedule an appointment in just a few clicks. The less friction, the better your chances of converting viewers into patients.

So yes, advertising on Meta can be a great complement to your existing Google Ads, especially if you craft compelling offers and engaging content that showcases the best of what your dental clinic has to offer.

And that's it for this week! Share your questions here to get answers from your PPC Docs ASAP and be featured in our next edition.‍

Let’s explore the concept of ad-tech walled gardens and their impact on digital advertising. The term “walled garden” refers to a closed-system platform that retains customer data inside its digital ecosystem. These advertising ecosystems are usually controlled entirely by a single company. The goal is to keep user data within the company’s ecosystem so that other companies cannot access it.

Meta, Google, Amazon, X, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat all have walled-garden data systems. The purpose is to maintain a competitive advantage - of course, Google doesn’t want Meta to have its data. But these walled gardens present a challenge for advertisers because all their data is siloed by platform. That’s why many advertisers opt to use a data unification platform like Marin Connect to unify data across platforms. Marin pulls data via API from every major ad platform so that advertisers can analyze all their data in one place and implement cross-channel advertising strategies.

How did walled gardens start? 

The phase-out of third-party cookies started in 2018 and blocked some of the access advertisers had to third-party data. While this change was great for data privacy, it forced each ad platform to call upon its first-party data for ad targeting—data the platforms most certainly did not want to share with one another. 

Here’s a little recap of the different data classifications:

• First-party data: This data is collected directly by the organization. 
• Second-party data: This is data collected and shared by a trusted source. 
• Third-party data: This type of data is aggregated from multiple second-party sources. 

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The role of GDPR in ad-tech walled gardens 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is comprehensive data protection legislation implemented by the European Union in 2018. It aims to protect citizens' data by enforcing strict data collection, storage, and usage guidelines. Its main benefit is granting individuals greater control over their data, including the right to access, correct, and delete information held by companies. 

GDPR negatively impacted the use of third-party cookies, and according to some studies, it even reduces revenue. Advertisers use third-party cookies to track users across different websites. Under the GDPR, companies must obtain explicit user consent before placing these cookies, leading to widespread changes in digital advertising operations. As a result, many organizations have shifted towards first-party data collection methods, relying on data gathered directly from their websites and apps. This shift contributed to the rise of "walled gardens," where large platforms like Google and Facebook create closed ecosystems that control access to user data and advertising.

Beyond the GDPR, other privacy acts, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), further strengthened user privacy rights. These laws provide similar protections, giving consumers more control over their data and imposing stricter regulations on businesses regarding data handling and transparency.

How do walled gardens affect attribution? 

By preventing marketers from tracking and correlating data across platforms, walled gardens impede informed decision-making in several ways:

• Limited measurement: Walled gardens make it more difficult for advertisers to track the success of campaigns across multiple channels and understand the real impact of different advertising efforts, resulting in attribution problems. ‍
• Journey fragmentation: Because each walled garden operates within its own ecosystem, it's harder for marketers to track conversions throughout the user journey. ‍
• Data accessibility: Limited access to user data within walled gardens hinders the ability to analyze data at a granular level. 

Here's a break down of the pros and cons of walled gardens for a few of the major ad platforms:

Overcoming walled gardens with Marin 

Marin has developed a powerful suite of solutions to make the most of digital advertising. The first tier of the suite, Marin Connect offers a new way to collect, unify, and analyze marketing data. The AI-powered solution offers cross-channel reporting, a unified data model, and powerful analytics. 

Interested in optimizing your data collection and analysis? Discover what the power of Marin’s AI can do for your marketing by requesting a demo.

It's time for your bi-weekly PPC health check-up. Let's get into it.

Q: I have a question about a PMax campaign that I’ve been running for about a year. It’s on tCPA bidding and consistently hits the tCPA target. The conversion volume is decent, but I’d love to see more. I recently increased the daily budget from $450 to $550, but daily spend is still hovering around $450. Why won’t it spend more?

A: It sounds like your PMax campaign is a little spend-shy! This is likely because it’s consistently hitting your tCPA target, and Google is limiting the spend to maintain that efficiency. One of the golden rules of paid search health is to always consider the cost vs. efficiency tradeoff. The more you spend, the less efficient that spend will be. It’s up to you to decide if the additional conversions you’ll get are worth a higher CPA.

One approach is to gradually increase your tCPA target by a small percentage, like +10% a week. This will give the campaign more room to spend while still maintaining a CPA close to your target. You could also consider switching to a "Maximize Conversions" strategy if your main goal is to drive more volume, but keep in mind this will likely lead to a higher CPA.

Sometimes, refreshing your creative assets or expanding your audience targeting gives the algorithm more opportunities to find users that’ll convert. The key is to make changes gradually and monitor the impact closely to ensure CPA stays on track.

Q: What is Google Consent Mode v2, and what do I need to do to ensure my site complies with it?

A: Google Consent Mode v2 (CMv2) helps advertisers comply with privacy regulations while still acquiring data from users who have consented to tracking. It allows you to adjust the behavior of your Google tags based on users' consent status so that when users opt out of tracking, the tags adapt to respect their preferences. The newer version (v2) offers enhanced control with two new parameters—ad_user_data and ad_personalization—and two consent modes: Basic and Advanced.

To ensure your website complies, you need to implement Consent Mode in your Google Tags, set up the necessary signals, and configure your campaigns to adjust based on user consent. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Implement Consent Mode in Google Tags: Update your website’s Google Tags to include CMv2.
2. Configure Consent States: Determine whether to use Basic or Advanced mode. Basic mode handles consent simply, while Advanced mode gives you more granular control over how data is collected and processed based on user consent.
3. Set Parameters: Use the new ad_user_data and ad_personalization parameters to control how Google processes data for advertising and personalization based on consent.
4. Work with a CMP (Consent Management Platform): Integrate a CMP that supports CMv2 to manage and communicate consent preferences on your website.
5. Test and Monitor: Regularly test your setup to ensure it's functioning correctly and that consent is being respected according to the latest regulations.

Let us know if any other questions come up while you’re implementing! 

Q:  A few days ago I created a Meta advantage plus campaign with a lot of different creative variations. The campaign is active but not spending. It says it’s in the Learning Phase. How can I get it to start serving my ads?

A: It sounds like your campaign might need a bit more time to kick into gear. When a campaign says it’s in the learning phase, it’s adjusting to find the best audiences and placements, so it’s normal for spending to be slow initially. However, if the trend continues, there are a few things you can troubleshoot.

It may sound obvious, but start by QAing your setup to ensure the campaign has active ads and ad sets. I know I’ve forgotten to enable an ad or two in my day! Once you’ve confirmed your settings are correct, you can dig deeper.

Check your audience size—if it’s too narrow, there might not be enough users to target. You could try broadening your audience or expanding your targeting settings. Also, review your bid strategy and budget. If your bid is too low, it might not be competitive enough to enter auctions. Similarly, if your budget is limited, the system may be cautious about spending it too quickly. Consider adjusting these settings slightly to see if it helps.

And that's a wrap on this week's digital marketing health checkup! Got questions for our PPC Docs? Share them here.

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This week, we're covering compelling patient questions about managing client expectations, incremental conversions on Meta, and low ROAS on Google Ads. Got a question for the PPC doctors? Share it here.

Q: I’m a media buyer with 10+ years of experience, specializing in paid social. I’m currently freelancing and having trouble managing expectations with my new clients. They’ll send me mediocre creative from one photoshoot and immediately expect 5x ROAS, not understanding that it takes time to build a social media ad pipeline that consistently converts. Do you have any tips on explaining this to new brands and managing their expectations?

A: I totally get where you're coming from—clients often have high expectations, especially when they’re new to social media advertising. The key is to have an honest conversation right from the start. When they send over mediocre creative and expect a 5x ROAS immediately, it's crucial to explain that social media ads are more of a marathon than a sprint. You might want to break down the process into phases and explain that the initial stage is all about testing and learning.

Frame the early stages as a way to gather valuable data. Let them know that it’s normal for ROAS to take time to ramp up because you’re figuring out what resonates with their audience. Share examples or case studies from your past work experience where patience led to strong results so they see the bigger picture.

Also, be transparent with your updates. Even if the numbers aren’t amazing right away, highlight progress in areas like engagement or click-through rates. This will show the client that their campaigns are moving in the right direction.

You could also be more selective about the clients you take on. Consider thoroughly vetting clients before signing a contract to make sure their expectations are realistic. Ask about their goals and budgets. If a brand’s marketing KPIs don’t align with their overall business metrics or if they have an unrealistically small budget and are unwilling to budge, it’s okay to pass on them. That’s the beauty of freelance work–you don’t have to take the clients who don’t set you up for success.  Also, if their creative assets don’t meet a certain standard, it’s often better to hold off until they’re ready to invest in quality content.

Another tip is to consider having a three-month minimum contract length. This will give you the time needed to properly test and optimize, setting both you and your clients up for success. Brands that expect month-over-month miracles might not be the best fit. You deserve clients who are informed enough to set both you and their business up for marketing success!

‍Q: What are incremental conversions in Meta, and should I optimize toward them?

A: Meta just added the option to optimize towards incremental conversions last week, so I love how on top of your PPC health you are! Incremental conversions in Meta measure the number of conversions that happen solely because of your Meta ads, compared to what would have occurred without them. For example, a user who scrolled past an ad for dresses might have bought the dress regardless of the fact that they saw the ad. That’s a non-incremental conversion. Conversely, some users might buy the dress exclusively because they saw the ad. That would be an incremental conversion. Meta calculates this by comparing conversions from users exposed to your ads with a control group that didn't see the ads.

Optimizing toward incremental conversions is a smart move if you want to understand the true impact of your campaigns. By focusing on this metric, you ensure that your ad spend is driving genuine growth rather than capturing sales that would have happened anyway. However, the option to optimize toward incremental conversions is super new, so there’s not a ton of insight I can share on how well it works. I guess, in the end, it’s an act in trust. If you’ve had good experiences and trust Meta’s cutting edge features, give it a shot! But like any new feature, start by testing it on a small batch of campaigns and see how it performs before going all in. 

Q: I launched my online store about a month ago and started running ads on Google right after the launch. However, my overall ROAS for the month is below 1. I need ROAS to be at least 3 for this investment to make sense for my overall business finances. Why is this happening? How can I fix it?

A: Congrats on launching your business! And don’t let the low ROAS get you down just yet. Unfortunately it’s normal to lose money or break even on advertising for the first quarter or two in business, especially if you’re in a saturated industry like online retail where competition is fierce. You’ll need to build an audience and move them through your ad campaign's acquisition and retargeting phases before you start seeing significant conversion volume. 

Additionally, the lack of historical data to feed Google’s algorithms is a huge factor. Google’s Smart Bidding strategies need at least a month’s worth of conversion and revenue data to start learning who to serve your ads to. Once Smart Bidding has that data, performance should start improving. You could switch to manual bidding while you acquire more data, then after a few months pass and a couple hundred conversions come through, switch to Smart Bidding. 

Manual bidding is a big topic, but my basic recommendation is to set your bids equal to the average CPC for each keyword to start. As time passes, increase bids on keywords that drive clicks and conversions and decrease bids on keywords that don’t.

It may be best to optimize toward a softer metric like click-through-rate (CTR) or even impressions at the start. Even if an ad or keyword isn’t driving conversions, a decent CTR is a good indicator that your ads are resonating. People are simply less likely to make an impulse purchase from a brand they’ve never heard of before. Keep building your reputation and hit those clickers or viewers with retargeting ads. It’ll pay off in the long run!

The companies that invest in marketing early on, despite the low ROAS, are the companies that grow the fastest. You have to grow your brand! Make sure you really understand your value proposition and what sets you apart from competitors. Make it clear in your ads. Build brand awareness through channels like YouTube video ads targeting people interested in the type of goods you provide. Then, turn your video viewers into an audience in Google Ads, and hit them with retargeting ads. That’s how you’ll get your site to grow.

And that's a wrap on this week's paid media questions! Got a Q for the PPC Docs? Ask it here.

In PPC marketing, timely updates can be the difference between hitting your goals and overspending your budget. Marin’s customizable Alerts ensure you never miss critical performance changes. Now you can get them directly in Slack.

Real-time notifications about significant campaign changes allow you to make quick adjustments to get performance back on track. You can also improve collaboration by sending Alerts directly to your team's shared Slack channel. Eliminate the time spent monitoring dashboards and rely instead on the messaging system you use all day, every day. Click here for a guide on linking Alerts to your Slack notifications.

Here are some ideas for Alerts that will help you stay on top of performance changes:

Be aware of changes in spend

Get alerted of significant changes in campaign spending so that you can investigate what caused the spike or drop in volume. This way, you can avoid over or underspending and stay looped into how your campaigns are performing in the SERP. For example, I could have Marin send a Slack notification any time cost changes more than 40% day over day.

Understand changes in the SERP

Use an Alert to inform you any time a campaign, group, or keyword sees a large increase or decrease in impression share. That way, you’ll stay aware of changes in the auction landscape without having to do any manual data analysis. Once you know where potential issues stem from, you can easily investigate them in Marin’s grids.

Flag high- and low-performing keywords

Every PPC manager has their own criteria for what defines a high-performing or low-performing keyword. Use Marin’s dynamic filters to create a keyword performance Alert based on your secret formula. That way, you can capitalize on high-performing keywords and pause out any low-performing keywords that are bleeding spend and not driving conversions. For example, you could be alerted at any time Avg. CPC surpasses a certain number, or when keyword cost is high but conversions are low. 

Remedy low CTR keywords

Create an Alert that informs you when any keyword’s CTR drops below a certain threshold. Whenever you receive that Slack notification, you’ll know it’s time to make some changes, like moving the keyword into a separate group and making the ad creative and copy more relevant to the keyword, or pausing the keyword if it’s not worth the money and effort.

Discover issues with landing pages

Uncover ads that have a high CTR but aren’t driving conversions by building an Alert based on your performance thresholds. Then, investigate why people are clicking on those ads but not converting. It’s likely an issue with landing page relevancy but it also could be a sign that your tracking isn’t working properly.

Automate account maintenance

These types of Alerts ensure that nothing is missing from your account setup. By creating Alerts for things like active groups with no active ads, disapproved keywords, or campaigns missing tracking parameters, you can automate a lot of those pesky account maintenance tasks that your intern secretly hates doing. The more you automate, the more time and energy your team has to focus on strategic planning.

…And so much more!

Alerts are fully customizable. If you can filter on a metric in Marin, you can create an Alert based on that data. And Marin has pretty much every metric you can think of! The possibilities are endless. If you're a Marin user and need help setting up Alerts or linking them to Slack, reach out to your Account Rep. And if you’re not a Marin user yet, but think the platform might be a good fit for you, you can learn more and schedule a demo here.

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Do you ever wish you had someone you could hand some of your work off to? A performance marketing expert on speed dial 24/7 to help elevate your game and make you look better for your boss or client? Well, look no further, Marin’s Advisor is here to help you get s*#$ done. Whether you need insights from across the web or detailed instructions on how to use Marin, Advisor is here to help.

Advisor can help you…

• Answer strategic questions: Get quick and reliable answers to questions about digital marketing strategy, trends, and best practices.
• Learn to use Marin: Receive step-by-step assistance on how to use our powerful marketing platform. Advisor draws from Marin’s extensive Help Center to provide you with the information you need, when you need it.
• Discover new keywords: Share your highest ROAS keywords with Advisor and ask it to provide similar suggestions.
• Expand ad copy: Workshop every element of your ad copy with Advisor, from grammar to tone to keyword relevancy.
• Locate help articles: Want to reference a guide when making certain edits or optimizations in Marin? Simply ask Advisor for a link to a help article about the topic.
• Write Marin Scripts: Advisor is a coding wiz! When creating a new Marin Script, grab the code’s framework from its settings. Then paste it into Advisor and ask the bot to tweak the code as needed.
• Complete integrations: Get guidance on integrating Marin with the other tools and platforms you use.
• Manage data: Understand how to manage and analyze data within Marin’s grids for better decision-making.

• Troubleshoot issues: If you hit a roadblock in the app, simply ask Advisor for help. It can steer you in the right direction or connect you to our support team.
• Understand features: Marin has tons of different tools, like Strategies, Dynamic Actions, Dimensions, and more. Advisor can explain the use cases and implementation process of any of these features so you don’t have to remember the pesky details.
• Create custom reports: Get help building custom reports tailored to your specific needs.

And so much more! We’ve got lots of exciting plans for how Advisor will get better over the coming months, but if there is anything you’d like to see it tackle, please let us know here.

Keep in mind…

As with any new teammate, you’ll want to keep an eye on Advisor’s work as it ramps up. Here are a few things to remember.

• No access to customer data: Advisor is designed to protect your privacy and does not have access to any customer-specific data. This means it cannot provide tailored responses based on your unique setup or performance metrics.
• It’s still learning: Responses and prompts are continually being refined. While we strive for accuracy, we recommend verifying critical information through Marin's Help Center or by contacting your Marin support team.

Get started with Advisor

Advisor is available in all editions of Marin. Look for the ‘Advisor’ icon in the top right navigation bar. Click on it, type your question, and let Advisor guide you. Whether you're new to digital marketing or an experienced practitioner, Advisor is here to make your journey smoother and more informed.

Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,

From a glitch exposing ad data to being ruled a monopolist by the Department of Justice, Google’s having a rough week. But will these L’s actually impact them in any significant way? Or has their dominance made them too big to fail? Only time will tell, but I’m here to decode all the details for you in the meantime.

A Google Ads glitch broke the UI and exposed advertisers’ data

The issue began Thursday evening, so if you’re an SEMer, it probably harshed your Friday mellow. The following tools were down: the Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the Google Ads web interface; plus the Products, Product Groups, and Listing Groups pages across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor. So yeah, that was quite the blocker for anyone trying to analyze or optimize their Google Shopping campaigns. 

The issue wasn’t fully resolved until yesterday, so if Google Ads wasn’t working as expected for you this week, that’s why. The craziest part is that some advertisers were seeing other advertisers’ data in their Google Merchant Center accounts. According to AdExchanger, “Google Merchant Center (GMC), Google’s hub for commerce advertising and analytics, has been accidentally cross-pollinating data – including unencrypted customer and product info – between accounts on the platform going back at least two weeks.” Two weeks?!?! That’s, like, so not cool. 

Upon further inspection, the glitch seemed to be mixing up data between accounts operated by multi-client agencies and consultancies that had multiple accounts under the same MCC. So maybe it wasn’t as big of a data privacy issue as we initially thought, but still… yikes. It also turns out that some accounts were serving ads for products from other accounts. If that happened to you, Google should be reaching out to you and offering credits for wasted spend ASAP. In other dramatic Google news…

Google is ruled a monopolist

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google in late 2020, accusing them of having a monopoly over the search services market, and on Monday, they were finally found guilty. According to my boss, “The core issue was Google's exclusive distribution agreements with device manufacturers and browser developers to secure its position as the default search engine on most devices and platforms.” The court said that these exclusive agreements enabled Google to dominate a substantial share of the market and charge “supracompetitive” prices for search text ads. But you work in digital marketing, so you probably already knew that.

Google has already announced its plans to appeal the ruling through a heavily PR-spun post on X, so we’ll have to wait for that to play out. But if you’re curious about the potential impact this ruling could have on your advertising program, you can find more details here. In my last bit of Google news…

Smart Campaigns will automatically become PMax Campaigns

This is just another step toward AI-powered, black-box campaign management. While PMax does have a lot of perks, advertisers are a bit irked that they’re forced to make the switch. The transition is happening gradually, so some advertisers still have access to Smart Campaigns while others do not. You should get an email like this from Google when you lose access to Smart Campaigns. There’s not much we advertisers can do other than optimize our PMax campaigns to the extent of our abilities and… try to embrace change, I guess. Now for some SEO news…

Google Search Console launched recommendations

This experimental new feature isn’t available to everyone yet, but it sounds pretty handy. It provides actionable insights and recommendations to improve your site’s Google Search rankings. Tips can help with indexing, crawling, serving, and more. If you don’t have access to it yet, you can see a screenshot of what they’re testing here. In other SEO news…

Turns out AI is not disrupting search or impacting Google

There’s been lots of talk about how the likes of ChatGPT could be the end of Google, but so far, that’s simply not the case. New research comparing traffic to Google vs. traffic to the major AI/LLM search players made it pretty clear that AI isn’t even making a dent in Google’s traffic or volume of searches. So G isn’t going anywhere, but we do still need to optimize for GEO so that our sites can appear in its AI Overviews. Now for some Reddit tea…

Reddit to Microsoft: show me the money if you want my content

A few weeks ago, Bing was blocked from crawling Reddit following Reddit’s exclusive licensing agreement with Google. In a recent interview with The Verge, Reddit’s CEO doubled down, saying Microsoft better pay up if they want to scrape Reddit’s data. 

“Without these agreements, we don’t have any say or knowledge of how our data is displayed and what it’s used for, which has put us in a position now of blocking folks who haven’t been willing to come to terms with how we’d like our data to be used or not used,” Huffman said during the interview. Know your worth, king!! 

I absolutely understand why Reddit wants these companies to establish a licensing agreement before crawling their site, but I do think it’s unfortunate that only Google is willing to do it. Reddit is starting to seem like the future of search, and the exclusive agreement gives Google even more of an advantage over other engines like Bing, further powering that pesky monopoly we talked about earlier. Now for a bit of news on streaming ads…

Amazon is challenging Netflix with cheaper ad slots

Looks like Amazon is winning the battle for streaming ad dollars. They handled the rollout of their ad-supported tier differently than competitors, and it worked. While Netflix, Disney+, and the like introduced their cheaper, ad-supported tiers as options users could opt into, Amazon made their ad-supported tier the default. Users were automatically converted to the ad tier but had the option to pay more for premium, so tons of users didn’t take action and remained on the ad tier. Therefore, Amazon has lots of ad inventory to sell at prices lower than Netflix. The affordability combined with the ability to target users based on Amazon Prime shopping data has made Prime Video a highly profitable channel for advertisers. So if you aren’t running Amazon Sponsored TV ads yet, it’s time to start. And in my last bit of news…

Got questions? Ask the PPC Doctors!

I’ve got a side hustle giving great advice to PPC pros. For everything from understanding if new Google campaign types are right for you to solving your hardest budgeting conundrums, the PPC Doctors are here to help. And who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned advice column?! It’s nostalgic, if anything. Give our past editions a read to get the latest PPC advice, or submit a question of your own. Expert answers will be delivered to your inbox ASAP, and you’ll be featured anonymously in our next edition (only if you’re cool with it). Hit us with your hardest questions - we’re here to help! 

And I’ll leave you with that, digital darlings. As Google veers us into uncharted waters with anti-trust lawsuits abound, I’ll be your compass, steering you toward revenue no matter how much the industry changes. Until next week, stay sassy and savvy.

You know you love me.

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This week, we're answering more patient questions about Google Search and Youtube ads. Got a question for the PPC doctors? Share it here.

Q: I’m running Google Ads campaigns across EMEA. Should I target multiple countries with one Google Ads campaign or separate them?

A: There are several factors to consider, but the biggest one is budget. If your business requires you to have separate spend limits for each country, then separate campaigns will be necessary. With separate campaigns you’ll be able to set a unique daily budget and efficiency target for each country. If your business doesn’t care how spend is distributed across countries as long as performance is good, read on to understand if a unified campaign is the best path forward.

With a tight budget, combining countries may be the most efficient approach. It’ll pool your resources and allow Google’s algorithms to determine where best to spend your money across the different countries. Additionally, it’ll help your campaign have enough conversion and revenue data density so that Smartbidding can make informed bidding decisions. But keep in mind that language and geo targets can only be set at the campaign level, so ads in different languages will need their own campaigns.

If you have a large budget, creating a unique campaign for each country will give you better control over targeting and spend allocation. You’ll be able to customize bidding strategies and set a unique daily budget for each market, giving you more control and likely improving performance.

If you’re still unsure, start with a unified approach, then segment when you find it necessary. If a specific country outperforms others, break it out into it’s own campaign so you can give it focused attention. Good luck in EMEA!

Q: Is it possible to oversegment your ad groups? How should I think about segmenting them? With RSAs, does it even matter?

Absolutely, you can oversegment your ad groups. When you create too many small segments, you dilute your data, making it harder to gather actionable insights. This can lead to inefficient spending as you can't optimize bids effectively without enough data. Additionally, managing numerous small ad groups can be way too time-consuming.

It’s best to segment based on search intent. Let’s say you’re running marketing for a doctor’s office. It wouldn’t make sense to create separate segments for ‘doctors office’ and ‘physicians office’ because people searching for those terms have the same intention. But search terms like ‘doctors office’ and ‘pediatrician’ should be segmented into separate ad groups, as the info that searchers are looking to find with those queries is different. Segment enough to capture important differences in your audience or products, but not so much that you end up with minuscule, hard-to-manage groups.

With Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), segmentation becomes less important, but not obsolete. RSAs can handle a lot of variation for you by dynamically testing different combinations of headlines and descriptions. So, while segmentation is still important, RSAs give you some breathing room by optimizing performance across broader segments.

Q: I own a small fashion brand and am trying to drive more traffic to my online store. I recently launched an ad on YouTube that has a 35% view rate and over 2,000 impressions, but I’m hardly seeing any new visitors on my website. What am I doing wrong?

It sounds like your ad is engaging, but there might be a few things to tweak. First, make sure your call to action (CTA) is clear and compelling. Look at your ad placement and click-through rate (CTR). If your CTR is low, even with a good view rate, your CTA needs to be more enticing. Viewers need to know exactly what to do next, and why they should do it. Also, check that the messaging on your landing page matches the message of your ad. If it’s not relevant, visitors might leave right away. For example, an ad for a pair of pants should bring viewers directly to the landing page for those pants, not to your homepage.

Generally speaking, YouTube is more of a brand awareness platform. People who are in a Youtube binge aren’t super likely to stop watching videos and click out to your site. Also, lots of people put YouTube on in the background while they’re doing stuff around the house. Those background plays still count as views, but of course won’t drive clicks. So there may not be much wrong with your ad, it may be the platform that’s the issue. 

That said, Youtube ads can greatly improve brand recognition. Consider retargeting those who viewed your Youtube ad with follow-up ads on other, more user-engaged channels like paid search and social and see if that helps! Best of luck with your brand.

Check back bi-weekly to read our answers to the internet's burning paid media questions. Or, ask a question of your own here! We’ll email you the answer ASAP, and only share your question in the next edition if it’s okay with you. Now get out there and optimize those campaigns!

Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,

Have you heard about the hot new end-of-summer trends?! GEO is the new SEO, Search GPT is the new Google, and precision marketing is the new performance marketing. I know it’s a lot to take in… but you’re a digital marketer, so I know that you know how to embrace change. Allow me to fill you in on all the dirty deets. 

GEO is the new SEO

Welp, we’ve finally got a name for optimizing site content to please the robots. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the process of optimizing content to appear in generative AI LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. GEO is similar to SEO but more focused on ensuring that content is high-quality, clear, and hyer-relevant to the topics you’d like to serve results for. The goal is to get AI to source your content when providing answers. Check out this article to get a full understanding of the differences and how to adapt your SEO strategy. Speaking of AI-powered search engines…

OpenAI announced its Google competitor, Search GPT

I’m curious to see how this tool will differ from ChatGPT, which already answers my burning questions regularly. OpenAI says it’ll be “a faster, easier way to find what you're looking for.” You can check out screenshots of their prototype here if you’re curious. It looks like the bot will provide conclusive answers with pictures, videos, and links to web pages you can visit to get more details. The mock-up honestly looks super similar to Bing’s search generative experience that we talked about last week… just saying. Unlike the list of links provided by traditional search engines, Search GPT tries to make sense of the most relevant links, images, and videos it can find. This new product makes what we talked about above all the more crucial - it’s time to start optimizing for GEO ASAP! And in my last bit of AI news…

Use this site to figure out which Gen AI Chatbot is right for you

Have you ever wondered if you should be using ChatGPT, Claude, Anthropic, or something else? This AI model review site lets you compare all the major LLM chatbots against one another. Simply select the two models you’d like to compare and choose from over 200 preloaded prompts that can test the bots for key capabilities like knowledge, creativity, and completing tasks. Review outputs to determine which model fits your business’s needs best. Also, my alter ego wrote a guide to AI for precision marketers that’ll help you understand the best ways to prompt your chatbot of choice and examples of marketing tasks it can complete for you. Speaking of precision marketing…

Performance marketing is OUT; precision marketing is IN

Last week, my alter ego and her team hosted a webinar about precision marketing, the new wave that focuses on perfecting targeting and working with AI to understand your data better than ever before. If you’re looking for 5 actionable tips to enter this new era hand-in-hand with AI and enhanced conversion tracking, give it a watch. We cover everything from optimizing toward true revenue data to building your own AI-assisted chatbot. Now for my obligatory section about Google Ads…

New Merchant Center + Ads integration streamlines ad creation

You can now link your Merchant Center to feed your Pmax campaigns and import images of products from your feed right into your asset library. Easily enhance the images using Google’s AI image editor, then add them as assets to your Pmax campaigns. This makes the process of creating Pmax ads easier than ever for retailers. In other Pmax news…

Google Added some new reporting features for Pmax

New tools include conversion metrics in asset-level reports, YouTube video placement reporting, and verification of brand suitability for YouTube and display ad placements. Advertisers have been practically begging for more insight into their Pmax campaigns, specifically more information on which assets perform well and which perform poorly, so I’m very happy to see that Google’s listening to us and giving us asset-level conversion data! In my final bit of Google news…

Get the deets on how Google prioritizes and matches keywords

The good people at Search Engine Journal broke down exactly why an ad gets chosen in the keyword-based Google search auctions. And even though Google has been pushing Broad match on us, Exact match keywords still get top priority. The article breaks down each ranking factor by priority and then goes on to answer some common questions about the new controls for query matching that Google added earlier this year. It’s a super informative read that I highly recommend my SEMers check out. Now let’s talk about paid media's rising champion, Reddit.

Reddit launched lead generation ads

The new ad format prompts users to enter key information like name and email into an in-platform form. It has great potential for B2B marketers, especially since, according to Reddit, “75% of decision makers say that Reddit has the most influential perspectives on new business products and solutions.” They tout the new ad format as a great opportunity for education and consumer tech brands too. So if you operate in those industries, I highly recommend testing it out. Reddit is taking over the internet one Google search at a time, so why not advertise there?

That’s a wrap on this week’s digital download, darlings, and what a whirlwind it was. No matter how crazy things get, I’ll be here every Friday to keep you in the loop. Stay strong, my beautiful masters of marketing, and we’ll talk again next week. 

You know you love me.

In our guide to AI for precision marketers, we stress the importance of properly prompting generative AI chatbots and giving them context before asking questions. Whether you work for one company or several clients, ChatGPT requires business context with every new prompt or question. Rather than repeating yourself at the start of every prompt, why not build a custom bot that holds onto that context? 

For example, we built a ‘Marin Marketer’ GPT that knows all about our industry, clients, competitors, and goals. When we ask it simple questions, it draws on that context to answer helpfully, making the bot more like a teammate or AI assistant than a simple chat window.

If you don’t want to build a bot, you can easily customize your iteration of ChatGPT so that the bot answers questions with context on you, your job, and your company. We’ll cover how to do that first.

Customizing ChatGPT

To customize your chatbot, click on your user icon in the top right. Here you’ll see the option to customize ChatGPT:

It’ll give you a set of instructions to customize your bot.

Details to share with your chatbot

The first prompt asks for details about you. Here is a list of potential information to share that will get you started.

About you

• Where you live
• Where you work
• Your job title
• Your responsibilities
• A typical day in your life
• Your professional goals
• The tone of voice you use to communicate or write content

About your company

• Industry
• Location of headquarters
• Regions serviced
• Target audience
• Key competitors
• Product or service details
• Unique selling propositions
• Common challenges
• Frequently asked questions from your clients or customers (with answers)
• Main marketing channels
• Mission
• Brand values
• Key KPIs
• Upcoming initiatives or product launches
• Team structure
• Preferred marketing tools and software
• Content style preferences like SEO best practices, tone, formatting

About your ideal chatbot

The second prompt asks for details on how you’d like your chatbot to respond to your queries. Here are some points you can touch on.

• Tone of Voice:
  • Formal or informal
  • Friendly, conversational, or professional
  • Enthusiastic, neutral, or serious
• Response Length:
  • Brief and to the point
  • Detailed and comprehensive
  • Summarized with key points highlighted
• Language Style:
  • Simple and easy to understand
  • Technical and industry-specific jargon
  • Creative and engaging
• Politeness and Courtesy:
  • Highly polite and respectful
  • Casual and familiar
  • Direct and straightforward
• Use of Examples:
  • Include examples to illustrate points
  • Avoid examples, keep responses general
  • Use real-world scenarios or case studies
• Formatting Preferences:
  • Use bullet points or numbered lists
  • Paragraph format
  • Headings and subheadings for clarity
• Context Awareness:
  • Assume prior knowledge of previous conversations
  • Treat each interaction as standalone
  • Reference specific details from past interactions
• Problem-Solving Approach:
  • Analytical and data-driven
  • Creative and innovative
  • Practical and actionable
• Feedback and Clarifications:
  • Prompt for additional information if needed
  • Avoid asking for clarifications
  • Provide feedback on user inputs or actions
• Feedback Loop:
  • Encourage feedback on responses
  • Regularly check if the information provided was helpful
  • Adjust responses based on user feedback

Sharing these details with ChatGPT will vastly improve the quality and relevance of the responses it gives you. 

Selecting your GPT’s capabilities

GPT-4 has three main capabilities: Browsing, DALL-E, and Code. At the bottom of the ‘customize ChatGPT’ window, you can disable any of these.

