Technology News and Industry Knowledge

Contrasting with digital rivals, the company’s ad sales segment posted healthy gains in Q2 as brands took a more results-oriented approach. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/amazon-Prime-ads-efficient-earnings-retail-media/628431/

For its first TV spots, the baby brand embraces authenticity with the same colorful, no-nonsense approach of products like NoseFrida the SnotSucker. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/campaign-trail-frida-baby-user-reviews-messy-parenthood/628338/

The brewer wants to make outside relaxation a little more comfortable with a 3D-printed bug trap. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/coors-light-thirst-trap-beer-molson/628427/

To promote the collaboration with makeup brand Winky Lux, the restaurant chain released an original song and music video titled "Taste My Face." source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/applebees-lip-gloss-music-video/628385/

What you’re about to read is not actually from me. It’s a compilation of PPC-specific lessons learned by those who actually do the work every day in this age of machine learning automation. Before diving in, a few notes: These are “lessons already learned.” Things change (the platforms giveth, taketh, and sometimes just plain change the way campaigns need to be managed). Below are a mix of strategic, tactical, and “mindset-approach” based lessons. Lesson 1: Volume is critical to an automated strategy It’s simple, a machine cannot optimize toward a goal if there isn’t enough data to find patterns. For example, Google Ads may recommend “Maximize Conversions” as a bid strategy, BUT the budget is small (like sub $2,000/mo) and the clicks are expensive. In a case like this, you have to give it a Smart Bid strategy goal capable of collecting data to optimize towards. So a better option might be to consider “Maximize Clicks” or “Search Impression Share”.  In small volume accoun...

Responsive Search Ads – RSA for short – are not the new kids on the block. RSAs have been a part of the PPC ecosystem for a few years. That being said, RSAs have been a hot topic in 2022. Why all the hubbub about them now? This summer, the preceding ad type, Expanded Text Ads, is being deprecated. This puts Responsive Search Ads front and center for advertisers as the singular text ad type for search campaigns. Let’s dig in a little bit deeper on RSAs, the change and how you can maximize your potential with RSAs. Why RSAs matter Responsive Search Ads are all about serving the right message at the right time. RSAs are a flexible ad experience that show more customized content to reach your customers. These ads adapt your text ads to closely match what someone is searching for when they search for it. Further, RSAs can help to reduce bulky operations and save time. Advertisers provide up to 15 headlines and up to four descriptions. All of these components can create over 40,000 po...

Knowledge panels are one of the most coveted, yet mysterious elements in organic search. Brands desire to have their own robust Knowledge Panel entry, but are left with little to no control over what appears in them.  By this point, we should all have a basic understanding of entities within Google’s Knowledge Graph. Consider that required reading for this article. Where does Google pull entity data from? We all know that Google pulls information from their Knowledge Graph for knowledge panels, but where do they pull information for the Knowledge Graph?  Technically, Google can use information from any crawlable website for their Knowledge Graph. However, we most often see Wikipedia as the dominant source of information. The types of websites Google likes to pull from are typically directory-style websites that provide information that is: Accurate. Structured. Consistent. Jason Barnard’s Kalicube has an awesome resource that tracks entity sources for the past 30...

The streaming company’s total monthly active users grew 19% to 433 million, partly driven by a 22% gain in ad-supported listeners to 256 million worldwide. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/spotify-ad-revenue-grows-despite-broad-decline/628306/

Mobile privacy has become a hot-button issue as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/federal-scrutiny-mobile-location-data-marketers-roe-wade/628222/

Despite the tech giant’s latest shift, advertisers shouldn’t delay plans to develop and implement a cookieless future. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/google-pauses-third-party-cookie-deprecation/628280/

Though the TikTok lookalike passed a $1 billion revenue run rate, it represents a “headwind” in drawing attention away from more mature offerings. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/Facebook-revenue-decline-TikTok-Reels-Instagram/628349/

“School of Sport” takes users through a virtual high school where they can rack up currency to purchase back-to-school gear for their avatars.  source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/dicks-sporting-goods-roblox-back-school/628328/

A 30-second national spot is inspired by a letter received in 2007 inquiring how to wear down the retailer’s treasured Book Pack bag. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/llbean-durability-back-to-school-campaign/628282/

Entity search can be a massive competitive advantage. But you first need to build your entity-based strategy.  This article will cover how to create a robust entity-first strategy to help our content and SEO efforts. Most common challenges search and content marketers face Relevant, topical content, discovery based on customer intent is still the biggest challenge we face as search marketers.  Content relevancy, in my mind, means the content is personalized, must tell a story, should be scannable, readable, provides images, and the layout can be consumed on any device. Here are five outcomes we aim to accomplish with content: Discovery: Ensure content is discoverable and available across various customer touchpoints.  Relevancy : Ensure content meets all the searchers’ needs and contains all topics and sub-topics that a searcher cares about, is easy to read and understand and tells a story. Measurability: Content aligned with overall SEO strategy and is scalab...

