ADVERTISING
Lyft now driving its own ad channels
Mass advertising used to look like the TV or the radio.
Now it’s starting to look like a car…
What’s going on: Lyft just announced Lyft Media, a network that will give advertisers the ability to reach passengers and passers-by.
Like billboards on wheels: Among Lyft Media’s first ad products are smart digital screens on vehicle rooftops called “Halos.”
These screens will display targeted ads depending on the vehicle’s location and time. Lyft says you’ll be able to track ad performance through their attribution partners.
Here, there, everywhere… Other ad placements include:
- In-car tablets that show “dynamic content” to passengers.
- Ads on bikeshare stations.
- Customizable brand icons and banners within the Lyft App itself.
Why we care: This is a new and potentially big shift in digital advertising. Lyft Media has the potential to target large audiences in specific times and places, which could be powerful for local businesses and brands.
It also opens a new, trackable advertising channel that could help local businesses and industry giants alike.
A rising tide lifts all… brands?
Analytics is easier, Business Profile is tougher
First the spoon, then the medicine…
Spoon: Google Data Studio is easier to navigate. You can now switch between multiple Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties.
Subproperties and Roll-Ups are also available in GA4 360 now, which is nice.
Medicine: Business Profile is cracking down on spam. Google’s new policy update categorizes duplicate photos, videos, and logos as spam, and will reject or remove them.
Google will also remove posts containing misspellings or assets that “negatively distract the reader’s attention.”
Whatever that means.
Why we care: We agree… There are a lot of Google updates.
But staying on top of updates like these can keep your marketing stack humming and reduce friction in your day.
And by the way, speaking of friction…
SPONSORED BY AIR
Outdated tech is clogging the juices of your marketing team
520 hours.
That’s one estimate of how much time marketing teams waste annually because bad tech is slowing them down.
… And if you keep images and videos in traditional cloud storage, you might be one of those teams.
How do you know for sure?
Here are the symptoms of a clogged creative process:
- Back-and-forth email exchanges between your teammates and external creative partners.
- Time wasted tracking a project workflow rather than creating the assets themselves.
- Hours spent on mindless tasks like changing formats and compressing files.
Air is a creative operations and assets management tool that automates a lot of your marketing team’s project workflow, from blank screen to ready-to-launch.
It helps teams at Google, Sweetgreen, NBC, Native, Beautiful Destinations, and others save hundreds of hours and do more work.
Let the creative juices flow with Air.
CONTENT MARKETING
How to grow your brand using zero-click content
“Wait, wait… Zero clicks? As in, no clicks? Really?”
Yes, really. Sure, clicks are valuable and measurable engagement parameters.
… But if you look around, you’ll notice a rising trend: Platforms are becoming less clickable.
Google extracts information and displays it in snippets. Instagram posts don’t let you share clickable links. Facebook and LinkedIn reward linkless posts with more reach… the list goes on.
So how do you drive traffic without clicks?
Amanda Natividad’s post offers some useful tips to help you optimize for impressions instead of clicks.
Let’s take a quick, click-free look at what she recommends…
Use the 200-word, 2-minute framework. Break down resourceful blog posts or long videos into stand-alone short posts that are native to the platform you’re using:
- A 200-word email.
- A 200-word Twitter post.
- A 5-tweet thread with up to 40 words each.
- A 2-minute YouTube video.
You know how streamers and podcasts give away their best segments for free just to grab your attention and tempt you to subscribe to their shows? This is the same thing.
… Or, summarize the main idea. Outline and tease your content by using bullet points.
Just don’t give away too much or viewers will have no incentive to stick around.
Lead with emotion. For example, opening your content with a rant is like stretching out your hand to anyone who feels the same emotions… it’s easy to grab.
… And there you have it. It’s time to make your brand a hero… from zero. If you know what we mean.
SPONSORED BY SWAPSTACK
Put your offer in front of 40M engaged prospects… and only pay per conversion
Did you know that you can experience the power of newsletter advertising without wasting a single dollar?
With Swapstack’s Plug & Play feature, you can put your offer in front of 40M highly-engaged, highly-targeted prospects…
… and advertise in a bunch of awesome newsletters.
And the best part? You only pay when your ads generate conversions.
Reach engaged prospects and get more ROI from your ad spend now.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
How this classic con-artist trick can help you make more sales
Imagine a con man walks up to you on the street.
He shows you three well-worn playing cards: Two are black, one’s red.
Then he crouches and lays the cards face-down on the sidewalk and shuffles them around. There’s a small crowd forming now.
Did you keep your eye on the red card? Are you confident enough to bet $1 on it?
You did, you are, and you win. The man does the same trick again. You bet $2. You win again—this is easy.
Now the man goes big: Want to bet $20? You do, because you feel good about the odds.
He shuffles the cards around again, and you guess again.
But this time, you guess wrong. Odds are, he’s used a sleight-of-hand to trick you, or he’s substituted the red card out entirely.
And now you’re out $20.
Why this matters: Con tricks like this are incredibly popular because they rely on the foot-in-the-door technique.
In other words, when you give people small wins at first, they’re more likely to go all-in.
Here’s an example of that in marketing: Klientboost saw success simply by modifying the standard email form.
Instead of asking for emails up front, they added a multiple-choice question before showing the email field.
This encouraged people to take a harmless first step and increased their chances of submitting an email address. See? Simple.
By the way… There are dozens of other examples like this in our newest Stacked Marketer Pro report on System 1 thinking.
If you’d like to find out how you can use psychological tricks and sleights of hand like this in your marketing, you can get the report here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
LINKEDIN: It’s not just for TikTok or Instagram. If you want to promote your B2B venture, you may want to hire a LinkedIn influencer. At least, that’s what more and more businesses are doing.
PRIVACY: In case you were wondering… GDPR violations are no joke. The ad tech company Criterio is one of the first to face repercussions for breaching European’s data protection laws. The fine? A whopping $65 million. Ouch.
REDDIT: Here’s a useful feedback loop. Some brands use Reddit to boost awareness, develop products, and gather customer feedback. This article shares a couple of success stories, in case you wanted to take notes.
BRAIN TEASER
What tells you what you want to hear, but hurts you when the truth is clear?
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.
Who’s down for a game of rulerball?
No, not rollerball. Rulerball.
You know, the game with rubber balls made from the remains of deceased ancient rulers?
“Wait, what?”
Yes, you read that right. According to recent archeological findings, ancient Mayans turned their deceased leaders into rubber balls for ritual games of pelota!
Apparently, they used the sulfur from dead rulers’ ashes to vulcanize the rubber.
What a way to send your leaders to the afterlife…