Browsing allows the GPT to browse the web for info, so you’ll almost certainly want to select that checkbox. DALL-E generates images, so you’ll want to enable that if you plan on having ChatGPT create any visuals for you. Code enables the bot to write, analyze, debug, and execute snippets of code. You can probably de-select this one, assuming you’re not a developer. That said, there’s really no disadvantage to keeping it enabled. Who knows… you may need to code one day, and ChatGPT makes it super easy. 

With that, your settings are up to date! The context you provided should make ChatGPT much more user friendly. Read on to learn how to create your own GPT that you can share with the rest of your marketing team.

Creating a shareable chatbot

In order to create a shareable GPT, you have to have the premium, paid version of ChatGPT. It’s $20 a month, and I personally think it’s worth it. But if you don’t feel like shelling out some extra cash, you can always copy the company-specific context you gave your bot and share that with your team. But don’t tell the bots I told you that. 😉

Now, back to creating a shareable GPT. In the left navigation bar, you’ll see the option to explore GPTs. Clicking that will take you to a sort of ‘store’ where you can browse all the different GPTs the platform offers. Click the ‘Create’ button at the top right.

That will open a window where you can have a conversation with ChatGPT to help it understand exactly what you want to build and gain all the necessary information and context. Or, you can toggle over to the ‘configure’ tab and enter all the personal and company context that we discussed in the last section under ‘Instructions’:

It’s also super valuable to upload files to the ‘knowledge’ section that are relevant to your bot. If you’re building a content writing bot, upload your style guide and some of your best pieces of writing so it can understand the tone and format you’re looking for. If you’re building a bot to draft social media posts, upload copies of previous posts that you’re proud of. If you’re building a bot to write sales emails, upload any scripts your sales team uses. You get the idea! 

Once your bot is ready to go, you can easily share it with your team by selecting it in the left hand nav bar, clicking the downward arrow next to your bot’s name, and then selecting “Copy Link” to get a shareable, public link other paying GPT customers can utilize!

Prompting your custom GPT

The great thing about your new chatbot is that you don’t have to give it any business context before asking a question to get great results. Simply tell it the task you're trying to achieve and any task-specific details. Then watch the bot work its magic!

Going beyond bots

As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve, incorporating AI into your daily workflows is no longer just a cool idea—it's imperative. From automating routine tasks to providing deep insights and optimizing campaigns in real time, AI empowers marketers to achieve more with less effort. But the true power of AI lies in its ability to go beyond basic text generation to help you drive strategic growth.

Our suite of AI-powered tools is designed to unify your data, optimize your budget, and manage your paid media campaigns seamlessly. With Marin, you'll spend less time on manual tasks and more time on what really matters: creating impactful campaigns. Ready to go beyond chatbots and unlock the power of AI designed by marketers, for marketers? Click here to learn more.

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Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,

Sheeeeesh, what a week. Between last Friday’s outage on Windows PCs and Google’s about face on cookies, we’ve got a lot to cover today. Let’s kick it off with some tea about G…

Google is keeping cookies in Chrome

It’s been 4 whole years since Google first announced its plans to rid Chrome of cookies - a plan that has faced opposition from advertisers and regulators ever since. Now, they’re finally giving up. Rather than eliminating cookies, Google will present users with a prompt where they can decide to turn cookies on or off. Users can already block cookies in their Chrome settings, so this doesn’t sound like much of an improvement for user privacy… Regardless, I’m sure more and more people will continue to opt out of cookie-based tracking, so it’s still critical for advertisers to have a first-party tracking solution in place. In other Google news…

Billions of Google redirects will stop working soon

Google’s URL shortener service will shut down on August 25, 2025. We haven’t been able to create new redirects with the URL shortener since 2019, but according to Majestic, there are still 3.6 billion Google shortened URLs live on the interwebs. Starting in August 2024, any goo.gl links will display a warning page saying, ‘This link will no longer work in the near future.’ So if your website contains any links in ‘goo.gl’ format, you’ve got a year to update them to their full length versions before they start 404ing.

New Sitelinks interface and feature for PMAX campaigns

The new Google Ads UI displays Sitelinks in a numbered list, which I guess is a bit more user-friendly. The better update is that Google now offers ‘recommended’ Sitelinks, so it looks like their AI is going to crawl your site for the best opportunities and generate the Sitelinks for you. That’s convenient! The feature is super new, and I haven’t heard much about how it works, but it could save you some time, so it’s worth testing out. Now for some Bing news…

Google to test ads in AI overviews soon

On Google’s Tuesday night earnings call, SVP Philipp Schindler said, "Soon we'll actually start testing search and shopping ads in AI Overviews for users in the U.S." Ok, I’m interested! He went on to say that the ads will appear within the AI overview in a section labeled ‘sponsored’ and that the ad will have to be relevant to both the search query and the info in the overview in order to appear.  You won’t have to create new ads for this, Google will use your existing Search and PMAX ads in this new placement. Meanwhile, at Microsoft HQ…

Bing is testing their own search generative experience

The new feature “combines the power of LLMs and SLMs with Bing’s search results to generate a more delightful and efficient UX layout.” This is Bing’s version of AI Overviews, and based on the screenshots in this article, I think I like their version better. It’s more experiential, with pictures and videos and clearly cited sources. They’re testing the experience on a small set of users right now, but I’m sure a version of it will be live for everyone soon, and it’s only a matter of time before these Bing AIOs start featuring ads, too. But it’s not all good news for Bing this week…

Bing is officially blocked from crawling Reddit

Anyone who’s been on the internet over the past six months knows that Reddit has been dominating the Google SERP ever since the two secured a licensing partnership in February. Google drives a ton of traffic to Reddit, and in exchange, Google gets to feature more authentic search results, which users prefer. The deal gives Google yet another advantage over Bing, so keep that in mind if you're advertising on Bing. There may be even fewer people turning to Bing for answers than before, but you won’t have to compete with Reddit for clicks and top-of-serp space.

How to avoid fallout from the CrowdStrike fiasco

You probably heard about how thousands of Windows computers stopped working on Friday, disrupting banks, airlines, TV, and pretty much any other industry that relies on computers, so… all of them? Yeah, it was bad. Long story short, an update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike broke the internet. The update has since been reverted, but it’s important that advertisers do their due diligence to avoid any negative impact. You may have seen a significant drop in traffic from ads on Friday, and you don’t want that outlier to skew your bidding algorithms. So be sure to exclude 7/19 from bidding calculations in your publisher or Marin bidding settings. And if you want to be alerted of any anomalies in performance the second they happen, check out Marin’s Anomaly Detector.

How to add promo offers to your Meta ads CTAs

Meta Ads' new ‘offers’ feature is currently in beta, so not all advertisers have access to it. But if you do, you should be able to find it in the ‘Ad Sources’ settings in Ads Manager, right below Sitelinks. You can add percentage discounts or dollar off offers that you’re ok with providing to those viewing your Meta Ads. The Meta UI says, “Adding offers will display discounts and promo codes along with your ad creative when we think they are likely to increase performance.” I can’t think of a scenario where offering a discount wouldn’t improve the performance of your ad, but ok… The takeaway is that sometimes these discounts will be displayed next to your CTAs, and sometimes they won’t. This sounds like a feature worth testing!

And that’s a wrap on this week’s digital drama, darlings. Make sure to log off and touch grass this weekend so you can return to the marketing world on Monday refreshed and ready for a new week of optimizations and analysis. We’ll talk again next week. Can’t wait <3

You know you love me.

It’s official: precision marketing is the new performance marketing. And a fundamental tenet of precision marketing is using LLM generative AI like ChatGPT or Claude to work smarter, not harder. But I know you don’t need to be told to leverage AI in your daily workflows for the millionth time - you want to learn how to do it. This guide will provide tangible, actionable use cases for AI in your daily workflows - with examples and next steps. It’s time to grow and evolve your current workflows by working with AI, and it all starts with understanding how to properly communicate with these LLMs to improve their output and results.

Choosing the right chatbot

The heavy hitters are ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Here are the strengths of each:

ChatGPT: A high-level strategic partner that’s good at editing existing work like blog posts or slide decks, structured problem-solving, and testing theories and assumptions. 

Claude: A thought partner that’s great for coming up with new ideas, providing feedback, and pointing out potential risks and flaws in your strategy.

Perplexity: Can be treated like a research assistant. Great at gathering and analyzing data and fact-checking with access to real-time info, whereas other chatbots only have access to data up to their last updated date.

I have ChatGPT Plus, and I love its library of specialized GPTs. You can find a GPT trained to do almost anything here:

The value of using one of these specialized GPTs is that it’s already trained to do what you need it to. You only need to feed it contextual info about your business; then you’re off to the races.

Since ChatGPT is my AI of choice, I’ll use it to provide examples throughout this article. But before we get into specific ideas for using generative AI in your daily workflows, let’s cover how to talk to your chatbot.

Training AI to be a strategic partner

Generative AI works great for two things: helping you make decisions and helping you deliver on those decisions. But to provide value, AI needs as much specific information as possible. For precision marketers, this information will usually include links to relevant pages on your website, past pieces of content you’ve written, past campaign metrics or analyses you’ve done, anything that will help the LLM narrow its focus and define the playing field it should operate within.

If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll want to give the chatbot some framing of who you are and what you do. Here are some good bits of context to give the chatbot before you start sharing your prompts:

Who are you, and what do you do?

• What’s your role/mandate within your organization?
• What’s your company industry, size, and target customer?
• What types of challenges are you usually faced with?
• A link to your website

An example of a contextual note to share with your chatbot before prompting is:

I’m a social media manager for a shoe brand. Here is our website: [link]. Our primary customer is women ages 18-40. We’re a smaller, independent brand and often struggle to compete against bigger brands, but our unique designs have helped us develop a loyal following. Our pricing is mid-tier, with the average pair of shoes costing around $200. 

The next step is to frame your goal with a simple, effective prompt formula: decision + outcome + constraints = happy marketer. 

Start by telling the AI about the decision you need help making or the challenge you’re trying to solve. Next, share your desired outcome - what goal or measurable output are you hoping to achieve? And finally, share any constraints - what rules, limitations, or external factors does the AI need to consider before making a decision? Here are some examples of how to build a decision, outcome, & constraint (DOC) prompt:

Bringing it all together, your prompt might look something like this: 

I want you to help me decide my next whitepaper topic. I’m trying to drive C-suite executives in the automotive industry to my website and entice them to download the whitepaper. Here is a list of topics we’ve covered in the past and a list of topics I’m considering: [insert lists]

This simple formula helps AI understand not just the basics but also your motivations and goals. This way, you can have a strategic conversation with AI, asking it questions and providing feedback on its responses (vs. asking it to output generic SEO-optimized title ideas for your blog posts). Using AI as a strategic partner means asking it to build an entire strategy for you, not just to complete tasks. 

Many social media marketers use AI to draft copy for their posts. They’ll make one-off requests, like “I want to post about Earth Day. Can you write the copy?” Generic requests beget generic responses. And can you blame the poor chatbot? It doesn’t have any context! 

The precision marketer uses AI differently. Rather than ask for one post, the precision marketer tells ChatGPT:

I’m a social media manager for [brand], and I want to increase leads driven from organic social media posts by 20% this quarter. Some of the topics I typically post about are fashion, lifestyle, and music. I like to post 3-5 times per week, make sure my posts are engaging, and encourage readers to share and leave comments. Can you please (the bots like it when you say please!) build a social calendar for me for the next month and draft the posts?

It takes some time, but sharing those details? That’s how you get AI to really revolutionize your marketing program. 

Now that we’ve covered strategic prompting let's get into some specific ways marketers have seen success using Chatbots to streamline their workflows:

1. Draft thought leadership content

This one may seem obvious, and there’s a reason for that. AI does a great job at creating a first draft for new content! But to get the chatbot to write in your voice, you need to feed it some of the content you’ve written in the past. If you want the chatbot to generate LinkedIn posts for your brand, share a link to your profile so it can scan past posts and copy your tone. Or, if you want it to draft a blog post for you, share links to your 20 best posts so the chatbot can copy your tone of voice and gain background knowledge about your industry. Here’s an example of how to prompt your chatbot to draft a blog post using the decision, outcome, and constraints model we covered earlier:

I want you to help me draft a post for Marin Software’s blog about the future of digital marketing. I’m trying to spread helpful information and get the word out about Marin. I’d like this blog post to be SEO optimized so it will get at least 500 clicks. Some topics I’m considering include AI for digital marketers, breaking down ad-tech walled gardens, and a guide to LinkedIn advertising. I’m open to other ideas if you have any suggestions. Please copy the tone and structure of these past blog posts: [links here]

Here’s the result this prompt gets me on ChatGPT:

AI for digital marketers certainly sounds like a good topic for me to write about! 😉

As you can see, ChatGPT’s response is more like an outline than an actual blog post. Chatbots can get you started with a first draft, but you’ll probably need to build out the details and make the tone less robotic. Human intervention makes the content more readable and engaging and is also necessary for SEO. 

Having generic AI-written content on your website can significantly negatively impact SEO since Google’s ranking system kills any content that it detects to have been written by AI. So, while ChatGPT gave us a great starting point, it’ll require a heavy editing hand before it’s ready to go live.

2. Get SEO-optimized product names and descriptions

SEO should be at the forefront of every naming decision you make. And thanks to generative AI, brainstorming has never been easier. Let’s say you sell women's clothes online. Rather than writing names and descriptions for each unique item, have chatGPT write them for you. Here’s an example prompt:

I want you to write a name and description for a new product on my website. It’s a floral women’s dress originally from Target. The title and description must be optimized for SEO and eye-catching to attract consumers. Feel free to give me a couple of options.

Here’s what ChatGPT gave me:

These options are too long and generic, so I asked chatGPT to shorten them and use trendier language. Here’s what I got:

Much better! This highlights a critical point—you have to work with the chatbot and give it feedback to get great results. Don’t give up if it doesn’t get it right on the first try. Keep telling it what to tweak, and eventually, you’ll get the content you’re looking for.

3. Social media strategy and post generation

I touched on this briefly in the intro, but let’s dive into the details. Many marketers use chatbots to draft social posts. ChatGPT Plus even has a handful of GPTs explicitly designed for this purpose:

There are also GPTs built to write copy or define your strategy for each unique social channel. If you have the paid version of ChatGPT, I recommend using one of these chatbots, as they are already trained on social media marketing best practices and channel-specific trends. Try out a few of the different bots by giving them all the same prompt and seeing which answer you like the best.

If you have the free version of your chatbot of choice, it’ll still work as a great social media assistant. Just make sure you give it tons of context; it may need a few more rounds of feedback before generating the perfect post.

As discussed earlier, we must use these chatbots as strategic partners rather than one-off content-generation machines to get the most out of them. Therefore, we should first ask the chatbot to generate a content calendar. Here’s the prompt I’d use:

I need you to generate a content calendar for LinkedIn for August. The goal is for our followers to engage with the posts. Our followers are mostly digital marketers. Each post should include a link to the most relevant landing page on marinsoftware.com.

The free version of chatGPT gave me a decent framework:

But I wanted something more customized and detailed, so I sent the same prompt to one of the social media post custom GPTs, and it replied with questions, wanting more details before creating the calendar and posts:

This is the sign of a great GPT! Asking for more context before providing output will lead to better post suggestions and less back and forth. This is just one of the many reasons the premium version of ChatGPT is worth paying for if you use it regularly. 

4. Compare your website against competitors

If you want to understand your competition’s key value props, feed their website to a generative AI bot and ask it to summarize their strengths and compare them to yours. Here’s a prompt idea:

I need to understand my biggest competitor's key value propositions. Here is their website: [insert URL]. Please summarize their biggest selling points for me, then review my website: [insert URL] and let me know which of my competitor’s key value props are also represented on my website and which are missing.

I used a similar prompt to compare Google Ads to Bing Ads, and ChatGPT gave me a pretty good response:

5. Analyze competitors’ social media strategy

Did you know you can use Meta’s Ad Library to see all the ads your competitors have run on Facebook and Instagram? Simply select the ad type you’re interested in (I always do ‘all ads’), enter your competitor’s name, and hit search:

I’m using Target as an example. This search returns every ad Target has posted within a given date range that you can update:

You could then feed the resulting URL to your chatbot and ask it to summarize your competitor’s social strategy with a prompt like:

I need you to help me analyze my competitor Target’s social strategy. I’m trying to make sure my company’s social strategy covers the same value propositions that Target’s does. Here is a link to their Meta Ad Library results page: [link]. Can you analyze their posts and provide a summary of their strategy?

The result is a helpful overview of their paid social strategy:

The bot provided a detailed analysis and cited the sources it used to understand the most important elements of social media strategy. Nice!

6. Keyword research

Generative AI is great at helping you choose target keywords for SEO or paid search campaigns. Simply share your site with the chatbot and ask it what terms you should be bidding on with a prompt like:

‍I want you to generate a list of target keywords for my new Google Ads campaign. I’m targeting women ages 18-30 who make more than $50,000 a year and are interested in fashion. I sell shoes. Here is my website: https://www.shoedazzle.com/. What non-brand keywords should I be bidding on?

Here's the result:

And just like that, the chatbot has given us a great list of keywords to bid on. This list could be used for SEO, too – just incorporate the suggested keywords into your copy. You could even ask the chatbot to write product names and descriptions that include the target keywords or brainstorm topics for blog posts or other types of content that would feature the keywords.

7. Respond to comments and DMs

Social media community management can be tedious and time-consuming, so I recommend using a chatbot to auto-generate your responses to comments and direct messages. Provide the chatbot with context about your business and links to your social media profiles so it can analyze the tone your team typically uses when responding to comments. Then, input the comment you’re responding to and let the chatbot be your customer service agent! If the information needed to answer the question exists on your site, the bot may answer the entire question for you. If not, it’ll give you a template so you can fill in the blanks. Here’s an example prompt:

I need help responding to comments on my latest social media post. Here is a link to the post: [link]. I’m trying to respond to the comment, “How much does the software cost?” Can you provide a kind, professional, and concise response? All the information you need to answer the question should be on our website: [link]. Please leave placeholders for any details you cannot find, and I will fill them out.

Here’s what that prompt got me:

ChatGPT’s initial response was quite long for a comment, so I requested a shorter version and got this:

Short and to the point! Looks good to me.

8. Data analysis

AI chatbots are great with data. Simply feed the bot a dataset and let it work its magic! Let’s ask ChatGPT to analyze month-over-month trends in ROAS based on a dummy data set. The prompt here is quite simple since I’m just asking the bot to analyze numbers:

And here is the result:

It even gives me the option to download the table it created as a CSV! I could continue to ask further questions about the data, too, like what the average ROAS was for the year or the total cost.

This is just a basic example – chatbots can do much more complex math than this! For instance, you could ask the bot to analyze a much larger data set and estimate your ad budgets for this year. You just need to ensure the bot has all the necessary context to predict future trends. Make a mental list of all the data points you’d need for a predictive calculation. Then, ensure every bit of info on that list has been fed to your bot so it can do the analysis for you.

Other use cases

Those are just a few ways to start incorporating generative AI into your daily marketing workflows. Some other things you could use your AI assistant for are drafting emails, paid media campaign planning, brainstorming titles for blog posts, brainstorming names for new products or features, analyzing financial data, translating documents… the possibilities are endless! Just make sure you use a decision, outcome, and constraint (DOC) prompt, and a bot like ChatGPT should have the answers you need.

If you’re looking for a more customizable, AI-driven solution designed specifically for digital marketers, check out Marin. Our industry-leading AI takes paid media campaigns to the next level by fully automating the bidding and budget allocation process. Our platform also allows you to create objects and edit in bulk across all your different publisher accounts in one UI. To learn more about how Marin helps digital marketers harness the power of AI, click here.

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Another week, another trio of great questions from our patients. And we’re happy to help! Got questions for the PPC doctors? Share them here.

Q: I’m an eCommerce retailer. Should I try out Google Demand Gen campaigns? I worry that it’s just another revenue stream for Google, and I won’t actually see results.

A: Your skepticism is understandable. Google Demand Gen campaigns can feel like just another way for Google to generate revenue. However, they offer unique opportunities that might be worth exploring for your eCommerce business.

Google Demand Gen campaigns are designed to create demand for your products by reaching potential customers across YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and the Google Display Network. Unlike traditional search campaigns that capture existing demand, these campaigns should generate new interest.

Here are some of the pros of Demand Gen campaigns:

Audience Reach: Demand Gen campaigns target a broad audience across multiple Google platforms. This means you can reach potential customers who aren’t actively searching for your products but are likely to be interested based on their browsing behavior and interests.

Creative Flexibility: You can use engaging ad formats, such as video and rich media, which capture attention and drive higher engagement rates compared to standard text ads.

Incremental Growth: While traditional search campaigns capture existing demand, Demand Gen campaigns build brand awareness and create new demand, potentially leading to incremental sales growth.

Cost-Effectiveness: CPCs on these platforms are often lower than on the search network, allowing you to reach a larger audience with the same budget.

Here are some tips for launching your first Demand Gen campaign: 

Budget Considerations: Success with Demand Gen often requires a substantial budget for testing and optimization. It's recommended to start with at least $2K-$3K to see meaningful results.

Content Strategy: Top-of-funnel, engaging, and educational content tends to perform better than direct "buy now" messages.

Prioritizing Campaigns: It's best to focus on Demand Gen campaigns after you’ve already maximized the potential of your Shopping, Search, and other Google campaigns and are looking for new ways to drive incremental revenue.

Industry-Specific Results: Certain industries like sports, hobby, and apparel see better results than others due to the visual and interactive nature of rich media ads, which resonate well with audiences interested in visually appealing and lifestyle-related products.

Start with a test: Before diving in, we recommend running a small-scale test. Set a clear budget, define your target audience, and create compelling ad creatives. Monitor the results closely and compare the performance against your existing campaigns. 

Measuring results: When comparing the test Demand Gen campaign to other campaigns, keep in mind that Demand Gen campaigns are intended to drive brand awareness and incremental revenue. You shouldn’t expect these campaigns to have the same ROI as search campaigns, where you’re targeting searchers with a clear interest in your offerings. You know how retargeting campaigns always look like they’re performing better than prospecting campaigns on paper, but in reality you must build your funnel with prospecting to even have users to retarget in the first place? Demand Gen campaigns are like prospecting campaigns, but their targeting is even more broad than traditional search prospecting campaigns. So keep that in mind when comparing results. It’s up to you to determine if the incremental sales and brand exposure are worth the money for your business. Happy testing!

Q: GA4 says my audience has 40,000 users. I imported the audience into Google Ads, where it says there are only 3,000 users in the audience. Why is there such a big difference?

A: Ah yes, almost all of our patients see discrepancies between GA4 and Google Ads audience sizes. This can be attributed to several factors:

Data Collection Differences: GA4 tracks all users visiting your site, but Google Ads only tracks users who are signed into their Google accounts and have consented to ad personalization.

Audience Eligibility: Google Ads has stricter rules about audience eligibility. Users must meet specific criteria to be included in remarketing lists, which might exclude some users from GA4 data. For example, users need to have engaged with your site in a way that makes them eligible for remarketing, such as visiting a specific page or completing a particular action.

Matching Rates: The match rate between GA4 users and Google Ads can vary. Not all GA4 users will be found in Google Ads due to differences in how user data is matched and stored.

Time Lag: Imported audiences can take some time to fully populate in Google Ads. If you’ve recently imported the audience, it might still be processing.

Cookie Consent: Especially in regions with stringent privacy regulations, users must consent to tracking for personalized ads. Any users who don’t consent won’t be included in the Google Ads audience.

To avoid the consequences of this data privacy based audience shrinkage, collect more first party data and use that data for ad targeting. You can read our article about cookie depreciation to understand the difference between first-part and third-party data. Good luck!

Q: I own a restaurant in a city that attracts lots of tourists. Our restaurant is quite aesthetically pleasing, right on the water, and I want to start running ads on Meta that showcase photos of our gorgeous restaurant. How can I target users that aren’t currently in our city but are planning to travel here soon?

A: Running ads on Facebook and Instagram to attract tourists planning to visit your city is a great idea! Here’s how to target users who are planning to travel to your city:

Target by Travel Intent: Use the location targeting feature to target users who have shown an interest in or are planning to travel to your city. In the ad set settings, select "People traveling to this location."

Behavioral Targeting: Under the detailed targeting section, select behaviors that indicate travel intent, such as "Frequent Travelers," "Currently Traveling," or "Upcoming Travel."

Interest Targeting: Target users interested in travel-related activities, pages, or groups related to tourism in your city. This can include interests like "Travel," "Tourism," "Travel Planning," and specific tourist attractions in your city.

Custom Audiences: Create custom audiences using data from your website, such as visitors to your “Contact Us” or “Location” page, as these users might be planning a visit.

Lookalike Audiences: Use lookalike audiences based on your current customers or website visitors to find users with similar profiles who might be interested in visiting your restaurant.

Seasonal and Event-Based Targeting: Align your ads with local events, festivals, or tourist seasons. This helps attract visitors who are planning trips around these times.

Your restaurant sounds lovely. Perhaps I’ll plan a visit. I could use a vacation!

We’re here every other Monday to answer all your important paid media questions. Ask us anything here. We’ll email you the answer ASAP, and only share your question in the next edition if it’s okay with you. Happy bidding!

I’m not a regular doctor… I’m a cool PPC doctor.

From budget management to keyword strategy, our team of experts can diagnose any paid media problem. Submit your ad woes here and let us work our magic. Now for this weeks' Qs and As.

Q: I just launched a new campaign, and Google Ads Says I have to use Maximize Clicks first to get data before switching to Maximize Conversions. Does the ad really need to "learn" about my conversions first? I’m afraid Google wants me to pay for clicks for no good reason.

A: Many patients come to me with questions like this. While I understand that it can be hard to trust Google, their diagnosis is correct in this case. Your PPC doctor recommends starting new campaigns on a maximize clicks bid strategy and then moving to maximize conversions once your campaign has generated some conversion data. New campaigns don’t have any associated conversion data, so the algorithm doesn’t have data to inform what keywords and audiences do and do not convert. It cannot optimize your campaign for maximum conversions until it collects data on what does and does not convert.

With Maximize Clicks, Google’s algorithm will serve your ads to people based on your keywords, targeting settings, and other real-time auction signals. It will then acquire data on who does and does not convert. Make sure your conversion tracking and goals are set up correctly while on Maximize Clicks so that Google can learn what types of people do and do not convert for your business. Set a CPC bid limit so your campaign doesn’t burn too much money while on Max Clicks. A $2-$3 bid limit usually does the trick, but this doctor recommends a more analytical approach. Look at the average CPC for all the keywords in your campaign and choose a bid cap close to the most expensive average CPC so you don’t lose out on traffic. Then, keep an eye on spend and decrease your bid cap if needed. Google can spend up to twice your daily budget, so maintain a watchful eye.

After 3-4 weeks on Maximize Clicks, you should see a decent number of conversions generated. I’d say the algorithm needs at least 30 conversions before you should switch to Max Conversions. After a few months on Max Conversions, I recommend adding a target CPA at the campaign or ad group level. Review CPA for each ad group over the past 30-60 days. Does actual CPA vary significantly from group to group? If so, you’ll want to set a separate CPA target for each ad group.

If you want to achieve more efficient CPAs, set a target 10-20% lower than your historical CPA. The CPA target you set should be no more than 20% more efficient than your historical CPA, as setting too tight of a target will suffocate spend. If/when the ad group’s actual CPA hits the target, you can decrease the target by another 20% to get even more efficient. Continue this stair-stepping approach until you hit your desired CPA. If you experience any strange or unexpected symptoms during the process, just contact your PPC doctors. We’re here to help!

Q: I’m running paid media for an in-house brand and seeking help with my paid search campaigns. Thanks to good performance, I got some additional budget from management, but when I increased the budgets for my campaigns, my ROAS got worse. Why did this happen and how can I fix it?

This could be a symptom of many different conditions. Here are some of the most common diagnoses: 

Over Saturation: One of the golden rules of paid media is the cost vs. efficiency tradeoff. The basic concept here is that the more you spend, the less efficient your CPA or ROAS will become. If the campaign was already effectively reaching most of its target audience, increasing the budget might lead to diminishing returns. This can happen if the ads start reaching less relevant segments of the audience or if the frequency becomes too high, causing ad fatigue.

Although your ROAS/CPA may not be as good as it was before raising your budgets, you should still see an increase in conversion volume. It’s up to you to determine the minimum ROAS or maximum CPA you’re willing to hit to gain additional conversions. You can also try expanding your keyword or audience targeting to reach different types of potential customers.

Bid Strategy and Competition: Increasing the budget may have altered how your bids compete in the auction environment, especially if you use automated bidding. This can inadvertently raise your cost-per-click (CPC) without necessarily improving the quality of the traffic, as the system may bid more aggressively to use up the increased budget. Try tightening your ROAS or CPA target to mitigate this.

Quality of Ad Creative and Landing Page: If the increase in budget wasn't accompanied by a review and optimization of the ad creatives and landing pages, the additional traffic might not be well-served. Ensuring that ads and the user experience on the landing page are optimized is crucial for converting increased traffic into actual results.

Q: Why is the logo getting 90% of the clicks for my Demand Gen campaign?

A: The logo is displayed alongside your assets, so this just means people are clicking on your logo instead of other elements of your ad. This is fine, clicks are clicks! But if you want to increase engagement with your ads’ other creative elements, consider using more compelling calls to action.

We'll be back next week to answer more of the internet's burning paid media questions. Looking for your own diagnosis? Submit your question here.

When it comes to connecing with high-intent buyers, Reddit is one of the most powerful ad platforms out there – and we know how valuable that is to marketers. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce Marin’s new Reddit integration.

Advertisers can link their accounts directly to Marin to analyze their Reddit ad data alongside all their other digital marketing channels. Our initial integration supports reporting and analytics, with campaign management and optimization coming soon.

Automated reporting and analytics for Reddit Ads

Marin pulls data directly from Reddit’s API into our reporting grid. The grid is the heart of Marin, where all your data comes together across publishers, accounts, and channels. With all that data in one place, you can leverage our agile, customizable columns to gain valuable cross-channel performance insights. Learn more about our grids here or check out this video to see them in action.

Coming soon: campaign management

Soon you’ll be able to edit your Reddit campaigns right in Marin. This could mean updating budgets, playing and pausing campaigns, scheduling changes, or creating new campaigns and ads. Marin eliminates the need to jump from one publisher tool to another to make edits, saving marketers time and effort. Watch this video to learn more about our multi-edit functionality.

Coming soon: bidding & budget management

We’ve been in the automated bidding game for more than ten years and continuously refined our algorithms to bid with industry-leading efficiency. In Marin, it’s easy to set a ROAS or CPA target for a group of campaigns that share a common goal. The same goes for budgeting.

Let’s say you have a group of campaigns that span across Google, Bing, and Reddit and share one monthly budget and ROAS target. Soon, you’ll be able to map all those campaigns to one strategy in Marin. Marin will distribute your monthly budget as efficiently as possible across all those campaigns and update their budgets and ROAS targets to hit your goals. Watch this video to learn more about our cross-channel Strategies.

Next Steps

Ready to harness the power of Reddit + Marin? Start by requesting API Access from your Reddit Rep. If you don’t have one yet, we can connect you to get up and running quickly. Once you get approval, connecting your account is super straightforward. Click here for a step-by-step guide.

Check out this video to see how easy it is to link a new account to Marin.

Prime Day is set for July 16-17, and shoppers are already searching for early deals and adding products to their carts. With just over two weeks until the event, it’s time for Amazon Advertisers to launch their anticipatory campaigns. Here are the key things you should do before, during, and after the big day to get the best return on your marketing investment.

Before Prime Day

The pre-sale frenzy has already started, but it’s not too late to act on it. Here are some things you can do to capitalize on the opportunities this promotion presents.

Build relevancy for high-priority keywords

Two weeks before the big day, it’s time to start running targeted ads. Download your search terms report and identify terms with high sales volume and good CTRs. High-converting terms that are associated with your sale products should be the target keywords for your Prime Day campaign. Inversely, identify search terms that you’re spending money on but aren’t driving conversions and add those as negative keywords. You can also add terms associated with products for which you won’t be offering Prime Day discounts as negatives to your campaign. 

Launch your campaign at least a week before Prime Day to build traction for your target keywords. You’ll also acquire valuable data leading up to Prime Day that can help you determine bids and budgets during the big event.

Start increasing your budgets and bids

In the weeks leading up to Prime Day, shoppers start browsing and adding products to their cart hoping they will soon be discounted. While it might seem logical to reduce your budget now and reserve spend for Prime Day, it’s better to make sure your ads are highly visible now to capitalize on that preparatory Prime Day traffic while ad prices are still relatively normal. This will also help you gather valuable data and insights on what messaging and products resonate best with your audience so you’ll know exactly what to promote during the big day.

Increase awareness with Sponsored Brand campaigns

It’s particularly important to increase the budget for your sponsored brand campaigns. Building brand awareness ahead of Prime Day can significantly enhance visibility and sales potential. The more people who see your brand ads ahead of Prime Day, the more people will recognize your brand during the sales period, making you stand out among the competition. So, if you’re only running Sponsored Product campaigns, it’s time to bring Sponsored Brand into the mix. Or if you’re running both, but most of your budget is in Sponsored Product campaigns, redistribute more to Sponsored Brand.

Dominate the top-of-search with Sponsored Products + Sponsored Brands

By optimizing both campaign types for top of search placement, you can dominate the above-the-fold search results space. The goal is to get your sponsored brand ad at the top of the page and sponsored product ads in the top three placements below it. This strategy can be expensive and requires lots of exact match targeting, but it’s a fantastic way to drive tons of traffic to your product detail pages and brand store pages for a select group of your highest-value keywords. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it. 

