ADVERTISING
Everything you need to know about the iOS 14 tracking update
We’ve warily welcomed a new year, but the big topic looming at the end of 2020 is still hanging around. It’s the iOS tracking update, slated for later this year, and it’s going to have a massive impact on the world of advertising.
No matter what kind of campaigns you’re running, this update will likely affect you. Writing about it all would take us a week’s worth of newsletters, so we’ve curated some of the best information out there. Ready to learn a bit (or a lot, it’s really up to you)?
+ Facebook’s advice on what to do before the update hits. If you want to prepare for the coming storm, Facebook has prepared a blog post that’ll help you do just that. There’s a list of actions to take now that you’ll probably want to check out.
+ Facebook’s take on how this will affect your ads. The summary: Your targeting options and information will become more limited. There’s no foolproof way around it, but Facebook offers some suggestions in the post.
+ A 35-page document with thoughts and ideas about the update. When we said it would take a week’s worth of newsletters to write it all, we weren’t lying. Nick Shackelford put together a thoughtful, 35-page document with his thoughts on the whole thing.
+ Yes, this is a big deal, and here’s a Twitter thread to prove it. If you’re looking for more clarification or reasoning as to why this is such a big deal, Maurice Rahmey’s Twitter thread is for you! He breaks things down well.
+ Some actionable tips from Andrew Foxwell. This thread offers a great breakdown, as well as some of the biggest resources we currently have to avoid taking a big advertising hit when the update arrives.
The Crew’s take: Our thoughts on this stem from many of the posts above, which are worth reading if you get the chance. This will likely have a big impact on the advertising industry – so let’s start preparing!
BUSINESS
The cold, hard truth
Twitter’s a fun place to be. #MarketingTwitter is stronger than ever and we’re slinging memes like there’s no tomorrow, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
Questionable marketing and business advice tends to go viral from time to time, so it was refreshing to see this sobering thread from Nick Huber, the founder of Sweaty Startup. He’s got some good advice for entrepreneurs and marketers:
- Starting a business isn’t right for 95% of people. Nick makes the point that many people – possibly you! – are better off getting a job, because the founder life truly isn’t for everyone. (It’s not always as romantic as it sounds.)
- Getting rich quickly isn’t possible. There’s a caveat here, as Nick does concede that a small percentage of people do get rich quick. But in the marketing community, there’s a tendency to chase after dollar bills without understanding why we’re doing it.
- Build something niche. Instead of building something that adds little value to lots of people, build something that adds lots of value to a relatively small segment of people.
There are more than a dozen additional tweets in the thread. Check it out here, if you’re ready for some controversial thoughts on digital nomads and learning how to say no to opportunities.
SPONSORED BY VISTO
In 2020, 27k online advertisers went crazy over this tool. Should you try it?
We are talking about Visto, an intelligence tool that shook up the market in 2020, with over 27k Facebook advertisers using it. Yes, they’re probably checking your ads right now…
Visto allows you to view the largest collections of social ads on the market and find exactly what you need using its advanced search features.
Do you know the popular e-commerce products generating tons of sales? Best converting angles and creatives superaffiliates are running now? Visto got ya!
Look at some of its features:
- There’s the foundation, like searching your competitors’ top-performing ads with the keyword search function. And sorting them by most commented or by most shared ads first.
- Then it gets interesting: Find Facebook Ads by language, format and CTA. You will know exactly which CTA performs better. Without needing to test it.
- See detailed information about every ad: when the campaign started to run, when it stopped, landing page and other ads ran by the page.
- Find and download hidden landing pages that affiliates are running and trying to keep hidden from spy tools.
- Filter by affiliate vertical – no more browsing for hours to find the ad you are looking for.
- The only tool on the market that offers a filter for Clickbank ads only – this is awesome!
Cut the learning curve and launch profitable ads from day 1. And Stacked Marketer readers can have Visto at an exclusive discount up to 35%, limited for the next 5 days only.
PS: You can still check out a slightly-less-powerful version of Visto for free here.
FREELANCING
The art of pricing for freelancers to make more of that green stuff
Freelancing is tough.
Clients that ask for edits and changes. Invoices that don’t get paid. The struggle to create a flow of new businesses asking for your services.
It ain’t easy… But you can save time and headaches by learning from people who already went through the storm, like this thread shared by Duane Brown. He shared everything he learned over the last four years going from one to a six person team.
Here’s what he suggests to freelancers in the trenches.
- The value you deliver must exceed the cost you charge. The higher the value, the more someone will feel like they got a “deal”.
- Don’t sell your services by the hour. The better you get at doing a job, the fewer hours it will take. A flat project rate is better because the more efficient you become, the more money you make in the same amount of time.
- If every prospect is saying yes to your proposals, it means your prices are too low. Raise them by at least 20%.
- If someone wants a lower price, then you can ask to reduce scope or remove something from the project to meet that price. Don’t just do the same work for a lower price.
- Do net 15 days on invoices. And send an invoice on the day you start a project. Don’t delay doing it. The longer you take to invoice, the longer it takes to get paid.
- Never let a client get 2 invoices past due with you. This can lead to many issues: You’ll never get the money, they’ll be late on every invoice, or they hold it over you and treat you poorly.
It’s about finding the balance between being honest with your clients, and delivering the best work you can. But at the same time, make sure to be assertive and get paid (on time) for the value you’re delivering.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
FACEBOOK: 2021 started out on a melancholy note, as Rob Leathern announced he is leaving Facebook. He’s helped many advertisers throughout the years, and he will be sorely missed.
SEO: George Nguyen over at Search Engine Journal put together an awesome SEO year in review. If you want to catch up on anything you may have missed, it’s definitely worth a read.
FACEBOOK: Support for AVIF images has arrived on Facebook. If you’re wondering what they are, AVIF images are hailed as a next-gen image format to beat .jpg, .png, and just about any other format you can think of.
YOUTUBE: There’s a recent video from YouTube about some of the biggest myths surrounding Trending. Bottom line: It’s (fortunately) not as secretive or preferential as you may assume
FACEBOOK: Cory Dobbin just dropped a great Twitter thread about Facebook automation, and the rules you should be following. Check it out!
BRAIN TEASER
How many countries stand between Norway and North Korea?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Well, that backfired
Big brands – especially those that aren’t necessarily adored by the general public – don’t fare well on social media.
What’s meant to be an innocent tweet almost always gets turned into sarcastic vitriol in seconds. For proof, check out this hilarious cynicism recently leveled at Adobe (and notice it got 3X the retweets of the original tweet).
So when Facebook tweeted asking for the best GIFs of 2020, it’s only natural that the replies took a familiar route.
It was about a 50:50 split between people tweeting angry GIFs about their blocked ad accounts, and people angrily tweeting about their blocked ad accounts without any GIFs at all. It’s a sight to behold.