META
New ads and messaging tools are dropping soon
Meta is leaning heavily into the small business space these days.
They published a list of soon-to-be released updates… and it promises lots of opportunities for connecting with customers.
What’s new:
- WhatsApp in Inbox: The popular messenger will be joining Instagram and Facebook in Business Inbox, which means you can manage all customer conversations in one place. Soon you’ll be able to make ads directly from the WhatsApp Business app, too.
- Messenger promo blasts: Meta is testing a feature that will allow you to send promotional messages via Messenger to users that opted in.
- Lead generation improvements: You’ll be able to gate content without redirecting users to your website, filter leads that look promising, and more.
Why we care: If you’re running messaging campaigns, these features could give your customers even more personalized experiences with your brand.
… Especially if customers are already buying from you on WhatsApp.
And on the operations side… Meta’s plan to integrate WhatsApp with e-commerce sounds like it would make setting up and managing campaigns a bit easier in general.
Guess we’ll see!
MICROSOFT
32 more countries just got access to ads
Two things are guaranteed to expand this year: the universe, and the Microsoft Advertising network.
Taking over the globe: Microsoft announced their ad platform is now available to 32 more countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific, months after they gave access to 29 markets in Europe and Africa.
Why we care: If your location prevented you from running ads in the past, you may want to check again.
If you’re currently running ads, now you have access to an additional 59 million people making 780 million searches monthly on Microsoft and partner sites.
And it seems like Microsoft is just getting started: The company plans to enable advertising in 103 more countries by the end of the year… a total of 150 countries!
SPONSORED BY IMPACT.COM
This easy-to-use worksheet helps you plan profitable influencer campaigns
You don’t create successful influencer campaigns during the video shoot.
You create them during the planning phase.
That’s where you set the right goals… determine how long the campaign should last… decide how you’ll reward the influencer… select the benefits of your product the influencer should talk about…
Want to plan profitable influencer campaigns? This worksheet by impact.com will help.
It’s extremely simple to use, and it covers all the essential steps, like:
- How to set tangible goals for your strategy.
- How to successfully get your message across.
- What influencers you should stay away from.
- What words and messaging influencers should avoid.
… And more.
Start planning your next influencer campaign now.
ADVERTISING
How to get cheap leads using Google’s Local Services Ads
Ever tried using Local Services Ads (LSA)?
They are a type of Google ad for home service-based businesses.
There are three main differences between traditional Google Ads and LSAs:
- LSAs are based on a pay-per-lead structure, rather than pay-per-click.
- Your ad rank depends on factors like customer reviews, proximity, and hours.
- LSAs also tend to be much cheaper than Google Search Ads.
And Navah Hopkins has valuable tips for leveraging LSAs while keeping your cost per lead (CPL) low:
Don’t target more than three major markets. In an ideal structure, you’d have each LSA profile focusing on one major market, corresponding to one Google Business Profile (GBP).
If you have only one GBP, make sure you’re targeting locations that are in close proximity to your target prospects.
Set higher bids and budgets. LSAs are known for providing cheaper leads. So it’s tempting to opt out of auto-bidding and go for lower budgets.
However, this will often result in your ads being underserved, or not being delivered at all.
Navah suggests setting a budget three times higher than what you intend to spend because Google often struggles to spend the budget.
Mark your leads. When a lead converts and turns into a client, mark it as closed successfully and archive the leads that do not convert.
When you do this, you help Google understand where to spend your budget in the most efficient way.
Good stuff, right? Use LSAs well, and your marketing dollars will go farther than traditional paid search ads because you only pay for calls lasting two minutes or form fills.
Navah has four more tips in her post, plus a list of all the businesses that are eligible for LSAs.
SPONSORED BY AIR
How many hours do you waste managing marketing assets in Dropbox and Drive?
Does finding and managing images and videos take up more of your time than creating them?
You’ll get 10+ hours per week back using Air.
It’s true! Thanks to Air’s intuitive search and visual browsing tools, marketing teams can save as much as 10 hours per week.
Never see questions like “Do you have access to that file?” on Slack again or waste time digging through Drive and Dropbox.
You weren’t hired to organize files. Get back to the work you were hired to do.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
A system for “stealing” from your competitors’ copy
You’ve heard it a thousand times:
Good artists copy; great artists steal.
OK.
But there’s an element of truth to this phrase, and there’s a simple system for using the copy written by the competition to improve your own.
Here’s how it works:
- Find landing pages you like (or that you know convert) in your industry. You’re probably already aware of the big players.
- Write down all of their headers and subheaders. You can do this in a spreadsheet, a Google Doc, or on paper.
- For each one, break down what angle they’re selling on. Value propositions equal quality plus benefit, so identify the quality and the benefit for each header and subhead.
- Now create your own copy, inspired by each of these angles. Once you’ve identified an angle for a particular competitor’s header, write 5+ headers and subheads of your own with your company’s unique take on this angle.
- Choose the best ones and iterate on them. Once you’ve written dozens of lines of copy, pick the best ones and iterate until you find something that works. This may take a while.
Why this works: Writing copy without inspiration is like playing darts in the dark, especially if you’re not a seasoned veteran.
Writing your own iterations of competitors’ copy, with your own unique value props and style, of course, can help you to identify the angles and exploit the gaps they’re probably missing.
And it gives you material you can start working with right away. Much better than staring at a blank screen!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
MARKETING: Want to get noticed by CEOs? Or negotiate a bigger salary? Then join the World Certification Week by HubSpot Academy, where you can master in-demand skills and take classes taught by proven professionals… Absolutely free! Level up your career with HubSpot’s recognized certifications.*
TIKTOK: Talk about impressions. TikTok is launching Pulse, a premium ad program that will place your ads next to the most watched videos on the platform. Creators are getting a slice of the revenue, too.
TWITTER: You can learn a lot about shopper behavior by reading tweets. Twitter published an infographic revealing the most popular shopping conversations and keywords. Yes, the word “inflation” is also trending.
SNAPCHAT: The talent pool just got deeper. Snapchat is partnering with Cameo for Business, the celebrity video on-demand platform. So if you’ve ever daydreamed about getting celebrities into your Snapchat Ads…
INSTAGRAM: Is Meta stealing ideas from TikTok again? Instagram is testing out a machine learning feature that will predict the content you’d like to see in your feed… Kinda like TikTok.
MARKETING: Got a marketing problem? There’s probably an app for it. Martech’s marketing technology software database has created a “map” of 9,932 possible solutions to help you, uh, narrow your search.
GOOGLE: Gambling and games policy are off to the races. Google will allow online horse racing ads in four more US States. But if you plan to advertise, you’ll need a certification first.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
This country music concert caused an earthquake
Garth Brooks’ concert in Tiger Stadium, Louisiana, achieved seismic proportions… Literally.
Apparently 100,000+ fans were rocking so hard to his hit song “Callin’ Baton Rouge” that a nearby seismograph interpreted the vibrations as a small earthquake.
The popular country singer has already branded it a “Garthquake” and called it a “once in a lifetime thing.”
That’s what you call a groundbreaking performance!