Create a Prime Day version of your storefront

Since you’ll be driving new traffic to your Amazon store, be sure the page highlights the products that you’ll soon have on sale and that your creative is fresh, engaging, and current. Create dedicated deals pages and add a “featured deals” tile to your storefront for maximum exposure. Also, ensure that your store is optimized for mobile. Amazon’s guide to optimizing your mobile store is available here.

Create your discounts ahead of time

Create your Prime Day discounts in Seller Central ahead of time as Amazon needs to approve them before they go live. It’s important to offer a substantial discount if possible. Prime Day is a highly competitive time and discounts smaller than 10% are less likely to stand out. But this doesn’t mean you need to put a massive discount on every item! Focus on discounting your top-selling products that are proven to drive conversions and have lots of positive customer reviews. 

Get near real-time data with Amazon’s newest analytics tools

Two new measurement tools are changing how Amazon advertisers update their bids and budgets during sales. Rapid retail analytics provides near real-time data, offering the last hour’s metrics on sales, traffic, and inventory. Amazon Marketing Stream is a messaging system that delivers hourly campaign updates via the Amazon Ads API. Having near real-time data in your toolkit gives you the best chance at optimizing as efficiently as possible. They’re both relatively simple to set up; just reach out to your Amazon Partner Manager to get started. 

During Prime Day

Prime Day is a busy time for any Amazon Seller, but if you prepare accordingly, it shouldn’t be overwhelming. Use these tips to ensure the basics are covered, then tailor strategies to your unique business goals.

Increase your budgets

If your campaigns run out of budget, your ads will stop serving mid-day, and you’ll miss out on evening traffic. It’s ideal to have an ‘always on’ budget where your budget is so high you’ll never actually hit it, then manipulate bids to control spend. For example, if a campaign is spending more than you’re comfortable with, you can decrease your CPC bids or pause some lower-value keywords instead of decreasing your budget. Or, you could shift budget from a lower-performing campaign so that your top-performing campaign doesn’t run out. Both of these solutions will enable your top-priority ads to serve all day and capture valuable evening traffic. However, this strategy requires a lot of tedious, detailed work and isn’t realistic for everyone. 

If you need to use daily budgets to control your ad spend, here’s how to determine your budget. Consider how much you spent on Prime Day last year and any trends you’ve identified in sales volume since. For example, let’s say you spent $1,000 on your Prime Day ad campaigns last year, and sales have grown 20% year-over-year. Increase last year’s budget by 20% to $1,200. That’s a good starting point. If this is your first time participating in Prime Day, start by doubling your typical daily budget. You can use Amazon’s budget rules to schedule these budget changes in advance.

Throughout Prime Day, keep a close eye on spend. If you hit your daily budget but are seeing excellent ROI and you have more money to spend, go ahead and increase it. Since budget optimizations like these must be made on the fly, it’s a good idea to go into Prime Day knowing the maximum amount of money you’re willing to spend on ads over the two-day period. If you’re struggling to determine how much of your budget to set aside for Prime Day, Marin’s Marketing Calendar can help. You can tag past Prime Days in our analytics suite and use historical data to get an idea of future impact. Then, use our forecasting tool’s advanced AI to predict how much you should spend this year. You can also use our pacing and budgeting tools to ensure you’ll hit your efficiency targets.

Another option is to use Amazon’s budget rules to increase your campaign’s budget only when it meets a performance threshold, such as an ACOS, CTR, or CVR goal. If the campaign has been hitting the efficiency goal over the past seven days, the platform will increase budgets for the following day by an amount or percentage that you select when you make the rule. For example, you could create a rule to increase a campaign’s budget by 20% if your conversion rate is better than 3%. Learn more about budget rules here.

Optimize your bids

Prepare for the influx of traffic by increasing your bids to the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click. Be sure you’re using Amazon’s Dynamic Bidding or Marin’s bidding algorithms to automatically update your bids based on competition and the likelihood of conversion.

After Prime Day

Keep budgets elevated for 1-2 weeks

The shopping frenzy often extends beyond Prime Day—especially since FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) will keep many shoppers who missed Prime Day deals in a buying mindset, looking to make purchases before prices rise again. Maintain higher budgets and bids for a while to keep products visible and capitalize on this shopping behavior.

Traffic will level out after a few weeks. Then, you can determine your ‘new normal’ campaign budgets. If you did it right, you should continue to see more traffic to your brand and product pages than before Prime Day because of the brand awareness you built!

Retarget Prime Day Shoppers

Following Prime Day, you’ll have a plethora of new data that can be used to retarget browsers and purchasers. Here are a few retargeting strategies to consider:

• Category targeting: Target customers who visited the category pages for the products you sell.
• Browsers who didn’t purchase: Retarget shoppers who viewed your storefront during Prime Day but didn’t buy anything.
• ASIN Retargeting: Use retargeting to reach shoppers who viewed your products but did not purchase them during Prime Day. This strategy can effectively convert interested customers who need more time to decide.

Leverage New Customers

• Cross-sell: Target new customers acquired during Prime Day with cross-selling and upselling campaigns. Promote complementary products or premium versions to enhance their initial purchase.
• Build Brand Loyalty: Create campaigns that encourage repeat purchases. Consider using Subscribe & Save offers or Loyalty discounts.

Inventory Management

• Don't run out: Ensure you have sufficient inventory to meet the continued demand post-Prime Day. Running out of stock can harm your rankings and sales momentum. 
• Promote top ASINs: Focus on promoting products that sold well during Prime Day, as they are likely to continue performing well.

Need more help?

With these tips in mind, you’ll tackle this upcoming Prime Day and see ROI on your ads for months to come. But if you’re looking for an even more detailed guide, you can review Amazon’s Prime Day best practices guide here.

If you’re running Marketing campaigns across tons of different paid media channels, Marin can make your life a lot easier. Click here to learn more about our unified campaign management and automation platform.

Did you know that Walmart has roughly 255 million shoppers flocking to its stores every week? Those who shop with the retail giant spend an average of $3,500 annually in-store and online. With more than $648 billion in sales over the past year, Walmart has earned its spot as the world’s largest retailer.

Walmart’s vast customer base presents a significant advertising opportunity for brands to get their products in front of a large, high-intent customer base and drive sales. It’s just a matter of creating an advertising strategy that works — and we’ve got some of the top tactics you can use to maximize your ROI. 

Understanding Walmart Connect’s ad types

Here’s an overview of all the different types of ads you can run on walmart.com, the Walmart mobile app, and Walmart's partner sites:

Sponsored products

Sponsored Product ads appear on Walmart’s desktop and mobile sites and the Walmart app. They serve in various high-traffic placements, such as search in-grid, buy box, and product carousels. They’re pay-per-click ads that drive traffic to your product detail pages. Here’s more about the different placements where Sponsored Product ads can appear - 

Search In-grid ads

Searches for designated keywords trigger these ads, which are great for promoting an individual product. These ads are part of the product grid, blended seamlessly with organic search results. Specifically, search in-grid ads will appear in spots 3, 5, 6, or 12 on search, browse, and category pages. To run one of these ads for a product, your product must appear within the top 128 organic search results, be in the same category as the search query, and be the same product type as at least one product in the top 20 organic results for the search query.

Carousel ads

These ads serve on search, browse, category, and product pages and typically appear in product recommendation modules like "Customers Also Considered" and "Products You May Also Like." Unlike Search in-grid ads, carousel ads do not have keyword requirements or require your product to rank within the top 128 organic search results. If you aim to promote products that may be unfamiliar to shoppers, then carousel ads can enhance visibility across Walmart's platforms. Your ad will appear in a scrollable carousel alongside up to 23 other sponsored products.

Buy box ads

These ads appear on the product detail page of a similar product, directly beneath the buy box. Each page allows for only one buy box ad, so this placement ensures high visibility. Like carousel ads, buy box ad placements do not have eligibility criteria. This placement lets you connect with users right when they’re about to purchase, stealing traffic away from the competition. 

Those are the three primary Sponsored Product Ad placements. Now, let’s discuss some other Walmart Ad types. 

Sponsored Brands

Sponsored Brand ads are perfect for spreading brand awareness and promoting multiple SKUs simultaneously. They prominently display your logo, a custom headline, and up to four products with shoppable links at the top of a search results page. They even feature ‘add to cart’ buttons directly in the ad. 

Display Advertising

Walmart Onsite Display ads are featured on Walmart’s desktop and mobile websites and the Walmart app. Walmart Offsite Display ads appear on external websites, social media, and other channels beyond Walmart’s platform and target specific customer groups. Think of these like traditional display ads you might run through paid search, like Google Display Ads that run across Google's entire partner network of sites. Since these ads serve on many sites, they have the furthest reach of any Walmart Ad type.

Catapult Ads

Catapult ads are a powerful advertising solution if you want to boost sales, drive conversions, and maximize return on investment. They leverage advanced targeting and optimization techniques to place products prominently within high-traffic areas, such as search results and product pages. These ads surface at the top of the page with a banner labeling them a “Featured item.” Ad placement is determined based on the product’s category. A click will take customers to the product detail page. 

5 strategies to optimize your Walmart Connect campaigns

Now that you understand all the different ad formats, use these strategies to take your advertising efforts to the next level.

1. Use automatic and manual campaigns

In an automatic campaign, Walmart's algorithm automatically selects keywords to target for you based on your product title, description, category, and related products. Walmart also determines ad placement across search in-grid, sponsored carousels, buy box, and product detail pages. This is ideal for new brands on Walmart Connect, since there’s no need for extensive keyword research or campaign setup. 

Automatic campaigns are great for gathering initial data and exposure, but manual campaigns give you more control over targeting and bidding. With manual campaigns, you can fine-tune your settings based on insights and performance metrics, often leading to higher conversion rates and more efficient use of budget. By running both automatic and manual campaigns, you can leverage Walmart's optimization algorithms while also making strategic optimizations tailored to your unique goals.

For instance, automatic campaigns allow you to explore new audience segments you may not have considered initially. Automatic campaigns also help you identify niche, high-converting, and low-competitive keywords that can be integrated into your manual campaigns to improve relevancy.

Pro tip: Start with 80% of your budget allocated to automatic campaigns and reserve 20% for manual campaigns. As your campaigns mature and you acquire data, transition to a nearly equal distribution of your ad budget, with approximately 45% assigned to automatic campaigns. Allocate the remaining 55% to manual campaigns, which are anticipated to generate roughly 60% of your sales. This approach will help you optimize your advertising efforts as your manual campaigns become more effective over time. 

2. Consider getting a Walmart Pro Seller Badge

Similar to an Amazon Prime Badge, the Walmart Pro Seller Badge earns your customers’ trust and credibility, bolstering sales. A Pro Seller Badge demonstrates that you adhere to Walmart's customer service and product quality standards and gives you access to exclusive perks like expedited payouts, reduced fees, and increased marketplace exposure. To qualify, sellers must meet the following criteria:

• A minimum of 100 orders in the past 90 days
• Maintaining a 95% or higher on-time shipping rate
• Ensuring a cancellation rate of less than 2%
• Achieving a delivery defect rate below 10% 

3. Optimize your advertising strategy for in-store and online

Some consumers prefer to purchase a product through an online retailer, while others still like to shop in-store. It’s easy for shoppers to visit a nearby store so they can buy what they want when they want it—90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a store. Walmart even offers "Buy Online, Pick up at Store" and "Buy in-store, ship to your door" options to make the shopping experience seamless.

So, how can you optimize your advertising strategy for both in-store and online? Start by segmenting customers based on purchasing patterns. Then, test different in-store and online ads for each segment. For instance, show "Buy in-store, ship to door" offers to in-store shopper segments and "Buy online, pick up at store" offers to online shopper segments. 

4. Use geo-targeting

Beyond optimizing your ad strategy for both in-store and online, aim to tailor your Walmart ads to specific geographic locations. Geo-targeted ads can help drive foot traffic to nearby stores, improving engagement and driving sales in hyper-targeted areas.

5. Focus on your best-performing devices

As you roll out ads for your products, they have the potential to reach audiences across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Walmart Connect enables you to refine your approach based on device usage patterns. Suppose you've been running ads for a while and notice that mobile users drive most of your sales. In that case, you can tweak your strategy accordingly, updating your budgets and bids to prioritize mobile users.

How Marin can supercharge your Walmart Connect campaigns

Marin is proud to be a Walmart Connect Partner, and our marketing automation software integrates directly with Walmart’s API. With Marin, you can easily manage your Walmart Connect campaigns alongside all your other digital marketing channels like paid search, paid social, and more. Take advantage of our reporting suite, which includes easy-to-read dashboards and automated alerts to save you time analyzing all that data. Plus, our advanced algorithms optimize your budgets and bids automatically to save time while giving you the best possible return on your marketing investment. Chat with a Marin rep today to learn more.

What is non-endemic advertising on Amazon?

Amazon Ads aren’t just for retailers anymore! Endemic means “native to,” so non-endemic ads are ads for products not native to the platform on which they appear. For example, an endemic ad would be an ad for household items sold on Amazon. A non-endemic ad would be an ad for a new car. The big picture? Now, any brand can advertise on Amazon, regardless of if they sell on Amazon.

Why should non-endemic brands advertise on Amazon?

Amazon boasts a massive, highly engaged user base. They collect tons of data on those users, like interests and purchasing patterns, so the targeting for Amazon Ads is quite advanced. Non-endemic advertisers can target users who are browsing for or recently purchased products related to their business. For example, a travel agency could target users who are shopping for swimsuits or travel gear and serve them display or video ads promoting their services.

Additionally, Amazon users are highly engaged and primed to purchase. They go to Amazon because they’re ready to buy something right now. Since they are already in that ‘shopping’ mental state, users are more likely to click on your ad and buy what you’re selling if you hit them with an ad on Amazon vs. other sites. For example, a user planning a vacation is more likely to click on an ad for a travel agency while they’re actively buying gear for their trip than they are to convert from a display ad on a random news site. These factors make Amazon a powerful advertising platform for any B2C brand.

Where do non-endemic ads appear?

These ads can appear on Amazon (of course), as TV ads during Prime Video streaming sessions, and on Amazon’s third-party partner sites like IMDB and Twitch.

Getting started

Non-endemic advertisers have several ways to access Amazon’s multi-channel ad inventory. Advertisers who have a large budget and want to make a large investment in Amazon Ads can buy ads through Amazon’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) – a platform that’s typically limited mostly to agencies. You can either launch a ‘self-service’ campaign in partnership with an agency or choose ‘managed services,’ in which an Amazon account rep will manage your campaigns for you. 

Smaller businesses looking to test the waters can start a non-endemic ad campaign right in the Amazon Ads platform. You can learn more about how small businesses can run non-endemic sponsored display ads on Amazon here. 

Once you activate your advertiser account, build a campaign, set a budget, and provide display and video assets, your ads can serve across all of Amazon’s platforms—including the marketplace, Twitch, and Amazon Sponsored TV. And speaking of Sponsored TV, Amazon is currently offering a $500 ad credit to advertisers who launch Sponsored TV ads for the first time. Get the details on that promotion here.

No matter your business or budget, registering for Amazon Ads is the first step.

Potential pitfalls

Amazon's non-endemic ads are a great opportunity to test out. But keep in mind that your ads will be competing with endemic ads for space, and Amazon is likely to prioritize endemic ads over non-endemic ones since they want to sell stuff on their website. Of course, non-endemic ads are promoting things not sold on Amazon, so it’s not like you’ll be competing with endemic ads for conversions. But you are competing for ad space. Therefore, a lot of the more valuable display ad real estate will be allocated to endemic ads. 

For example, a travel company might want to advertise on the results page for the search term "women's swimsuits". But if endemic advertisers are targeting that same swimsuit interest group, they’ll likely win that hyper-relevant ad space. What we’re seeing with Amazon right now is that endemic ads are getting those prime placements in the search results pages, whereas non-endemic ads are getting more generic placements like the home page. 

I’ve actually been shopping for swimsuits lately, so let’s use my experience as an example. This non-endemic Spectrum ad appeared on my homepage today below an ad for swimsuit cover-ups:

I’m not in the market for a new internet provider, so this targeting isn’t great. But I've noticed that Spectrum and AT&T seem to be going after everyone on Amazon with ads, so the internet providers must be seeing a decent ROAS. Now let’s see what ads I get when I search for women’s swimsuits: 

As you can see, every ad is endemic. I’m guessing there are so many endemic brands competing for the ‘swimsuit’ interest category that non-endemic brands really don’t stand a chance. 

My point is simply to proceed with caution. Amazon non-endemic ads sound great, and maybe they will be for your brand, but there’s only one way to know - testing.

Amazon + Marin

You can manage your Amazon non-endemic campaigns alongside all your other paid media channels in Marin, making it easier than ever to monitor and update campaigns and analyze performance across channels. We even have our own optimization suite, and our bidding algorithms have proven to be quite successful on Amazon. To learn more about how Marin can help you analyze data and act on your insights, click here.

No marketing campaign can reach its full potential without segmentation. It’s critical to sort your target audience into distinct groups based on shared characteristics and tailor ad messaging to each group. It’s also best to segment your list of past purchasers so you can re-engage them with ads that are hyper-relevant to them.

In this blog post, we’ll explore seven essential segmentation models that every e-commerce marketer should know about, along with examples of how they can be applied to real-world marketing scenarios.

7 Key segmentation models for e-commerce marketers

Read on to understand which model will work best for your organization. 

1. RFM segmentation

RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) segmentation categorizes customers based on their purchasing behavior and assigns them scores for recency, frequency, and monetary value.

Businesses that benefit from this segmentation model typically include retail, e-commerce platforms, subscription-based services, and any other business models that rely on repeat customer engagement and purchases. B2B companies with ongoing client transactions can also leverage RFM segmentation to enhance customer relationship management. These steps can help you conduct RFM segmentation effectively: 

• Collect data: Gather data on recency, frequency, and monetary values for each customer over a specific time period.

• Score customers: Assign scores for each RFM metric, typically on a scale of 1–5 or 1–10, with higher scores indicating higher customer lifetime value.

• Segment groups: Sort customers into groups based on their RFM scores.

• Analyze and act: Analyze each segment's behaviors and characteristics and develop targeted marketing strategies for each group.

2. Demographic segmentation

This segmentation model classifies customers based on demographic characteristics like age, gender, income, occupation, and education level. This approach is typically favored by consumer goods companies, retail chains, financial services, healthcare providers, and educational institutions. Any business whose products or services appeal to specific demographic groups can leverage it. Follow these steps to segment your customers using this method:

• Collect data: Gather comprehensive demographic data about your current customer base and target audience through surveys, first-party data, and market research.

• Analyze: Assess the collected data to identify patterns and trends. This involves looking at how different demographic groups interact with your products or services.

• Define segments: Define clear segments based on your analysis. For instance, you might categorize your market by age group, income level, or education level, depending on what's most relevant to your product.

• Target and position marketing material: Develop targeted marketing strategies for each demographic segment. This includes crafting messages that resonate with each group's specific needs, preferences, and values.

3. Psychographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation delves into consumers' qualitative attributes by analyzing their lifestyles, interests, values, attitudes, and personality traits. This technique helps marketers understand what motivates their customers' buying decisions and how to align marketing messages with the target audience's inner drivers. 

Businesses that sell products connected to self-expression or personal identity — such as fashion, beauty, wellness, fitness, and the arts — often benefit from psychographic segmentation. Luxury brands and niche brands also find it particularly useful to understand the deep-seated motivations of their customers. Here is how you can segment your customers using this method: 

• Conduct research: Gather data through surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews to understand your market's psychographic characteristics.

• Look for patterns: Analyze the data to identify common psychographic patterns that correlate with purchasing behaviors or brand preferences.

• Define segments: Create segments based on shared psychographic traits such as values, interests, or lifestyle choices.

• Target with ads: Develop and deliver variations of your ads tailored to the motivations and values of each segment.

• Validate and refine: Test your assumptions by rolling out targeted campaigns and measuring their performance. Based on feedback and results, refine your segments and strategies.

4. Geographic segmentation

Geographic segmentation categorizes customers by their physical location — ranging from broad categories like countries or regions to more specific ones like cities or neighborhoods. This method is particularly useful for businesses whose products or services vary in relevance and demand across different areas, such as retail chains, real estate agencies, restaurants, and localized services (e.g., landscaping or plumbing). Additionally, companies that adjust their offerings based on climate, cultural preferences, or regional regulations find geographic segmentation beneficial. Follow these steps to conduct geographic segmentation for your business: 

• Collect data: To gather geographic information, use customer addresses or IP locations from your database, market research, or geographic information system (GIS) tools.

• Analyze market characteristics: Examine each geographic segment for unique market characteristics, such as population density, urban versus rural settings, climate conditions, and local competition.

• Define segments: Define market segments based on your geographic criteria. Segmentation could be as broad as country or region or as specific as city neighborhoods.

• Tailor strategy to regions: Develop tailored marketing and product strategies for each geographic segment, considering local tastes, consumer behavior, and logistical considerations.

5. Behavioral segmentation

Behavioral segmentation focuses on customers' actions and behaviors toward a business's products. This could include patterns within their purchase history, browsing behavior on your website, how customers interact with marketing campaigns, and their responses to different types of promotions.

Businesses that benefit the most from this model tend to be those with a strong online presence, such as e-commerce platforms, digital service providers, and subscription-based companies, as well as retail businesses with loyalty programs. This segmentation allows companies to personalize their marketing efforts and predict future behaviors based on past actions. Here is how you can use behavioral segmentation to reach your ideal customer:

• Collect data: Gather comprehensive behavioral data from customers across all touchpoints, including transaction records, website analytics, and engagement metrics.

• Identify patterns: Use data analysis to identify common behaviors that could indicate different customer needs or preferences, such as frequency of purchases, average spending, product usage, and response to marketing actions.

• Create segments: Define behavioral segments based on identified patterns, such as “frequent buyers,” “discount seekers,” or “social media engagers.”

• Customize marketing activities: Develop targeted marketing initiatives for each segment, such as tailored emails, retargeting ads, or loyalty rewards, to cater to their specific behavior patterns.

6. Technographic segmentation

Technographic segmentation drills into the technology usage patterns and preferences of customers, classifying them based on their favored devices, operating systems, and software platforms. This can encompass everything from the smartphones and computers they use to their preferred social media platforms and the applications they rely on daily. 

Technology companies and businesses that sell tech products are most likely to utilize technographic segmentation. It enables businesses to tailor their product development, customer support, and marketing strategies to the needs of different tech user profiles. Here are the steps you should take if you decide to segment your customers using this approach:

• Gather information: Assemble data concerning customers' technology usage, which might involve surveying customers, using analytics tools, or purchasing data from third-party providers.

• Analyze tech preferences: Analyze the data to identify trends and categorize customers by criteria such as device type, operating system, preferred platforms, software usage, and adoption rate of new technologies.

• Identify segments: Define segments based on common technographic characteristics, for example, early adopters, smartphone-centric users, or desktop-oriented customers.

• Develop strategies: Create personalized marketing strategies and product offerings that resonate with each technographic segment.

7. Benefit segmentation

Benefit segmentation capitalizes on the specific benefits that customers seek from products. Rather than focusing on who the customers are, this model zeroes in on why customers choose certain products, which can vary widely even within a single demographic group.

Benefit segmentation is particularly effective for businesses in competitive markets where understanding and catering to specific customer desires is key. Industries such as the health and wellness sector, beauty and cosmetics, and consumer electronics often use benefit segmentation to tailor their marketing strategies. Here is how you can build this model:

• Research the market: Conduct extensive market research through surveys, focus groups, and customer interviews to identify the key benefits customers seek in products or services.

• Refine benefits: Analyze the collected data to pinpoint the benefits most valued by customers, which could range from convenience and efficiency to prestige or affordability.

• Create segments: Group customers based on the benefits they prioritize. Each segment will reflect a unique set of desired outcomes from using a product or service.

• Tailor strategies: Develop marketing strategies and product or service modifications that align with the needs of each benefit segment. This might involve highlighting certain features in advertising campaigns or developing new product variants.

How e-commerce marketers can choose the right segmentation model

Begin by setting clear business goals, such as boosting sales or customer loyalty, and gather comprehensive customer data to understand their behaviors and preferences. Choose a segmentation criterion that is measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable, and actionable and that fits your marketing resources and objectives. Finally, conduct a pilot segmentation campaign, carefully monitor the results, and continuously refine your approach to adapt to changing customer behaviors and market dynamics.

If all this data seems overwhelming, consider using a platform like Marin to unify data from all your different marketing channels and first-party data sources. Click here to learn more.

We all know that Performance Max campaigns on Google Ads offer significant opportunities for growth. However, even the most experienced marketers can stumble into common pitfalls. We’re only human, after all.

I’m going to assume you know the basics, like having lots of asset variations, using audience signals, etc. For a refresher on those, check out our post on PMAX best practices. Let’s dissect some of the trickier mistakes you may not even know you’re making with your PMAX campaigns.

Mistake #1: branded search conversions inflating your data

If someone is Googling your brand name, they’re probably trying to go directly to your site. If PMAX ads are running on these terms, you’re paying for traffic that you otherwise would be getting for free. Of course, defending your position at the top of your branded SERP is important. Your competitors could be bidding aggressively on your brand terms in hopes of convincing searchers that they are the better choice. To defend your brand’s presence in the SERP, make a separate traditional search and/or shopping campaign optimized toward an impression share goal and bid on branded keywords. Then, exclude brand traffic from PMAX.

You can check the impact of brand terms on your PMAX campaign in Google Ads by going to Insights > Consumer spotlight > Search term insights. This report tells you the number of conversions and asset groups associated with each search category. If brand is one of your top search categories, you’ve got a problem.

Solution: Exclude branded traffic from your PMAX campaigns. 

There are two ways to exclude brand traffic from PMAX: brand exclusions and negative keyword lists. Negative keyword lists apply to all traffic, whereas brand exclusions work only across search and shopping traffic. 

To apply brand exclusions, simply navigate to your PMAX campaign’s settings. Scroll down to Brand Exclusions, then enter the name of the brand list you wish to exclude. If you haven’t created a brand list yet, you can do so right in the PMAX campaign’s settings or in the Shared Library. 

To apply a negative keyword list, you have to fill out the Performance Max Campaign Modification Request Form. This form will provide you with a Google Sheet template you can use to apply negative keywords. You can also request to apply a negative keyword list that already exists in your Google account if you’ve already got one that you’re using for traditional nonbrand search campaigns.

Mistake #2: relying on Google Ads conversion data

Don’t trust the conversion and revenue data Google Ads provides. Google Ads conversions are ‘estimated’ because data privacy laws prevent the ad-serving platform from using third-party cookies to accurately track users across the web. 

Solution: Implement a solution that tracks every conversion touchpoint in your funnel.

Choosing one that uses first-party cookies like Google Analytics or Marin Attribution will ensure that there are no tracking gaps after third-party cookie deprecation.

Google Analytics is the most common choice, but marketers far and wide are having issues with the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Common complaints include data discrepancies, a poor API, and an overly complex, unintuitive UI. To quote Reddit user NewAccountPlsRespond, “Why does creating an insanely straightforward and simple report involve having 5 dimensions, 3 audiences, and numerous inputs? Like holy hell. And don't get me started on the API”. 

GA4 may get the job done, but try an independent solution like Marin Attribution if you’re looking for something more user-friendly. Marin Attribution tracks conversions and revenue across all marketing channels and lets you choose the attribution model that best fits your business. All your conversions are displayed side by side in a straightforward UI. 

Regardless of which tracking solution you choose, ensure that your tracking codes are placed correctly on every page of your website where a conversion could occur. Then, make sure that data is being fed back into your Google Ads account via the API. Review your PMAX campaign’s settings to ensure that its conversion goals reference that first-party data.

Mistake #3: Leaving “auto-apply recommendations” on

Sometimes, Google’s recommendations seem to be more about increasing revenue for Google than actually optimizing your campaigns. While some of their recommendations are helpful, auto-applying all recommendations is never the right move. I wrote another post about the importance of using publisher-independent platforms for things like tracking and recommendations, and you can check that out here for more details. In summary - did your teacher let you grade your own homework? No? Then why would you trust Google to auto-optimize your Google campaigns?

It’s critical that you understand how, when, and why changes are happening in your account. Sure, you can review Google’s recommendations and apply any that align with your goals, but there will likely be many recommendations that you choose to dismiss.

Solution: Turn off auto-applied recommendations

Navigate to the ‘Recommendations’ page and click ‘Auto-apply’ in the upper right corner. Then click ‘Maintain Your Ads’. Here you’ll find a checklist of all the different types of changes Google can auto-apply to your campaigns. I recommend unchecking all of them. You’ll still see them in the Recommendations tab, and you can manually apply them if you see fit. Here’s a step by step video guide that will help.

Mistake #4: ‘Presence or Interest’ location targeting

PMAX location targeting defaults to ‘presence or interest’ meaning it will serve ads not only to people in your target locations but to those ‘interested’ in those locations too. ‘Interested’ users are usually people who plan to travel to your target location soon. It can be good to target travelers if you’re in the hospitality or entertainment industry, but if you’re a dentist, for example, people probably won’t make an appointment at your office while they’re on vacation. 

Solution: Switch your location targeting settings to ‘Presence’

This will only target people who live in or regularly visit your target locations. You can do this under campaign settings > location options. 

Mistake #5: Leaving URL Expansion on

URL Expansion is on by default for PMAX campaigns. This means that your PMAX campaigns will send users to whatever landing page on your site Google deems most relevant to the search term, NOT your final URL. This sounds good in theory - searchers are sent to the most relevant LPs possible. But you don’t want to be paying for ads that send traffic to an LP with no call to action!

Solution: Opt out of final URL expansion or exclude URLs

In campaign settings, under ‘Final URL Expansion,’ you’ll find two options:

Your first option is to leave final URL expansion on but exclude certain URLs. You can either list out URLs to exclude or use a ‘URL contains’ rule to exclude URLs that contain certain text strings. This option may be the best of both worlds if the majority of your site’s landing pages are paid search optimized and feature CTAs.

Your second option is to turn off URL expansion entirely. Choose this option if you have only one LP you want to send paid search traffic to.

Can you trust Google?

PMAX was sold to paid search marketers as a sort of set-it-and-forget-it, self-optimizing campaign type. I don’t know about you, but I don’t let the house set my bets for me when I gamble. Similarly, I’m not going to let Google spend my money for me.

A lot of the pitfalls I described above occur due to Google auto-applying optimizations in an illusive way. If you want straightforward, publisher-agnostic help improving your cross-channel campaigns' performance, Marin’s Insights can help. 

Insights are customized, cross-channel recommendations designed to improve campaign performance. Powered by AI, they will uncover opportunities to reduce wasteful spending and maximize performance across all your publisher accounts. Schedule a demo today to learn more.

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AI-powered social listening is revolutionizing how companies gather insights from the vast expanse of social media content. Social listening means analyzing social media posts to understand how customers perceive and discuss brands. 

By leveraging artificial intelligence, businesses can tap into platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to uncover valuable trends and sentiments. In this blog post, we will explore the power of AI-driven social listening and how it is reshaping the marketing landscape by providing actionable insights derived from social media data.

6 Ways to uncover customer sentiment and trends with AI

AI can decipher and categorize customer feedback, reviews, and online discussions using natural language processing and machine learning algorithms.

1. Automate sentiment analysis

AI-powered sentiment analysis tools can analyze social media posts, reviews, and customer feedback and summarize the sentiment behind them. Marketers can use this information to gauge customer satisfaction, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

You can incorporate sentiment analysis into your daily workflow by setting up dashboards that monitor and report the sentiment of mentions across social platforms in real-time. React promptly to negative sentiments with customer service efforts, and leverage positive sentiments in your marketing campaigns. Check out these tools to help you automate sentiment analysis:

• Brandwatch: Offers extensive sentiment analysis capabilities, allowing marketers to monitor and analyze conversations about their brand across the internet. It provides insights into whether those conversations are positive, negative, or neutral.

• Sprout Social: Sprout Social analyzes social media messages and mentions to gauge public sentiment.

• Hootsuite Insights: Powered by Brandwatch, Hootsuite Insights offers real-time sentiment analysis across multiple social media platforms, enabling marketers to monitor the emotional tone of conversations related to their brand.

2. Create alerts for emerging trends

Tracking emerging trends helps businesses spot opportunities or threats early on. By staying ahead, businesses can adapt strategies swiftly and mitigate potential crises.

Set up alerts for specific keywords, hashtags, or topics related to your industry. Review these alerts daily to quickly pivot your strategy or content creation to align with emerging trends. These are some of the most common tools that marketers use to keep an eye on emerging trends:

• Google Alerts: Allows marketers to monitor the web for new content about specific topics, providing email alerts whenever new mentions are found. It's useful for tracking industry news and brand mentions.

• Talkwalker Alerts: A more advanced tool than Google Alerts, offering in-depth insights and alerts for keywords across the internet, including social media platforms. It's powerful for identifying emerging trends relevant to your brand.

• Mention: A real-time media monitoring tool that notifies marketers about mentions and keywords across websites and social media. It's useful for tracking brand mentions, competitors, and industry trends.

3. Topic modeling

Artificial Intelligence can uncover prevailing themes and subjects within social conversations, feedback, and online content. AI-driven topic modeling tools go beyond simple keyword analysis, employing natural language processing (NLP) to understand context and recognize nuances that simpler tools might miss. 

This facilitates a more granular and accurate understanding of consumer interests, behaviors, and preferences, enabling marketers to tailor their strategies with unprecedented precision. Use topic modeling tools to analyze social media conversations and customer feedback. Segment the data by demographic or channel to  tailor your campaigns to different audiences. Integrate findings into your content calendar or R&D briefings for product improvements. These two tools can help you model topics more effectively:

• Quid: Visualizes big data by mapping out topics and trends from news articles, blogs, forums, and more. Quid's topic modeling capabilities allow marketers to identify key themes and narratives emerging within their industry.

