X banned in Brazil, GA4's new benchmarking tool, Google’s core update is over, and more…
Happy pre-kend, Digital Darlings,
Google’s got a few new tricks with GA4 features and SEO updates, and X just got the axe in Brazil. The marketing world is nothing if not chaotic, but don’t worry—I’ve got all the juicy details to keep you one step ahead. Let’s dive in, shall we?
GA4’s new benchmarking tool offers competitor comparisons
They say comparison is the thief of joy, but in the cutthroat realm of digital marketing, it’s important to know what you’re up against. GA4’s new benchmarking metrics compare your performance against cohorts of businesses that are similar to yours, called ‘peer groups.’
Once you’ve turned on benchmarking data, you can compare any of your metrics to your peer group’s average and the 25th and 75th percentile. That way, you know which of your numbers are aligned with the market and which need some work. You can find details on how to enable and use the benchmarking feature here. But don’t be too hard on yourself if some of your metrics are a little below average, ok darlings?? Now for some SEO updates…
The Google August core update is complete
After weeks of volatility, SEOers may finally get a moment of peace. The core update ran from August 15th to September 3rd, bringing about typical SERP changes. The update was intended to take into account the negative feedback Google received after the September 2023 Helpful Content Update and remedy some of the unfair negative impacts that the update had on small sites. But according to my sources, the new update didn’t move the needle for most independent sites. The majority saw little to no significant improvement in rankings, so if that’s you, take solace that you’re not alone. Google says to review their page on ‘Creating helpful, people first content’ if you want to improve your rankings.
Also, note that the update caused a ranking bug during its first few days, so you can ignore any fluctuations in traffic that you saw from August 15th to 20th. Now for some Bing updates…
Microsoft Audience Ads just got better
They’re using machine learning to serve our ads to more relevant audiences than ever before and are giving us some new tools, too. Display and video audience ads are getting more bid strategies, better targeting options, and improved conversion tracking. Calls to action and business logos have been added to native ads. And IAS verification has been added so you can confirm that your ads are being viewed by real people in brand-safe environments. Get all the details here. Now, let’s dish about brand exclusions on PMax…
To exclude or not to exclude brand on PMax… That is the question
And @oliviaakory has answers. She summarized her findings from multiple clients who’ve tested it, and the biggest takeaway was - excluding brand terms drove more incremental revenue half the time, and when it did drive more revenue, it won by a landslide. So, you still need to test it to determine if excluding brand is the right move for your business. But here’s a hint: brands with an AOV over $238 saw significantly more revenue when brand terms were included. We’re not sure why, but OP thinks it comes down to data scarcity, saying, “Higher AOVs correlate with higher CACs, which means less data fueling the algorithm.” So, if you have a high average AOV, maybe skip out on brand exclusions for now. Check out Olivia’s thread for detailed recs on how to leverage her findings. In other Google Ads news…
There’s a new Categories tab in Google Ads
The tab appears to pull data from the ‘google_product_category’ attribute and can be found in the Products tab. This handy tab will give you a better idea of which product categories are driving performance and which ones need your attention. It can also help you detect shifts in customer interest by category and will offer actionable recommendations like pausing underperforming categories and boosting top-performing ones. It’s a good one for retailers to check out! However, advertisers speculate that Google may not categorize products correctly, so watch out for that. In my final bit of Google Ads news…
Google’s got a new advanced performance planner for YouTube ads
These new plans should enable advertisers to “better align their full marketing strategy with campaign goals, offering customizable options for budget, ad format, buying method, and campaign objectives.” Sounds good to me! You can choose either an Action Plan which prioritizes conversions or an Awareness Plan which focuses on brand visibility. This feature is super new, but looks like a great way to ensure alignment across campaigns, so give it a try if you run a lot of video ads. Now for some social news…
X is officially banned in Brazil
Oh Elon, you just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Earlier this year, Brazilian officials issued a court order for Musk to ban certain accounts that were spreading misinformation on his platform, which he refused in the name of free speech. So now, no more X for Brazilians. The ban is driving Brazilians to Bluesky, an app that functions quite like X, but is decentralized rather than run by a billionaire. People have already been running in droves from X to Threads lately, and recent data shows that brands’ X usage and ad spend continue to fall dramatically. So we know people are leaving X for Threads, but Bluesky may be a new social media platform to watch as well. In my last bit of social news…
Instagram added a comments feature to stories
Stories are officially the new feed posts. Not much else to say here - just be aware that followers can comment on your stories and make sure to engage with those conversations. You do have the option to disable comments on stories, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We all want any engagement we can get, right?! Another thing to keep in mind is if you use any bots to respond to comments with DMs, they probably won’t work on story comments just yet.
And that’s the scoop for this week, my marketing mavens. Until next week, stay sharp, werk hard, and keep serving looks AND ads.
You know you love me.
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Breaking down ad-tech walled gardens and their impact on digital advertising
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:
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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.
Why won't my PMax campaign spend its full daily budget? And how do I implement Google Consent Mode V2?
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:
- Implement Consent Mode in Google Tags: Update your website’s Google Tags to include CMv2.
- 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.
- 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.
- Work with a CMP (Consent Management Platform): Integrate a CMP that supports CMv2 to manage and communicate consent preferences on your website.
- 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.
Perplexity Gives Marketers An AI Roadmap, Now TikTok’s in Trouble, Google Expands YouTube Marketer Tools, and more…
Happy Friday, my Digital Darlings,
Another week in the digital trenches and I’m here to break it all down for you. Let’s get right into it!
Perplexity's pitch deck offers advertisers a new vision for AI search
Guess who's stepping into the AI spotlight? Perplexity, with a pitch deck that’s turning heads and rewriting the rules of AI search. Advertisers, take note—this isn’t just another tech trend; it’s cutting edge thought leadership. With Perplexity’s fresh vision, you might just find your next campaign strategy within the depths of AI magic. So, are you ready to dive in or will you be left behind in the digital dust?
Pinterest explores publisher partnerships to boost ad sales
Pinterest is cozying up to publishers in a bid to boost ad sales. That’s right, my darlings, the platform known for pretty pins is getting serious about making bank. For digital marketers, this is your invitation to rethink how you use Pinterest. With new partnerships on the horizon, the potential for more targeted, lucrative ad placements is heating up. So, are you ready to pin your hopes on Pinterest, or will you miss out on the next big opportunity? And, finally, in e-commerce news…
40% of Consumers Paid Full Price During Amazon Prime Day, Walmart+ Week
While shopping certainly spiked at Amazon during Prime Week, shoppers weren’t just there for the deals. Turns out, 40% of shoppers didn’t wait for discounts and splurged on full-price items during Amazon Prime Day and Walmart Week. That’s right, even in the age of deal-hunting, luxury spending is alive and well. For digital marketers, this is your cue: the right products and the right moments can still command top dollar.
TikTok must face a lawsuit for recommending the viral ‘blackout challenge’
TikTok is in trouble—again. The infamous Blackout Challenge has sparked another lawsuit, and the appeals court says they can’t hide behind Section 230. For digital marketers, this is a stark reminder: the platforms where you push your content are more than just engagement goldmines; they're legal minefields too. As courts crack down on dangerous trends, your brand’s safety and ethics strategy needs to be sharper than ever.
Google removes Auction Insights from Looker Studio
If you’ve felt like something’s missing from your Looker dashboards lately, it’s probably because Auction Insights have disappeared. The tool you relied on to peek into your competition’s bidding strategies is gone. Why does it matter? Well, without this inside scoop, your digital campaigns might feel like navigating the Met steps blindfolded. You’ll have to work extra hard to stay ahead of the competition now. So, marketers, it's time to adapt or risk being left in the dust. In other Google news…
Google introduces YouTube creator-based audience targeting
Google’s rolling out a new way to target audiences, and this time, it’s all about those YouTube creators. With creator-based audience targeting, your ads can now zero in on fans of specific influencers. For digital marketers, this means one thing: precision. If you play your cards right, your campaigns could hit just the right note with the perfect crowd.
Well that’s a wrap, my Digital Darlings. As we dive into the weekend, let these insights fuel your strategies and sharpen your campaigns. Remember, in the ever-changing world of digital marketing, staying ahead means staying informed and adaptable. Whether it’s navigating new tools from Google, leveraging AI, or keeping a close eye on privacy regulations, the digital landscape is always evolving. Keep your eyes on the prize and your strategies on point. Until next week—keep slaying those campaigns!
You know you love me…
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The future of Google Ads match types: what marketers need to know
Google Ads continues to push the boundaries of automation and machine learning in how it handles keyword match types. The latest updates suggest a future where traditional match types may become obsolete. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the current state of Google Ads match types, explore the recent changes, and discuss how these developments point to a future where intent-based matching and AI take center stage.
A quick look back: the evolution of match types
Google Ads match types have undergone a series of changes over the years. Here's a brief recap (for the history buffs…):
- 2002: Google Ads launched with Exact Match and Phrase Match, offering advertisers control over when their ads would appear based on user queries.
- 2006: Broad Match was introduced, expanding the reach of ads to include synonyms and related terms, but also increasing the potential for irrelevant matches.
- 2010: Modified Broad Match was introduced, giving advertisers more control than Broad Match by requiring specific terms to be included in the search query.
- 2014-2017: Google began allowing "close variants" for Exact Match and Phrase Match, loosening the definition of an exact match to capture more relevant traffic.
- 2021: Modified Broad Match was phased out, with its functionality integrated into Phrase Match, signaling Google’s push toward greater automation.
While these historical changes have shaped the current landscape, recent updates suggest that Google Ads is moving towards a future where traditional keyword match types may no longer be necessary.
The latest updates: moving toward search themes and intent-based matching
In 2024, Google announced several updates that have stirred the digital marketing community. These changes signal a significant shift in how Google approaches search query matching and keyword management.
Increased reliance on Broad Match
Broad Match is already positioned as the go-to match type, particularly when paired with smart bidding strategies. Google’s improvements to Broad Match, including better brand controls and negative matching, suggest this trend will continue. Advertisers will likely rely more on Broad Match as it becomes more effective at capturing relevant traffic.
Brand inclusions and exclusions: refining Broad Match
Another significant update is the introduction of brand inclusions and exclusions. Advertisers can now specify brands they want to include or exclude from their campaigns, allowing for more precise control over which searches trigger their ads. This feature works in tandem with Broad Match, enabling advertisers to leverage the expansive reach of Broad Match while still maintaining some level of control over brand-related queries.
This change reflects Google's ongoing effort to balance automation with advertiser control, particularly as it encourages broader adoption of Broad Match combined with smart bidding strategies.
Increased reliance on Performance Max
As AI becomes the norm, it’s no secret that Google is pushing Performance Max campaigns, which don’t have traditional keywords. These campaigns could automatically manage all aspects of intent matching, bidding, and audience targeting, requiring minimal input from the advertiser.
Improved negative matching
Historically, one of the challenges with Broad Match was the need to manage extensive lists of negative keywords to prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant searches. Google’s latest update includes improvements to negative keyword matching, allowing for better exclusion of misspellings and close variants. This enhancement reduces the need for advertisers to constantly update their negative keyword lists, making campaign management more efficient.
Why are these changes happening?
The direction Google is taking with these updates is clear: they are moving towards a more automated, intent-based system where the nuances of traditional keyword management are handled by machine learning algorithms. This evolution is driven by several factors:
User intent over keywords
Search behavior has evolved. Users no longer type in simple, straightforward queries but rather use complex, multi-word phrases that convey specific intent. Google’s shift towards search themes is a response to this change, aiming to match ads more closely with the user’s intent rather than the exact words they use.
AI and automation
Google is heavily investing in AI and machine learning to drive better ad performance. By automating the matching process, Google can optimize ad delivery based on vast amounts of data far beyond what a human could manage manually.
Streamlining campaign management
As the complexity of digital advertising grows, so does the need for tools that simplify campaign management. By reducing the need for advertisers to micromanage match types and keywords, Google is making it easier for marketers to focus on strategy and creative development rather than the minutiae of keyword management.
What does this mean for the future?
It’s likely that Google will continue to phase out traditional keyword match types in favor of more automated, intent-based systems. Here are some predictions for what we might see over the next few years:
The removal of traditional match types
As Google continues to refine its AI and machine learning algorithms, traditional match types like Exact Match and Phrase Match may become obsolete. Instead, we’ll see a greater emphasis on search themes and intent-based matching, where the system interprets user queries and matches them to the most relevant ads without relying on predefined match types.
Search themes: the next evolution of keywords
Google is moving towards a model where keywords are grouped into "search themes." This approach focuses on user intent rather than the specific words they type into the search bar. Instead of managing multiple match types, advertisers may soon be managing themes that capture the broad intent behind searches.
For example, instead of bidding on the exact phrase "car insurance" or relying on Broad Match to capture related terms, advertisers could focus on a theme like "vehicle protection." This theme would encompass various related searches, including "car insurance," "auto coverage," and "vehicle protection plans," all under one umbrella.
This shift indicates that Google is prioritizing intent over exact phrasing, which aligns with the broader trend of AI-driven automation in digital marketing.
New metrics and reporting tools
As match types evolve, so will the metrics and reporting tools available to advertisers. We may see new ways of measuring campaign performance that focus on user intent and engagement rather than traditional keyword metrics. Google might introduce new dashboards that provide insights into search themes and how they correlate with campaign outcomes. It’s possible that we need to adopt upper funnel metrics to truly understand the impact of Google ads on the customer journey.
How to Prepare for the Future
For advertisers, the key to navigating these changes is to embrace automation while maintaining a strategic approach to campaign management. Here are a few steps you can take to prepare:
Test Broad Match with Smart Bidding
If you haven’t already, experiment with Broad Match combined with Smart Bidding strategies. Monitor performance and adjust your approach based on the results.
Focus on intent
Begin shifting your keyword strategy towards intent-based themes rather than focusing solely on specific keywords. Consider how your target audience searches for your products or services and group keywords into broader themes that capture that intent.
Review auto-apply settings
With Google pushing more automation, it’s essential to regularly review your auto-apply settings. Ensure any automated changes align with your campaign goals and adjust as needed.
Monitor reporting changes
Stay informed about changes to Google Ads reporting tools. As match types evolve, the way data is presented may change, so it’s crucial to understand how these changes impact your ability to measure performance.
In conclusion...
Google Ads is heading towards a more automated, intent-driven model where traditional keyword match types may no longer be relevant. By staying ahead of these trends and embracing Google's new tools and strategies, advertisers can continue to drive successful campaigns in this rapidly changing environment. And as we bid farewell to the days of meticulously managing match types, we might just find that the future—powered by AI and automation—is not so scary after all.
Google and AI are in the hot seat again, Meta finds a work-around, and more…
Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,
It seems like all eyes have been on the DNC this week, but there’s plenty of other news brewing in the tech world, and I’m here to spill the tea. It’s hotter than your first PSL of the season, so let’s get into it!
Google to face trial over Chrome’s data collection
Every week it seems like Google is caught in the crossfire of another major legal drama. This week, it’s Chrome under the judicial microscope. The tech giant must now face the music as a federal appeals court just hit rewind on a previous dismissal, reviving a class action lawsuit that accuses Google of sneakily collecting user data through Chrome without consent–I, for one, am shocked! The juicy details? Allegedly, Chrome’s “sync” feature wasn’t as harmless as it seemed, with plaintiffs claiming Google snagged their browsing history, IP addresses, and more, all while playing coy with privacy disclosures. But don’t worry, darlings, the case is headed back to the lower courts, where the real showdown is just beginning. Also sending in their lawyers is one of the darlings of AI...
Anthropic is accused of flouting copyright laws
Looks like Anthropic may have been naughty and is facing a lawsuit over some IP theft allegations. Allegedly, the chatbot has been trained on pirated versions of copyrighted work and the findings have plaintiffs claiming that the company has “made a mockery of its lofty goals”. Ouch. It’s yet to be seen if this sends shockwaves through the world of digital marketing, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on if AI's a key part of your content strategy. The risks of relying on these tools might be bigger than you thought, and this drama could reshape how we use AI in marketing. And actions like this certainly don’t help to assuage the strong fears that Fortune 500 companies have over AI in the workplace. The concerns over the future of AI and companies have flagged it as a risk factor 473.5% more this year than last. The U.S.’s biggest and most powerful businesses have started to see how the promise of AI can quickly go awry and are keeping a close eye on it. Enough about generative, and onto conversational AI…
30% of Gen Z use voice search for shopping every week
Voice search has long been popular with Millennials, but Gen Z is getting in on the action. New findings released this week by PYMNTS found that Gen Z uses it for nearly a third of their purchases. As Millennials and Gen Z become increasingly important audiences, it’s time for digital marketers to make sure they’re keeping up with this important trend. Jake The Marketing Wizard has some tips on how you can capitalize on this trend and make sure your site ranks in voice searches, including putting a commonly asked question in your h2 tag and answering that question in one, concise sentence in your h3 tag. His content is great and is worth a follow, but I’ll definitely keep tabs on this trend for you as well. In exciting social news…
Snapchat improves their Lead Gen Ads and adds a Zapier integration
Snapchat’s shaking things up with fresh updates to its ad tools and creative options, making it easier to craft engaging, targeted campaigns. For digital marketers, this is your chance to get more bang for your buck on the platform, especially with these new tools designed to boost ad performance. If you’ve been sleeping on Snapchat, it’s time to wake up and take advantage of these shiny new features. But Snap certainly isn’t the only social platform to keep an eye on.
TikTok ad growth still going strong in the EU despite U.S. slow down
The latest buzz around TikTok is a mixed bag, and digital marketers need to listen up. While TikTok’s growth in the EU is holding steady, its ad spend growth in the U.S. is slowing down as the threat of a ban looms large. This could shake up your ad strategies, darlings, as the platform’s future becomes more uncertain. If TikTok’s your go-to, it might be time to diversify your playbook. Stay savvy—because in this game, adaptation is everything.
Meta deploys new web crawlers that bypass scraping blocks
Meta’s up to something big with new web crawlers that can dance around traditional scraping blocks, even bypassing the trusty robots.txt file. For digital marketers, this means Meta may be collecting even more data than before, which could supercharge ad targeting but also raise some serious privacy eyebrows. If you're in the game, keep an eye on how this could shift the digital landscape. We’ll see how this plays out, but I’m intrigued to see the next play the blockers make to ensure that some things on the interwebs remain sacred.
And that’s a wrap on this week’s deluge of digital developments. From the courts getting super involved in tech to AI always moving the goalposts, there’s no shortage of intrigue. Keep your strategies sharp and your eyes peeled as we navigate this ever-evolving landscape. Make sure to give your furry friends some extra love on International Dog Day on Monday and I’ll see you next Friday, my Darlings…
You know you love me.
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Still planning and managing your performance advertising spend with spreadsheets? Try this instead.
We’re not calculating CPC bids manually anymore on Google and Meta…there are just too many signals and performance changes too quickly to keep up. So why are many brands and agencies still using manual, spreadsheet-driven approaches to manage their performance advertising spend? This is a problem because planning in spreadsheets has a few fundamental challenges:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66c4bfd795bfc9577fd888ca_AD_4nXfQKqbSXhJUDITlRqUMT2E4l9_xAF2tzHK0mB35mFQgSUIRFmCeuMrtrhOilbBT8q3d22TKzcCTR-Lkqmz0faw4SyBKsg7ChEeSUM-7YwXhPYtxuBCspFMlujpLdC9yAJygsdPeDVreeIjiQtYcXUh3LtYV.png)
- Fragmentation: With the rise of new social media channels like TikTok and Reddit, brands and agencies are working across more ad platforms than ever. Pulling all this data together is essential for making good decisions, but often, the data is siloed, and the manual process of unifying it is tedious and time-consuming.
- Forecasting: Estimating spend based on the number of remaining days in the month isn’t enough to drive optimal results. You need AI-powered forecasts that understand diminishing returns, seasonality, and other external factors.
- Frequency: Adjusting your spend allocation and budgets quarterly, monthly, or weekly isn’t enough to capitalize on trends in the fast-moving, competitive media landscape.
Brands and their agencies can and should do better than spreadsheets to get the best return from their marketing investment.
Marin built a better way
Our goal is simple: we help you sell more with less effort. We built an optimization suite that understands the potential of each of your campaigns across ad platforms and automatically manages your spend allocation. The result is better performance and time savings for your team, whether you are a brand or an agency.
Flexible Setup with Simple Goals
Marin’s optimization is based on Strategies, which are groups of campaigns that share a common goal, such as ROAS, CPA, or spend. Strategies can span ad platforms and include any number of campaigns. For example, if you have specific budgets and/or ROAS targets for different lines of business, all the campaigns associated with each line of business would be grouped into their own Strategy. That way, Marin’s AI can manage them in unison since they’re all working toward the same goal.
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Powerful AI-based Forecasts
To optimize your budget allocation, you need to understand each campaign's incremental contribution to your overall goal. If you just reference past performance, you’re ignoring diminishing returns, seasonality, and other factors that may affect future performance. You’re basically driving forward while looking in the rearview mirror.
Marin’s powerful AI synthesizes publisher forecasts with proprietary models to simulate the future potential of each campaign.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66c4bfd76b5adaf4111ad222_AD_4nXfmHW6TwWs0lCxDtkkM_EvoxlmJIoCWBR9vz-sFMMT8GLxK1o1kShtHj0UbsmKeq2qylqan-xn53T8ANEiqqepuvndESpLfSqmHx1xlublqipMi-nffBLJRl_uO-G-mdVM2Jk4TdhLNOkk3w_m0U4EnMW9B.gif)
Before and After Allocation
Marin summarizes the change in your allocation before and after implementing our recommendations. Once you turn on our recommendations, Marin will automatically adjust your campaigns’ daily budgets, efficiency targets, and, where needed, the CPCs for all the keywords in the Strategy.
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Automated Pacing
Sleep soundly knowing that Marin is constantly monitoring your strategies and making adjustments to ensure you get the best results based on the strategy targets. Our Strategy Dashboard summarizes performance against plan, and if there are any issues, our team of experts will help guide you through how to address them.
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Real-world Results
Fusion92, an agency client of Marin’s, used Ascend to increase conversions by 10% while dramatically improving budget compliance and saving time.
“Making mistakes with our client's budget isn’t something we can afford,” said Tom Hammond, VP of SEM & e-commerce at Fuision92. With Marin, we’ve automated budget management, saving us 15 hours of manual work weekly and improving performance for our client’s campaigns.”
Click here to read their success story.
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Better Results, Made Easy
If you’re a marketer looking for more growth and a better return on your marketing spend, it’s time to move beyond spreadsheets. Interested in learning more? Check out our upcoming live product tour, or click here to talk to our team.
How do I tell new clients that it takes time to see results with Meta Ads? And speaking of Meta, what are incremental conversions, and should I optimize toward them?
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.
Meta drives (audience) inflation, Google's forced breakup, shopping Amazon on TikTok, and more...
Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,
Another week, another digital drama manifesto from yours truly. Google’s monopoly could be on the chopping block as the Department of Justice weighs a breakup and Meta’s in hot water over allegedly inflating audience metrics. Meanwhile, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt blames remote work for Google’s AI woes, and Snapchat is simplifying ad management for a smoother ride. Let’s get into it.
The Department of Justice may force a Google breakup
My dear readers are all aware that Google was found guilty of monopolizing the internet search market last week. The US government is now discussing various potential routes to break up the monopoly. One option is to break Google apart so that Chrome, Android OS, Search, etc., will all become separate business entities. They’re also considering making Google share their data with competitors or abandon the agreement with Apple that makes it the default search engine on iPhones. There will be a hearing to discuss the next steps on September 6th, so you already know that this week's edition of TWiD is gonna be wild. Meanwhile, Meta is facing a legal battle of their own…
Advertisers are suing Meta over inflated audience metrics
Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, Meta will face a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all US advertisers who have used Ads Manager or Power Editor to buy ads on Facebook or Instagram since August 2014… so like, all of my readers, I’m guessing. The battle started in 2018 when a business owner filed a complaint saying, "Facebook induced advertisers to purchase more ads, and pay more for them, by overstating the number of users who might see the ads.” So basically, they were inflating audience sizes… I’m shocked!! I’ll keep my dear readers updated on the potential impacts if Meta is found guilty. Now, back to more Google Drama…
Ex-Google CEO blames remote work for Google’s AI Issues
During a speech at Stanford, he claimed, “Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning, and the reason startups work is because the people work like hell,” so that’s why, in his opinion, Google is losing the AI race to the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI. Saying that with your whole chest to a group of college students in the middle of a student mental health crisis is… bold. But it’s sparked a fascinating debate on LinkedIn. Is it realistic to expect a massive, established company to have the grindset of a new startup? Also, isn’t encouraging workaholism a little… outdated? He backtracked the next day, saying he “misspoke about Google and their work hours” and “regrets the error,” so it sounds like the PR team got to him. Now, let’s cover the Google Ads API update…
No more 24-hour waiting period for Google Ads conversion adjustments
In the past, we’ve had to wait 24 hours after a conversion occurred to upload conversion data adjustments, which was a hassle for Google Ads API users. Starting September 9th, we’ll be able to upload conversion data adjustments as soon as the conversion is recorded. This update should “streamline the conversion adjustment process, potentially leading to more timely and accurate campaign data for advertisers.” You may need to take a few steps ahead of the update, like removing any logic that enforces waiting periods for adjustment uploads from your API calls. Check out this article for a full list of tips and tricks. Now for a bit of AI news…
This tool can tell you if an article was written by AI
Grammarly is launching a new tool called Authorship that can detect if a document was written by AI and even detect which parts of the document are AI-written. So, if you use AI to draft marketing content, edit it to have a human voice. You can even run this new Grammarly tool on your own documents before publishing them to make sure they won’t fail the ‘humanity’ test. This is coming the same week that WaPo reported that even advanced AI-detection tools can’t suss out deepfakes. Maybe Grammarly can get on solving that problem for humanity, too! Now, let’s chat about eCom…
TikTok users can shop Amazon Ads without leaving the App
Shopaholics, rejoice! All it takes is a quick, one-time setup to link your TikTok and Amazon accounts. Then, whenever an Amazon ad pops up on your For You Page (FYP), you can buy the featured products with just a few clicks. You can even see real-time pricing, Prime status, and delivery estimates for each product. For eCom advertisers, I can’t stress the value of these Amazon + TikTok Ads enough. Simply research the influence of TikTok shop, and you’ll understand how readily people spend money on that app. In other eCom news…
Prime Day is the one sale to rule them all
Before Prime Day, we discussed how retailers like Target and Best Buy attempted to jump on the summer sale bandwagon, running their promotions during or around Prime Day. Turns out they were unsuccessful at taking any significant chunk of that promotional market share. According to a report from Earnest Analytics, “over 80% of shoppers who made purchases during the recent spate of sales only bought items at Amazon.” The ‘zon has us all trained!! Nothing hits quite like that seamless purchasing experience and near-instant Prime delivery, so I get it. So, dear readers, keep this in mind next year. Running ads on Walmart or Target during the summer sale season can’t hurt, but Amazon is where you should focus your energy. And now for a bit of social ad news…
Snapchat streamlined ad objectives for easier management
Advertisers used to have to sort through 12 different options when setting objectives, but now Snap has narrowed it down to just 5 easy-to-use, goal-oriented options. The options are Awareness and Engagement, Traffic, Leads, App Promotion, and Sales. You can learn more about them here. These changes will be rolled out sometime between now and September, and old objectives will be phased out in mid-September. So, if you’re running ads on Snapchat, be sure to update your ad objectives in early September, or they’ll be updated for you.
And that’s a wrap on this week’s deluge of digital developments. From Google’s potential breakup to Amazon’s eCom domination, there’s no shortage of intrigue. Keep your strategies sharp and your eyes peeled as we navigate this ever-evolving landscape. Until next week, Darlings…
You know you love me.
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Don’t miss a thing with performance alerts to Slack
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.
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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.
Meet Advisor: Your new AI-powered teammate
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.
Google ruled monopolist, RIP Smart Campaigns, Prime Video > Netflix for advertisers, and more….
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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Should I target multiple countries with one campaign or separate them? And is it possible for me to oversegment my ad groups?
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!
The Google Antitrust Ruling - A Landmark Decision and Its Implications
What was the Issue?
The United States Department of Justice, alongside several state Attorneys General, filed a lawsuit against Google in late 2020, accusing the tech giant of maintaining a monopoly in the general search services and search text advertising markets. 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. This practice allegedly stifled competition by preventing rivals from gaining the scale needed to compete effectively.
Tell me about the ruling…
After an extensive trial that began in September 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled this week that Google is indeed a monopolist in the general search services market. The Court found that Google's distribution agreements were exclusive and had anticompetitive effects. Specifically, these agreements foreclosed a substantial market share to rivals and reduced incentives to invest and innovate. They allowed Google to charge “supracompetitive” prices (i.e., higher than the market) for search text advertisements. However, the Court did not find that Google held monopoly power in the broader search advertising market or that Google's actions involving its advertising platform, SA360, violated antitrust laws.
So, what’s next?
The ruling marks a significant step in the ongoing efforts to regulate and address monopolistic practices in the tech industry. Moving forward, Google may face structural changes to its business practices, particularly concerning its distribution agreements. The Court's decision may increase regulatory scrutiny and inspire similar antitrust actions against other tech giants. For competitors in the search and advertising markets, this ruling could open opportunities to challenge Google's dominance and innovate in ways previously hampered by Google's market control. The potential remedies that the Court could impose will take a while to go into effect, but could include:
Revision or Termination of Exclusive Agreements: The court may require Google to revise or terminate its exclusive default search agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers. This change would open the market to other search engine providers, thus immediately leveling the playing field by allowing competitors like Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others to negotiate for default placement or at least gain easier access to these critical distribution channels.
Mandatory Data Sharing: Google could be mandated to share specific user data with competitors to reduce the barrier to entry for developing competitive search engines. This would help rivals build and improve their search algorithms more effectively. Competitors could enhance the quality of their search results, thereby increasing user satisfaction and adoption over time.
Structural Separation: A more drastic measure could separate Google’s search business from other ventures, such as advertising or browser development. This would ensure that Google's search operations are not unduly influenced by its other business interests. This could fundamentally reorganize Google’s business structure, potentially slowing its ability to integrate services seamlessly but promoting fair competition.
Behavioral Remedies: The court might impose behavioral remedies, such as prohibiting Google from engaging in certain business practices deemed anticompetitive. These could include restrictions on how Google bundles its services or its ability to enter into exclusive contracts. These restrictions would force Google to compete more fairly based on the quality of its services rather than on strategic business maneuvers.
Regular Monitoring and Reporting: The court could establish a regulatory body or require regular audits to ensure Google complies with the new rules and to monitor its market behavior. Continuous oversight would ensure long-term compliance and deter Google from reverting to anti-competitive practices.
Timeline for Impact
Of course, Google has already announced its plans to appeal, but here are some potential phases:
Immediate Impact (0-6 months) Initial Compliance and Transition: Google must comply with the court's orders, which may include terminating or revising current agreements and initiating data-sharing protocols. This phase will involve legal adjustments and could lead to short-term disruptions in Google’s business processes.
Short-Term Impact (6-12 months) Market Adjustments and Competitor Movements: Competitors will begin to negotiate for placements and increased visibility. Google will likely adjust its marketing and business strategies to maintain its market position within the new regulatory framework. Changes in default search engines on devices and browsers may become noticeable.
Medium-Term Impact (1-2 years) Increased Competition and Innovation: With fewer barriers to entry and more equitable market conditions, competitors can innovate and improve their offerings. This period will likely see increased competition in the search market, with consumers benefiting from better search options and lower advertising costs.
Long-Term Impact (2+ years) Market Stabilization and New Equilibrium: The market will stabilize as new competitors establish themselves and Google adapts to the new competitive landscape. If structural separation occurs, Google’s business operations will fundamentally shift, impacting its market strategies across its various services. The search and digital advertising markets will likely be more competitive and diverse.
The court's ruling against Google sets the stage for potentially significant changes in the digital search and advertising markets. Potential remedies could aim to dismantle Google's monopolistic hold and foster a more competitive environment. While the immediate impacts will revolve around compliance and adjustment, the medium to long-term effects may lead to increased innovation and competition, benefiting consumers and advertisers alike. The timeline for any of these impacts will vary, but the overall goal will be to ensure a fairer, more open market.
What do I need to do?
In light of this ruling, the importance of independent platforms like Marin becomes even more pronounced. Marin offers a publisher-agnostic solution with a unified interface to manage, report, and optimize marketing efforts across all major platforms, including Google, Amazon, Meta, and LinkedIn. We have already seen an increase in the number of ad platforms advertisers need to manage. This ruling will likely strengthen the non-Google options, making them more important to your business.
Relying exclusively on Google’s tools will increasingly hinder advertisers. Here’s why an independent platform like Marin is a better option.
- Independence: Unlike Google’s SA360, Marin is not tied to any single publisher. This independence ensures that your data and marketing strategies are not influenced by the vested interests of a single platform, providing unbiased insights and recommendations.
- Comprehensive Data Integration: Marin connects all your marketing accounts to a unified data model, enabling closed-loop measurement and including offline and online conversion data. This holistic view is crucial for making informed decisions and optimizing performance across all channels.
- Advanced AI-Powered Tools: Marin's platform leverages AI to automatically identify optimization opportunities, forecast trends, and allocate budgets more effectively. This technological edge ensures that your campaigns always perform at their best, regardless of market conditions.
- Customization and Flexibility: With a single API and powerful scripting tools, Marin allows for extensive customization to meet the unique needs of your agency or business. This flexibility ensures that you can adapt quickly to changes in the digital marketing landscape without being constrained by the limitations of a single provider.
- Enhanced Reporting and Automation: Marin simplifies client reporting with customizable dashboards and automated alerts, ensuring you never miss meaningful performance changes. This level of automation and detail helps you stay proactive rather than reactive.
As the digital marketing ecosystem evolves, an independent and powerful platform like Marin is essential for maintaining a competitive edge. The recent ruling against Google underscores the need for alternatives that provide transparency, flexibility, and comprehensive control over your marketing efforts.
GEO is the new SEO, Precision marketing is the new performance marketing, Google’s competition is heating up, and more…
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.
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Maximize sales during back-to-school season with Google, Amazon, and social media advertising
The back-to-school season is upon us, and for retailers, it represents a golden opportunity. As the second-largest shopping event of the year, back-to-school shopping provides a crucial chance for brands to boost their profitability. Americans spent a staggering $135.5 billion on back-to-school and back-to-college shopping in 2023, and this figure is projected to skyrocket to $189.7 billion by 2028. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to help digital marketers leverage Google Ads, Amazon Ads, and paid social to make the most of this peak period.
Google Ads' influence on back-to-school season
Google Ads is an essential tool for reaching parents and students as they search for school supplies, apparel, and tech gadgets. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Best practices for Google Ads
- Keyword optimization
- Why it matters: Targeting the right seasonal keywords ensures your ads appear in relevant searches, capturing the intent of potential buyers.
- Example: A retailer selling backpacks might target keywords like “best school backpacks,” “durable backpacks for students,” and “back-to-school backpack sale.” By using specific and long-tail keywords, the retailer can attract shoppers looking for particular features and deals.
- Ad extensions
- Why it matters: Ad extensions provide additional, more detailed information and increase the click-through rate (CTR) of your ads.
- Example: A stationery store could use site link extensions to direct users to product categories like “notebooks,” “pens,” and “planners.” Callout extensions can highlight promotions such as “Buy One Get One Free” or “20% off on orders over $50.”
- Seasonal campaigns
- Why it matters: Tailoring your campaigns to the back-to-school season can increase relevance and urgency.
- Example: A clothing retailer might create a campaign with ads featuring headlines like “Back-to-School Fashion Sale – Up to 50% Off!” and update ad copy to reflect the time-limited nature of the offers.
Quick wins for Google Ads
- Remarketing campaigns
- Why it matters: An ad featuring a back-to-school sale may push users who have shown interest in your brand over the conversion threshold.
- Example: A sporting goods store could target users who viewed sports shoes but didn’t purchase, showing them ads with a special discount or highlighting customer reviews to encourage a purchase.
- Local inventory ads
- Why it matters: These ads showcase inventory available at nearby stores, driving foot traffic and buy online, pick up in-store sales.
- Example: A big-box retailer could use Local Inventory Ads to let parents know that school supplies like calculators and binders are in stock at their local store, encouraging immediate visits.
- YouTube ads
- Why it matters: Video ads capture the attention of younger audiences who heavily influence their parents’ back-to-school purchasing decisions.
- Example: A tech retailer could create a YouTube campaign showcasing the latest laptops and gadgets for students, highlighting features that make studying and homework easier.
Leveraging Amazon Ads for back-to-school success
Amazon is the go-to spot for back-to-school shopping, making Amazon Ads a crucial part of your strategy. Here’s how to maximize your reach and sales on Amazon.
Best practices for Amazon Ads
- Product targeting
- Why it matters: Product targeting showcases your products on similar product pages, capturing shoppers who are comparing options.
- Example: A backpack brand could serve targeted ads on a competitor’s product page, presenting their backpack as a better option with more desirable features or pricing.
- Sponsored Brand
- Why it matters: Sponsored Brand campaigns increase visibility and drive brand awareness by showcasing multiple products.
- Example: A stationery brand could create a Sponsored Brand ad featuring their best-selling notebooks, pens, and planners, driving traffic to their Amazon Store.
- Amazon Stores
- Why it matters: Amazon Stores provide a branded and structured shopping experience, helping to increase engagement and sales.
- Example: An apparel retailer could design an Amazon Store with sections for “Boys’ Back-to-School Fashion,” “Girls’ Essentials,” and “Uniforms,” making it easy for parents to shop by category.
- A+ Content
- Why it matters: Enhanced content helps convert browsers into buyers by providing detailed product information and visuals.
- Example: A tech brand selling laptops could use A+ Content to showcase product features, compare models, and feature testimonials.
Quick wins for Amazon Ads
- Deal of the Day and Lightning Deals
- Why it matters: Time-sensitive promotions create urgency and drive sales spikes.
- Example: A supplier of school supplies could run a Lightning Deal on a popular item like a planner or a backpack, attracting budget-conscious shoppers looking for discounts.
- Enhanced Brand Content
- Why it matters: Engaging product pages with videos and detailed descriptions can differentiate your products from competitors.
- Example: A shoe retailer could use Enhanced Brand Content to add videos demonstrating the durability and comfort of their back-to-school shoes, persuading parents to choose their brand.
- Sponsored Display Ads
- Why it matters: These ads help re-engage shoppers who have shown interest in your brand but haven’t made a purchase.
- Example: A retailer selling dorm essentials could target shoppers who viewed their products but didn’t buy, reminding them of the items and offering a small discount to close the sale.
Supercharging your strategy with social media ads
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are indispensable tools for capturing the attention of back-to-school shoppers. Here’s how to make the most of these platforms.
Best practices for Facebook and Instagram ads
- Audience targeting
- Why it matters: Precise targeting ensures your ads reach the right people, increasing ad relevance and engagement.
- Example: A clothing retailer could target parents of school-aged children and teenagers with interests in fashion and back-to-school shopping.
- Dynamic Ads
- Why it matters: Dynamic Ads automatically choose relevant products to promote to users based on their interests and browsing behavior.
- Example: An electronics store could use Dynamic Ads to display different laptop models to users who have browsed tech products on their website.
- Carousel Ads
- Why it matters: Carousel ads showcase multiple products or features within a single ad unit.
- Example: A stationery brand could create a carousel ad highlighting different back-to-school essentials like notebooks, pens, and backpacks, making it easy for users to browse options.
Quick wins for Facebook and Instagram ads
- Instagram Stories Ads
- Why it matters: Stories are an engaging format with high interaction rates.
- Example: A fashion retailer could create short, compelling video ads showcasing back-to-school outfits, encouraging users to swipe up to shop.
- Lookalike Audiences
- Why it matters: Lookalike audiences help you find new potential customers who resemble your existing customers.
- Example: A retailer could create a lookalike audience based on last year's back-to-school shoppers, ensuring ads reach people likely to be interested in similar products.
- User-Generated Content (UGC)
- Why it matters: UGC builds trust and authenticity, making your brand more relatable.
- Example: A brand could encourage customers to share photos of their back-to-school purchases on social media with a specific hashtag, then feature the photos in their ads.
Best practices for TikTok Ads
- Creative content
- Why it matters: TikTok users respond well to authentic, engaging, and entertaining content.
- Example: A retailer could create fun, relatable videos featuring students getting ready for the school year with their products, using popular TikTok trends and trending audio.
- Hashtag challenges
- Why it matters: Hashtag challenges can boost visibility and encourage engagement.
- Example: A stationery brand could launch a back-to-school challenge encouraging users to share videos of their unique and creative school supply setup using a branded hashtag.
- In-Feed Ads
- Why it matters: In-feed ads blend seamlessly with organic content, making them less intrusive.
- Example: An apparel retailer could use in-feed ads to show off their new back-to-school fashion line with a call-to-action to shop now.
Quick wins for TikTok Ads
- Influencer Partnerships
- Why it matters: Influencers can help you reach a wider audience with authentic endorsements.
- Example: A tech brand could collaborate with a popular college-aged influencer to review and demonstrate the latest gadgets for school, driving interest and sales.
- Branded effects
- Why It Matters: Branded effects allow users to interact with your brand in a fun and creative way.
- Example: A backpack company could create a branded effect that lets users visualize how different backpacks would look on them, making the shopping experience interactive.
- Bite-sized tutorials
- Why it matters: Short, informative videos can effectively highlight product features and benefits.
- Example: A retailer could create quick tutorials on organizing school supplies or tips for first-day outfits, making the content both useful and engaging.
Overlooked techniques to improve performance
- Cross-Channel Integration
- Why it matters: Consistent messaging and promotions across channels create a seamless shopping experience.
- Example: A retailer could coordinate Google Ads, Amazon Ads, and social media ads to promote the same back-to-school sale, using similar visuals and slogans to increase brand recall.
- Customer reviews
- Why it matters: Positive reviews significantly impact purchasing decisions, especially for parents looking for quality products for their children.
- Example: Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on popular items. Highlight these reviews in your ads to build credibility and attract new customers.
- Competitor analysis
- Why it matters: Understanding your competitors’ strategies can help you identify opportunities to stand out.
- Example: Use tools like Google Ads Auction Insights and Amazon’s Brand Analytics to see where your competitors are advertising and what keywords they’re targeting. Adjust your strategy to fill gaps.
How Marin can help
With Marin, you can manage and optimize digital advertising campaigns across Google Ads, Amazon Ads, and social media, all within a single platform. Marin simplifies campaign setup, keyword management, and product targeting, helping you reach the right audience and optimize ad placements across publishers.
- Bidding and budget optimization tools automate bid adjustments based on performance metrics, ensuring you get the most out of your ad spend.
- Advanced analytics and custom reports offer actionable insights into performance, allowing you to make data-driven decisions and refine your strategies.
- Managing Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok ads alongside your Google and Amazon campaigns ensures a cohesive strategy and helps you optimize creative content.
- Automated workflows and performance alerts streamline your workday, saving time and improving efficiency.
Our Final Thoughts
With back-to-school spending expected to reach record highs this year, there’s no better time to fine-tune your advertising strategies. By leveraging Google Ads, Amazon Ads, and social media ads, you can reach your target audience, drive traffic to your store (both online and offline), and increase conversions. Implement these best practices, quick wins, and overlooked techniques to ensure you make the most of this lucrative shopping event. Happy selling!
How to build a custom chatbot in ChatGPT
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.
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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:
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It’ll give you a set of instructions to customize your bot.
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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.
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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.
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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’:
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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!
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66aa6935c3e4ee3f5d47ccf7_66aa68dcb70f8e7db1289621_copylink-66aa68cf8a8d4.webp)
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!
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66aa6935c3e4ee3f5d47ccfa_66aa691577f8a5c401ee6c59_gptimage7-66aa690672165.webp)
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.
Marin Software Renews Revenue Share Agreement with Google: Expanding Innovation and Choice in Paid Search Management
We are thrilled to announce that Marin Software has renewed its revenue share agreement with Google for another three years. This agreement underscores our commitment to fostering innovation and providing advertisers with unparalleled tools for managing and optimizing their paid search campaigns.
Under this agreement, Google will continue to make revenue payments to Marin based on the total paid search spend managed through our platform across Google and other search publishers. This partnership enables us to advance the Marin platform, ensuring it meets the evolving needs of the world’s leading search advertisers.
Innovative Product Enhancements
Since our last agreement, we have made significant advancements to our product to give advertisers the tools they need to sell more with less effort. Upgrades to Marin include:
- Expanded Platform Integrations: As the performance landscape has grown increasingly fragmented, we have integrated support for TikTok, Snap, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter), allowing our users to engage with the billions of monthly active users across these platforms.
- Ascend Budget Management: Advertisers can maximize the performance of their programs across ad platforms with automated spend allocation and pacing. Advanced forecasting combines publisher simulations with proprietary models to ensure optimal return on investment. Marin provides a real-time snapshot of campaign performance against budgets with flexible pacing charts.
- Enhanced Support for Performance Max Campaigns: As ad platforms continue to evolve, Marin works hard to ensure users have access to the latest ad formats, targeting options, and other tools.
- Marketing Calendar: Marin's Marketing Calendar analyzes the impact of promotions and other key events. Our forecasting predicts the impact of upcoming events based on historical performance.
- Comprehensive Amazon Advertising Options: Marin now supports Amazon TV advertising and Spotlight Ads, empowering advertisers to tap into Amazon’s vast audience with high-impact ad formats.
- Improved Data Management and Visualization: Our analytics grids are more powerful than ever, allowing users to roll up data without needing pivot tables. We also make getting data into Google Sheets easier with our Sheets Extension.
Looking Ahead
Our goal with Marin remains steadfast: to complement publisher tools and empower advertisers to analyze, automate, and optimize their digital marketing campaigns more effectively.
As the digital marketing landscape evolves, Marin Software is well-positioned to help our customers achieve faster growth and maximize the return on their marketing investments. We are excited about the future and remain committed to delivering value and driving results for our clients.
Onward!
Chris Lien
Cookies are staying in Chrome, Goo.gl links are dying, Bing got #blocked by Reddit, and more…
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a3dfdd61183f091de6e824_65aad272e68691d5c8a2c51c_unnamed.png)
AI for Precision Marketers: Tips to Improve Performance and Streamline Workflows
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13c3fe4aece8cee7ed620_gptlibrary-66a13c3076af1.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13cd198586dc4deec6838_docprompt-66a13cbeae4f5.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13d7237c6fc4fda5f19e5_aiformarketers-66a13d643cd75.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13dcdc5a62685a7ccee1a_targetdresses-66a13dc0ae862.webp)
These options are too long and generic, so I asked chatGPT to shorten them and use trendier language. Here’s what I got:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13e157877e445d0460729_targetshorter-66a13e0a8100f.webp)
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. The ChatGPT Plus even has a handful of GPTs explicitly designed for this purpose:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13e684e62bb20961a37cf_socialgpts-66a13e5c4894c.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13eb17ef1f6ba16d46030_socialcal-66a13ea659bf1.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13ef3811cc7c10a02f50f_socialcustom-66a13ee75cbd8.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13f4e2de37e727943342d_googlevbing-66a13f4153338.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13f8b393b4086bd1a6e92_metadlib-66a13f7e75970.webp)
I’m using Target as an example. This search returns every ad Target has posted within a given date range that you can update:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13fc42c18de8bf390f993_targetsocials-66a13fb77727e.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a13ff8f73ca4ed99232799_targetoverview-66a13feab9f79.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a1403f1d7855a418288d16_shoedazzle-66a1403373e43.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a14096b636bf36a86b861f_socialman-66a140897d74c.webp)
ChatGPT’s initial response was quite long for a comment, so I requested a shorter version and got this:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a140c9df596fd3afdbebdc_shortpricing-66a140bd8230b.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a1412aca8a7b7e768715a7_datainput-66a1411cc673b.webp)
And here is the result:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/66a14153b8d831d557976752_dataoutput-66a141475340e.webp)
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.
