BUSINESS
Savings are “saving” the economy… for now
If you were saving for a rainy day, you might want to get yourself an umbrella.
While US consumer spending rose by almost 1% last month, the savings rate fell to 4.4%—the lowest since 2008.
Why buyers are breaking into the piggy bank: As prices increase, consumers are finding it harder to keep up with the spend.
The trend suggests that many are reaching into savings to ease inflation pains.
Economic experts aren’t worried… yet. Apparently consumers have over $2.2 trillion in excess savings that can keep the current spending rate going.
Experts seem confident that incomes will balance out the rising costs by the end of the year.
Why we care: We all hope the experts are correct. But while spending is rising, it’s safe to assume that shoppers won’t dip into savings for non-essential items.
… And some industries could feel the pinch in coming months.
So you should probably start managing expectations and prepare for the worst case scenario.
AdWords API sunsets, reviews appear on Google Maps, and more
More Google updates? Shocking.
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way:
- AdWords API is sinking out of sight: If you still haven’t upgraded to Google Ads API, we suggest you do it now to avoid application errors.
- Display and Video 360 API updates: Google added new features to the platform’s programmatic interface that should make things like filtering creative and showing real-time product inventory a little easier.
And now, let’s talk about In-map reviews: Google made user justifications, or snippets of top customer reviews, visible on their Maps mobile app.
This new update shows relevant customer reviews right next to business location icons, which probably means Google will emphasize review content quality and not just ratings.
Hopefully Google doesn’t pick “unjustified” reviews of your business to display…
SPONSORED BY HYPER
Get capital and guidance from the top 1% of startup founders
Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) are two of the biggest names in venture capital.
And they’re now backing Hyper, a startup accelerator that gives you access to capital and mentorship from top founders.
Many reasons:
- Competitive terms: Hyper offers $300k for 5%—not $125k for 7% like Y Combinator.
- They’re a sister company of Product Hunt: This means you get unique access to Product Hunt, the Product Hunt team, and launch support.
On top of that, they have a world-class team to help you scale: Sequoia’s Alfred Lin, Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, a16z’s Sriram Krishnan, Loom’s co-founder Shahed Khan, Product Hunt CEO Josh Buckley.
… And marketing advisors like Julian Shapiro, Shaan Puri, Sahil Bloom, Packy McCormick, and Austin Rief.
You’ll get the cash flow necessary to reach new levels. And you’ll get the guidance—and the connections—to make the best decisions.
Find out more about the Hyper program.
MARKETING
How a drinkware startup successfully challenged competitors making millions in revenue
How do you compete against brands worth millions of dollars… with just $200,000?
Mike Beckham did it when he co-founded a drinkware company called Simple Modern, and now his company makes $100M annually.
So how did Simple Modern successfully contend with Yeti and Hydroflask?
The answer is… They didn’t really compete.
Mike describes their approach in an excellent Twitter thread.
Here are some takeaways:
Don’t get stuck trying to invent a new product. Most successful businesses sell established products, but in a new way.
Netflix, for example, wasn’t doing anything new by selling video content.
Instead, their innovative approach was to stream it before other companies did.
So, how do you come up with a winning product? Here’s the four-step process that Mike suggests:
- Find a product that has robust demand.
- Examine the strategies and strengths of existing companies.
- Find “white space,” or the communication and distribution channels they’re not using.
- Ask: Where do your skills and abilities line up with white space?
Here’s how Mike applied that to Simple Modern:
He realized that their main competitors found success using specialty retail like REI.
That meant companies like Hydroflask were built for physical retail, not e-commerce. They had high prices, few variations, and no Amazon presence.
So Simple Modern attacked the e-commerce space and designed products that came in dozens of variations.
A simple strategy, to be sure. But it worked.
SPONSORED BY ON DECK MARKETING
Join a curated community of growth and marketing leaders, who’ve been there, done that
One way to accelerate your personal growth—and the growth of your business—is to hang out with the growth and marketing leaders of the best companies in the world.
That’s what happens when you join On Deck Marketing, a curated community of ambitious marketers and executives.
Talk through high-impact decisions, build your career toolkit, and develop deep relationships with peers tackling the same challenges.
Learn how to join the community at On Deck.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Low costs per click, but no conversions? Try this quick fix
Low cost per click (CPC) is a valuable metric… but probably not in the way you’d imagine.
Here’s what we mean.
We’ve all been there: You launch a new ad, it’s performing at dramatically lower CPCs than all the others… but it’s not seeing much conversion.
People are clicking on the ad, but they’re not buying anything on your site.
This happens when your ad doesn’t qualify users before they click. It’s a common mistake. Even well-funded startups and established brands do it.
The best ads pre-qualify users. Here are a few examples of how you can do this:
- If you’re linking people straight to a product page, don’t use “Learn More” as your call-to-action (CTA) text. Use “Buy Now” or something similar. Qualify intent before the click.
- If you want people to sign up for a free trial, write copy like “Try it for free for 7 days” in your ad. Let people know what they’re getting into.
- If you want people to book a demo, write something like “Book a product demo in minutes” in your ad.
The Crew’s insight: Set expectations before potential customers ever click on your ads. If they read “Buy Now” and still click, they know what they’re getting into—and they’re more likely to buy.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
COPYWRITING: Scale your business, not your content expenses! Stop dealing with sketchy freelancers and content farms. Panda Copy gives you access to pre-vetted expert copywriters so you can get handcrafted content from proven professionals for one flat monthly fee. Scale your writing power.*
STREAMING: Cutting the cord to cut costs? BBC says they’re moving television content to their streaming platform. With more TV going online, our guess is streaming advertising is gonna get more and more popular…
ADVERTISING: Are deep fakes the future of influencer marketing? Soon, businesses may have their own ambassadors created by artificial intelligence (AI). Talk about brand personification…
LINKEDIN: Having trouble getting engagement? LinkedIn plans to publish a series of blogs where they’ll provide insights into how their feed algorithm works—and bust myths in the process. Could be helpful.
YOUTUBE: Finally! YouTube Analytics will provide separate data for different video types instead of combining them into one metric. Yes, this means you can actually see how your Shorts or Live videos are performing.
META: Facebook Data Policy is now Meta Privacy Policy. The new Terms of Service says “it won’t collect, use, or share your data in new ways.” Please remind us… What were the “old ways,” again?
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
A boy was at a carnival and went to a booth where a man said to the boy, “If I write your exact weight on this piece of paper then you have to give me $50, but if I cannot, I will pay you $50.”
The boy looked around and saw no scale, so he agreed. In the end the boy ended up paying the man $50.
How did the man win the bet?
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.
OS is for Old School
Ever feel nostalgic for the early Mac days?
Well, there’s a way to redesign your modern day desktop to look like the classic black and white Mac systems.
This paid Mac theme for both Windows and MacOS is a time machine that will take your computer back a few decades….
It transforms everything from the menu bar to dock icons into pixelated black and white elements.
And while many icons, like those of Slack, Canva, and Dropbox, are “retro-fied” by default, you can have other icons “retro-fied” to complete your throwback collection.
Cool, right? Do you maybe know of a free option that does this to recommend us?