• MonkeyLearn: An AI platform enabling text analysis through machine learning models. Marketers can use MonkeyLearn for topic detection and understanding key themes and sentiments within customer feedback or social media conversations.

4. Image and video analysis

With the rise of video content on social media, image and video analysis tools can unlock insights that text-based tools overlook. This is crucial for understanding how your brand is perceived visually and for monitoring branded content usage.

Use image recognition technology to monitor your brand logo, products, or promotional materials across social media platforms. Use these insights to guide your visual content strategy and enforce brand guidelines. Explore these tools to see if they are right for your brand: 

• Brandwatch (again): Offers image recognition capabilities, allowing marketers to find and analyze images related to their brand across the internet. This is useful for monitoring brand visibility and the context in which a brand is being discussed or depicted.

• Talkwalker (again): Provides video and image analytics, enabling brands to track visual mentions and sentiment. Its AI-powered image recognition technology identifies logos, scenes, and activities in images and videos.

5. Predictive analytics

Almost a fifth of marketers are already using AI for predictive analytics. AI algorithms can analyze historical data to predict future customer behavior and trends. Marketers can leverage predictive analytics to anticipate customer sentiment, identify potential issues, and proactively address customer needs, allowing for more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.

Incorporate predictive insights into strategic planning sessions. Use historical trends to inform future campaigns, product developments, or customer engagement strategies. These tools might be helpful: 

• Zignal Labs: Offers a predictive analytics suite that forecasts trends and potential crises before they happen. This allows marketers to adjust strategies proactively.

• Sprout Social (again): Its reporting and analytics features, including predictive analysis, help anticipate future social trends and consumer behaviors, informing more strategic decisions in marketing planning.

6. Creating customer personas

Segmenting customers is a common use case for AI-based marketing software and is currently being used as such by 44% of businesses. Social listening helps marketers segment their audience and create detailed customer personas based on social media data. Aggregate social media data to flesh out existing personas or to create new ones. Look for patterns in interests, sentiment, demographic data, and engagement behaviors. Use these insights to refine marketing messages, product features, or targeted advertisements.

These tools can help marketers create and manage customer personas easily: 

• HubSpot: Features analytics tools that can be used to track visitor behavior across your website, social media channels, and more. The insights derived can be used to create detailed customer personas.

• Audiense: Specializes in audience intelligence and segmentation, helping marketers discover new target audiences and refine existing customer personas based on social data.

How Marin can offer you greater insight into your customers’ minds

Marin provides a unified platform for all your data and analysis. Data collected by social listening tools can be fed into Marin and associated to specific keywords or audiences to help you understand the full picture when analyzing the performance of your paid media campaigns. Schedule a demo to learn more about Marin’s AI-powered campaign management and optimization suite.

Hello, My Digital Darlings,

Ready to dish? TikTok is taking the US government to court, and it’s gonna get spicy. Meanwhile, Google is shaking up SEO, and Meta is rolling out new AI advertising features like it’s Christmas morning. Grab your insulated mugs, because this week’s tech tea is piping hot. Let’s get into it.

TikTok is suing the US government

We all knew this was coming. But as of Tuesday, ByteDance is officially suing the government, claiming that the bill requiring them to sell their app violates the constitutional protections of free speech. ByteDance says selling TikTok in 9 months is impossible due to all the software code they would have to move, therefore the law will “force a shutdown” by January. The suit also alleges that the US government has failed to provide any evidence that China is misusing TikTok’s data, which is valid. It’s looking like Biden’s ‘ban’ will have about as much impact as Trump's attempt in 2020: none. 

Meanwhile, a new study revealed that 61% of TikTok users discover new brands and products on the app - that’s 1.5x more than other platforms. So TikTok remains a great place to spend your ad dollars, as long as you don’t mind giving them to China. In other social media news…

Meta launched new AI-powered creative tools for advertisers

The tool creates image variations based on your original ad creatives, enabling advertisers to test creative variations with no additional work. In coming months, we’ll even be able to input text prompts to help tailor the AI-generated creatives. You may be asking - is there any drama here? And yes, If your image features a product, AI could change the color, shape or size of that product, meaning the feature could be abused by shady advertisers who want to trick people into buying products that don’t actually exist. Sketchy!

Now back to your regularly scheduled Google drama…

Monopoly reveal!! DOJ broke down how Google harms search advertisers in court

In a slide deck, no less. You can review the deck here… but it’s 143 slides long. Search Engine Land highlighted 20 key slides that showcase quotes from Googlers discussing raising ad prices to increase revenue. God bless the good people at Search Engine Land. If Search Engine Land has 1,000 fans, I’m one of them. If Search Engine Land has 1 fan, it’s me. If Search Engine Land has 0 fans, I’m dead. But I digress… 

The slides prove that Google Spiked ad costs to increase revenue, even clarifying that Google has certain “pricing knobs or tunings that it can use to impact search ad pricing”. Google called this “tuning” in internal documents. But like… no. That’s called manipulating the market for personal gain!! Renaming it may help you sleep at night, but it won’t help you in court. In other Google news…

Google hid the search results count in the SERP

Instead of seeing the number of search results for a query right under the search bar, you now have to click the ‘Tools’ button to see the count. Google has long claimed that the results count is just an estimate and isn’t accurate, but it’s an important data point to many SEOers. And if this is the first step toward results count going away forever, that’s bad news for SEOers who rely on it. It seems like Google wants to get rid of SEOers, tbh. They don’t want people gaming their system or looking too closely at how the SERP works. It’s kind of like how they got rid of CPC bidding for SEM so that they could have full control over their markets… Sus. In other SEO news…

Google Started enforcing its new reputation abuse policy on Monday

The goal is to combat “parasite SEO” - AKA sites hosting bad content from other sites in order to piggyback off each other’s rankings. Google offered this example:

“a third party might publish payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website to gain ranking benefit from the site.”

Sites like CNN and USA Today have already seen the impact, with their coupon directories getting de-ranked. Here are some examples of what the coupon query SERPs looked like a week ago versus now. This could actually be great for SEOers who have long been negatively impacted by parasite SEO from big brands. Hopefully, it’ll help improve the quality of search results too. And lastly…

Gen Z are making their own MySpace

Have you heard of Nospace? Tiffany Zhong, creator of the up-and-coming social media platform, believes there is a loneliness epidemic on social media that her new app can solve. “What I see right now is all social media is just media — it’s not social anymore,” said Zhong. She’s certainly right about that! But is another social media platform really the answer?

Her app promises to deliver social media as it once was in the glory days of Myspace and early Facebook. She’s even bringing back the ‘Top 8’ with the option to list your closest friends on your profile. The platform will encourage sharing casual updates like what you ate for lunch, what show you’re watching right now, and that great new band you just discovered. There will be no algorithm to please, just a chronological feed of global content, and a separate ‘friends only’ feed. “There are no subjects and fans, just peers,” says Zhong, and I must say a social media app without influencers sounds blissful. I’m not sure if there will be any opportunities for advertisers. But considering the way Gen Z openly hates TikTok shop, and the fact that these new social media platforms seem to be designed in a way that doesn’t prioritize profit… if this is the future of social media, it could mean the end of paid social… dun dun dunnnnn.

The app is coming this summer and you can pre-download it here if you want to stay ahead of the curve. It already has 380,000 people on the waitlist, so it may be the next big thing. 

And that’s a wrap on this week’s digital drama. Until next week, stay sharp, keep your strategies savvy, and remember—when the tech titans tussle, I’ll be watching.

You know you love me.

Amazon is a colossal marketplace where brands fight to capture the attention of millions of potential customers. To beat fierce competition, brands must go beyond the basics. 

But first, lets make sure all the basics are covered. Then, read on to learn advanced tips and tactics that will help your Amazon Ads and Listings stand out.

Understanding Amazon Ad formats

There are three main Amazon ad formats - Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. Let’s review each ad type’s traits and use cases.

Sponsored Products

Sponsored Product is the most widely used advertising format on Amazon. These ads drive targeted traffic to your product listings by showcasing your product on the results page for specific search terms that you select as keywords. The sponsored ads appear alongside the organic search results, making this ad type feel very native to the user’s shopping experience. Shoppers may not even notice they’re clicking on an ad. 

Sponsored Brands

Sponsored Brand Ads allow you to showcase your brand and multiple products in a single ad. These are ideal for top-of-the-funnel advertising and are a great way to increase brand awareness. The downside is that these ads feel less organic to users and more like traditional ads, which may lead them to be biased against clicking on them. When running sponsored brand campaigns, it’s important to include eye-catching images or videos that will draw attention immediately.

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Sponsored Display

The unique thing about Sponsored Display Ads is that you can use them to target shoppers regardless of where they decide to shop — on or off Amazon. Through machine-learning and multi-format creatives, you can reach your audience on Amazon and across thousands of other websites and apps. 

Instead of focusing on keywords, these ads target users based on their shopping habits. Amazon claims that sellers who use these types of ads see an average of 33.9% more impressions, 3.6% more detail page views, and 2.6% more new-to-brand customers. Note those stats are for customers who run sponsored display campaigns alongside Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand campaigns. So don’t rely just on one ad format, try all three and watch them work together!

Amazon Ads for non-retail brands

Amazon sellers are considered ‘endemic’ advertisers - meaning they run ads on Amazon to sell products on Amazon. But Amazon advertising isn’t just for retailers anymore! Non-endemic brands like banks, insurance companies, and streaming services now have the opportunity to advertise to Amazon’s massive audience. While endemic ads target customers who are actively shopping on the platform, non-endemic ads are focused on driving traffic to a website rather than an Amazon store.

This means that even if you don't sell on Amazon, you can still run display ads through Amazon's Demand-Side Platform (DSP), which we'll talk more about later.

Which ad type should I choose?

According to Junglescout, Sponsored brand campaigns see the highest average ROAS, followed by Sponsored Products, then Sponsored Display. It’s best to run all three ad types alongside one another, but if you’re just getting started, we recommend starting with Sponsored Brand campaigns if your goal is to improve brand awareness or starting with Sponsored Product campaigns if your goal is to drive sales.

The basics of optimizing Amazon Ads

Make sure that you have all of these basic optimizations covered before you move on to more advanced tactics. We’ll discuss those in the next section.

1. Strategically select keywords

Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant search terms that potential customers are using to find products similar to yours. Marketing automation tools like Marin can automate keyword research for you by crawling the search terms that past purchasers have used to get to you product page and suggesting terms that drive a high volume of clicks to be added as keywords. The ‘DIY’ method is to use the Amazon search bar for keyword research. Simply type your core keywords into the search bar and review the queries it autocompletes. Add all relevant query variations as target keywords. You can do the same thing with the Google search bar too.

It's also important to understand the different types of Amazon Keywords:

Frontend Keywords: Keywords that are included in the copy for the product listing, i.e. any key terms in your product title and description. Frontend keyword optimization is the reason that products on Amazon aren’t called simple names like “Almay Lip Gloss”, but rather “Almay Hydrating Lip Gloss, Soft Natural Colors, Prebiotic Complex, Hyaluronic Filling-Sphere Technology, 200 Rose Glow, 0.1 fl oz.” Including all those keywords in your product name may not look cute, but it helps Amazon’s algorithm understand which search queries to return your products for.

Backend Keywords: These are the keywords that you add to your campaign in Amazon Ads Manager. They won’t be visible to customers but will guide the algorithm on which search queries to serve your ads on. 

Be sure to incorporate as many frontend keywords as possible in your product listing, and feature the most important ones first. Your list of backend keywords should be more robust and contain all target keywords you’ve gathered through your research.

2. Fine-tune your product listings

Make sure your copy is optimized for both search engines and potential customers. To showcase your product's features and benefits, write compelling product titles, detailed and informative descriptions, and provide high-quality images. A well-optimized listing not only improves your organic search ranking but also increases the likelihood of converting clicks into sales. 

Make sure you’re adhering to Amazon’s product title requirements, listed here. Key takeaways are:

• Titles should be up to 80 characters
• Avoid using all-caps
• Avoid promotional phrases like ‘half-off’ or ‘free shipping’
• Use numerals, for example use 4 instead of four
• Avoid listing size and color variations

Failing to follow these guidelines may lead Amazon to suppress your listing.

When it comes to descriptions, Amazon highly recommends using bullet points to highlight your product’s top 5 features. Amazon Sellers can add 5 bullet points, while Amazon Vendors are able to add up to 10. Start by listing the most important feature as your first bullet point, then move on to the second most important, and so on. Unlike titles, you should prioritize clarity over including lots of keywords when writing your bullet points. We recommend reviewing Amazon’s guide to writing good bullet points. 

3. Monitor performance metrics

Track key performance metrics such as conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and advertising cost of sales (ACoS) regularly to gauge the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. Use this data to identify areas for improvement and optimize your ad performance over time. Check out our detailed overview of key metrics and tools for measuring the ROI of e-commerce campaigns for more info.

4. Utilize audience targeting

Amazon Audiences are ready-made targeting groups that you can serve ads to with just a few clicks. Apply audience targets in addition to your target keywords for precise targeting. You can target four types of audiences:

In-market: Users who have recently been shopping for products similar to yours.

Lifestyle: Audiences built based on an aggregate of shopping and viewing behaviors across Amazon, Prime Video, Twitch and more. Amazon aggregates this data and sorts users into groups like “makeup enthusiasts” or “foodies”.

Interest: Interest audiences are built based on browsing and buying behavior, similar to Lifestyle segments, but are more specific, like “interested in Asian food” or “interested in wedding makeup.” 

Life events: These are groups of people that are about to experience a life event, like going on vacation or moving.

Test targeting different types of audiences to discover which are most engaged with your brand.

5. Run sales and promotions

To stand out in Amazon search results, offer promotions, discounts, and exclusive deals. Amazon's Coupons and Lightning Deals make it easy to run promotions. Not only are the coupons and deals displayed in your product listing, your product can also be listed on the Amazon Coupons page and deals page giving it visibility to users who weren’t even searching for it. 

5 Advanced tips for Amazon Advertising

Once you've got the basics covered, try these advanced tips and tactics to elevate your Amazon advertising game.

Tip #1: Experiment with video ads

Customers are gravitating towards video more than ever. Using product demonstrations, customer testimonials, and lifestyle clips in your ads is a great way to convey your brand message and connect with your target audience. Video is especially important for Sponsored Brand campaigns, which enable you to showcase a video and a few featured products right on the search results page. You can find Amazon’s detailed guide to creating Sponsored Brands video ads here.

Tip #2: Run Ads for Amazon on Search and Social

If you’ve seen success selling on Amazon, consider advertising your Amazon store on other channels, like paid search and paid social. For example, many retailers include a sitelink to their Amazon Store in their paid search ads, with copy like “Buy on Amazon”. That way, the majority paid search traffic is still being driven to their website, but searchers have the option to buy on Amazon too. Having the option to order a product on Amazon may push users over the purchasing threshold since they’re familiar with the Amazon user experience and its quick purchasing process. If the product is available for Prime delivery, that’s another needle-mover.

It’s important to remember that if you do this while using Amazon’s tracking system, none of the conversions driven by your paid search campaigns will be attributed to paid search. Marin has built a cross-channel tracking solution to solve this problem. Click here to learn about Amazon Attribution. 

Tip #3: Optimize for mobile

With an increasing number of shoppers browsing and purchasing on mobile devices, you want to be sure your Amazon listings and ads are optimized for mobile. Product titles have a 200 character limit on desktop, but only 70 characters will show on mobile, so be sure that all important info like brand name, product type, and key features are covered in the first 70 characters of your product title.

It’s also important to optimize the images on your product page for mobile. While you’re able to add up to nine images, only the first 7 images will be displayed on mobile, so choose those early images wisely.

Lastly, remember that mobile screens offer less space to describe your product. On mobile, only the product name, brand, and images show ‘above the fold’, meaning users don’t have to scroll to see them. Mobile users may swipe through your images and skim over the details. Therefore, it’s valuable to showcase key selling points in one or two of the images, like in the example from Revlon below:

Tip #4: Explore Amazon DSP 

If your goal is to expand your reach and attract new customers, Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) may be the answer. It enables you to programmatically buy ads and reach new and existing audiences both on and off Amazon, all the while using Amazon’s first-party data to target users in your demographic. Ads through Amazon DSP will serve on Amazon and on partner sites like Twitch, IMDb, Audible and more. Hitting users with ads on the sites where they spend their time can drive them back to your Amazon store. Amazon DSP offers unique options for ad types and targeting, and you can learn more about them in our Guide to Amazon DSP. 

Tip #5: Consider a third-party bidding solution

Leverage advanced optimization techniques not available through Amazon's native advertising platform with a third party bidding tool. Whether you're looking to increase sales or drive brand awareness, bidding solutions like Marin can help you achieve your goals. Of course, Amazon offers it’s own automated bidding strategies, but many marketers struggle to hit their targets with Amazon’s solutions and turn to Marin’s tried and true algorithms. Plus, since Marin houses all your front and backend marketing data, its algorithms often have access to conversion, revenue, and targeting data that Amazon does not. Learn how Marin’s bidding drove a 155% increase in revenue for an Amazon retailer here.

How to Thrive in the Amazon Advertising World

Like all advertising platforms, the keys to success on Amazon are staying on top of the latest trends, continuously optimizing your listings, and testing different copy and placements until you find what works for you. 

If you’re finding it all a bit overwhelming, you can manage and optimize your Amazon ads alongside all your other digital marketing channels in Marin’s unified grid. MarinOne even comes with a dedicated digital marketing expert who you can consult with on strategy. If you’re not sure how to get your Amazon campaigns to hit your ROAS goals, Marin can help. Schedule a demo with our team to learn more.

Arguably the biggest innovation the paid search industry has seen in the past decade is the advent of Smart Bidding, Google’s automated bidding solution. I remember when I first entered the industry as an Account Coordinator… Ah, the good (or bad?) old days. A majority of my time was spent manually updating CPC bids for every keyword in my client’s Google and Bing Ad accounts. I would analyze how each campaign was pacing toward my client’s KPI and calculate new bids multiple times a week. 

Enter Google’s tROAS and tCPA smart bidding strategies. I remember my Google account reps encouraging my team to test these automated strategies and how skeptical we all were. The only automated bidding we had heard of in the past was through Marin! But as the years went by and Google’s automation won more and more bidding tests, Smart Bidding became the norm. 

Now manual bidding is a thing of the past – manual CPC isn’t even an option anymore. And what paid search marketer isn’t relieved to be freed of the tedious tasks associated with manual bidding? 

These publisher bidding strategies are great… but they’re an incomplete solution. What if you want budget pacing, not just ROAS or CPA, to be considered in bidding decisions? Can you ask Google’s algorithm to do that? Not without a complex custom script… and I certainly don’t know how to code.

Managing budget pacing still requires manual intervention – that is unless you use Marin! Read on to understand some of the ways Marin makes smart bidding even better.

Manage everything in one place

Jumping across publisher tools can be time-consuming and fragment your workflows and data. With Marin, all your different campaigns across Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more are unified in one UI. 

Marin unifies publisher data from tools like Google and Microsoft ads with backend data from tracking solutions like Google Analytics. We even have our own tracking solution, Marin Attribution, which is a more straightforward alternative to Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

All that data comes together in our interactive, customizable reporting grids. From campaigns, all the way down to individual keywords, front-end metrics – like costs and clicks – are married to backend metrics – like conversions and revenue – and attributed to the correct source. You can even create your own custom columns with the calculations that matter most to you. That means no more spreadsheets. 

Transitioning your reporting and analysis from an Excel grid to the Marin grid eliminates the need for any manual data wrangling, saving time and improving data accuracy. Check out how easy it is to analyze performance in Marin.

Marin makes it easier than ever to analyze cross-channel performance and clearly determine what is working well and what needs attention. If you decide to take any action based on that analysis, Marin makes that process easier than ever, too. 

Edit smart bidding settings across publishers

After using Marin’s reporting grid to determine what’s working and what’s not, you can use our multi-edit functionality to make changes. Update your smart bidding settings like strategy, target, bid cap, and more in Marin and avoid wasting time hopping between unintuitive publisher UIs.

Maximize ROAS with Dynamic Allocation

If you find yourself grappling with questions of how much you should spend on each of your campaigns, let Marin solve them for you. Our budget allocation solution harnesses the power of AI to ensure your budget is distributed as efficiently as possible across campaigns and channels. 

It all starts with your goals. First, you’ll meet with your Marin team to discuss your KPI targets and spend goals. Next, you’ll group your campaigns into different spend groups. Some examples of typical spend groups are brand, non-brand, retargeting, and prospecting. 

Marin’s AI will take it from there. It will analyze how each of your campaigns is currently pacing toward your KPIs and review impression share metrics to determine if there is more room for a campaign to spend in the SERP or if that campaign is already dominating. It’ll then allocate your budget across all the campaigns in the given bucket based on each campaign’s potential. 

You can either auto-apply Marin’s budget recommendations, or review them in the Marin app and apply them manually as you see fit. Manage it all in Marin’s budget pacing dashboard, which showcases not only how your budget groups are pacing toward spend goals, but revenue and ROAS trends as well.

Get unbiased recommendations for improvement

The publishers all provide recommendations to improve performance. But if you look closely, these recommendations always seem to lead to you spending more money on ads — not necessarily getting you any closer to hitting your KPI targets. Marin’s recommendation engine is free from publisher bias and has complete context on how all of your campaigns are doing across your customer lifecycle. This makes it more accurate than Google or Bing’s recommendations. And just like Google’s recommendations, they can be applied with one click. 

In the modern paid media landscape, maintaining independence from domineering publisher tools is more valuable than ever. If our blog hasn’t convinced you of that yet, Marin’s unbiased recommendations will. 

Say goodbye to publisher walled gardens

If you’re only using publisher tools for paid search media buying, you're limiting your marketing program. Marin can help you save time and improve your ROAS or CPA in countless ways. The best part? Marin is completely customizable. Unlike the publisher tools' one-size-fits-all approach, we can adapt our software to your business’s specific needs. Share your struggles with a Marin rep today and learn what we can do to help!

Meet your next Marketing Automation Platform

If you’re still unsure what Marin can do for you, see some of our favorite features in action.

Working in retail media is challenging, fast-paced, and certainly never boring. It’s one of the most competitive spaces for media buyers to operate in. You have to constantly keep your finger on the pulse of industry trends and optimize campaigns daily based on the ever-changing marketplace. 

We feel your pain. And we know you’re good at your job. But everyone could use a little help from AI these days! No matter what type of product you sell, Marin can make your life easier. 

Our platform was built by retail media marketers, for retail media marketers, because a niche industry requires a specialized solution. We also built Marin to be flexible and customizable so it can meet each user's unique needs. Here are five ways Marin can help you work less and smash your performance goals.

1. Let AI Handle Budget Allocation

Most retail media marketers manage many campaigns in different accounts and channels, and publisher walled-gardens can make it difficult to deploy automation across those channels. Marin was built to solve this problem. Marin’s dynamic budget allocation harnesses the power of AI to ensure your budget is distributed as efficiently as possible, across all your campaigns.

All you have to do is map each group of campaigns with a shared budget to a Strategy and set the spend target for the month or quarter. Then let us know what your goals are - ROAS, conversion volume, impression share, etc. Marin will take it from there.

By comparing each campaign’s performance against your KPI targets and analyzing impression share metrics to determine which campaigns have incremental room to drive more conversions, Marin will intelligently allocate your budget across all your campaigns in Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Meta, LinkedIn, and more. Goodbye, budget pacing spreadsheets!

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The beauty of this solution lies in its customizability. We’ll start by meeting with your team and discussing your current budgeting workflow and goals. Then, your Marin team will customize the automation to meet your needs. You just sit back, relax, and watch your campaigns meet those spend targets every month. 

2. Identify opportunities for growth

As a busy digital marketer, one of the worst feelings is knowing that there are opportunities to improve performance but not having the time to act on them. Between investigating the next steps and building bulk sheets, even the simplest optimization initiative ends up taking hours. But with Marin, you can optimize your accounts in seconds. 

Marin runs hundreds of daily checks on every account linked to our platform and identifies opportunities for growth. From ad copy improvements to changes to bidding targets to improving account structure, Marin covers the basics for you so you can focus on high-level strategy. Recommendations can be applied with one click, so no manual work is needed to act on your Insights. 

For example, the above Insight recommends that our client move their top-performing ads into individual dedicated ad groups. This will help them manage the bid for that specific product independently, which makes sense since it's driving so much volume. To act on this recommendation, they simply need to click ‘Apply Changes.’ Marin will then build the new ad groups and pause the ad in the old group for them. It’s that easy!

See it in action:

3. Auto-create ads based on your product feed

Once you link your product feed to Marin, there are countless ways to apply automation based on it. For example, Marin can automatically create a new ad every time a new product is added to your feed. This is extremely helpful for brands that continuously create new products and want Shopping Ad coverage over every product. Rather than spending time every day checking your feed for new products and creating ads for them, automate that tedious process with Marin. 

And speaking of shopping ads…

5. Manage all your shopping ads in one place

Marin pulls all your Google, Microsoft, and Amazon shopping ads into one unified view and organizes them by SKU. Understand your top-performing SKUs across channels and compare the performance of different channels for the same SKU to see what's working and what's not.

Create and edit shopping ads with our multi-edit grids and bulk creation tool. No more jumping from one publisher tool to another. Manage it all in one Marin Grid. And speaking of all-in-one grids…

5. Harness the power of data unification

The value of using Marin to clean, unify, and visualize all your cross-channel data cannot be overstated. Our clients often describe Marin as a ‘mission control center.’ We integrate with all the major publishers and backend sources of truth. You can link as many different tracking sources as you want, from Google Analytics to Tealium to Marin’s own first-party tracking solution. Marin supports all the major ad formats like sponsored products, sponsored brands, Amazon DSP, and more.

Look how easy it is to link all your data sources:

Marin also solves the challenge of tracking conversions that start on other ad platforms but end on Amazon. For example, lots of retail media marketers include sitelinks to ‘buy on Amazon’ in their paid search ads. Additionally, marketers may drive traffic from ads on Meta to an Amazon storefront. If you’re just using the Amazon Ads UI for reporting, there’s no way to attribute those conversions back to their original source. Marin’s cross-channel Amazon Attribution solves that problem. You can see Amazon conversions attributed to the paid search or social campaign that drove the conversion right in the Marin UI.

With all your data unified and attributed down to the keyword/product level, reporting on performance has never been easier. Create saved views in our grids to capture data you reference often, or build a custom dashboard using Marin’s data visualization tools. Whether you’re an agency team reporting to a client or a brand reporting marketing performance to upper management, you’ll never have to manually wrangle your data again.

“Marin automates all of our reporting, performance monitoring, and optimization, saving us countless hours per week so we can spend more time focusing on strategy as we expand our presence globally.”

- Philip Ascott, Director of Digital at YOTEL

Check out how quickly you can respond to an ad hoc data request with Marin:

And there you have it! These are just 5 of the countless ways Marin improves the lives of retail media marketers. And don’t just take it from me, check out our case studies where real retail clients have shared their Marin success stories. 

The thing that makes Marin more powerful than other marketing automation tools is its customizability. Our technical team will tailor the platform to your needs, and that starts at the very beginning, when you schedule a customized demo with us. We look forward to chatting with you!

Retail e-commerce sales are projected to exceed $8 billion by 2026. Businesses are heavily relying on retail media marketing to capture these sales, drive brand awareness, and improve customer retention. However, without a proper understanding of how these campaigns are performing, it’s nearly impossible to optimize and make informed decisions.

This blog post provides insights and strategies for measuring the return on investment (ROI) of e-commerce marketing campaigns. Learn about the key metrics and tools that can help track and evaluate the success of your marketing efforts. 

The importance of measuring ROI in retail media marketing

Understanding and measuring the ROI of e-commerce marketing initiatives is essential for businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies and make informed decisions. Here are some reasons you should track and measure the ROI of your marketing campaigns. 

Assess campaign effectiveness

By measuring ROI, marketers can determine which campaigns are generating the desired results. This allows you to identify which channels, ad campaigns, or promotional activities are driving sales and which ones are underperforming. These insights help allocate marketing budgets effectively and focus on the areas that provide a higher return.

Cost control and budget allocation

Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become critical advertising channels for retail media marketers. Almost 60% of companies have seen an increase in sales made through social media recently. However, as more social media platforms come into prominence, marketers must allocate their budgets carefully. By understanding the ROI on various social media platforms, you can identify areas where you may be overspending or not getting the desired returns. With this knowledge, you can control costs, optimize your budget allocation, and ensure maximum revenue generation.

Enhance customer acquisition

Measuring ROI can help you identify the most effective customer acquisition strategies. By evaluating the ROI for different channels, such as paid advertising, social media marketing, or influencer partnerships, you can determine which channels deliver the highest number of customers at the lowest cost. This information enables you to focus your efforts on the most profitable customer acquisition tactics, ultimately leading to increased revenue and business growth.

Set realistic goals

Measuring ROI helps marketers set realistic benchmarks and goals for marketing campaigns by providing a detailed assessment of past performance that they can compare to industry standards.

5 Key metrics for measuring ROI in retail media marketing

Some key metrics include conversion rate, average order value, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and return on ad spend. Here is an overview of each of these metrics. 

1. Conversion rate

The conversion rate metric measures the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter. A higher conversion rate indicates better campaign performance and customer engagement.

The formula for calculating conversion rate is:

Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions / Number of Visitors) x 100

To visualize conversion rates, you can use various methods such as:

• Funnel visualization: This involves mapping out the various stages of your conversion process and using visual aids like flowcharts or real-time data visualization tools to track the percentage of visitors who move through each stage and eventually convert.

• Line graphs: You can plot conversion rates over time using a line graph to track fluctuations or trends in your conversion rate.

• Heatmaps: These can help you identify and analyze user behavior on your website or landing page by visually representing the areas where users are most engaged or dropping off, giving insights into potential areas for improvement.

2. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) measures the amount of money spent on acquiring a new customer. By comparing the CAC with the average customer lifetime value (CLV), businesses can determine the profitability of their marketing efforts.

The formula for CAC is:

CAC = (Total Sales + Marketing Expenses) / Number of New Customers Acquired

To visualize CAC, you can use various methods such as:

• Bar charts: Use a bar chart to display the CAC for different time periods, campaigns, or customer segments. Each bar represents the CAC value, allowing you to compare and analyze the effectiveness of your acquisition efforts.

• Cohort analysis: Create cohorts of customers based on specific criteria, such as the month they were acquired, and analyze the CAC for each cohort. Visualize this data using stacked bar charts or line graphs to understand how the cost of acquiring customers varies by group.

3. Average Order Value (AOV) 

AOV calculates the average amount spent by a customer in a single transaction. Monitoring AOV helps evaluate the effectiveness of upselling and cross-selling strategies.

To calculate average order value (AOV):

AOV = Total Revenue / Number of Orders

To visualize AOV, you can use several methods, such as:

• Scatter plot: Use a scatter plot to map the relationship between AOV and other factors such as customer age, geographic location, or order size. This visualization method helps identify any correlations or outliers that may influence AOV.

• Funnel visualization: Create a funnel visualization that shows the conversion rates and AOV at each stage of the customer journey. This visual representation helps track and identify potential areas for improvement in increasing AOV.

4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. It provides insights into the profitability of specific ad campaigns or marketing channels.

The formula for calculating return on ad spend (ROAS) is:

ROAS = (Revenue from Ad Campaign / Cost of Ad Campaign) x 100

To visualize ROAS, you can use various methods, such as:

• Scatter plot: Use a scatter plot to analyze the relationship between ROAS and specific metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), ad spend, or ad impressions. This visualization method helps identify any patterns or correlations that could impact the ROAS.

• ROI dashboard: Design a dashboard that combines various visualizations to showcase your ROAS metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) related to ad campaigns. This holistic view provides oversight of the effectiveness and profitability of all your different advertising efforts.

5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) assesses the total revenue generated by a customer over their entire relationship with the business. Evaluating CLV helps marketers understand the long-term value of acquiring and retaining customers.

The basic formula for calculating CLV is:

CLV = Customer Value x Average Customer Lifespan

Visualizing CLV can help businesses understand the long-term value of their customers and make informed decisions regarding marketing, customer retention, and customer acquisition strategies. There are various ways to visualize CLV, including:

• Line charts: Line charts can help businesses track changes in CLV over time and identify patterns and trends.

• Cohort analysis: Cohort analysis involves grouping customers based on when they made their first purchase and tracking their CLV over time. This analysis helps businesses understand how CLV varies across different customer segments.

• Heatmaps: Heatmaps can be used to identify specific customer segments with high CLV. By clustering customers based on their purchasing behavior and CLV, businesses can target their marketing efforts more effectively.

Tools and techniques for measuring ROI in retail media marketing

Various tools and techniques are available for measuring the ROI of e-commerce marketing campaigns. By leveraging these tools and techniques, businesses can track key metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and customer lifetime value to accurately measure the success and profitability of their marketing campaigns.

Web analytics

Tools like Google Analytics provide valuable insights into website traffic, user behavior, conversion rates, and other essential metrics. By tracking these metrics, businesses can assess e-commerce campaign performance.

Marketing automation platforms

Marketing automation tools like Marin come with built-in analytics and reporting features. They help track marketing campaigns, lead generation, and conversions.

CRM systems 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows businesses to track customer data throughout the sales cycle. CRM platforms like Salesforce or Zoho CRM provide insights into customer interactions and purchase history.

A/B testing

Running A/B tests allows businesses to compare the performance of different marketing elements, such as website layouts, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, or email subject lines. This helps identify the most effective strategies for improving ROI.

ROI calculation formulas

ROI calculation formulas can help businesses determine the financial impact of their marketing efforts. These formulas consider the cost of marketing campaigns and the revenue generated to calculate the ROI percentage.

How Marin can help you track and measure campaign ROI more effectively

Measuring the ROI of e-commerce marketing campaigns is critical to understanding the effectiveness of online business strategies. There are several key metrics and tools available to help businesses accurately track and optimize their campaigns, including AOV, ROAS, and CLV. However, the process of tracking and analyzing this data can be time consuming and complex.