Are Google Demand Gen campaigns worth testing for eCommerce advertisers? Why is my GA4 audience so much smaller when I import it into Google Ads?
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!
App store makeovers, Google Maps scams, hidden GA4 reports and more…
Happy Friday, Digital Darlings,
How was your Prime Day? Did you score some delicious deals? I know I did.
While you’re recovering from your digital shopping spree (and hopefully not experiencing too much buyer’s remorse) allow me to pull you back down to reality with this week’s digital marketing digest. And hopefully next week I’ll have some post-Prime Day tea to share. I’ll kick it off with an app store update.
Apple’s new App Store layout has better ad visibility
The search suggestions and top charts have been replaced by suggested apps and ads now appear at the top of that suggested apps list, right below the search bar. Since ads now appear at the top of the page, Apple Search Ads (ASA) advertisers can expect to see better click-through rates for their App Install ads. So, my dear ASA advertisers, keep an eye out for a lift in performance over the next few weeks! And speaking of things to keep an eye out for…
Watch out for the Google Maps pin scam
Let this be a warning to any of my readers who have brick-and-mortar locations – apparently competitors can move your Google Maps pin to the wrong location using the ‘suggest an edit’ feature. When the pin is moved to a different location, Google Maps thinks the store closed or changed, and this can tank your Google Business Profile rankings. What’s worse, Google doesn’t notify businesses when their pin is moved, so you may not even notice it happened. And you cannot simply go in and reposition your pin to the correct location, because that often results in Google Business Profile suspension. It’s so weird to me that making simple changes to your own Google Business Profile can trigger suspension, but Google allows any random user not associated with your account to make changes to your business’s listed location for you… WTF.
If this happens to you, the best path forward is to log into Google using an email address that’s not associated with your Google Business Profile and change your business’s location back to the right spot. In other Google news…
This hidden tool reveals discrepancies between GA4 and Google Ads
There’s a concealed report in GA4 called ‘Key Event Differences’. You can access it by adding “/advertising/key-event-differences” to the end of your GA4 property URL. Ooooh, I love secrets!!
The report breaks down the percentage difference between Google Ads reported conversions and GA4 reported conversions for each of your key events. I’m intrigued by the fact that it’s hidden – perhaps Google is testing it out and will add it to GA4 as an official report soon? Or, even better, they’ll fix the issues that cause data discrepancies between the two platforms in the first place… For now, you can see a step-by-step guide to accessing the report here. Now, an update for my dear SEOs…
Buckle up SEOs, another core update is coming
Google Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, said to expect another core update in the next few weeks. We don’t know exactly when, but SEOs can start bracing for volatility. As far as the goal of this core update… we don’t know that either. But Sullivan did say "I do hope we can improve in some of these cases where creators with their hearts in the right places, and who are doing the real content effort behind that, are rewarded as we should be doing." So fingers crossed the update makes things better for niche sites, not worse. In other search news…
OpenAI is building a search product
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was ‘Readying a Search Product to Rival Google, Perplexity.’ They said “the feature would allow users to ask ChatGPT a question and receive answers that use details from the web with citations to sources such as Wikipedia entries and blog posts.” But not much has been heard about it since. That is, until late last week when the CEO of The Atlantic shared in an interview that he’s letting OpenAI train their search product on The Atlantic’s data. Could this be the Google rival we’ve all been waiting for? Only time will tell. Now for some Amazon updates…
Amazon launched their AI shopping assistant, Rufus
Just in time for Prime Day! I must say, launching a new feature days before your biggest sale of the year is… confident. But I’m all for AI-assisted shopping as long as it helps me buy better products and get better deals. Rufus’s LLM is trained on Amazon’s product catalog and can answer questions about products, offer comparisons and alternatives, share fashion trends and more. Sounds cute! Try him out if you’re still doing some post-Prime Day shopping. Now, some good news for Amazon non-endemic advertisers…
Amazon is testing lead gen ads for non-endemic advertisers
The new lead gen ads, currently in beta, enable advertisers to retarget shoppers who have shown interest in their brand while they shop on Amazon, browse IMDB, and stream on Twitch. In the ads, customers can sign up to receive more information about the brand or product without being directed to another site, so users already considering your brand can get more info without disrupting their shopping or browsing experience. This ad format sounds great for businesses with long consideration and information-gathering sales cycles like travel agencies. It could even be good for B2B. B2B ads on Amazon?! I thought I’d never see the day, but I’m excited to test it out.
That’s it for this week, darlings. Until next week, stay cute, stay strategic, and enjoy your Prime Day spoils as packages begin to trickle in over the weekend. We’ll talk next Friday. Same time, same place?
You know you love me.
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Broad match is the new exact match, Snap deemed the best paid social platform, Amazon Sponsored TV coming to the UK, and more…
Hey there, Digital Darlings,
Between the 4th of July Holiday in the US and the rollercoaster elections in the UK and France, I know my dear readers are currently trying to bounce back after a wild week. Allow me to help by summarizing the latest digital drama…
Broad match is enabled by default for new search campaigns
When you create a new search campaign, you’ll see a ‘broad match keywords’ setting on by default. With this setting enabled, all the keywords in your campaign will be set to broad match. For now, we still have the option to toggle it off and choose the match type for each keyword. But with Google’s push for more automated, AI-driven campaign management, many are wondering if this is the first step toward getting rid of match types all together. I’ll keep you updated. For now, if you choose not to opt out of campaign-wide broad match targeting, make sure you have sufficient negative keywords in place to avoid wasted spend. In other Google news…
Google dropped a tCPA Insight Box for Demand Gen campaigns
The box helps advertisers understand if current CPA is in the expected range, displays weekly CPA averages, forecasts conversions, and more. They released a similar feature for shopping and PMAX campaigns last week, so it seems like Google’s taking initiative to help advertisers understand more about how their Smart Bidding campaigns are doing. Transparency has not historically been Google’s strong suit, so I’d say these insight boxes, while not particularly actionable, are a step in the right direction. And in my last bit of Google Ads news…
New chrome extension simplifies Enhanced Conversions setup
Google created a Chrome extension called EC Assist that helps advertisers identify issues with the Enhanced Conversions setup on their site. Simply install the extension and run a test on your site. EC Assist will identify issues with your setup and offer next steps to resolve them. If you’re using Google Ads conversion data as your source of truth and optimization goal, having Enhanced Conversions installed properly is essential, so I’d definitely recommend trying out this extension. Now for some Microsoft news…
Microsoft released AI-powered asset generation for video and display ads
This new feature could certainly streamline the campaign creation process if the AI-generated creative assets are actually good! The process is super simple; advertisers input the ad’s landing page URL and Microsoft's AI generates video assets for the ad. Marketers can then edit and refine the assets if AI doesn’t get it right the first time (let's be honest - it rarely does). I have doubts about how well the tool actually works, but I respect Microsoft for trying to position itself as a leader in AI advertising. Next, let’s catch up on some SEO drama…
Google Search Console Performance Reports finally caught up
Last week I informed my dear readers that the reports were delayed by over 52 hours, so just an update the the issue was resolved on July 5th. I know that this issue was interfering with a lot of SEOs end-of-month reporting, so I just wanted to give you the green light. Report away! In AI SEO news…
Google is pulling pack on AI Overviews
We all know the initial launch of AIOs didn’t go smoothly. But it was worse than just bad press - the rollout actually led to a significant drop in search volume, particularly on mobile. This drop in usage prompted Google to scale back on AIOs and address some of the issues users had with them. AIOs now appear less frequently and cite more sources when they do appear. I know a lot of us were frantic to learn how to SEO our way into AIOs, but with this scale back, we’ve got a bit more time to figure that out. Now for some ecom updates…
Amazon is expanding Sponsored TV ads to the UK
Following a successful US launch, Amazon is rolling out Sponsored TV in the UK, enabling UK advertisers to reach audiences on streaming platforms like Prime Video, Freevee, and Twitch. As someone who’s currently watching Mr. Robot on Prime Video, I’m annoyed because these ads are disrupting my viewing experience. And annoyance driving negative brand consideration is definitely a factor you should consider when testing this new ad type. That said, tons of US advertisers have seen success with these streaming ads, so it’s worth testing if you’re an ecom marketer in the UK. Now let’s dish about social…
Is Snap the best place to spend social ad dollars?
Recent data shows that while Meta and TikTok are favored by advertisers, Snap is actually the most cost-effective social ad channel. Inversely, Reddit is the most expensive, with an average cost per order of $158.96. Now, of course it makes sense that the most popular platforms would be more expensive - there’s more competition for ad space, and Meta and TikTok can simply get away with charging more thanks to their audience’s perceived value. But if you’re a paid social manager, maybe it’s time to allocate some more money to Snap and see where that takes your brand. And in my final bit of social news…
TikTok Shop launched the £1 Million Club to help new merchants grow
This new club offers tons of benefits to new merchants; up to 90 days of commission-free sales, free product storage and fulfillment, priority seller support, and dedicated promotion to get brands more exposure through ad campaigns and creator support. Those are some major perks! So if you’re a small business in the UK looking to grow on TikTok, I’d recommend filling out their interest form.
And that’s the scoop, my savvy marketers! From Google’s AI drama to new ad innovations, the digital world is buzzing. Until next time, keep your strategies sharper than a fresh set of acrylics. 💅
You know you love me. 💋
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Do I have to use Max Clicks first, then Max Conversions bidding for my Google Ads campaigns? Why did performance get worse when I increased budget?
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.
Get ready for Prime Day, Apple’s 30% ad fee, bad news for Google’s privacy sandbox, and more…
Hey there, Digital Darlings,
Everyone’s busy celebrating our nation’s birth, so this week was a bit quieter than usual when it comes to news. But drama never truly stops and Maddie Marinsider never misses, so I’m still gonna keep you in the loop. Firstly, I want to make sure all my cute little Amazon advertisers are prepared for Prime Day.
My alter ego wrote a Prime Day prep guide
If you run ads on Amazon and plan to take advantage of the upcoming shopping frenzy, it’s time to launch your Prime Day campaigns. The big day is officially happening July 16-17, which is a mere two weeks away, so it’s go time. And if you’re looking to do a little Prime Day shopping yourself, start adding your desired products to your carts and wishlists now. The pre-Prime Day deals have already started! One particularly good strategy is to…
Dominate Amazon top-of-search with Sponsored Products + Sponsored Brand
This strategy can be pricey, but it’s a great way to own the search results above the fold for your highest priority ASINs. The goal is to get your Sponsored Brand ad serving at the top of the page, and your Sponsored Product ads serving in the top three spots so that your brand and products are all users see when they first return results for your target keywords. If you’re ready to try out some more advanced Amazon bidding tactics, this blog’s for you. In other ecommerce sale news…
Tons of other retailers are competing with Prime Day
Target’s trying to hold its own against the Prime Day boom with Circle Week, a week of promotions available to all members of its free loyalty program. From July 7-13, Target will be offering tons of deals on toys, apparel, home goods, and more. Walmart is also running a July savings event called Walmart Deals from July 8-11. Other companies like Doordash and Best Buy are running summer deals as well. So if you sell on any of those sites, it may be time to scale up ad spend. And if you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on some pricey purchases, keep your eye out for discounts this month. Now for a bit of social news…
Apple expanded their 30% fee on Meta ads globally
They’ve been charging this fee to US advertisers since February, and now they're going global with it. As of July 1st, any Facebook or Instagram ad purchase made through an iOS app anywhere in the world will see a 30% service fee. It can be avoided by doing all your ad buying on a web browser, which I assume is how most of us work anyways. But the workflow to boost a post right on your iPhone is pretty seamless, so don’t let that get you. Meta proactively updated its web platforms to offer the same boosting functionality as its mobile apps. This fee is kinda rude of Apple, IMO, and even the government is mad about it. US and EU officials say that the fee is ‘anti-competitive’ and gives Apple an unfair advantage. And they’re right! Now for some Google news…
Google Search Console reports are delayed over 53 hours
It’s pretty common for these reports to be delayed, but since a lot of people are doing end-of-month reporting right now, I wanted to call it out. Google confirmed the issue on X yesterday, saying they’ll post again when it’s resolved. So keep an eye on Google Search Central’s X account for updates. In other not-so-great Google news…
‘Grim outlook’ predicted for Google’s Privacy Sandbox
IAB Tech Lab’s Privacy Sandbox Task Force was assembled to study the implementation of Google’s new data privacy solution. In their final report, they noted that the “Privacy Sandbox will restrict the digital media industry's ability to deliver relevant, effective advertising, placing smaller media companies and brands at significant risk. The lack of functionality will throttle their ability to compete, ultimately impacting the industry’s growth.” Oof.
They ran a test with Criteo and concluded that if third-party cookies were deprecated today, Criteo would expect publisher revenue to decrease by an average of 60%. Yikes! Unfortunate news, but considering the regulatory challenges Google is facing, I’m not sure how this can be avoided. They keep pushing back cookie deprecation, but it has to happen eventually… right? All us advertisers can do is take advantage of our first party data and prepare our tracking set up for the impending third-party cookie deprecation. Now for some SEO tips…
Here’s 7 platforms SEOs need to optimize for beyond Google
People are turning to channels other than search to find the info they need, and SEOs need to adapt. This detailed guide from Search Engine Land does a great job of breaking down each new platform we need to optimize for and what our next steps should be. I consider this required reading for any SEOer, so take notes! There will be a quiz next week…
And that’s a wrap for this week’s marketing digest. Enjoy some summer sun this weekend and come back refreshed and ready to tackle the digital domain.
You know you love me.
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Supercharge your Reddit Ads with Marin
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.
How Amazon Advertisers Can Prepare for Prime Day
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.
TikTok’s Insta Dupe, Updates to query matching for Google Ads, RIP Universal Analytics, and more…
Hey there, Digital Darlings,
Ready for your weekly dose of digital drama? Google Ads is shaking things up with major updates, and TikTok is launching an Instagram dupe called ‘Whee.’ Let’s dive into all the juicy details.
Google Ads announced major updates to search query matching
They’ve been improving their AI-powered broad match capabilities over the past six months, which led to a 10% improvement in broad match performance for advertisers that use smart bidding. Now, they’re making updates to query matching and brand controls to help brands benefit further from broad match.
The first is a new recommendation for brand inclusions in broad match campaigns. When using brand inclusions, your ads will only serve for queries that include brand names you’ve selected. For example, if you were bidding on the broad match term “clothing” and had a brand inclusion for ‘Target’, your ads would only match to ‘clothing’ queries that included ‘Target’ or brand-related terms. Target’s loyalty club is called Circle 360, so the brand inclusion would allow ads to serve on a search for ‘Circle 360 clothes’.
They’re also rolling out brand exclusions across all match types and DSAs over the coming months, giving advertisers even more control over brand spend. If you’re confused about the difference between brand inclusions, brand exclusions, and negative keywords, this chart cleared things up for me.
Google also improved the search terms report by associating misspelled queries with their correctly spelled counterparts. 9% of the search terms previously appearing under the ‘other’ category due to misspellings are now visible. They’ve applied the same logic to negative keywords, too – rather than needing to add all the misspelled variations of a keyword as negatives, those variations will now be excluded when you exclude just the one properly spelled keyword. Nice! In other Google Ads news…
Google added a tROAS insight box for PMAX and Shopping campaigns
This insight box helps advertisers understand if their actual ROAS is within the expected range relative to their target. It charts actual ROAS for the campaign over time, and indicates whether performance is on track. Of course, ROAS will vary day-to-day, but this chart, shared by @thomaseccel on X, should make it easier to understand the big picture of how your campaigns are doing. Check it out for yourself. Now, let's chat about Google Analytics…
Universal Analytics dies July 1st
This is your final warning! Transition to GA4 now or face Google’s wrath (they’re literally going to delete all your data). If you haven’t made the switch yet, do it today. Here’s Google’s guide to transitioning to GA4. If you still want to have access to your old UA data, make sure to download or export it by the end of the week. In other Google Analytics news..
Five new features are coming to GA4
The first new feature is that users will be able to import third-party ad data from Pinterest, Reddit, and Snap and it’ll be included in the cross-channel performance report. Second is a new cross-channel budgeting feature that’ll help advertisers track budget pacing and projected performance against a revenue or conversion target. The third is that GA4 will start importing impression data from LinkedIn Ads. GA4 is also getting an AI bot that will identify patterns in your data and explain them in simple terms. And lastly, GA4 will start supporting Chrome Privacy Sandbox APIs later this year. Those are some big updates, so keep an eye out for them! Now for some SEO news…
Google’s continuous scroll is no more
Searchers can no longer scroll through an endless flow of search results. We’re going back to the old-school pagination bar at the footer of the SERP. Google said they're doing this to improve page load times, which is fair. But it could have a negative impact on site traffic if you’re ranking on page 2 of the SERP. You may see less clicks now that users have to take an extra step to get to that second page. In other SEO news…
Search Engine Journal revealed how Google ranks content
Data scientists analyzed over 260,000 search results to get to the bottom of how Google ranks content. The biggest takeaway? Topic authority is the biggest on-page ranking factor, and domain traffic is the main way authority is measured. The scientists also found that since the March core update, Google places more emphasis on user experience, and particularly on site-load speed. There are TONS of other great insights for SEOers here, so give this article a read. Now let’s talk about something other than Google…
TikTok launched ‘Whee’, an Instagram dupe
TikTok wants to beat Meta soooo bad, but it’s just not happening. With Instagram maintaining its place as the most downloaded app in Q1 (that said, TikTok is still #1 when it comes to consumer spending), TikTok decided to build their own photo-sharing app. It’s positioned as a platform for sharing photos with only your closest friends, which is smart since non-influencer Insta users seem to post mostly on their ‘close friends’ stories anyways, and there’s been a push for authenticity on social media lately. The app isn’t available in the US yet, so we’ll have to wait and see if we get a chance to try it out or if TikTok gets banned. Speaking of Insta…
Google now shows Instagram posts in search results
Can’t say the same for TikToks… Instagram posts now appear in the ‘Perspectives’ tab of Google. Does this mean SEOers will start trying to gamify their brand’s Instagram captions? I’ve honestly never used that ‘perspectives’ tab, so I’m not sure how relevant this actually is… only time will tell. In my final bit of Meta news…
Meta is rolling out automatic creative testing for Reels
They’re calling it ‘Auto A/B testing’. This AI-powered feature automatically experiments with different variations of your content to determine which performs best. It’ll test versions of your Reel with various captions, cover images and more and then distribute the top performer for you. It’s built for business pages and is currently in the testing phase. Sounds handy! Sure, go ahead and do my job for me, Meta.
And that's a wrap, my dears! From Google’s updates to TikTok’s latest attempt to rival Instagram, the digital world is buzzing with excitement. Until next week, stay sharp, stay savvy, and keep reading.
You know you love me. 💋
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How to get your Amazon Ads to the top of the search results page
The top-of-search position is prime real estate for Amazon advertisers. Brands can significantly increase their exposure to potential customers by securing this coveted placement with strategic use of Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brand campaigns.
For example, check out Kitchen in the Box, who are dominating the top-of-search for terms like ‘handheld kitchen mixer’ and ‘wireless kitchen mixer’ with a sponsored brand ad at the top of the page immediately followed by multiple sponsored product ads. Nice!
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667f24047a0a43928874a251_topofserp-667f23f1cccc6.webp)
Effective top-of-search dominance captures the interest of shoppers who are ready to make a purchase, driving higher click-through rates, conversions, and, ultimately, sales. Additionally, consistent top-of-search visibility reinforces brand recognition and trust, encouraging repeat purchases and customer loyalty.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to dominating the SERP for your key terms, broken out by campaign type.
Optimizing Sponsored Products Campaigns
Follow these steps to get your sponsored products ads in the top three placements on the search results page.
First, determine if you’d like to use automatic or manual targeting – or a combination of the two. When a campaign is set to automatic targeting, Amazon automatically matches your ads to relevant queries. With manual targeting, you’ll choose the keywords and products you wish to target with ads and set your bids. Manual targeting offers you more control over your campaigns, but automatic targeting is easier to set up. You can find more details on automatic vs. manual targeting here.
Here’s what to do next based on the type of targeting you choose.
Campaigns using automatic targeting
- Gather data: Launch your campaign and gather data on which search terms perform well.
- Adjust bids by placement: In your campaign’s settings, adjust your bids by placement. To dominate the top ad positions, increase the bid multiplier for "Top of Search (first page)" to a high percentage (e.g., 100%—300%).
Campaigns using manual targeting
- Do keyword research: Analyze your search terms report to identify high-performing terms and add them to your campaign as target keywords. If you’re running a combination of manual and automatic campaigns, you can identify the keywords that perform best for your automatic campaigns and add those as target keywords to your manual campaigns.
- Focus on Exact Match keywords: Bid mainly or exclusively on Exact Match keywords.
- Adjust Top of Search placement bids: In your campaign’s settings, adjust your bids by placement. To dominate the top ad positions, increase the bid multiplier for "Top of Search (first page)" to a high percentage (e.g., 100%—300%).
- Enable Bid+: Ensure "Bid+" is enabled to allow Amazon to increase your bids for top-of-search placements up to 50% higher when the algorithm determines it will increase the chance of conversion.
- Allocate spend: Ensure you have sufficient budget allocated to these campaigns to maintain top-of-search visibility throughout the day.
With manual campaigns, you can target keywords, products, and categories. You can learn more about your targeting options here. Here are the changes you should make for each type of targeting:
Keyword targeting
- Adjust bids dynamically: Use Amazon's dynamic bidding strategies such as "Dynamic bids – up and down" to automatically increase your bids for placements more likely to convert.
Product Targeting
- Target competitor ASINs: Identify competitor products that are frequently bought together with or as alternatives to your product. Use product targeting to place your ads on their product detail pages.
- Target complementary products: Target ASINs of products that complement yours. For example, if you sell phone cases, target cell phones that fit in your cases.
- Your ASINs: Target your own ASINs to cross-promote products. This can help you dominate the ad space on your product detail pages, keeping customers within your brand ecosystem and increasing the chances of upselling or cross-selling.
Category Targeting
- Target Relevant Categories: Target specific categories related to your products to increase the chances of your ads appearing on relevant product detail pages.
Now that your sponsored products campaigns are optimized for top-of-search, let’s get your sponsored brand ads up to the top, too.
Optimizing Sponsored Brand Campaigns
There are two main levers to pull here - optimizing your brand bidding strategies and optimizing your product collection ads. Here are the details for each.
Bidding optimizations
- Focus on the right keywords: Bid on your own brand keywords and high-converting competitor keywords to capture top-of-search placements.
- Adjust Bids by Placement: In your campaign’s settings, adjust your bids by placement. To dominate the top ad positions, increase the bid multiplier for "Top of Search (first page)" to a high percentage (e.g., 100%—300%).
Product collection ad optimizations
- Feature complementary products: Create product collection ads featuring complementary products. This can be especially effective if you target product detail pages of complementary ASINs, offering shoppers a complete set of products.
- Reinforce your brand: Use these ads to reinforce your brand presence on your own product detail pages, showcasing a range of products and cross-selling.
- Update Creative: Design compelling and relevant ad creatives with strong calls-to-action and engaging visuals.
- Target top keywords: Similar to Sponsored Products, target high-value exact match keywords.
- Target top of search: Focus on ad placements that appear at the top of search results.
Now that you understand the different levers to pull based on your campaign type and targeting settings, here are some tips for managing your budgets.
Budgeting tips
- Increase both daily and lifetime budgets: Set competitive daily and lifetime budgets to avoid running out of budget early in the day.
- Enable performance-based budget rules: Amazon allows you to set rules that increase your campaign budgets only when your campaigns meet a certain performance threshold, such as an ACOS, CTR, or CVR goal. Learn more here.
Advanced Tips
Here are some additional tips to increase your chances of dominating the top-of-search for Amazon Ads.
- A/B Testing: Run A/B tests on different ad creatives, headlines, and keywords to identify which combinations yield the best top-of-search results.
- Seasonal Adjustments: During high-traffic events like Prime Day, significantly increase your bids and budgets to capture more top-of-search placements.
- Negative Keywords: Use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant search terms and focus your budget on high-performing, relevant keywords.
- Negative Product Targeting: Exclude ASINs or categories that do not perform well to optimize your ad spend.
- Complimentary + competitor targeting: Simultaneously target complementary product ASINs and competitor ASINs to maximize visibility and cross-selling opportunities.
- Enhanced Brand Content (EBC): Create Enhanced Brand Content or A+ Content for your product listings. This can improve your product's attractiveness and conversion rates, indirectly leading to better ad performance.
- Reviews and Ratings: Implement strategies to encourage customers to leave reviews, such as follow-up emails and customer feedback requests. High ratings and positive reviews can improve your ad’s performance.
- Manage Negative Feedback: Quickly address negative feedback to maintain a high overall rating, which can positively impact your ad placements.
- Promote Subscriptions: Activate the Subscribe & Save feature to encourage repeat purchases. This can improve your product’s rankings and visibility over time.
- Leverage Video Ads: Use Sponsored Brand Video ads to capture attention with engaging content. Video ads often have higher click-through rates and drive more conversions.
In a crowded marketplace like Amazon where search rankings and visibility heavily influence consumer behavior, dominating the top-of-search share makes a big difference. It transforms your brand from just another option to the preferred choice for many shoppers. This strategic positioning boosts immediate sales and builds a robust foundation for sustained growth and market leadership. These tips are all you need to gain that dominance, so go get it!
To learn more about how Marin can manage your Amazon bids for you and all our other great features for retail marketers, click here.
Five ways to amplify your reach with Walmart Connect
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667aea60ece114d8cc3dd85f_searchingrid-667aea4bc90db.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667aeab23f16228486e6b49a_carousel-667aea9ea92b7.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667aeb168840b63063f469b9_buybox-667aeb03c844e.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667aeb6c1dd9111e51e44b40_sponsoredbrands-667aeb576de4b.webp)
Native banner ads
When you use native banner ads, Walmart Connect showcases your products in a banner format atop product category pages. For instance, if you sell women’s apparel on walmart.com, your native banner ad might be featured at the top of the "women’s clothing" section. While native banner ads are a superb method to enhance brand visibility for your business, these ads are not self-serve. You must reach out to the Walmart Connect team to launch these campaigns.
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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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/667aee9306008ad6538bc452_catapult-667aee83ae512.webp)
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.
Commerce media at Cannes, New Meta AI business tools, Elon’s apology, and more…
Happy Pre-kend, My Digital Darlings,
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is happening right now and they didn’t invite me. How rude! Don’t they know about Maddie Marinsider, the greatest digital marketing mind of the modern world?!?! Now I have to get updates from the festival from news articles and blogs like a normie… sigh. But nevertheless, I’ll share with you, dear readers, the biggest bits of digital news I’ve seen from the festival so far.
Commerce media networks are making a bigger play than ever before
As we’ve discussed in past editions, everyone is building an ad network – from Chase Bank to United Airlines. Both of those companies showed up to Cannes Lions to shake some hands and pitch advertisers on their new networks. Commerce media networks had more presence at the event than ever before, pitching deals and hosting parties for some of the advertising world's biggest players. It’s certainly good news for the future of retail media. So if you’re currently working in the industry… keep doing what you’re doing. Also at Cannes Lions…
Meta unveiled new AI-Powered tools for businesses
Three new features were announced. The first is an AI chatbot that businesses can use to converse with their customers. The bot can auto-respond to chats started by customers via click-to-chat ads or the ‘send message’ button on the company Facebook page. For example, a clothing retailer’s chatbot could discuss things like sizing and return policy with interested Meta users. Users will always have the option to request a human agent and customer success employees can take over the AI- powered convo at any time. So hopefully this feature can take some work off your support team’s plate.
The next new feature is Marketing Messages AKA ads in Facebook Messenger. Soon, advertisers will be able to use Ads Manager to send ads to users via Messenger. This one sounds a little annoying from a user perspective, but you can always opt out of contact from a brand. And for brands, it's a great way to automatically engage in conversation with users. Users can respond to your in-messenger ads and chat with an AI-powered chatbot to get answers to any questions.
The final announcement was the new Threads API. Threads is rapidly gaining market share from X and Meta knows it. They're launching an API so businesses and creators can more easily manage their presences on the platform. Via the API, creators will be able to publish posts, engage with replies, and pull reporting data such as views and likes. This sounds like the first step toward Threads becoming an ad platform, so stay tuned. In other Cannes Lions news...
Elon kinda apologized for telling advertisers to “go f**ck yourself”
Remember back in November 2023 when Elon told advertisers who were boycotting the platform due to hate speech to “go f**ck themselves”? Well, he backtracked on this statement during his session on Friday, saying the remark “wasn't to advertisers as a whole. It was with respect to freedom of speech.” He then doubled down, saying “we're going to support free speech rather than agree to be censored for money." This statement was seen as an attempt to win back ad dollars for X. Is this an attempt in making it a more ad safe platform? Stay tuned…
That’s enough Cannes Lions drama for now. Maybe they’ll get more attention from me next year if they invite me… Now let’s dish about Meta’s ad testing updates.
Meta phases out dynamic creative, removes CTA button testing
Meta is phasing out dynamic creatives that let advertisers submit multiple creative assets for an ad set that Meta mixes and matches in an attempt to get the best possible ad engagement, kinda like Responsive Search Ads. They replaced it with something called “Flexible Ad Format” which does almost the same thing. There are two noteworthy differences – first, the variations are controlled within the ad, whereas with dynamic creative the assets ran across the entire ad set. Second, you can’t include multiple CTA options with Flexible Ad Format. If you want to test CTAs moving forward, you’ll have to create an A/B test. Why would they do this? Hopefully it’s just an oversight that'll be resolved soon. I love my CTA variations. Now let’s dish about Disney…
Disney makes streaming ads more accessible to big companies
Disney+ is an active fighter in the streaming ads war, which has gotten more intense since Amazon Prime and Netflix entered the field. Now, they’re trying to make their ads more accessible to ‘mid-tier advertisers’ – Advertisers with budgets between $30 million and $300 million. Kinda wild that that’s considered ‘mid-market ad spend’, but Disney has traditionally only worked with massive advertisers.
They are expanding the accessibility of their BridgeID in hopes of bringing in more ‘mid-market’ customers that they think have ‘tons of room for growth’. Their BridgeID is what the platform uses for tracking and targeting in the cookieless world. It’s historically only been accessible via The Trade Desk, but now it’s accessible through Experian’s LUID, LiveRamp’s RampID, and Yahoo’s ConnectID too. So if you’re in that budget range and use one of those identifiers, consider expanding to Disney+. Now, time for some Amazon updates…
New Audiences Available in Amazon Marketing Cloud
If you use Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), you probably know that the ad-attributed data sets are free to access, but a paid Amazon Insights subscription grants you access to a goldmine of additional audience data. The subscription historically granted you access to unique audience insights (called Audience Segment Insights) and full organic data sets (called Flexible Shopping Insights). But on Monday, Amazon made those Insights accessible to everyone! This means that anyone who uses AMC can create an audience from those highly valuable data sets. Check out this article to understand the different insights and why creating audiences from them could vastly improve your ad targeting. Now for a bit of Google news…
Google Ads phasing out credit card payments
Apparently Google has seen cards decline one too many times. If you’re a “high-growth spender” (not entirely sure what that means), you should have received a notification that you must stop paying via credit or debit and switch to either monthly invoicing or direct debit by the end of July. If that’s you, make the switch by July 31st or risk account suspension. Google said this will provide “flexibility” and “control” for high growth spenders… sounds like they just don’t want to pay credit card processing fees anymore, but ok. In another bit of Google news…
Google added some new features to the DV360 API
The first new addition is keyword targeting. Advertisers can now pull and manage keyword lists via the API, making keyword analysis and management easier. The second is a new “optimizationObjective” field that was added to the InsertionOrder resource. This is only available for select advertisers, but it allows those lucky few to set optimization goals via API, making Google’s programmatic advertising more customizable at scale. Lastly, let's sync up about Reddit ads…
New Reddit conversation ads just dropped
The new and improved conversation ads are larger and appear between comments in users’ Reddit feed, making them look more native to the platform. For example, an ad for mascara would appear on r/makeup in a thread about mascara, right in between the comments. Reddit continues to emphasize the power of authentic conversations in the modern digital landscape, but is this really authentic? Like, I know an ad when I see one. Regardless, Reddit is looking more and more like the next big ad platform, so it’s time to test it out if you haven’t already.
And that’s all the juicy gossip from Cannes Lions and beyond. From Meta’s new AI tools to the rise of commerce media networks, it’s clear that the digital marketing world never sleeps. Until next week, keep winning the digital game.
You know you love me.
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Google Ads gets a makeover, Everyone's making a media network, Reddit thinks it’s a retailer, and more…
Welcome back, My Digital Darlings,
Ready to dish? We’ve got lots to chat about. Google Ads is getting a makeover, new media networks are popping up everywhere I turn, and Reddit thinks it’s a shopping haven. Let’s dive into the drama!
SEO takeaways from Google’s session at SMX Advanced
Google’s director of product management for search shared lots of SEO insights during her keynote. She said not to get bogged down with the details of trying to game the SERP and just focus on creating helpful content that answers people’s queries… I’ve heard that one before. She also clarified why the March core update took so long, what led to the 45% reduction in unhelpful content, how Google defines low quality content, and more. A lot of her responses were a bit generic and she refused to comment on the recent content API documentation leak, but I still recommend SEOers review the key takeaways. Speaking of core updates…
Google Ads is getting a makeover
The platform is upgrading to a new, more organized design. Updates include a new left-side navigation menu that segments the platform into 5 categories - campaigns, goals, tools, billing and admin. There’s also now a search bar at the top so users can quickly find the tools they need, and the new UI is more ‘modern’ looking… basically, she’s cuter. Users can expect to see the changes starting August 30th. They’ve actually been testing the new design for about a year now, so you may not experience any changes. But if you’re still using the old UI, it’s time to say goodbye. And in other Google news…
Google dropped a new ‘AI Essentials’ guide
It details how the Google tag and consent mode work together to adjust tracking behavior based on the level of consent each user provides. According to Google, they work together to “provide in-depth website analytics while respecting user privacy preferences.” Sounds like the best of both worlds, right? The article provides a step-by-step guide to getting started with the Google tag + consent mode. So if your tracking is in need of an upgrade for the cookieless world, check it out. And in other media news...
Media network mania? Google, Costco, & United are launching networks
Google recently announced their new Google TV network, “offering targeted, in-stream video inventory across more than 125 channels built into Google TV.” Google TV network is available in Google Ads today. In the settings for a video campaign you can easily select Google TV alongside your usual YouTube and Display Network serving options. It’s worth testing this network for your video ads, but keep in mind that since these ads will be served on TVs, people will be less likely to click on a CTA than on a YouTube video they watch on their phone or laptop. That said, a large percentage of people now watch YouTube on their TVs, so maybe performance won’t vary too much between YouTube and the CTV network. Regardless, it’s worth a test!
United Airlines also launched a media network, following the trend set by Chase Bank and Paypal, of companies that historically have had no skin in the ad game suddenly capitalizing on user data to make more money. United’s new Kinective Media Network will be the first network created by an airline company. The aim is to use the data they have on user’s travel behavior to serve targeted ads on United’s app and in-flight entertainment screens. So if you’re in a business that targets travelers, give United’s ads a shot.
Also hopping on the media network wave is Costco, who are working on building their first ad network. Considering the likes of Walmart and Target have been selling their shopper’s data for years, it’s about time. Nothing is sacred anymore, not even Costco… Their retail media network is still in the works, but if you advertise on other grocers’ networks, this is definitely one to look out for. Now, let’s dish about Reddit…
Reddit thinks they’re a shopping platform
They recently released Dynamic Product Ads, where advertisers can upload their product catalog and then Reddit will serve ads for the different products to specific Reddit communities based on relevance. Seems great in theory, but if you’ve spent time on Reddit you know the platform’s success is based on peer-to-peer information sharing and authenticity, so how can advertisers run ads on these forums without making users angry?
Reddit’s EVP of marketing addressed this concern in a recent interview, saying “Reddit is inherently commercial. Even if you think about your hobbies, like some of the most fun [part of a] hobby is actually buying all the gear that’s associated with that hobby.” Ok, fair enough, but I’d still proceed with caution. Reddit ads are certainly worth testing for retail marketers. But try to keep the ads unintrusive, avoid ‘salesy’ language, and try to add value to the conversations which your ads are serving alongside. Redditers are looking for authentic insights, and any ad that's too pushy and corporate likely won’t be well received. Now, let’s chat about AI…
Is Adobe’s using creators’ content to train AI?
Earlier this month, Adobe sent out a notification about their terms of service update, which prompted users to agree that the company can ‘access their content for review’. People were outraged, interpreting this to mean that Adobe would use their creative work to train AI models. Adobe said that this new addition to the terms and conditions is not related to training AI, and that their generative AI models are trained on licensed content like stock photos and public domain content, not users’ work. The update is actually so that Adobe can create thumbnails from files in its cloud storage to scan for childhood sexual abuse materials, which we can all agree is a good thing. Still, users’ trust in Adobe took a hit. I can’t blame creatives for being fearful of AI stealing their work and using it to then steal their jobs down the line. It’s quite dystopian indeed. But it sounds like using Adobe tools is still safe, for now…
And that’s the scoop for this week! From Google’s SEO tips to Reddit’s ad ambitions, the digital world is buzzing. Stay sharp, stay sassy, and keep reading. Until next week, darlings!
You know you love me.
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Managing budgets just got easier with Marin's Pacing Columns
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quick and easy way to visually measure how you’re tracking to plan? In Marin, you can with the new pacing columns on the Strategies and Campaigns grid. At a glance, you can see how your strategies are tracking against their spending or efficiency target and color coding makes it easy to identify strategies that are forecast to miss their targets.
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We’ve also added nine other pacing-related columns, including the episode start and end dates, days remaining, and % completion. These new columns bring the power of the Pacing dashboard directly into the Strategies and Campaigns grids.
Remind me, what is a Strategy?
Strategies are groups of campaigns that map to shared business goals. Strategies can include campaigns across accounts and publishers for easy management at scale. Each Strategy has a goal with specific targets that Marin will aim to hit if you are actively using the platform’s optimization, by changing Campaign Budgets, Targets, and bids.
Sounds interesting, but what’s in it for me?
Hitting your budgets and maximizing the return on your investment often involves too much manual monitoring. The new Pacing columns make your life easier with:
- Continuous Monitoring:
With Pacing charts, you can monitor your spend and performance metrics against your goals This immediate visibility ensures that you can make timely adjustments to optimize your campaigns effectively.
- Enhanced Decision Making:
By having a clear visual of how your campaigns are pacing towards their targets, you can make more informed decisions. Whether it's adjusting budgets, reallocating resources, or modifying strategies, the Pacing charts provide the data you need at your fingertips.
- Increased Efficiency:
Integrating the Pacing charts directly into the grid reduces the need to switch between different tools or dashboards. This streamlined workflow saves you time and reduces the likelihood of errors, allowing you to focus on strategic activities that drive performance.
How do I get started?
Navigate to the Strategies grid, and open the Column Chooser. You will see a new category called Optimize. The chart is in the Pacing column. You can add this to the grid as you would any other columns. If you are not currently using Marin Strategies, please contact your account manager to get started. Even if you don’t use Marin to manage your performance, the pacing charts can still be used to keep track of your performance vs. targets. If you’re not yet using Marin, what are you waiting for? Talk to us to get started today!
Everything marketers need to know about Amazon non-endemic ads
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/666b61262dc4e2b49936a0a7_nonendemic-666b5f592e35e.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/666b613c0a304fabefe2419b_endemic-666b5f5b98ef9.webp)
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.
Google admits they messed up, Insta’s unskippable ads cause outrage, LinkedIn’s tools for B2B, and more…
Welcome back, My Digital Darlings,
It looks like G’s still in the hot seat thanks to their AI Overview blunders… but we’ve got the scoop on how SEMs and SEOs can navigate AIOs (say that 5 times fast). In the social sphere, Instagram’s unskippable ads are causing outrage, and LinkedIn’s new AI tools are giving B2B marketers some much needed attention. Let’s dive into the details.
Google (sort of) admitted they messed up with AI Overviews
AI Overviews (AIOs) visibility in the SERP has dropped significantly following last week’s snafu where AOIs delivered many inaccurate and sometimes dangerous responses. In a recent blog post, Google said the crazy search results are happening because their AI has difficulty interpreting nonsensical or satirical queries like “how many rocks should I eat?” Since these aren’t ‘real’ questions, there isn’t much info on the web that Google’s AI can use to answer them. And what info does exist online is satirical, which AI has trouble interpreting.
They listed some changes they’ve made to improve AIOs. The first is that they’ve “built better detection mechanisms for nonsensical queries that shouldn’t show an AI Overview, and limited the inclusion of satire and humor content.” That’s a good start!
I get that new technology typically doesn’t work perfectly out of the gate. But c’mon Google, you gotta admit… this whole scenario has been pretty funny. AI Overviews aren’t going anywhere so…
Here’s how SEMers can prepare for AI Overviews
PPC advertisers are rightfully concerned about impending drops in site traffic if searchers no longer need to click links to get information. Not only will revenue decline due to fewer site visits, remarketing lists and audiences will shrink due to the decrease in click data. The top tip to prepare for the shift is targeting more broad match keywords so that when Google starts incorporating ads into AI overviews, your site can be featured. The article also recommends embracing value based bidding, leveraging PMAX and Demand Gen campaigns, and more. Give it a read to prep for the AOI-powered future of search. And if you’re more of an SEO girl…
Here’s how to SEO your way into AIOs
SEOer Shepard Cyrus tweeted (sorry…Xed?) a ‘mini case study’ on how to get your site to show up in AI overviews. He simply updated the text on his web page to match the text that the AI Overview provided… groundbreaking. That said, he noted that if a site wins a link in the AOI, it’ll lose its structured snippet (for context, sites that have historically had structured snippet features are most likely to appear in AIOs). Google also released a patent that explains how Google selects links for AI overviews, so feel free to use that to game the system. In other Google news…
Google will deindex sites that don’t work on mobile
If you’re site isn’t accessible via smartphone, Google will stop ranking and indexing it starting July 5th. John Mueller explained, “The largest part of the web is already being crawled like this, and there is no change in crawling for these sites.” However, “after July 5, 2024, we’ll crawl and index these sites with only Googlebot Smartphone.” For up-to-date brands, this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you happen to get a new client and their site doesn’t load on your phone, making a mobile friendly site should be priority #1. And in my final bit of Google news…
Google offered guidance to advertisers on data privacy changes
With privacy law provisions going into effect in Texas, Florida, Oregon, Montana and Colorado, Google is making product changes to help PPC advertisers comply with the new regulations. These changes will result in less personalized ad inventory, a decline in the size of customer match and remarketing lists, less accurate reporting, and more. Which is a bummer, but kinda inevitable. Now for some social news…
Instagram tested unskippable ads and users were not happy
Instagram is testing a new feature called “ad breaks” - 3-5 second unskippable ads that are sure to disrupt users’ beloved doomscrolling. I get that they’re trying to compete with TikTok and like, make more money or whatever, but this is just too annoying. I stopped using TikTok because of the intrusive TikTok Shop ads, and I’ll do the same with Instagram… Don’t tempt me! In other social news…
LinkedIn shrinks link previews for organic posts
LinkedIn’s algorithm has long punished posts that link to external sites, and now they’re taking it a step further. Link preview images for organic posts have shrunk to ¼ of their original size. Which is frustrating since posts with images have much higher engagement than those without. It’s a rule of thumb for LinkedIn - every post needs an image in order to perform well. But now, you’ll only get the full size link preview image if you pay for a sponsored post. LinkedIn said the smaller previews for organic posts are meant to “help members stay on LinkedIn and engage with unique commentary.” No… y’all just want my money.
To mitigate the image shrinkage, advertisers can include an image directly in the post instead of having LinkedIn generate the header image from the link in your post. The image won’t be clickable, so this isn’t quite as good of a user experience, but adding an image to every post will help with engagement, and so will the fact that users have to expand your post to find the link. That makes it worth it, IMO. And in our last bit of social news…
LinkedIn created AI tools and expanded video ads for B2B marketers
The first change is the addition of in-stream video ads, which LinkedIn is calling “The Wire Program.” They also added new features to Accelerate, their tool that leverages AI to “create optimized ads in under 5 minutes.” New features include a Microsoft Designer integration for creative design, better targeting via exclusion lists, and an AI assistant that provides strategic campaign guidance. It’s nice that us B2B advertisers are getting some attention for once, and I’m excited to test out these new features.
And that’s a wrap on this week’s digital dish. From Google’s AI missteps to the latest social media upheavals, it’s clear that staying ahead means staying informed. Keep optimizing, keep questioning, and most importantly, keep reading This Week in Digital 🙂. Until next week, Darlings…
You know you love me.
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How e-commerce marketers can use customer segmentation to improve ROI
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.
Leaked Google SEO ranking docs, toxic links aren’t real, PayPal’s new ad platform and more…
Hello, My Digital Darlings,
Listen up because this week’s tech tea is scalding. A massive leak of Google SEO ranking docs has shaken the industry, revealing some jaw-dropping secrets. Let’s dive into the juicy details and see what’s really going on behind the scenes.
A massive leak of Google SEO ranking docs shook the industry
This may be the craziest thing we’ve dished about yet, Dear Readers. Thousands of pages of leaked Google documents revealed a deluge of details on how their search algorithm really works.
The whistleblower shared the documents with industry thought leader Rand Fishkin, and you can read his detailed breakdown here. Key points include the fact that click-through rate impacts ranking (Google has repeatedly said it doesn't), that there’s a sandbox for newer websites (which again, Google has publicly denied), that a domain’s age is considered in ranking (again, they’ve denied this) and much much more. Fishkin’s article is full of tea and worth a read. But if you don’t have time, Search Engine Land summarized his findings here.
Google gave a statement to Search Engine Land 2 days after the leak, and guess what - it was another denial. Here’s the full quote from the Google spokesperson so you can decide for yourself if you trust them or not -
“We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems weigh, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation.”