“Everyone Belongs” features kids enjoying hobbies they love and associates value with clothing in which people feel most themselves. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/gap-2022-fall-campaign-everbody-belongs/628173/

A new campaign says “F*** Riding Solo,” as the brand attempts to lure consumers away from at-home workouts and into its studios. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/soulcycle-exchange-peloton-bikes-for-classes/628195/

Providing a memorable and consistent customer experience is more crucial and challenging than ever. Businesses must consistently adapt by adopting new technologies, reliably benchmarking performance, and listening to critical customer feedback to deliver unparalleled value and achieve positive growth. Highly personalized, seamless experiences are at the forefront of customer expectations, which means businesses must evolve to provide connected journeys every step of the way. A comprehensive set of solutions that seamlessly mix local marketing and customer experience technology wasn’t available; until now.  Local marketing and customer experience technology power unparalleled local experiences Every customer’s experience begins the moment they discover your brand. A customer may conduct an online search to learn more about a business or read customer reviews. The experience doesn’t end once a purchase is made. Customers have the power to be a brand’s best advocate or its most v...

Many of the same concepts that you may be used to from Universal Analytics exist in Google Analytics 4. There are, however, several new concepts to GA4. This article will detail some familiar and not-so-familiar concepts that GA4 brings to the table. If you’re new to GA4, I’d encourage you to first check out this article to get up to speed on some of the differences between Universal Analytics and GA4, otherwise, read on.  Similar concepts, slightly different application Let’s start with the familiar by looking at concepts that exist in both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4. But first, a small caveat: Universal Analytics has the ability to filter data in a robust manner at the view level. Google Analytics 4 only has a few filters currently available at the property level (there are no views in GA4), and so any differences you may see in your data should keep your current UA filters in mind.  With that being said, let’s dive into some familiar metrics: Users ...

If you’ve enjoyed every SEO job you’ve had in the first 90 days, kindly remove yourself from this article for being a liar.  We good? Awesome.  Did you know that 33% of employees quit their job within the first 90 days that they’re employed.  That’s a sobering fact.  The kind that makes you want to get not-sober as you kickstart for your first 90 days as an enterprise SEO Director.  Enterprise SEO departments have a high turnover rate due to cultural challenges because other departments don’t understand SEO or how to work together.  At the risk of stating the obvious, your first 90 days as an enterprise SEO Director sets the stage for the rest of your time at the company.  Have you found yourself asking these questions before: How do you make a business use case for more budget for SEO? How do you scale your enterprise SEO department?  How do develop alignment with Product and Editorial?  Over the next few articles, I’ll help ...

Today Google announced that they have created Confirming Gross Revenue – a new solution to give ad buyers and publishers a way to verify that there were no hidden fees taken from their transactions within Ads Manager. View the report. Advertisers can view the new Revenue Verification Report to see the total gross revenue received from a specific publisher. Google says that the ad buyer and media publisher can then come together to verify that the media cost from the buyers’ report matches the gross revenue the publisher received. The idea here is that if the numbers match, the buyer can assume that their full media spend reached the publisher and no hidden fees were taken. Early testing. Google is testing the new reporting with Display and Video 360, but are collaborating with other demand-side platforms, sell-side platforms, publishers, and agencies to implement similar reporting with other partners. Thanks, Google? Google claims that (on average) 15% of advertisers’ ad spend is...

Google and Microsoft released their quarterly earnings yesterday. Both companies missed the mark and fell short in some areas, but for the most part hold steady given circumstances such as the war in Ukraine (pulling their services out of Russia), supply chain issues, economic uncertainty, and hiring freezes.  Here are some key takeaways:  Total Alphabet revenue 13% increase YoY to $69.7 billion (from $61.9 billion by the end of Q2 in 2021) Google Ad revenue $56.3 billion (up from $50.4 in 2021) YouTube revenue $7.3 billion (up 5% from $7 billion in 2021), which missed analysts’ predictions of $7.5 billion Microsoft ad revenue decreased by about $100 million due to reductions in advertising spend LinkedIn revenue increased 26% (up 29% in constant currency) Holding steady. Google claims that despite some pullback from advertisers and the loom of financial uncertainty, performance in search was strong and “customers are still seeing value.” During the earnings cal...

B2B marketers tend to be excluded from most articles, case studies and examples. Even when we get mentioned, our marketing efforts are bucketed as “B2B” and not industry-specific.  However, there are many sub-categories of B2B marketing (e.g., SaaS, ecommerce, education, healthcare). After working with hundreds of B2B accounts, I’ve found there are multiple factors that people tend to overlook or don’t even consider using because it is not “B2B” specific.  That’s a costly mistake. This article will cover basic challenges when using Google Ads for B2B marketing, as well as more advanced obstacles. The advanced challenges are not necessarily difficult, but they will require time and some planning to overcome. Basic errors and platform limitations No ad schedule Businesses won’t search for your website on just any day or at any time. If you are helping a business that has never used Google Ads before, you should turn to Google Analytics. Within Google Analytics, you can u...