With Marin, businesses can leverage advanced analytics and reporting capabilities to gain valuable insights into the performance of their campaigns. The platform provides a centralized hub where businesses can manage and optimize their campaigns, using machine learning and AI-powered insights to maximize ROI.

‍Start using Marin today to gain deeper insights into how your e-commerce marketing campaigns are performing.

Siloed marketing and sales teams have never been good for businesses. Recognizing this, organizations are attempting to improve alignment between marketing, sales, and customer success. How? By leaning into a relatively new and innovative organizational structure called Revenue Operations or “RevOps.” 

Designed to break down the barriers between disparate operational teams, RevOps aims to forge a unified front with a singular reporting line and shared revenue goals. RevOps not only transforms organizational structures, but it also helps streamline digital marketing channels, identify high-performing strategies, and allocate resources effectively — all of which collectively contribute to a more cohesive and successful revenue generation strategy.

The Role of Revenue Operations in Digital Marketing Channel Optimization

When marketing and sales teams work together and implement a RevOps strategy, it can increase overall effectiveness in driving revenue. The combination of improved communication and collaboration streamlines processes, facilitates smoother workflows, enables quicker decision-making, and allows for a more agile response to market changes. 

A unified approach to revenue generation also provides a holistic view of the customer journey, which creates a better understanding and anticipation of customer needs, leading to improved satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, enhanced visibility into customer interactions and behaviors allows for more targeted and effective sales and outreach strategies. 

Within digital marketing, where multiple channels contribute to customer engagement and conversion, RevOps acts as a strategic orchestrator. Collaboration between marketing, sales, and other revenue-focused teams ensures a unified approach to: 

• Data analysis
• Audience targeting
• Content optimization
• Budget allocation
• Cross-channel integration
• SEO optimization
• Social media management
• Conversion rate optimization 

As a result, this alignment not only increases the overall efficiency of digital marketing efforts but also maximizes the impact of each channel on revenue generation. 

6 Practical Steps to Streamline Paid Advertising With Revenue Operations

Streamlining paid advertising with RevOps involves strategically aligning and optimizing various elements to positively impact your advertising efforts. Here are six key steps to achieve this synergy:

1. Unified Data Management

Begin by integrating data from advertising platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other sources. With a centralized repository, marketing, sales, and other teams have access to accurate and real-time data for informed decision making.

2. Collaborative Strategy Development

Encourage collaboration between marketing and sales teams to align advertising strategies with revenue goals. With collaboration, paid campaigns are more likely to attract high-quality leads and contribute directly to revenue generation.

3. Budget Allocation Optimization

Use unified data insights to optimize budget allocation across different advertising channels. 

RevOps guarantees that advertising budgets are strategically distributed based on performance metrics and aligned with overall revenue objectives.

4. Cross-Channel Integration

Make sure that your paid advertising efforts align seamlessly with all other marketing channels. A cohesive approach, facilitated by RevOps, prevents silos and creates a unified brand experience for users across various touchpoints.

5. Real-Time Performance Monitoring

Continuously monitor ad performance in real time. With RevOps, you can rapidly identify trends, allowing for quick adjustments to campaigns to maximize their effectiveness.

6. Alignment With Sales Processes

You’ll also want to ensure a smooth transition from lead generation to conversion — and the key to doing so is to integrate paid advertising efforts with sales processes. RevOps facilitates a seamless handover of qualified leads to the sales team, enhancing the overall efficiency of the revenue engine.

Driving Engagement and Conversions Through Revenue Operations in Email Marketing

As you strive to optimize revenue generation, the fusion of RevOps and email marketing can help increase engagement levels and conversion rates. 

Personalized Targeting

By harnessing unified customer data from email marketing platforms, CRM systems, and other sources, you can create unified customer profiles to meticulously segment your audience, delving into demographics, behaviors, and preferences. With a granular understanding, you can generate highly targeted and personalized email campaigns by tailoring content in a way that makes each message feel relevant and valuable to the recipient, thereby increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion. 

Closed-Loop Reporting

Closed-loop reporting in email marketing provides a comprehensive understanding of the complete customer journey, from the initial interaction with an email to the ultimate conversion. In other words, it allows you to gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your email campaigns at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Analyzing which emails have the most significant impact on conversions helps you identify successful strategies and refine your approach to future campaigns. 

Automation and Workflow Integration

The integration of automation and workflow tools is instrumental in enhancing efficiency and driving successful customer journeys. By using marketing automation tools, your organization can streamline intricate email workflows and implement strategic lead nurturing programs. Not only does this save time but it also ensures consistent and timely communication with your audience. 

The synergy between email marketing workflows and sales processes is equally crucial. Integrating these workflows facilitates a seamless transition for leads from initial engagement to eventual conversion. Automated coordination between marketing and sales teams ensures that the right messages are delivered at the right stages, optimizing the chances of turning leads into loyal customers. 

Behavioral Triggers

Using behavioral triggers in email marketing can add a dynamic and responsive dimension to your customer engagement strategies that goes beyond generic outreach efforts. By implementing triggers based on customer actions or inactions, you can deliver personalized communication that aligns with individual behaviors. For example, if a customer clicks on a particular product but doesn't complete the purchase, a targeted follow-up email or exclusive offer can be triggered to re-engage them. This can enhance the relevance of the content and also guide customers toward conversions by addressing their specific interests and needs. 

Iterative Analysis and Improvement

Continuously scrutinize email performance metrics and gather customer feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns. This way, you can track what resonates with your audience and what areas need improvement. Whether it's adjusting content or reevaluating overarching strategies, an iterative process ensures that your email campaigns are always evolving to meet the dynamic preferences of your audience. Commitment to constant improvement not only enhances engagement but also contributes to the overall effectiveness of email marketing initiatives, ultimately creating a cycle of refinement that aligns with customer expectations and industry trends.

Navigating the Switch to RevOps

Gartner projects that 75% of leading global companies are expected to implement a RevOps model by 2025. If you’re not already part of that statistic, it’s time to join the growing ranks of companies embracing RevOps. Here’s how you can do that:

Conduct a Comprehensive Process Audit

Start by auditing your existing processes to identify any disconnect between departments. Align all available data with your customer's lifecycle stage and formulate a plan to address any gaps. Finally, scrutinize the technology used across customer-facing departments for accurate data tracking.

Define Lifecycle Stage Definitions

Next, clearly define lifecycle stage definitions for your team. Evaluate your data to gain insights into the complete customer journey and assess your organization’s financial health. Plan to regularly audit your tech stack to eliminate redundancies and brief your team on the impact of RevOps processes on revenue.

Enhance Customer Acquisition

Develop a plan for customer acquisition through inbound sales strategies, follow-up emails, and outbound sales outreach. Create a RevOps dashboard that highlights current challenges and areas for improvement in the customer experience.

Maintain Consistency in Growth Strategy

Eighty-seven percent of sales and marketing leaders agree that collaboration between sales and marketing is critical for business growth. To ensure business growth and reinforce alignment with revenue and growth goals, you’ll need to conduct regular RevOps check-ins. It’s also a good idea to collaborate with heads of marketing and sales so everyone is on the same page. Follow a structured implementation plan to boost the adoption and optimization of your RevOps strategy.

Unlocking Revenue Potential With MarinOne

For RevOps to be successful, your organization’s sales and marketing teams must work in unison. And that means breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across all revenue-focused functions. 

MarinOne can help you move away from siloed organizational structures. With our platform, you can seamlessly integrate data from various channels and gain a unified view of the customer journey. Our advanced attribution modeling goes beyond the basics, enabling your organization to make data-driven decisions, optimize budget allocation, and align marketing strategies with broader revenue goals.

MarinOne's strength lies in its ability to streamline the integration of marketing automation platforms into the RevOps framework for cohesive workflows, personalized content delivery, and a direct alignment of marketing efforts with revenue objectives. Additionally, MarinOne's analytics capabilities can help your business gain actionable insights, measure key metrics, and continuously iterate your digital marketing strategies. 

Ready to get started? Meet with a Marin rep today.

Promotions and events like holidays or in-store sales often impact the performance of your digital marketing campaigns. It’s important to understand this impact and factor it into your optimization and media plans. If we can predict an increase in site traffic due to an event, we can increase budgets and bids on our paid media campaigns ahead of that event so that we capture as many new customers as possible. Let’s walk through the process of analyzing a recurring event’s impact in Google Sheets. I’ll pretend I work for a big retailer that runs ads during the Super Bowl, and I want to analyze past years’ performance and set benchmarks for this year’s upcoming ad. 

Analyzing event data in spreadsheets

I’ve created a workbook that you can use as a template to aggregate your event data. The workbook also contains calendar templates for events that our clients commonly track. More on those later. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to analyzing event data in spreadsheets, using the Super Bowl as an example.

1. Export Historical Data

In your publisher tool or reporting system, export the data you want to analyze, segmented by date. In this example, I want to analyze ad views. So I did a data export with two columns – date and ad views – and pasted that in the Sample Data tab. Then, I added two new columns – Events and Category.

2. Create calendar

In the Sample Calendar tab, I created an event calendar that lists each instance of the Super Bowl and its date. I also recommend adding a Category label if you’re tracking more than one type of event. In this example, I’m keeping it simple and just tracking the Super Bowl. But you could track all your different event types, like sales, promotions, and holidays, in one unified calendar and label events by category. This way, you’ll be able to pivot on the category column and compare different event types.

3. Lookup Event Info

Use lookup formulas to populate the Events and Categories into their columns in the Sample Data tab. You’ll want to lookup against the dates in the Sample Calendar tab. To populate the ‘Events’ column, use this formula:

=xlookup(A3,'Sample Calendar'!$A$2:$A$8,'Sample Calendar'!$B$2:$B$8,"None")

Paste that formula in cell C2 and double-click on the bottom-right corner of the cell to populate all other rows.

To populate the ‘Category’ column, use this formula:

=xlookup(A2,'Sample Calendar'!$A$2:$A$8,'Sample Calendar'!$C$2:$C$8,"None")

Paste that formula in cell D2 and double-click on the bottom-right corner of the cell to populate all other rows.

Here's a tutorial on xlookup formulas that you can reference when writing your formulas.

4. Create a Pivot Table

In your data tab, select columns A-D and click insert > pivot table.

Now I have a pivot table that shows the number of ad views during each Super Bowl:

I created an additional table in the Sample Pivot Table tab that shows the average number of ad views on Super Bowl days vs. non-Super Bowl Days. This way, I can see how much of a lift in volume the Super Bowl drives. In cell C14, I’ve used a simple change formula to calculate that the Super Bowl drives an average +19% lift in volume.

This is powerful information. I now know to increase my budgets by at least 19% to prepare for the influx in traffic. You could also look at conversion rate changes for the same period to determine how to adjust your bidding targets.

5. Create data visualizations

In the pivot table tab, select cells A1 - B9 and click insert > chart. Select the chart type that works best for you.

I’ve gone with a column chart using the event name as my horizontal axis and the ad views as my vertical axis. The chart shows that ad view volume increased steadily from 2019 - 2022, followed by a slight drop in 2023. With this data, I could set a realistic goal for this year’s Super Bowl ad, like bringing ad views back up to 2022 levels. 

I’ve also created an area chart with a trend line to display the positive YoY trends to my company’s leadership. The trendline shows that even though we saw a decline in ad views last year, the overall trend for the past five years is significantly positive.

And there you have it! Two easy visualizations of ad views for every Super Bowl since 2017.

Calendar templates

Creating a spreadsheet that outlines every date on which the Super Bowl occurred for the past five years was tedious, so I’ve included a few calendars with historical dates for key events in the workbook for you to reference. In the first three tabs, you’ll find a Cyber Week calendar, Super Bowl calendar, and US Holiday calendar with historical dates for the past few years.

Turning your event data into action

Analyzing year-over-year performance changes for a recurring event helps to prepare for future iterations of that event. Consider using your historical event data to set benchmarks or minimum thresholds for recurring events’ performance. For example, if your Annual Sale has been generating a year-over-year revenue growth of 5%, you can set a sales target for your next Annual Sale by increasing last year’s revenue by 5%. 

You can also consider increasing your ad budget and/or bid targets based on this expected influx of traffic. If you predict that an upcoming event is going to drive additional searches for your products, consider increasing the budgets for your non-brand campaigns. Brand campaigns can likely remain stable. Extra money spent on brand terms is often wasted as those Googling your brand name will likely end up on your site regardless of if they see an ad. Just make sure your competitors aren’t bidding for the top spots in the SERP on your brand’s keywords in an attempt to capitalize on your increased search volume. But assuming you’re already running brand campaigns to defend your spot at the top of the SERP, you should be all set.

Inversely, you could track your top competitors’ annual sales and promotions and scale up bids and budgets on competitor terms during those periods to try and acquire some of their traffic. But keep in mind that competitor terms are some of the most expensive to bid on, and you’ll need some very compelling ad copy to lure searchers away from the brand they were originally looking for, and on to your page instead. 

Automate event analysis with Marin’s Marketing Calendar

The process outlined above is time-consuming if you are doing it manually – and you have to repeat it for every new event! Instead, do it automatically with Marin’s automation across all your campaigns, accounts, and publishers.

With Marin’s Marketing Calendar, you just upload your event calendar into our platform, and AI will do the rest. Simply create a spreadsheet containing details like Event Name, Start Date, End Date, and optional details like Category and Description:

Marin will then chart year-over-year event data for you so that you can analyze past trends and plan for future iterations of the events.

Marin does the analysis and data visualization for you so you can spend more time focusing on turning that data into action.

Outperform the competition

We all know that the actions of your competitors directly impact your campaigns – and Marketing Calendar’s got your back here, too! Are competitor promotions driving down your metrics? Now you can tag those dates to easily identify the performance outliers and set your campaigns to combat these negative impacts in advance. All you have to do to track the impact of competitors’ promotions on your business is upload their event data into the platform. And you can store that data in Marin for years. 

Did a competitor promotion get you down this year? With Marketing Calendar, you’ll see around the corner next year and be able to get ahead of the increase in competition.

With Marin’s Marketing Calendar, marketers can plan, execute, and monitor campaigns with incredible precision. To learn more, schedule a demo with one of our Digital Marketing experts today.

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As Google continually introduces new algorithm updates, one thing has remained consistent for inbound marketers aiming to enhance their website's search presence: keyword research. 

When people go online to search for something, they use specific keywords. So if your content is created with their needs in mind, you’ll be more successful at getting in front of your target audience. You’ll gain more traffic and increase your chances of generating revenue so you can supercharge your growth. 

In this blog post, we’ll explain how automated keyword research can improve your profitability, and guide you on how to get started. 

5 ways automated keyword research helps businesses save money and improve revenue

When you automate keyword research, you can revolutionize your approach to SEO and content optimization. Check out these five benefits:

1. Leads to higher conversion rates

When your content aligns with what users are actively searching for, you're more likely to capture their interest and engage them effectively. This means higher quality traffic and a greater likelihood of conversions. By focusing on keywords with transactional intent, you're also reaching an audience that is already inclined towards making a purchase or taking a desired action. 

With this targeted approach, conversion rates increase and you can ensure that your marketing budget is allocated efficiently. As a result, your business will experience a larger return on investment (ROI), making every advertising dollar spent more valuable and effective.

2. More efficient use of resources

By harnessing the power of advanced algorithms and data-driven insights, automated keyword research eliminates the need for laborious manual analysis, enabling you to reallocate valuable time and resources to more strategic tasks. Rather than poring over endless lists of keywords, marketing teams can focus on crafting compelling content and optimizing campaigns for maximum impact. 

By doing so, you can accelerate the pace of decision-making and remain agile. Essentially, automated keyword research empowers your businesses to work smarter, not harder, ultimately leading to more effective and successful marketing endeavors.

3. Real-time market trends

By capitalizing on the current market trends and consumer behavior insights that automated tools offer, businesses can tailor their strategies to meet evolving customer needs. And when customer needs are met, customer satisfaction is enhanced, leading to an uptick in sales and increased revenue. If you position yourself to be a customer-centric enterprise, you’ll foster stronger customer relationships and guarantee repeat business along with brand loyalty, ensuring long-term success and sustained revenue growth.

4. Improved SEO performance

According to HubSpot’s 2023 State of Marketing Report, 88% of marketers who are already actively doing SEO work plan to continue doing so. And there’s a good reason why. When you integrate high-performing keywords into your content, you open the door to significant improvements in your search engine rankings. 

With increased visibility among potential customers, you’ll drive more organic traffic to your website, resulting in substantial cost savings on paid advertising. In turn, you’ll be able to stretch your marketing budget further while simultaneously establishing a more sustainable and cost-effective way to reach and engage with your target audience

5. Better lead generation

19% of marketers say that generating leads is their biggest marketing challenge. Precision in keyword selection allows you to tailor your content and campaigns to meet the specific needs and interests of potential customers. Simply put, if you produce content to meet their needs and give them a call to action, you’ll be more likely to move them from the awareness stage of the buyer journey into the point-of-purchase stage. You’ll also be able to attract a more qualified and engaged audience, significantly increasing the likelihood of converting leads into paying customers. 

5 ways to automate keyword research

Now that you understand how automated keyword research helps generate more revenue, here are five ways to get started:  

1. Use an AI-powered keyword generator

AI-powered keyword generators scrutinize your website, niche, and competitors by utilizing artificial intelligence to produce strategic keywords that enhance your search engine rankings. These advanced tools offer targeted keyword suggestions for your content, streamlining the process and saving you valuable time and effort. 

With the ability to analyze trends and patterns across vast datasets, AI generators can provide deep insights to boost your content optimization efforts. But what does that process look like? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use AI generators:

• Pick a reliable AI keyword generator

Start your search by clearly defining your main topic or subject. Once you choose a direction, simply use an AI keyword generator to effortlessly identify high-potential keywords related to the industry, topic, or content focus. 

• Verify the search data 

Next, use Google Keyword Planner to verify search data associated with the AI generated keywords. Since different AI keyword generators may use different data sources and methods for estimating search volume and competition data, this allows you to cross-reference the data. Doing so will ensure accuracy and prevent potential biases or inaccuracies from a single source and will also give you insights into the number of searches conducted for each keyword. 

• Create an SEO brief

The next step is to generate an SEO brief to guarantee that your keyword research and content creation are optimized for both search engines and readers. Make sure it includes key topics and keywords from the research phase. 

• Optimize content

The final step involves making sure your content is set up for SEO success. To prevent over-optimizing, which can deter customers, strategically and organically weave your keywords into your content. Following keyword optimization best practices can enhance your content's visibility on search engines, improve its relevance to target audiences, and contribute to higher rankings in search results.

2. Use keyword research tools with automated features

With the right keyword research tools, you can automate tasks like competitor analysis, keyword suggestion, and search volume insights. Marketers can input their domain or competitors' domains into platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to uncover high-performing keywords, assess keyword difficulty, and identify gaps in their content strategy. In addition, marketers can automate reports and alerts to streamline the monitoring process, enabling quick adjustments to keyword strategies based on real-time data.

3. Leverage content optimization platforms

Content optimization platforms like SurferSEO or Clearscope analyze top-ranking pages and generate keyword recommendations to improve content performance. These platforms also commonly provide insights into keyword competitiveness, search volume, and trends, enabling marketers to make informed decisions about which keywords to prioritize. 

To integrate chosen keywords effectively within content, use a platform that offers on-page optimization recommendations. This automation not only accelerates the keyword research phase, but also ensures that content aligns with SEO best practices, ultimately improving the visibility and discoverability of marketing materials across search engines. Regularly monitor performance metrics provided by these platforms to adapt your keyword strategy based on evolving trends and user behavior.

4. Use web scraping and crawling tools

When you incorporate web scraping and crawling tools into your strategies, you can gain valuable insights, optimize content effectively, and stay competitive. To get started,  select a reliable web scraping tool that aligns with the specific requirements of your research. Define the websites, search engine results, or industry-specific platforms you want to analyze for keyword data. 

Configure the web scraping tool to extract relevant information, such as keyword frequency, trends, and competitor strategies. Then schedule regular automated crawls to ensure that the data remains current and reflective of evolving trends. Ensure compliance with ethical and legal guidelines, respecting the terms of service for each website being scraped.

5. Integrate API integrations and custom scripts 

By integrating API integrations and custom scripts, marketers can create a tailored and efficient system for automated keyword research, ensuring a dynamic and data-driven approach to their SEO strategies. 

First, identify the APIs that align with your specific keyword research needs, such as Google Search Console API for website data or social media APIs for monitoring trends. Establish secure connections with these APIs through authentication protocols. Once connected, set up scripts to automate the extraction and processing of relevant data from the APIs. 

Custom scripts can also be designed to scrape data from diverse sources, providing a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape. For up-to-date and real-time insights, regularly schedule these scripts to run at predetermined intervals.

Wrapping up

Automated keyword research is not just a tool — it's a strategic imperative for businesses looking to save money while supercharging their revenue streams. Don't miss out on the opportunity to revolutionize your approach to keyword research. Instead, implement automation today and unlock a new era of profitability.

Boosting revenue with Marin’s advanced keyword insights

Looking to automate keyword research for paid search campaigns? With MarinOne, you can leverage cutting-edge algorithms and comprehensive data analysis to uncover hidden keyword opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked. Our platform will not only help your business meet industry standards, but will also give you a competitive edge in the market. 

Ready to unlock the full potential of your paid search keyword strategy?  Schedule a demo today.

Marketing professionals have always been faced with the challenge of measuring the success and impact of their campaigns. Industry studies from Gartner revealed that businesses spend almost a tenth of their total revenue on marketing. This large budget often comes with additional pressure to deliver marketing results to business leaders. 

Advanced marketing reporting plays a crucial role in providing insights and data-driven analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. However, conducting effective marketing reporting requires more than just crunching numbers — it involves the use of advanced techniques and strategies to gather, analyze, and present data in a meaningful way. In this blog post, we will explore techniques and strategies you can use to conduct precise and accurate advanced marketing reporting.

Understanding the importance of advanced marketing reporting

Marketing reporting has always been conducted in various forms. Some marketers use spreadsheets to generate reports, while others highlight a few pieces of information that are then shared in a presentation deck. Here are three reasons marketers should look beyond these outdated reporting techniques and explore advanced reporting software now: 

1. Identification of trends and patterns

Advanced reporting tools enable marketers to uncover trends, patterns, and correlations within their data. This helps identify potential opportunities or issues that may not be immediately obvious, allowing marketers to take action and capitalize on trends or mitigate risks.

2. Benchmarking and competitive analysis

Advanced reporting provides the ability to benchmark performance against industry standards or competitors. This helps marketers understand their position in the market and make data-driven decisions to stay ahead of the competition.

3. Campaign optimization

As social media platforms increasingly cater to highly targeted user segments, marketers have to understand the profile of users on each platform and plan marketing campaigns accordingly. A quarter of marketers have indicated that they plan to place greater emphasis on targeted social media ads in 2024. Advanced reporting enables marketers to evaluate the performance of individual campaigns or initiatives. By analyzing data such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement metrics, marketers can identify areas where campaigns are falling short and take corrective measures to optimize their performance.

7 Essential elements of effective marketing reporting

Most marketers understand the importance of effective reporting, but what makes reporting effective? All successful marketing reports have shared elements — here are seven that all marketers should have in their marketing reports: 

1. Clear and concise presentation

Nobody enjoys being presented a string of data that lacks engaging elements to keep the viewer interested. Every successful marketer’s report should be well organized and visually appealing, with clear headings, subheadings, and sections.

2. Key performance indicators (KPIs)

It’s important to identify and include relevant KPIs that align with your marketing goals and objectives. This can include metrics such as website traffic, lead generation, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. It is important that marketers stay abreast of any business priority changes and adjust their reporting strategy accordingly. 

3. Context and analysis

Raw data alone may not provide actionable insights. A quarter of marketers consider tying social media marketing activities to business outcomes. To deliver this insight and improve the value of a report, it’s essential to provide context and analysis for the data. This could include market trends, comparisons with previous periods, and explanations for any fluctuations or patterns.

4. Measurable goals and targets

Marketing reports should include measurable goals and targets set at the beginning of the reporting period. This allows for tracking progress and evaluating the success of marketing efforts.

5. Visualizations and charts

Incorporating visual elements such as graphs, charts, and infographics can help summarize complex data and make it easier to understand.

6. Actionable recommendations

Effective marketing reports should not only present data, but also provide actionable recommendations for improvement. This could include suggestions for optimizing campaigns, targeting specific customer segments, or reallocating resources.

7. Regular and timely reporting

Marketing reports should be delivered at regular intervals, according to the needs of the organization. Timeliness is key to ensure that the information is relevant and up to date.

How to get started with common marketing reporting tools

Once teams understand the importance of marketing reporting, choosing the right tools and learning how to use them effectively is essential. Read on to learn how to get started with three commonly used reporting tools — Google Analytics 4, Google Data Studio, and Marin Software: 

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful marketing reporting tool provided by Google. It offers comprehensive web analytics, tracks user behavior, and provides insights into website performance. 

GA4 allows users to monitor and analyze key metrics such as traffic sources, user demographics, conversion rates, and much more. Its advanced features include event tracking, enhanced ecommerce tracking, and cross-device measurement. 

The data collected by GA4 can be visualized and analyzed in various ways within the tool itself or exported to other reporting platforms. Follow these steps:

• Step 1: Sign in to your Google Analytics account or create a new one.
• Step 2: Set up a new property specifically for GA4.
• Step 3: Follow the instructions provided by Google to add the GA4 tracking code to your website.
• Step 4: Explore the GA4 interface to familiarize yourself with the reports and features available.
• Step 5: Set up goals and conversions to track important metrics for your business.
• Step 6: Customize the reports and dashboards according to your specific needs.
• Step 7: Play around with the various analysis tools, such as cohort analysis and path analysis, to gain deeper insights into your data.
• Step 8: Integrate GA4 with other marketing tools, such as Google Ads, to synchronize data and improve your reporting capabilities.

Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a data visualization and reporting tool that helps users to produce interactive and customizable dashboards and reports. The program integrates seamlessly with various data sources, including Google Analytics, Google Ads, and other marketing platforms. 

With Data Studio, users can build dynamic visualizations such as charts, graphs, and tables to showcase important marketing metrics and KPIs. It enables collaboration by allowing multiple users to access and edit reports simultaneously. 

Data Studio also supports real-time data updates and provides options to share reports with stakeholders in different formats. Utilize Google Data Studio with these 8 steps:

• Step 1: Sign in to your Google account or create a new one.
• Step 2: Go to Google Data Studio and click on "Start a new report."
• Step 3: Choose a data source, and select Google Analytics as the source for your report.
• Step 4: Authenticate your Google Analytics account and select the GA4 property you want to use.
• Step 5: Customize your report by adding dimensions, metrics, filters, and visualizations.
• Step 6: Format the report to make it visually appealing and easy to interpret.
• Step 7: Share the report with stakeholders by providing them with a link or embedding it on a website.
• Step 8: Schedule regular updates to keep the report automatically refreshed with the latest data.

Marin Software

Marin Software is a marketing analytics and optimization platform designed to streamline and improve digital advertising campaigns. It offers features for managing paid search ads, paid social ads, display ads, and more. 

In terms of reporting, Marin Software provides advanced analytics capabilities, including cross-channel attribution modeling, which helps marketers understand the impact of their advertising efforts across different touchpoints. It also enables users to customize reports and dashboards to track specific metrics and campaign performance. 

Additionally, Marin Software offers budget and bid optimization tools to maximize advertising ROI and streamline the campaign management processes. Take advantage of Marin Software’s platform with these steps: 

• Step 1: Visit the Marin Software website and sign up for an account.
• Step 2: Once logged in, navigate to the Accounts tab.
• Step 3: Add your advertising accounts to Marin.
• Step 5: Set up conversion tracking by installing the Marin Tracking Code on your site or integrating Marin with your existing tracking system.
• Step 6: Explore the reporting and analytics capabilities of Marin Software to gain insights into your advertising campaigns.
• Step 7: Customize the reports to include the metrics and dimensions that are most important to your marketing objectives.
• Step 8: Take advantage of Marin's bid and budget management features to optimize your ads and maximize performance.

Use AI-Powered software to generate better marketing reports

Effective marketing reporting is essential for driving informed decision making and gauging the success of marketing efforts. By employing AI-powered software like Marin, marketers can gain valuable insights into the performance of their campaigns. 

Embrace the power of marketing reporting automation and take your marketing efforts to new heights. Schedule a demo of Marin today to learn how it can simplify and optimize your marketing reporting processes.

As marketers face increasing pressure to produce results, effective marketing strategies are essential to the success of any organization. However, with numerous marketing channels and variables to consider, measuring the impact of each component can be a daunting task.

This is where a marketing mix model analysis comes into play: a powerful tool that enables businesses to understand the individual contributions of various marketing elements and make data-driven decisions to optimize their marketing efforts.

Introduction to marketing mix model analysis: Understanding the basics and benefits

Marketing Mix Model Analysis, also known as Market Mix Modeling (MMM), is a technique used to measure and quantify the impact of various marketing efforts on sales or market share. It helps businesses understand the effectiveness and contribution of each aspect of their marketing in driving sales and guides decision-making on resource allocation for different marketing activities.

This analysis combines statistical calculations and historical sales data to determine the relationship between marketing activities — such as different types of advertising, promotions, pricing, and distribution — and sales. Here are six of the most important reasons marketers rely on this method of analysis. 

1. Optimizes marketing budget allocation

Marketing mix model analysis helps businesses understand the impact of their marketing activities on sales and other business outcomes. By quantifying the effectiveness of each marketing element, businesses can allocate their marketing budget more efficiently, focusing on the elements that generate the highest return on investment (ROI). The average digital marketing budget is allocated as shown in the chart below, but every business is unique, and marketers must adapt their marketing efforts to reflect their own audience’s needs, wants, and behaviors. 

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2. Helps make data-driven decisions

Marketing mix model analysis provides businesses with valuable insights and data to make informed decisions. Rather than relying on assumptions or guesswork, businesses can use the analysis to identify the drivers of successes and failures in their marketing strategies and make data-driven decisions to refine and optimize their marketing efforts. In a recent survey by HubSpot, 36% of marketers said that data helps them reach their audience more effectively. 

3. Improves strategic planning

With marketing mix model analysis, businesses gain a clear understanding of the impact and effectiveness of various marketing components. This knowledge supports strategic planning by identifying the areas that need improvement, determining the best marketing mix for specific target markets, and identifying opportunities for growth and expansion.

4. Enhances efficiency and ROI

By understanding the contribution of each marketing element, businesses can eliminate or reduce ineffective marketing activities and reallocate resources to the most effective strategies. This leads to enhanced efficiency in marketing spending and ultimately improves the ROI of marketing initiatives.

5. Helps to measure and evaluate campaign performance

Marketing mix model analysis allows businesses to evaluate the performance of specific marketing campaigns and initiatives. By measuring the impact of various marketing activities during a specific period, businesses can assess the effectiveness of their strategies, identify successful campaigns, and replicate or refine them for future endeavors.

6. Gives a competitive advantage

Marketing mix model analysis helps businesses gain a competitive advantage by understanding their marketing effectiveness relative to competitors. By analyzing external factors and competitor activities, businesses can make informed decisions to differentiate their marketing strategies and gain a stronger market position.

How to build a marketing mix model

A marketing mix model can help marketers understand exactly how an ad is performing by quantifying performance in a way that is relevant for every stakeholder. Here’s a structured approach to building a successful strategy.  

Step 1: Define your objectives

The first step in building a marketing mix model is to define the objectives. For example, a company may want to understand how changes in their marketing mix (e.g., pricing, promotions, advertising) affect sales and profitability. Other objectives could include understanding the impact of specific campaigns on brand awareness or identifying opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.

Step 2: Identify key marketing variables

Once the objectives are clear, the next step is to identify the key marketing variables that will be included in the model. These variables will represent the different elements of the marketing mix, which are:

• Product features: This marketing variable refers to the specific characteristics and attributes of a product that make it unique and appealing to customers, such as quality, variety, and design. By focusing on these product features, marketers can differentiate their offerings from competitors and create value for customers.
• Pricing: Pricing is an important marketing variable that includes factors such as the initial price, discounts, incentives, and bundling options. Marketers can use various pricing strategies such as penetration pricing, skimming pricing, and value-based pricing to attract customers and maximize profitability. Pricing decisions should consider factors like production costs, competitor pricing, consumer perception of value, and market demand.
• Promotion: Promotion encompasses all the activities undertaken by a company to communicate and promote its products or services to customers. It includes advertising, social media marketing, personal selling, and sales promotion. Public relations is a form of promotion — managing the company's image and reputation through media relations, events, and press releases. Promotional activities aim to create awareness, generate interest, and persuade customers to purchase the product or service.
• Place and distribution channels: These refer to the methods or channels through which a company delivers its products or services to customers. Examples of distribution channels include online platforms, retail stores, and direct sales. The choice of distribution channels depends on factors like target market characteristics, customer preferences, and the company's resources and capabilities.

The aim of a marketing mix model analysis is to optimize these four factors and maximize the success of a product.

Step 3: Collect data

After identifying the key marketing variables, data must be collected from the appropriate sources, including internal data such as sales, customer profiles, and marketing expenses, as well as external data like market research, competitive analysis, and demographic trends.

For example, an online retailer may collect data on the sales of different products and the prices, discounts, and promotions used, as well as data on site traffic, marketing campaigns, and social media activity.

Step 4: Develop the model

The marketing mix model combines the data from the different variables to build mathematical relationships between them and the business outcome being analyzed. The model should account for factors that impact business performance like seasonality, market share, and economic indicators.