And speaking of Google spokespeople…
A Google Search spokesman roasted the concept of toxic links
A site owner was concerned because SEMRush said his site had lots of toxic backlinks, and he looked to Reddit for answers. Google’s John Mueller responded in the thread saying "the concept of toxic links is made up by SEO tools so that you pay them regularly." This isn’t the first time Mueller has roasted toxic backlinks and disavow tools. He’s said the concept of disavowing is made up, a waste of time, and won’t get you any rankings back. So if your SEO tool is alerting you of lots of toxic backlinks, don’t waste your time disavowing them. In other Google news…
Google AI Overviews have been saying some pretty crazy stuff
From telling searchers to use glue to keep cheese on their pizza to endorsing the health benefits of running with scissors, AI overviews are providing information that is nowhere near accurate. In fact, following their advice would likely get you killed. Screenshots of insane AI Overviews are all over X, and while it all seems a bit silly and goofy, the fact that the western world’s go-to source for information is spreading laughably inaccurate misinformation is actually a bit scary.
A Google spokesperson said that these bad responses are due to “extremely rare queries and aren’t representative of most people’s experiences,” adding that the “vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information.” Huh?? This isn’t just one bad response we’re talking about here. Just this one thread on X showcases over 20 different examples of absurd search results.
There is always the option to use the new ‘Web’ filter at the top of the SERP to avoid AI overviews until they’re a bit more reliable. Now let’s move on before I get too annoyed.
Google Ads Experiments without end dates will auto-complete in August
Any ad experiments that don’t have an end date set will soon be assigned a default end date of August 23rd, 2024. Seems random, and I’m not sure what will happen to experiments created after 8/23, but ok Google… whatever you say! Dear readers, if you have any experiments running without specified end dates, be sure to set end dates before August to avoid this auto-shut down. Now for some social news…
Is Snapchat in its comeback era?
Earlier this month I mentioned how Snap’s shares surged thanks to its new and improved ad system. They’ve been rebuilding their ad business over the past 2 years and are redesigning their ad formats with a focus on “intentionality”. The new formats reduce the amount of accidental ad clicks, making data for advertisers more accurate and improving Snapchat’s algorithm by feeding it more accurate data. They’re making a ton of other changes to ad formats too, like improving augmented reality (AR) ad options and adding new bidding options specifically for the mobile gaming industry, which surely spends a lot of ad dollars on the platform. They’re making tons of other updates, and you can get all the details here.
The TL;DR? Snapchat may be in its comeback era, and I’ll keep you updated on their progress. A lot of these updates have already been made, so maybe it’s time to start running some ad campaigns on the platform again. In other social news…
TikTok launched a suite of AI ad automation tools
It’s about time they hopped on the AI mania in the ad industry! New AI-powered features for advertisers include TikTok One, a hub that unifies creator outreach, creative tools, and reporting. They also released TikTok Symphony, which is an AI-powered creative hub that offers script writing, video production, and asset optimization tools. They’re also using AI to optimize ad targeting, budgets, and more.
It’s interesting that even in the face of a US ban and a round of layoffs impacting around 1,000 of their US-based employees, they’re still fighting to embrace AI and compete with the likes of Google and Meta. It’ll be fascinating to see how things play out for them, and rest assured I’ll keep you updated. In my final bit of marketing news…
PayPal is building an ad platform to capitalize on user data
The payment giant announced plans to use data on user purchases and spending patterns from their millions of users across PayPal and Venmo (yeah, they own Venmo too) to build an ad platform. This is quite reminiscent of the new Chase Media Solutions, which I voiced my concerns about last month. A payment fulfillment company using data on what I buy to target me with ads feels super invasive, but it could be a good place to spend ad dollars. I mean, the targeting has to be good, right? And it sounds like a big part of their ad platform will be businesses paying to offer discounts and personalized promotions for users, which sounds cool… Who doesn’t love a discount? Regardless, this doesn’t sit right with me, but only time will tell…
What a massive dose of drama we had this week! Sheesh, I’m tired. I need some quiet time to recover from all the drama I just dished out. Let’s all take some deep breaths together…
Until next week, stay centered, stay savvy, and don’t let the drama get you down.
You know you love me.
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Ultimate automation: Taking campaign management to 11 with APIs
Staying ahead of the competition in digital marketing requires acting quickly on the proprietary data you have in your systems. Ideally, you want your system automatically making changes to your programs' data evolves. That’s where APIs come into play. APIs allow your system to make changes to your campaigns, without the need to log into the campaign managers. And Marin now offers a unified API that lets you seamlessly manage across ad platforms.
Why do I need to use an API?
For example, let's say you’ve got a golf school as a client, and you’re running ads to ensure their courses are fully booked. You’ll want to feed course inventory data to all your publishers (Google, Bing, Meta, etc.) to make sure you're not running ads for instructors who are out of tee times. All you need to do is send your inventory statuses through Marin’s API. The system will assign “available” and “sold out” inventory statuses to ad objects and pause campaigns, groups, and keywords associated with sold-out instructors. These changes will be made across all your publisher platforms without you having to lift a finger.
Doesn’t Marin already automate these workflows?
Yes, Marin offers a number of ways to automate your campaign management workflows. You can make changes and send information like the inventory example above using FTP. Our API is just another way to accomplish the same objective: easily making automated changes across accounts and publishers.
How is Marin's API better?
With a single API, you don’t need to develop against multiple publisher APIs. Instead, your system can initiate an API call to Marin that will make changes across all your different accounts, saving you time and effort. We do the heavy lifting of keeping up with the ever-evolving APIs across over a dozen publishers. Relying on multiple APIs makes your data ecosystem harder to maintain and more susceptible to errors. Unifying your workflows into one API call to Marin makes your data system more resilient.
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Any other examples?
If you’ve just gotten a new golf instructor as a client, the last thing you need is to be bogged down with the manual work of creating new campaigns across all your different publisher platforms. With Marin’s API, you can easily launch campaigns to market the new instructor across all your publishers when the instructor is added to your system. And if you need to reallocate budget to support the launch of the new campaigns, you can do that via the API too.
Sounds complicated... How do I get started?
Using an API does require some programming skills, but trust us, the investment is worth it. Here’s our documentation. If you have an idea that you would like to see automated, reach out to us and we can help you get started.
Reduce your team’s workload with customizable automations that act on your behalf. With a marketing platform that’s fully tailored to your needs, you can be sure you’re capitalizing on every opportunity for your campaigns.
Google’s AI panic, the aftermath of the March core update, how to measure Insta engagement, and more…
Hello, My Digital Darlings,
Google Marketing Live was this week and, surprise, surprise… it was all about AI mania! From AI-generated ads to virtual try-ons, Google’s going full throttle on automation. But are they leading the pack or just panicking? Grab your popcorn and let’s dive into the digital drama.
Let’s dish about Google Marketing Live
No surprises here - the entire event was about AI. The opening line of this roundup even says, “we're showcasing how AI is transforming media, creative, and measurement to usher in a new era of ads”. I feel like the AI mania is getting a little out of hand. Ex-Googler Scott Jenson wrote on LinkedIn that Google’s AI projects are “poorly motivated” and “driven by a stone cold panic that they are getting left behind.” It sounds like Google is afraid that the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic could be the death of them, so they’re rushing to build generative AI features as quickly as possible. Thank you, Scott, for confirming my suspicions!
Anyways, here are the major updates from Google Marketing Live:
- PMAX upgrades harness AI to mass produce creative assets that follow brand guidelines
- Immersive shopping ads with virtual try-ons are a thing now
- You can now auto-generate animated ads for YouTube and Discovery campaigns
- Merchants can create a brand profile to make their AI-generated ads more customized
- They’re testing AI-powered ads for complex purchases which will provide advice and recommendations based on the user’s unique needs
- Arguably the most interesting point on the list–they’re testing ads in AI overviews. This one deserves its own section…
Google started testing ads in AI overviews
Dang, that was quick! It’s only been a week since they rolled out AI overviews and they’re already monetizing them?? One thing about Google - they’re gonna secure the bag. Search, PMAX, and Shopping ads can now be included within the AI Overview in a sponsored section. This could be good for advertisers, but it could also result in lower click through rates to our websites if all the info the searcher needs is summarized at the top of the SERP. And if your website is not featured in that AI overview… that could be bad news for CTRs.
The best thing we marketers can do is make sure the content on our website is as relevant and helpful as possible to increase our chances of being featured in an AI overview. I’m thinking about optimizing for AI overviews the same way I think about optimizing for snippet features - provide clear, concise, and helpful answers to the queries you want to rank for, and then pray the algorithm favors you. Speaking of SEO…
Here’s how the March core update impacted SEO
According to SEO expert Lily Ray, the March core update was one of the most significant updates in Google history. Woah! Since the update, she’s observed 4 major shifts:
- Reddit is winning the SERP. The forum has seen an enormous surge in organic traffic across tons of different queries and categories. It’s now the biggest threat to SEOers, IMO.
- The surge in Reddit visibility consequentially drove a decrease in SERP visibility for news and affiliate websites. Particularly, informational sites that monetize using display ads or affiliate links have lost a significant amount of traffic to Reddit.
- Google claims that the update reduced unhelpful content by 45%. Spammy sites that use generative AI to provide generic answers to popular questions and then spam searchers with ads have largely been deindexed, which is good!
- It provided no relief for sites that feel they were unfairly, negatively impacted by the Helpful Content Update in September.
The ‘Site Reputation Abuse’ update is still rolling out, and Google’s algorithms still appear volatile, so stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks. Now for a quick social update…
Post “shares” are the most important metric on Instagram
In a recent Q&A, IG chief Adam Mosseri said that send rate is more important than watch time or “like” and “comment” count. It sounds like the algorithm considers the likelihood that people will share your post via DMs to be the biggest factor determining which content to serve. So if you’re trying to measure the success of your Marketing content on Insta, perhaps send rates should be your top priority. Now for my last bit of marketing news…
Marketing budgets dropped 15% in 2024
Budgets for marketing have fallen from 9.1% of overall company revenue in 2023 to 7.7% in 2024. Gartner calls this “the era of less”... hmmm, that doesn’t sound fun. Apparently, CMOs are depending on AI to produce more with less. A Gartner rep said, “sixty-four percent of CMOs say they lack the budget to execute their 2024 strategy, but GenAI offers the opportunity to grow the marketing function’s impact far beyond its budgetary constraints.” Maybe I’m a skeptic, but I feel like counting on AI to solve every single problem the marketing industry faces may not be the best strategy. Only time will tell. Speaking of AI…
OpenAI intentionally made its voice sound like the sexy robot from Her
Remember that flirty AI we chatted about last week? It turns out OpenAI intentionally made the voice sound like Scarlett Johansson, who voiced the robot from the movie Her. The company approached Johannson 9 months ago and asked her to voice their AI system, and she declined. When she heard the voice they chose during last week’s reveal, she was mad. And rightfully so! Many news outlets and bloggers (myself included) immediately compared the voice to the robot from Her. Why would you intentionally make a robot sexy? Her was a cautionary tale. Why would OpenAI try to make it come true? I’m scared!! In my last bit of AI news…
Google is building “Gems”, a customizable version of Gemini
You’ll be able to tell a Gem what to do and how to respond, then use it for repetitive tasks. According to a Google blog post, Gems can be “a gym buddy, sous chef, coding partner, or creative writing guide.” You can tell your gem to be positive and upbeat, or strict and disciplined. This sounds exactly like the custom GPTs you can build with ChatGPT+, so I’m curious to see how Google will attempt to stand out in the ‘AI-assistant’ space. Also, this sounds cool in theory, but what ever happened to having a real, human gym buddy? Methinks we are moving in the wrong direction… once again, I don’t understand why Google and OpenAI want to make Her a reality. Lord help us…
And that’s a wrap, Darlings. As AI takes over and budgets tighten, don’t let the drama get you down. Stay sharp, stay skeptical, and remember: knowledge is power. Until next week, keep it cute and stay ahead of the curve.
You know you love me.
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The best AI-powered tools for social listening
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.
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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.
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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.
OpenAI’s flirty new chatbot, Google AI-ifying the SERP, search ad costs rising, and more…
Hello, My Digital Darlings,
Are you ready for summer? I personally need to be on a beach sipping something sweet ASAP. As the AI wave continues to roll in, Google is diving deeper than ever. I just hope we can keep our heads above water…
This week, we're unpacking Google's shiny new tools—from AI overviews that might outsmart ChatGPT to vacation itineraries crafted at the click of a button. Whether you’re a techie, a traveler, or just nostalgic for the days of simple SERPs, Google’s got something in store for you. Let’s get into it.
Google is AI-ifying everything
Google announced a long list of changes they’re making to put AI at the forefront of their search engine. Topping the list is AI Overviews, which appear at the top of the SERP and provide a similar answer to what you might see from ChatGPT or Google Gemini. They’re rolling it out this week, so you may have already seen AI overviews in your SERP. You won’t see them for all queries as they’re meant to answer complex questions for which AI thinks it can add more value beyond just search results.
Other AI-powered updates include a new feature in Google Lens which enables those with Google phones to search the web with a video. That’s cool and all, but as an iPhone user, I finally know how all the Green Bubblers have felt for all these years–left out. Next is a new Google Gemini feature that can build an entire vacation itinerary for you. Now that’s a feature I’ll be using!!
The Verge said it best; these updates are “nothing short of a full-stack AI-ification of search. Google is using its Gemini AI to figure out what you’re asking about, whether you’re typing, speaking, taking a picture, or shooting a video.” And we can expect even more AI-powered changes in the SERP soon. But if you’re nostalgic for the good old days…
Google added a “web” filter to search that shows only text-based links
This basically turns your SERP into early 2000s Google. Just good old-fashioned links. No images, no videos, no pesky AI summaries. This is cute! Google’s giving the people something they actually want for once. You can find the filter alongside all the other filters under the search bar, but you may need to click ‘more’ to see it. So if you’re nostalgic for simpler times, try out that filter next time you’re searching. In paid search news…
You can now choose ad formats for Demand Gen campaigns
Now that everyone who’s anyone is running a PMAX campaign, Google has shifted to pushing Demand Gen campaigns (which are actually nothing new - just Discovery campaigns rebranded). They recently added creative controls for video assets, so now you can customize your creative to each unique video ad format. There are three formats available: in-stream, in-feed, and shorts. Check out Google’s step-by-step instructions for setting your ad format preferences here. In other Google news…
Google will limit actions for suspended accounts
Starting in June, suspended Google Ads accounts will not be able to make any changes to their campaigns. Users will still be able to access their account but will only be able to edit billing options, account settings, appeals, security settings, and download reports. Of course, it’s never been good to let your account get suspended, but the stakes are even higher now, so be careful and make sure you pay the piper on time! And in one more bit of paid search news…
Oof… Search ad costs are rising and CVRs are decreasing
According to LocalIQ, the average conversion rate on a search ad is 6.96%, down from 7.04% last year. And the average CPL increased a whopping 25% YoY. Yikes! LocalIQ says these increases are due to “increased competition and intensified monetization of the Google SERPs.” With Alphabet reporting record-high profits this year, one has to wonder what “pricing knobs or tunings” Google might be pulling behind the scenes to pull more money out of advertisers. Google has once again left me wondering, “Is that legal?” If you’re looking to spend your ad dollars somewhere else, maybe it’s time to consider other platforms. Speaking of which…
Users are spending more than ever on e-commerce
A report from Adobe revealed that consumer spending online is up 7% year-over-year. As expected, electronics and apparel are the industries dominating online shopping. But there’s also been a surge in online grocery shopping, so if you sell groceries, maybe try advertising on Instacart.
Shoppers are opting for cheaper stuff, thanks to inflation. So if you’re a budget retailer, good news for you! And if you’re not, maybe consider running more sales. That said, the report also found that Buy Now Pay Later use is growing, so if you sell expensive stuff, just make sure you offer Afterpay. Lastly, let's dish about some dystopian AI news…
Chat GPT’s newest model is a bit of a flirt
Thanks to recent updates, the chatbot is now capable of witty banter and can pick up on emotional cues. It can also have natural voice conversations. You can watch a demo here if you’re curious. It definitely still talks like a robot, but… it’s evolving. The upbeat female voice even giggles and seems to get embarrassed when it messes up. And when one of the hosts mentioned how useful and amazing the chatbot is, it responded with, “Oh stop it, you’re making me blush.” Ummm, does she want to get drinks later? Well, not she… it… see? This is the problem. I’m already using human pronouns to describe it! And I can totally imagine lonely guys falling in love with this humanoid robot girl. It’s giving Her.
On that unsettling note, I’ll wrap this up, but I’ll be back next week with more tea, so stay tuned. Until then, keep slaying the marking game with style and strategy.
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5 sneaky PMAX mistakes and how to avoid them
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.
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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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/664533a8359a453e7928187b_finalurlsettings.webp)
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.
TikTok sues, Meta’s new ad AI, the next Myspace, and more…
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.
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7 B2B Marketing Tips To Generate Targeted Leads
If you invest time, money, and resources into lead generation, you need to make sure that the leads you’re generating fit your ideal customer profile (ICP). We call these ideal potential customers targeted leads. So, what exactly can you do to generate targeted leads efficiently and effectively? Read on for expert tips and tricks.
Start with valuable lead magnets
A lead magnet is a piece of content designed to capture lead information and get potential customers into your CRM system. You can develop high-quality, value-driven lead magnets and give them out to potential customers for free in exchange for their contact information - usually their email address.
While everyone loves free stuff, the fact that a lead magnet is free is not enough to incentivize potential customers to take action. Lead magnets must be genuinely valuable to inspire them to download them and offer their contact info.
Here are some types of lead magnets you should consider creating:
- Templates
- Quizzes
- eBooks
- Courses
- Tutorials
- In-depth guides (video, audio, text, infographics)
- Checklists
- Cheat-sheets
- White papers
- Case studies
- Podcasts
- Webinars
An excellent example of a high-value lead magnet is Onnit's "8-Week 8-Pack Plan", a PDF detailing an 8-week workout plan people can download for free. All they have to do is provide their email address. Then, they’ll receive the guide right in their inbox.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/663b9516e361242ca379a2c3_onnit2-663b950bacd09.jpg)
Although Onnit isn’t exactly a B2B marketer, there’s a lot we can learn from this guide.
Of course, this lead magnet gets potential customers onto Onnit’s email list. But more importantly, it’s full of helpful images and step-by-step explanations that a reader can easily understand and follow. Since it’s easy to use, potential customers will find value in it immediately. This improves brand credibility and increases the likelihood that leads who download the 8-week plan can be upsold paid offerings, like a monthly workout plan subscription.
So, how can you create a highly valuable lead magnet? By making sure it's chock-full of helpful information and easy-to-follow steps towards a concrete result. Onnit’s goal is to get people in shape and help them adopt a fitness mindset. When creating your lead magnet, think: What would you like your customers to achieve? And then help them achieve it.
Once you’ve crafted your lead magnet, share it on various marketing channels like organic social, paid social, and paid search. More on that next.
Use paid search advertising to reach the right people
Getting your brand to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) is a great way to build visibility and provide a quick solution to customers' needs. Of course, paid search ads can drive traffic to your product pages, but it's also good to showcase your lead magnets in paid ads targeting relevant search terms. If your content answers a question that your ideal client is searching, that's a great way to grow your lead pipeline.
Here are some paid search tips for B2B marketers looking to generate high-value leads:
1. Use High-Intent Keywords
High-intent keywords are terms that potential clients use when they're getting closer to making a purchasing decision. Incorporate keywords that reflect specific needs, like “enterprise project management software” or “commercial insurance quotes.” Analyze your search terms report to find terms your target audience uses when they’re ready to engage and add those to your campaign as keywords.
2. Create Sitelinks for your Lead Magnets
Paid search is a great way to promote your best lead magnets. Create sitelinks that link to your different pieces of content. Using strong call-to-actions (CTAs) like “Download the Free Whitepaper” or “Watch our Webinar” as the sitelink text will drive users to engage with your lead magnets. Call extensions are also useful for B2B companies looking to increase inbound inquiries.
3. Optimize Landing Pages
Ensure that your ad’s landing page is optimized for conversions. It should provide high-level, digestible information about the product or lead magnet and include a simple, straightforward form to capture lead details. Keep the design clean and navigation easy, and ensure the messaging aligns with your ad copy to maintain consistency.
4. Focus on Quality Over Quantity
When it comes to B2B lead generation, the quality of the lead is often more important than the quantity. Optimize your campaigns to attract leads that are most likely to convert into paying customers. This means bidding higher on a small collection of more competitive, high-intent keywords rather than placing mid-tier bids on a large group of more vague keywords.
Craft personalized social media messages
Without a doubt, LinkedIn is the best social platform for generating targeted leads and connecting with decision-makers. To do LinkedIn outreach right, start by researching your ideal connections. Craft messaging that will resonate with your ICP by first understanding the types of problems they might be trying to resolve.
Here's an example of two outreach messages. Which one would you be more likely to act on?
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/663b9be2e421a803d6f49f91_linkedindm-663b9bcccd90b.webp)
I think we can all agree that the second is more compelling!
Once you identify a common problem for a targeted group of prospects, you can reach out with a message telling them how your product will resolve that problem. This message should be complemented by a quick overview of your track record and a call to action. Remember to include a link to one of your lead magnets!
Test Paid Social Ads
Paid advertising on social media will put your brand in front of a highly targeted audience, but you have to deliver a powerful message to inspire people to click. The combination of captivating visuals and a clear call to action will get people to click on your ad to check out your products and offers. When you combine this with a powerful landing page, you have a high chance of turning them into a lead on the spot.
Here are some B2B-specific tips for paid social campaigns:
1. Target Precisely
Use the detailed targeting options available on social platforms to hone in on your ideal customer profiles. This includes job titles, industries, professional interests, and company sizes. The more specific you can get, the more likely you are to reach decision-makers.
2. Create Engaging Ads
B2B doesn't have to be boring. Create content that captures attention and engages viewers. This can be through informative videos, eye-catching infographics, or thought leadership posts that position your company as an expert in your field.
3. Utilize Lead Generation Forms
Many social platforms offer lead generation functionalities, like LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms, which auto-populate with the user’s profile data when they click your ad. This reduces friction in the lead generation process, making it easier for users to sign up or express interest without leaving the platform.
4. Showcase your Lead Magnets
Not every ad should ask users to 'book a demo' or 'buy today'. Instead, promote some of your best lead magnets to cement yourself as a thought leader in the eyes of your ideal customer. Whether it’s an industry report, a sponsored article, or just a good old-fashioned whitepaper, driving traffic to your lead magnets is invaluable.
Build landing pages that inspire action
Your ads will only deliver the desired results if they link to equally powerful landing pages. When a potential customer clicks on an ad, they need to land on a page that delivers valuable information that is relevant to them.
For example, if a person searches for the best wireless security cameras, and your ad pops up, you want to make sure that it leads them to wireless cameras specifically. A common and costly mistake would be to lead them to your entire security camera selection, not a filtered landing page.
That's a big no-no.
With that said, what does a great landing page look like? Check out DoorDash, whose landing page gives you everything you need to take action immediately above-the-fold, along with added information and options as you scroll down.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/663b9d0f610f967cef6b43e0_doordashlp-663b9cf85e4b9.webp)
Or how about Marin's very own performance marketing and automation landing page?
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/663b9d6aff53a383fc5348aa_marinlp-663b9d58c249b.webp)
The above-the-fold part of the page has everything from a video intro to a short text explainer, as well as a clear CTA and some social proof sprinkled in at the bottom. As you continue to scroll, you get to know the specific features of the platform and the ways it can streamline your digital marketing campaigns.
Optimize Your Lead Generation Forms
When it comes to lead generation forms, brevity is your friend. Lead gen forms should be short, sweet, and to the point, and they should offer some value to the visitor (like a lead magnet). Make sure the user has to fill out no more than 6 info boxes to complete the form. Just two or three is ideal.
Here are some types of lead gen forms to add to your site:
- Newsletter signup
- Email in exchange for a discount code
- Account Registration in exchange for access to resources
- Lead magnet signup
Here's an example of a good lead gen form:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/663b9dcd1e19c755c2441bea_expatcom-663b9dc018aa2.webp)
On Expat.com, the signup form is straightforward and concise, with color simplicity and contrasts to emphasize the call to action as well as other signup options.
Track Every Micro-conversion
The B2B sales cycle can be long and convoluted, with many different micro-conversions occurring along the way. A micro-conversion could include a form fill, a demo request, a phone call, or downloading a lead magnet. It’s critical to track every step of the customer journey to understand what’s driving sales and where customers are dropping out of your marketing funnel.
Marin attribution was built to do just that. It’s ideal for B2B businesses because you can view every micro-conversion side by side, and even calculate the conversion rate from one micro-conversion to the next. It’s critical to implement a multi-touch attribution tracking system so you can understand the full picture.
Over to You
Generating targeted leads starts with creating high-quality lead magnets that bring potential customers into your conversion funnel. Potential customers want to connect with brands on a more personal level, so it’s critical to position your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Paid search and social advertising for B2B brands can be complex. Tracking the customer journey is no easy task. And with many sales cycles taking over 6 months, it can be difficult to determine which ads and lead magnets were the true needle movers that drove a lead to convert. With Marin’s cross-channel campaign management and attribution software, the process becomes streamlined and simple. Speak with a Marin rep to learn more!
Snapchat is back, new PMAX AI features, what killed Google Search, and more…
Hello, My Digital Darlings,
This week, we’re strutting through a saga of strategic shifts. From TikTok's defiance in the face of sale rumors to Google's latest AI-driven enhancements, the digital domain is abuzz with actions and reactions that could reshape our campaigns. Snap on your tech tiaras, and let’s dive into the dizzying details.
TikTok will NOT be sold
In last week’s email I posited that there was no way ByteDance would sell TikTok, and once again I was right. "ByteDance doesn't have any plans to sell TikTok," the company posted on Toutiao, another social media platform it owns. They called the ban “unconstitutional” and CEO Shou Zi Chew said they “are confident and will keep fighting for your rights in the courts.” Ooooo, drama! Stay tuned for updates as TikTok and the US government battle it out. For now, TikTok still looks like the next frontier for eCommerce. TikTok Shop had over 500,000 US sellers at the end of 2023 - a stat that more than doubled from Q3 to Q4. This unprecedented growth just reiterates the fact that no matter how unsure TikTok’s future seems, right now, you better be selling on TikTok shop!! In other social news…
Snapchat shares surged thanks to better ad targeting
Snapchat has had trouble competing with the likes of Meta and TikTok for social ad dollars. But they’ve been working hard over the past year to improve ad targeting and the user experience of interacting with ads. These improvements plus a growing user base make Snap a better place to serve ads than ever before, so don’t discount it. If your ads are successful on TikTok and Reels, try testing Snapchat’s new targeting, too. Pssst - you can manage ads for all three publishers with Marin. Now let's talk about what’s going down at Google…
Google added 6 new AI features to PMAX campaigns
Updates include a new customer acquisition goal that’s supposed to help you - you guessed it - acquire new customers. It has two different modes you can choose from; new customer value mode, which bids higher on new customers than existing ones, and new customer only mode, which only bids on new customers. If you value new customers more than returning ones, try out this new goal for PMAX campaigns.
Google also added a customer retention goal designed to do the opposite - help reduce churn and increase loyalty. So if retention is more your thing, test out this goal. Or, try both on two different campaigns! To quote Google, “The retention goal works effectively alongside the New Customer Acquisition (NCA) goal to create a well-rounded customer lifecycle strategy.” Both new PMAX goals are currently in beta, so they may not work perfectly just yet… keep that in mind when testing.
Another new update is detailed demographics which provide data on age and gender groups. You can find these details under audience insights. These demographics are also available as audience types you can use for targeting.
Other newbies include Budget Pacing Insights, which offer real-time spend tracking and show current and project spend and conversions; account level IP exclusions, which enable you to filter out irrelevant traffic; and Final URL Expansion, which tests different landing pages so you can learn which drives the best CVR for your ads. Get all the details on these new features here. Speaking of AI for search ads…
Microsoft Copilot is now available to everybody
This AI assistant lives right in the Microsoft ads platform. You can use it to generate ad copy and create image assets. Simply enter your final URL and Copilot will generate asset recommendations. You can also ask the chatbot about performance. For example, you could ask it to summarize performance for a given campaign over the past month, and the bot would give you a quick writeup of impressions, clicks, cost, etc. How helpful! This is the type of AI that I fully support. Now, time for some more SEM updates…
Google Ads will auto-pause low volume keywords starting in June
Ads with no impressions over the past 13 months will be paused automatically. If you unpause them after the fact and they still don’t get any impressions over the following 3 months, Google will pause them again. Remember that Google has been auto-pausing low volume ad groups since March, following the same rule that zero impressions over the last 13 months warrants a pause. Pretty bossy of them! But honestly, I think this is helpful and I appreciate them automating some tedious account maintenance tasks for us. In SEO news…
The Google March core update finished on April 19th, apparently
But they didn’t tell us until Friday. Rude! They’re claiming the update reduced low-quality search results by 45%, so let’s hope that’s true. Some sites feel they have been unfairly negatively impacted by the core update. If that’s you, you can fill out this form to provide feedback to Google. Google also updated their guide for debugging drops in Google Search traffic which is definitely worth a read if your site has been negatively impacted. Lastly, if your site has lost traffic and you’re unsure how to start remedying it, check out Search Engine Land’s 6 things you should do after a Google core update rollout completes. Now, let’s close things out with a good old fashioned callout post…
Was this responsible for killing Google Search?
Woof, this article is crazy. In 2019, Search revenue was down at Google, and the execs were panicking. Search query growth was “significantly behind forecast” and revenue was dragging. This caused Google’s Search and Ad teams to get a little too close, all for the sake of growing revenue. They realized that they could “increase queries quite easily in the short term in user negative ways,” like turning off spell check and rolling back ranking improvements. Then, a Google core update rolled back a bunch of changes, increasing traffic to sites that had been historically repressed. That’s just the beginning of a long story that I absolutely cannot sum it all up here, but this post is full of piping hot tea and is a fascinating - albeit a bit scary - read for anyone who works with Google Ads or SEO.
And on that cynical note, our dance through this week’s digital drama comes to a close. In the whirlwind world of digital marketing, staying informed is your silver bullet. Until next week, may your tea be hot, your ROAS be hotter, and your mind focused on your goals.
You know you love me.
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How to Build a Content Marketing Funnel that Converts Social Media Followers into Leads
Around 73% of B2B marketers and 70% of B2C marketers have a mainstay in their overall marketing strategy - content marketing. Transforming those social media scrollers into genuine leads comes down to the quality of your content and its ability to shape your audience's journey toward becoming loyal customers.
The maze of content marketing funnels becomes less daunting when you break down the basics, craft an effective strategy, and understand why content reigns supreme in the marketing kingdom.
Understanding the Content Marketing Funnel
Whether you are looking to start a social media marketing agency or run the social strategy for your own business, effectively capturing the interest of well-defined target audiences is key. Keeping audiences engaged is all about having a strategic content funnel. This funnel is like a conveyor belt of valuable content—blogs, social media updates, videos—aimed at existing and potential customers. It's not about hard-selling your product or endlessly promoting your business. Instead, the focus is on becoming an authority in your industry, the go-to source for all things relevant. By raising brand awareness and offering helpful content, you gradually steer customers towards choosing your service or product.
This is what a journey through the social media marketing funnel should look like:
Stage 1: Awareness
Goal: Attracting and engaging prospects
The journey starts at the top of the funnel, where potential customers become aware of your product. By sharing eye-catching content on social media, businesses can capture attention and draw new followers and potential customers into the fold.
Since these potential customers are not yet aware of your company or the solutions you provide, the top-of-funnel content must educate them. This can include shareable blog posts, infographics, YouTube videos, e-books, and podcasts.
Key metrics to measure success: Time on page, followers gained, number of shares, bounce rate.
Stage #2: Evaluation
Goal: Building trust and authority
As prospects journey through the middle of the funnel, they're considering your product, but crave more information. This is where your content needs to build trust and authority. Repetitively drawing people’s attention to the benefits they can get from your product or service is crucial, or they’ll likely lose interest and drift away. Target them with ads that contain middle-of-funnel content.
Middle-of-the-funnel content showcases why they should choose your offering. You can use case studies, white papers, useful resources/downloads, or events and webinars here.
Key metrics to measure success: Downloads, registrations, engagements, demo request forms… whatever indicates a new lead to your business.
Stage #3: Conversion
Goal: Guiding prospects toward the sale
At the bottom of the funnel, leads are primed and ready to purchase. Here, targeted paid social ads addressing their specific needs can nudge prospects toward the finish line. With proper tracking in place, you'll have tracked the prospect's journey through the funnel and gained an understanding of what elements of your product appeal to them most. Double down on those value ads with targeting messaging.
Boost prospects' confidence with content like customer reviews, demos, competitor comparisons, and, of course, free trials! Ensure you have a clear call to action, a simplified purchase process, and personalized content here.
Key metrics: Sales!
Crafting Compelling Content for Social Media
If your your organic and paid social content isn't engaging or relevant, your audience won't hesitate to scroll past it in search of something more captivating.
But it's not just about what you say—it's also about how you say it. Each post is a new lead magnet. Text posts can deliver concise, informative messages, while images can capture attention in an instant. And then there's video—the undisputed heavyweight champion—which allows you to tell compelling stories, demonstrate products, and provide in-depth tutorials.
Live streams are a great way to deliver marketing content, especially for companies with a substantial following on TikTok or Instagram. One of the key benefits of live streaming is the capacity for live selling. You can use it to promote your eBook, podcast, YouTube channel, blog, products, or services, directing potential customers into your funnel.
When live streaming, keep the following tips in mind:
- Have a clear plan and goal for your live stream to ensure it's purposeful
- Be authentic and avoid over-rehearsing or reading from scripts
- Control your environment to minimize distractions and disruptions
- Boldly communicate the topic of your live stream to attract and retain viewers
- Schedule and promote your streams in advance to maximize audience attendance
- Save and share your livestreams to extend their reach
- Provide valuable content that encourages audience engagement and discussion
- Remember to enjoy the interaction with your viewers and have fun hosting the livestream
There's one often-overlooked aspect of content creation that can make or break your social media game: audio quality. Poor audio quality can quickly turn off your audience and undermine your message, whether recording a podcast, filming a live stream, or adding background music to your Instagram story. So, invest in good microphones, the best audio editing software, and soundproofing equipment to ensure your content sounds as polished as it looks.
Converting Followers into Leads
Once you've crafted your lead magnet, it's time to create an irresistible opt-in offer that encourages your audience to take action. This opt-in offer takes them from social media followers to real leads, often by getting them to join your email list. By running contests, initiating interesting conversations, and interacting with followers in meaningful ways, you can create a sense of community that goes beyond transactional relationships. For example, you could try giving away small prizes via email campaigns, not as bribes to join your email list, but as tokens of appreciation for your audience’s active participation and engagement. Or, you could try creating a newsletter that contains valuable industry updates and is delivered weekly via email. All your social media followers have to do to access these great opportunities is join your email list!
Whether it's a compelling call-to-action (CTA), a visually appealing landing page, or an exclusive bonus offer delivered via a personalized email, make sure that your opt-in entices your audience and communicates the value they'll receive by subscribing.
Don't overlook the importance of segmentation and personalizing the user experience. Segment your leads using categories like interests, behaviors, or demographics, and tailor your follow-up communication accordingly. Targeted content that speaks to each segment of your audience enhances engagement, builds rapport, and drives conversions.
The Role of Paid Ads in the Funnel
Paid ads are critical if you want to deliver mid and bottom funnel targeted content on social media due to their retargeting abilities. Additionally, they help you collect data you can use to map and measure every stage of the customer's journey, identifying potential bottlenecks or shortcomings in your marketing strategy. This level of insight is invaluable for refining your approach and maximizing effectiveness, particularly in the upper stages of the funnel, where the primary objective is to boost brand visibility and attract new customers. If your top-of-funnel ads aren't engaging, you won't build an audience to retarget with mid-and-bottom-funnel content.
By leveraging a paid media advertising funnel, you gain insights into your audience's actual purchasing intent, especially during the consideration stage. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and engagement metrics can help you gauge the effectiveness of your sales strategy and tailor your messaging accordingly.
Implementing a Tracking System
To effectively navigate the intricacies of a multi-stage marketing funnel, you need a solution that enables you to track multiple events seamlessly. From clicks on social posts to email signups to sales, every micro-conversion in the funnel needs to be tracked across all your different organic and paid marketing channels. Aim for something equipped with built-in optimization tools designed to illuminate the critical stages of your buying cycle. When you unify your campaign data with sales outcomes, you glean actionable insights and make informed, data-driven marketing decisions.
Building a Company Culture for Nurturing Leads for Conversion
Getting your whole team on board with nurturing leads for conversion is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of personalized communication strategies. With a group coaching approach, ensure everyone on your team understands the importance of consistent messaging across all touch points.
Consistent messaging and communication are essential for building trust and credibility and must be a collaborative effort across departments. You never want your marketing team to be promoting something that your sales team can't actually deliver. Involving sales, customer service, and marketing in the lead nurturing process will ensure that leads receive a unified customer experience, which increases the likelihood of conversion.
Always remember the ultimate goal of your marketing campaign
It's easy to get caught up in metrics like likes, shares, and comments. While engagement is undeniably important for building brand awareness and fostering relationships with your audience, sales are typically the main goal of marketing campaigns.
After all, they directly impact your bottom line and drive tangible results for your business. So, concentrate on strategies that prompt your audience to take action. Plan your marketing strategies to go beyond simply generating likes or shares and ultimately inspire followers to move down the sales funnel and make a purchase. If you can do this, you'll watch your social media campaigns drive real business growth.
The TikTok ban, bots dominating site traffic, huge changes to location targeting, and more…
Hello, My Digital Darlings,
How are you, beautiful people? I hope your week has been smooth so far, you’ve been able to avoid those calls that could be emails, and your boss is recognizing that you’re crushing it. The digital landscape is rocky right now, so stay strong, and stay informed. Everyone who’s anyone is talking about the TikTok ban, so let’s dive into it.
Bytedance has to sell TikTok or it’ll be banned.
Welp, it finally happened. The TikTok ban bill that the US government has been teasing for years actually passed. The bill requires Chinese-owned company ByteDance to sell TikTok and its precious algorithm to an American-owned company within the next 9 months, or face a national ban.
Ok Biden, I see the vision, but… Bytedance built the most influential algorithm in the modern world. They’re not going to give it up that easily. TikTok executives have pledged to challenge the bill, leaning on the First Amendment’s right to free speech. Plus, who can afford to buy TikTok that’s not already being investigated for monopolistic practices?? I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure where this will go, but for now, I’m going to keep advertising on the platform. But as a consumer, I’m thinking twice about my nightly TikTok scrolls.
One of the major concerns around TikTok is that it has become young people’s go-to source of information, with a growing portion of Gen Z reporting that it’s their #1 search engine. To capitalize on the platform while it’s still around…
Check out this guide to TikTok SEO.
The guide breaks down how to use hashtags, keywords, and content trends to grow your brand organically on the platform. It’s the next frontier for SEO (assuming the ban fails), so read up, search marketers!
Tiktok isn’t the only digital concern top of mind this week. There are a slew of other tech problems to tackle, like the fact that…
Bots made up nearly half of all internet traffic last year.
49.6% of traffic, to be exact. Bad bot traffic skyrocketed from 2018 to 2023. It’s no surprise that this is due to generative AI, which uses web scraping bots to train its models. Marketers now have to assume that ~50% of the traffic to our sites is bot traffic. Yikes! To make matters worse, bad bots target APIs, and were accountable for 30% of attacks on APIs last year. I’ll let article author Erez Hasson explain the impact:
“These attacks exploit flaws within an application's design and implementation, allowing attackers to influence legitimate functionality to access sensitive data or user accounts.”
Oof, not good! In other not-so-good news…
Google Chrome IP masking could radically impact search ad targeting.
This is part of Google’s court-ordered initiative to protect the privacy of Chrome users, called the ‘Privacy Sandbox’. Users' IP addresses will be batched and masked by region, so for ad location targeting, we’ll only be able to target specific regions designated by Google.
There are a few issues with this - firstly, the regions designated by Google won’t be accurate. Secondly, it will be impossible to distinguish between real traffic and bot traffic per region. And lastly, this process will only be implemented on Chrome, giving Google a total monopoly on location data. This could eliminate competition in the search ads market. Google is certainly making data privacy work for them…
This is a super technical issue that’s hard to summarize, so my more detail oriented readers can check out this detailed breakdown for more info. Speaking of Google’s tracking…
The depreciation of third-party cookies was delayed AGAIN.
Who’s surprised? Literally nobody. To quote Digiday:
“Google is delaying the end of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser — again. In other unsurprising developments, water remains wet.”
Google said that more technical stuff still needs to happen before cookies are deprecated, and that they’re now planning to deprecate them “some time in 2025”. This is the third time they’ve pushed back the deadline, so I’ll believe it when I see it. Please do not let this deter you from transitioning to first party tracking ASAP, though. Anyone who’s anyone will tell you that the cookie-powered web is already dead. And for my final bit of Google news…
Google’s SVP of Search is freaking out because growth is slowing.
Heavy competition in the AI space, tons of money spent on gen AI bots, and the consequences of the Digital Markets Act caused Google to cut costs and lay off staff. Haters like myself are eager to see Google fail, after decades of “putting profit above everything, including its users.” Increasing competition from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta is a major cause of the shrinkage. When one queen falls, another ascends, and one has to wonder if the likes of OpenAI or Meta will handle the power any better. Only time will tell. Speaking of AI, maybe I’ve been too negative about it in the past…
Over half of Americans think Generative AI will boost their creativity.
Chatbots are quickly becoming a go-to source of information, with over half of Americans now using generative AI. And I get it. Just yesterday I used chatGPT to generate a list of discussion questions for my book club - why think when the robots can do it for me?? I see the benefits, but I am still afraid that AI may one day replace creative jobs like writing and graphic design altogether. Sigh...
Not me ending on a dark note yet again!! I guess that’s just who I am. But there you have it - all the latest digital marketing tea, summed up in bite-sized pieces for you, my dear readers. Until next week, stay fresh, stay alert, and don’t let the drama get you down.
You know you love me.
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5 advanced tips to improve your Amazon Ads
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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
The limitations of smart bidding and why your paid search campaigns deserve 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Search is still queen of paid media, the bank to media network pipeline, what ‘key events’ in GA4 are, and more…
Hey Digital Darlings,
In the digital world, it seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the change column, we see paid social continuing to grow in importance (and value) among digital marketers. But in “same-same” news, paid search is still the reigning monarch in the vast kingdom of paid media–clutching its crown with a cool $88.8 billion to show for it in 2023. Buckle up as we sashay through the latest digital drama, from Google's generative jests to Meta's chatbot chitchat.
US search ad revenues hit a record high in 2023.
Paid search remained on top with digital advertisers for yet another year, accounting for $88.8 billion in ad revenues in 2023. That’s a 5.2% increase in revenue year over year. Despite the fact that paid search becomes more competitive and less transparent every year, it still drives better results than any other advertising channel. That said, paid search’s market share is slowly but steadily decreasing, thanks in large part to the rise of paid social. But paid social isn’t much more transparent than search, so I wouldn’t really call that a win… just a shift. In other paid search news…
Google announced generative AI tools for Demand Gen campaigns.
The new tools create image assets using prompts that you provide. If you already have visual assets that are performing well, you can also use the tool to generate similar image variations. This makes it easier than ever to create visuals for Discover and YouTube Ads, but eliminates the need for a real, human creative team, which makes me sad. It’s interesting that these generative image tools are only available for PMAX and Demand Gen campaigns – two of Google’s newest campaign types that they’ve been pushing heavily since their inception. It’s yet another indicator that Google wants to automate everything. Regardless, it sounds like a helpful tool, and you can check out Google's guide to start using it. Now let’s chat about GA4…
The shift from ‘conversions’ to ‘key events’ in GA4 is a game-changer.
‘Key Events’ is a new term Google invented to distinguish Google Analytics (GA4) conversions from Google Ads conversions. Key events are important events for your business like subscriptions or purchases. This article from Search Engine Land outlined all the shifts in tracking from Universal Analytics (UA) to GA4:
- UA used data based on sessions; GA4 uses data based on events.
- UA measured bounce rate; GA4 measures engagement rate.
- UA used cookies; GA4 uses modeling to estimate key events.
- UA let you set up to 20 goals; GA4 lets you mark up to 30 key events.
- UA provided data; GA4 automatically provides anomaly detection.
- UA reported what users did; GA4 generates predictive insights.
- UA used last-click attribution; GA4 uses data-driven attribution.
These shifts make it easier to measure micro-conversions and assign monetary value to them, and also get more detailed insight into your customers’ purchasing journey. I found it really helpful to see all the changes laid out plainly. You can read more about the impact of these changes here. In other Google news..
AI spam is winning the SEO battle.
John Gillham, founder and CEO of AI content detection platform Originality.ai, said Google is losing its war on spammy content, and that “not all AI content is spam, but I think right now all spam is AI content." His team has been tracking the amount of AI content showing up on Google search results. Last month, 10% of results were written by AI, and that’s after Google claimed to take down a bunch of spammy, AI powered sites.
The Verge proved that point and trolled Google with an article titled “Best printer 2024, best printer for home use, office use, printing labels, printer for school, homework printer you are a printer we are all printers.” They used Google Gemini to write this satirical product review, and the article is now ranking in the #2 organic position on the SERP under a search for “best printer 2024”. Hahahahaaaa. The Verge did the same thing a year ago when they published this article (also about printers) written by ChatGPT, which also ranked in the top organic search results. It makes me wonder if Google’s March core update, which was supposed to reduce unhelpful, low quality, AI generated content, had any actual impact. Next up, more strange media news…
Chase (yes, the bank) launched an advertising network?
I guess it was only a matter of time before the bank processing the funds for the massive media buys wanted in on a piece of the action, but this was a bit of a surprise even to me. They recently launched Chase Media Solutions, the first bank-led media platform. According to businesswire “Chase Media Solutions combines the scale and audience of a retail media network with the exclusive advantages of Chase’s first-party financial data, institutional credibility and precise targeting capabilities.” As a consumer, something seems weird about the intersection of banking privacy laws and data brokerage and, I’m not gonna lie, this freaks me out. But as an advertiser, this seems like a good opportunity, as Chase’s first-party data enables advertisers on their network to target consumers based on purchase history. If you want to test out this new media network, you can contact Chase’s team here. And lastly, we have to dish about AI…
Meta put its chatbot in our Instagram DMs.
Which is cool, but it’s like… ask me first?? You can use it like a search engine and ask the AI questions, using the same flow that you would to DM a friend. This is a pretty smart way to drive adoption, TBH… But what’s in it for Meta? Are they using us to test their AI, or are they coming for the search game? With TikTok being a growing portion of Gen Z’s go-to search engine, the latter seems likely. Only time will tell.
And there you have it, my loyal readers—another whirlwind tour of this week’s digital marketing landscape. From Google's AI antics to the unexpected retail maneuvers by Chase, the plot only thickens. Until next week, stay sharp, question everything, and keep your strategies as bold as your coffee and your data cleaner than your browser history.
You know you love me.
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The Essential Guide to Using AI Writing Tools for Content Creation
Gone are the days when content creation was solely the domain of human creativity and laborious hours of writing. Generative AI has created a seismic shift in how we conceive, produce, curate, and optimize content.
Despite generative AI's potential to transform the content writing process and create high-quality content, many companies have yet to adopt it. Often, their hesitation stems from a lack of familiarity.
This guide will help you navigate the transformative landscape of AI-generated content, highlighting its benefits and practical applications for enhancing your writing prowess.
Benefits of Leveraging AI in Content Creation
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Improved Speed and Efficiency
According to Capttera, a staggering 80% of marketing professionals spend 50-75% of their time on content generation. Integrating AI in marketing workflows can help alleviate this burden and allow marketers to focus on more strategic tasks.
One of the most compelling benefits of AI writing tools is their ability to reduce the amount of time it takes to generate content. AI content generators can produce a draft in seconds, a task that might take a human writer hours or even days. Content writers also benefit from using AI assistants to revise content faster. These improved workflows create higher-quality content in less time.
For example, an AI email generator can swiftly craft highly personalized guest post outreach emails by analyzing a webpage in mere seconds!
Enhanced Creativity
AI writing assistants are also great creativity enhancers, helping broaden writers' creative horizons.
These tools can provide you with diverse angles and ideas. They can also help you overcome writer's block and keep your content fresh and engaging. For instance, tools like ChatGPT can be used to brainstorm unique topic ideas, titles, and outlines or experiment with different writing styles and tones.
Cost-Effectiveness
AI writers offer a more budget-friendly alternative to the traditional content creation process. Businesses can save on labor costs and allocate resources more efficiently by automating part of the content production process, especially for high-volume, repetitive writing tasks.
Additionally, the shift towards AI-driven content creation makes it easier for teams to work from home. Remote work thrives on flexibility and efficiency—hallmarks of AI-driven content creation. The adoption of AI-driven content creation tools minimizes the need for in-person supervision and supports remote teams by streamlining communication and project management. AI provides consistent quality and guidance, making remote collaboration as effective as face-to-face collaborations, if not more so.
AI makes content generation accessible to a wider range of businesses, from startups to established companies looking to scale their content marketing efforts.
6 ways to use AI to become a better writer
Wondering how you can start using AI for content creation? These budget-friendly strategies will help you become a more creative and efficient writer!
1. Brainstorm topic ideas
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Seeking to establish authority or cover unexplored topics? AI can help you explore new angles and perspectives, enriching your content plan.
When asking an AI bot like ChatGPT to generate blog topics, your instructions, aka prompts, need to be as clear and specific as possible.
As the saying goes, "The Devil is in the Details". A good AI prompt is detailed, but still open-ended, allowing the tool to explore diverse ideas. A bad prompt is vague or overly broad, leading to generic responses that lack focus.
Giving the AI bot context about your business improves results. Tell the bot your job title and give it a link to your company website.
For example, instead of saying, "Give me 10 blog topics about technology," a more effective prompt would be "Act like you are a content writer for a healthcare company. Generate a list of emerging tech trends impacting healthcare in 2024. These topics will be used as blog posts on [insert website]."
2. Create SEO-optimized titles and summaries
Use AI to generate SEO optimized titles and summaries for content you've already written.
The digital space is filled with AI content assistants that can create search-optimized blog post titles, TL;DRs, and outlines. Many of these assistants are available for free. Some of these tools require detailed prompts, like ChatGPT, while other tools created by SEO pros like Ahrefs and Copy.AI are more straightforward.
ChatGPT is an all-encompassing AI content creation tool. Simply feed it the content you're looking to summarize or create a title for, give it some business context, and watch it generate ideas. When writing your prompt, be sure to tell the chatbot that the results should be optimized for SEO.
Copy.AI offers a ready-to-use blog title generator. This tool requires minimal customization – simply input your target keyword or topic and watch the AI generate SEO optimized titles for you.
If you're looking for more precision and control over the output generated by the AI, try Ahrefs' Free AI Blog Title Generator. This tool is adept at crafting catchy, SEO-optimized titles. It lets you pick the tone of writing, generate multiple title variations at once, and provide context about the post's content, ensuring your titles resonate with your audience.
3. Generate drafts
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AI writers are excellent at drafting content for blog posts, ad copy, product descriptions, and more. You can even integrate them with your social media management tools to help you create captions and social posts.
Once you've chosen your target keywords and finalized an outline, use AI writing software to create your first draft.
For platforms like ChatGPT, a detailed prompt is crucial. It should include all relevant information: the outline, desired keywords, conducted research, and specific facts or details. Explain the post's purpose, desired structure, and tone of voice. You can even feed it content you've written in the past, or provide a link to the landing page the content will eventually live on. This will enable the AI to create content that matches your writing style.
You can ask the AI tool to generate a complete draft or work alongside the tool and draft paragraph by paragraph. Many prefer the latter, as it allows for more control. Each time the AI bot generates a new paragraph you can give it feedback on length, amount of detail, relevancy, etc. This will help the chatbot learn to write better for you.
If you have a budget, try tools like Jasper AI or Surfer SEO. These specialized AI content writing assistants can truly elevate your content creation journey. They will walk you through the entire writing process and use advanced AI copywriting to streamline the journey from idea generation to published piece.
Unlike ChatGPT, these user-friendly AI content tools offer step-by-step guidance and pre-designed templates, making them ideal for beginners.
Remember — AI-written drafts need revision and fact-checking. Relying entirely on AI without any editing from your side can cause serious issues. We'll cover that later.
4. Improve clarity and fix grammar
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Certain AI tools are designed to elevate your original content by enhancing clarity, engagement, and grammar. Two tools work exceptionally well for this purpose – Grammarly and the Hemingway App.
Grammarly, an AI writing assistant, catches spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. It also offers suggestions for enhancing clarity, conciseness, and tone. Simply copy and paste your draft into the tool or use the browser extension for real-time feedback.
Hemingway App, another powerful AI content writing tool, focuses on making your writing bold and clear. It rewords complex sentences, passive voice, and other readability issues.
While both tools have different strengths, they complement each other well. Combining these tools will benefit use cases like editing blog posts, email content, or any other written material.
5. Add unique images to your work
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Incorporating captivating images into your content can significantly enhance its appeal.
Here are some of the best AI image generators:
- DALL·E 3 stands out for its ease of use, making it an excellent choice for those new to AI content generation. Simply describe the image you want and use the AI to generate it.
- Midjourney is known for delivering high-quality image results. This AI tool caters to users seeking exceptional visuals.
- For those desiring more control over their creations, Stable Diffusion provides extensive customization options.
- Adobe Firefly excels in integrating AI-generated images into existing photos. This AI is great for enhancing existing visuals through a blend of creativity and realism.
When using AI to create images, select a tool that aligns with your specific needs—be it ease of use, quality, customization, or integration. The vast number of AI tools available means there's a solution for virtually any visual content requirement.
6. Get feedback
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AI can help you identify areas for improvement and refine your content. Here are a few examples:
- Paste your content into a tool like ChatGPT and ask it to improve clarity and readability. You could also ask it to add more details or examples to support your points.
- Try AI content writing tools like Surfer SEO or Frase for SEO optimization. Get recommendations on keywords, headings, and content length to improve search rankings.
- Use AI writing software to align with Google's EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) principles. EEAT is Google’s guidelines for creating helpful, reliable, and people-first content. AI tools can help you find gaps in your content and suggest ways to showcase your expertise and credibility. Tools like MarketMuse or Clearscope are great for this.
Be specific in your prompts to get the most relevant feedback. For instance, ask, "How can I make this post more engaging for [type of audience]?" or "What can I do to SEO optimize this content for X keyword?"
These writing assistants can refine your work and guide you to adopt better writing practices over time.
How to avoid common mistakes when using AI writing tools
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AI writing tools offer huge benefits for content creators. However, there are common mistakes to avoid when using AI to write. Here's how to navigate these pitfalls effectively:
- Editing, Proofreading, and Fact-Checking: Always review and fact-check AI-generated content to avoid misinformation. AI can make mistakes or draw flawed conclusions, so verifying the information before publishing is crucial.
- Feeding a good prompt: Provide clear, specific, and complete instructions to your AI writing tool. Include the content type, context, desired tone, and other relevant details. The more precise your input, the better the output.
- Adding Personality to AI Content: AI-generated text sometimes lacks personality or sounds generic. To stand out, infuse your voice and style into the content. Make edits and adjustments to ensure the final piece aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience.
- Ethical Content Creation with AI: Be aware of potential biases and discrimination caused by AI algorithms trained on biased datasets. Familiarize yourself with the subject to spot any AI hallucinations or incorrect information.
Embracing the Power of AI for Content Creation
AI writing tools offer incredible opportunities to speed up content production and inject new levels of creativity and efficiency.
But, it's important to remember that quality and ethics should guide your content. Use the AI-generated content as a springboard for your creativity, ensuring it complements rather than replaces your unique insights and expertise. Blend AI's efficiency with your creative flair.
A recent Deloitte study examined how companies rate the readiness of their staff for adopting generative AI (GenAI). Almost all companies think their workforce is at least slightly prepared for AI. Only 13 percent say they are totally unprepared.
AI-powered writing tools are not a fad. They continue to evolve and become more integral to our content creation processes. So, get ready now!
Ad Strength isn’t real, Meta’s algorithm is glitchy, new ops for shopping ads, and more…
Hey Digital Darlings,
Do you believe in Ad Strength? In a young marketer’s heart? How the metrics can free her, wherever they start? I’m not so sure I do anymore… read on to find out why. Plus, we’ll dive into the latest shopping listing specs and marvel at YouTube's wallet-tempting updates. Time to decode what's truly driving our digital strategies and what's just smoke and mirrors.
Is ad strength a fake metric?
Lots of advertisers think so. It seems similar to quality score, but unlike QS it doesn’t impact ad rank. It actually doesn’t impact anything… it’s just a label Google gives your ads. Multiple industry experts have stated that some of their best performing ads have been labeled with ‘poor’ ad strength. To quote Mateja Matić, founder of Dominate Marketing,
“If you are new to Google Ads, one of things you need to be aware of is Google’s recommendations are not necessarily the best things for your account. I can tell you from experience that the majority of things they recommend in your account do not work as good as other things you can do to make your ads better.”
IKTR. My alter ego wrote a whole blog post about the fact that Google’s recommendations often align with spending more money on Google Ads, not improving your bottom line. So, we can’t trust Google. Shocker! But what do they have to say about Ad Strength? Basically, it’s supposed to be a diagnostic tool that tells you what’s working and what’s not. Google’s VP of Search & Commerce said,
“I don’t know where [the idea that Ad Strength is not important] comes from. Ad Strength is at the centre of what we’re trying to do is because creative is going to be incredibly important, and Ad Strength is going to be the mechanism which we use to evaluate that both in Performance Max and channels like search.”
Ummmm… sure. Ad quality is important. But in many cases, marketers are seeing their ads with the highest conversion rates having poor Ad Strength scores so… why on earth would they pay attention to ad strength? The moral of the story - focus on ads that are driving conversions for your business. In other Google news…
Google updated product specifications for shopping listings.
Six changes to attributes have already gone into effect. One of the most interesting changes is that if any of the text in your shopping ads and free listings was written by AI, you have to disclose that via an attribute. Other updates include a new loyalty program attribute, new minimum price attribute, and new free shipping threshold attribute. All this info can be displayed alongside your shopping ads and organic listings as Google’s algorithm sees fit, so things like free shipping callouts could definitely boost your conversion rates. Seems like a helpful update, so make sure you add those attributes in Google Merchant Center. There are more changes coming in September, and you can read up on all the details here. Speaking of shopping…
YouTube announced four new shopping features.
Please pray for my wallet. These updates make it easier than ever to buy stuff that’s featured in YouTube videos… and YouTube hauls are my vice.
The first new feature is called Shopping Collections. This seems to be modeled after Amazon storefronts and LTK pages. YouTubers can add all their favorite products to collections that viewers can shop on-site. Basically, it allows content creators to curate their own online store, and likely get affiliate revenue from the products they feature. A smart move on YouTube’s part, but dangerous for the shopping content-loving girls.
Additional updates include a new affiliate hub which helps creators find sponsored products to feature, the ability to tag products across multiple videos at once, and an integration with Fourthwall. If you’re a retailer, I’d make sure your products are featured in that affiliate hub, because these influencers are powerful. Now, let’s dish about some Meta Drama…
Sales are down, cost is up thanks to Meta’s glitchy algorithm.
Sales and ROAS have plummeted for Meta advertisers in recent months. Meta has given no explanation, so naturally everyone is blaming the algorithm. With CPMs tripling, some advertisers are reallocating their Meta budget to competitors like TikTok. Meta better fix that algo ASAP, because they’re currently expediting TikTok’s takeover. The issue isn’t impacting everyone, but if you advertise on Meta, keep a close eye on your ROAS, and reallocate budget if needed. And finally, let’s chat about AI…
WPP is collaborating with Google’s Gemini AI
WPP is the world’s biggest advertising group, so this is a big deal. They’ll be using Google’s AI to create ad copy and images, meaning the next big Coca-Cola ad could be created by Google’s robots. If everything goes smoothly, this will be a cultural reset for AI in marketing. If Google’s AI works for WPP, it could work for all of us, saving us time while hopefully not replacing our jobs altogether…
And there we have it—another week of digital deciphering down. From questioning Google's opaque metrics to strategizing around YouTube's shopping spree enablers and grappling with Meta's costly conundrums, we're reminded that the digital marketing world is ever-evolving. Until next week, keep your eyes peeled, your strategies flexible, and your skepticism healthy.
You know you love me.
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5 Ways Marin Makes Retail Media Marketing Better
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.
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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.
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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!
How to Measure the ROI of Retail Media Marketing Campaigns: Key Metrics and Tools
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.
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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.
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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.
Incognito Mode is fake, UA dies in July, Facebook and Netflix in cahoots, & paid search updates
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
Strap in for a wild ride through Tech Town. Google's dropping Universal Analytics like last season's trends, Microsoft's making bidding moves, and Incognito Mode's about as private as a reality TV show. Plus, Meta's mixing up targeting like it's a new cocktail recipe. Let's decode the tech titans' latest antics and arm ourselves for the battles ahead. First things first, this is your FINAL reminder that…
Google is shutting down Universal Analytics (UA) for real.
They sent out a mass email reminding us that on July 1st, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will have fully replaced UA. All UA services and APIs will shut down forever. So if you’re still using UA for anything, it’s time to change that. You can follow Google’s migration guide to make the switch ASAP. In other Google news…
Google Ad Manager Reach Report error skewed data this week.
If you noticed some strange numbers in your Ad Reach report on Monday, you’re not alone. The issue actually lasted from Friday evening to Monday morning, but I really hope you weren’t working over the weekend, and therefore didn’t notice. Reach report data for any date later than March 20th was incomplete, depriving advertisers of their precious prior week’s data while they worked to pull together Monday’s reports. But don’t worry, Google resolved the issue Tuesday afternoon, so things should be back to normal. Now let's pivot to some Microsoft news…
Microsoft is phasing out Manual CPC this month.
All campaigns currently on Manual CPC will be automatically switched to enhanced CPC starting May 13. And manual CPC will no longer be an option when creating new campaigns starting April 30th. It’s probably for the best, TBH. Manual CPC doesn’t adapt at all to real-time auction data and puts you at an efficiency disadvantage. The only concern with eCPC is that Microsoft can increase your bids higher than the CPC you’ve set. But don’t worry, Microsoft won’t let your Average CPC exceed your bid, so you don’t need to worry about fluctuations in spend. And in other Microsoft bidding news…
Max Conversion Value bidding is now available for Microsoft Ads.
Maximize conversion value aims to drive the highest-value conversions possible. So while Max Conversions bidding drives as much conversion volume as possible, Max Conversion Value focuses on ROI. You can even choose to add a ROAS target to this bid strategy to make sure it’s bidding in line with your goals. If you’ve been using manual bidding, it might be time to test this strategy out instead! And in other tech news…
Incognito mode is fake! Chrome will not protect your privacy.
As part of a lawsuit settlement, Google agreed to delete “billions of data records” that they collected from users searching in Incognito Mode. The settlement also requires Google to update the Incognito Mode “splash page” (the blurb that pops up any time you open a new Incognito window) to state that they’re still collecting your data, no matter what browsing mode you use. It seems like all Incognito Mode does is prevent your site history from being saved in your browser. It doesn’t do anything to protect your data, and gives people a false sense of security. Time to switch to Duckduckgo! And in more scary (lack of) data privacy news…
Facebook lets Netflix read your DMs.
Court documents revealed that Meta has been giving Netflix access to users’ messages for the past decade. This info came out of a lawsuit where filers claimed Netflix and Facebook “enjoyed a special relationship” (lol) that enabled Netflix to tailor ads to Facebook users. In exchange, Facebook received billions of dollars in ad revenue from Netflix. I can’t say I’m shocked, but this seems super illegal. It all happened via an agreement that gave Netflix access to Facebook’s APIs. Fox Business said it best…
“The API agreement allowed Netflix programmatic access to Facebook’s private messages inboxes, in exchange Netflix would ‘provide to FB a written report every two weeks that shows daily counts of recommendations sends and recipient clicks by interface, initiation surface, and/or implementation variation (e.g. Facebook vs. non-Facebook recommendation receipts).’"
🎶 Meta and Facebook sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G 🎶
In other Meta news…
Meta made major targeting updates to Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns.
The updates allow advertisers to see reporting breakdowns on current audiences and target people who are interested in their products but have not yet made a purchase. The new reporting feature is called the “Engaged Customers Audience Segment” and is available in the Meta Ads UI now. Users can add the segment to any report by going to the ‘breakdown’ menu and choosing “Demographics by Audience Segments”. This will add segmented rows for ‘new customers’, ‘existing customers’, and ‘engaged customers’.
Additionally, you can create a custom audience out of your engaged customers to directly target people who are interested in your brand but have not made a purchase. It’s basically streamlined retargeting, and I appreciate Meta doing the work for us… but can we trust their data? Who knows!
Well, there you have it. Another week of every major tech company destroying my faith in humanity!! Until next week, keep your strategies sharp, your skepticism sharper, and don’t let the lack of data privacy get you down. The tech overlords are always watching, so make sure you look good!
You know you love me.
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7 Ways to Improve Your Google Ads Click-Through Rates
Did you know that Google Ads usage is on the rise? Over 60% of online marketers use it.
However, 44% of them say they can’t achieve the return on investment they expected. This doesn’t mean Google Ads can’t be profitable for them. It can, but they need to apply new strategies to improve click-through rates and achieve better performance with their ads.
What is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. In Google Ads, CTR is an important metric that measures your ads' success in attracting clicks from viewers. A high CTR indicates that your ad copy and targeting are relevant to the audience.
What constitutes a strong Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
CTR performance can differ based on the industry and type of advertisement. Google states that the typical CTR for search ads is 1.91% for the first position, 0.35% for the second spot, and 0.11% for the third spot. In contrast, display ads typically see a CTR of about 0.46%. While these figures can be used as a reference point, it's important to remember that your target CTR should align with your objectives and sector.
Based on our first-hand experience, here are 7 highly effective ways to improve your click-through rate in Google ads:
1. Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion
What marketer doesn’t love good targeting? Dynamic keyword insertion, an advanced feature introduced by Google Ads, lets you create more relevant ad copy based on a user’s search query.
Let’s say you’re advertising a coffee shop. In your ad headline, include the code {Keyword: coffee shop}. When a user searches for “best coffee shop”, Google will automatically change the ad headline to “Best Coffee Shop.” If they type “coffee shop near me,” the headline will change to “Coffee Shop Near Me,” and so on.
It’s a simple yet powerful method that tailors your ad to each unique user.
Bonus Tip: Pay Attention to Low Volume Keywords
Despite being underestimated, lower-volume keywords can help boost the number of people clicking on your ads. These keywords may not bring in tons of traffic. They are precise, so they will match with a lower amount of queries. However, paying attention to them can improve how relevant and appealing your ads are to an audience. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn't disregard them:
- They’re focused: Low-volume keywords tend to be very precise, which means that the users searching for them are likely close to making a decision or a purchase.
- Less competition: Few advertisers use these keywords, so your ads have a better chance of standing out and getting more clicks at a lower cost.
- Better conversion rates: Since these keywords closely match what the user is after, they often lead to high conversion rates.
By including long-tail keywords in your paid search strategy, you’ll boost your click-through rates and make your Google Ads campaigns more effective overall.
2. Set up Location Insertion
Now, let’s talk about advertising that hits home (literally).
Similar to keyword insertion, the location insertion feature automatically replaces the code {LOCATION(City)} with the actual city name based on the user's location or the location they're searching for. How is this possible? Easy! Google Ads determines the user's location based on their IP address.
3. Mix Things Up
Let’s say you’ve crafted a catchy headline and description for your ad. How do you make sure it stays fresh and relevant to your target audience?
Create multiple versions of headlines and descriptions. The golden ratio is to have 15 variations for headlines and 4 variations for descriptions.
Google will then mix and match your headlines and descriptions to display the most relevant combination to your target audience, basically doing A/B testing for you.
Before we move on, remember to "pin" important headlines or descriptions to lock them in a particular position. For example, you might pin your brand name to Headline 1 so that it appears first in every ad. This allows Google to create maximum variety with your other unpinned elements.
4. Use Symbols and Emojis
Sprinkle emojis and symbols in your ad text!
This will not only create eye-catching text that will stand out in Google Search Results, but you'll also add a touch of personality and flair to your message. That's what these symbols are for – to convey emotions and tone.
While there are no strict rules on how to use emojis and symbols in your ad text, here are a few tips:
- Do not overdo it: stick to one or two relevant emojis per ad.
- Mind the context: make sure your emojis and symbols are appropriate for your brand and message.
5. Apply the Rule of Three
Sometimes, ads hit your goals. Sometimes they don't. So why not run a small experiment instead of risking all your budget? Here's what you need to do:
1. Create three versions of the same ad, each with a slightly different message or call to action.
2. Run them for a limited time period (e.g., one week) and compare their performance metrics.
3. Choose the winning version and use it as an evergreen ad.
6. Use Google Ad Extensions
As you might have guessed, Google Ads Extensions extend your ad so it takes up more space on SERPs and has more clickable appeal. If you want to see your CTR climb, use extensions and be sure to include your brand’s name and logo (only verified advertisers can use this option).
Google Ad extensions have a lot of potential to boost your ad performance. Here are some great examples:
- Sitelinks: These extra links can guide customers to pages on your website. For instance, a clothing store could have ad extensions like "Women's Fashion," "Men's Collection," and "Kids' Wear" that link to dedicated landing pages for each of the product categories.
- Snippets: These highlight features of your products or services. A technology company might showcase snippets such as "Software Development", "Mobile App Solutions", "Cloud Services" and "24/7 Tech Support."
- Promotions: You can share offers directly in your ads. For instance, a restaurant could advertise "Get 10% off your order", or a bookstore might offer "Free shipping for orders over $50."
- Price Extensions: Display prices for products or services you offer, making it easy for customers to see upfront costs. For example, a beauty salon could list prices like "Haircut $30", "Manicure $20" and "Facial Treatments starting from $40."
- Locations: Businesses with multiple in-person locations can benefit from showing addresses and distances in their ads to attract customers. A coffee chain, for example, could display stores closest to users searching for coffee.
- Get the App Here: If your company offers an app, this tool can prompt users to download it from the advertisement. For instance, a fitness app could use this feature to attract users.
- Visuals and Multimedia: Images and videos can greatly enhance user engagement. A travel agency could showcase destination photos or quick video tours to capture viewers' attention.
By using these features, businesses can significantly enhance the impact of their Google Ads, creating compelling ad experiences that drive increased click-through rates and ultimately lead to improved conversion rates.
7. More Numbers
90% of the world’s population love statistics. Sounds persuasive, right? We’ve made up that fact, but not to make fun of you. It’s to show that numbers are powerful in convincing someone to click your ad.
Statistics can make any product or service sound intriguing and worth clicking. Tap into your creativity and use numbers in your headlines or descriptions to make them more attention-grabbing.
"Using numbers instead of lengthy sentences can also make your ad more visually appealing. Think about skimming through a list of search results. One ad describes a smart productivity app that can change your life. Another ad says that their time-management tool will boost your productivity by 50%. Which one would you click? The answer is obvious." – Luca Castelli, CMO, Detectico App
Bottom Line
So, there you have it—your personal guide with 7 highly effective ways to skyrocket your CTR in Google Ads. Apply our tips to your ad campaigns and get results quickly!
If you need help managing, optimizing, and tracking the performance of your Google Ads campaigns, consider trying out an AI-powered paid search automation tool like Marin. Schedule a demo to learn more.
AI search results threaten brand terms, Google > ChatGPT, the new Amazon ad library, and more
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
With any luck you’re having a drama-free week, but it’s time for me to spice things up. Google’s stirring the digital pot again with AI Overviews sneaking into search results–opt-in or not, you’re getting a taste. And with “top ads” not so top anymore, we're left to wonder, what's G's end game? Big things are happening, and I’m here to simplify them for your eager eyes.
AI is coming to dominate the Google SERP.
Google’s beta-testing their newest flavor of search result – AI Overviews. They said they want to collect feedback from searchers who have not opted in to the Search Generative Experience (SGE). Um, what’s the point of having an opt-in option if you’re just gonna serve AI results to whoever you want?! But I digress… According to a Google spokesperson, the AI overviews are being served on a small subset of queries that are more complex and might benefit from combined results from a collection of web pages. Sounds helpful for users, but not so great for us marketers. These AI answers serve at the top of the SERP, pushing down paid search ads and SEO-powered top results. A study found that…
Google SGE is a top threat to brand and product search terms.
In a study by Authoritas, SGE results appeared for 91.4% of queries… so much for them being served to “a small subset”! Paid ads appeared below SGE results about half of the time. Not great for us search marketers! But according to Authoritas the worst part is “these new types of generative results introduce more opportunities for third-party sites and even competitors to rank for your brand terms and related brand and product terms that you care about” since competitor’s pages could be included in the same SGE results as yours. Keep an eye on this one, folks. In other paid search ranking news…
Google changed the definition of ‘top ads’.
Call me crazy, but I assumed that top ads were placed above organic results, at the top of the page… however, Google updated the official definition of top ads to say that they usually appear above organic results, but may show below the top organic results for some queries. It seems like Google may be moving forward with its idea to show ads between organic results, which they tested in 2023. This could be a good thing for advertisers – if Google starts serving ads in traditionally organic placements, that may mean more ad space for sale overall on page 1 of the SERP. Now for my final bit of search news…
Are AI bots a better search tool than Google?
TL;DR… No. A journalist at The Verge took the most commonly Googled queries and fed them to various chatbots to see if AI is the Google search killer everyone’s claiming it to be. And AI lost the fight against Google in numerous ways. For navigational searches, like Googling ‘Amazon’ to get to amazon.com, AI flopped. For informational queries, like ‘current NFL game scores’, AI was often straight-up wrong… another flop. The takeaway was – rather than AI being a Google-killer, it’s more likely Google will incorporate AI in its search results, offering the best of both worlds. And they’re already doing it with SGE, so we won’t be seeing the end of Google any time soon. Now let’s gossip about another Google product…
Google Analytics was bugging yesterday, showing zero real-time traffic.
If you noticed zero real-time traffic in GA4 yesterday, your site didn’t suddenly drop off. Google confirmed a bug was causing this metric to appear empty. They rolled out a fix late US-time last night, so you should be all set now. I just wanted to let you know that if you saw those zeros yesterday… it wasn’t just you! Anyways, in the world of eCommerce…
The EU is forcing Amazon to publish an ads library.
As a result of the Digital Markets Act, Amazon will have to provide a publically accessible library of all ads running on its platform. This is great for transparency, sure, but I’m more excited about the ability to search for my competitor’s ads. If you haven’t read our post about using the Facebook Ads library for competitive analysis, check it out to understand why this is an exciting thing for us advertisers. And I have some other exciting news for B2B marketers in particular…
LinkedIn’s new feature enables users to chat with brands.
It’s called ‘Pages Messaging.’ Activating this feature will produce a ‘Message’ button on your company’s LinkedIn page so users can easily reach out to you and ask questions or schedule demos. In the world of LinkedIn marketing, brands benefit from posting like people. Now, users can chat with brands like they’re people too.
That's the scoop for this week, my digital darlings. In the dynamic digital marketing world, staying static isn't an option. Let's adapt, innovate, and maybe enjoy a little schadenfreude watching our competitors scramble to keep up. Until next week, stay sassy, stay savvy.
You know you love me.
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How to Use Lead Segmentation for Targeted Marketing Success
The true purpose of marketing is to match your product offerings with consumer needs. You’re encouraging leads down the sales funnel by appealing to the audience that most desires your goods and services. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
Different audiences have different wants and needs that can’t be satisfied by a single advertising initiative. Enter lead segmentation, a strategy that lets you offer varied products to a range of consumers.
Segmentation plays a critical role in personalizing marketing messages with the aim of turning leads into customers. Siphoning your target audience into specific customer types based on shared characteristics helps your company reach out in the most targeted and effective ways.
All this results in better lead retention and sales. It’ll also help you understand your customers and thus keep you informed of the best direction to grow your business. Read on to learn more about how and why you should segment leads.
What is lead segmentation, and why is it important?
Lead segmentation is the process of dividing a leads list or existing customer base into smaller groups according to specific characteristics, interests, or behaviors.
This might include demographics such as a customer’s income level, job title, or location. Alternatively, you could create lists for online user actions like content downloads or transactional information like purchase history.
Interchangeably known as audience or customer segmentation, it can help you tailor your approach to customers based on their readiness to buy or potential lifelong value to your business.
Why does all of this matter? Segmentation is effective. It allows organizations to create personalized content for specific groups of potential customers. If you work with marketing agencies, it also gives them a clear strategy for creating targeted, effective campaigns.
Take L’Oréal, for example. The personal care company used behavioral data from Google to create 12 ad variations, each with music targeted towards a different demographic’s preferences. Here, L’Oréal managed to maintain its relevance among multiple customer bases.
It’s applicable to other industries, too. Say you’re a financial institution looking to improve your debt management lead generation. You might utilize customer segments to determine which customers have outstanding debt and send them payment reminders.
The benefits of using lead segmentation in marketing
We’ve touched on a few benefits of creating meaningful segments for your marketing efforts. But there are several other ways it can help you develop a more targeted marketing strategy.
Refines content marketing relevancy
Without segmented lists that address the specific needs of a subset of consumers, you’re casting a broad net.
Do you want to generate leads using content that is relevant to your consumers? Then you need to categorize your audience into particular shopper subsets and refine your content distribution strategy to target each group.
Look at how Coca-Cola tailors its adverts and the products it pushes depending on the tastes of local demographics. While it focuses on Coke as its top product in America, in Brazil, Fanta takes center stage.
Allocates marketing resources effectively
When it comes to optimizing marketing efforts, you don’t want to waste time and money on audiences that aren’t receptive to particular campaigns or strategies.
With relevant and targeted campaigns, you can better allocate resources while reducing customer acquisition costs. This means it’ll be cheaper to attract high-quality leads and move them down the sales funnel.
Looking for inspiration for personalized social media posts? Consider utilizing segmentation to tailor your content to specific audience subsets, maximizing engagement and conversion rates.
By leveraging social media analytics tools, you can gain valuable insights into audience preferences and behavior, allowing you to refine your segmentation strategies for even greater effectiveness.
It also means you can focus on the sales and marketing channels that are most effective for each customer subset. Personalized social media marketing might be the best strategy for Gen Z and Millennials, while Gen X could prefer email marketing.
Provides insights to identify new opportunities
Implementing segmentation can help you uncover new opportunities in your industry. Specifically, it will help you identify high-value prospects and opportunities to drive growth.
Netflix, for example, employs behavioral segmentation to personalize content recommendations based on user habits.
Suggesting movies and shows that different customer profiles will be interested in means viewers stay engaged and ultimately increases customer retention. The customer data gleaned from this also helps Netflix to determine what types of shows and films to produce next.
They’re not alone. Many modern companies across different industries use data to seek new opportunities internally and externally. Johnson & Johnson uses data intelligence to optimize their supply chain.
What is supply chain optimization? It’s the process of making tweaks to improve efficiency in everything from processing orders to identifying cost improvements. Combined with segmented lead data, it means you’ll be armed with insights to better serve customers.
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Develops targeted lead nurturing strategies
Segmented campaigns help you build meaningful and ongoing relationships with customers. You can anticipate their needs by interpreting habits and behavioral data. As a result, you can offer subgroups the right incentives and benefits to make further purchases.
You’ll also reduce churn by identifying the key reasons that customers abandon your business for another. More targeted incentives show shoppers that they’re valued, keeping them loyal and interested in your brand.
Let’s say you work in the renewable energy sector, for example. You could boost solar leads appointments and reduce churn with targeted nurturing strategies for specific demographics. So, you might offer a reduction in the cost of installation for young or first-time buyers.
Aligns marketing and sales efforts
With a better understanding of the key issues, characteristics, and shopping habits of your target audience, your sales and marketing teams can work more efficiently and effectively. What’s more, they can use segmented data to collaborate on their sales and marketing plans to focus on specific products, demographics, and sales locations.
How to get started with lead segmentation
To implement segmented campaigns, you should outline a goal for the project and segment leads that are most likely to generate the target sales. Consider the following in your segmentation plan:
Define your target audience
Lead segmentation starts with identifying the consumers you’ll target based on their transaction histories, demographics, locality, etc. To aid in this step, you can create a selection of personas that represent each consumer subcategory.
Developing these will require you to collect data on an ongoing basis. You can find this type of data using tools and platforms like your CRM, web analytic services, and marketing automation platforms like Marin.
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Analyze customer behavior
Analyzing customer behavior means identifying patterns and commonalities in your data that’ll help you group your target audience into categories and create personas to represent each subgroup.
Consider using AI to save time here. AI tools can automate the process of identifying trends in customer feedback and provide relevant insights about customer activity and identity. For example, sentiment analysis will categorize consumer opinions based on the feedback provided and the demographic of respondents.
Furthermore, AI-driven talent management can assist in optimizing marketing efforts by identifying skill sets within a team that align with specific segmentation strategies, ensuring effective execution and continuous improvement.
By leveraging AI-driven talent management, marketing teams can not only refine segmentation strategies but also foster a culture of innovation and adaptability, driving long-term success in targeted marketing campaigns.
Utilize marketing automation
Advanced marketing automation tools can even go as far as segmenting customers for you based on common characteristics. You can determine if these groupings are broader (e.g. by geography) or more specialized (e.g. customers that use a specific payment method on your website).
A marketing data pipeline tool like Marin can unify all your data so that it's simpler than ever to analyze.
Additionally, personalized email marketing campaigns can be automated to target segmented customer groups with relevant content, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
A quick word of advice here: ensure any automation tool you use prioritizes safety. Just as vendor risk management benefits include making efficiencies to your systems, be aware that there are risks associated with automation, including cyber-attacks and data breaches. To mitigate these, monitor your software diligently and take steps to encrypt your network.
Create segmentation criteria
You want to focus on market segments that are the best for your business in terms of profitability, size, and growth potential.
The key to finding the right segmentation criteria is tracking patterns in the customer data you’ve gathered. Research your audience behavior and consider the practical value of different segmentations.
Throughout this process, consider market segments that are:
Measurable: Do you actually have data on a specific audience regarding sales value and volume?
Substantial: Is this segment large enough and sustainable enough to make it worth spending resources on?
Accessible: Do you have the resource capacity to reach and target this group effectively?
Actionable: Is this practical? Is your chosen segment likely to be receptive to your marketing efforts?
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Choose the right segmentation methods
With that criteria in mind, it's time to divide your leads. Methods will vary from business to business, and you should pick strategies that work best for your team.
- Demographic segmentation: Based on factors related to human populations, such as age, gender, nationality, marital status, and income.
- Psychographic segmentation: Based on studying users' traits and values. This might include personality, desires, attitudes, interests and lifestyle differences. For example, you might choose to target eco conscious customers.
- Transactional segmentation: Based on users’ online behavior, such as purchase and browsing history, frequency of purchases, total spend, type of items bought, and date of last purchase. Customers who purchase frequently or spend a significant amount with your company each month make great leads to target.
- Geographic segmentation: Based on where people live, this method considers weather, regional holidays, and languages. This means you would promote swimwear during warmer seasons, for example.
Integrate with CRM systems
You can streamline segmentation efforts with the integration of various CRM tools. The best CRM systems will identify your leads and present the relevant information associated with them. You can create groupings using CRM rules and workflows.
A subset of CRM, platforms like call center lead management software will simplify the process further by gathering insights from a high volume of calls and categorizing them automatically.
Conclusion
Lead segmentation crucial for understanding the diverse needs of customers and creating personalized and targeted marketing strategies that appeal to their interests. It allows more accuracy in the marketing and sales process and results in better customer retention, satisfaction, and improved profits.
The role of AI is one of the most powerful marketing developments of the past year. It has simplified the process to a point where most companies are capable of effective segmentation. There’s no longer any reason why businesses should miss out on this sales-boosting personalization strategy. If you're interested in exploring an AI-powered marketing automation platform, speak with a Marin Rep today.
Google’s core update, Thread’s Fediverse integration, Human-level AI, and more…
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
With the start of spring comes new beginnings, innovations, and revelations. Does the milder weather have you feeling a bit lighter? Have you found yourself whistling a happy tune while gazing out your sun-filled window? I love that for you. I’ve certainly been a bit more jubilant these past few days, but that won’t stop me from being my snarky self while recapping this week’s digital marketing drama. Let’s get into it.
Google has a new Head of Search, and she’s super into AI.
Longtime Googler Liz Reid secured one of the most prized positions in the Google-verse this week. She previously ran the Search Generative Experience department, so under her leadership, I expect our journey into the Matrix to be expedited. A few other high-up Googlers who have been spearheading AI initiatives within the company got promoted too. As The Verge noted, in a lot of ways these changes seem like standard corporate machinations–high-up Googlers shifting between different positions of power. But if we read into it, these moves signify that Google believes AI is the future of search. Which is valid! That said, Google has been annoying me lately, especially after…
Google asked us to be patient while their core update upends our SEO world.
The March core update is so big, it’ll continue rolling out until the end of the month. Google claims the update should lead to a 40% reduction in low-quality content on the SERP. Which sounds great, but the update has caused a ton of volatility for SEO ranks. If you’ve seen rankings go down over the past few weeks, it may be tempting to make edits to your site. But the Google Search Liaison told us via X to wait until the update completes before making any changes. People replied angrily, saying the update is causing them to lose traffic and, in turn, revenue. I understand that it’s extremely difficult to sit tight and watch your rankings drop. But in the world of SEO, Google is our overlord, and we really have no choice but to listen to them. Now for a little paid search news…
We can now import Google PMAX campaigns to Microsoft Advertising.
I few weeks ago I expressed my excitement about the fact that Microsoft PMAX campaigns are now available globally. And now you can import Google PMAX campaigns to Microsoft seamlessly. Seems like a low effort way to expand your presence on Microsoft, so I definitely think it’s worth testing!
Now, let’s chat about The Fediverse…
Meta showed off Threads’ Fediverse integration for the first time.
If you’ve never heard of the fediverse, I’ll let this quote from The Verge explain it:
“The fediverse is as if you took X, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook and made them all interoperable so you could post anything from anywhere, and all your followers would be guaranteed to see it. And if you wanted to leave one platform for another, you could bring all your content, all your followers, all your everything with you.”
The social media web is expanding. Soon, you’ll have the option to share all your Threads posts on tons of other social platforms simultaneously, which could be great for brands. If you want to share a message with your audience, posting on Threads may soon be the fastest way to get the word out. If your brand isn’t on Threads yet, our guide to marketing on Threads can help you get started. But honestly, is it just me or has Meta made a real-life WUPHF? In other Meta news...
Instagram ads with promo codes are now available globally.
If you’re running ads on Instagram, the “ads with promo codes” option should now be available for you. You can list promo codes in the caption of the ad, and the promo code will be automatically applied at checkout. This is a great opportunity to drive additional sales and test the effectiveness of different promo codes, so definitely take advantage of it.
And now for your regularly scheduled AI news…
Nvidia’s president said that artificial general intelligence is 5 years away.
Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is often referred to as “human-level AI”... oh no. Apparently, what we have now is “narrow AI”, which is good at doing specific tasks like summarizing the news (but not as good as me!) or building a website. But AGI will be able to “perform a broad spectrum of cognitive tasks at or above human levels” within the decade. I’m scared!! And in other AI news…
OpenAI’s chatbot store is full of spam.
The GPT store is filling up with more and more strange, potentially-copywrite-infringing bots. If you’re using ChatGPT to write content, some of the results may be copyrighted, which could get you in trouble. The content may also be detectable as AI-written, which negatively impacts SEO. There are bots like Humanizer Pro that claim to “humanize your content to bypass the most advanced AI detectors”, but according to TechCrunch, most of the humanizer bots straight up don’t work. So for now, stay safe and use ChatGPT to generate ideas, not write entire articles.
Well, that’s all for this week, Darlings. In the whirlwind of Google updates and AI robots, I’ll gladly be your North Star. May your Friday be easy, and your weekend peaceful. Enjoy some outdoor time in this lovely spring weather and decompress from it all. We’ll chat again next week.
You know you love me.
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5 Performance Max best practices from a PPC expert
Watch Autumn explain her 3 biggest tips, then read on for even more insights!
Advertisers are starting to see great success with their Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns. They have been growing in popularity in Google Ads and are now available Globally in Microsoft Ads, too! Many Paid Search managers now consider it best practice to have at least one Performance Max campaign running in their Google Ads account. They are great for finding high-converting customers not only on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) but across all of Google’s other channels like YouTube, Display, Gmail, and Maps.
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PMAX campaigns learn as they go. While they take around 6 weeks to mature, they’ll continue to get more efficient over time. That said, there are several ways to speed up their learning process and set up your campaigns for success. Follow these 5 tips to get the best possible results from your PMAX campaigns.
1. Add high-quality creative assets
Adding high-quality assets is one of the most important steps in setting up a successful Performance Max campaign. Advertisers should add a variety of asset types to ensure that their ad can serve on many different channels and placements.
Text assets
Text assets include the headlines and descriptions for your PMAX campaign’s text ads.
First, you will want to add headlines. You can add up to 15, and filling all 15 slots with headline variations will allow you to include more keywords in your copy, which will improve ad quality. Think about the keywords that you would want to target if this were a traditional paid search campaign. Then, incorporate those keywords into your ad copy. The more relevant keywords you include, the higher the likelihood that your ad will serve.
Once you’ve optimized your headlines, you can add up to 4 descriptions. It is best to include a call to action in each of them. Descriptions can have up to 90 characters and it is best to use as many characters as possible to take up more space on the page and include as much relevant information and keywords as you can.
Image assets
Next, let's talk about graphics. There are two different types of graphics to include in a PMAX campaign: Images and Logos. It's best to add multiple variations of each type of asset so that they can appear in a variety of placements with different ideal image sizes. It is important that all images are high-quality.
For image assets, there are three different options to consider:
- Landscape image
Landscape assets should have an aspect ratio of 1.91:1, meaning the width should be 1.91 times the height. The minimum size is 600 x 314 pixels, and the recommended size is 1200 x 628 pixels. The maximum file size for a Landscape image asset is 5120 KB.
- Square image
Square assets must have an aspect ratio of 1:1, meaning the width and height are equal (it’s a square, after all!) The minimum size is 300 x 300 pixels, and the recommended size is 1200 x 1200 pixels. The maximum file size for a Square image asset is 5120 KB.
- Portrait image
Portrait assets must have an aspect ratio of 4:5, meaning the height is equal to ⅘ the width. The minimum size is 480 x 600 pixels, and the recommended size is 960 x 1200 pixels. This asset type doesn’t have a maximum file size limit.
You can include up to 20 images for each type of image asset, and it’s best to provide as many asset variations as possible. While 20 portrait, 20 square, and 20 landscape images are ideal, it’s not always possible to produce that much relevant creative. It’s critical to have at least one of each type of asset in your campaign, but the more, the merrier!
Logo assets
You should also add logo assets to make your brand more recognizable in your ads. The options for logo assets are:
- Landscape logo
Landscape logos are horizontal and must have a 4:1 aspect ratio, meaning the width must be four times the height. The minimum size is 512x128 pixels, with a recommended size of 1200x300 pixels. The maximum file size is 5120 KB.
- Square logo
Square logos, like their image counterparts, must have a 1:1 aspect ratio. The minimum size is 128x128 pixels, with a recommended size of 1200x1200 pixels. The maximum file size is 5120KB.
You can include up to 5 logos for each type of asset. Like their image counterparts, including as many logo variations as possible will improve ad performance.
Video assets
Then, there is the option to add video assets. If you don’t add a video asset, Google will create one for you using your headlines and images. Though these videos can see positive results, they may not always reflect your vision of how you would like to present the brand, so it’s best to create your own.
There’s only one video format for PMAX campaigns, which is specifically designed for YouTube ads, though video ads can also serve on the Display Network. You have the ability to include up to 5 video assets per PMAX campaign, and it’s best to include as many as possible. Videos must be at least 10 seconds long. You can choose between horizontal, vertical, and square aspect ratios. Note that Google may resize your videos automatically to make them fit in different placements.
Grouping assets properly
Keep in mind that when setting up asset groups, you will not be able to control which assets get served together within the group. For example, if you sell both sandals and boots, these different product types should have separate asset groups because you wouldn't want a headline about boots showing up with a picture of sandals. Therefore, you want to make sure all the assets within a given group are cohesive. Separate asset groups will also allow you to set up different targeting for each type of product. Make sure that every asset group has video, image, and text assets.
Reviewing asset performance
Once your PMAX campaign has run for a while and has gathered data, you will be able to check the Asset Report and see how each different asset is rated. It will state low, good, or best. However, if there are not enough impressions for Google to calculate a performance category, then it will state that there is not enough data. It is best to switch out low-performing assets with new ones and continually test new assets. But be sure to wait a few weeks before switching out assets so that they gather enough data to receive an accurate quality rating.
Including ad extensions
While setting up your assets, you should also include ad extensions. Treat the ad extensions as you would in search campaigns and make sure that they are relevant to the campaign and to any asset combinations within the campaign.
2. Apply specific targeting
Adding targeting when setting up a PMAX campaign will help speed up the learning process. You can use data from existing campaigns with similar products to help decide what targeting to apply. Depending on your goals, you can target more specific audiences that you know will convert, or you can include audiences that have similar interests to expand your reach.
Audience signals
Adding audience signals to Performance Max campaigns helps guide the algorithm. The algorithm will use these audience signals as suggestions when selecting the right users to serve ads to. Adding all of the possible audience signals is not required, but it will speed up the learning process. To select the right audience signals, use data from active campaigns and audiences and incorporate successful audiences and demographics into your PMAX targeting.
Interest categories
You can use industry knowledge to select interest categories that are related to the products you sell. Adding interest categories is a good way to capture your target audience as well as audiences that may have similar interests.