Statistical techniques like regression analysis, time-series analysis, and machine learning can be used to develop the model and uncover patterns and relationships between the different marketing variables and business outcomes. Multiple models can be developed for different segments, geographies, or products.

For instance, a car manufacturer may create a marketing mix model to understand how different types of promotions affect sales of SUVs in a specific market. They can use data on promotions (such as discounts, free upgrades, and financing deals), sales, and external factors such as competitor advertising and economic conditions.

Step 5: Test the model

Once the model has been developed, it needs to be tested to ensure that it is accurate and realistic. This involves comparing the model's predictions with actual past outcomes and fine-tuning the model correspondingly. As new data becomes available, the model should be refined continuously.

For example, a restaurant chain may test their marketing mix model by using it to make predictions on sales for the upcoming months. They would compare their predictions to actual sales figures and then refine the model accordingly for future use.

Step 6: Re-evaluate the model

Finally, marketers should re-evaluate the model periodically, revisiting the inputs, fine-tuning the outputs, and updating it to account for changes in the marketplace or customer behavior.

For example, an e-commerce firm may re-evaluate its marketing mix model every quarter to review the performance of campaigns, promotions, and customer acquisition efforts. They may adjust the model to account for changes in the competitive landscape or shifts in customer behavior patterns, such as the rise of mobile shopping.

Interpreting and applying the results: Optimizing marketing strategies

Once you’re ready to begin your analysis, make sure to do the following to optimize your marketing strategies for the best results. 

Prioritize insights

Businesses should focus on identifying the key insights gained from the marketing mix model analysis. These insights can include understanding the impact of different marketing tactics on sales, identifying the most effective channels, and understanding the interaction effects between different marketing activities. By prioritizing these insights, businesses can allocate their marketing budget and resources more effectively, ensuring that they invest in the strategies and tactics that have the most significant impact on sales and ROI.

Build trust in the model

It’s essential for businesses to build trust in the marketing mix model and ensure that stakeholders have confidence in its accuracy and reliability. This can be achieved by validating the model against real-world data, conducting sensitivity analyses, and involving key stakeholders in the model development process. When stakeholders trust the model, they are more likely to make data-driven decisions based on its insights.

Plan and optimize

Once the insights from the marketing mix model analysis are established, businesses can use them to develop marketing plans that optimize their marketing efforts. By understanding the impact of different marketing activities and channels, businesses can allocate their budget and resources in a way that maximizes their return on investment (ROI). They can identify the most effective marketing tactics and channels to invest in, adjust their marketing mix based on changing market conditions, and fine-tune their strategies to reach their target audience more effectively.

Impact of variables on marketing mix models

To create an accurate sales forecast, marketers must consider many variables. Marketing mix elements are divided into base, incremental, and other variables, each with its own factors affecting market performance. Some are independent, while others change according to the circumstances. Understanding these variables is crucial for making precise forecasts of the effects of promotional activities and distribution strategies.

New variables emerging

As marketing environments evolve, new platforms are emerging for engaging with customers, especially millennials. This necessitates accounting for new marketing mix variables. Market trends, product launches, and customer preferences play a vital role in shaping baseline outcomes and demand for products.

Competition, halo and cannibalization effects

To maintain a competitive edge, it’s essential to monitor your competition and understand the halo and cannibalization effects. The halo effect occurs when positive experiences with a brand's products influence consumers' favoritism toward other products from the same brand. On the other hand, cannibalization occurs when a brand's multiple products in the same category negatively impact each other's sales.

How to fix your marketing mix model

If you’ve followed all these tips and are still not receiving the insights you should be getting, you can troubleshoot your marketing mix model using these four steps. 

1. Evaluate your current model

Take a close look at your existing model and identify any weaknesses or inefficiencies. Are you accurately tracking and measuring the performance of your marketing channels? Are there any gaps in your data collection process? Understanding the limitations of your current model is crucial for making improvements.

Remember, you must establish clear objectives before you can fix your marketing mix model. What are your marketing goals? Are you aiming to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Clearly define your objectives so that you can align your marketing mix model accordingly.

2. Collect comprehensive data

To get a complete picture of your marketing performance, you need to collect comprehensive data. Make sure you have access to data from all relevant marketing channels, such as social media, email marketing, SEO, paid advertising, and more. Investing in the right tools and technology can help automate data collection and aggregation, saving you valuable time and effort.

3. Analyze and attribute ROI

One of the critical aspects of fixing your marketing mix model is accurately attributing ROI to different marketing channels. You need to understand which channels are delivering the highest return on investment and optimize your budget allocation accordingly. Implementing multi-touch attribution models and advanced analytics can help you measure the impact of each channel more accurately.

4. Seek expert help if needed 

If you find fixing your marketing mix model overwhelming or lack the resources to do it in-house, don't hesitate to seek expert help. Marketing analytics and consulting firms specialize in helping businesses optimize their marketing mix models. Their expertise and insights can provide you with valuable guidance and save you time and effort.

Ultimately, these tips and insights can help marketers understand how their digital marketing assets perform over time. Marketers can use this information to ensure that their ads and marketing efforts hit the mark every time. 

You can also use a Marketing Platform like Marin to gather all the data you need to build your marketing mix model. Schedule a demo today to learn more.

If you’re not using a holistic approach to tackle your digital marketing efforts, you can easily fall behind your competition, and worse — your business may lose credibility and ROI. The adoption of integrated solutions is no longer a mere trend — it's a strategic imperative. 

By aligning marketing efforts with your overall business goals, you can maximize the impact of your campaigns, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes effectively towards driving meaningful results and ultimately propels your business towards success.

If you want to revolutionize your digital marketing strategy, we’ve got everything you need to know about an integrated digital marketing budget — from its top benefits to how you can get started right away. 

What is an integrated digital marketing budget?

An integrated digital marketing budget allocates financial resources across various online marketing channels in a coordinated and synchronized manner. Instead of treating each digital marketing channel as a separate entity with its own budget allocation, an integrated approach involves strategically distributing resources to create a cohesive and synergistic campaign. 

This means funds are allocated based on a comprehensive understanding of how different channels work together to achieve overarching marketing objectives. For instance, funds may be allocated to areas such as social media advertising, content marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and more, all working in tandem to create a unified brand message and drive optimal results.

Benefits of an integrated digital marketing budget

Beyond improving ROI, an integrated digital marketing budget facilitates consistent brand messaging to help build trust and credibility. When you centralize your digital marketing efforts under one integrated budget, you can analyze data collectively and identify trends, patterns, and other areas for improvement more effectively. 

An integrated approach also allows for quick adjustments in response to market changes or shifts in consumer behavior. In addition, by integrating data from various touchpoints, a holistic approach enables you to deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately driving higher retention rates and customer lifetime value.

How to set up an integrated digital marketing budget

Getting started with an integrated digital marketing budget is a crucial step towards maximizing the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you embark on this strategic approach:

Step 1: Define your business goals and objectives

Begin by clearly outlining your overarching business goals. Clear business goals provide a roadmap for all your marketing efforts, ensuring that every action taken aligns with the broader objectives of the company. Whether it's generating leads, increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, or driving website traffic, clearly defined objectives will serve as the foundation for your integrated digital marketing strategy, ensuring they are targeted, focused, and measurable.

Step 2: Identify your target audience

Understand your audience's demographics, preferences, and behaviors. This way, you can craft tailored messages and choose the most effective channels to reach and engage your potential customers. Using Google Analytics, social media insights, CRM software, and market research tools can help you create comprehensive customer profiles. 

Step 3: Conduct a comprehensive channel analysis

When you evaluate the various digital marketing channels available to you, also be sure to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each one. 

• Social media platforms offer vast reach and engagement opportunities that help you foster direct interactions with your audience, but they require consistent engagement to maintain visibility. 

• Content marketing, on the other hand, establishes authority, educates your audience, and drives organic traffic through valuable content creation. However, it typically takes time to yield substantial results. 

• PPC advertising enables precise targeting and immediate visibility but necessitates ongoing investment for sustained visibility. In fact, PPC generates twice as many visitors as SEO. However, it requires continuous monitoring. 

• SEO enhances organic visibility and long-term traffic, but it requires continuous optimization and can take time to generate significant outcomes. 

• Email marketing, while being a highly effective channel for nurturing leads and developing customer relationships, relies heavily on building and maintaining a quality subscriber list.

Understanding these channels' dynamics is crucial to leveraging their strengths and mitigating their weaknesses. In addition, recognizing how these channels can complement each other is key. For instance, content marketing can bolster SEO efforts by creating valuable content that attracts organic traffic while also providing material to share on social media platforms. 

PPC advertising can supplement SEO efforts by targeting specific keywords or demographics not immediately reachable through organic search. Integrating email marketing into these strategies can nurture leads acquired through various channels, enhancing overall conversion rates. A holistic approach that integrates these channels strategically can create a powerful synergy, amplifying the impact of your digital marketing efforts and reaching your audience across multiple touchpoints in their buying journey.

Step 4: Allocate budgets strategically

Allocating budgets across various components of your digital marketing strategy should align with your business goals and channel analysis. Consider distributing resources based on the effectiveness and potential ROI of each channel. Allocate a larger portion of the budget to channels that directly contribute to achieving your primary business objectives. If your goal is to boost brand awareness, you might allocate a significant portion of the budget to social media and content marketing, which excel in reaching wider audiences and improving engagement. Simultaneously, if lead generation or conversions are your primary focus, investing in PPC advertising or targeted SEO strategies might take precedence due to their immediate impact on driving traffic and conversions.

If your strategy involves content marketing to support SEO efforts, allocate resources not just for content creation but also for SEO optimization to maximize the content's visibility. Or, if you plan to run social media ads, allocate a budget not only for ad spend but also for content creation and monitoring to maintain consistency in messaging and brand representation. 

The 70-20-10 distribution rule is useful. Allocate 70% of your budget on channels you’re certain will work, 20% on channels you are less sure will be successful, and 10% on areas you want to test out. 

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Step 5: Implement a robust analytics system

Utilize advanced analytics tools to track and measure the performance of your campaigns. This includes monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates, ROI, and customer acquisition costs (CAC). 

CTRs help gauge the engagement levels of your audience with your ads or content, while conversion rates shed light on the effectiveness of turning leads into customers. ROI analysis measures the profitability of your campaigns in relation to the resources invested, enabling you to optimize strategies that yield the best returns. Simultaneously, understanding CAC aids in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of acquiring new customers, ensuring efficient allocation of resources across different marketing channels.

These analytics not only offer quantitative measurements but also serve as guiding metrics to make data-driven decisions. They provide a comprehensive view of your marketing strategies' strengths and weaknesses, allowing for informed adjustments and optimizations. By harnessing these insights, you can refine your campaigns, allocate budgets more effectively, and fine-tune your overall marketing strategy to achieve better results and higher returns on your investments.

Step 6: Integrate data across channels

Creating a centralized system that collects and consolidates data from different channels provides a comprehensive view of how your audience engages with your brands. This integrated approach offers insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and the effectiveness of different marketing strategies in real time. 

By having a unified database, you can analyze cross-channel interactions, identify patterns, and gain a deeper understanding of your audience's journey. With this invaluable information, you can make data-driven decisions, personalize marketing efforts, optimize campaigns, and ultimately enhance the overall effectiveness of your marketing strategy.

Step 7: Regularly analyze and optimize

Continuously monitor the performance of your integrated digital marketing efforts. Identify what's working well and where there's room for improvement. Use these insights to make adjustments to your strategy and reallocate resources as needed. Ongoing evaluation ensures that your marketing efforts remain agile and responsive to changes in consumer behavior and market dynamics. 

Step 8: Stay updated with industry trends

With emerging technologies, shifting consumer behaviors, and updated algorithms from platforms constantly evolving, it’s essential to keep up with the latest trends and best practices so your integrated approach remains relevant and effective. According to HubSpot, almost 80% of marketers agree that their industry has experienced more change in the past three years than over the last five decades. With advancements in AI-driven marketing automation, the rise of new content formats, and changes in SEO strategies, staying informed allows you to meet current market demands and consumer preferences. 

Automate cross-channel budget management with Marin

Marin's Budget Optimizer uses algorithmic forecasting to predict the future performance of each of your campaigns, and then allocates budget based on that data. This cross-channel solution can automatically update budgets for all your different campaigns across publisher accounts. By making Marin a part of your daily workflow, you can eliminate most of the steps listed above. Marin will create and implement an integrated marketing budget for you.

Schedule a demo today to see how Marin can manage your integrated digital marketing budget.

As we bid farewell to another eventful year, it's time to reflect on the journey that was the marketing landscape of 2023. Amidst unprecedented challenges and remarkable advancements, marketers navigated a sea of transformative trends that reshaped strategies and redefined industry norms.

Let’s take a deep dive and rewind to some of the biggest changes that impacted digital marketing in 2023. We’ll also give you a glimpse of what might be ahead in the new year. 

2023 Recap

Here’s a rundown of some of the 2023 highlights that made headlines.

The rise of metaverse marketing

In 2023, the concept of the metaverse catapulted into the mainstream, revolutionizing how brands engage with audiences. This virtual realm, blending digital and physical experiences, emerged as an enticing frontier for marketing endeavors. Companies swiftly capitalized on metaverse opportunities, crafting immersive experiences, hosting virtual events, and establishing virtual storefronts to connect with tech-savvy consumers. 

From product launches and exclusive previews to concerts and workshops, companies hosted dynamic and inclusive gatherings that transcended geographical boundaries. Together, these events created a sense of community and offered a platform for brands to showcase their offerings in unique and memorable ways.

Alongside the excitement and potential of the metaverse, brands seized the opportunity to meticulously design virtual spaces where consumers could explore, interact with products, and make purchases in a seamless and immersive manner. These virtual storefronts offered a personalized and visually appealing shopping experience, enhancing consumer engagement and driving sales.

AI-powered personalization

Artificial intelligence (AI) continued its ascent, becoming a linchpin for hyper-personalized marketing campaigns. Advanced AI algorithms empowered marketers to decipher consumer behavior, anticipate preferences, and curate tailor-made experiences. The fusion of AI and data analytics became instrumental in delivering targeted content, enhancing customer journeys, and driving conversion rates.

In tandem with AI's growing influence, machine learning algorithms evolved to also predict trends and preferences with remarkable accuracy. Marketers utilized AI-powered predictive analytics to forecast buying patterns, identify potential leads, and optimize marketing strategies in real-time.

The integration of AI chatbots and virtual assistants also reshaped customer service and engagement. These intelligent bots offered instant and personalized support to consumers, from handling queries to providing product recommendations and guiding purchases round the clock. This not only improved customer satisfaction but also contributed to a seamless omnichannel experience.

Sustainability takes center stage

The call for sustainability echoed louder than ever in marketing strategies. Ethical consumerism became a driving force, compelling brands to prioritize eco-friendly practices, transparent supply chains, and purpose-driven narratives. Sustainability wasn't merely a trend — it became an integral component shaping brand identities and consumer perceptions.

As sustainability became deeply intertwined with brand values, consumers increasingly demanded transparency and accountability from businesses regarding their environmental and social impact. Brands responded by integrating sustainable practices into their core operations and transparently communicating these initiatives to their audience.

Throughout 2023, we saw corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives evolve from token gestures to meaningful, impactful endeavors. Brands engaged in community-driven projects, supported environmental causes, and invested in sustainable development programs. These actions aligned with consumers' values and also contributed to building a positive brand image while simultaneously building stronger connections with socially aware audiences.

Influencer evolution and authenticity

The influencer landscape underwent a transformation, emphasizing authenticity and genuine connections over follower counts. Micro-influencers gained prominence by honing in on their ability to authentically engage niche audience connections, challenging the dominance of mega-influencers. Their ability to resonate with niche communities allowed for more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns. 

Brands quickly recognized the value of these influencers in driving not just reach, but also trust and authenticity, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and brand loyalty. As a result, brands shifted their strategies from one-off collaborations to cultivating long-term partnerships with micro-influencers, aiming to create impactful, credible endorsements. Slowly but surely, authenticity metrics such as engagement rates, audience demographics, and content alignment became more crucial than sheer follower counts. 

In 2023, the influencer marketing landscape also witnessed a diversification in content formats. Beyond traditional social media posts, influencers explored platforms like podcasts, live streams, and interactive storytelling to create more immersive and engaging content. And as 2024 rolls in, 89% of marketers plan to increase or maintain their investment in influencer marketing. 

Privacy-centric marketing practices

Heightened concerns over data privacy propelled a shift towards privacy-centric marketing practices. Stricter regulations and evolving consumer attitudes urged marketers to prioritize data transparency, consent-driven approaches, and ethical handling of user information. Marketers embraced privacy-compliant strategies, ensuring customer trust remained paramount in all interactions. 

Marketers recognized the importance of transparency in data handling processes, pivoting towards transparent and explicit communication regarding the collection and utilization of consumer data. This shift involved revisiting privacy policies, enhancing disclosures, and offering clear opt-in/opt-out mechanisms, empowering users to have more control over their data. As a result, consent-driven marketing became a cornerstone of privacy-centric strategies.

The concept of anonymization and pseudonymization gained prominence within data handling practices. Marketers explored ways to minimize Personally Identifiable Information (PII) while still extracting meaningful insights for targeted marketing efforts. Techniques like differential privacy and data aggregation helped in balancing the need for data-driven insights with user privacy protection.

Video commerce

In 2023, the dominance of video content persisted and expanded its influence as a primary vehicle for e-commerce. The fusion of entertainment and shopping experiences through live video streams and interactive content redefined the way consumers engaged with brands and made purchasing decisions. 

Livestream shopping experiences became a phenomenon, particularly in the retail and fashion industries. Brands and influencers leveraged live video broadcasts to showcase products, demonstrate their usage, and engage directly with audiences in real time. These interactive sessions enabled consumers to ask questions, receive immediate feedback, and make purchases without leaving the platform, creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity around featured products.

Additionally, interactive video content became a pivotal tool for driving e-commerce sales. Brands embraced shoppable videos, integrating clickable elements within videos that allowed viewers to explore product details, access additional information, and make purchases seamlessly while watching the content. This immersive and interactive approach transformed passive viewers into active participants in the shopping experience, enhancing both engagement and conversion rates. 

Voice search optimization

Voice-enabled devices and smart assistants continued to reshape search behaviors, prompting marketers to optimize for voice search. Conversational SEO strategies and content tailored for voice queries became essential to ensure visibility in voice-based searches. Brands raced to adapt, recognizing the growing significance of voice-activated technology in shaping consumer interactions.

Marketers responded to this trend by prioritizing conversational SEO strategies. Understanding the nuances of how users framed their queries in natural language became crucial. Marketers optimized their content to align with these conversational patterns, focusing on long-tail keywords, question-based phrases, and contextually relevant content that catered to the specificity of voice queries.

We also saw featured snippets and concise, informative content take the lead in voice search optimization. As smart assistants often provided users with succinct answers or summaries from featured snippets, brands aimed to secure these snippets by structuring their content in a way that directly answered common voice-search queries.

Embrace of extended reality (XR)

The utilization of extended reality (XR) technologies expanded exponentially across diverse sectors, with marketers leveraging augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) to create innovative and immersive experiences that captivated audiences. Augmented reality (AR) continued to thrive as a powerful tool in marketing, allowing consumers to overlay digital content onto the physical world. 

Brands utilized AR applications for interactive product demonstrations, enabling customers to visualize products in their own environments before making purchasing decisions. This technology changed the way consumers experienced products, enhancing engagement and reducing uncertainty in the buying process.

There was a sharp increase in the use of virtual reality (VR) in marketing campaigns, offering unparalleled opportunities for storytelling and brand immersion. Brands transported users into simulated environments, delivering immersive narratives, virtual tours, and experiences that went beyond traditional advertising. VR-based events such as virtual trade shows, conferences, or brand-sponsored experiences provided a dynamic and engaging platform for brands to connect with audiences on a deeper level. 

Meanwhile, mixed reality (MR) experiences allowed for more interactive and realistic engagements, enabling consumers to interact with digital elements while still being present in their physical surroundings. Brands harnessed MR to create captivating and interactive campaigns that blurred the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds.

However, the integration of extended reality (XR) technologies extended beyond product demonstrations and storytelling. Brands explored gamification as a means of engaging consumers through immersive experiences. Interactive games, challenges, and quests embedded within AR or VR environments not only entertained but also incentivized consumer engagement and brand interaction.

A look ahead: What to expect in 2024

As we move into 2024, you may be wondering what lies ahead for the marketing world. In the coming year, marketers will likely witness a continued rise of AI-driven personalization and automation, empowering brands to craft hyper-targeted content and seamless customer experiences across diverse channels. The metaverse will keep its position center stage, offering an immersive platform for brands to engage audiences through virtual environments, creating novel opportunities for interactive storytelling and brand interactions.

Additionally, consumer privacy and data ethics will remain at the forefront, propelling marketers to prioritize transparent data practices and zero-party data acquisition. Omnichannel marketing strategies will evolve, aiming for cohesive brand experiences across multiple touchpoints, while sustainability-focused initiatives will see increased emphasis as eco-conscious consumers demand ethically driven products and narratives. And AR and VR applications are expected to expand even further, redefining consumer engagement, while video content will evolve with shorter formats and interactive elements. 

Adapting to these transformative shifts and leveraging innovative technologies will be essential for marketers to stay ahead, engage audiences effectively, and drive meaningful results in the ever-evolving digital sphere. 

As you kick off the new year, consider partnering with MarinOne. We’ve got everything you need to help you achieve your marketing goals in 2024.

Personalized social media content is not merely a trend, but a strategic approach that allows brands to connect with their audience on a more human level. However, to truly maximize the effectiveness of personalized engagement — especially on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram — marketers must strike a delicate balance between getting their message across and doing it without compromising authenticity or crossing boundaries. 

When used properly, personalization can be a powerful tool for engaging your audience. Here’s a rundown of the dos and don’ts of personalized social media engagement to help you establish more meaningful connections while driving business growth and increasing brand awareness. 

The dos

To make sure your personalized Instagram and Facebook content is effective, consider using these tips to woo your audience. 

1. Use Instagram Insights to create highly targeted audiences

Instagram Insights is a goldmine for marketing data. You’ll find everything you need about your audience, from who your followers are to the content they engage with the most, and what times your audience is most active. With all this data at your fingertips, you can create tailored audience segments based on specific interests, behaviors, or engagement levels to ensure your marketing campaigns are effective.

2. Use Facebook Dynamic Ads and Instagram Shopping

Facebook Dynamic Ads dynamically display products or services to users who have shown interest in them, allowing for personalized recommendations based on their browsing history or previous interactions. 

Similarly, Instagram Shopping integrates seamlessly with organic content, enabling your business to tag products in posts and stories, providing a direct shopping experience within the platform. Together, these features not only enhance the user experience by delivering relevant and personalized content but also streamline the path to purchase and improve conversion rates.

3. Try retargeting using the Facebook Pixel and Instagram Pixel

Employing advanced retargeting strategies such as Facebook Pixel and Instagram Pixel to track user interactions and behavior on your website or app can significantly bolster your personalized social media engagement efforts. Because both tracking tools enable you to gather data on user behavior, it’s easier to retarget users with personalized content based on their previous actions, preferences, or abandoned carts. It also allows you to create a more personalized and relevant experience for users, reminding them of products they've shown interest in, thereby nurturing a more meaningful connection between your brand and audience.

4. Integrate AI-powered chatbots into your Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct Messages

AI-powered chatbots can use machine learning algorithms to understand user queries, preferences, and behaviors, delivering highly personalized responses and recommendations. Facebook and Instagram bots in particular enable real-time, automated interactions with users, offering personalized assistance, recommendations, and support round the clock. 

These chatbots deliver tailored responses and suggestions, mimicking human interactions. Integrating AI-powered chatbots not only expedites customer service but also allows for personalized product recommendations, content delivery, and even transactional assistance. In addition, these chatbots continuously learn from interactions, refining their responses and recommendations over time, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience for users. Using this technology, you can actively engage with users, which demonstrates your commitment to your audience's needs and concerns.

5. Take advantage of Instagram’s Collab feature

One of Instagram’s most recent new features, Collab, allows marketers to co-author content with a collaborator, which can multiply engagement and reach and can increase followers. Consider leveraging this feature to collaborate with industry leaders, influencers, and brand partners so that when collab posts show up in your followers’ feeds, you can garner higher engagement.

6. Always respect privacy and boundaries

Eight out of 10 consumers are worried about data privacy. Considering the vast array of accessible data, it's crucial to use personal information ethically and transparently. Before using personal information, always ask for consent and explain how you plan to use the data. 

Upholding user privacy instills confidence in customers that their information is handled responsibly, safeguarding against potential breaches or misuse. While there is a fine line between tailored content and intrusion, respecting boundaries enhances the user experience without making individuals feel exposed or uncomfortable. It also helps your business adhere to legal and ethical standards.

7. Embrace the 80/20 rule

Users don’t log in to their social media accounts to see ads. In fact, statistics reveal that approximately 47% use it to keep in touch with friends and family, while 36% find it to be a good way to spend their free time. If you want to really capture your audience’s attention, focus 80% of your content on providing value, education, entertainment, or addressing tailored audience needs. Reserve the remaining 20% for promotional or branded content to create a sense of exclusivity.

When users’ social media accounts become inundated with endless promotional messages, they’ll start to tune you out. However, if you dedicate the majority of efforts towards offering meaningful, tailored content that resonates with your audience, not only will you captivate your audience and foster authentic connections, but you’ll also maximize revenue.

8. Leverage through-channel marketing automation (TCMA)

By providing a holistic view of your audience's behaviors, preferences, and interactions across different channels, through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) enables you to orchestrate personalized campaign content. It ensures that each interaction resonates with the specific interests and needs of different audience segments. 

Through-channel marketing automation also facilitates precise scheduling and deployment of content, optimizing the timing and frequency of posts and ads to maximize engagement and impact. Additionally, it streamlines workflows, allowing you to allocate resources more efficiently and focus on refining strategies to foster brand loyalty and more meaningful connections across Facebook and Instagram.

The don'ts

Customized marketing is powerful, but using it the wrong way can frustrate your audience. To avoid potential pitfalls, steer clear of these personalization practices. 

1. Don’t overuse automation

While automation can streamline processes, excessive reliance on automated responses or messages can come off as impersonal. Avoid using automation to replace genuine human interaction entirely. Instead, aim to blend automation intelligently within human-led interactions to enhance efficiency while maintaining a personalized touch. Doing so will ensure a balanced and authentic customer experience.

2. Don’t neglect negative feedback

Ignoring negative comments or feedback can harm your brand reputation. Address criticism respectfully, offering solutions or clarifications publicly or privately, based on the situation. Acknowledging and addressing negative feedback not only exhibits empathy, but also strengthens trust with your audience by showcasing a willingness to learn, evolve, and prioritize the needs of your customers.

3. Don’t assume personal details

Avoid making assumptions based on limited personal information. Personalization should be based on verified data or user-provided information rather than assumptions that might be inaccurate or offensive. Rather than relying on stereotypes or generalizations, personalization should cater to individual preferences. Aim to treat each user uniquely and definitely don’t use data that wasn’t voluntarily provided. 

4. Don’t spam or overwhelm users

Bombarding users with excessive messages, notifications, or content can be overwhelming and push them away. Being too overbearing can be a huge turn-off for consumers and cause them to disengage or unsubscribe from your channels altogether. By implementing a frequency cap on ads you can strike a good balance between personalized targeting and avoiding audience saturation. With the right frequency, you’ll be able to retain interest while keeping content fresh and respecting your audience's tolerance for advertising content.

5. Don’t engage in controversial topics without caution

While personalization aims for connection, avoid engaging in controversial or sensitive topics without a thoughtful approach. Such discussions may alienate segments of your audience or create conflicts. Assess whether the topic aligns with the brand's values and if the discussion will add genuine value or positively contribute to the audience's experience. A thoughtful approach that respects diverse viewpoints and avoids inflammatory rhetoric is essential to maintain a harmonious and inclusive community within your audience.

6. Don’t neglect monitoring and adjusting

Regularly monitoring the effectiveness of personalized engagement strategies is fundamental to optimizing and enhancing your approach. Your ongoing evaluation should involve tracking various metrics, including user engagement rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, sentiment analysis, and more. 

Also be sure to gather feedback from users through surveys, comments, or direct messages to obtain invaluable qualitative data that will help you understand audience perceptions and preferences. By meticulously assessing these indicators, you can identify patterns, pinpoint successful strategies, and recognize areas needing improvement and adjust accordingly.

Use MarinOne to boost personalized social media engagement

Your primary aim on social media should be to deliver an exceptional experience tailored specifically to your target audience. Customizing each piece of content your audience encounters to align with their unique interests and preferences is crucial. When you do, your business will reap the rewards of heightened engagement and increased customer satisfaction, creating a mutually beneficial scenario.

With MarinOne’s all-in-one platform, marketers can delve into detailed audience segmentation, allowing for precise targeting based on demographics, behaviors, and preferences. Our platform facilitates the seamless integration of data from various sources, providing invaluable insights into audience interactions across different channels. Using our advanced analytics, marketers can optimize content strategies, identify trends, and tailor their social media content to resonate deeply with specific audience segments.

Whether through content scheduling, A/B testing, or audience-centric optimizations, MarinOne equips marketers with the necessary tools to create compelling, personalized social media content that fosters stronger connections and drives meaningful engagement with their target audience.

Are you ready to start generating personalized social media content for your audience? Sign up for a free trial today.

When I was a senior in college, all I wanted was to work at a prestigious marketing agency. I dreamed of the fast-paced corporate life. I imagined going to fancy client dinners and building creative, influential ad campaigns. And I did it! I secured a job at an agency with a great reputation, and working there taught me so much about the paid media world. 

But it wasn’t all glitz and glamour, it was stressful. Balancing many client accounts, making sure to spend their budgets in full, and hitting efficiency targets was a lot to handle. I often felt overwhelmed with the amount of work on my plate. I also felt there must be a way to automate some of the tedious daily tasks. As an entry-level Account Coordinator, one of my main responsibilities was building out reports to present on weekly client calls. Every time I performed this manual work, I couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be a better way. And well, I was right! 

When I discovered Marin, I was shocked at how much time the platform saved me. The Marin team is full of ex-agency employees, like me. We’ve built a product that would make daily work easier for our past selves. (And, of course, for current agency clients!) Here are 4 ways Marin helps agencies save time and improve performance. 

1. Manage budget at scale

Budgeting is arguably the most stressful part of managing client ad accounts. The goal is to spend as much of the client’s budget as possible without ever going over the monthly limit. And you have to ensure that you distribute spend properly across campaigns. It’s stressful – but it doesn’t have to be anymore because Marin can do it for you.

Pace to spend targets

With Marin, you can group your campaigns into budget buckets and allocate a monthly or quarterly spend allowance to each bucket. Let's say your client gives you different budgets for brand, non-brand, and retargeting. Those would be the buckets, and you would place a group of campaigns inside each bucket. Marin would then visualize how each bucket is pacing toward its spend goal and forecast projected spend for the month or quarter. 

Dynamically Allocate Spend for Optimal Performance

Marin can take it one step further and automatically allocate budget across the campaigns within each bucket for you based on forecasted performance. Our algorithm would analyze the historical performance of all the campaigns in the budget bucket. It would also consider impression share metrics to determine the best possible allocation of spend across the campaigns in the bucket. Then, it would set the monthly budget for each campaign. And it’ll reallocate the budget throughout the month if performance trends shift. This solution enables you to spend your budget as efficiently as possible without manual intervention.

Pause campaigns when they hit their target

If a bucket spends its full budget before the month is over, Marin will automatically pause the campaigns in that bucket. Marin will also re-enable them when a new month starts. So you can rest easy knowing you’ll never have to reimburse a client for overspend again. 

Cross-channel budget management

This solution can also run across publishers. Therefore, Google, Bing, Meta, and other campaigns can all live within one budget bucket. Our cross-channel budgeting solution makes it easy to manage your client’s entire marketing program. It can even help with upselling. You can approach clients with, "Hey, we're managing search spend with Marin. Why not let us use it for Meta as well?" And suddenly you have more client spend on your books!

We know that every client is different, so we’ve made our budgeting solution customizable. Our technical team will work through the setup with you. We’ll make sure that Marin is optimizing toward the performance goals that are important to your client. 

Marin is like a guard dog. It always protects your campaigns, ensuring they hit spend goals and stopping them from going too far. You can’t work 24/7, but our algorithms can.

2. Automate reporting across channels

Creating reports for clients used to involve pulling front-end data from various publisher tools, gathering backend data from a tracking system like Google Analytics, pasting everything into a Google sheet, and then converting it into charts and graphs. But Marin does all that for you, every day, without you having to lift a finger. 

The power of a marketing data pipeline

Marin is a Marketing Data Pipeline. It connects to all your different data sources via API. It brings in data from your clients’ publishers and revenue systems in near real-time, normalizes it, and attributes it to the proper campaigns and ads. 

Data visualization at your fingertips

Marin’s dashboards allow you to build whatever charts and graphs you need, and the data updates daily from all your different sources. You can share a read-only link to a dashboard with your clients and use the visuals to talk through weekly performance. This means that all you’ll need to do to prep for a client call is prepare talking points. All the charts, graphs, and unified data will already be ready for you to share. 

You can also view cross-client data in Marin’s charts, graphs, and dashboards. If you’re managing many client accounts in MarinOne, you can get a high-level overview of performance for all of them.

A cross-client dashboard is where lots of agency teams start their day. The multi-client performance overview informs which clients need attention and directs focus for the day ahead. If you need to make optimizations, you can do so directly in the Marin UI for all clients. This leads me to my next point…

3. Manage and optimize all client accounts

Marin’s ‘All Clients’ view enables you to optimize all your different accounts in one place. It's a one-stop shop for agency Account Managers. Our "territory" filter lets each Account Manager label the accounts they are responsible for. When they enter Marin, they’ll only see the accounts that they work on. This makes things less busy while still providing a unified optimization and reporting suite. 