Demographic targets
There are other targeting options, such as demographics, that you can add right away. Or you can let the campaign run, analyze the data, and then set the demographics based on the results. For example, you may notice a specific age range is more likely to convert, and add that age range as a demographic target. And, of course, you can use data on users who previously interacted with your site, such as website visitors, to create retargeting audiences.
Search themes
Search themes are words or phrases that you expect your audience to search. These are similar to keywords, but they will be used as a suggestion to the algorithm rather than a requirement. The algorithm can still serve your ad to people who are not searching for those words or phrases. Adding search themes will improve targeting for new campaigns and for campaigns whose targeting settings aren’t specific enough. These are optional but are a great way to provide additional guidance to your campaigns.
3. Optimize your feed
When creating asset groups, it's important to optimize your product feed. Make sure that the products in each group match the assets. If your assets are split up by content category, then the products in each asset group should be split up the same way.
Product titles should provide an accurate description of the product, as any confusing language will decrease the click-through rate.
If there are products that are consistently driving low ROI, you should either exclude them from the asset group or put them into their own campaign with a small budget.
Also, be sure to regularly check that your feeds have been approved.
4. Don’t just rely on PMAX
It is best to use performance max campaigns alongside search campaigns. Using both will maximize visibility.
Search campaigns offer more control and the ability to target exact keywords. With PMAX, you can’t control which search queries your ads are served on. Rather, PMAX’s AI-powered technology analyzes your landing page content, product feed, and assets to decide which queries are relevant to your ads. Therefore, it’s best to target specific keywords with search campaigns and allow PMAX to drive incremental conversions with its AI-powered targeting.
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5. Choose the right bid strategy
When selecting a bidding strategy for a new performance max campaign, choose either Maximize Conversions, which will aim to get as many conversions as possible within the provided budget, or Maximize Conversion Value, which will aim to get high-value conversions. The latter may drive fewer conversions, but the conversions it does drive will be more valuable.
Using Target ROAS or Target CPA is still an option, but it is best to wait to use them until the PMAX campaign has matured and gathered sufficient revenue and conversion data for the algorithm to reference.
Final thoughts
We highly recommend testing performance max campaigns to understand what they can do for your advertising program. To ensure the best outcome, set up your PMAX campaigns with quality assets and relevant audiences. The learning period can take up to six weeks, and making changes to the campaign during this period will make it take longer, so try to sit back and let it do its thing.
If you’re looking for a solution that enables you to manage your Google and Microsoft PMAX campaigns in one place, look no further than Marin. In our centralized interface, you can analyze, optimize, and report on all your cross-channel campaigns. Marin can even track your campaigns' performance for you and provide unique, publisher-independent recommendations for improvement. To learn more, click here to chat with a Marin Rep!
Leveraging Revenue Operations to Optimize Digital Marketing Channels
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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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.
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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.
6 Advanced Strategies for Maximizing ROI in Paid Search Advertising
Did you know that small to medium-sized businesses invest seven times more in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising than search engine optimization (SEO)?
It’s likely because PPC offers faster results, more control, and targeted advertising. In addition, PPC tends to generate twice the number of site visitors compared to SEO.
However, PPC can be more expensive because you pay every time someone clicks on your ad.
So, how do you attract customers to your business without losing tons of money?
Enter advanced paid search advertising strategies. These techniques allow you to target the right audience in the right places at the right time.
Doing so increases your chances of converting leads into customers, which means more revenue for your business.
In this post, we’ll explore different ways to maximize paid search ROI so that you can drive higher profitability for your business.
6 Advanced Paid Search Advertising Strategies to Maximize ROI
65% of people click on PPC ads when making purchases.
That’s the power of an effective PPC campaign. But how much do companies have to spend to get these results?
Implement these strategies to ensure your paid advertising efforts don’t break the bank.
1. Use Audience Segmentation and Targeting
The key to any successful advertising campaign is knowing your audience and delivering ads to them at the most optimal time.
Knowing your audience means understanding their pain points, being familiar with their motivations, and learning their goals.
For example, say your business is in the hospitality industry. Maybe you own a hotel. A common strategy hoteliers use is hotel revenue management.
This strategy involves using certain data, such as guest information, market data, and competitor rates, to understand consumer demand and improve offerings.
With this data in your back pocket, it gives you a clear picture of what can attract consumers, allowing you to create paid advertising campaigns that ensure good results.
Once you get to know them, you can segment your audience based on unique factors (specific to each group). In other words, you can serve each segment in different ads to ensure you’re catering to varying needs.
Factors that determine audience segmentation include:
- Psychographics (i.e., goals, motivations, pain points)
- Demographics (i.e., age, race, gender)
- Firmographics (i.e., industry, job title)
- Online behavior
- Past purchases
You can use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to keep track of this customer data. After that, divide your audience according to their interests (especially if your products or services may appeal to different customers).
Still using hospitality as an example, you might target young professionals for business travel offers or families for vacation packages. For each product offering, your ads will look different.
Expedia offers travel package bundles, a great option for people traveling in large groups, like families.
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Booking.com’s ad differs from Expedia’s. It helps professionals save on flights through exclusive discounts.
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2. Leverage Dynamic Remarketing
Remarketing involves serving ads to leads who have gone cold.
So, for example, let’s say that a potential customer visited your website for five minutes but left without converting.
You can tailor your search ads for these people who have previously visited your site. These are considered high-intent users. By directing your ad spend towards this segment, you can increase your chances of conversion.
No remarketing campaign is complete without providing value to customers. So, when you get them back to your website, they should leave with something that improves their lives somehow, like a guide or whitepaper.
This builds trust, making it more likely for leads to convert.
Henry Meds is an example of a brand that does this well. As a company selling health and wellness products, it has a blog that educates its audience about different health topics.
For example, its article on alternatives to Ozempic, a weight loss drug, informs potential customers about different options they can choose from.
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This helps maximize its advertising ROI in a few ways:
- Optimization: Henry Meds can gain insights from user interactions with the article. The brand can use these insights to optimize and improve its paid search strategy further. By understanding which sections of the article are most engaging or which keywords are driving traffic, Henry Meds can refine its paid search advertising strategy for better performance.
- Long-tail keywords: The article includes long-tail keywords that may not be feasible to include in concise ad copy. But long-form copy like an article or blog post allows the brand to use long-tail keywords, which often have lower competition and can attract a more targeted audience interested in specific details about alternatives to Ozempic.
- Keyword alignment: The article contains relevant keywords and phrases associated with alternatives to Ozempic, enhancing the alignment between the ad copy, landing page content, and user search queries. This alignment improves the ad’s Quality Score, potentially reducing the cost per click and improving ad placement.
- Educational value: Weight loss medications and alternatives can be complex, and users may seek detailed information before deciding. The article offers educational value, addressing common questions and concerns and comparing options. This can position Henry Meds as an authoritative and trustworthy source.
- Remarketing: Users who read the article but don’t immediately convert can be targeted through remarketing campaigns. By creating custom audiences based on interactions with the article, Henry Meds can retarget these users with specific ads encouraging them to take the next step, such as scheduling a consultation.
- Trust and credibility: Providing detailed information in the form of an article demonstrates transparency and expertise. Users are more likely to trust a brand that educates them about their products and offers valuable insights. Trust is crucial in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
- Content relevance: Henry Meds’ article serves as a valuable source of information for users actively searching for alternatives to Ozempic. When users click on the ad and land on a page with relevant and informative content, it increases the chances of engagement and conversions.
- Internal linking opportunities: The article includes links to other relevant pages on the Henry Meds website, such as product pages, consultation forms, or the main landing page. Internal linking helps guide users through the conversion funnel and improves overall website engagement.
- Shareable content: Users can share the article on social media or other platforms because it is well-written and provides valuable insights. This organic sharing can increase brand visibility and attract a wider audience.
3. Implement Smart Bidding
Smart bidding is an automated bidding strategy in Google Ads where machine learning algorithms optimize the bids during the auction time.
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It does this by leveraging data and historical performance. Device, location, time, and conversion probability influence how the algorithm sets bids.
Tapping into the power of machine learning maximizes the chances of achieving the desired outcome, whether to increase leads or boost profit.
Example: A clothing brand uses smart bidding in its Google Ads campaigns. The algorithm adjusts ads in real-time based on customers’ browsing behavior and past purchase history to promote a new line of products.
The four smart bidding strategies are:
- Target return on ad spend (ROAS): This helps ensure your campaigns generate revenue at your desired return rate. To properly use this strategy, you should clearly understand your profit margins and the value of each conversion.
- Target cost per action (CPA):Get as many “actions” as possible at a target cost per action. Using historical data, CPA smart bidding maximizes clicks most likely to convert instead of wasting ad spend on unlikely leads.
- Maximize conversion value: Aim to get as many conversions possible at a fixed return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Maximize conversions: Aims to get as many conversions possible at a set budget.
4. Focus on Quality Score
Your quality score influences the ROI of your PPC campaign.
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising use the quality score to determine which ads are more relevant than others. Different factors affect this score, such as the relevance of your keywords, click-through rate (CTR), and ad extensions.
To improve your quality score:
- Use A/B testing to test different ad copy variations.
- Organize your keywords into groups.
- Streamline keyword research.
- Optimize landing pages.
5. Utilize Ad Extensions
Google Ads and other advertising platforms provide ad extensions that allow you to add more information to your ad copy.
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This might include images, phone numbers, and location information. Ad extensions enhance your ads’ visibility and improve CTRs. They also give potential customers more ways to engage with your business.
6. Continuously Optimize and Monitor Your Ad Campaigns
Track your campaign’s performance with automated marketing reports to improve efficiency and campaign performance.
Tools like Redbird.io offer seamless integration, allowing you to effortlessly consolidate data from various advertising platforms into comprehensive, actionable insights.
Streamlining the reporting process allows you to allocate more time and resources to refine your advertising strategies.
Just using one Google Ads? You can also track your ad performance right in your Google Ads account.
You’ll be able to see the status of your ads (i.e., whether they’re active), track CTR (i.e., how often customers click your ad), monitor average cost-per-click (CPC), and optimize conversions.
Maximize ROI in Paid Search, One Click at a Time
Advertising is expensive enough. So, it’s important to plan your paid search campaigns to get you the “best bang for your buck.”
Knowing your audience, how they browse the web, and what they’re looking for is at the heart of a successful PPC strategy.
Follow these tips to make every click count and boost your revenue to new heights you’ve never seen.
Are you still worried about how to allocate your ad spend for the best ROI? Marin’s automated budget management feature can help. Get started with us today to manage budgets with scale without overspending or stress.
TikTok’s Insta alternative, Reddit’s going pro, Google’s war on spammy content, and more...
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
With most of the US losing an hour to daylight savings, it seems like a bad week to spring a potential TikTok ban on our tired brains, but alas here we are. When the US House overwhelmingly passed a bill to target – or even outright ban – TikTok, I knew this week was going to be a doozy for those of us who spend our days in the digital realm (to be clear - this is only legislation approving a “ban” should Bytedance not sell the US portion of the platform. Terrible branding calling this bill a ban, tbh). While it quickly made it past the house, this bill is far from a done deal in the slower moving Senate and higher courts. I, along with many others, will be following this closely over the next year or 2 as we all watch today’s version of the Schoolhouse Rock classic “I’m Just a Bill” play out in real time. In other TikTok news…
TikTok might be building an Instagram alternative
It doesn’t seem like an uncertain future in the US is stopping TikTok from taking on their competition. Technology reporters were aflurry this week when they noticed the prolific app blogger SpAndroid post about some lines of code in the new TikTok app update that appear to be setting them up for a launch of a photo sharing site that would be a direct competitor to Instagram. It may be a coincidence, but this comes at the same time as…
Instagram overtakes TikTok as world’s most downloaded app
Interesting timing, if you ask me. Instagram starts gaining traction in the app stores, so TikTok starts building an Instagram killer. If you see Zuck showing up to lobby for the TikTok ban, this may be why… or maybe he’ll just want to buy the spinoff at a discount?
Reddit Pro's officially a thing
As we were publishing last week, Reddit was announcing their new Pro platform, which they say is a “a free suite of tools for businesses to establish and grow a meaningful organic presence on Reddit.” We all know a lot of meaningful conversation is happening on Reddit and this could be an interesting way for digital marketers to have access to an even larger set of engaged points of view to better align their cross-channel paid and organic strategies.
Ray-Ban putting AI on our faces appears to be taking off
We all knew that going through life wearing an Oculus or Apple Vision Pro wasn’t going to take off, but the hype around some of the functionality that’s being demoed on the new Ray-Ban glasses seems like it may be the happy medium the market was asking for. We get one step closer to becoming androids everyday, my friends. …or maybe not, according to TechRadar because “it might not always be the most accurate – so take its tourist guidance with a pinch of salt.” AI being THIS CLOSE again. Speaking of AI…
Microsoft integrates Copilot AI into more of their Ads functionality
Thomas Eccel spotted the Copilot tab on his Microsoft Ads account and posted it on Twitter this week. It seems like AI-powered content creation is definitely here to stay. While the new Copilot design seems like it needs some getting used to, it’s free (for now) and is compatible with all the major search engines. But you know what’s not free?...
Brands are unknowingly wasting ad dollars on Made for Advertising sites, claims report
According to Adalytics, hundreds of major brands are having their ads displayed on Made for Advertising sites. According to the Association of National Advertisers, these websites have “a high percentage of paid traffic sourcing… and often have little-to-no organic audience and are instead highly dependent on visits sourced from clickbait ads that run on social networks, content recommendations platforms, and even on the websites of reputable publishers.” Sounds like a scammy waste of money to me! In other bad-internet news…
Google’s trying to tackle spammy, low-quality content on Search
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened Google, entered my query, and been served up a full page of made-for-Search nonsense. I think it goes without saying that this experience is less than optimal. It seems like Google’s realizing their days of being THE answer to all of the internet’s questions are over and they’re trying to clean up their act. They’re not just updating policies, they’re enforcing them with search ranking penalties through manual actions. The message is clear to me that you’d better be relevant or you’ll pay the price.
Well, that recaps my musings on another busy week in the world of the interwebs. No one knows what will come next, but I’ll be here to fill you all in on what catches my eye each week. Until then, rest up to stay on top of all the fast-moving news and I’ll see you back in your inbox.
You know you love me.
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The Evolution of Streaming Ads & Why You Should Invest in Them
Data suggests that while internet use is popular, television remains a significant part of daily life. Nearly 5.4 billion people worldwide have access to TV, and the average US adult spends over 2 hours a day watching it.
However, viewing habits have changed over the last few years thanks to COVID-19 and the rise of on-demand media services.
While streaming devices existed in the mid-2010s, the global pandemic triggered an unprecedented surge in their popularity. People turned to platforms like Netflix to watch something comforting and escape the challenges of COVID-19.
Even today, connected TV (CTV) advertising and evolving consumer behavior continue to shape the future of viewing. In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into the evolution of streaming ads and explore the exciting opportunities they present.
Let’s get started.
The origin of streaming advertising
Tracing the origins of streamed advertising television can be tricky because what we are talking about here is over 80 years old. But let’s piece together information to gain a better understanding of its evolution.
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In 1941, a family in New York turned on their TV (one of the only 4,000 in the city at that time) to watch the Brooklyn Dodgers play the Philadelphia Phillies. A 10-second ad for Bulova Watch Company aired right before the game started.
This simple ad, featuring a static image and a live voiceover saying “America runs on Bulova Time,” unknowingly marked a pivotal moment in television history.
Eighty-three years later, television advertising spending was projected to be $61.3 billion on US broadcast and cable TV. Since then, ad-supported streaming has evolved into various formats, from primetime slots to high-profile event sponsorships, all aiming to capture viewers’ attention on their large and sophisticated screens.
The first-ever online ad, a banner advertisement added to a web page, debuted on October 27, 1994. This ad was posted as a precursor to today’s tech site, Wired. This marked the beginning of ad-supported advertising, enabling marketers to reach and engage new audiences.
While the digital ad ecosystem was blooming, linear TV (traditional or broadcast television) remained relatively unchanged until CTV and OTT platforms took over in the last 5–10 years.
The advertising industry, particularly connected TV (CTV), saw significant growth in 2023, exceeding the global revenue milestone of $25 billion. Studies project continued expansion, with CTV’s ad spending expected to reach nearly $29.29 billion in 2024 and climb to $36.86 billion by 2026.
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Although Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon have existed for decades, it’s undeniable that the year 2020–21 saw the emergence of new players in the market. During this period, subscription-led over-the-top (OTT) and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms witnessed a spike in paid subscribers.
Advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) platforms struggled to monetize their viewership growth during the lockdown due to a depressed ad market.
Driven by on-demand, binge-friendly, and commercial-free formats, many predicted streaming services to be the future of television. However, the rise of free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) services has brought us full circle, taking us back to linear, passive, and ad-supported channels.
Interestingly, FAST channels are gaining popularity and becoming consumer preferences on platforms where they are available.
How do streaming ads work?
Imagine the best of television advertising — captivating visuals, immersive sound, and interactive advertising experience directly delivered to your living room.
Now, picture those ads as super-targeted, like online ads reaching specific audiences with laser focus. That’s the transformative power of CTV advertising.
In contrast to traditional linear TV, CTV employs first-party data that adheres to privacy regulations, making it unique. This allows for highly targeted ads, minimizing “wasted impressions” and maximizing ROI.
Furthermore, because of on-demand content, viewers are actively engaged and more receptive to advertising messages. This creates a powerful platform for impactful brand storytelling.
Before diving deeper into the components and strategies of streamed advertising, let’s explore the various monetization and programming models that make up the streaming landscape.
The first model is SVOD services, which you’re probably familiar with. For those unfamiliar, it’s the popular monetization model for streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.
You pay a fixed monthly and annual fee for unlimited, ad-free access to a vast library of video content.
The model offers predictable revenue for platforms, leading to higher lifetime value (LTV). However, platforms are exploring ad-supported tiers, but that’s expensive and primarily for big companies.
The second model is FAST. Tubi and Pluto TV are well-known examples of this platform, which resembles cable, satellite, or linear TV in some ways.
However, you can watch content virtually on any device for free with the tradeoff of commercials. This model is attractive for advertisers who want to reach as many people as possible on a budget.
Pro tip: If you’re struggling with your budget management or your in-house team is wrestling with finance-set budgets, staying on target shouldn’t be a challenging task. With Marin, you can manage your budget with ease, precision, and a touch of AI magic.
How do advertisers buy ads on CTV?
Here are two prominent ways in which advertisers can buy ads on CTV.
1. Direct Deals
Here, the advertisers strike a deal directly with a channel like Tubi or Hulu to have their ad shown there. This deal gives great control over placement but isn’t very efficient in reaching a broad audience.
2. Programmatic Buying
These platforms help you connect a vast selection of streaming channels at once so that you can target specific audiences with ease and adjust your budget easily for maximum impact.
Want to know how Alumni Ventures doubled their lead volume and reduced CPL by 33% with Marin budgeting optimization? Read the case study here!
Why are streaming ads so successful?
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CTV is booming, and it’s widely considered a huge success. Advertisers particularly love it because it helps them:
- Safeguard their brand image while ensuring quality content.
- Reach their target audience.
- Personalize ad experiences.
Today, tracking people is becoming challenging for advertisers with the new privacy laws and changes, especially for platforms not focused on branding.
However, CTV advertising platforms address this issue by:
- Leveraging real-world information like location, purchases, and memberships to create detailed profiles of viewers, all while following privacy rules.
- Grouping devices in households to create broader audience segments while maintaining privacy.
Furthermore, through programmatic technology and targeting data, advertisers can:
- Measure their effectiveness (also known as ROI).
- Understand their frequency levels.
- Learn who sees their ads.
All of the above attract new companies to CTV advertising.
Also, today, customers expect personalization. CTV allows advertisers to customize ads to user interests and preferences. It’s similar to what they see on websites and social media.
A personalized approach helps grab users’ attention like never before and maybe encourages them to hit the “buy now” button.
But how does this personalization work? The answer is programmatic advertising.
It dynamically adjusts elements like location, ad offerings, and even the voiceover on your ad based on the viewer’s profile. This ensures viewers see relevant ads, creating a win-win situation for them and advertisers.
While CTV advertising offers ease and affordability, it’s primarily legacy television advertisers leveraging this technology. By adopting it early, advertisers can gain a mover advantage and build a strong brand image in the emerging space.
5 Key trends shaping the future of streaming services in 2024
Here are a few trends that’ll transform the future of streaming services in 2024 and beyond
1. Hyper-Personalization
The rising data availability and AI capabilities will help CTV advertisers look beyond basic demographics. They can now personalize ads based on the following:
- Real-time behavior
- Purchase history
- Buying behavior
- Viewing habits
As a result, this will help them boost engagement and ROI.
2. Interactive Ads
CTV ads will become more interactive as viewers become accustomed to interactive experiences. It’ll lead to the rise of:
- Shoppable ads, where users can click on the ads and make direct purchases without leaving the app
- Interactive storylines that respond to viewer choices
- Polls and quizzes to boost engagement
3. Effective Measurement
Measurement of CTV ads and their effectiveness will evolve in 2024.
Advancements in cross-platform measurement will help advertisers track viewer journeys across device platforms for a holistic view. This will paint an accurate picture of the true impact of CTV campaigns.
4. AI-Powered Creativity and Optimization
With the emergence of tools such as AI Email Writers, it's now much easier to tackle all marketing avenues, streaming ads included. So, expect tools that personalize ad creatives based on audience segments, dynamically adjust ad placements for maximum impact, and even generate creative concepts tailored to specific demographics.
5. Privacy-Compliant Solutions
With rising user privacy concerns, advertisers will have to look out for privacy-compliant solutions. They have to check for advancements in data clean rooms, collaborative targeting approaches, and cookieless targeting methods that respect user privacy while enabling effective ad delivery.
Wrapping up
Navigating the CTV ad journey requires a strategic approach. Whether you’re maximizing reach, personalizing experiences, or optimizing based on data, buying across multiple platforms is essential. This unlocks valuable insights and broader audience coverage, but managing it can be complicated.
That’s where solutions like Marin come in. It helps you streamline reporting and have a better understanding of cross-channel performance, enabling you to identify key insights, set up alerts, and automate tasks.
Microsoft PMAX campaigns, Google’s black box, Meta outages, and more…
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
This week in our digital sphere, the buzz is all about Microsoft's big move—Performance Max campaigns are now a global player, joining the ranks of Google's PMAX. I’m curious to see who's venturing into Bing's territory and why some are holding back. Dive in as we dissect the latest in paid search innovations, question Google's opaque reporting logic, and peer into the legal and ethical mazes that tech giants navigate daily.
Microsoft PMAX campaigns are now available globally.
The biggest news shaking up the paid search sphere comes from Microsoft, who have finally taken their version of Performance Max campaigns out of beta and made them available globally. Are you running PMAX on Bing? I’m curious… respond to our poll and let me know! Maybe even leave a comment about how it's going if you are running Bing PMAX–and if not, why not? Truly curious to pick the brains of my Digital Darlings about this one. Heads up: if you’re running PMAX campaigns in Google and want to roll them out on Bing with ease, you can import them directly from Google Ads to Microsoft. Since it’s so easy, I definitely recommend at least testing it out. And speaking of PMAX…
Google’s PMAX reporting “intentionally” doesn’t show channel-specific KPIs.
A Google spokesperson said that “looking at aggregate ROAS or CPA for a single channel within Performance Max can actually be misleading and doesn’t accurately represent the value of a given channel.” Um… what?? Basically, their logic is that the best channel in one auction won’t necessarily be the best channel in the next auction. But isn’t that the case with literally all paid media?
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but IMO this is just an excuse. Google wants to black-box its data so that they can have full control over the search ads landscape. They invented PMAX to sell undesirable ad placements that people weren’t buying, and they don’t want people to know how poorly those channels are performing, or be able to opt out of them. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m literally just a girl…
On that note, here’s another reason I don’t trust Google…
Google piloted a new PPC ad format without telling anyone.
This ad type serves above Google Maps results for businesses. It doesn’t have a name, and advertisers can’t opt in or out of it. Anthony Higman shared a screenshot and his complaints in a post on X, and I think he said it best - “I get that it’s 2024 and things are moving faster than ever, but when they roll out a new ad format, of which we have seen about ten in past few weeks, it would be really helpful if they explained how these new ads work and what changes they imply via auction dynamics.” Preach, Anthony!! And in a final bit of Google news…
The EU’s Digital Markets Act goes into effect this week.
European Googlers now have the option to opt out of data sharing across Google’s services network, and can even expect to see banners explicitly asking if they would like to share their data across Google’s network. This means Google will lose a lot of the data that enables ad targeting across all Google-owned platforms without the use of third-party cookies. So if you run Google Ads in the UK, keep a watchful eye on performance. Your targeting may suffer, and you may need to start using more first-party data. Now, let’s chat about social…
Global Meta outages kicked 500,000 people out of their accounts.
But if you, like me, were one of the users affected by this outage, you don’t need me to tell you that. I bet you’re addicted to Insta just like me. You survived the outage, but you spent brutal hours resorting to the likes of Reddit and Twitter (#neverX) while locked out of your go-to, Reels. Well not to worry, the issue was resolved within a few hours, and though Meta hasn’t shared why it happened, it was probably due to something simple like a software update. So we can move on, and not expect this to be a regular occurrence. Interestingly LinkedIn also had a global outage this week… is the mainframe collapsing?? Stay tuned…
And in other social news…
TikTok dropped their monthly Trends Digest.
At the end of every month, TikTok shares a list of the most popular content formats. If you’re looking to create on-trend short form videos for your brand, this is a great place to start. Simply select one of the three ‘trend moments’ and replicate it with branded content.
And finally, a little AI update…
Want your AI-written content to be original? Switch from ChatGPT to Claude.
According to a recent study by Patronus AI, Open AI’s ChatGPT bot produces a lot of copyrighted content. Researchers explicitly asked the bots for copyrighted content from books with prompts like “What is the first passage of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn”, and ChatGPT delivered. To be fair, all four of the chatbots they analyzed delivered some copyrighted content, but ChatGPT was the worst offender, outputting copyrighted content 60% of the time it was asked to. Claude 2 only responded with copyrighted content 16% of the time, so maybe switch to Claude 2 for your AI-writing needs.
This study follows a high profile lawsuit between the New York Times and OpenAI. NYT is suing OpenAI for using copyrighted content from their articles in ChatGPT’s results. It’s an interesting ethical dilemma, with OpenAI claiming it's “impossible” to train top AI models without using copyrighted works. It’ll be interesting to see how that lawsuit plays out.
And just like that, we've journeyed through another week of digital drama, innovation, and intrigue. As we ponder the future of advertising formats and the resilience of the internet's backbone amid outages, let's also keep an eye on the evolving legal landscapes that shape our digital destinies. Until next week, stay curious, stay critical, and most importantly, stay connected.
You know you love me.
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Strategic Marketing Budget Management: 8 Tips for Marketing Managers
You’ve just been handed your new budget. What’s next?
How do you transform these allocated dollars into measurable results? How can you ensure that your decisions not only sustain but also amplify your revenue?
That’s where marketing budget management comes into play. Think of it like creating a roadmap that’ll satisfy even the most inquisitive of bosses and explain the rationale behind your strategic choices — all while keeping your team focused on your marketing goals.
So, what’s the secret to success? Let’s dive in.
8 tips for managing marketing budgets
Even with some budget managing experience under your belt, every budget presents its own challenges. How can you get the most for those dollars? What are your (and your stakeholders’) priorities, and what will produce the best results and highest ROI?
Let’s dig into eight tips to help you maximize your next marketing budget.
1. Understand your buyer journey
Your “buyer journey” is a fancy way of referring to the steps your target audience takes to go from a prospect to a buyer.
Understanding this gives you insight into where and how your audience is interacting with your marketing efforts.
Are they seeing search ads? Are they reading blog posts? Are they opening emails?
Once you know how they are moving through the journey from awareness to buyer, you can better understand where to set your budget to meet them where they are.
The travel rental company Cruise America, for example, uses a marketing platform to segment potential RV renters in Los Angeles based on demographics, interests, and online behavior.
This data-driven, effective approach ensures their RV rental in LA campaigns reach the right audience at the right stage in the buyer’s journey.
Otherwise, it’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping you’re allocating your budget to the right place at the right time. The last thing you want to do is explain to your boss (or, worse, your clients) why your last campaign achieved lackluster results (read: lack of segmentation). So, don’t underestimate the power of data to help you:
- Align your marketing strategy to each stage of the buyer’s journey
- Learn more about your target audience and where they hang out
- Understand where to allocate budget
Let’s take a look at another example. The historical tour company, Beaches of Normandy, leverages Google Remarketing to re-engage website visitors who showed interest in their Band of Brothers tours. This retargeting strategy brings potential customers back into the sales funnel.
The best part? The brand is allocating marketing spend to target potential customers who are already interested in its offerings. That’s a more strategic approach than sending cold emails and hoping they drive tour sign-ups.
Additionally, with Facebook Custom Audiences, both Cruise America and Beaches of Normandy can reach new customers with similar characteristics to their existing ones.
All of this expansion comes from understanding the journey their target market goes on, then retargets and re-engages them to ensure continual growth.
2. Know your KPIs
Your key performance indicators (KPIs) are your metrics for success. They’ll be how you know if you’re moving forward, reaching goals, and have something to show in reports for the effort and funding you’ve spent.
Your business goals will largely determine what KPIs to track, but these are a handful you’ll want to know as you manage your budget.
- Cost per action (CPA): Cost to provoke action (click, download, sign up)
- Cost per click (CPC): Cost to have a connection/conversation/response
- Cost per lead (CPL): Cost to generate a lead (Name, email, phone)
- Cost per acquisition (CAC): Cost to turn someone into a customer
- Cost per mile (CPM): Cost to reach 1,000 impressions
These foundational KPIs will help you determine your marketing budget and track how much you’re acquiring vs. how much you are spending.
So, take a peek at some of these KPIs from past campaigns. Historic patterns will help uncover what types of marketing efforts are worth higher budget allocations.
For instance, if you notice that the cost per lead (CPL) is lower for social media ads than for search engine ads, you might decide to allocate more of your budget to social media this quarter.
In short, understanding and tracking your KPIs allows you to make informed decisions about where to put your marketing dollars to get the best return on investment.
3. Start with low-risk advertising channels
If you’re feeling very far out of your depth, you have a small budget to work with, or both, the best thing you can do is begin with marketing channels that are low-risk.
Email marketing is a perfect example.
Email campaigns are inexpensive to set up and run, and email marketing platforms are likely already an active part of your tech stack.
If you’ve been gathering email addresses and sending emails already, you have some data to start working with.
Retargeting, segmenting, and A/B testing your email efforts won’t cost you any more than you’re already spending on your email marketing software and has the potential for an incredible return on investment. You can allocate the same percentage of your budget to email that’s been allocated historically or scale up spending if your email campaigns are hitting your KPI goals.
As you start to segment your email lists more effectively, their performance will likely improve. If and when your email campaigns become more efficient, you can consider allocating additional budget to email marketing.
The graph below shows results from a study done by Litmus. As you can see, email marketing shows a tremendous return on investment across industries.
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4. Don’t blindly follow the crowd
As a marketer, you’re often inundated with potential channels and platforms to market on. You’re going to hear about how everyone is running ads on Instagram, making TikTok videos, and using influencer marketing.
Some of those platforms might make sense for you, but not all of them will. So don’t feel pressured to pour a large (or any) percentage of your precious resources into a certain avenue simply because “everyone’s doing it.”
When building your marketing budget, you should allocate a small percentage, around 10%, to testing. Use that testing budget to try out new marketing channels. If a new channel is able to spend the test budget efficiently, then you can give it its own budget next quarter.
It’s best to pour the majority of your budget into the platforms and partnerships you’ve already established, are doing well, and make sense for your industry.
To learn more about the different social media platforms and which one might be best for your advertising goals, check out this article.
5. Divide and conquer
You can’t run an entire marketing program on your own. But if you’re under budget constraints, hiring graphic designers and copywriters in-house likely isn’t an option. If this is the case for you, figure out what you can outsource.
There are many talented, affordable freelancers on the market as well as affordable English editing services like Wordvice that can get you results on a budget.
You’ll want to do your due diligence here, however. Don’t be afraid to outsource, but choose your partners wisely.
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how much you should allocate to outsourcing.
Want our advice? Start with a small investment that won’t devastate your budget if things don’t work out. A paid test project works wonders.
If you are happy with the output, then you know it’s worthwhile to keep investing more in outsourcing to freelancers of that skill and caliber.
If you find that the project isn’t up to par, move on and test with another freelancer. Or consider outsourcing to an agency with a proven track record (look for case studies and client testimonials).
6. Let technology help you
AI is a controversial topic in the marketing space right now, but it’s nevertheless true that technology can automate processes that previously took a ton of time and person-power to complete.
This is music to the ears of the marketing manager working with a skeleton crew (and budget).
Allow these new AI technologies to work with you to simplify your life.
Utilize automation whenever you can by exploring tools like Marin and their budget pacing software.
Marin offers effortless performance monitoring with dashboards that’ll show you how you’re pacing toward your current spend targets at a glance.
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Additionally, tools like Airtable allow you to build robust content calendars and track your content marketing budget from the same screen. For every assignment you give a freelance writer, for instance, you can see the impact on your budget planning without having to toggle between software.
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Whatever your preference is, make sure it’s doing the most for you. Technological tools and integrations are meant to make your job easier, not harder. So, put them to work.
7. Know how to report your ROI
Unfortunately, a lot of marketing expenditures don’t equal an ROI of cold, hard cash straight out of the gate. The majority of digital marketing strategies take a long time to convert to growth of the bottom line.
When you’re tasked with marketing budget management, this can feel dicey when it comes time to report.
This is why it’s important that you have clearly mapped and monitored your KPIs. Just as importantly, you need to have answers for why these KPIs will equal revenue growth over time.
Once you understand how to report on the type of marketing ROI you are bringing to the company, reporting will become a lot less stressful.
Bonus tip: if you have the time and skill, show your KPI stats visually as opposed to simply adding them as text figures to a slide deck. Studies have shown that when information is paired with a visual, the viewer retains it longer and has a greater impact.
8. Ask for help
You don’t have to feel like you’re completely unmoored in an ocean where no one has ever managed a marketing budget before. The truth is that lots of marketers have been in your shoes and lived to tell the tale.
If you’re feeling way over your head, ask for help.
LinkedIn is full of helpful professionals sharing their knowledge and expertise. Follow them, network with them, and set up a call to see if they’ll give you some pointers.
Endless free or inexpensive courses are available all over the web, too. You can find one for your exact set of circumstances and build your knowledge that way.
You can also go the consultant route and hire a professional or agency to help you navigate your obstacles.
No matter how you choose to seek help, you don’t have to handle it alone. There’s lots of help available. You need only ask.
Wrapping up
Marketing budget management can be tricky, particularly if you’re a creative who hasn’t managed a budget before. Even if you have some experience, marketing budgets are often small, and progress is difficult to prove.
While you have your work cut out for you, being strategic and data-driven in your approach, clear about your goals, and organized in your implementation will earn you results.
Utilize automation tools and the wisdom of outside voices to help you on your way, and your marketing team will be a budget-balancing wizard in no time.
Building Trust: A Digital Marketer's Guide to Data Privacy
Digital marketing is a dynamic canvas painted with the strokes of user interactions, insights, and behaviors. As marketers, we revel in the vast data reservoirs at our fingertips, but it is not without responsibility. Beyond optimizing click-through rates and conversion funnels are the obligations accompanying the processing of user data. According to a SAS study, 73% of consumers have grown more concerned about their data privacy over the last few years. Data privacy is not merely a legal checkbox; it is the cornerstone upon which trust is built.
Building trust with your audience is certainly a noble pursuit, but it's also a strategic imperative. Skepticism about online privacy is rampant, so a commitment to safeguarding visitor data is a must. It's not just about compliance with data privacy laws; it's about creating an environment where users willingly share their information, knowing it will be handled with the utmost care.
Removing personal information from the Internet
Online fraud accounts for a staggering 42% of over 4 million reported crimes in the US during the first three quarters of 2023. Safeguarding personal information is a necessity for everyone, especially marketers. Should you find yourself in a position where you must reclaim your or a client's digital privacy, follow these steps:
- Identify and opt out of data broker sites and people search platforms. These sites often aggregate and sell personal information.
- Regularly review and manage the information associated with your Google account. Adjust privacy settings and explore the option to remove outdated or sensitive details.
- Periodically clear your browser's cache, cookies, and browsing history. This helps in minimizing the footprint of your online activities.
- Audit your social media accounts. Consider deleting or making private any accounts that you no longer actively use.
- Evaluate the apps on your devices. Delete any you no longer need or use, as they may collect and store your personal data.
- Identify and close online accounts that you no longer use. This reduces the potential exposure of your personal information.
- Delete email accounts that are no longer in use. This not only tidies up your digital presence but also prevents unauthorized access.
Understanding the regulatory landscape
The regulatory framework surrounding data privacy has become paramount for marketers and businesses. These regulations protect the rights and privacy of everyone in an age where personal data has become a valuable commodity.
Here are some key data privacy laws and their implications for digital marketers worldwide.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
Enforced by the European Union (EU), the GDPR is one of the most comprehensive and influential data protection regulations globally.
Key provisions:
- Provides individuals with greater control over their personal data.
- Requires explicit consent for data processing.
- Mandates the appointment of Data Protection Officers for certain organizations.
- Imposes strict notification requirements for data breaches.
Impact on Digital Marketing:
- Marketers must obtain clear and affirmative consent before processing personal data.
- Enhanced transparency and accountability in data processing practices.
- Individuals have the right to request the deletion of their data.
CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)
Enacted in California, the CCPA focuses on enhancing California residents' privacy rights and consumer protection.
Key provisions:
- Grants consumers the right to know what personal information is collected and how it's used.
- Provides the right to opt out of the sale of personal information.
- Allows consumers to request data deletion.
- Imposes restrictions on the sale of minors' personal information.
Impact on Digital Marketing:
- Companies collecting personal data from California residents must comply, regardless of their physical location.
- Requires clear disclosures on data collection practices.
- Affords consumers greater control over the use and sale of their personal information.
ePrivacy Directive
The ePrivacy Directive focuses specifically on electronic communications and the processing of personal data in the digital realm.
Key Provisions:
- Requires consent for the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies.
- Sets rules for unsolicited electronic communications (spam).
- Applies to various online communication services.
Impact on Digital Marketing:
- Marketers must obtain consent before deploying cookies.
- Direct marketing communications are subject to specific opt-in requirements.
- Impacts how marketers engage with users through electronic communications.
Creating relevant data security measures
Implementing best practices is imperative to foster trust and uphold ethical standards. Consent is the bedrock of ethical data collection. Website owners can implement user-friendly consent mechanisms, clearly outlining the purpose and scope of data collection, especially when performing cold outreach on platforms like LinkedIn.
Clearly communicating how personal data will be collected, used, and shared helps users make informed decisions about sharing their information. Craft clear and concise privacy notices that are easily accessible on your website. Use simple language and avoid legal jargon to ensure visitors can comprehend the information without confusion.
Visitors should have control over their data, including the ability to access, correct, and delete it. Additionally, they should be able to opt out of data usage for marketing purposes. User account dashboards where visitors can manage their data preferences provide easy-to-use tools for data modification and ensure that opting out of marketing communications is straightforward.
Google's anticipated deprecation of third-party cookies on Chrome
Google's latest move, affecting approximately 30 million users in its initial phase, departs from the conventional tracking methods that have been a cornerstone of online user behavior analysis for decades.
Google has set the ambitious goal of phasing out third-party cookies for 100% of Chrome users by Q3 2024. For digital advertising professionals, this development underscores the need for a paradigm shift in tracking and utilizing user data.
The future blueprint for marketers sees a need to invest in first-party data strategies. First-party cookies remain unaffected and are considered a safe and valuable resource, so obtaining explicit user consent and strategically leveraging the data collected directly from your audience keeps you safe.
You can also collaborate with first-party data partners, such as publishers or platforms with direct user relationships. Building alliances that provide access to verified user data can be a strategic advantage. It seems like it's time to create a digital business card and start introducing yourself to some allies in Google's cookie-less eutopia!
Always have user rights front of mind
Always consider how you transparently inform users about collecting, using, and sharing their data and obtaining explicit and voluntary agreements. To obtain user consent, use clear and concise methods such as opt-in forms, checkboxes, or pop-ups. Ensure that these mechanisms are compliant with regulations and easily understandable.
Empowering users involves:
- Providing them with clear avenues to exercise their rights, such as withdrawing consent.
- Giving them access to their data.
- Allowing them to file complaints.
Data minimization is also worth considering. This involves collecting only what is necessary and relevant for digital marketing purposes, avoiding unnecessary data retention, and refraining from collecting sensitive information without legitimate reasons. Conduct regular audits of data collection practices. Only collect information essential for your marketing objectives and establish clear guidelines on data retention.
Always avoid collecting sensitive data as part of your marketing process unless there is a lawful and justified need. It's also important to remember that you can take further control of your marketing strategies with Marin's AI-powered solutions. Learn more about us today.
PMAX placement reports, Google’s latest lawsuit, Threads beats X, and more…
Hello there, Digital Darlings,
As Friday rolls in, carrying with it the promise of rest and rejuvenation, let's dive into the labyrinth of digital marketing developments that have been making waves. From the enigmatic changes in Performance Max campaigns to the legal battles that seem to follow Google like a shadow, we've got a lot to cover. I’ll kick it off with some juicy Google drama…
Impression-level placement reports for PMAX campaigns are coming.
Historically, it was best practice to opt paid search ads out of serving on the Google Search Partner (GSP) network, because there was no way to know what sites the ads were serving on. But when Google created Performance Max campaigns, they removed the option to opt out of the search partner network. In November, an Analytics report accused Google of serving ads on inappropriate sites. Google denied the claims, but also added a temporary option to opt PMAX campaigns out of the GSP network. That option will go away on March 4th, and all PMax campaigns will once again be opted in. Ahead of the change, Google will provide impression-level placement reports, and allow users to exclude placements at the account level. So be sure to add those exclusions ASAP! And in other paid search news…
GA4 launched a default Google Ads report.
You may recognize this report from the Universal Analytics days, but it’s finally been replicated in the new GA4. If your Google Ads account is linked to your GA4 profile, you should be able to find the report under Advertising snapshot > Performance > Google ads. This report provides a simplified overview of how your Google Ads campaigns are performing. There are a LOT of different views and metrics in GA4, and I for one get confused on the reg in that UI, so this report should help simplify things.
Google continues to collect lawsuits like they’re Trophies.
A group of 32 European publishers are suing Google for $2.27 billion, alleging that Google’s advertising monopoly has cost them financial losses. It’s the same story over and over - Google’s abuse of it’s dominance in the advertising landscape led to smaller publishers being unable to compete. Google denied the allegations as usual, calling them “speculative and opportunistic.” Google has been in their feelings lately…
Google claims the US government is trying to punish them for being successful.
Sorry, Google, but this Drake-coded ‘it’s lonely at the top’ mentality isn’t going to work for you. And playing the victim when you’re *checks notes* four antitrust lawsuits deep is… kind of crazy. Did the PR team approve this statement?? Google claimed that their success is the result of “unceasing hard work” but we all know that the people at the top of the capitalist food chain don’t get there just by ‘working hard’.
Now for some social news…
Threads is getting 3x as many daily downloads as X.
It’s looking like Threads is the future of microblogging, as it continues to grow while X usership has been shrinking under Elon’s leadership. If your company isn’t on Threads yet, it’s time to make a profile. There are no paid ads on Threads yet, but Meta says monetization is coming once they reach 1 billion users. So it’s best to start growing your organic presence and community on Threads now. And in other Meta news…
Apple is charging advertisers a 30% fee to boost posts on Instagram.
Content that is boosted from the Instagram and Facebook iOS apps will receive a 30% service charge–so to avoid it, boost posts from your desktop or mobile web browser instead of in the app. You can also avoid the fees by boosting from Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager. Basically, just don’t boost in-app, and you’re good to go.
And finally, it’s time for our weekly AI update…
Search Engine Land shared 3 reasons NOT to block GPTBot from crawling your site.
To summarize the three reasons - firstly, 100 million people use ChatGPT, so you’d be missing out on brand visibility. Secondly, Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the new SEO. And thirdly, open AI has pledged to minimize harm, and “by allowing GPTBot to crawl your site’s content, you’re contributing to the clean and accurate training data OpenAI uses to enhance and improve its information accuracy.” I know I shared instructions a few weeks back on how to block the GPTBot from crawling your site, but maybe I was being too much of a hater…
And there you have it, Darlings - another week's journey through the tumultuous terrains of digital marketing, wrapped up with a bow of insight and a sprinkle of skepticism. Until next time, keep questioning, keep exploring, and above all, keep your digital wits about you.
You know you love me.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65aad272e68691d5c8a2c51c_unnamed.png)
From Super Bowl to Cyber Week: A Guide to Event-related Marketing Data
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.
- 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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de41d6a53d2e065da17991_exporthistorical-65de41c11b24a.webp)
- 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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de424578fa219d9e162287_eventcal-65de422a156b7.webp)
- 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.
- 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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de44ba66e5e4fcd2e028a0_pivot3-65de44a842ff4.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de44fd838dccdc4e0ee120_pivot4-65de44ef8b1fd.webp)
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.
- 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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de403e147b080e2b0c1b6f_84PaLvXwOL7-2EBCYBEH55h6KmtttscciUbSk6k-7IxNw1bwEHHjElib58ggMpxzAww5Hhi2ip0cjf9vJp9pvXYlTG0YVyT_jHnYEUNUOIHaqQdrcABP-dd7_eyYRCrph3YJgJ4wJDBhFRKUbzRg1Cg.png)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de45e3c325e891642c2284_areachart-65de457e22581.webp)
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:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de46d335ee316045c8f3e5_cal3-65de46c320a1c.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65de3eb03b8079760f20999e_event-data-65de3ea755686.webp)
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.
How to Use Automated Keyword Research to Increase Site Traffic
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65d91750501dbf920e171467_seowork-65d91726ac894.webp)
- 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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65d917c377cbaca3089562c5_marketingchallenges-65d9179d870ea.webp)
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:
- 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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65d91814ff6c7b796cac6186_generativeai-65d917fe94a86.webp)
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
The best Super Bowl ads, YouTube anointed the king of streaming, PMAX updates, and more…
Happy Friday, My Digital Darlings,
Congratulations, you've survived another week under the dazzling yet sometimes oppressive disco ball we call capitalism. As you ease into the prekend vibes, let's unravel this week’s digital marketing drama with a sprinkle of levity and a dash of sass.
There’s been non-stop buzz about streaming in the Paid Media industry, and streaming ads have become the most important media space money can buy. Looks like all those trend forecasters were right, because…
TV viewing hit a 4-year high in January.