Create and edit objects for all clients in one place

Our bulk uploader enables Account Managers to create and edit campaigns, groups, ads, and more for multiple clients and publishers with one sheet. This saves agency teams countless hours. 

I remember having to create four separate bulk sheets for my client’s different Google and Bing accounts every time we launched a new paid search initiative. I’d have to go into each Google and Bing Ads Editor and upload numerous bulk sheets for campaigns, then groups, then ads, then keywords. This process would often consume an entire workday. But never again! Marin enables you to do it all with a few clicks. 

Quickly Edit Objects in Marin’s Grid

One Marin client manages over 20 different ad accounts. The biggest value they see from Marin is being able to manage all those accounts in one place. With Marin’s easy-to-use unified grids, they change bids and budgets, pause and enable ads, and much more.

4. Seamlessly integrate client data

Marin can integrate with any of the programs your clients use for reporting, management, and data tracking. No more learning new platforms because you have a new client. You can just reach out to your Marin rep, and we’ll set up an API integration. Marin can unify many backend tracking systems as well. The options for conversion types to pull into Marin are endless!

Learn more about our integrations here.

Those are a few of the ways Marin helps agencies win. And this is just a preview – there are tons more to discuss. If you’re interested in learning more, schedule a demo with our team. We’ll help solve the issues that are keeping your team awake at night!

It’s no secret that the art of keyword research lies at the heart of successful online marketing strategies. As the volume of online content continues to surge, the competition for visibility in search engine results has become increasingly fierce. 

In response to this challenge, marketers are turning to cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), which has already revolutionized numerous industries and is now making its mark in the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). By harnessing the power of AI, marketers can uncover consumer behavior insights, paving the way for more strategic and impactful digital marketing campaigns.

In this blog, we’ll explore the reasons you should take advantage of the transformative power of AI to automate keyword research. We’ll also provide practical strategies and actionable advice about how to effectively use AI to craft targeted, high-impact content that resonates with your target audience and drives tangible results. 

Why you should automate keyword research with AI

Simply put, AI-powered technology is crucial if you want to stay ahead of the competition in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. 

Efficiency and time-saving benefits

Automating keyword research with AI is a transformative step toward maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of your SEO strategy. Traditional manual research can be incredibly time-consuming, requiring substantial resource allocation. In contrast, AI-powered automation streamlines this process, swiftly parsing through extensive datasets and delivering insights in a fraction of the time. 

By reducing repetitive tasks and labor-intensive processes, businesses can redirect their efforts toward more strategic endeavors. Additionally, AI's unparalleled capacity for rapid data analysis ensures that no opportunity is overlooked. This not only boosts SEO performance but also enables businesses to stay agile. 

AI also facilitates comprehensive market research and competitor analysis, providing a holistic view of the competitive landscape and empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions for sustained success.

Improved accuracy and relevance

AI offers a quantum leap in accuracy and relevance, surpassing what manual efforts can achieve. By eliminating the potential for human error, including typos, oversight, and inconsistencies, it ensures that every keyword chosen is precise and relevant. In turn, this increases targeted traffic and boosts visibility, thereby creating a more effective SEO strategy. 

Better search intent analysis

One of the key advantages of AI is its ability to conduct superior search intent analysis. For 67% of marketers, making intent data actionable is a challenge. But by leveraging advanced algorithms, AI can swiftly discern the underlying motivations and objectives behind user searches. This ensures that the content you create is not only relevant but also perfectly aligned with user intent. 

If you want to capture the attention of your target audience and provide them with precisely what they’re looking for, this alignment is critical. Not only does AI enhance your SEO efforts, but it also ensures that your content resonates with your audience on a deeper level, ultimately driving higher engagement and better conversion rates.

Data-driven insights

AI-driven keyword research provides a treasure trove of data-driven insights that can revolutionize your marketing strategy. It can precisely interpret complex data patterns, extracting actionable insights that might have otherwise remained hidden. 

With deeper insights, AI paves the way for informed decision-making, allowing for campaign optimization with unparalleled precision. With AI at the helm of keyword research, your business can confidently navigate the competitive world of online marketing so that every strategic move is backed by robust, data-driven intelligence.

Scalability and consistency

With its ability to efficiently analyze vast amounts of data, AI-powered tools enable marketers to swiftly identify relevant keywords tailored to diverse industries and target audiences. Using AI not only expedites the keyword research process but also ensures a level of accuracy and scalability unattainable through manual methods. AI-automated keyword research also ensures consistency by applying standardized criteria in keyword selection, eliminating human biases and errors. By continually refining and optimizing SEO strategies, marketers can adapt content to resonate effectively with the evolving preferences of the audience.

Automating keyword research with AI also fosters a seamless continuity in research efforts. It reduces dependency on individual researcher expertise, safeguarding against fluctuations in performance due to personnel changes or skill variations. And since consistency is crucial for maintaining the quality and relevance of keyword selection across team members and over timeframes, AI is particularly helpful. It also paves the way for long-term campaign planning and execution, as businesses can rely on a reliable and standardized approach to keyword research, regardless of external factors or internal team dynamics. 

How to use AI effectively when conducting automated keyword research

By harnessing AI for automated keyword research, you can take advantage of its powerful capabilities to help your business unlock new opportunities for growth and visibility. 

Choose the right AI-powered tools and platforms

With a plethora of AI keyword research tools on the market, the best place to start is by researching which options meet your specific needs and goals. Don’t forget to consider factors like budget constraints and required features when selecting the most suitable solution. Opt for tools that provide a comprehensive suite of features, including robust data analysis, precise keyword suggestions, and user-friendly interfaces. Here are some of the best AI SEO tools:

1. SurferSEO

Top Features:

• Concentration on optimizing keyword positioning and refining content for SEO tactics.
• Robust tools for enhancing search engine result page performance.
• AI-powered content and structure generators aiding in achieving higher search engine rankings.
• AI-generated tasks to enhance your SEO approach effectively.
• Comprehensive array of conventional SEO tools.

Drawbacks:

• Steep learning curve for SEO novices.
• Absence of preset cues for maximizing the tool's SEO utilization.
• Some users note restrictions in the keyword research function compared to other SEO tools.
• Scarce collaborative or project management tools available.

2. Jasper

Top Features: 

• AI engine adaptable to a company's brand voice, strengthening brand communication.
• Capable of generating short- and long-form content, spanning from social media content to extensive publications.
• Offers customizable preferences known as Copywriting Skills, generating various content types like introductions or storytelling.
• Seamlessly integrates with SurferSEO for optimizing content for search engines.
• Supports AI writing across 25 diverse languages.

Drawbacks:

• Full-fledged SEO functionality necessitates the use of a third-party tool.
• Lacks robust collaboration or project management features.
• Absence of an in-built plagiarism checker.
• Tendency to generate repetitive content.

3. NitroPack

Top Features:

• Drives page loading times to top-tier speeds within the industry.
• Offers extensive image optimization tools, featuring automatic conversion to the efficient WebP format.
• Simplifies implementation through user-friendly plugins.
• Employs a multifaceted approach to speed optimization with a variety of features.

Drawbacks:

• Solely focuses on accelerating webpage loading speed and doesn't address other SEO facets.
• Limited compatibility with a restricted set of web content management systems.
• Incompatibility issues with certain plugins.

Set clear objectives and parameters 

Before diving into keyword research, it's imperative to establish clear objectives and parameters. Define your research goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Use these to guide the AI tool in generating results for your specific requirements. Configuring the AI tool to cater to your objectives ensures that the generated insights are tailored to your business's unique needs.

Implement filters and validation checks

While AI is a powerful tool, it's not immune to potential biases or anomalies in results. Therefore, it’s best to implement filters and validation checks for better accuracy and reliability of the generated data. Addressing any discrepancies promptly will help maintain the integrity of your keyword research efforts.

Integrate AI-generated insights into SEO strategies 

AI-generated insights are a goldmine for refining your SEO strategy. Analyze and prioritize the keyword recommendations provided by the AI. Focus on keywords with high relevance, search volume, and competitiveness, and then seamlessly integrate these keywords into your content and campaigns to optimize your online presence.

Monitor and perform iterative optimization

The power of AI lies in its ability to adapt and learn. Regularly review the reports and suggestions generated by the AI. Keep a close eye on performance metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and keyword rankings. Use these insights to adjust your strategies and continually refine your keyword research efforts.

Steering clear of common SEO pitfalls in AI-powered keyword research

When it comes to AI-powered keywords for SEO, there are some common pitfalls that you should try to avoid. Chief among these is depending too much on AI without human oversight, which can result in either skewed results or inaccuracies. The absence of human oversight alongside AI reliance can result in a lack of contextual understanding, inaccurate interpretations, and potential biases, ultimately affecting the effectiveness and quality of your SEO strategy.

It’s also important to avoid over-optimization. While integrating relevant keywords into content is essential, using them excessively can adversely impact rankings. Google even flags such repetitive content as spam. To prevent “stuffing,” aim to prioritize high-quality content by using natural language and incorporating key terms where it’s contextually appropriate. Experts say that a 2%–5% keyword density is considered safe. However, to secure higher rankings in search results, you'll notice that the optimal keyword density can differ based on your specific niche and its level of competition.

Another pitfall to be aware of is that AI can be limiting when it comes to user intent. While algorithms are adept at analyzing data patterns and making predictions about user searches, they fall short in comprehending context-specific queries and can’t always pick up on the subtleties of human behavior. However, by using a combination of AI and your own expertise to interpret data and anticipate customer needs, you can successfully tailor your SEO strategy.MarinOne's seamless integration with SEO research tools

MarinOne's seamless integration with SEO research tools

MarinOne's all-in-one platform seamlessly integrates with SEO research tools to unify data. Our platform empowers marketers with a comprehensive understanding of their SEO performance, enabling data-driven decision-making and the formulation of more cohesive and effective marketing strategies.

MarinOne's integration ensures that marketers can harness the full potential of their SEO research, so they can make informed decisions and formulate robust strategies grounded in data-driven insights.

To get started, schedule a live, personal demo today.

Choosing the right social media platform is crucial for businesses to effectively reach and engage their target audience. This blog post provides an in-depth understanding of the different social media platforms available and helps businesses determine which platform aligns best with their unique needs and goals. Utilizing everything from demographics and features to content formats and marketing objectives, you can discover the platform that fits your business like a glove.

The landscape of social media platforms: An overview of the top players

Modern marketers must understand how each social media platform differs from its competitors and find the appropriate channel to reach their intended audience. Here’s an overview of the five most popular platforms today. 

1. Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, based on reach. Its ad reach constitutes 38.4% of the total number of users on the internet. It also has users from a wide variety of customer segments. While younger internet users spend their time across multiple applications, Facebook is still regularly in the mix due to its ubiquity and longevity. 

Businesses that sell mass market products targeting a mix of customers from different age groups, backgrounds, and financial standings — such as retailers and grocers — should consider advertising on Facebook to connect with a broad audience. Facebook allows advertisers to target customers with more specificity, but the platform’s greatest strength is its massive reach. 

2. Instagram

Instagram also has significant ad reach, which has steadily increased over the years and is rapidly catching up with Facebook. However, Instagram users are younger — the vast majority are aged between 18 and 34 — and often conduct more research before pulling the trigger on their purchases. This makes the platform the perfect choice for businesses that want to target customers with that profile.  

Instagram is designed for images and videos first. So, it’s perfect for businesses that create ads with a strong visual element, such as fashion brands, skincare companies, and other lifestyle businesses.  

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional social networking platform. Users often use this platform to share their professional experiences, offer their expertise, and expand their professional network. Unlike its competitors, interactions on LinkedIn rely on a person’s affiliation with a business or an industry to build relationships with others. 

The nature of the platform has led some companies to erroneously assume that it hosts older users. LinkedIn is actually most popular with users between the ages of 30 and 39. Businesses rely on LinkedIn to connect with professionals in their industry who might be looking for professional growth opportunities. B2B companies and educational institutions often find success on LinkedIn due to its ability to target industry-specific viewers. Businesses that sell big ticket items such as cars, real estate, or investment products can also use LinkedIn to reach out to buyers that have specific job titles or belong to a certain salary range. 

4. X (Formerly Twitter)

X, formerly known as Twitter, is extremely popular with journalists, celebrities, and their followers. It has been used as an important tool for disseminating information. However, the platform has experienced major upheaval in recent months following its acquisition by Elon Musk. It has undergone constant changes and there have even been discussions about putting access to the platform behind a paywall. Consequently, X lost almost a third of its ad reach in the first quarter of 2023. 

Despite its reduction in ad reach, businesses targeting a hyper-specific audience such as current affairs and sports journalists that are more active on X can still find success there. However, it’s important to monitor the changes that will affect the platform in the coming months, such as the increasing popularity of Threads, Meta’s direct X competitor.

5. TikTok

One social media platform that is rapidly growing in popularity (despite efforts to control its influence in certain geographies) is TikTok. This creative and dynamic platform is perfect for marketers hoping to connect with the younger audience that makes up the majority of its users. With its vast user base, powerful algorithm, and variousadvertising options, TikTok can be an effective marketing tool for businesses seeking to cultivate brand awareness and drive engagement. TikTok is a popular tool used by influencers. This makes it ideal for trend-based businesses such as fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands. 

TikTok has an extremely strong influencer community despite the lack of an obvious monetization strategy for creators. Collaborating with influencers can help marketers gain exposure and credibility. Influencers on TikTok have a significant following and can create and promote branded content in an authentic and engaging way. The platform has also increased its focus on making it easy for businesses to advertise with CRM integrations and advance ad controls. 

Defining your target audience: Matching social media platforms to your perfect customer

Numerous social media platforms are available for marketers to reach their audience. Most Americans also use multiple social media platforms to serve different purposes. Here’s how marketers can choose which platforms should be used to reach their target audience most effectively.

Utilize social media demographics reports

Several resources such as the annual Digital Report from We Are Social and Sprout Social’s regular updates provide up-to-date social media demographics data. These reports can provide insights into the demographics of users on different platforms, allowing you to align your customer demographics with the appropriate social media platforms.

Compare customer demographics with platform demographics

Look for alignment between your target audience and the user base of various platforms by comparing your customers’ demographic data. For example, if your target audience consists of younger adults, TikTok and Instagram may be the most suitable platforms. If you’re targeting professionals, LinkedIn might be a better choice.

Test and monitor platforms

Once you’ve identified the platforms that align with your customer demographics, create a presence on those platforms and monitor their performance. Track engagement metrics, follower growth, and conversions to evaluate the effectiveness of each platform in reaching your target audience.

Features, content formats, and marketing objectives: Finding the perfect fit

Once marketers understand where their audience spends the most time, they must define their strategies to make the most of every ad dollar. These tips can help marketers produce consistently positive results on their platform of choice:

Analyze competitor strategies

Analyze your competitors’ content strategies to identify trends, successful formats, and gaps in the market. This analysis can help you differentiate your content and find unique angles to attract and engage your audience. Tools such as Meta Ad Library allow marketers to see which issues and topics are getting the most traction across Meta-owned platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. 

Leverage data analytics

Use data analytics tools to track and measure the performance of your content across different formats and features. Monitor key metrics like engagement rates, click-through rates, conversions, and customer feedback to identify what’s working and what needs improvement.

Experiment with content formats

Don't be afraid to experiment with different content formats. Try:

• Written articles
• Videos
• Infographics
• Interactive content
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• User-generated content

See what performs best for your marketing objectives and audience preferences.

Personalize content delivery

Tailor your content delivery based on audience preferences and behavior. Use marketing automation tools to segment your audience and deliver personalized content experiences that speak directly to their needs and interests. For example, LinkedIn users might be looking for information-dense content while TikTok users crave more engaging and entertaining content to hold their attention. 

Monitor industry trends

Stay informed about emerging trends and technologies in the digital marketing landscape. Adopt new content formats and features that align with your objectives and show potential to engage and captivate your audience.

Continuously optimize

Regularly analyze and optimize your content strategy based on data insights, customer feedback, and performance metrics. Keep experimenting, learning, and adapting based on the changing needs and preferences of your audience.

Seek feedback

Actively seek feedback from your audience through surveys, comments, or social media interactions. This direct feedback will provide valuable insights into audience preferences and help you align your content formats and features with their expectations.

How MarinOne can help your business optimize marketing efforts across different social media platforms

MarinOne offers a comprehensive solution for managing and optimizing advertising campaigns across various channels, including social media. MarinOne helps businesses optimize their marketing efforts with these methods:

Unified platform: MarinOne provides a unified platform where businesses can manage all their advertising campaigns across different social media platforms in one place. This helps streamline campaign management, allowing businesses to save time and effort by accessing all their campaigns and metrics on a single interface.

Data-driven insights: MarinOne provides businesses with detailed analytics and reporting tools to gain insights into campaign performance across different social media platforms. These insights help businesses understand which strategies and tactics are most effective, enabling them to make data-driven decisions and optimize their marketing efforts accordingly.

Automated optimization: MarinOne offers automated optimization features that allow businesses to set specific goals and parameters for their campaigns. The platform continuously monitors campaign performance and automatically adjusts bidding, targeting, and creative elements to achieve the desired outcomes. This helps businesses maximize their marketing ROI and achieve better results across different social media platforms.

To get started today, schedule a live, personal demo.

How Performance Marketers Can Create Stunning Data Visualizations: A Step-by-Step Guide

Data visualization is an essential tool for performance marketers, enabling them to convey complex information in a clear and engaging manner. With the increasing volume of data available to marketers, the ability to present it in a visually compelling way has become more important than ever. Whether you’re analyzing campaign performance, tracking customer behavior, or presenting key performance indicators to stakeholders, creating stunning data visualizations can help you make better decisions and drive better results.

In this blog post, we will provide a step-by-step guide for creating data visualizations that make an impact. From selecting the right design elements and tools to transforming raw data into meaningful insights, this guide offers actionable tips and best practices for anyone looking to create visualizations that grab attention and communicate information effectively. 

How Performance Marketers Use Data Visualization in 2023

Performance marketers are utilizing data visualization in 2023 to drive their campaigns and use data to drive decisions in several ways. Let’s dive deep into the latest tools, techniques, and trends that performance marketers are leveraging to make their marketing analytics more efficient and effective.

Visualizing key metrics

With clear visual representations, marketers can instantly grasp and analyze key metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates, and ROI. These visualizations provide a comprehensive overview of campaign performance, enabling marketers to identify areas of improvement and take appropriate action.

Visualizing return on investment (ROI)

Performance marketers need to calculate and track the ROI of their campaigns. Data visualization makes it easier to comprehend complex financial metrics related to campaign performance. Marketers can create visualizations that illustrate the relationship between ad spend and revenue generated, enabling them to optimize their marketing budgets and ensure a strong ROI.

Attribution modeling visualization 

Attribution modeling is crucial for understanding the impact of various touch-points on a customer's journey. Data visualization tools assist performance marketers in visualizing complex attribution models, making it easier to identify the most influential touch-points and allocate resources accordingly. These visualizations enable marketers to optimize their campaigns and achieve better attribution accuracy.

10 key data visualizations for performance marketers

There are some key data visualizations that every performance marketer should know and utilize. From customer segmentation to geographic heatmaps, we will break down these visualizations and explain how they can help you gain valuable insights, optimize your strategies, and ultimately maximize your performance marketing efforts.

1. Sales funnel visualization

Every customer goes through a process before making an actual purchase. Businesses must be able to see and understand this process before they can optimize the path to a final sale. Sales funnel visualization helps marketers represent the different stages of the customer journey, from initial awareness to final conversion. It helps marketers identify the drop-off points and optimize their marketing efforts at each stage.

2. Customer segmentation

Most businesses appeal to more than one customer segment. Marketers must understand how these customer segments are similar to each other and how they are different. 

A visualization that groups customers into segments based on characteristics such as demographics, behavior, or preferences is called a “customer segmentation visualization.” This helps marketers understand their target audience better and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

3. Social media engagement

Social media has become an indispensable arrow in a marketer’s quiver. Its ubiquity and popularity means that simply observing social media engagement can give marketers greater insights into their target audience’s likes, dislikes, interests, and trigger points. 

Visualizations of social media metrics, including likes, comments, and shares of posts, as well as follower growth, provide insights into the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns and help track engagement and brand awareness.

4. Website traffic and behavior

Almost one-third of marketers consider website traffic to be the most important metric that they monitor. Visualizations of website analytics metrics like page views, bounce rates, time on page, and conversion rates provide insights into website performance, user behavior, and areas for improvement in marketing campaigns.

5. Email campaign performance

Visualizations of email campaign metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions help measure the effectiveness of email marketing efforts and identify trends and opportunities for optimization.

6. Customer lifetime value

A visualization that shows the value of a customer over their entire relationship with a brand helps marketers understand the profitability of different customer segments and focus their marketing efforts accordingly.

7. Advertising performance

Visualizations of key advertising metrics like impressions, click-through rates, and conversions help marketers evaluate the performance of their advertising campaigns and optimize their allocation of advertising budgets.

8. Market share visualization

Performance can often only be fully understood when placed in the context of an entire industry. A business can be profitable while lagging behind its industry counterparts. A market share visualization that compares the market share of different brands or products within a particular industry provides insights into brand performance relative to competitors and market trends.

9. Geographic heatmaps

Visualizing data on a map helps marketers understand regional customer behavior, preferences, or market penetration. It can assist in localizing marketing campaigns and targeting specific regions or demographics.

10. Competitor analysis

Visualizations that compare key metrics, such as market share, customer satisfaction, or social media engagement, between a company and its competitors help marketers understand their competitive position and identify areas for improvement.

How to Transform Raw Data Into Meaningful Insights

For modern businesses, collecting raw data alone is not enough. To derive value from this data, it needs to be analyzed, interpreted, and transformed into meaningful insights. In this section, we will explore the process of converting raw data into actionable insights that drive better decision-making.

Collate and analyze your data

Businesses generate a staggering amount of data — but this information is not always easily accessible due to the way it’s stored and shared. An industry survey revealed that 80% of businesses say their data is stored across different software applications and 81% believe that their data is stored across different departments. 

To overcome this challenge, businesses should start by thoroughly understanding the raw data they have and creating a single source of truth. Once that’s done, marketers must identify the variables and ascertain their relationships and any patterns or trends within the data. 

Utilize automatic data visualizations to increase efficiency

On the surface, creating data visualizations can seem extremely time and labor intensive. Recent research has shown that 79% of companies believe that they lack the personnel capacity to consistently mine their data effectively. 

However, once your front- and back-end data are housed on a single platform, you can explore features such as automatic data visualizations to populate charts and simplify the process from data gathering to data utilization. 

Choose the right visualization type

Select the visualization type that most effectively represents the data and aligns with your goals. Common types include bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, scatter plots, and maps. 

Clean and preprocess the data

Clean and preprocess the raw data to remove any errors, missing values, or outliers that might affect the accuracy of the visualization. Perform necessary calculations, aggregations, or transformations to prepare the data for visualization. MarinOne software allows businesses to populate data without worrying about human error. 

Tell a story

Craft a narrative or story around your data to make it more engaging and relatable to the audience. Develop a logical flow that leads the viewer through the visualization, highlighting key points and insights.

How MarinOne can help performance marketers visualize data better

MarinOne enables marketers to easily access and analyze their data, with customizable dashboards that can be tailored according to their specific business needs. The platform allows marketers to visualize their campaigns' performance through easy-to-read graphs, charts, and tables, empowering them to identify trends, insights, and areas for improvement.

With MarinOne, performance marketers can:

• Consolidate their advertising data across different channels into a single dashboard, allowing them to get a comprehensive view of their marketing efforts and identify cross-channel trends.
• Get real-time campaign tracking by integrating with sources like Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics.
• Create custom reports using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, allowing them to report on the metrics that matter the most to them.

• Optimize their campaigns with data-driven insights by using MarinOne's AI bidding and Optimization Insights features, which provide recommendations to improve campaign performance.
• Collaborate with their team members on reports or dashboards and share them easily with stakeholders using MarinOne's collaboration features.

Furthermore, MarinOne's platform integrates with leading third-party data visualization tools like Tableau and Domo, allowing marketers to create stunning visualizations and stories with their data.

MarinOne provides a suite of reporting and analytics tools that can help performance marketers consolidate data, track campaigns, create custom reports, and optimize campaigns. By empowering marketers with visual and data-driven insights, MarinOne can help marketers improve their performance and drive better results.

To get started, schedule a live, personal demo today.

In 2020, Google announced its plans to phase out third-party cookies, following the privacy protection measures already adopted by Safari and Firefox. After several delays, Chrome will finally begin blocking 3rd party cookies in 2024. Google announced that the testing phase will start in Q1, with 1% of third-party cookies initially blocked, ramping up to 100% in Q3 of 2024.

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This change is stirring concerns among advertisers about the potential loss of valuable data, impacting strategies and the effectiveness of online advertising campaigns. This blog post delves into the implications of this shift, particularly for clients using publisher tracking pixels, Google Analytics, and Marin Software's Attribution.

First-party vs Third-party Cookies

Websites rely heavily on cookies to improve the user experience, and they will continue to do so after this change because only third-party cookies will be blocked. First-party cookies are set and read by the same domain as the website you are visiting. In addition to saving things like user preferences and login status, many measurement solutions, including Marin Attribution, can be set to the first-party context.

Third-party cookies allow unrelated domains to read the cookie and track users across different websites. These have long been a staple in display advertising, allowing advertisers to target users with third-party data or to retarget users across the open web. Publishers and ad tech providers will need to adapt the APIs and tools in the Google Privacy Sandbox to continue to offer these capabilities.

Publisher Tracking and Google Analytics

Many advertisers rely on a combination of Publisher Tracking and Google Analytics to measure the performance of their campaigns. With last year’s transition to Google Analytics 4 from Universal Analytics, Google has upgraded its tracking to be compatible with this “post-cookie” world. Those using the latest publisher tracking pixels are also fine during this transition.

Marin’s Attribution: First-party since 2008

At Marin, we understand the importance of accurately measuring digital campaigns. Marin Attribution, our independent measurement solution for performance media, has always used first-party cookies. There is no impact from the upcoming Chrome update. 

Server-to-Server Option: Enhanced Protection

In addition to first-party cookies, Marin Software offers a server-to-server option. This advanced solution provides an added layer of protection and data integrity. It allows for more complete measurement by bypassing the need for cookies altogether. This method is more secure and future-proofs your data collection strategy against further privacy changes in the digital landscape.

Navigating the Future

As the digital advertising world evolves, staying ahead of the curve is essential. Marin Software is committed to providing cutting-edge solutions that respect user privacy while delivering the insights and performance marketers need. Our clients can rest assured that with our Attribution, they can confidently succeed in the post-third-party cookie era.

In conclusion, while the phasing out of third-party cookies by Google Chrome presents challenges, it also offers an opportunity to innovate and adapt. By leveraging Marin Software's Attribution and our server-to-server options, advertisers can continue to gather valuable insights and drive impactful advertising campaigns in a privacy-compliant manner.

We’re excited to announce some of the recent updates we’ve made to our user interface. These upgrades make our software not only easier to use, but also, well… prettier! Tl;dr: this phase of updates has focused on streamlining our navigation and making it more intuitive. We've consolidated all navigation into one single bar on the left side of the app – where there are seven different expandable sections. And we’ve moved all the admin tools into the upper right to make them easier to find no matter where you are in the platform. 

Let's dive into all the powerful features that live within each section. 

Overview

When you first visit Marin, you’ll be brought to the ‘Home’ sub-tab within the ‘Overview’ tab. Here, you’ll see a customizable dashboard full of charts and tables designed to give you a high-level overview of your performance. You’ll probably use this as your home base to provide a snapshot of which campaigns are doing well, which are doing poorly, and what needs your attention.

The second sub-tab in the ‘Overview’ section is Insights. Marin runs over 200 nightly checks on every account linked to the platform, identifying areas for improvement. Then, it provides easily implemented recommendations to improve performance – many of which you can apply with just one click. 

The third sub-tab is ‘Dashboards’. This is where you can customize your home screen and create as many additional reporting dashboards as you’d like. Our dashboards are neat because you can interact with each individual chart and graph – changing date ranges, filters, and more. Additionally, links to your Dashboards are shareable to anyone, even those without Marin access. When someone without Marin access clicks a link to a Dashboard, it will take them to a read-only view of the report. This is great for real-time reporting on performance to leadership, or sharing marketing data with other teams.

Accounts

The Accounts section is where you’ll probably spend most of your time. Here, you’ll see a traditional waterfall view of all the different levels of a paid media campaign. This is where one of Marin’s most valuable features comes into play; consolidated reporting and optimization across publishers.

And our grids have been undergoing a bit of a makeover, too! Now, you can view and edit all the filters you’ve applied at the top of the grid. We’ve moved some other buttons around to make workflows more intuitive, too. For example, we’ve added a breadcrumb trail at the top of the grid that informs the exact path you took to get to the screen you’re currently on. You can toggle between different sections of the system using the breadcrumbs at the top or hover in the area around the breadcrumbs to open the Navigator to jump to critical parts of the system. 

We’ve also made our charting feature collapsible and slicker. With our in-app charting, you can visualize your data with just a few clicks.

The one sub-tab here that you may not recognize from the traditional paid media waterfall (of campaigns>groups>keywords>ads, etc.) is the ‘History’ sub-tab. This tab gives you a high-level view of performance, rolled up by date. It’s great for understanding high-level trends in your campaigns' performance.

Social

Under Social, you’ll find all the Marin features that are exclusive to Meta. The two coolest ones are our Message Booster and Rules. Message Booster automatically turns your best performing organic posts into paid ads based on criteria you choose, like number of likes or comments.

And for those who are a bit dissatisfied with Meta’s bidding algorithms, Marin’s Rules allow you to choose your own criteria for automated bidding. This way, you’re able to use Marin’s intelligent bidding to automatically increase or decrease bids based on the KPIs that matter most to you.

Dimensions

Dimensions are Marin’s bespoke labeling solution. Some classic examples of dimension tags are campaign attributes like brand vs. non-brand, or geo location. In the dimensions tab, you can see data by dimension, and even pivot different dimensions against each other. This makes reporting on the categories that matter to you a breeze.

Optimize

Here is where you’ll find all of Marin’s (you guessed it…) optimization features. The first sub-tab is ‘Strategies’. This is where you can manage your cross-channel bid strategies and targets.

The second ‘Pacing’ sub-tab showcases our highly requested budget pacing feature, which allows you to segment campaigns into different spend categories and manage how each category is pacing toward its spend goal for the month or quarter. Marin can automatically update budgets, bids, and publisher bidding targets based on these pacing widgets as well.

Lastly, under Optimization you’ll see the ‘Dynamic Actions’ sub-tab, which enables clients that are using Marin bidding to layer custom rules on top of their algorithmically calculated bids.

Automate

Under Automate, we first have the ‘Impact Summary’ sub-tab. This is a dashboard that showcases all the automated actions that Marin’s AI has taken on each object within your accounts. We understand that placing your marketing campaigns in the hands of AI can be scary. That’s why we built this dashboard – so you can understand all the automated changes being made, and have the power to override the automation if you want to.

The other sub-tab under ‘Automate’ is ‘Scripts’. Our Scripts feature is new and we’re very excited about it! It enables clients to create their own custom automation with python code. From automating dimension labeling, to changing budgets based on custom rules, to increasing or decreasing CPA or ROAS targets based on backend data, the possibilities are endless. And with our ChatGPT integration, AI will write the code for you, and our Solutions Architects can help too. We certainly don’t expect you to learn to code in order to use Marin. Just let us know what you're trying to achieve and our support team will write and / or QA the code for you.

Reports

Under ‘Reports,’ you’ll find two sub-tabs, ‘Completed’ and ‘Scheduled’. This is pretty straightforward – completed reports can be downloaded from the ‘Completed’ sub-tab and scheduled reports can be edited in the ‘Scheduled’ sub-tab. But you’ll really appreciate the scheduled tab, because it allows you to edit any aspect of a recurring report. So no need to re-create a whole report because you’re missing one column or one filter. Never again – you’re too busy for that!

That brings us to the end of our tour of Marin’s new UI. But stay tuned, because there are many more updates coming out next quarter that we can’t wait to share with you! And if you’re considering Marin and want to learn more, click here to schedule a demo of our gorgeous new UI.

The ad management tools provided by Google, Facebook, and even Amazon to manage paid media campaigns have come a long way. It wasn't too long ago that doing basic reporting, campaign management, or something as simple as bidding required you to look to a third-party platform.

But today, the publisher platforms offer great campaign management tools that help you get the most out of your investment in that channel. However, because they only function within that channel, there are a lot of limitations for cross-channel advertisers. 

This isn't to say that you shouldn't use the publisher tools. They’re an important part of your toolkit. But you’d likely benefit from expanding your workflows to include a cross-channel platform. Let's dive into the reasons why this is important…

Are publishers grading their own homework?

All of the publisher platforms offer automated recommendations on how to improve the performance of your campaigns. These are helpful – but if you look closely, they’re often aligned with increased spending, not necessarily increased performance for your business. For example, consider recommendations that focus on click-through rates. Yes, having a high click-through rate is great. But if those clicks won't turn into revenue, you may spend more for no additional return. It’s better to have recommendations that are based on your business goals. Did you get to grade your own homework? Do you ask the barber if you need a haircut? Of course not! So why would you ask the publishers where you should allocate your budget?

Is your measurement keeping up with evolving privacy trends?

Since the demise of cookies, publisher tools have had a much harder time tracking conversions. Google Ads now employs conversion modeling techniques that use aggregated data to estimate conversions. While they’re trying their best, it's in your business’s best interests to use a first-party data measurement platform that can track conversions without cookies. 