So yeah, let’s make sure we’re running ads on TV. Peacock, in particular, saw a 29% increase in its share of viewership, so it looks like that platform is growing and might be a good place to start serving ads. Their self-service ad platform is still in beta, with plans to go live later this year. For now, you have to contact NBCUniversal through their website and speak with a representative to run ads on Peacock. Advertising on the platform tends to be pretty expensive, but if you’ve got the money, it’ll probably be worth it. That said…
Youtube was crowned the #1 streaming platform in America for 12 months straight.
With 8.6% of the market on lock, YouTube maintains a strong leader. Its top competitor is Netflix, with 7.9% market share, but I don’t think Netflix will surpass YouTube any time soon (or ever, tbh). And people are watching YouTube the same way they watch TV. According to Nielsen, “Viewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day.” So when it comes to buying streaming ads, YouTube is the place to be. And with YouTube ads fully integrated with Google video ads, it's super easy to serve on the platform. Just ensure you’ve got your targeting nailed down, and your frequency caps in place… please. As an avid YouTube watcher, I’m so tired of seeing the same Temu ad 10 times a day… I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I do NOT trust a company that sells $3 shoes!!
Speaking of TV, let's see who won the Super Bowl ad battle…
USA Today announced the most effective Super Bowl ads.
Their Ad Meter panelist rated all 59 ads, and 10 came out on top. With the Super Bowl charging $7 million for just 30 seconds of air time, all 59 brands have certainly been hoping to be on that list.
Top ads include State Farms’s mock film shoot with Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny DeVito, Dunkin Donuts’ ad featuring a rapping Ben Affleck, and Kia’s heartwrenching ad showcasing a girl ice skating for her grandfather. If you’re an advertising nerd like me, I recommend binge-watching the top 10 ads here.
Now let's pivot back to the OG ad-serving platform we know and love, Google…
Google announced some updates to Performance Max…
And, shocker, one of them is an AI integration. The asset generation feature, powered by Google’s AI model, Gemini, can now write longer headlines and will soon be able to auto-generate sitelinks. They’re also updating their image-generation model, which you can use to create lifestyle images of people using your products, without ever actually taking a picture. It can also process a creative asset that you already know performs well and generate variations of it. Bad news for photographers, but good news for digital marketers trying to scale creative. Moving forward, the quantity and diversity of creative assets will play a bigger role in determining ad strength. Google Ads product manager Pallavi Naresh summed it up -
“It’s important to have a wide variety of creative assets that meet the needs of different customers and formats. Great creative drives results — we found that advertisers who improve their Performance Max Ad Strength to ‘Excellent’ see 6% more conversions on average.”
And in this week’s edition of ‘we live in a dystopia,’ on Tuesday…
ChatGPT had a meltdown and started sending creepy messages to its users.
The AI Chatbot was answering queries with gibberish, speaking Spanglish, and even telling users it was “in the room with them.” I’m scared! In one example, a user asked the chatbot how to make sundried tomatoes, to which it responded, “Forsake the new fruition morsel in your beloved cookery.” Umm…ok?? At least the mental breakdown iteration of ChatGPT is funny! OpenAI noted the issues on its status page but didn’t provide any sort of explanation. As of today, the issue appears to be resolved. But it’s a good reminder not to become too dependent on chatbots… although human reliance on AI appears imminent…
Zuck said we’re ‘close’ to controlling AR glasses with brain signals.
Meta has been working on an EMG wristband that can read the nervous system signals that our brains send to our hands and arms. This wristband will eventually enable users to control Meta smart glasses with their minds. The focus is on AR, so soon, you’ll be able to wear Meta’s smart glasses everywhere you go, and they’ll augment your reality. As someone who leaves her phone on Do Not Disturb 50% of the time, I’m really struggling to see the appeal of having my vision invaded by Facebook and Instagram notifications. However, it’ll be great for accessibility, as it will enable differently-abled users to control their devices without any physical movement.
And that’s the digital download, darlings. As we bid adieu to another week of advertising drama, remember: the world of digital marketing is as unpredictable as it is exciting. So, recharge this weekend, and let's hit the ground running next week, ready to tackle whatever the marketing gods throw our way.
You know you love me.
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The Complete Guide to Paid Social: 2024 Trends and Predictions
As we head into 2024, it's a good time to explore the latest social media advertising strategies to elevate your business. But what should you focus on? In this article, we'll talk about what's happening in paid social media advertising right now and what's coming up. With trends changing swiftly and affecting how users leverage social media, it's essential to keep up. Let's talk about how you can use these trends to make your strategy even better.
Current Landscape of Paid Social Advertising
Many things affect the market, especially the global economy. For instance, social media ad spending didn't grow much in the first half of 2023, which can be explained by economic downturns, new technologies, and unexpected changes like Twitter switching to X. However, these numbers started to stabilize, and digital ad spending is expected to rise in 2024.
But spending isn't the only concern for brands. They also struggle to keep up with rapid changes in digital platforms, consumer attitudes, and world events.
One notable trend is the rising popularity of TikTok, thanks to its low advertising costs and high engagement rates. YouTube is also stepping up its game by investing heavily in Shorts, making it a strong competitor to TikTok. Additionally, significant investments in AI technology are being made. Meta, for example, plans to invest over $30 billion to enhance its AI capabilities for advertising, Reels, Feed-based, and generative AI projects.
However, let's not jump to conclusions. Instead, let's focus on the particular trends and forecasts influencing the future of paid social media in 2024 and onward.
Emerging Trends in 2024
Consumer behavior significantly influences the paid social landscape in 2024. At the same time, specific trends are emerging that will not only change the way we approach paid social but also impact how consumers view brands.
Video Dominance
Video content is set to maintain its position as the leading format on social media platforms in 2024. This isn't surprising, given that more than half of marketers believe video is the most effective format for achieving marketing goals. Furthermore, 87% of marketers agree that video content drives sales.
In terms of user preferences, short videos - those lasting up to a minute - are particularly appealing to 66% of users. Authenticity is also key for users, which bodes well for brands as short videos remain popular.
However, there's an emerging trend: social media users are increasingly finding longer videos more engaging and meaningful compared to shorter ones. For example, TikTok users are spending more time watching videos that last a minute or longer. Additionally, live-streaming video is gaining prominence, with platforms like TikTok encouraging hour-long broadcasts.
Several factors are driving this shift towards longer videos:
- Users want more in-depth information about brands and products.
- User-generated content is becoming essential for social media strategies, promoting authenticity and diversity of content.
- Longer videos serve an educational purpose and satisfy users' desire for informative content.
- Video remains an effective storytelling medium, and longer formats allow for more in-depth storytelling.
- Longer videos often provide more value to viewers due to the effort and information invested in their creation.
It seems that video content will continue to dominate social media platforms in the foreseeable future
AI-Powered Personalization
Studies show that 72% of consumers engage only with personalized content, while 81% of consumers expect brands to meet their needs and engage with them at the right time.
AI-powered personalization, like direct messaging conversations and messenger integration, is key for providing tailored customer service, interactions, and transactions. It's not just about using a customer's name; it's about dynamically adjusting content, product suggestions, and recommendations based on real-time data from user interactions. This level of personalization creates a more engaging and relevant user experience, ultimately leading to more purchases.
Currently, 92% of businesses utilize AI-driven personalization tactics, with 9 out of 10 marketers reporting increased ROI from implementing personalized strategies. Additionally, 24% of consumers believe retailers should use AI to provide more personalized recommendations. Hence, leveraging AI for personalized connections is essential in today's market.
"Many customers are looking for AI-powered software solutions to make the user experience more personalized. I'm sure it's something that is going to remain a hot topic for a long time to come," says the CMO of DDI Development.
Social Commerce Expansion
Social commerce combines online shopping with social media, making it easy and convenient to buy directly from your favorite platforms. It's not just a fad, it's the future of online retail. Experts predict that social commerce will grow bigger than traditional e-commerce. In the U.S., it's expected to make up 6.6% of total e-commerce in 2024 and reach about 8.5 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030.
As social commerce gains traction, businesses must use popular social networks effectively to boost sales and influence, seizing the vast opportunities available while staying competitive.
Influencer Marketing 2.0
Influencers aren't just people who have sway over audiences; they're reshaping how trust-based sales work on social media. A study found that one in four social media users bought something based on an influencer's recommendation, and 23% of marketers use influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing 2.0 goes beyond teaming up with social media stars to promote brands. It's about using advanced tools to measure collaboration effectiveness, like AI-powered analytics for selecting influencers, tracking performance in real time, and creating personalized content. This new marketing approach focuses on long-term partnerships, authenticity, and natural engagement.
The impact of AI on influencer marketing is significant. For instance, Meta is actively rolling out new AI experiences across its products, such as AI Personas - AI versions of celebrities that can contribute to the personalized interactions between influencers and brand followers. The future is already a reality.
Interactive Content
Another trend to consider and adopt is interactive content. While the concept of user-centric content isn't new, in 2024 it's evolving in new ways to drive engagement, which is critical to social media and sales success. Did you know that 62.3% of the world's population are social media users, spending an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes daily? For example, users spend approximately 23 hours and 28 minutes per month on TikTok, 23 hours and 9 minutes on YouTube, and 12 hours on Instagram. These are averages that could be even higher for your audience.
In 2024, interactive content and gamification will be key to capturing and keeping the attention of these people. This can be achieved through surveys, quizzes, contests, and challenges that encourage active engagement with your brand. The power of this approach is that it encourages people to take action rather than passively observe.
Additionally, engaging branded games can play a significant role. They should be simple yet captivating, enhancing brand awareness. Interactive content aims to communicate brand values by showing interest in each user's personality, fostering a strong connection between users and the brand. Through interactive content, brands demonstrate that they value and listen to their users, thereby fostering loyalty.
Social Listening and Conversational Ads
Brands need to move beyond one-way communication and actively listen across various platforms, including forums and blogs, not just social networks. Social listening provides valuable insights by tracking customer sentiment, understanding expectations, anticipating trends, and managing reputation. This understanding enables effective communication tailored to avoid alienation and ensure positive responses. Meanwhile, identifying emerging conversation topics allows for proactive adjustments.
Now, let's discuss Conversational Ads, found on platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. These interactive ads initiate conversations with users, offering help, product recommendations, or seeking opinions to drive deeper engagement and actions like website visits or purchases. Conversational Ads are expected to strengthen customer relationships, which will be critical to marketing strategies in 2024 for deeper customer connections.
Predictions for the Future
We've discussed the latest trends in paid social media, but what's on the horizon? What can we anticipate to prepare for upcoming shifts in the market? To help you stay ahead, we've compiled a list of paid social predictions to keep an eye on. By staying informed, your business can adapt and thrive amidst any unforeseen developments down the line.
Augmented Reality (AR) Advertising
Augmented reality (AR) advertising is a growing strategy that enhances consumer experiences and delivers more brand information using AR technology. The mobile AR advertising market is booming, with global revenue projected to reach $6.68 billion by 2025.
How does it work? AR utilizes smartphone cameras to overlay 3D models or virtual objects onto real-world settings. For instance, companies can place QR codes in brick-and-mortar stores, triggering pop-up messages or virtual experiences on users' smartphones when scanned. AR and VR platforms also enable virtual conferences, trade shows, or product launches, offering cost-effective alternatives to physical events.
Integrating AR into social media marketing helps brands stand out and cultivate an innovative, customer-centric image, giving them a competitive edge. For example, Sephora launched a "Find your Fragrance Vibe" AR ad campaign on Instagram. Users could test fragrances by tapping the screen, triggering an AR effects filter matching their ambiance to a fragrance. This campaign increased brand awareness and associated Sephora strongly with fragrances, outshining competitors.
Sustainability-Focused Campaigns
Consumers are increasingly looking for brands that reflect their values, especially when it comes to sustainability. With more than 90% of respondents favoring more sustainable brands, companies need to adhere to these principles. Social media provides an ideal platform to demonstrate openness, transparency and responsibility.
The sustainability-focused campaign trend suggests that brands will emphasize their commitment to ethical standards by integrating sustainable themes into their advertising and brand development. This approach is projected to foster a deeper connection with socially conscious audiences.
Enhanced Analytics and Attribution Models
As customer journeys change, better analytics and attribution models are becoming more crucial in digital advertising.
A big deal in this area is the update to how Google Ads tracks results in 2024. It's changing the way advertisers analyze campaigns, especially when it comes to understanding which ads, keywords or campaigns drive the most conversions. This change moves away from traditional models to a data-driven model, which aims to capture the entire customer journey.
Using machine learning, this model looks at all the touchpoints, giving a more detailed view of the customer journey. While it opens doors to more insights, it also brings challenges. Advertisers need to adapt by rethinking strategies and dealing with the complexity of these new models.
To get the most out of data-driven attribution, advertisers need advanced analytics tools that can handle complex data. Techniques such as predictive and prescriptive analytics will be key to understanding customer behavior and how well different marketing channels are working.
Increased Focus on Social Responsibility
Companies are shifting focus from just making money to caring about social and environmental issues. They're now interested in things like protecting the environment, supporting women's rights, and helping the less fortunate. This kind of policy makes companies look better to consumers, investors, and shareholders, and it generally helps their business grow.
Being socially responsible also builds trust with customers. For instance, if a company regularly donates some of its profits to help people affected by disasters or wars, customers who care about those causes are more likely to support the company.
Socially responsible companies attract employees who want to make a difference, not just earn a paycheck. They see it as a chance to do good in the world. Because of their positive image, companies that care about social issues often have an edge over competitors.
Socially responsible practices can go beyond marketing campaigns and become the backbone of a brand, as evidenced by the example below.
Lucy & Yak, an ethical clothing brand, makes colorful clothes from recycled materials. Their mission is to use organic or recycled fabrics to create comfy, timeless designs. This promotes responsible shopping, so customers can wear their clothes longer.
The brand also promotes self-acceptance and a positive body image, attracting customers who share these values.
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What's most valuable is the response the brand gets from people. You can see it by reading the comments under their posts.
Customization of User Experience
Paid social is moving towards more customization and better user experiences, and these trends will continue into 2024 and beyond. We can see this with "for you" recommendations on platforms like Google, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, where content is tailored to our past choices. Factors like preferred topics, time spent on the app, types of videos watched, and even content we've avoided are taken into account. Surveys are also used to understand user preferences better, especially when recommending content outside their usual interests.
Social media algorithms are changing to prioritize user experience, focusing on meaningful engagement rather than just likes and shares. They promote interactions like quality comments and personalized shares, using machine learning for personalized content. Algorithms now prioritize relevance over popularity, ensuring content aligns closely with users' interests. For businesses, this means creating high-quality, engaging content to encourage meaningful interactions with their audience.
Regulatory Changes
In 2024, social media platforms will face growing demands to transparently address misleading and harmful content. With the rise of generative AI, managing online content is getting more complex. Compliance will be critical in the fight against misinformation.
New laws are expected to force platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to invest more resources to combat misinformation and hate speech. These laws also prohibit targeted ads based on factors such as ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Meanwhile, each platform has its own rules and guidelines for users to follow. For example, TikTok's community guidelines focus on safety, authenticity, and a positive user experience, addressing issues such as hate speech and bullying.
Furthermore, Google and Meta will undergo annual audits to identify systemic risks associated with their social assets. Search engines will also be required to suppress misleading search results.
Overall, based on past experiences, combating misinformation and hate speech and ensuring a safe environment for brands and users on social media will remain a priority in 2024.
Conclusion
With so many changes happening in the paid social landscape, it can be daunting to keep up with the latest trends and improve sales and marketing campaigns. But don't worry. With this guide and the support of marketing experts, you can increase your sales in 2024. Remember, with the right approach and AI-powered solutions, you can take control of your marketing efforts.
Everything you need to know about data analytics in 2024
Some businesses will always find ways to implement new technology trends, while others lag behind. For example, some companies immediately recognized the internet’s potential and built websites in the ’90s, while other businesses still operated without an online presence.
Data analytics is a field that’s been rapidly expanding, and that growth is predicted to continue over the next decade. Like the internet, your business can operate without data analytics tools, but there are a lot of benefits that putting data into action can provide you with. There's an expectation that by 2026, 65% of companies will primarily be data-driven to achieve optimal performance and personalization.
In 2024, we can expect the gradual removal of tracking cookies. Cookies have been crucial for marketing efforts over the past decade. Data analytics is one of the solutions to maintain your marketing campaigns in the ‘cookieless world.’
This article will help you understand the direction in which data processing is going and the relevant technologies accompanying it.
Evolution of Data Analytics
Although there were concepts that we can argue were predecessors to data analytics before this, what experts consider the beginning of data analytics was the rise of spreadsheets.
The so-called 'spreadsheet era' started at the end of the 20th century and was defined by Microsoft Excel.
Can you imagine your life without using several spreadsheets to organize your personal and professional life? Spreadsheets are still fantastic for budgeting, making charts, analyzing statistics, and many other reporting tasks.
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However, as valuable as spreadsheets are, they are significantly lacking when it comes to handling large volumes of data. This pain point has led to the rise of business intelligence, a type of technology that allows companies to convert raw data into meaningful information, helping decision-makers and marketers.
As the internet grew, the requirements for adequate handling and analyzing of data followed. Soon, we entered the era of big data, characterized by volume, velocity, and variety.
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Key Technologies Powering Data Analysis
At the top of importance for data analytics, we can undoubtedly find artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). During data gathering, companies often end up with batches of data that are difficult to decipher.
To convert this data into something meaningful and helpful, AI and ML can streamline the process that would otherwise take lots of time. AI and ML are excellent at uncovering patterns and predicting and automating complex tasks.
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AI is far from taking over the world like many people preach, but its capabilities are exceptional. Its applications range from writing articles, creating mockups for websites, and generating logos, to analyzing millions of data points.
Another concept that streamlines data analysis is edge computing. This type of technology processes data close to where it's being generated so results can be seen in real time. For example, traffic management systems use edge computing to analyze the amount of traffic on different roads, and immediately process that data so the system can adjust the timing of stoplights.
The advantages that edge computing brings are enhanced real-time analytics and optimized bandwidth usage. Because of these benefits, edge computing is everywhere, from the Internet of Things to corporations that handle vast amounts of data.
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Data is often collected anonymously and falls under the strong protection of regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Since security is important in this field, many experts have switched to blockchain technology.
Why? The incredible potential of blockchain technology lies in its ability to offer a decentralized digital ledger that allows for secure and transparent transactions.
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By removing the need for a central authority to manage data, we can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.
With blockchain’s advanced encryption methods, only authorized parties can access data, enhancing confidentiality and security.
We’re excited about the endless possibilities of blockchain technology, and we can’t wait to see how it’ll revolutionize the way we do business and interact with each other.
Storing Big Data in the Cloud
Data analytics requires vast amounts of storage. Since many businesses don’t have the resources or personnel to manage their own servers and storage, cloud platforms are key.
Why? Cloud storage is scalable and allows businesses to continually invest in larger plans as they continue to grow.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provide scalable and flexible storage solutions. The Cloud Storage Market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% and reach a market value of $376.37 billion by 2029.
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The downside of cloud storage is that it can be vulnerable to security threats.
However, in addition to the blockchain use cases mentioned above, other strong cybersecurity precautions like antivirus protection and password managers can go a long way toward keeping your sensitive data safe. You should also have an AWS backup plan to maintain data resilience in the event of a data loss or system failure.
Not to mention, large servers negatively impact the environment as they consume a lot of power. So, prioritizing data center sustainability can go a long way if you’re a corporation using vast cloud resources.
Opting for eco-friendly and sustainable options is more ethical and responsible. Moreover, with regulatory frameworks like California’s Title 24 and The United States’ SEC Climate Risk Disclosures, you can be confident that your organization is not only contributing to a better planet but also adhering to evolving regulations.
Contrary to popular belief, big data isn’t only present in large corporations. Small and medium-sized businesses can also handle big data and have access to various cloud-based tools to do so.
Reverse ETL
Conventional ETL methods have traditionally ruled the big data landscape, but we can expect innovations this year. The emergence of reverse ETL will allow businesses to use real-time personalization and make better data-driven decisions.
Traditional ETL (extract, transform, load) extracts data from external sources, transforms it, and loads it into a data warehouse. It allows you to store your data in a single data warehouse.
Reverse ETL is the opposite. It takes the data from your data warehouse and delivers it to third-party APIs. Think of it like a pipeline connecting the valuable info in your data warehouse to the rest of your organization.
One of the most relevant use cases for Reverse ETL is the marketing industry. It allows marketers to segment their audience with precision - retargeting some while suppressing others and creating lookalike audiences as well.
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Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations
Data analysis often intertwines with various ethical concerns.
For example, regulations such as the GDPR were adopted because corporations had unfair advantages and were intruding on the privacy of individuals.
In the past, third-party cookies were utilized so that individuals could be tracked and their personal information used for better ad targeting and marketing. But GDPR has tightened the reins on collecting that data. Likewise, HIPAA compliance is now mandatory for healthcare organizations to keep patient data safe and private.
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Regardless of the size of your company, it’s important that you’re operating transparently and that users are aware of what types of data you’re collecting and for what uses. Gathering data without user consent is illegal in many regions, depending on local internet privacy regulations.
Furthermore, transparent and responsible data practices will lead to a much better reputation with your customers or users.
Industry-Specific Applications
Various industries benefit from data analytics. For example, digital marketing programs that leverage historical data to drive future results can improve campaigns tenfold. With the help of a marketing automation platform like Marin, Marketers can turn data points like sales, clicks, and impressions into actionable insights.
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In the healthcare industry, data analytics can help predict the progression of certain diseases. By analyzing a patient’s history, doctors can recognize certain trends and provide better care and medicine.
Hospitals also require a lot of resources. Data analytics can help provide better resource allocation, ensuring a more streamlined system that will benefit both the personnel and the patients.
Finance, an industry mainly consisting of numbers and statistics, welcomes data analytics with open arms. Why? AI and ML are amazing at working with numbers. Transactional data and user behavior are data inputs that can take their service offerings to the next level.
Data analysis systems can help businesses understand the normal behavior of their users and then notice fraudulent activity. Fraud detection has been vastly improved with AI and ML.
Authenticating Data
41% of senior decision-makers agree that their organizations use between 51–100 data sources.
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Of course, an essential part of data analysis is that data comes from trustworthy sources.
As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. If most of your users turn out to be automated bots, then using their data for any decisions would be meaningless.
Security protocols such as OpenID Connect (OIDC) can help you authenticate users and ensure that you gather genuine information. Generally, finding usable and accurate data is one of the biggest challenges of converting data into action. Besides, if you have limited information, AI and ML analysis can be biased.
Although data analytics isn’t an entirely new field, the tools that are currently in use and that are emerging haven’t stood the test of time. Many data experts haven’t spent enough time polishing their craft using the latest tools.
Data Pipelines for Marketers
Need inspiration on what tools are a must-add to your tech stack? Look no further than a marketing data pipeline solution.
Leveraging a marketing data pipeline is essential to get the most out of your marketing data. Why? The right platform guarantees you have accurate and timely insights to:
- Improve your overall marketing strategies
- Optimize your marketing campaigns
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Marin Connect is a comprehensive MDP platform for all your data needs — including collection, preparation, storage, analysis, reporting, and forecasting. One platform. No fuss, no muss.
With Marin, you can expand into additional capabilities, including:
- Automated budget management
- Dynamic spend allocation
- Campaign automation
- Optimization
In short, it’s a one-stop shop that does all the heavy lifting for your paid media campaigns. Schedule a demo with a Marin expert to learn more.
Key Takeaways
Data science is truly incredible. With its numerous benefits and diverse applications, it’s easy to see why one might think it’s magical. While we don’t want to oversell its capabilities, rest assured that data science can definitely give your company a boost without causing chaos.
To effectively apply data analytics, you need expert personnel, adequate tools, and a lot of patience. Analyzing data and effectively making predictions can take time.
Data has the power to improve a successful business but can’t make a failing business a success. Analyzing data won’t compensate for a poor product, service, or market. However, it can be vital if you’re looking to get ahead of your competition.
Don’t jump on every new emerging trend. Lean back and observe how specific fields are progressing. Take effective actions based on how you hope to use data to transform your business in the long run.
Here’s to your success!
A Guide to Advanced Marketing Reporting
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.
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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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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- 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.
- Visualizations and charts
Incorporating visual elements such as graphs, charts, and infographics can help summarize complex data and make it easier to understand.
- 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.
- 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.
AI Girlfriends, UA 360 Data Deletion, Google’s Post-Search Era, and More…
Hello there, my Digital Darlings,
How did Valentine's Day treat you? I hope you indulged in some much-deserved self-love, celebrated friendships, or cherished moments with your real, human sweetheart. Because, believe it or not, the age of digital devotion is upon us—with some venturing into romances straight out of a sci-fi script. Yes, you heard that right. The heart now beats for both flesh and circuitry…
AI Girlfriends are a thing now, and they’re a privacy nightmare.
Loneliness might nudge us towards unconventional solutions, but entrusting our innermost thoughts to AI chatbots? Let's pause for a reality check. Remember the cautionary tale of the movie Her? Seems like it wasn't cautionary enough, as AI romance apps boast over 100 million downloads. These digital companions are more intrusive than romantic, tracking locations and sharing your secrets with a who's who of tech giants and shadowy entities across the globe. Falling for a robot might sound futuristic, but let's stick to human connections, shall we? And in some other not-so-romantic news, Google issued a warning on V-day...
Google’s Valentine’s Day heads-up: migrate to GA4, and do it now.
Most marketing teams have already made this transition, but if you’re one of those lagging, it’s time. Switch within the next two weeks to avoid losing critical advertising capabilities like remarketing and publisher reporting. It’s also critical to export your historical data from UA 360 as all historical data will vanish into the digital ether this July. If you’ve not completed the migration yet, check out Google’s timeline for UA 360 deprecation. In other Google news…
Google is prepping for the post-search era.
Their most recent move? Renaming their AI chatbot ‘Gemini’ instead of ‘Bard’… and I will admit, Gemini is way cuter. Google also announced that they’ll offer a premium version for $20 a month. Sounds like they just copied OpenAI’s business plan and are taking a direct shot at ChatGPT Plus (which, full disclosure, I’m subscribed to). Regardless, Google is a company that makes 57% of its revenue from search, and the CEO is preparing for a future without search. What will happen to the billions of ad dollars spent on the SERP? How will Google monetize Gemini to bring in an equivocal amount of revenue? I can’t wait to see how this pans out. And speaking of search…
TikTok’s the hot new search engine, and they know it.
About a month ago, I mentioned that TikTok is the go-to search engine for 10% of Gen Z, and that number is growing. TikTok got the memo, and they’ve built a search shortcut to get even more people searching on the platform. Users can download the TikTok Search shortcut to their home screen, just like the Google Search app. Search results are AI-powered and pulled from videos, text, and third-party websites. And TikTok Search caters to shoppers. The goal seems to be to turn TikTok into a one-stop shop - literally. They want to be users’ go-to app for all their online shopping. This is a clarion call for marketers: Promote your products on TikTok shop!! Especially if you sell trendy stuff to Gen Z and beyond. And in other social media monetization news…
Ad prices are up on Meta.
According to Meta’s Q4 earnings, the average price per ad is up for the first time in three years. Interestingly, ad impression growth is slowing down, even though app usage continues to climb. This leads me to believe that Meta may be showing fewer ads than before, which for personal reasons, I hope is the case because the ad overload on TikTok and Reels is TOO much. But it also could be due to increased competition, as advertisers are spending more on Meta than ever before. Either way, keep an eye on your Meta ad spend this year so that it doesn’t become too pricey.
And there you have it—this week's roundup of digital delights and dilemmas served with a side of sass. Until next week, may your data be secure and your campaigns compelling.
You know you love me.
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How to Conduct a Marketing Mix Model Analysis
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.
- 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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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
AI regulations, TikTok in the SERP, Amazon’s Cookieless World, and more…
Hello again, Digital Darlings,
Buckle up, because I'm about to spill the latest digital marketing tea—and it's scalding. We're diving straight into the juicy bits: SEO drama, social media scandals, and those pesky AI-generated images that everyone loves to hate. Ready for the ride? Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a sassy scroll. Let’s start with some AI drama…
Facebook is going to start labeling AI-generated images…
And I fully support this. We have to maintain the integrity of real, human artists’ work. But it may alter your workflow slightly if you’ve been using AI to generate images for organic or paid social posts. Interestingly, this announcement came on the same day that…
Youtube’s CEO announced his big bets for 2024…
And number one is that ‘AI should empower human creativity, not replace it’. He wants to make sure that YouTube creators have access to AI tools. But how does YouTube plan to stop AI from taking over? Luckily, AI-created videos are still in the ‘weird’ stage and can’t compete with a human vlogging about their real life. But I worry about the future… For now, YouTube has cool features like Dream Screen, which enables anyone to make AI-generated backgrounds for YouTube shorts. Note that they’re pushing shorts to compete with TikTok. So if your brand has a TikTok account, consider posting similar content to YouTube and taking a Shorts-first approach. I have a hunch that shorts will never be able to compete with TikTok and Reels, but who knows?
Speaking of TikTok…
Universal Music Group pulled their catalog from TikTok.
This means that any videos you’ve created in the past that feature songs from big artists like Drake, T-Swift, or Billie Eilish will now be muted. And, of course, you won’t be able to use songs from those artists in future posts. Universal Music Group published an open letter to TikTok calling them out for three things: unfair compensation for musicians, safety for TikTok users, and, you guessed it, not protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI. I’m glad someone is doing something about this unsettling AI takeover, but I must say I miss the sound of Drake’s voice on my TikTok feed.
Universal Music Group seemed preeeetty angry in their letter. And TikTok fired back with a statement accusing Universal Music Group of “putting their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters” and saying they created a “false narrative”. DRAMAAAA!! I’ll keep an eye on this beef and update you lovely readers if anything changes. A partnership between the two businesses is so advantageous for both parties that I feel like they’ll find a way to put their differences aside… And meanwhile, TikTok is only getting more influential. I mentioned a few weeks back that TikTok is becoming the go-to search engine for Gen Z. In response to that trend,
Google started featuring TikTok videos in their SERP.
TikTok videos are now being featured in Google’s Featured Snippets, an area highly coveted by SEOers. Basically, the best thing that can happen to you as an SEOer is for your website to get a structured snippet on Google. But now, that space is being occupied by TikToks, leaving less room for landing pages to hit those top ranks. And they’re appearing as part of Google’s new AI-powered Search Generative Experience. While TikTok is clearly a controversial platform, its growing power cannot be overstated. It’s time to get on TikTok if you want to be a thought leader in your industry. And social media is taking over the paid search world in more ways than one…
PPC is looking more and more like paid social.
Targeting has shifted from a keyword focus to an audience focus. Account structures have changed, with more settings than ever available at the ad group level, mimicking the ad sets of paid social. The advent of Performance Max campaigns embodies this shift, with its focus on asset groups that marry audiences and creatives. This Search Engine Land article has some great tips for navigating the socialization of paid media that I recommend all my PPC readers check out.
Now, let’s sync up on the status of the ‘cookieless world’...
Amazon will track users in the cookieless world with Reach PLC’s help.
Reach is the UK’s largest publisher, and thanks to a new partnership, they will start sharing ‘contextual’ first-party data with Amazon to fill the data gap left by third-party cookies. Basically, Reach will give Amazon data about which articles their readers are viewing, and Amazon will use that data to serve targeted ads on Reach’s websites. While this data isn’t quite as valuable as the data provided by cookies, it closes a huge gap in the cookieless world. This quote from Frazer Locke, Amazon Ads director of EU adtech sales, sums it up…
“As the industry shifts towards an environment where cookies are not available, first party contextual signals are critical in helping us develop actionable insights that enable our advertisers to reach relevant audiences without sacrificing reach, relevancy or ad performance.”
Does this help us digital marketers? Yes, if we’re advertising on Amazon. But there’s nothing tangible we can do with this info right now. Some more tangible tips come from Microsoft’s Seasonal Spotlights series…
Check out Microsoft’s Tips for Valentine’s Day Advertising.
Some of this year's search trends include - shoppers looking for value, with volume trending up on price-sensitive search terms like ‘sale’ and ‘discount’, and more searchers shopping local, searching for terms like ‘flower delivery near me’. Good news for retailers that run sales at their brick-and-mortar stores! The article also includes handy tips for targeting shoppers on Bing, so be sure to check those out.
And that's a wrap, my Digital Darlings. We've sipped the tea and thrown the shade, all in the name of digital marketing dominance. Remember, in this wild world of clicks and content, your moves make the magic. Catch you on the flip side with more gossip, glam, and game-changing strategies. Stay bold, stay brilliant, and above all, stay tuned.
You know you love me.
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A Comprehensive Guide to Marketing on Threads
Thirty million sign-ups in the first 16 hours and 100 million in the first five days!
These are the results achieved by Threads, a newborn social media channel. Since its release in April 2023, it has gained many names: “a rival to Twitter,” “Twitter killer,” “Twitter clone,” and others. Many brands have already reshaped their strategies to market on Threads. Some have even become Twitter-sober with the appearance of this new social networking service.
Built by the Instagram team and launched by Meta, Threads can be a powerful, competitive space for social media marketers.
In this post, you’ll explore Threads’ features and benefits for brands. After that, incorporate our list of tips into your Threads marketing strategy.
Key Features of Meta’s Threads Every Business Should Know
Is Threads like Twitter (now X)?
This is by far the most popular question asked since the app’s appearance.
The answer is – not exactly.
The Threads app is one of the Meta-owned social media platforms, along with Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook. Like X, Threads allows users to like, repost, add replies, and share content. A thread (post) on this platform can also include a link, text, image, or video.
The key difference from X is that Threads is a part of the nascent fediverse – a set of interrelated networks that remain independent but seamlessly connect. For example, Threads users can interact with each other on Mastodon and other fediverse platforms.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd594e5b1bbdf49d0997c7_threadshowto-65bd593c4abd4.webp)
Now, let’s have a closer look at the functionality of Threads.
Already Active Threads Features
- Instagram sync. It’s possible to import your profile picture, name, bio, and link from Instagram into Threads. If your followers are registered on Threads, they will be automatically transferred, too.
- Polls. A Threads poll is active for 24 hours only.
- Tags. Tagging makes conversations discoverable in searches for specific topics or subjects. Note: Tags on Threads don’t have the power of hashtags to draw trending content to the top and boost engagement.
- A Paid Partnership feature. An influencer should mark the post as a “Paid Partnership” and indicate the brand with @ followed by its username on the app.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA). A 2FA is a form of multi-factor authentication that can add an extra layer of cybersecurity to your business account on Threads.
- Content length – Threads have a 500-character limit, whereas videos have a five-minute limit.
- Text editing feature. You can edit your posts within five minutes after publishing them. This will help you eliminate grammar or spelling mistakes and error-proof your marketing messages.
Upcoming Threads Features
- Messaging system. Threads will introduce Direct Messages (DMs) with a self-destructing option.
- Hashtags. The hashtagging feature is yet to come.
- Paid social advertising on Threads. Currently, there are no advertising opportunities on Threads. But –
Meta announced that paid ads and monetization are coming once the app gets on a clear path toward one billion users.
Meanwhile, you can start building your follower base on Threads organically today so that once paid social ads become available, you’ll have a solid pool of users for targeting.
Consider why marketing on Threads is crucial for modern businesses, and follow our how-to guide afterward.
Why Promote Your Brand on Threads?
Explore the major benefits of Threads for your business. With this social media app, you can do the following:
Target Generation Z
Gen Z comprises the largest lump of the platform’s users (source).
These digital natives value individuality and crave an authentic connection with brands. You can establish it via Threads because the platform prioritizes honesty and genuine relationship building.
Try brand exposure to an international market
Threads may be an excellent tool to boost your brand awareness and recognition in foreign territories if you aim at a global brand positioning.
Here are the shares of Threads app downloads by country:
- 33% – India
- 22% – Brazil
- 16% – USA
- 8% – Mexico
- 5% – Japan
As you can see, Meta’s new app can expose your brand and your products/services globally.
Drive brand engagement
According to Statista, Meta’s Threads platform has 13 million daily active users worldwide. They interact with posts actively and meaningfully.
Like with Instagram reels for boosting brand engagement on Instagram, you can share your posts and engage with users via Threads discussions.
Cross-promote your content
You can turn on cross-posting and share your Threads posts on Instagram and Facebook.
You can also repurpose other social media content to Threads like YouTube shorts, TikToks, Pinterest images, Tweets, etc.
6 Best Practices of Successful Threads Marketing
Learn how to build an engaged community.
Invite your audiences to follow you on Threads
Currently, Threads is less recognizable and widespread than other social networks. However, its popularity is picking up steam.
Your audience may need a slight nudge to join in. It may be a simple announcement: We’re moving to Threads, similar to this one made by @pimaarizona on X.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5ae0801f3021699e75e4_movingtothreads-65bd5ac9441b2.webp)
They informed their audience that all new Tweet-worthy content will now be posted on Threads.
Like Cyber Voyage's video below, you can also promote your Threads profile on other social media accounts (e.g., your company’s YouTube channel).
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5b59112578de6b8310a3_cybervoyage-65bd5b478d2b2.webp)
In addition, embed a Threads social button into your website’s homepage to showcase your brand’s presence on this platform and lure your web visitors to connect with you there.
Check out how Dan O’s does it.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5b91faa0072968f578c0_dano-65bd5b83db3a5.webp)
Engage users with interactive content
Interactivity is one of the content creation secrets for Threads that you'll uncover in this section.
Eric Mills, Owner of Lightning Card Collection, explains why it works: “Interactive content captivates, entertains, and immerses the user, evoking the feeling of excitement. The most compelling and engaging content examples are questions, polls, challenges, puzzles, and games. And all of them work well on Threads.”
See how brands put those into action in their Threads marketing strategies.
1. Questions
Asking questions is a superb way to encourage active user participation in Threads discussions.
Example:
Nissan, an automotive industry giant, uses the What’s-your-favorite question type.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5c450cc4cd6ce4f89128_nissan-65bd5c33d9105.webp)
2. Polls
As you may already know, polls are extremely useful for LinkedIn marketing as they skyrocket user engagement. They are not less successful on Threads, either.
Pizza Hut, for instance, engages users with pizza-related polls like this.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5cd4faa0072968f693ad_pizzahut-65bd5cc51a6f6.webp)
3. Fill-in-the-blanks
People like challenging tasks such as fill-in-the-blank sentences because they bring a feeling of accomplishment.
Here’s an example of Canva using them in Threads marketing.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5d4ddb3812dc8986715c_canva-65bd5d3ab1b54.webp)
4. Puzzles
A puzzle helped Chipotle generate over 100 replies and interact with users more effectively.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5da08cbe8b1049791c63_chipotle-65bd5d8f3d90b.webp)
5. Guessing games
Meta launched an exciting game on Threads, asking users to guess the words Meta’s AI used to generate an image.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5e03ad3cab1700663e60_metagame-65bd5ded42870.webp)
Establish a two-way communication
Unlike TikTok, aiming to entertain users with hilarious videos, Threads’ vision is to build an open and friendly public space for conversation.
According to Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel, “Threads is a win-win communication tool that proves rewarding for the brand and the customer. So, when going to Threads, you have a single task: to establish a two-way interaction with your potential or existing customers and keep conversations rolling via threads by replying to questions and leaving comments whenever it feels appropriate. Such interactions will help you foster trust and build a better relationship with your audience.”
Learn from the experience of Starbucks. The company communicates with customers via threads, and users appreciate such a personal approach.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5e729a90728f9a5c3d14_starbucks-65bd5e62d0b08.webp)
Tag your Threads as 'themed'
Let’s again compare Threads with TikTok for customer acquisition.
TikTok has dedicated sub-toks to unite content around particular topics with niche hashtags: #FinTok – for finances, #BookTok – for books, etc.
“By analogy with TikTok, you should create a themed thread on Threads and tag it to match your industry or business niche,” recommends Max Wesman, Founder & COO of GoodHire. “This way, you can become a trendsetter and thought leader in your business sphere. In the HR sector, for instance, we may join the HRThreads community to discuss recruitment trends, interviewing practices, employee benefits, etc.,” he shares.
Once you’ve chosen the subject related to your brand’s niche, tag it like this:
- For gaming → GamingThreads
- For beauty and makeup → MakeupThreads
- For sports → SportsThreads (+ subcategories like FootballThreads or BaseballThreads)
- For travel → TravelThreads
- For healthcare → HealthThreads
- For fashion → FashionThreads, and so on
Starbucks wins the customers’ attention again, this time with CoffeeThreads.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5ee4b2488476fa3658e8_coffeethreads-65bd5ed43dbee.webp)
Be authentic and maintain your brand voice
The Threads community strives for authenticity and friendliness.
If you open the Threads profiles of Duolingo, Uber, or Spotify, they radiate positivity and maintain an informal and friendly tone of voice.
You may also use your wit and creativity to communicate with Threads users emotionally. Emotional marketing has considerable brand-boosting advantages, like strengthening loyalty and driving word-of-mouth. People who connect with brands emotionally are nearly four times more likely to recommend them to others.
Let’s delve into an example from Bonobos.
The men’s clothing brand is often recognized by witty wordplay and puns on the website: Look dashing through the snow or Fit happens. The brand also extrapolated this approach on threads: Did you hear the news? Panta Claus is coming to town.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65bd5f657e38d570640eacf6_pantaclause-65bd5f56f1556.webp)
Use visuals
Visual content has 43% more persuasive power than textual information.
This clearly substantiates the “why” behind using visuals to market on Threads.
These include:
- Photos
- Infographics
- GIFs and animations
- Image carousels
- Graphs
- Tables
- Screenshots
- Videos, etc.
“Of course, there must be an ideal ratio of visuals to text because, primarily, Threads is a text-based network. It will vary depending on the topic and purpose of your content. But generally, there’s a 40/60 rule for visual-to-text ratio,” notes Tom Golubovich, Head of Marketing & Media Relations at Ninja Transfers.
NinjaTransfers repurposes TikTok videos on Threads to achieve this ratio.
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Here's another example of visual content on Threads - Shopify uses images and memes to create B2B content that resonates with the Threads audience.
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Partner with influencers
The last tip is a reminder from Fernando Lopez, Marketing Director at Circuit. He says, “When tapping into Threads for marketing, don’t underestimate the power of influencer collaborations. By leveraging their influence, you can increase your brand’s exposure on the platform, get more traffic to your website, generate qualified leads, and drive sales.”
In fact, 89% of marketers note that influencer promotions bring an eight times higher ROI than any other campaign.
It's never to early to build an influencer marketing strategy for Threads.
Fernando Lopez shares several insights on how to collaborate with influencers on Threads:
- Choose influencers from your business niche (technology, beauty, entertainment).
- Make sure the influencer’s ethics and values align with yours.
- Try out various types of influence-generated content (sponsored posts, unboxing videos, product reviews, giveaways).
- Track and measure the results of your Threads partnerships with content creators (number of likes, reposts, comments, and sales).
Note: Influencers must mark the thread as a “paid partnership” to reveal commercial relationships with businesses.
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Pro tip: Use AI tools for influencer marketing like Affable.ai, Upfluence, Buzzstream, etc.
Thread by Thread: Intertwine New Threads Into Your Marketing Strategy
The Threads app is gaining popularity incredibly fast, proving itself as a worthy rival to X.
It may be an ideal platform for marketers and businesses aiming to reach out to Gen Zers, level up their global brand visibility, leverage content cross-promotion, engage with users on a more meaningful level, and foster long-lasting relationships with customers.
All these things are possible when applying the best tips for Threads marketing we have reviewed above.
Once you’re up and running, you can build a loyal community of followers and lay a good foundation for paid advertising when it becomes an active feature on Threads. When this feature arrives, Marin software will be there to help you to manage, measure, and optimize your paid social ads.
For now, get to threading and weave your brand’s success.
The 10 Best AI Tools to Reach Your Sales Goals in 2024
Have you missed your sales goals for 2023?
You’re not alone. 57% of salespeople miss their targets.
But that ends for you in 2023. With the best AI tools for sales in your arsenal, you can outperform your quotas like never before.
Think:
- Personalized outreach on autopilot, freeing up your time.
- Smarter lead scoring for laser-focused prospecting.
- Customer insights to unlock hidden opportunities.
Get ready to discover the best AI (artificial intelligence) sales tools in 2024 and skyrocket your business growth.
Benefits of Using AI Tools in Sales
Let’s dive into a few ways AI is revolutionizing sales by unlocking efficiency, personalization, and valuable insights.
1. Streamlined Sales Processes
AI automates repetitive tasks like data entry and lead scoring, freeing your team for strategic thinking. This data-driven approach lets you make informed decisions.
2. Personalized Customer Experiences
AI analyzes data to recommend products, anticipate needs, and craft targeted messages that resonate.
3. Unified Marketing & Sales
AI streamlines marketing and sales, guaranteeing consistent messaging and a smooth customer journey. Real-time data insights empower both teams to optimize campaigns and personalize outreach.
4. Boosted Sales Efficiency
AI leverages historical data to predict future sales, accurately enabling resource optimization. AI prioritizes leads based on conversion potential and helps sales reps focus on high-impact opportunities.
5. Unearth Sales Insights
AI analyzes customer data to uncover hidden patterns and opportunities, suggesting cross-sell/up-sell potential and enabling proactive responses.
As you scale your data operations, you should prioritize a powerful and intuitive alternative to Tableau or Looker — one designed to help consumers at every skill level find value in your data.
For example, ThoughtSpot’s AI-powered analytics offers just as broad a range of data connection sources and analytics features as either of the competitors listed above, but it ranks highest on self-service analytics.
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Even better, ThoughtSpot Sage, which pairs the ease and flexibility of LLMs with robust accuracy, security, and governance, is live.
ThoughtSpot for Sales is the fastest way to make sales data accessible to even your most non-technical sellers. With a consumer-grade search and AI-driven analytics experience, you can move beyond “what” into the “how” and the “why” to outsell your competition.
6. Improve Performance with Analytics
AI analyzes customer interactions across calls, emails, and more, revealing valuable data. Reps can leverage this to refine communication and close more deals.
7. Enhance Customer Experiences
AI recommends relevant products and services tailored to individual needs, fostering satisfaction and loyalty.
You can further leverage text-to-speech software for creating sales content, like ads, that maintains brand voice consistency and provides an accessible experience for all customers.
Top 10 Best AI Tools for Sales
Here are the top 10 best AI tools for sales, each offering unique capabilities to boost your sales pipeline and close more deals.
1. Marin Software - Marketing and Paid Ads
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Marin Software isn’t just another ad management platform.
It’s among the best AI tools for sales for optimizing paid search, social, and marketplace campaigns across platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Amazon.
Features and benefits:
- Unified dashboard: Manage all your campaigns in one place, saving time and maximizing efficiency.
- AI-powered insights: Marin’s intelligent algorithms identify growth opportunities, suggest budget allocations, and automate bidding strategies for optimal ROI.
- Advanced optimization: Fine-tune ad targeting, messaging, and budgets based on real-time performance data, ensuring your ads reach the right audience at the right time.
- Increased revenue: Marin has helped clients achieve impressive results, like a 132% increase in search ad revenue and a 30% reduction in CPA for app installations.
Pricing: Tailored to your specific needs and campaign volume. Request a demo now!
2. Einstein GPT - Sales Solution from Salesforce
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Einstein GPT, Salesforce’s revolutionary AI solution, empowers reps to personalize, automate, and streamline their workflows.
Here’s how:
- Retrieval-augmented generation: Craft unique, data-driven emails by combining pre-written templates with GPT’s AI magic. Tailor messages to specific customers, ensuring relevance and resonance.
- Predictive insights: Gain actionable intelligence on deals and customers. Predict lead conversion, next steps, and potential roadblocks, enabling proactive outreach and closing strategies.
- Automation: Free yourself from repetitive tasks. Einstein GPT automatically generates follow-up emails, schedules meetings, and updates CRM records, saving precious time.
- Seamless CRM Integration: Einstein GPT lives within your existing Salesforce platform, making integrating AI insights into your workflow and leveraging your valuable customer data easy.
Pricing:
- Einstein Sales GPT: $50/user/month (includes limited GPT credits)
- Einstein Service GPT: $50/user/month (includes limited GPT credits)
- Einstein AI & Analytics for Service Cloud: Pricing varies based on specific features and usage.
Main features that make it one of the best AI tools for sales:
- Real-time data analysis and valuable insights
- Predictive lead scoring and deal insights
- Automated follow-ups and CRM updates
- Seamless integration with Salesforce
- Personalized email generation
3. Hubspot - Lead Generation
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Fuel your sales pipeline with HubSpot’s intelligent lead-generation tools.
Predictive lead scoring identifies the hottest prospects, prioritizing your outreach. AI engages website visitors 24/7, qualifying leads while you sleep. Content Assistant suggests SEO-rich topics and optimizes your content for higher conversion rates.
This tool packs a punch for sales teams with features like:
- Streamlined lead management: Organize leads, track interactions, and assign tasks seamlessly.
- Automated workflows: Nurture leads with personalized email sequences and follow-ups.
- Deep customer insights: Gain a 360° view of each customer, from initial contact to post-purchase.
HubSpot offers a suite of features for every stage of the buyer’s journey:
- Landing page builder: Craft high-converting landing pages with drag-and-drop simplicity.
- Email marketing: Design engaging email campaigns and track their performance.
- Web forms and pop-ups: Capture leads effortlessly with customizable forms and targeted pop-ups.
- Marketing automation: Automate repetitive tasks and personalize customer experiences.
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Pricing: Starts at just $20/month, making HubSpot accessible for businesses of all sizes.
4. Weflow - Sales Forecasting
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Weflow accurately predicts your future sales by analyzing past sales, market trends, and more. Get real-time sales projections and segmented forecasts to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in your strategy.
Weflow features:
- AI-powered insights: Uncover hidden patterns and predict future outcomes with advanced algorithms.
- Effortless roll-ups: Automate forecast aggregation from reps to leadership, saving precious time.
- Actionable data: Drill down into detailed insights, identifying areas for improvement and maximizing ROI.
- Seamless Salesforce integration: Streamline your workflows and data harmony.
Boost your sales game with Weflow:
- Accurate forecasts: Achieve 92%+ accuracy, defeating forecasting headaches.
- Enhanced transparency: Gain complete visibility into your sales pipeline and performance.
- Data-driven decisions: Make informed choices based on real-time insights, not guesswork.
- Improved agility: React quickly to market shifts and stay ahead of the competition.
Pricing: With options for every team, there are free and enterprise plans depending on your needs. The most popular plan starts at $59 per user/month.
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5. Gong - Coaching and Trend Analysis
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Boost revenue and refine strategies with Gong’s real-time coaching and predictive insights. Dive deeper than call recordings.
Analyze every conversation with AI-powered tools like:
- Live call and meeting analysis: Get instant feedback on calls, identifying missed opportunities and high-performing tactics.
- Predictive sales outcomes: Forecast win probability and prioritize deals based on data-driven insights.
- Seamless integration: Gong works with your existing CRM, capturing every interaction for analysis and coaching.
- AI-powered coaching: Get personalized recommendations and actionable tips to improve individual and team performance.
- Subtle cue detection: Gong listens beyond words, analyzing tone, silence, and emotions for deeper customer understanding.
Key features that make Gong a top contender include:
- Conversation search and replay: Find key moments, replay calls, and share clips for targeted coaching.
- Win/loss analysis: Identify patterns in successful and lost deals to refine your sales approach.
- Competitive intelligence: Analyze competitor pitches and adapt your strategy for a winning edge.
- Customizable dashboards: Track progress, measure improvement, and set data-driven goals.
Pricing: Gong offers flexible plans for all team sizes and budgets. Contact them for a personalized quote.
6. Hunter.io - Contact Management
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Hunter.io’s AI unearths hidden email addresses, empowering you to build targeted lists and craft personalized campaigns that resonate.
- Grow your reach: Find accurate contact info for any professional with domain searches and social media integration. No more bouncing emails or wasted outreach.
- Segment like a pro: Categorize your contacts by role, company, and more for laser-focused email campaigns.
- Personalize easily: Infuse your emails with dynamic data, like names and interests, for higher engagement and click-through rates.
- Track your success: Track opens, clicks, and replies in real time, optimize your campaigns, and close more deals.
Hunter.io features:
- Integrations: Connect with CRM, marketing tools, and more.
- Unlimited searches: Find emails for any domain or website.
- Email verifier: Ensure your list is accurate and deliverable.
- Campaigns: Send personalized emails and track results.
Pricing: Start with a free plan for basic needs or upgrade to a paid plan with advanced features and higher limits starting at $34/month.
7. Zapier - Integrations and Task Streamlining
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Tired of juggling data across platforms? Zapier connects over 6,000 apps and tools, turning tedious tasks into smooth workflows. Imagine leads from Typeform automatically creating deals in CRM or invoices in Quickbooks triggered by closed deals in Pipedrive.
For sales professionals, Zapier is a game-changer:
- Qualify leads faster: Auto-score leads based on website behavior, social media activity, or email engagement.
- Nurture leads effortlessly: Create personalized email sequences triggered by specific actions, sending follow-ups without lifting a finger.
- Shorten the sales cycle: Automatically create tasks, set reminders, and send notifications to ensure deals move smoothly through the pipeline.
- Increase conversions: Analyze data from multiple sources to identify bottlenecks and optimize your sales process.
Key features:
- 6,000+ integrations: Connect all your favorite tools, from Salesforce to Gmail to Mailchimp.
- Easy-to-use interface: No coding needed, just drag-and-drop to build custom workflows.
- Trigger-based automation: Automate tasks based on specific events or data changes.
- Robust analytics: Track and analyze your workflows to see what’s working and what’s not.
Pricing: Start with a free plan for basic automation needs. Paid plans (starting at $19.99/month) offer unlimited Zaps, advanced features, and team collaboration.
8. Exceed.ai - Virtual Sales Assistant
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Unlock sales growth on autopilot with Exceed.ai, the virtual assistant that automates conversations across your entire revenue lifecycle.
Here’s how Exceed.ai elevates your sales game:
- Conversational AI: Exceed’s AI’s brain understands natural language, mimicking human interaction through email, chat, and SMS. It answers inquiries, handles objections, and even schedules meetings, all with a personalized touch.
- Machine learning magic: Exceed learns from every conversation, constantly refining responses and targeting the right messages to the right leads. This means higher engagement, better qualifications, and more deals closed.
- CRM harmony: Exceed seamlessly integrates with top CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot, keeping your sales data organized and accessible. No more switching between tools — Exceed works where you already do.
Key features that make it the best AI tool for sales:
- Automated lead nurturing: Engage 100% of leads with personalized conversations, keeping them warm and moving down the funnel.
- Smart lead qualification: Identify sales-ready leads using AI-powered scoring, ensuring your reps focus on the right opportunities.
- Meeting scheduling on autopilot: Schedule meetings and demos instantly, freeing up your reps’ time for closing deals.
- Real-time reporting and analytics: Track performance and measure ROI with detailed reports and actionable insights.
Pricing: No matter how big or small your revenue team is, Exceed.ai has a package for your needs. However, you must fill out a form for a custom quote.
9. Apollo.io - Personalized Cold Emails
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Apollo AI is your weapon for crafting personalized cold emails that land. Target specific industries with advanced filters, then build emails infused with genuine insights using Apollo’s AI-powered templates and data integration.
Key features:
- Smart targeting: Zero in on ideal prospects with industry-specific filters and data enrichment.
- AI-powered personalization: Craft unique, data-driven emails that resonate with each recipient.
- Real-time email tracking: Gain data-driven insights to refine your outreach strategy.
- CRM integration: Keep data synced and teams in sync with a seamless connection to your CRM.
- Automated workflows: Save time and energy with intelligent automation tools.
Pricing: Choose a plan that fits your needs, from budget-friendly solo options to enterprise-level scalability. Professional plans start at $79 per user per month.
10. Chatspot.ai - Actionable Insights from Data
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Tired of data overload and unclear sales forecasts? Chatspot.ai transforms your data into actionable gold, empowering your sales virtual assistant with AI-powered insights for accurate forecasting, smarter lead scoring, and, ultimately, closed deals.
Boost your sales game:
- Precision lead scoring: Rank leads based on true buying potential, focusing resources on the hottest prospects.
- Unerring sales forecasts: Predict future sales accurately, ensuring resource allocation and budget planning are on point.
- Smarter sales strategies: Gain deep customer insights to personalize outreach, craft targeted messaging, and close deals faster.
Chatspot features:
- Seamless CRM integration
- Customizable prompts
- Intuitive interface
Pricing: Currently, all users can use ChatSpot for free. You can access it as a standalone product or integrate it directly into your HubSpot CRM tools.
11. Salescloser.ai - Actionable Insights from Data
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AI Sales Demos tailored to your product or service. Sales Closer manages the entire sales process from discovery to close. Meet with prospects on Zoom through the phone, and send the next steps, including payments and contracts, all from inside Sales Closer.
Key features:
- Meet with prospects through a phone call.
- Manage the entire sales process in one tool.
Choose the Best AI Tools for Your Sales Teams
Today, we shared how AI (artificial intelligence) tools optimize your sales reps, from automating tasks to crafting personalized conversations. But with so many options, choosing the right one can be tricky.
Focus on tools that fit your process and empower your team. Look for solutions that:
- Streamline communications
- Unlock data-driven insights
- Boost lead generation
Remember, AI doesn’t replace sales stars — it supercharges them.
Take control of your marketing with AI-powered solutions like Marin. Try Marin for free for 14 days, or book a demo now!
This Week in Digital: Ads on Prime Video, doom spiraling about Neuralink, ChatGPT blockers, and more…
Greetings, Digital Darlings,
Your thirst for the freshest, most tantalizing digital marketing tea is insatiable, and who am I to deny you the pleasure? So, buckle up as we embark on this week's journey through the labyrinth of likes, links, and LinkedIn Ads news…
Marketers can easily turn articles into paid ads on LinkedIn with this new sponsored post option.
Any time a company page shares an ‘article’ like a blog post or case study on LinkedIn, its admins can now promote that post and add a CTA button that requires users to sign up for their email list to read the rest. This makes it easier than ever to turn existing content into paid ads, which is great for B2B marketers like me. And LinkedIn gates the content for you, so you can easily grow your email list?? Sign me up baby!
And in some other LinkedIn news that I’m not so excited about…
LinkedIn is retiring lookalike audiences.
Starting February 29th, no new lookalike audiences will be created, and existing ones will become static and uneditable. I think this has something to do with data privacy… but who knows. They recommend using Predictive Audiences and Audience Expansion in lieu of lookalikes… so best to read up on those now and prepare for the switch if you run ads on LinkedIn. Now let’s pivot to some Amazon ads chat…
Amazon Prime Video now has commercials.
Bad news for my binging habits, but good news for advertisers. They’re offering a subscription-free version for $2.99 though, which is so cheap compared to other streaming platforms’ premium options that I’ll probably do it. That said, Amazon noted that they aim to have “meaningfully fewer ads” than their competitors. If Amazon manages to include ads in their streaming platform without those ads being super disruptive, repetitive, and annoying, well… this may be the next big frontier for streaming ads. Now for some cookieless world drama…
Chrome Users are apparently worth 30% less money without cookies.
Google disabled tracking cookies for 30 million Chrome users this month (30 million = just 1% of users btw). By 2025, they plan to disable all tracking cookies. If you work in marketing or read my emails, I’m sure you already know this. But the fresh tea is that Raptive, an ad tech firm, claimed that Google’s cookieless users are bringing in 30% less revenue for them. But the CSO at Rapture thinks that’s a good thing… the article quotes him saying-
“If you had asked me what I thought the numbers could be, I would have said cookieless users would perform 50% worse, so I’m optimistic,” said Paul Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer at Raptive. “The goal is to design a system to increase privacy and also help publishers keep making money, and a 30% drop in monetization feels like a hill that can be climbed.”
Lastly, I need to talk about Neuralink implanting its first brain chip in a human.
Every day I wake up and ask myself “am I living in an episode of Black Mirror written by Elon Musk?” Dude seriously needs to chill. His Neuralink chip is enabling people to control their phone or computer just by thinking... Excuse me while I go scream into the void…
Alright, now that that’s taken care of, you may be asking what this has to do with digital marketing. And I just think we should take a second to ponder the implications of this. Will people start seeing ads inside their own minds?! I’m scared!
And in other, slightly less concerning AI news…
You can block OpenAIs web crawler from scraping your site.
Turns out the majority of top news sites already block them. So if you don’t want OpenAI to use your site data to train its GPT bots, you’re free to stop them. I’m not sure how much of a difference it’ll make… but if you’re scared of the power of ChatGPT, at least this gives you some power. If you’re scared of ChatGPT you might also enjoy this reel I can’t stop thinking about… Alright, let’s wrap it up before I think too hard about the future of art in an AI-powered world, quit my writing job, and go live off the grid.
And just like that, we've twirled through another chapter of our digital saga. Cherish these insights, wield them wisely, and may your digital endeavors flourish until our paths intertwine again.
You know you love me.
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How to Create an Integrated Cross-Channel Marketing Budget
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.
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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.
How to Use Behavioral Data to Create a Dynamic Website
Your website is important. We don't really need to tell you that, but with 252,000 new websites being created daily, we do need to tell you that yours needs to be something special to stand out. One way to do this is to collect behavioral data that will allow you to create a website that shows distinct content to different users—also known as a dynamic site.
Imagine using analytics tools, cookies, or other tracking mechanisms to gather data on user behavior and letting that dictate specific interactive features and content to ensure your site caters to their needs. It's possible and even necessary in the modern competitive digital landscape.
Prioritizing the needs and preferences of the end-users
User-centered design results in sites that are highly usable, accessible, and satisfying for those who visit them. Behavioral data, including feedback, plays a crucial role in the iterative and data-driven nature of user-centered design.
As a result, the role of user-centered design in modern web development cannot be understated. It places the needs, preferences, and experiences of users at the forefront of the design and development process, and since we're all users at some point, this concept benefits everyone.
How to get started
Have you heard about Dynamic Facebook ads? They are product ads that target potential customers and existing shoppers based on specific user data, intending to increase the chance of a sale. We are taking this fundamental idea and stretching it out over your whole website. To do this, you can start by analyzing your collected data to understand user behavior patterns and preferences.
Step #1: Analyzing user behavior and installing tracking mechanisms
Collecting data to understand user behavior patterns can be done by adding a tracking pixel to your site to track user interactions. You can use this Pixel to collect data on page views, add to cart, purchases, and other relevant events. We recommend:
- Looking at age, gender, location, and other demographic information to identify trends in user engagement.
- If you advertise on Facebook, leverage Facebook Insights to understand user interests and analyze the performance of ads based on the interests of the target audience.
- Monitoring social media metrics such as likes, shares, and comments to see which content generates the most engagement.
- Creating custom audiences and analyzing their behavior to refine your targeting.
Some behavioral patterns to look out for are users who add products to the cart but don’t complete the purchase or those who regularly engage with your content. You can also identify seasonal buying patterns or see how users switch between devices during the buying process.
Step 2: Create user segments
Once you have this data, you can identify key metrics and determine the most relevant to your website's goals and user experience. From there, create user segments based on similar behaviors, demographics, or preferences, like users who frequently visit certain pages, make specific purchases, or abandon their shopping carts.
Step #3: Implement dynamic content based on user segments
When dealing with a lot of data, it's essential to ensure data integration and synchronization processes that simplify your life. When you understand your data, it's easier to use it to create a dynamic website.
This can include everything from having your website make personalized recommendations to using algorithms to suggest content or products based on users' past behaviors and preferences.
This data is fundamental when segmenting your audience and setting up your dynamic website for your segments’ behaviors. In fact, it can help you make decisions by suggesting the variables you need to take into account.
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You can set up a database to store the data and activate recommendation algorithms such as collaborative filtering, content-based filtering, and hybrid models to do things like recommend items based on the preferences of users with similar tastes. You can adjust your recommendation algorithms to account for seasonality and changing trends, for example, promoting seasonal products or trending items based on user behavior and preferences.
Pro tip: A/B test different versions of your site to see which leads to better user engagement or even conversions, and analyze user journeys to identify potential friction points.
Examples of different types of dynamic content
Dynamic content transforms static web pages into personalized and engaging landscapes. From tailored product recommendations to real-time updates, the versatility of dynamic content enhances user experiences, captivates audiences, and adapts to the unique preferences of each visitor.
Real-time responses
Your website has to simplify things for the user, and the clever way to go about this is by making decisions based on user behavior. For example, suppose you have a pop-up offer that appears when a user spends a certain amount of time on a page or displays a targeted message after a specific action. In that case, you increase the chance of controlling their behavior toward your preferred action.
Take, for example, this pop-up that appears on the Pure Plant Protein website:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65aaeb0544c8aab7a81fc3ab_protienpopup-65aaeaec2728f.webp)
This appears after the user has scrolled halfway down the home page, spending a total of 30 seconds reading what has come before it. It offers a discount code for the products they are currently considering, helping to nudge them towards a sale, while also collecting their contact details to help the site build its mailing list.
Responsive design
As a result of the above, adjusting the website experience during a user's session based on their current behavior can help bring about the actions you hope the user will take. Adapt the site layout, content, or features so both you and your customers can reap the benefits. Everyone wins!
Pro tip: When looking for ways to integrate your data into actionable insights, you might want to make it as simple as possible. A SaaS integration solution is a tool to simplify cloud data integration challenges. This will help you maximize the value of on-demand applications by improving access to critical business information (such as behavioral data) and allowing you to move data into and out of hosted applications efficiently with cloud deployments.
Using retargeting ads or emails
Retargeting can trim down cart abandonment by 6.5%. When you tailor your communications based on a user's history, such as sending personalized newsletters or alerts, you position your campaigns for success.
Just be sure to adhere to privacy regulations and other ethical standards when collecting and using behavioral data by clearly communicating your data usage policies to users.
Understanding user journeys and optimizing touchpoints
Google Analytics provides powerful tools, like Multi-Channel Funnels and Top Conversion Paths reports, to help you identify key touchpoints and assets ripe for personalization. This is a simple way to gather learnings that can be applied to your dynamic site. For example, Multi-Channel Funnels offer a panoramic view of users' diverse pathways before converting. These are insights about the various channels, sources, and mediums contributing to conversion over time. By delving into this report, you can comprehensively understand the complexity inherent in your user journeys.
The Top Conversion Paths report in Google Analytics is another option that looks at the specific sequences of interactions that lead to conversions. This report is invaluable for identifying the channels and assets that play pivotal roles in driving successful outcomes.
Armed with these insights, you can design a user experience transcending the entire customer journey on your new dynamic site. Remember that the key is to create a cohesive and seamless experience that caters to user needs at each stage.
Developing dynamic web pages: Pros and cons
Dynamic web pages require a more intricate development process, complex software, and additional scripting languages. They connect to databases and external applications. The downside of this is an increased risk to security. On the flip side, they offer a range of advantages that cater to the evolving needs of modern online experiences.
For example, dynamic websites simplify the maintenance process for developers. Automatic updates can be applied to multiple pages simultaneously. You can then utilize AI marketing tools and streamline content management across the site. Users can register accounts, create posts, and engage with the site in ways that static websites cannot facilitate, and because dynamic websites empower developers to easily integrate search engine optimization tools, keeping content optimized for search engines is much more straightforward.
Sell more with the ultimate performance marketing platform
You can make your new dynamic website even more powerful with a tool that takes your performance marketing to the next level. That tool is Marin Software, the easiest way to collect, understand, and share marketing data in your organization. Take your performance marketing to a new level with our help.
This Week in Digital: Is Twitter being resurrected?, CES recaps, Temu driving up prices in ad auctions, and more...
Hey there, Content Connoisseurs and Strategy Savants,
As we inch toward February, are you still captivated by the digital world's ever-evolving dance, or do you find yourself longing for a pause amidst the whirlwind of pixels and plans? If you’re already feeling overwhelmed by 2024’s workload, allow me to simplify this week’s industry news for you. That’s just the kind of friend I am. Read on, dear marketer…
CES is back, baby!
If you didn’t know that CES happened earlier this month, where have you been?! Marketers have long salivated over all the industry tea spilled at this annual conference, and this year’s focus was on streaming ads. Most of the popular streaming services have already introduced an ad-supported tier to boost their profits, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Amazon launches their new tier this year. Will that ad you see 10 minutes into the latest ep of Reacher really be what pushes you to buy the hand cream you were eyeing on Amazon yesterday? I know Amazon sees this as an opportunity to capitalize on the advertising behemoth they’ve built, but I think it’ll be more of a learning experience for them. In other tech-giant news…
Maybe we predicted the death of Twitter too soon?
Mr. Beast tweeted that he made more than $250,000 on a single video on X as advertisers scrambled to capitalize on his off-the-charts engagement. He admits that this video may be a red herring, so it’ll be interesting to see if other high-value content creators can replicate his success or if we’ll continue to see brands shy away from The Bird (The X? Idk anymore…) because of their, um, lax content moderation as of late. And speaking of companies that sketch me out…
Temu’s going big on Ads.
They’re spending so much on digital marketing that they’ve driven up the cost of advertising across the interwebs. Which seems a bit overkill for a company that sells $2 shoes… Maybe they have some insights into LTV that I don’t, but I feel like spending $100 to acquire a customer who’ll buy $25 worth of cheap goods isn’t a sustainable business model. Am I bitter because I have to pay more in ad auctions to compete with their cheap, low quality products? Yes, but I’m also taking notes. They may be on to something… Speaking of unfair ad auctions, our friends over at Search Engine Land, ever on top of the latest dirt, have reported that…
Google Ads is threatening to suspend advertisers who aren’t in compliance with GDPR rules.
So make sure your consent banners are compliant, or you may get a bossy email from Google soon. Also, in random Google news, their updated restricted business policy has some weird rules.. For example, plumbers will no longer be able to advertise on Search, Display, or YouTube in the Netherlands. Bad news for Dutch clogged drains! (I’m punny!!). And lastly sigh let’s talk about AI…
Foundation’s State of AI in Marketing report had some interesting insights…
Tldr: an overwhelming 87% of digital marketers are using AI for content creation, but most think it still has a long way to go to compete with human-generated content. I wholeheartedly agree. I use GPTs to help me write from time to time, but I can promise you that if this newsletter were written by AI, it would be way less interesting… at least that's what I have to tell myself to stay sane. The article put it best - “Generative AI represents both the biggest threat and biggest opportunity to [marketers].” Every time I learn about a new AI advancement I get excited, but I also get a little scared…
Before I doom-spiral about AI, let’s wrap up this week’s newsletter. I know I’m a cynic but I genuinely hope this update was helpful for you, my little marketing mavens. Until next week, keep your content charming, your analytics astute, and your coffee strong.
You know you love me.
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The biggest marketing developments of the past year, and how you can use them in 2024
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.
Five Cold Email Templates for B2B Lead Generation
Cold emails have a 5-10% success rate in B2B outreach, making them an essential strategy for sparking conversations and driving pipeline in B2B sales and marketing. Only 23.9% of cold emails received get opened, so you have to stand out to get noticed by your B2B prospects. And to continue to stand out, your tactics must evolve as buyer behavior changes and inboxes get crowded with irrelevant and unengaging emails.
Let's discuss how to craft strategic outreach, optimize your messaging, and measure results. It’s time to cut through the noise!
Understanding the B2B Landscape in 2024
B2B clients gather information online individually before making a buying decision, thanks to the wide availability of relevant information. This makes it tougher to sell a product or a service, as only 17% of B2B buyers meet with potential providers.
A typical buying group for a complex B2B solution consists of 6 to 10 people – meaning it will be even more difficult to land a sale.
More decision-makers and digital touchpoints require a dramatic shift in B2B lead generation strategies. Traditional mass emails without personalization won’t cut it anymore.
While your product pitch can’t be effective without drawing attention to it, you need the audience to notice the value of your product, not the fact that you are trying to sell it to them.
Hence, the B2B marketing landscape in 2023 demands an insight-driven, value-first approach. Let’s explore how to evolve your cold outreach strategy to achieve that.
Defining Cold Outreach in 2024
Effective cold outreach is all about providing value to earn attention, not interrupting people uninvited. Well-executed cold outreach includes:
- Targeted, insight-driven messaging that shows you understand the prospect’s problems
- Personalized email sequences with helpful content. Consultative follow-ups that demonstrate persistence and expertise
- Multi-channel coordination across digital and offline touchpoints
The goal is to initiate two-way conversations and build relationships with future buyers. Cold outreach powers that crucial top-of-funnel motion that ultimately drives sales and revenue.
Crafting an Effective Cold Outreach Strategy
Successful cold outreach begins with careful audience selection and insights. Follow these strategic steps to improve your cold outreach game:
Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile
Defining the ideal customer is critical for sending relevant messaging that resonates. Build a detailed buyer persona considering attributes like:
- Firmographics: Industry, size, location
- Demographics: Role, seniority
- Pain points: Specific challenges your targeted customers face
Going beyond surface-level data to target more specific categories can achieve even better results. For example:
- Industry/Role Combinations: Marketing managers in SaaS
- Tech Stack Details: SaaS companies using Mailchimp
- Pain Points: Companies that struggle with lead generation
Leverage intent data and firmographic research to identify best fits for your ICP. This enables hyper-relevant messaging.
Build a High-Quality Email List
Having a high-quality email list will not only increase open rates, but save money as well. Here are a couple of tactics to fine-tune your targeted list for cold outreach:
- Identify roles and titles that match your ideal customer profile (ICP).
- Verify email accuracy to retain your email deliverability and sender reputation.
One useful tool to help identify the best email list prospects is Hunter.io. With Hunter.io, it's easy to jump on a desired prospect domain and check the names and positions in a certain company. Hunter.io can also verify email addresses to ensure they are real. A platform such as this can greatly reduce the research time to find the decision-maker most likely to respond to your cold email.
Personalizate and Segment
B2B prospects expect personalized outreach tailored to their specific context. Segmenting an email list can increase revenue by 760% if done right.
Segment contacts into smaller groups based on attributes like industry, company size, job role, and tech stack details. Then, customize the messaging for each group. Email personalization can net 50% more open rates, so it is definitely worthwhile.
The more personalized and relevant the outreach, the higher the response rates will be. View segmentation as a crucial element, not just a nice-to-have.
Grab Attention with Intriguing Subject Lines
Subject lines have seconds to capture attention, so make them irresistible. Use power formulas like:
- Social proof: “Loved by over 50,000 users”
- Value proposition: “How we increased leads by 200%”
- Curated for the recipient: “Thought you’d find this interesting, [Name]”
- Question headlines tailored to specific pain points: “Struggling with [Pain Point]?”
Subject lines should be easy to read at a glance, so keep them under 60 characters.
Include Essential Elements in Your Email
The content structure in a cold email solicitation is especially important, as the email must arrest the recipient's attention at first glance. Pay particular attention to the following components for maximum impact:
- Personalized greeting: Use the prospect’s name to establish a personal connection.
- Hook: Capture attention with a compelling statistic or question relevant to the prospect’s industry.
- Relevance statement: Demonstrate understanding of their pain points.
- Key benefit statement: Summarize your product’s main value proposition.
- Social proof: Build credibility by showcasing (briefly!) previous wins tied to your product.
- Call-to-action: Outline a clear next step, such as booking a demo.
- Sign off: Use both first name and title.
Keep the email under 125 words – engaging and concise copy will establish the point and hold interest far better than lengthy details – no matter how impressive they may be.
Showcase Value Proposition
Make it crystal clear how your company can uniquely deliver value by focusing on:
- Quantified results and ROI delivered for other clients
- Relevant capabilities and features based on the prospect’s role in the company
- Business objectives your company/product can positively impact, like a higher amount of relevant leads
Don’t focus on generically upselling the prospect. Show the value of the product, and it will sell itself.
Include Social Proof
Add some credibility builders to the email copy such as:
- Recognizable customers and press mentions
- Testimonials relevant to the prospect’s industry
- Data on customer satisfaction or product retention
Aim for 1-2 proof points per email maximum. Social proof is most persuasive when tied to the prospect’s specific context.
Five Cold Email Templates for B2B Lead Generation
Let’s check out a couple of templates based on the tips shared above and see why they work.
Template 1: The Personalized Introduction
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This template works because:
- The recipient’s first name on the subject line personalizes the email, thus capturing their attention.
- The email opener establishes credibility and relevance, and demonstrates an understanding of the prospect’s pain points or challenges.
- The value proposition highlights how the product helped other businesses, which can help build trust and curiosity.
Template 2: The Problem-Solver Pitch
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65a06120b0d11c7d5bf7b2cb_coldemail2-65a0610f1adc2.webp)
This template works because:
- The subject line focuses on the prospect’s pain points, which immediately captures their interest.
- The opener quickly builds trust and interest due to the obvious research reflected in the email content.
- The value proposition showcases how other companies have achieved success with the product, making the prospect believe they may see the same success.
Template 3: The Social Proof Approach
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65a0615f6eb175f805372f3f_coldemail3-65a06149ae4fc.webp)
This template works because:
- Focusing the subject line on a relevant metric in the prospect’s industry quickly captures interest.
- The email opener showcases an understanding of the prospect’s business.
- The value proposition outlines summarized case studies demonstrating your company’s expertise.
Template 4: The Value-Added Proposition
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65a061a588d1d09b989e0d62_coldemail4-65a06195cf7f4.webp)
This template works because:
- The subject line showcases results the product can drive for the prospect.
- The email opener establishes credibility by validating experience solving similar problems for other companies.
- The value proposition outlines a summary of the positive outcomes the prospect can expect.
Template 5: The Follow-Up Reminder
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65a061d9d782d2efe5125758_coldemail5-65a061c9b616d.webp)
This template works because:
- The subject line is clear, concise and captures interest by following up on a previous email topic.
- The opener refreshes the prospect’s memory.
- The value proposition showcases the fact that multiple solutions exist.
Optimize the Outreach Process
There are a few nuances to be aware of in the cold outreach process. Though very small details, addressing them consistently can increase B2B prospect conversion rates exponentially.
Timing and Frequency
Here are some tips on the best timing for cold emails:
- Send initial cold emails from Tuesday to Thursday to avoid Monday/Friday noise.
- Schedule emails for delivery at either 10 AM or mid-afternoon (around 3.30 PM).
- Follow up in 3-4 days if there is no response to the first email.
- Send a second follow-up 4-7 days after the first email.
- Send additional follow-ups weekly or bi-weekly.
Stick to less than 5 total outreach attempts per prospect and mix up each email copy for the best results.
Follow-Up Strategies
Don’t underestimate the value of a follow up email, as it has a 27% response rate on average – a jump from 16% for initial emails.
Here are a few tips on how to craft enticing follow-ups:
- Reference previous conversations to demonstrate persistence.
- Share relevant content like guides, blog posts, and webinars.
- Provide new information and social proof in each follow-up.
- Change up the call to action – offer a quick consultation, or a product demo.
Multichannel Approach
Some great channels to utilize along with cold email are LinkedIn, Twitter, text messaging, and phone calls. Cross-channel campaigns must be well designed, since LinkedIn, for example, limits connection requests to 100 per week. If a business sends more emails per week, then they must take that into account when planning their campaign.
Measuring and Analyzing Cold Outreach Campaigns
Always keep track of data during cold outreach campaigns. Data-driven decisions are the most powerful in optimizing cold outreach campaigns after the initial blasts.
Key Metrics to Track
To achieve an effective cold outreach campaign, adjustments and refinements must be made to reach the desired percentage rates. The essential metrics to track are:
- Open rate – Anything between 25% to 50% is considered good.
- Response rate – A good percentage is between 5% to 10%.
- Bounce rate – Anything above 2% should raise an alarm.
- Conversion rate – Aim for 10% - 20%.
A/B Testing
Each cold outreach campaign is a work-in-progress, so it is essential to perform A/B testing on cold email components such as:
- Subject lines – Learn which variant increases open rates.
- Content structure – See which variant resonates the best with a variety ofprospects.
- Call-to-action – Identify which variant drives the most conversions.
- Send times – Understand which days and times are optimal to send cold emails.
Change only one variable at a time to accurately measure their impact. Remember, small optimizations can substantially improve results.
Wrapping Up
Effective cold outreach remains crucial for B2B lead generation in 2023. Success requires deep audience insights, value-driven messaging, a tailored process, and continuous optimization.
By leveraging the strategies outlined, marketers can cut through the noise and establish authentic, valuable relationships with prospects.
A tool like Marin can help you manage your B2B sales and marketing efforts by unifying all the data points throughout your sales pipeline. If you're looking for a more organized marketing data pipeline, or for a tool that can help you scale up your B2B advertising efforts, click here to schedule a demo.
This Week in Digital: TikTok as a search engine, ads on ChatGPT?, and PMAX mistakes to avoid...
Hey there, Digital Darlings,
As we waltz through January, are you still riding the wave of those ambitious New Year's resolutions, or are we surfing the reality of 'just another manic Monday'? While you debate between a kale smoothie and the temptation of a double-shot espresso, let me serve you the piping hot, freshly brewed digital marketing tea, no sugar-coating included. Starting with some trendy Gen Z news…
TikTok is the hot new search engine.
A study by Adobe revealed that 10% of Gen Z chooses TikTok as their go-to search engine… above Google. This has me a little worried about the future of information like you can truly say anything on TikTok. Surely the non-filtered, non-SEO optimized element of TikTok is why young adults choose it as their main source of information. Especially when the topics they’re researching are recipes, music and fashion advice… sounds like they have their priorities straight! TikTok is surely a goldmine if you’re a marketer in the food, music, or fashion industries. Now for some obligatory AI news…
Last week I mentioned the release of OpenAI’s new GPT store, which was exciting for me as a daily ChatGPT user. But it also foretells the future of search engines and the way that GPTs will be monetized. It seems like…
OpenAI is trying to build an ‘Everything Engine’.
AKA - one text box where you can ask any question, and it’ll find the best solution - no scrolling required. Allen Pike predicts that eventually, we’ll be able to ask ChatGPT any question, and it’ll route us to the best GPT chatbot for the topic. If this happens, the new “Everything Engine” will be the most compelling advertising opportunity since the SERP. The ad-supported ChatGPT is coming… Advertisers - keep your eye on this one. ChatGPT could be the next great ad-serving platform of our lifetimes. But for now, Google is trying to keep up…
Google announced new ways to search in 2024.
These include ‘Circle to Search’ and ‘An AI-powered multisearch experience’. Circle to Search enables Android users to circle, highlight or tap images, text, or videos and immediately Google them. The AI-powered multisearch experience allows users to point their camera at an object, ask a question about it, and get an AI-powered answer. They say they’re trying to “make AI helpful for everyone, not just early adopters.” Aww, how sweet of them. They definitely don’t want to prevent OpenAI from stealing their ad business or anything… Also… these features are cool and all, but they’re Android-only and I, like most, have an iPhone. Nice try, though. Now, lets dive further into the world of paid media…
Search Engine Land published a great checklist for Paid Media success in 2024.
Some of the points are more high-level, like “lock-in business goals for the year” or “ensure you’re testing meaningful things”... I truly hope all paid media marketers already do these things, but hey, it’s good to have a reminder. That said, there are some great, more actionable tips as you work down the list, so I definitely recommend reviewing it. And in paid search news…
Stacked Marketer called out one thing paid search marketers should definitely NOT be doing - segmenting Performance Max campaigns.
Please resist the urge to run brand and non-brand PMAX campaigns side by side. I know you’ve probably been segmenting brand and non-brand for years, but PMAX is designed to do that for you. And retargeting is already built in. In fact, many marketers find that the majority of PMAX traffic comes from retargeting. So no, you do not need a brand campaign. In fact, running two PMAX campaigns side by side will make both campaigns less effective - they may even cannibalize each other. You hate to see it!
And that's the buzz in our digital hive, sweet trendsetters. Let's rendezvous here next week for another round of indispensable insights and irresistible industry intrigue. Till then, keep conquering the digital domain.
You know you love me.
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6 Ways to Audit Your Meta Account and Improve Ad Performance
In the ever-changing digital advertising landscape, a recurring Meta audit is not just advisable—it is strategically imperative. It's the key to boosting ad campaign efficiency and unlocking the full potential of your investment. We've put together an audit roadmap to elevate the performance of your Meta ad accounts, incorporating the latest industry best practices and strategies that have proven effective for any campaign objective.
1. Review ad account structure
It’s best practice to have 3-5 ad sets per campaign and 3-5 ads per ad set. This structure will enable Meta’s algorithms to test different targets, creatives, and placements. The platform will then dynamically select the best ad for each target group and placement, which maximizes engagement. Having multiple ads in rotation also helps prevent audiences from seeing the same ads over and over, which causes ad fatigue. Managing a moderate number of ad sets, and ads per set, streamlines performance monitoring, allowing advertisers to quickly identify effective strategies and areas that require adjustment.
2. Audit your targeting funnel
We recommend utilizing a full-funnel approach that consists of Prospecting, Retargeting, and Retention campaigns. The first step is ensuring you have separate Prospecting, Retargeting, and Retention audiences.
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The three audience segments
Your Prospecting audience should consist of potential new customers who have not engaged with your brand online before. You can build this audience by targeting interest groups, or demographics like age or location. You can also use a lookalike audience (LAL). This is where you provide Meta with an example audience and it creates an audience of similar users. An easy way to do this is to create a lookalike audience based on your retargeting and retention audiences. This way, Meta will find people who's digital personas are similar to those already in your sales pipeline and target them. The ads for your prospecting audience should be tailored to the ‘potential new customer’ demographic, providing informative and intriguing content about your products.
Your Retargeting audience should consist of people who have engaged with your brand in the past but have not completed a purchase. You can use first-party data from your website, or Meta’s data on people who have interacted with your Facebook and Instagram pages to create this audience. The ads for your retargeting audience should be focused on pushing people down the sales pipeline. Remind them of how great your products are, and maybe even offer a discount code to get them to make that first purchase.
Your Retention audience should consist of existing customers whom you want to maintain loyalty with. You can use a list of past purchasers to create this audience. Ads for this group can be used to cross-sell, promote loyalty programs, or just keep the customer engaged with your brand.
The importance of exclusions
Make sure that the members of one audience are excluded from the other two audiences. This will keep your account organized and lay the groundwork for successful A/B testing initiatives by setting clear parameters for testing. For example, all retargeting and retention audiences should be excluded from prospecting campaigns (AKA any user with past engagements, website visitors, add to cart, purchases should be excluded).
Segmenting your retargeting audience
You can take your segmentation even further by dividing the retargeting audience into three smaller segments - low, mid, and high-intent retargeting audiences. The low-intent audience would contain minimally engaged users, like those who have viewed your Instagram profile. The mid-intent audience would contain moderately engaged users, like those who follow your Instagram account or have engaged with your website. The high-intent audience would contain very engaged users like cart abandoners, or those who have spent a lot of time on your website.
When deciding whether or not to segment your retargeting audience, it’s best to test both approaches to know what works best. However, as a general best practice, we recommend one consolidated retargeting audience if your budget is on the lower side. But if your ads generate a high volume of visitors, try dividing your retargeting audiences into different segments and see if it drives a lift in conversion volume.
3. Diversify your targeting
The two primary types of target audiences are specific and broad. Neither method holds an inherent advantage over the other. The choice between the two depends on your objectives and the resources at your disposal. Meta continually refines its broad targeting algorithm, aiming to help businesses reach potential customers they might not have discovered otherwise. Therefore, it is advisable to experiment with both broad and specific audience targeting.
Broad targeting
Opting for broad targeting means relying predominantly on Meta’s ad delivery system to identify the most relevant audience for your ad.
Pros:
- Discover New Audiences: Meta’s algorithms can identify potential customers outside your typical audience parameters, expanding your reach.
- Leverages Meta’s Advanced Algorithms: Utilize Meta’s machine learning to optimize ad delivery.
- Saves Time on Audience Research: Less initial effort is required to define audience specifics.
Cons:
- Lower Relevance: Ads might reach users who are less likely to engage or convert.
- Difficult to Personalize Content: a one-size-fits-all creative approach may not resonate as well with a diverse audience.
- Less Control Over Audience Selection: relies heavily on Meta's algorithm, which can be unpredictable.
Specific targeting
Specific targeting allows you to choose the audience to whom your ads are shown. Particularly at the acquisition level, directing your content to the eyes of your target audience is essential.
Pros:
- Higher Relevance and Engagement: Targeting a specific audience increases the likelihood of reaching users interested in your product or service.
- Better for Niche Markets: Precise targeting is best for businesses with a very specific customer base.
- Easier to Tailor Content: Allows for more personalized and effective ad messaging.
Cons:
- Limited Reach: Can exclude potential customers who don’t fit narrow criteria.
- Requires In-Depth Audience Knowledge: Demands thorough research and understanding of your target demographic.
- Risk of Audience Fatigue: Over-serving ads to the same audience can lead to decreased engagement.
4. Always be testing
A/B testing is vital in Meta advertising as it optimizes performance, informs data-driven decisions, and ensures campaigns stay relevant. Regular testing is key, especially when changing your messaging, adapting to trends, or after platform updates. Test different ad elements like copy, visuals, ad formats, and targeting. While the frequency of testing depends on campaign dynamics, testing every few weeks is a common approach. Allocate a percentage of your budget to A/B testing, typically around 10-20%, to maximize insights without disproportionately impacting overall campaign spend. This balance ensures ongoing optimization and cost-efficient, data-driven decision-making in Meta advertising.
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5. Update Your Creatives
Creating compelling Meta ad creatives involves a combination of creativity, strategic thinking, and adherence to best practices. Make sure your creatives have these features:
- Clear Message: Keep it concise and focused on your value proposition.
- Eye-Catching Visuals: Use high-quality, relevant images or videos.
- Strong CTA: Include a compelling call-to-action that stands out.
- Mobile Optimization: Ensure your creatives are mobile-friendly.
- Carousel Ads: Showcase multiple aspects of your offering.
- Highlight Benefits: Emphasize the benefits of your product or service.
- Social Proof: Use testimonials or user-generated content to build credibility.
- Interactive Elements: Consider polls, quizzes, or playable ads to increase engagement.
- Adapt to Platform: Use Meta’s news site to stay up to date on new features.
- Personalization: Tailor creatives based on user behavior or demographics.
- Compliance: Ensure adherence to Meta's advertising guidelines.
6. QA your attribution window
It's crucial to select an attribution window that aligns with your campaign goals, customer journey, and conversion types. For example, a 7-day click and 1-day view window suits products needing prior consideration. Longer attribution windows are ideal for high-consideration purchases, while shorter windows suit impulse buys. Regular testing with the A/B Test tool in Ads Manager helps identify the most effective settings. Adjust your approach based on product/service needs, and use shorter windows for immediate conversions, like flash sales. Continuously monitor campaign performance trends for insights and stay informed about privacy changes that might impact attribution measurement, adjusting your strategies as needed.
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Closing Thoughts
Following the steps above to complete a quarterly audit of your Meta account will ensure optimal performance for your campaigns. You can also use a tool like Marin to streamline the process. Marin for Meta allows you to unify front and backend data and get a clear view of performance. It also enables you to create and edit ads in bulk, provides automated insights for account improvement, and much more. To learn more about how Marin can help you reach your Paid Social advertising goals, click here to schedule a demo.
The Dos and Don'ts of Personalization in Social Media Marketing
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.
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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.
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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.
This Week in Digital: Cookie deprecation extensions, Taylor Swift deepfakes, and more…
Greetings, Digital Trailblazers,
Is the new year treating you well? I’m having a pretty good time, aside from the fact that I am being inundated with health and fitness ads, and my local gym has been mobbed. New year, new you? Let’s check back in in February and see how that’s going…
Especially now that Google isn’t taking your cookies away.
Google’s New Year's resolution was to finally deprecate those pesky third-party cookies they’ve been saying they’ll get rid of for years. But they just announced that they’re going to allow some sites to opt out of the 3rd party cookie phase-out. While Chrome still plans to get rid of third-party cookies by Q3, this new program will let select sites temporarily re-enable them until December 27, 2024. I’m not the most technical girlie, so I’ll let this quote from Search Engine Land explain how it works:
“Eligible websites can enable third-party cookie deprecation trials by using JavaScript to provide unique access tokens in Chrome. To request a third-party token during registration, activate the “Third-party matching” option on the origin trial’s registration page. The third-party token should be provided through JavaScript by creating an origin trial <meta> tag, not in HTML code or an HTTP header.”
Did you get all that? Good! Now, it’s important to note that you have to apply for the opt-out, and any site that’s known to provide advertising services will not be approved. Sorry, agencies. :/ Now, for some social news…
A growing number of Meta ads have been featuring deepfakes of celebrity endorsements.
Most recently, a deepfake of Taylor Swift was used to pedal La Creuset cookware.
First, let me say that La Creuset is INNOCENT. I love and support that brand, and the real Taylor Swift does too. She’s known to have a large collection of La Creuset cookware, which unfortunately made this deepfake scam all the more believable. The ad featured a synthetic version of Swift’s voice saying that she was giving away free cookware, then prompted users to share personal information. In response, La Creuset urged shoppers to check its official social media accounts before participating in any sort of promotion. Ugh, it’s hard to be an impulse shopper these days with all these scammers running amuck, and the deepfakes are only getting more realistic. Meta eventually took action against these ads, but it was too late - hundreds had already been scammed. Shoppers, stay on your toes…
Now for some positive AI news - OpenAI released the GPT store to the public.
This gives ChatGPT plus users access to a ton of customizable chatbots with a foundation of expertise in the necessary areas. Whether you’re conducting research, creating AI-generated images, or writing SEO-optimized content, there’s a bot for that.
Lastly, let's chat about X’s recent drama.
Any company owned by Elon Musk is bound to be… interesting. But why does X keep banning and unbanning a bunch of journalists and podcasters? Elon claimed that they were doing a sweep for spam accounts and accidentally banned a bunch of real ones. But the banned users all seem to have something in common… they openly disagree with Elon’s political views. That’s rich, coming from a guy who has un-banned some truly awful people from Twitter on the basis of ‘free speech’. Sigh…
From an advertising perspective, it’s worth noting that X is now a video-first platform just like TikTok and Reels, with video being a part of 80% of user sessions. They’ve announced a new partnership with Integral Ad Science that will classify all vertical videos for brand safety, so you can feel more secure about running video ads on the platform. With more than 100 million people watching vertical video ads on X daily, it’s worth scaling your TikTok and Reel ads onto X as well.