Google Analytics is often seen as the industry standard for conversion and revenue tracking and it’s definitely the tracking option that many of Marin’s customers use. While we’re happy to integrate with Google Analytics, the rollout of Google Analytics 4’s new data-driven attribution model raised some concerns about the accuracy of its conversion data attribution.

The last iteration of Google Analytics, commonly referred to as Universal Analytics or GA 360, defaulted to a last-click attribution model. This attribution model was quite straightforward — it gave credit for a conversion to the last channel that the customer interacted with before converting. But the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) defaults to a data-driven attribution model, which uses Google’s machine learning to assign partial credit to various touchpoints along the conversion path. This attribution model is much less straightforward, and there are concerns that GA4 may be underreporting conversion data from Google’s competitors like Microsoft Ads. 

In late September, Microsoft representatives emailed advertisers expressing concerns about the efficacy of GA4’s reporting on Microsoft Ads’ conversions and revenue. They noted that the shift to data-driven attribution was “causing potentially large discrepancies in conversion attribution reporting between Google’s tools (GA4 and Search Ads 360 (SA360)) and Microsoft Advertising.” They estimated that “the magnitude of underrepresentation is ~50%.” That’s a big discrepancy. The Microsoft representatives also noted that they “have seen cases where the move to GA4 has caused discrepancies even when clients continued to use last-click attribution” and therefore they “always encourage you to check Microsoft’s reporting for Microsoft conversions.” While they didn’t share any proof that Google Analytics is maliciously underreporting Microsoft Ads’ conversions, this sort of gray area, and Google-first bias, is exactly the sort of thing you can avoid by using a neutral first-party data tracking system like Marin.

Are you sharing data that you shouldn’t be?

In order to get the most out of publisher bidding algorithms, you need to provide them with conversion and revenue data from your source of truth. Ideally, you’re giving the publishers enough information to understand the profitability of each click. However, how much data does a publisher account need to effectively optimize a campaign? And how much of your proprietary information do you really want to share with Google, Bing, Meta, etc.? When it comes to data privacy, understanding how your data is being used is more important than ever – but transparency from publishers is severely lacking.  A guaranteed way to capitalize on intelligent bidding without jeopardizing your proprietary data is to leverage a third-party tool like Marin. third-party tools offer a safe and secure space to store the data needed for optimizations, separate from the publisher platforms you're marketing on.

Are you doing repetitive work across platforms?

If you create and edit campaigns in one publisher tool at a time, you’ll be repeating workflows over and over again. Many of us have suffered through the process of creating multiple bulk sheets, and then uploading those sheets into each individual ad editor when launching a cross-publisher campaign. Then once that campaign is complete, exporting the front-end data from the publishers and backend data from Google analytics, unifying it into one Google sheet, then creating reports and data visualizations…These tedious processes used to be a rite of passage for entry-level paid search associates, but no one should have to suffer through that! Your team’s time is better spent working on strategy. From data collection to launching new campaigns to optimization, you’ll work more efficiently if you can execute these workflows all at one time, in one platform.

What is the modern PPC stack?

As the performance marketing world grows increasingly more complex, relying exclusively on publisher tools is a mistake. It forces you to work in silos, leaving you open to blind spots and wasted investment. The modern customer encounters many ads across multiple channels before reaching the bottom of the conversion funnel. Don’t you wish you had some sort of ‘referee’ to monitor your spend, ROAS, and CPA independent of publisher bias? 

That’s where a Marketing Data Pipeline, like Marin, can swoop in and make your life easier (and your ROAS better). Our omnichannel platform normalizes and organizes marketing data into a single source of truth – so your team can easily retrieve, examine, tell the story of, and act on insights from your data.

Marin brings all your data together under one roof. Then, it analyzes your performance across all your channels – and provides unbiased recommendations on where to spend your next dollar, how to better optimize campaigns, and more. Since we have no skin in the game, we don’t care which publisher you spend your money on. We care about your bottom line — getting the best return on advertising investment for your business.

Our clients typically have about 20% more time to focus on strategy after integrating Marin into their daily workflows. These time saving tools also drive an increase in revenue. It’s a win-win. 

Interested in learning more? Click here to schedule a demo with one of our experts!

As traditional metrics like clicks and views become less meaningful, businesses must adapt and find more effective ways to measure engagement. In this post, we’ll explore how to measure engagement in the Web3 era — which is forecasted to reach a market size of $81.5 billion by 2030 — going beyond superficial metrics and diving into deeper indicators of user participation and value.

Understanding the limitations of clicks and views

Clicks and views have long been the go-to metrics for measuring engagement in the digital realm. While they provide a basic understanding of user interaction, they fail to capture the true essence of engagement. In the Web3 era, where user empowerment and ownership take center stage, these traditional metrics fall short in truly reflecting the depth of user involvement and value creation. 

The changing landscape of user engagement in the Web3 era

The emergence of the Web3 era has brought about a significant shift in the landscape of user engagement. Unlike Web2, where users primarily consumed content passively, the Web3 era promotes active participation and ownership. Users are no longer mere consumers but are contributors and stakeholders. 

With Web3, users co-create content, applications, and even entire ecosystems. Instead of measuring superficial metrics like clicks and views, which offer limited perspectives, the Web3 era focuses on evaluating the depth and quality of user interactions and digital experiences, where users have a vested interest in the platforms they engage with.

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The implications of measuring engagement in the Web3 era

Measuring engagement in the Web3 era has far-reaching implications for businesses and the overall success of Web3 communities.

Data-driven decision-making

Armed with a data-driven approach, companies can make more informed decisions based on user behavior, preferences, and trends. Analyzing engagement metrics enables them to identify patterns, optimize their offerings, and tailor their strategies to better meet the needs and expectations of their target audience. 

Optimizing strategies for business success

Measuring engagement in the Web3 era provides businesses with the opportunity to fine-tune their strategies and maximize their chances of success. By understanding which aspects of their platform or content drive the highest levels of engagement, they can allocate resources more effectively and focus on areas that generate the most value. In turn, this optimization leads to improved user experiences, increased user retention, and ultimately, better business outcomes.

Building thriving Web3 communities 

By understanding the factors that drive engagement, businesses can build and nurture vibrant communities that foster active participation, collaboration, and positive interactions among users. With engagement metrics, companies can identify and reward community members who contribute valuable content or provide insightful contributions, thereby encouraging a culture of involvement and expertise sharing. Not only does this approach enhance user loyalty, but it also harnesses the collective intelligence of the community for improved innovation and problem-solving, which becomes beneficial for all participants.

8 Ways to measure engagement in the Web3 era

1. Attention and time spent 

One of the first indicators of engagement in the Web3 era is attention — time spent by users on a particular platform or application. Time spent is a valuable metric that demonstrates the level of interest and commitment of users. However, it's important to analyze the quality of time spent rather than just the quantity.

Pro tip: To successfully track the duration users spend interacting with their platforms and content, leverage blockchain's transparent and timestamped records. Additionally, smart contracts and decentralized applications provide granular insights into user interactions, allowing companies to quantify and analyze the depth and frequency of user engagement.

2. User-generated content (UGC)

In the Web3 era, the creation and sharing of user-generated content (UGC) holds immense significance because it transforms passive consumers into active contributors, fostering a dynamic and interconnected digital landscape where individuals have the power to shape narratives, influence trends, and collectively co-create the value they seek. 

UGC redefines traditional notions of content ownership and distribution, and also facilitates the emergence of more authentic, diverse, and community-driven digital environments that reflect the true essence of Web3 principles. In fact, because UGC has been proven to build trust and authenticity, 86% of companies have integrated it into their marketing strategy. 

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Pro tip: By creating blockchain-based protocols that track and validate UGC submissions, businesses can ensure the authenticity and ownership of contributed content. Just as smart contracts can be used to track a user’s time and attention, they can be employed to record the creation, sharing, and remixing of UGC, enabling precise quantification of user interactions. 

3. Tokenomics 

Through token-based incentives, businesses can easily align user interactions with tangible value. As users earn and trade tokens based on engagement levels, companies gain real-time insights into which activities are most captivating and impactful. The evolving token marketplace provides a gauge of sentiment and demand for various interactions, allowing businesses to adapt and optimize their engagement strategies in response to user preferences. Doing so fosters stronger connections between businesses and users and provides valuable data for refining products, enhancing experiences, and ultimately driving sustained growth in the Web3 landscape.

Pro tip: To design a robust token economy, determine how users will earn tokens through actions like content creation, participation in events, referrals, or other valuable contributions. Then assign different weights to each activity based on its importance to your ecosystem. Ensure that token rewards are aligned with the behaviors and outcomes you want to promote.

4. Blockchain-based metrics

Leveraging blockchain-based metrics offers a revolutionary approach to measuring engagement that enhances accuracy, transparency, and trust. Utilizing the inherent immutability of the blockchain allows businesses to create tamper-proof records of user interactions and transactions. 

Each engagement, whether it's content creation, token transfers, or application usage, is time-stamped and securely stored, ensuring a reliable source of data for analysis. The transparency of the blockchain gives users the ability to independently verify their interactions, fostering a sense of both authenticity and accountability. Blockchain-based metrics also enable businesses to map out complex user journeys, understand engagement patterns, and gain insights into which activities resonate most within the community.

Pro tip: To take full advantage of blockchain-based metrics, begin by identifying key metrics and use cases. Collaborate with blockchain developers to build smart contracts that automate the recording and tracking of the identified metrics. Additionally, introduce your users to the benefits of blockchain-based metrics to encourage participation.

5. Community interactions

Because engagement in the Web3 era is heavily reliant on community interactions, it requires tracking and analyzing interactions between users, such as comments, likes, shares, and collaborations. By monitoring both the sentiment and quality of these interactions, businesses can comprehensively assess the vibrancy and impact of their community interactions, shaping strategies that nurture deeper connections and meaningful collaboration with their users.

Pro tip: To evaluate the sentiment of user comments, feedback, and discussions within the community, implement sentiment analysis tools that utilize natural language processing (NLP). These tools can analyze the tone and emotions expressed in text to gauge whether interactions are positive, negative, or neutral. Consider also integrating decentralized reputation systems where users can provide feedback and rate the quality of each other's contributions. Content ranking mechanisms may also be useful in enabling the community to upvote or downvote contributions based on their perceived quality.

6. User governance and decision-making

A decentralized decision-making process, such as token-based voting or consensus mechanisms, allows users to contribute to key decisions regarding features, upgrades, and strategic directions. By tracking the level of participation in these governance activities, including the number of votes cast or proposals submitted, businesses can gauge the depth of engagement.

Additionally, analyzing the diversity of participants and their contributions offers insights into the inclusivity of the decision-making process. As users become stakeholders with a genuine influence, their engagement is inherently tied to the platform's success, creating a symbiotic relationship that drives active participation and sustainable growth.

Pro tip: To track the level of participation in governance activities, utilize blockchain's transparent and immutable ledger. Every vote cast or proposal submitted is recorded as a unique transaction on the blockchain, providing a reliable and auditable record of user engagement. With this information, businesses can analyze the frequency and volume of transactions and can quantitatively measure the depth of user involvement in the decision-making process.

7. Network effects and referrals

The Web3 era encourages network effects, wherein users actively invite others to join and participate in the ecosystem. By using tracking mechanisms that monitor the growth of their user base, companies can measure the reach and impact of individual users' recommendations, identify the most effective channels for viral sharing, and quantify the ripple effect of engaged users bringing in new participants.

Pro tip: To accurately monitor network effects and referrals, create a tracking system that assigns unique identifiers to users and generates distinct referral links for each participant. Incorporate UTM parameters or similar tracking tags in the referral links. To understand the ripple effect of user referrals, implement attribution modeling. Businesses may also choose to experiment with different referral incentives and sharing strategies. 

8. NFT ownership and collectibles

Currently, 2.8% of users own an NFT. By issuing NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) as collectible items, limited editions, or rewards for engagement, companies can track and analyze user interactions with these assets. Monitoring NFT ownership, transfers, and trading activities provides insights into user preferences and the value they place on specific digital content.

Pro tip: To foster a deeper sense of engagement and belonging among users who participate in the NFT ecosystem, businesses can observe which NFTs gain the most attention, are frequently traded, or spark discussions. This data can then be used to assess the resonance of their offerings and refine their content strategies.

Embracing the web3 era

As we navigate the Web3 era, it becomes evident that traditional metrics like clicks and views no longer capture the true essence of engagement.

With the multifaceted nature of engagement in the Web3 era, partnering with MarinOne can help you delve deeper into the dynamics of user participation. Its robust platform and suite of tools and analytics will take you beyond superficial metrics so you can gain valuable insights into the quality and depth of user engagement, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your strategies.

Curious to learn how? Schedule a demo. 

You’re a customer-first brand that prioritizes customer satisfaction, but no matter how hard you try, there will always be a handful of unhappy customers who leave disgruntled reviews or share negative sentiments about your brand on social media. Perhaps they received a faulty product, or maybe they were just having a bad day and the product didn’t live up to their expectations. You can’t please everyone, but having a strong online reputation management (ORM) strategy can minimize the impact of negative feedback to help your brand maintain a positive reputation. 

Online reputation management (ORM) involves monitoring mentions of your brand name on the internet, primarily in reviews and on social media. This may sound like a job for your PR team, but ORM is different. PR teams work proactively to increase exposure to your brand and strengthen your reputation. ORM is a more defensive strategy that centers around seeking out negative content and working to minimize the damage. 

Virality's Role in Online Reputation Management

In the age of Instagram, ORM is more important than ever before. Social media algorithms favor viral content, and unfortunately negative and controversial content has some of the highest potential for virality. This is because virality is based on engagement. Engagement meaning, how many people are watching the video (most likely a tiktok or reel) from start to finish? How many people are liking and commenting? The more controversial a video is, the higher the engagement will be. This can cause negative press around a brand to spread quickly. However, the phenomenon of virality also causes trends to come and go rapidly. So while negative press around a brand could be trending for a day or two, as soon as a new scandal happens, the internet will all but forget about it. 

Internet trends move so quickly that most viral mishaps are often looked past within a matter of weeks. For example, many of us remember the Kendall Jenner + Pepsi Ad Debacle of 2017. For those who don’t, Pepsi released an ad where Kendall Jenner walked into a crowd of protestors, approached front line police, and handed the police officers a can of Pepsi which miraculously ended a conflict between police and protestors. Viewers were outraged as they felt this ad belittled protestors and minimized the issue of police brutality.

In April of 2017 it felt like this ad was all anyone was talking about. Folks on Twitter were calling for boycotts of all Pepsi products, and Pepsi’s stock certainly took a hit. But today, most people scarcely even remember that it happened. This scenario exemplifies how brands can quickly move past even the most ‘cancellable’ scenarios. Between Pepsi’s reputation as a staple household soda and the speed at which internet gossip moves, Pepsi recovered quickly. By May, the internet had moved on to other scandals, and nowadays no one thinks twice about drinking a Pespi. Virality is both an enemy and a friend to brands trying to maintain a positive online reputation.

Online Reputation Management aims to get ahead of any negative sentiments and address them before they become a larger, or even a viral issue. Things rarely escalate to the viral level, but regardless, social media has made people more connected than ever before which enables negative or positive sentiment about a brand to spread quickly if you let it.

Here are a few key steps to an effective ORM strategy:

Hire a Community Manager or Community Management Team

If someone tweets about a negative experience and tags your brand, they expect a response within a few hours. The speed of communication on social media demands a dedicated employee or team to monitor mentions of the brand on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok. Additionally, if a customer contacts a brand via social media and does not receive a timely response, they may post a negative comment on the brand’s account in order to get the company’s attention, or to express their frustration and gain sympathy from others online. Instagram has even started including a ‘typically responds within’ blurb that users see when messaging a verified business account. People are utilizing social media as a way to get a quick response from a company representative when they have an issue. And this makes sense; we scarcely talk on the phone anymore as everyone communicates through Instagram instead. So instead of relying on a customer support hotline, brands need to meet customers where they're at, which is on Instagram and Twitter. For example, check out this helpful exchange with a member of the community management team at clothing retailer Savage X Fenty:

Their community management team responded within minutes and began working to answer the question at hand. This quick response was possible because Savage X Fenty has a dedicated team managing their social media accounts. If this customer were to receive no response to their direct message, they might start commenting on the brand’s posts asking why they’re being ignored. Then, others will see the comments and develop a negative impression of the brand.

It’s interesting; people spend so much time on Instagram talking to their friends who are also on Instagram all the time and therefore respond quite quickly to each other. But now, people expect the same behavior from brands. Which is fair, since brands want their followers to see their social media content as native and relatable, just like a post from a friend. In turn, brands are held to the same standards that we have for our peers when it comes to social media interactions. These high expectations are exactly why having a community management team is so important.

Provide a Respectful Public Response, then Move the Conversation to Private Messages

Let’s say a customer tags a clothing company in a tweet stating their pants developed holes after just two wears. The customer likely wants two things; a refund and a public apology. A generic example of an appropriate response would be to reply to the tweet stating “This is not the experience we want our customers to have. Please message us directly so that we can make it right.” This way, you’re showing you care and will work to correct the situation, but you're also taking the conversation out of a public forum so the details can be handled privately. The disgruntled customer gets their resolution, and the public viewers of the tweet see that you value customer satisfaction. 

The same goes for responding to negative reviews on your website. Publicly state that you are sorry to hear about the customer’s negative experience, and ask them to email your customer service team directly so you can make it right. This way future customers who read the review will know that if they receive a faulty or defective product, the situation will be remedied.

Here’s an example of a great response from Starbucks to a customer complaint on Twitter:

The Starbucks care team expressed empathy, apologized, and provided clear and concise instructions on how to continue the conversation in a private forum. That’s how it’s done!

Be Honest

Do not delete negative reviews or “bury” negative reviews under positive ones. Customers are smart, and an overwhelming amount of 5 star reviews will be seen as a red flag that your company is hiding negative reviews. It may seem counterintuitive, but a couple bad reviews actually help to validate the positive reviews by proving that the feedback is unbiased. However, if a review has overly vitriolic or profane language, it’s best to delete it as that is an unreasonable reaction and you don’t want other customers to be confronted with foul language when visiting your site.

If your company makes a more widespread mistake, quickly post a public apology stating why the mistake happened and what you plan to do to fix it. Utilizing the pants with holes example again, I’d recommend an instagram story post explaining that the fabric was faulty and the team will be sending out higher quality replacements or refunding customers who experienced that issue. The Instagram story is the best placement for a public apology because it is easily visible by your engaged customer base, but it won’t live on your Instagram grid forever like a feed post will. This way, you’ve addressed the issue without drawing unnecessary attention to it, so it can be resolved and your brand can move on.

Be Helpful

In order to be forgiven in the court of public opinion, you must truly take action to remedy the issue at hand. This often comes in the form of issuing a refund or store credit for a problematic item. Or if you provide a service, making fixes easy for the customer. Here’s a great example of a helpful response from Jetblue Airways:

The ORM team responded quickly and helpfully. Rather than just telling the customer to stay on the line until they reach a customer service representative, the community manager offered to fix the issue for them. The key here is that they are making issue resolution as easy as possible for the customer, diffusing frustration. This experience could have caused K. M. Sutton and their followers to stop being brand loyal to Jetblue, but by fixing the issue, their team was able to retain a loyal customer.

Stay Informed with Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts for brand terms so that you know immediately when any negative press arises. Setting up a Google alert is easy. Simply visit https://www.google.com/alerts, type in your brand name and enter in a few settings around where the alerts should be sent and how often you would like to be alerted:

Google alerts are a great way to monitor sentiment around your brand, both positive and negative.

In conclusion, a branding issue or bad review can feel like a big deal, but utilizing our ORM tips, your brand should be able to recover quickly. The internet moves fast! So as long as you’ve got a plan in place that involves reacting to negative sentiment with empathy and truly making things right with your customers, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

ORM is a part of your business that requires empathy, energy and genuine connection between the customer and the brand representative. If you're struggling to find the budget to hire a dedicated community manager, or your current team lacks the time to do community management yourselves, consider using a tool like MarinOne to automate some of your more mundane and time consuming tasks like reporting, paid media ad creation, and ad account optimization. Automate the things you can, so that you can focus on the things you can’t. Click here to schedule a demo of MarinOne today.

If you’re new to advertising on Meta, it can be a bit overwhelming. But never fear, Marin is here with a guide to set you on the right path. I’ll outline the process of setting up your Facebook Business Manager account. Then, I’ll provide a few strategic recommendations to help you get started. 

Creating Your Facebook Business Manager Account

Business Manager is a hub designed to help you manage all of your business’s pages and ad accounts in one place. Creating a Business Manager account is free and easy to do. Simply visit business.facebook.com, log in to your personal account, and then enter some info about your business.

Once you’re in, it's time to link your business’s page to your ad account:

Be sure to link all Facebook and Instagram pages you plan to run ads for. You will be given the option to add a page, request access to a page, or create a new page. Select whichever applies to you.

Next you’ll want to link an ad account to your Business Manager account:

You will be given the same options to add an ad account, request access to an ad account, or create a new ad account. Select whichever applies to you.

Next, you’ll want to grant your team members access to your Business Manager account. You have two different access levels to choose from:

• Admin access gives the team member full control, allowing them to add and remove other employees, edit settings for the business, and link pages.
• Employee access allows the team member to view (but not edit) settings for the business, and be assigned to manage pages or ad accounts.

You will also need to assign access levels for your Ad Accounts in Business Manager:

• Admin users can manage all account settings, add new team members, assign access levels, create and edit ads and campaigns, and have full access to the Meta reporting suite. This access level is a good option for your advertising program manager.
• Advertiser users are able to create and edit ads and can view all reports. This is a good option for marketing team members.
• Analyst users have access only to the reporting features. This access level is designed for the analytics team.

After all your roles are assigned, it’s time to set up your billing information, which can be done on the ‘payment methods’ page:

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Billing on Facebook can work in one of two ways. Automatic billing will automatically charge your card for advertising costs, while manual billing will allow you to add funds to your account that Facebook will then pull from as ad money is spent.

You can cap your total ad cost by setting an account spending limit, in which case your ads will be paused when you hit that limit and won’t serve again until you increase or remove the limit. 

Once you’ve got billing set up and your proper user roles assigned, you’re ready to start advertising! If you’re not sure where to start, check out these strategic recommendations.

Utilize Top Organic Content

If you’re new to buying ad space on Facebook and Instagram, the first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that the organic content on your social media pages is optimized to drive engagement. For example, a woman’s clothing retailer should make sure that their instagram page features their most popular pieces and that the posts on their instagram contain links to buy the items featured. B2C businesses can also benefit from creating an instagram ‘shop’ page. This way customers can click a link to shop at the bottom of each instagram post and be taken to your company’s shopping page within the instagram app. This makes the buying process easier than ever for customers, as you don’t even have to leave Instagram to make the purchase.

Once you’ve got your organic content optimized, start by promoting a few of your top organic posts. Analyze which posts received the best engagement. Once you’ve chosen your top organic content, Meta makes it easy to turn an organic post into an ad using Business Manager. 

Marin’s Message Booster makes this process even easier. Simply select the post you’d like to boost, choose a campaign and a few settings, and you’re good to go.

Creating Paid Ad Content

Once you’re ready to progress from boosting content to creating intentional paid ads, I recommend a top-to-bottom marketing funnel approach. 

Building an Audience

To get started, you’ll want to cast a wide net to fill your marketing funnel from the top down with potential customers. 

Video views are quite cheap with Meta, so that ad format is a great way to gain traction and build an audience. If you send out a video ad to a broad audience, for example targeting only by age range, you can then analyze who watched more than 5 seconds of your ad. Those who engaged with your ad for longer than 5 seconds are at least somewhat interested in your product. Users who viewed your top of funnel, broad targeting ad should then get moved down to the middle of your funnel so you can retarget them. 

You can also analyze these audiences to gain demographic data about what potential customers’ online profile looks like, and target lookalike audiences.

For example, let's say you’re a university trying to acquire more students and you know that prospective university students are likely between the ages of 16 and 35. Start with an ad targeting just that age range. Then you can study the demographic that engages with your ad, and build an audience of interested prospects from there. 

Retargeting Middle-of-Funnel Users

Now you’ve built your middle funnel audience from whom you see at least some intent to purchase, or learn more about your products/services. Retarget this audience with a click-to-website ad that leads to a landing page where they can learn more. Click-to-website ads are affordable but a bit pricier than video ads, so be sure that your landing page contains multiple calls to action so you can learn more about what your potential customers are interested in and then use that info to segment your audience further as you continue to retarget them, hopefully pushing them further down the funnel. 

In the example of a university marketing to new students, the advertiser would want to drive ad clicks to a landing page on which users can click different links to learn about each degree program. This way, the advertiser is gathering more information about each potential student. They can then push those who clicked on a link further down the funnel by retargeting them with an ad tailored to the degree program they showed interest in. 

Ad Customization

This retargeting audience is now towards the bottom of the funnel, and you can continue to serve them customized ads in hopes of pushing them across the finish line and getting that application.

Hopefully this guide helps you get started! Many of the recommendations discussed here can be implemented quickly with the help of MarinOne for social. Click here to learn more.

‍Market segmentation is the foundation of a successful marketing campaign. There are likely many different types of consumers that could be interested in your products, and sending the right message to each type of customer is key to acquiring new users. Whether it be targeting customers based on their age, or understanding that different types of customers value different aspects of your product or service, you’ll want to deliver unique, personalized messages to different segments in order to foster enthusiastic brand loyalty.

Let’s run through the 5 different types of market segmentation in detail so that you can understand which is right for you.

Demographic Segmentation

This is usually the first type of segmentation we think of when starting to define our different customer personas. These are basic defining characteristics such as age, gender, race, income level and education level. Demographic targeting can be anything from advertising high end products to those with higher income levels, to a clothing company advertising gendered clothing to women and men separately.

This is mostly used in B2C marketing efforts, as these traits focus on the individual. The B2B counterpart is firmographic segmentation.

Firmographic Segmentation

Firmographic segmentation is the most basic form of market segmentation for B2B marketing efforts. Firmographic traits of a company include size, location, industry, structure and financial performance. For example, you’ll want to use different messaging when marketing towards a small business than when reaching out to an organization with hundreds of employees.

Geographic Segmentation

A subset of demographic segmentation, geographic segmentation entails segmenting customers by their location. You can segment by city, country, zip code or even language region. The most straightforward example of this is trying to drive foot traffic to a brick and mortar store by targeting people who live within a certain number of miles from the store. But even for online businesses, it’s important to analyze which geographic areas your website traffic is coming from. Sometimes these answers may seem obvious, like a company selling cowboy boots targeting states in the south. But you may be surprised what other regions are interested in your product, beyond the most obvious opportunities. Often market research brings about data that cannot be acquired by intuition alone. Who knows, there could be a lot of cowboys in Vermont…

Behavioral Segmentation

This is the most complex and arguably the most valuable type of segmentation. Behavioral segmentation is the ongoing process of tracking and targeting users’ behavioral trends. As you collect data about your target market over time, you’ll be able to segment your audience into groups based on things like purchasing habits, brand interactions, buying history, website visits and interactions with competing brands. This form of market research is very valuable because it brings to light users with intent to buy, allowing you to target your most interested audiences.

Psychographic Segmentation

This form of segmentation attempts to understand the consumers’ motivations. It’s not the what, or where, but the why that psychographic segmentation strives to make sense of. Why do customers buy your product, or choose your competitor's product over yours? Is it their values? Their political beliefs? Their interests? This sort of segmentation is extremely valuable for media companies, for example. News stations will market towards those with aligned political beliefs. Gossip magazines will target those interested in celebrity content. This form of segmentation can be difficult to nail down, but is very powerful.

Now that we’ve got an understanding of the different types of segmentation, let’s discuss how to begin segmenting your market. 

Start with testing

The first step is market research. You’ll want to cast your net wide with broad targeting, then see what content appeals to different segments of users. Once you’ve identified segments based on engagement with your different categories of content, you’ll understand what sorts of products or services they are interested in. Then you can hit those segmented audiences with more specific retargeting ads.

It’s important to set a measurable goal when testing. Let’s say you’re trying to understand if your products appeal more to women or men. Send ads to both groups equally, and measure performance with a metric such as click through rate or conversion rate. If women seem to drive a higher conversion rate for a particular product, break men and women out into separate audiences and allocate proportionately more ad spend to the female audience. This is one simple example; but there are countless ways to run this same sort of test based on the segmentation factors you believe could apply to your particular campaign.

Never stop analyzing

It’s important to continually analyze these different sorts of user trends, as things can change over time and new segments may emerge. Moving forward, allocate a small portion of your marketing budget to testing ongoing so that you can make sure you're capitalizing on emerging segments and keeping your audience fresh.

Streamline analysis with MarinOne

If you create strong audience segments and send the right message to each segment, you’re sure to win in performance marketing. With so much data to navigate when analyzing the unique performance of your various market segments, it's best to bring it all together in a powerful tool like MarinOne. MarinOne makes your life easier by enabling you to optimize campaigns in bulk, pivot bidding types on the fly, and get a holistic view of all your paid media campaigns in one place. Start your journey to better market segmentation and great advertising performance with MarinOne today. Our team of experienced marketers is ready to help you achieve your goals.

You’ve likely heard that Google is sunsetting the Expanded Text Ad (ETA) format in favor of Responsive Search Ads (RSAs). It’s Google’s next big push for automation in its advertising platforms. While this may seem like a big change, it’s nothing to worry about as long as you prepare. Luckily, the sunset isn’t happening until June of 2022, and Marin’s industry experts are here to answer some commonly asked questions:

What Exactly Are Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)?

Traditional Google text ads consist of static headlines and descriptions, so advertisers provide specific headlines and descriptions which remain constant within an ad. Google then rotates that version with your other static ad versions according to your campaign settings.

When creating an RSA, you’ll input a variety of different headlines and descriptions. Google and Bing will then rotate through different combinations of assets, serving the combination that seems best based on the demographic data of the person who is searching. The purpose of RSAs is to improve the personalization of search ads through automation. This personalization should lead to improved performance, and eliminate the need for you to run lots of ad copy tests as the engines are basically doing the testing for you.

How Many Headlines and Descriptions Can I Include in an Ad?

You can input at least 3 and no more than 15 potential headlines.

You can input at least 2 and no more than 4 potential descriptions.

The publishers recommend using at least 8 Headline Assets and at least 3 Description Assets.

What Will Happen to My Expanded Text Ads?

You will not be able to create new ETAs. Your current Expanded Text Ads will continue to serve, but you won’t be able to edit them. You can still play, pause, or remove them, but the ad content will be unchangeable. Reporting for your current ETAs should not be impacted in MarinOne or the platforms.

Will I Have Any Control Over Which Headlines and Descriptions Serve?

Yes, you have the option to pin assets to certain positions in the ad. For example, if you have a top performing headline that you’d like to display as Headline 1 every time your ad serves, you can pin that headline to position 1. You can also pin descriptions.

For example, if you pinned “Low Prices” to headline 1, the every time that ad serves, “Low Prices” will be the first thing people see.

But that being said…

Should I Pin My Top Performing Assets to Position 1?

My natural instinct was to pin top performing headlines and descriptions from my ETAs to my RSA positions 1 and 2. However, this often hurts the ad’s quality score, sometimes even knocking a ‘good’ ad down to ‘poor’ quality, therefore limiting its ability to serve in the SERP.

In order to avoid a decrease in quality score while still maintaining control over your ads, Google recommends pinning 2 or 3 headlines and descriptions to each position. This allows Google to rotate those assets, and may prevent decreases in quality score.

For example, if you pinned “low prices” and “shop now” to headline 1, Google will rotate through those options, so every time the ad is served people will see one of the two headlines in position 1.

How Will I Analyze Performance in MarinOne?

MarinOne users are already accustomed to the performance benefits the platform provides for all their search programs, and RSAs will be no different. The digital marketers at Marin have already made changes to help you measure, manage, and optimize your RSAs and are always prepared for future changes from the publishers.

Responsive Search Ads should flow seamlessly into any workflow you currently utilize for analyzing ad performance. These ads will be automatically added to any automated reports just like expanded text ads are.

We have also added two new columns to our creative grids, titled Headline Assets and Description Assets. Select these columns in the column selector to see a list of all headlines and description variations for an RSA.

Note that in the Headline column in the grid, you can see a preview of what your RSA might look like in its completed form. This does not necessarily represent all Headline or Description Assets that have been entered. You will simply see the first three Headline Assets in the order they were entered. This is the same behavior as in the publishers.

You will also see the ads’ creative type listed as Responsive Search, and you can filter for Responsive Search in the Creative Type column if you want to see a readout of performance for RSAs only.

If you export your ads grid into a report, you will see separate columns for each Headline and Description asset, with Headline 1 simply called Headline and the remaining Headlines numbered 2 through 15.

How Will I Bulk Create RSAs in MarinOne?

You can create RSAs in bulk in much the same way you do for other ad types in Marin. To specify the creation of an RSA in a bulksheet, you should include the value Responsive Search in the Creative Type column.

You can edit your RSAs in bulk by including the Creative ID column. To find your creative IDs, simply run a report from the main Creatives grid with the relevant columns included.

When building your bulksheet for either creation or editing of RSAs, you can use the following bulk headers:

• [Headline 1] through [Headline 15]
• [Description Line 1] through [Description Line 4]  
• [Headline Pinned to Position 1]
• [Headline Pinned to Position 2]
• [Headline Pinned to Position 3]
• [Description Pinned to Position 1]
• [Description Pinned to Position 2]

I hope this all eases your mind about the transition from ETAs to RSAs. The idea behind RSAs is basically constant, dynamic AB testing and ad personalization, which sounds great in theory. I expect this shift to lead to improved ad performance and easier management through automation.

The paid search experts at Marin are always eager to help clients, new and old, navigate the ever-changing search landscape. Click here to schedule a demo with us and learn more about what Marin can do for you!

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