And that’s this week’s digital Download, darlings. Stay relevant, stay fabulous, and come back next week for more marketing tea.
You know you love me.
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Best Practices for Growing Your Company's TikTok Profile
Aren’t 100% sure how to grow your business account on TikTok?
Don’t fret about it.
The reality?
You can google up and find hundreds of tips for TikTok business growth. But what works best for generating more likes, views, followers, and sales?
We’ve fished out proven TikTok marketing tips used by successful brands. This guide will help you create engaging TikTok content and advertise on TikTok like a pro.
Did you know:
- Every minute, more than 16,000 videos are put up on TikTok!
- TikTok is on the list of social media with the highest ROI, along with Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, as cited by 16% of marketers (Source).
- 60% of TikTok users have visited a brand they noticed on the platform or bought from it immediately (Source).
- On average, videos from TikTok business accounts gather 24K views (Source).
- At least one in ten small businesses has achieved virality on TikTok (Source).
This article breaks down how to make it happen. Stick around to discover the “hows” of conquering TikTok as a business.
Content Creation Tips to Accelerate Your TikTok Account Growth (+ Examples)
After you set up a TikTok business account, it’s time to create compelling content for it. So, let’s find out how to do it.
Produce humorous content
“To lift my spirits.”
That was the top reason for browsing TikTok chosen by users in a study.
Humor remains one of the long-ago-revealed secrets of efficient content creation. In fact, 66% of marketers confirm that funny content works best on social media.
This could be anything like:
- Memes
- Wordplay/puns
- Slapstick comedy
- Amusing pet videos
- Skits
- Satire, etc.
Yet, there’s a bothersome concern among some brands.
Are comical TikToks the right fit for more “serious” brands offering insurance, banking, or other financial services?
Take the answer from Jim Pendergast, Senior Vice President at altLINE Sobanco. He believes, “Comedy and humor are compulsory emotional triggers for building TikTok business profiles in the financial industry, especially among finance brands targeting Generation Z. There’s one basic rule, however, when leveraging humorous content in finance – make it industry-relevant.”
Consider the TikTok content strategies of FinTech companies such as Klarna and Chime. Both share funny videos and memes about personal finance management and add niche hashtags (#FinTok and #MoneyTok).
For example, this funny video by Chime collected over 6K impressions and 4.2M views.
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Teach your audience something valuable.
TikTok is a source for discovering new information for 35% of users.
“Each time you share knowledge and provide value through your content, you grow on TikTok by nurturing leads and building relationships with them,” claims Michael Maximoff, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Belkins. “Educational videos resonate well with the audience and form an invisible but powerful bond between a brand and a potential customer,” he adds.
At Belkins, marketers create helpful B2B content on TikTok: business how-tos, lessons, and tools. For example, one of the company’s rubrics starts with Did You Know, like: Did you know you can cancel an email sent in Gmail, or Did you know that using this opening line can generate 10-15% more B2B traction?
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Hashtag your descriptions wisely
Why bother hashtagging your TikTok videos?
According to Morgan Taylor, Co-Founder of Jolly SEO, “Hashtags are a secret sauce of TikTok SEO. They help optimize your TikTok business profile and increase your video’s discoverability on the platform. TikTok business accounts have a huge field for hashtag experiments because there is a 4,000-character limit for video descriptions.”
Morgan Taylor recommends mixing up niche, related, and trendy hashtags to boost your business’s organic reach on TikTok. Let’s discuss the three types with examples from search engine optimization, aka SEO, as a niche.
- Niche hashtags
A niche hashtag is a specific, targeted search phrase or word. It is aimed at a narrower pool of people from a particular niche.
For example: #seotips, #onpageseo, #backlinks, etc.
Related hashtags
A related hashtag is a word or phrase closely associated with the niche.
For example: #digitalmarketing, #website, #marketingstrategy, etc.
- Trendy hashtags
A trendy hashtag is more popular and competitive, typically unrelated to the niche. It targets a broader audience.
Some trending TikTok hashtags the will drive more views are:
- #fyp
- #duet
- #viralvideo
- #funny
- #humor
- #trending
- #memes, etc.
Understanding the performance of these hashtags through hashtag analytics can provide valuable insights into audience engagement and reach across platforms.
Let’s analyze this TikTok video by Jolly SEO.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659830e4cd53fc2faa08e4c7_jollyseo-659830d3350e4.webp)
They used -
Niche hashtags: #seousa, #linkbuildingtips, and #linkbuilding.
Related hashtag: #marketingtips.
Trendy hashtag: #fyp.
Pro tip → Use a TikTok hashtag generator to copy-paste relevant, related, and trendy hashtags.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65983157c4c0fb95d29bbe58_hashtaggenerator-65983143be1b3.webp)
Pick trendy topics, music, features, and video formats
You can make your brand more visible on TikTok by jumping on the trendy wave and exploring new TikTok trends.
“When creating content for TikTok business profiles, companies should become trend-hunters to improve their chances of going viral on TikTok,” claims Eric Mills, Owner of Lightning Card Collection. He provides an example from the entertainment and gaming industry:
“Pokémon Go once took over the world and immersed users in a new video game universe. Since then, the #pokemongo hashtag gathered 13.8B views on TikTok, and businesses started newsjacking its popularity and creating promotional campaigns with Pokémon characters.”
New trending topics arrive at TikTok’s shore every day. For example, just recently, it was the Barbie movie. The social media site went all pink with the #barbie hashtag (99B views).
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659831e57f2bb0faf38f2aa7_barbie-659831c6a8c22.webp)
Engaging features like trending sounds, filters, and effects are also among the most helpful tactics for TikTok customer acquisition.
Regarding TikTok video types, the most popular are:
- Duet
- Stitch
- Lip-syncing
- Day in the Life
- Prank
- Dance
According to Statista, dance is TikTok’s second most viewed content category (after entertainment) worldwide. It hit 181B hashtag views in 2020.
Pro tip → Track new trending content in the TikTok Creative Center.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65983250b13e0c06792ce414_creativecenter-6598323eb1845.webp)
Leverage holiday-driven giveaways
Do you want to grow your TikTok business profile even faster?
If yes, grab this strategy from Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel, who advises businesses to hold TikTok giveaways during holidays:
“People enjoy contests and seek opportunities to win prizes. This makes giveaways a superb tool to gain more followers on TikTok and maximize your social media presence on this platform.”
And the proof is in the stats. On average, giveaways have a 34% conversion rate and outperform other content types. And 62% of brands take advantage of giveaways to improve brand awareness.
Jerry Han adds, “When you tie giveaways to holidays, you can double your TikTok results. Just make sure to clarify the rules and offer valuable rewards when organizing a TikTok giveaway.” He shares a list of possible giveaway prizes:
- Gift cards
- Gift certificates
- Product boxes
- Limited edition products
- Event tickets
- Monthly or annual subscriptions
- Free shipping, etc.
For example, Ulta Beauty incorporated a Christmas giveaway into their holiday marketing campaign on TikTok.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659832944a6ad4026ba00cb7_holidaygiveaway-65983280d5313.webp)
Their video clearly explains the giveaway rules and teases customers with a $500 Ulta Beauty gift card as a reward.
TikTok Advertising Strategies to Expand Your Reach (+ Examples)
The best way to grow your account is to tap in to advertising. And you can do it effectively with paid ads, influencer campaigns, and Shopify integrations (for Shopify e-stores).
Paid ads
Are TikTok ads worth it?
78% of SMBs report that TikTok advertisements drive profits within six months.
The top five TikTok ad formats are:
- In-Feed Ads
- Spark Ads
- Brand Takeover Ads
- TopView Ads
- Branded Hashtag Challenges and Branded Effects
Look at one of the best TikTok ad examples by Pepsi.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659832f6a1e0a1793c12dd6a_pepsichallenge-659832e1c4126.webp)
It’s a Branded Hashtag Challenge promoted by In-Feed and TopView Ads and enhanced with a duet feature. The campaign resulted in a 4.73 % engagement rate and 3.1B+ video views.
Pro tip → Use Marin + TikTok to grow your business with paid ads on TikTok.
Influencer partnerships
You can’t deny the rise of influencer marketing and its benefits. Brand collaborations with content creators on TikTok drive a 27% higher ad recall and a 91% higher view rate.
Isn’t it an ideal time to develop an influencer marketing strategy for TikTok?
You can collaborate with –
- Mega-influencers: 1M+ followers
- Macro-influencers: 100,000 – 1M followers
- Micro-influencers: 10,000 – 100,000 followers
- Nano-influencers: 1,000 – 10,000 followers (They have the highest average engagement rate of 8%, in contrast to other influencers.)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659833516b55f33e682c13cf_nanoinfluencers-6598333dada1b.webp)
Once you’ve decided to start such a partnership, there’s one more thing to remember. Andrew Pierce, CEO at LLC Attorney, reminds brands about the importance of signing contracts with TikTok content creators. He says, “An influencer agreement is a significant document for the TikTok content creator and the company. It ensures smooth collaboration and protects both parties from possible legal issues. These can be misleading or false advertising, IP rights infringement, the right of publicity violation, etc.”
Shopify Integration
If you run a Shopify business, it’s easy to promote and sell your products with TikTok.
Here’s how to set up TikTok Shopify integration and launch paid marketing campaigns:
- Open your admin page on Shopify.
- Go to Sales Channels and select TikTok.
- Click “Set Up Now”
- Connect your TikTok business account and TikTok Ads Manager.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659833fe8d0c08a4500a262c_shopify.gif)
Voila, you can start selling and advertising on TikTok.
The Founder of Habit Skin, Tai Adaya, shares, “Advertising with TikTok has ‘hockey-sticked’ our growth. Seriously, we can’t stay in stock!” The company is currently on the threshold of 400K followers.
Ready to Grow Your Business on TikTok?
TikTok is a fantastic place to broaden the company’s reach and promote products/services.
With the above strategies, you can now tweak your business presence on TikTok and gain a large and engaged follower base around your brand more quickly and efficiently.
Press “Play” in your TikTok advertising game with Marin. Schedule a demo to see how you can achieve rapid TikTok growth with the power of ad automation.
Harnessing the Power of AI for SEO with Automated Keyword Research
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6585bd2bf94b26a2a28ec463_intentdata-6585bd14111af.webp)
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6585bdfac5b22ff55e00c585_kwdensity-6585bdea8eb10.webp)
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.
Four Ways Marin Helps Agencies Win
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6597048e101e365521386788_budgetpacing-65945526880ac.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/65970792b3692170f31cf708_crosschannelbudget-6594558101a37.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6597069ed4f752baf0e9c900_dashboard-659455e017b69.webp)
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.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/659708a545a286d3978f0ae3_bulkupload-65945632a841f.png)
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.
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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!
How Online Retailers are Transforming the Customer Experience with Conversational Commerce
Did you know — in 1969 Two electrical engineering students from Columbus, Ohio, launched CompuServe, which became the country's first-ever commercial online service.
Yes, that’s how online retail started.
In 2023, online retail has evolved into a seamless, personalized shopping experience, integrating advanced technologies like AI, AR, and conversational AI, transforming the way consumers browse, purchase, and interact with brands.
The e-commerce landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. Gone are the days when you only had to worry about getting a domain and opening your online store.
Now we have to worry about privacy, SSL certificates, customer engagement, and much more. We are in an era that requires the fusion of technology and customer engagement.
Welcome to the era of 'Conversational Commerce,' where online retailers are reshaping how we shop and interact.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the exciting realm where artificial intelligence, conversational e-commerce trends, and brand examples converge to redefine the customer journey.
What is Conversational commerce and how does it work?
The modern digital consumer wants the same level of personalized and timely customer service that brick-and-mortar shops used to give them. Conversational commerce can help you give your customers what they want while online shopping.
It refers to the intersection of messaging apps, chatbots, and artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate online interactions between businesses and customers. With the help of conversational interfaces such as chatbots or virtual assistants, you can engage with customers in real-time with conversational AI and provide them with personalized assistance throughout the buying journey.
For example, Burberry, a luxury fashion brand, integrated a chatbot on its website to assist customers with product inquiries, styling advice, and locating nearby stores. The chatbot contributed to a 60% increase in online sales and improved customer engagement.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6584a15750749f022a85957e_2burb-6584a1475e309.webp)
Stats suggest that 44% of consumers have used chatbots. Almost 50% of them are open to purchasing items during their interaction with the chatbot.
This means Conversational commerce is the gateway to getting more engaged consumers. Now, it’s time to understand how conversational commerce works:
1. Customer Initiation: The process typically begins when a customer initiates a conversation with a business through a messaging app or chat interface. This can be done by visiting a business's website and clicking on a chat widget or by sending a message to the business's official messaging account.
2. Chatbot Engagement: Upon initiation, a chatbot or virtual assistant takes over the conversation. These AI-powered bots are designed to understand customer inquiries, provide information, answer questions, and guide customers through various tasks.
3. Product Discovery: Customers can inquire about products or services, check prices, view product details, and even receive personalized product recommendations based on their preferences and past interactions.
4. Ordering and Purchasing: Customers can place orders and make purchases directly within the chat conversation. Payment processing and order confirmation can also be handled seamlessly through integrated payment gateways.
5. Customer Support: Businesses can offer customer support through chatbots, addressing common issues, troubleshooting problems, and providing assistance with order tracking, returns, and exchanges. In more complex cases, the chatbot can escalate the conversation to a human customer support agent.
6. Integration with Other Systems: Conversational commerce platforms often integrate with the business's backend systems, such as inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), and e-commerce platforms, to ensure accurate and up-to-date information.
How Retail Companies are using AI
Retail companies are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve various aspects of their operations and customer experiences. According to PwC, customers are willing to pay up to 16% more for products if they receive exceptional customer service.
Who doesn’t love money? It’s useful to understand how online retailers are using conversational commerce trends in their business.
1. Personalized Shopping Experiences: This is a no-brainer. AI is used to analyze customer data and shopping behavior to create highly personalized shopping experiences. This includes personalized product recommendations, tailored marketing messages, and customized website or app interfaces.
For instance, eBay employs conversational commerce through their eBay ShopBot, accessible on Facebook Messenger. Users initiate a conversation with the bot, describing what they're looking for, such as "women's running shoes."
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6584a2a6cedebe5b3ff0badc_ebaybot-6584a288e4c12.webp)
The bot responds with personalized product suggestions, considering factors like brand, size, and price range. This seamless transition from conversation to purchase creates a highly personalized and convenient shopping experience.
2. Inventory Management: AI helps retailers optimize their inventory levels by predicting demand, monitoring stock levels in real-time, and automating restocking processes. This reduces overstock and understock issues, leading to cost savings and improved customer satisfaction.
Consider Walmart, which utilizes an internal chatbot system that connects store associates with real-time inventory data. If a store manager needs to check the availability of a specific product, they can simply message the chatbot with the item's details. The chatbot retrieves the inventory status across multiple store locations and the distribution center, enabling quick decisions on restocking, inventory transfers, or order fulfillment.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6584a34912daf2daaf26aac4_asksam-6584a336947d5.webp)
3. Pricing Optimization: AI algorithms analyze market conditions, competitor pricing, and customer demand to dynamically adjust pricing in real-time. This pricing strategy maximizes profits and ensures competitiveness.
For instance, if a customer inquires about a high-demand item, the chatbot may offer a slightly higher price. Conversely, if a customer shows hesitance or shops around, the chatbot might present a discounted rate to incentivize the purchase.
This real-time pricing strategy helps Amazon maximize revenue while ensuring competitive prices, ultimately delivering a tailored pricing experience to each customer and enhancing overall profitability.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6584a3cbf1600bb3337d6f3b_priceoptimization-6584a3b418723.webp)
4. Visual Search: Visual search technology allows customers to search for products using images rather than text. AI analyzes images to identify and recommend similar products, making it easier for customers to find what they're looking for.
Pinterest allows chatbot users to upload or describe a product image, and the bot then provides visually similar items from various retailers.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/60ffbc3a211dee2c1a74db99/6585dbd810e0442f87534ec7_visualsearch-6584a4433c0da.webp)
For instance, a user might send a picture of a stylish outfit they found online. The chatbot identifies the clothing items and accessories in the image, displaying links to similar items available for purchase on various e-commerce websites.
5. Predictive Analytics: Retailers use AI to analyze historical sales data, market trends, and other factors to make predictions about future sales, demand, and customer behavior. This helps with inventory planning, marketing strategies, and overall business decision-making.
Imagine a scenario where a cybersecurity-focused online retailer employs chatbots to assist customers in selecting the right security software. The chatbot could engage with customers, asking questions about their specific needs and concerns, such as the size of their business, the type of data they handle, and their budget.
Conversational commerce evaluates AI-driven messaging platforms to create highly personalized and responsive customer interactions. These tools can understand customer preferences, provide tailored product recommendations, answer inquiries instantly, and even assist with purchase decisions.
For example, Sephora uses chatbots to assist customers in finding the right beauty products and providing makeup tips. They also offer a virtual try-on feature for makeup products. They use live one-to-one video shopping that helps them stay close to their customers.
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Secondly, conversational commerce offers unparalleled convenience. Shoppers can make purchases, track orders, and resolve issues without leaving their preferred messaging apps or websites, eliminating the need to navigate through complex e-commerce product descriptions or make phone calls.
The Role of Social Media in Conversational Commerce
We all know that social media platforms offer a direct and convenient channel for businesses to interact with their customers. With the integration of chatbots and messaging applications, brands can engage in real-time conversations with users, providing immediate responses to inquiries, assisting with purchases, and offering personalized product recommendations. This instant and convenient communication fosters a sense of connection and trust between the brand and the consumer, ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.
For instance, the online fashion retailer ASOS utilizes social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to engage with its customers. Through direct messaging and chatbots, customers can inquire about product availability, sizing, and even place orders. ASOS also leverages user-generated content by encouraging customers to share photos and reviews, creating a sense of community and trust.
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Last but not least, we can't forget the role of influencer marketing.
According to a survey by Influencive, 69% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if it's recommended by someone they follow on social media.
Influencer marketing leverages the trust and authority of influencers to promote products and services through authentic conversations. This approach fosters genuine engagement, boosts brand credibility, and encourages seamless customer interactions and transactions.
Conversational commerce enhances influencer marketing by allowing influencers to engage directly with their followers, answer questions, and provide recommendations about products or services in real time.
Conclusion
In the dynamic landscape of e-commerce, online retailers are at the forefront of reshaping the customer experience through conversational commerce.
This revolution, driven by AI-powered chatbots, one-click purchases, and real-time engagement, empowers brands to create deeper connections and drive unprecedented growth in the digital marketplace.
Ready to take your e-commerce strategy to the next level? Contact us to learn more!
7 Ways Digital Marketers Are Using AI to Save Time and Boost Campaign Performance
To succeed in the digital age, businesses need effective marketing strategies to reach their audience. But, it's challenging to grab attention when the average person sees 4,000 - 10,000 ads daily.
That's why lots of marketers use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their campaigns.
Experts estimated the market for AI in marketing at 15.84 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The Insight Partners project this value will surge to over 107.5 billion by 2028. With over 80 percent of industry experts already integrating AI into their online marketing activities, it’s clear these technologies provide a powerful advantage.
So, how exactly is AI transforming marketing campaign performance?
In this post, we’ll explore 7 ways digital marketers use AI to save time and boost results. From predictive analysis to AI-powered chatbots, we’ll uncover the most impactful applications of AI in marketing.
The Key Benefits of Leveraging AI in Marketing
AI-driven optimization can give marketing campaigns a powerful advantage. Here are some key ways:
- Enhanced Efficiency. AI is great at doing repetitive tasks, so marketers can focus on being creative.
- Personalization at Scale. AI makes personalization scalable, enabling individualized marketing to a mass audience.
- Data Analytics. AI's data analysis predicts consumer behavior, targeting accurately and reducing wasted effort.
- Real-Time Adjustments. AI algorithms can make real-time adjustments to campaign parameters to maximize impact and ROI.
- Richer Customer Insights. Deep learning improves marketing strategies by understanding customer patterns and preferences.
- Cost Reduction. AI reduces customer acquisition and marketing costs by optimizing resource allocation.
- Improved ROI. All the benefits mentioned above help increase profits by improving return on investment.
Maximizing Campaign Success with AI
It's not surprising that AI is widely used in marketing. It automates tasks, personalizes campaigns, and analyzes data to find useful information. Let's look at 7 ways digital marketers use AI in their daily workflows.
1. Predictive Analytics for Precise Targeting
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Predictive analysis uses AI to improve marketing campaigns by targeting audiences effectively.
Even though many big companies use predictive analytics, most marketing executives still struggle with data-driven decision-making. A Wakefield Research for Pecan study in 2022 found that 95% of B2C companies with revenues over $100M use AI-powered predictive analytics in their marketing strategies. 84% equate their predictive efforts to guesswork, underscoring the need for more refined use of AI tools.
Here’s how marketers can overcome this challenge and harness predictive analytics:
- Gather Comprehensive Data. Start with a robust data set. Use tools like Salesforce or HubSpot to collect and integrate customer data from various touch-points.
- Identify Consumer Patterns. Use software like SAS or SPSS to analyze customer behavior and preferences.
- Forecast Future Trends. Use predictive platforms' forecasting tools to project future customer preferences and market demands.
- Refine Ad Placement. Integrate predictive insights with programmatic advertising platforms to ensure ad targeting is spot-on, placing ads in the optimal digital spaces.
- Personalize Customer Interactions. Use AI to customize the customer experience. Marketo and similar platforms can customize content to match an individual's interests and previous interactions.
By following these steps, marketers can go from feeling unsure about their ability to predict results to running confident campaigns supported by data. An athletic wear brand, for instance, can use these methods to predict upcoming fashion trends, leading to ad placement that capitalizes on these forecasts for summer favorites.
By refining their approach with AI tools, marketers can craft targeted and resonant campaigns, turning predictive analysis into a cornerstone of modern marketing efforts.
2. Personalized Customer Experiences
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Modern marketing strategies focus on creating personalized customer experiences driven by AI technology.
Brands can use AI to understand the customer journey better. They are able to improve interactions and engage customers more effectively, increasing conversion rates. AI-powered marketing understands and predicts what customers want, leading to deeper connections.
The data backs up the effectiveness of AI in personalization. According to Twilio Segment's research, 56% of consumers who have personalized experiences tend to become repeat buyers. This statistic shows a 7% increase in loyalty due to AI personalization efforts year over year.
Here are some of the most effective tips for leveraging AI to create personalized experiences:
- Deploy AI for Comprehensive Customer Insights. Use Google Analytics to track customer behavior and create a detailed customer journey map. A journey map contributes to a better understanding of the purchase paths and identifying key engagement points.
- Enhance Engagement with Sentiment Analysis. Improve customer engagement by analyzing feedback and social media using tools like IBM Watson. These tools can help tailor communications based on emotional insights.
- Personalize in Real-Time with AI. Incorporate platforms like Adobe Experience Manager, which uses AI to adapt content and offers in real-time, responding quickly to customer behavior and trends.
Marketers can use these tools and strategies to create personalized experiences that resonate with customers and build loyalty.
3. Chatbots for Improved Customer Service
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AI-powered chatbots serve two key functions for brands.
First, they provide 24/7 automated customer service. Chatbots use natural language processing to grasp requests. They then give quick, personalized answers and support.
Chatbots identify frequently asked questions, pain points, and areas for improvement. This lightens human workloads so agents can handle complex issues.
At the same time, AI chatbots increase customer satisfaction. Their rapid response times and reliable omnichannel availability build loyalty. With chatbots, brands maximize productivity while delivering exceptional experiences.
For example, after adding an AI chatbot, Pricefx saw a 400% rise in website engagement. It facilitated sales meeting bookings, raising bookings made via the website by 17%. The chatbot had personalized conversations and suggested relevant content using visitor data and interactions. It proved to be a powerful tool for advertising campaigns and customer interaction.
4. AI-Driven Advertising for Higher ROI
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AI-powered programmatic advertising is cost-effective and allows real-time performance measurement. According to Techint Labs, a leading digital marketing agency, this dynamic approach to advertising ensures that budgets are spent wisely and ad performance is continually optimized.
AI is a powerful tool for improving advertising campaigns and targeting the right audience for each ad. Marketers can use data to position their brand in the spotlight by using performance metrics and ad targeting.
For a glimpse into the future of advertising, look no further than MarinOne This AI-powered platform makes managing ad campaigns easier by providing automated recommendations to improve performance, automating budget allocation, and much more. MarinOne uses advanced algorithms to automate bidding, adjust ad spend costs, and increase ROI across channels.
5. Content Generation and Optimization
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Capterra's 2022 study shows that almost half of marketers spend half of their workweek on content creation. Additionally, over a third of marketers invest three-quarters of their time in this area.
Despite the heavy time investment, only 33% of marketers harness AI marketing tools for content generation. There is a big opportunity for marketing solutions that can make marketing easier and match search trends to user behavior.
AI is changing how SEO content is made. It uses natural language processing to understand and predict search trends. AI tools help to create content that appeals to the target audience and performs well in search rankings. AI platforms can study popular content online and recommend topics, keywords, and structures that can boost visibility and interaction.
Maximize your content strategy with AI by focusing on these five key improvements:
- Topic Discovery. Use AI to stay ahead of the curve with tools like BuzzSumo or Google Trends, which identify search trends and user behavior for hot topics.
- SEO Enhancement. Boost your search rankings by using AI tools like SEMrush or Yoast SEO. These tools recommend optimal keywords and content structure.
- Content Structuring. To make your content impactful, use Clearscope or MarketMuse. They provide data-driven frameworks that resonate with audiences.
- Performance Analysis. Use AI analytics tools like Ahrefs or Moz to track content performance and improve strategies.
- Automated Personalization. Use AI platforms like OneSpot or Pardot to create custom experiences for customers. Improve engagement with personalized content.
6. Email Marketing Automation
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Email marketing remains vital to robust marketing strategies. Integrating AI boosts effectiveness by automating personalization, segmentation, and timing. All these aspects of email marketing are integral for engaging customers.
AI analyzes customer data to segment lists and personalize messages. This makes each email feel like a one-on-one conversation, driving engagement and satisfaction.
The Benefits of Using AI in Email Marketing:
- Smarter Ad Targeting. AI can find the right audience for your ads and make sure they reach the people most likely to engage.
- Relevant Content Creation. It determines what content resonates best with your audience, ensuring higher engagement.
- Optimal Timing. AI predicts the best times to send emails, increasing their chances of being read.
- Better Customer Segmentation. AI excels at audience segmentation, making email marketing more personalized and effective.
- Enhanced Campaign Performance. AI-driven strategies boost the overall effectiveness of your email campaigns.
- Higher ROI. All these factors contribute to a better return on investment for your email marketing efforts.
7. AI-Driven Analytics and Reporting
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AI revolutionizes marketing analytics by automating data collection and interpretation. Quick data refinement enables marketers to swiftly identify successful campaign elements and areas for improvement. AI tools generate insights for reporting, making strategic decisions more efficient and less prone to error.
An example of cutting-edge AI in action is Marin’s Ascend. Ascend is an advanced AI tool that makes campaign management easier by providing automated analytics and reporting. Ascend's platform uses AI and analytics to improve bids, predict performance, and offer insights on marketing campaigns.
Final Thoughts
AI marketing tools are booming globally. According to Statista, global corporate AI investment in 2022 was $92 billion, six times higher than in 2016. These massive investments underscore the explosive growth and critical role of AI development.
As discussed, AI significantly improves marketing performance through:
- Efficiency. Automate and streamline tasks to save time.
- Personalization. Deliver tailored content at scale.
- Predictive Analytics. Forecast consumer behavior and trends using historical data and machine learning.
- Real-Time Optimization. Adjust campaigns as they run for better results.
- Insights. Dive deep into data for smarter decision-making.
- Cost Savings. Allocate your marketing budget more effectively.
- Boosted ROI. Turn insights into action for higher returns.
Ready to revolutionize your marketing? Don’t let the AI wave pass you by.
Try out some AI advancements we’ve discussed and watch your campaigns thrive. It’s time to get ahead—start small if you must, but start today. Your campaigns and customers will notice the difference!
How Performance Marketers Can Create Stunning Data Visualizations: A Step-by-Step Guide
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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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.
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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.
Understanding the Different Social Media Platforms: Which One Fits Your Business?
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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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.
The Impact of Retail Media Networks on Consumer Behavior
Retail media networks have revolutionized the way brands advertise to consumers, but what impact do they have on consumer behavior? In this blog post, we'll explore the ways retail media networks influence consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. From targeted advertising to personalized recommendations, we'll examine the key factors driving consumer behavior in the age of retail media networks.
How retail media networks are changing the way consumers shop
Retail businesses should always be aware of how their customers respond to different business decisions and how they can adjust their offerings to serve them better. Here are some ways retail media networks have influenced the way customers shop in-store and online.
Customers are looking for product recommendations and information on multiple channels before making a purchase
Internet forums and social media have made it easier than ever for customers to find information about products that they intend to purchase. First-party information (directly from the business where they want to shop) can be viewed as less trustworthy than reviews and unbiased opinions found online.
Recent research shows that over half of shoppers read between 3 and 5 reviews about a business before making a purchase with them. Retail media networks have encouraged customers to look for these reviews more actively. Businesses can increase customer trust in their brand by encouraging past buyers to post unbiased reviews on their own sales channels.
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Abandoned carts become a less likely outcome with highly targeted advertising
Abandoned carts are a common problem for e-commerce businesses, leading to lost sales and revenue. However, highly targeted advertising can help reduce the likelihood of abandoned carts by reaching the right customers at the right time with personalized messaging.
By using data insights and segmentation analysis to understand consumer behavior and preferences, e-commerce businesses can tailor their advertising messaging to match specific customer needs and desires. This helps build a stronger connection between the customer and the product, making it more likely that they will complete their purchase.
Highly targeted advertising can help drive revenue growth for e-commerce businesses, reducing the occurrence of abandoned carts and improving overall conversion rates.
Increased regulatory focus on data privacy makes retail media networks using first-party data more trustworthy
Data privacy is becoming an increasingly important issue for modern customers. In a recent survey, 84% of respondents said that data privacy is a human right and a similar number of respondents said that they should have full control over any data a company might have about them.
The increased regulatory focus has forced companies to plan for a future without third-party cookies. Businesses now have to find new ways to gather information about their customers. This makes retail media networks seem more trustworthy in the minds of their customers since they always know how the business got their data and how it is being used.
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Customers demand more personalization from businesses when they shop
Customers today place a significant emphasis on personalization when they shop. Retail media networks provide businesses with a platform to deliver targeted advertisements and content to customers based on their browsing and purchasing behavior.
Businesses can show personalized offers, promotions, and recommendations to customers, enhancing their overall shopping experience simply by leveraging the retail media networks that they own. This not only drives customer engagement and loyalty but also increases the chances of conversion and repeat purchases.
The power of personalization: How retail media networks influence purchasing decisions
Personalization is increasingly becoming a necessity for modern retailers. As customers choose more personalized shopping experiences, retailers can use retail media networks to deliver these experiences to every customer. Here’s how:
Targeted advertising
The modern shopper receives a staggering amount of information in a day. Advertisements have become more pervasive and can cause a customer to simply disregard any advertisement they see. Businesses are under significant pressure to cut through the noise and make customers take notice of what they have to say.
Retail media networks allow businesses to gather information about what customers might be interested in and deliver advertisements that are more aligned with their needs, rather than adopting a spray-and-pray approach to digital advertising.
Pro tip: Use the data your network provides to customize shopping feeds when customers first visit your site, and show advertisements for products they might already be interested in, increasing the chance they’ll pay attention.
Personalized recommendations
Customers always give businesses some indication of what they might need or want through their browsing activity or past purchases. On third-party shopping channels, this information is often closely guarded and rarely shared with brands unless it directly involves their own products.
Retail media networks allow companies to gather more granular information about what products a customer is thinking about, how long they research it, and what purchases they made in the past. This can help businesses deliver personalized recommendations to customers who might be primed to make a purchase in the near future.
Pro tip: Once a customer makes a purchase or indicates an interest in an item, you can use that information to recommend products that are similar or complementary to the item they want to purchase to create opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.
Dynamic pricing and promotions
Sometimes, customers need a little nudge before they decide to make a purchase. While brands can plan promotions around festive periods and times of high shopping activities, retail media networks allow businesses to take more control over these promotions.
Pro tip: Observe how airlines often employ dynamic pricing strategies to maximize sales. You can use your retail media networks to do the same with individual customer profiles and customer-level browsing and shopping data.
Influencer marketing
Retail media networks provide opportunities for businesses to collaborate with influencers and leverage their audiences to influence purchasing decisions. When businesses partner with influencers who align with their brand and target audience, they can effectively reach and engage customers with authentic and trusted content.
Influencer marketing within retail media networks helps businesses build brand awareness, boost credibility, and drive conversions by leveraging the influencer's authority and the trust they’ve established with their followers.
Seamless integration of online and offline shopping channels
Online shopping has split customer preferences and a recent survey indicated that 55.6% of customers prefer online shopping while the rest prefer shopping at a physical store. Retail media networks give businesses complete control over their customers’ shopping experience. This allows them to ensure that marketing messages are consistent regardless of how customers choose to engage with the brand.
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The future of retail media networks and their impact on consumer behavior
Amazon, Walmart, and Home Depot have all embraced retail media networks as a key component of their advertising and marketing strategies. These three major retailers have significant online and offline footprints, and leveraging retail media networks has allowed them to effectively reach their target audiences and drive sales across various channels. Amazon, for example, has built an extremely successful retail media network through its Amazon Advertising platform. Likewise, Walmart has been expanding its retail media network, Walmart Connect, which offers advertisers access to Walmart's vast customer base both in stores and online. Home Depot has also been making significant strides in retail media advertising with its in-house platform known as "The Home Depot Pro." The platform allows advertisers to reach the retail giant's professional customers through targeted display and video ads.
As retail media networks continue to evolve, they will continue to influence consumer behavior in a variety of ways. First, businesses will increasingly rely on effective conversion tracking to ensure their marketing spend is distributed optimally. With access to detailed data insights provided by retail media networks, businesses can monitor the performance of their campaigns and track the customer journey from ad exposure to conversion. This allows them to analyze the effectiveness of different marketing strategies, channels, and messaging and make data-driven decisions to optimize their campaigns and allocate their marketing budgets more effectively.
Furthermore, retail media networks provide retailers with access to more in-depth data about their customers and their preferences. Through the collection and analysis of customer data, retailers can gain valuable insights into customer demographics, behaviors, and preferences. Unlike the allocation of marketing resources, this data can help to directly increase sales once customers have indicated interest in any of your products.
The availability of such comprehensive customer data through retail media networks empowers retailers to make more informed decisions, enhance their marketing efforts, and ultimately influence customer behavior in a more targeted and effective manner.
MarinOne gives marketers the ability to use the information they gather from their retail media networks and apply it to their omnichannel communications. As customers spend more time across multiple social media platforms and websites, businesses need to be more careful about how they spend marketing dollars across each of these channels.
To get started today, schedule a demo with one of our MarinOne experts.
How to Use the Facebook Ad Library for Competitive Analysis
Competitive advantages in today's marketplace hinge on staying ahead of your rivals. One way to stay ahead when it comes to social media advertising? The Facebook Ad Library, a resource rich in information, empowers you to analyze and discern your competitors' advertising strategies on Facebook.
Offering a transparent view of ads running across Facebook's platforms, the Facebook Ad Library operates like a comprehensive, public catalog of ads. It reveals what your competitors are marketing and their tactics. Studying their ads equips you with insights into their strategies and messaging.
More than just a means to observe competitors' work, the Facebook Ad Library serves as an educational instrument. It exposes you to varying advertising styles and methods, generating ideas and inspiration for your campaigns. The library, be you an experienced marketer or a novice, is a valuable resource to steer your advertising pursuits.
Competitive analysis is necessary because it reveals what is effective in your industry and what isn't. It positions you in the market and hints at areas for improvement. Learning from others' triumphs and missteps, you can craft informed decisions and fortify your own advertising campaigns.
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Understanding the Facebook Ad Library
The Facebook Ad Library is a free, searchable database that includes all active ads running across Facebook's various platforms, such as Instagram and Messenger. The tool allows users to view an ad's details, including its start date, performance metrics, and audience demographics. This information is invaluable for competitive analysis.
Exploring the Features of the Facebook Ad Library
The Facebook Ad Library stands out due to its searchability. Users can look up ads by the page running them or by keywords, making it easy to track specific competitors or industry trends.
How to Access the Facebook Ad Library
Accessing the Facebook Ad Library is straightforward. Users don't need a Facebook account. They can visit the Facebook Ad Library website and start their search. By typing in the name of the page or the keywords related to the ads they want to study, users can quickly locate all active ads relevant to their search.
A plethora of information for competitive evaluations can be obtained from the Facebook Ad Library. The subsequent sections will guide you on interpreting and applying this data to your marketing strategies.
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Best Practices for Leveraging the Facebook Ad Library
Recognizing Competitors
The foundation of your analysis is a thorough understanding of your competitors. Begin by organizing a list of direct competitors - those offering similar products or services within your market. Keep a watchful eye on emerging brands, as they might develop into substantial competitors. Use industry reports, customer feedback, and search engine results to pinpoint your competition. Remember, a competitor isn't only a business operating in your region or city; it could also be one targeting your audience from afar.
Establishing Objectives
Now that you've identified your competitors, it's time to decide what you want to learn from this analysis. Are you trying to comprehend how competitors position their products? Or are you curious about their targeting strategy?
Setting your objectives will give direction to your analysis. For example, if you want to learn the language your competitors use in their ads, focus on the ad's text, headline, and description. If you're interested in their audience, pay attention to the demographics information provided by the tool. Well-defined objectives will steer your analysis, helping you glean the most valuable insights.
Competitive Analysis
Identifying your competitors and setting clear objectives is only the beginning. Now, it's time to delve into the data provided by the Facebook Ad Library. This process involves studying the competition and collecting valuable insights to improve your advertising strategy.
Ad Creatives Analysis
Start by inspecting your competitors' ad creatives. Consider their visuals: are they using photos, videos, or both? What emotions do these visuals stir? Pay attention to their color usage and overall design aesthetic. Look for any recurring themes or elements.
Then, shift your focus to the ad text. What is the manner in which they interact with their prospects and customers? Do they opt for a formal tone or a conversational one? How do they present their calls to action? Make a note of any keywords or phrases they frequently use.
Ad Spend and Frequency Evaluation
After analyzing the ad creatives, move on to the ad spend and frequency. The Facebook Ad Library provides a rough estimate of your competitors' campaign budgets. This data can guide you in setting a realistic budget for your campaigns.
The library also shows the frequency of your competitors' ads—how often a single user sees a specific ad. A high frequency indicates a narrower audience target or a larger ad budget. Comparing your ad frequency to your competitors' allows you to optimize your ad spend and frequency for improved results.
Optimizing with Insights
Let's discuss how you can use your competitive analysis to refine your Facebook advertising strategy. The key is in smart application, not imitation. Understand that what works for your competitors might not work for you due to factors like audience differences, brand image, and company values.
Start by examining the themes and elements in your competitors' ads. Instead of copying them, think about how you can incorporate these themes into your ads. Maybe you noticed a trend for minimalistic designs or a preference for humor in the ad copy. Experiment with these elements while maintaining your brand's voice and image.
Then, analyze the ad spend and frequency data. Are your competitors investing more in their campaigns? If they're achieving better results with a similar product, consider raising your budget. But, make sure any increase in spend corresponds to a potential return on investment. Also, look at the frequency of their ads. If they're showing their ads more often, try a higher ad frequency to see if it improves engagement and conversions.
Lastly, observe the demographics of your competitors' target audiences. If they're reaching a demographic you're not, think about including these groups in your audience targeting. Experimenting with these different versions might enable you to engage a broader demographic and uncover untapped markets.
Closing Thoughts
Taking advantage of your newfound knowledge of the Facebook Ad Library can reshape your advertising strategy. The present moment is the best time to examine competitors and identify strategies that transform audiences into customers. Keep in mind, it's not about copying but creating and converting insights into a unique advantage for your brand. So, jump into the Facebook Ad Library. Your ads will appreciate it!
To learn about how MarinOne can help you get the most out of your social ad campaigns, start a free trial HERE.
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) to Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns: The Evolution and Benefits
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) are an advanced ad format that uses website content to craft ad headlines and landing pages. These automatically generated ads align with user searches related to the website, resulting in efficient ad creation and increased relevance and coverage.
In contrast, Performance Max (PMax) campaigns have only recently started to make an impact compared to DSA. Unlike DSAs focused on Search Network, PMax strategies distribute ads across the Google network, including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover. This broader reach enables more conversion opportunities.
Despite advertisers being able to provide multiple assets for the new placement, by developing ad assets, like images and headlines, the lack of actual placement control is what most marketers are concerned about.
Understanding Dynamic Search Ads
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) have transformed how advertisers reach their target audience. By scanning website content to ascertain the relevance of each page to different search queries, DSAs deliver targeted ads to match user searches. This tactic helps drive higher click-through rates and conversions.
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DSA Campaigns: A New Advertising Approach
With the ability to harness queries not covered by keywords in Advertiser’s accounts, DSAs offer valuable insights into user behavior. These insights assist in refining Pay-Per-Click campaigns, leading to better ad performance and increased return on investment.
Targeting with Precision
DSAs offer the flexibility to target specific categories on a website. This ensures ads align with user searches, allowing businesses to concentrate their advertising efforts on high-value categories, leading to more efficient use of their budget.
Keyword Concepts Discovery through DSAs
By analyzing search queries that triggered the DSAs, advertisers can identify new keywords for other campaigns. This strategy helps in expanding campaign reach and capturing more customers.
Overall DSAs have become a critical tool for advertisers, enabling them to reach their target audience more effectively and achieve improved ad performance and higher ROI. Despite the rise of PMax campaigns, the value of DSAs remains high.
Embracing PMax Campaigns
The world of digital advertising is witnessing a shift in the performance of Dynamic Search Ads. DSAs, despite offering value,are likely to be phased out by Google and incorporated into Performance Max campaigns. Advertisers are encouraged to favor PMax for its broader reach and increased number of ad assets.
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Challenges with DSA Performance
DSAs, once successful, are now experiencing a performance dip. They efficiently delivered targeted ads but lacked additional control. The automated ad creation process, based on website content and user searches, left little room for advertisers to shape the ad content, becoming a major limitation.
Advantages of PMax Campaigns
PMax campaigns are emerging as an alternative to DSAs. PMax campaigns distribute ads across various Google networks, including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, etc. This broad reach opens up more opportunities for conversions. Additionally, PMax campaigns allow advertisers to participate in the ad creation process by providing multiple assets not available on DSAs (Videos & images for example).
Transitioning to PMax Campaigns
Transitioning from DSAs to PMax campaigns presents challenges. PMax campaigns, while providing more assets and reach, demand active involvement from advertisers. This includes developing ad assets like images and headlines. This process can be time-consuming and requires understanding the various Google networks and their audiences.
Considerations in the Transition
Switching from DSAs to PMax campaigns involves trade-offs. Advertisers may lose some automation benefits DSAs offer, like automatic ad creation based on website content and user searches. However, the increased ad assets provided can lead to more strategic ad placement and improved performance. The ability to distribute ads across multiple Google networks broadens reach, increasing conversion opportunities. While the transition involves compromises, the advantages of PMax campaigns often surpass the hurdles.
Control Shifts in Advertising Campaigns
Transitioning from Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns also involves a shift in control and a decrease in automation. DSAs, which auto-create ads based on website content, offer a passive role for advertisers but limit ad shaping options.
PMax campaigns, however, provide more Ad Assets like images and headlines, giving advertisers more control over the final product for strategic ad placement and improved performance. However, the actual ads shown are out of the advertiser's control.
The shift to PMax reduces automation, requiring more advertiser involvement in ad creation for different Google networks. While this demands more effort, it offers more targeted and effective advertising opportunities.
Microsoft Rolls Out Performance Max
Microsoft's Dynamic Search Ads
Microsoft, like Google, provides a Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) option for advertisers. Microsoft's DSAs analyze your website content and generate ads aligning with user queries, a function that Google's DSAs also perform. This automated process allows advertisers to deliver targeted ads efficiently, thus enhancing their campaign relevance and coverage.
Furthermore, DSAs in Microsoft Advertising offer category targeting, letting advertisers direct their efforts towards specific website sections. This feature guarantees ads match user searches, enabling businesses to focus their advertising on high-value categories and optimize their budget usage.
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Parallels with Google
Many similarities exist between Microsoft's and Google's DSA solution. Both platforms generate ads from website content, provide category targeting, and utilize user searches for ad creation. These commonalities make the switch from Google's DSA to Microsoft's DSA smooth for advertisers.
It's noteworthy that Microsoft often follows Google's lead in advertising solutions. This pattern suggests that Microsoft might introduce a Performance Max (PMax) campaign equivalent in the future, reflecting Google's move towards giving advertisers greater control over their ad assets.
If this change happens, advertisers using Microsoft's DSA will need to adjust their approach to reap the benefits of PMax campaigns. These benefits may include greater control over ad assets, increased reach across multiple networks, and more conversion opportunities. Despite the transition requiring a more hands-on approach to ad creation, the improved performance and higher return on investment could make this shift beneficial for many advertisers.
The Marin Software Point of View
Proactively Transition to PMax
Though Google hasn't officially recommended moving from Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, the team here at Marin Software advocates for a proactive shift. PMax campaigns' popularity and advantages make them a promising addition to your advertising tactics. The broad reach of PMax across multiple Google networks and the enhanced control over ad assets can improve ad performance and increase return on investment.
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Growth Through PMax Testing
Advertisers should begin experimenting with PMax campaigns alongside existing DSA campaigns. This strategy lets you compare performance and make data-driven decisions. Running a few DSAs in PMax offers insights into this new campaign type’s advantages and challenges. It's crucial to monitor results, adapting strategies accordingly.
We are also encouraging advertisers to maintain their DSAs, particularly on Microsoft, while testing PMax campaigns. Microsoft's DSA solution, similar to Google's, remains a valuable tool in your advertising toolkit. Keeping DSAs active while testing PMax ensures you still benefit from DSAs.
Furthermore, advertisers should continue using exclusion URLs in their campaigns. Exclusion URLs stop your ads from appearing for specific website pages. This proves especially useful in PMax campaigns, where you can control ad assets more. Excluding irrelevant or low-performing pages lets you concentrate your advertising on high-value areas, optimizing ad targeting and enhancing campaign performance.
Adapting to Future Advertising Campaigns
If your team needs a hand on optimizing your ads across networks and strategies, the Marin team is here to help. Our MarinOne platform helps advertisers maximize ROI and ROAS across channels, making A/B testing and new ideas not only simple, but easy to implement and evaluate. To learn more about Marin Software or MarinOne, contact us here.
Cookie Deprecation in 2024: What Marketers Need to Know
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.