ADVERTISING
Don’t ignore Smart TV ads
In another edition of “there’s more to advertising than paid social,” Vizio and IAB Tech Labs are giving advertisers red carpet opportunities.
Take a look…
What’s going on: Vizio, a Smart TV manufacturer, is launching a new ad format called “Jump Ads.”
What’s in it for you: Placement control. Advertisers can decide when the ads will appear during shows, and how often.
Why it matters: Vizio says 60% of Smart TV users hate having to switch between apps and streaming services, so there’s the improved user experience to consider.
There’s also Vizio’s incredible ad revenue stream—they make twice as much money selling ads and subscriptions as they do selling devices.
Plus, TV is growing: It seems more TV ad channels are becoming available every week. Even IAB Tech Labs stopped ignoring the channel and launched digital video and CTV ad formats.
The Crew’s takeaway: If you’ve got the budget and bandwidth to run TV ads, don’t sleep on these channels. Consumers are still watching TV, so go where their attention is.
Speaking of new ad formats…
Twitter also wants to give advertisers new ad formats
… three of them, to be exact.
What’s going on: Twitter just announced fresh formats they say will give advertisers more options, new controls, and better analytics.
They’re piloting three of them:
- Interactive Text
- Product Explorer
- Collection Ads
But is it too little, too late? Evan Armstrong thinks so.
He argues that between their 21% stock drop, less than 5% sliver of market share, and negative user growth, Twitter may not be the most lucrative option for marketers.
That probably depends… Twitter may work well for some brands. Like most things in marketing, you don’t know until you test, test, and test again.
SPONSORED BY GEEKOUT
We saw the Geekout Events Replays are available and were amazed
When we saw the replays we’re available, we had high expectations because Geekout Events have made a name for themselves by putting on events specifically for high level media buyers and brands.
But you know how it goes with expectations and reality…
This delivers. With 40 plus hours of highest level education, it’s amazing how much the teachers shared and how detailed the information is.
There are 60 trainings recorded in super high quality covering:
TikTok, Facebook, Google, SMS Marketing, Email Marketing, Influencers, YouTube, Creatives, Video Ads, Copywriting, Hiring, Operations and pretty much anything involving launching, scaling and optimizing traffic and businesses.
It’s easy to see why these events sell out every time.
They never sell replays and are only selling 100. There is a no-questions-asked money back guarantee so they will sell out fast like their events.
If you are an agency, brand, media buyer or affiliate there isn’t better, more relevant real information on the market if you want to level up.
Check it out here: GeekOut Courses.
E-COMMERCE
5 Shopify reports that will reveal next steps for growing your business
More often than not, entrepreneurs are so involved in the daily grind that they forget to analyze how their business is performing.
Today, with tough competition and high costs per impression (CPMs), you should constantly monitor your business metrics to understand where you’re on the map, and in which direction you’re running.
Greg Shuey recommends checking five little-known Shopify reports in particular.
Here are the three we found most useful:
Sales by discounts. If you leverage discounts, this report will help you understand how profitable your discount campaigns were. But it also shows you:
- How customers react to different discounts.
- How personalized discounts for influencers are performing.
- Unprofitable discount codes.
Sales by product. Through product analysis, you’ll see how each one of your products is performing. Insights include:
- What products perform well organically vs. paid promotions.
- What products attract more first-time buyers so you can craft specific campaigns for them.
Returning customers. When you know who your loyal customers are, you can reward them with a “thank you” message, special discounts, and other forms of appreciation.
The back end is where the real profit is made. If reports show that most customers buy once but never come back, you have a problem.
Those are our three favorites. Head over to Search Engine Journal to get the rest.
SPONSORED BY JUNI
Isn’t this the credit card digital marketers have been waiting for?
Juni created a credit card* tailored for online marketers and media buyers. It improves your cash flow with:
- A 0% interest rate.
- High credit limits, with a possible credit line of up to £400k.
- Relaxed payment terms of 37 days, or up to 60 on request.
- Convenient, user-friendly financial services.
Aaaand… a juicy 1% cashback on every type of card spend.
“Tell me more about this credit card…”
* For UK companies only, upon eligibility. T&Cs and fees apply.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
How to sell when you can’t beat competitors on price or technical specs
You know when you need to sell something, but you don’t have a truly unique value proposition that separates you from your competition?
Let’s face it: This is more common than anybody wants to admit.
And it’s most common with new businesses. You’ve got a minimum viable product (MVP) up and running, but you can’t realistically compete with anyone on technical specifications or price.
The solution is easier than you might think. Stop selling toilet paper and start selling smartphones.
In other words, don’t compete on the technical stuff. Forget about pricing, forget about the nitty-gritty features.
Instead, convince people that they just really want your product. They want it because they believe in you, because they believe in the mission, and because they believe your product actually works.
Imagine you’re checking out a smartphone in the store. What you want, in the end, is to be convinced that the phone you’re holding will actually work. That you can rely on it, that it’ll feel good to use. You aren’t nickel-and-diming on price.
The same is true for many other things, like subscription services and SaaS tools.
In the end, most people don’t buy iPhones because they watch 2-hour-long videos comparing camera quality or processor speed.
People buy iPhones because they believe that iPhones will work just the way they want them to. So, they pay a premium for it.
If you can’t compete on the nitty-gritty, don’t focus on it.
Start “selling smartphones” instead.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
TIKTOK: You don’t have to dance to get business results from TikTok. Our latest Deep Dive shows you how to leverage this exploding platform, which types of videos drive sales, and much more. Preview the Deep Dive now.*
GOOGLE: It’s official. Google is calling on developers to start playing in their Privacy Sandbox. Developers can try out Topics, FLEDGE, and other tools.
YOUTUBE: Bye bye, Maximize Lift. YouTube is planning to swap the bidding tool with TrueView, an in-stream ads option. If you use Maximize Lift, you’ll want to pick a different solution this week.
E-COMMERCE: Say “No” to increased seller fees. Etsy sellers don’t want the platform to become like Amazon, and they’re going on strike in April to prove it.
META: Power to the people. Starting April 11, users will be able to select more topics they don’t want to see ads for. Meta says this feature will be accessible on both Facebook and Instagram. Take note, advertisers.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Like Instagram, but real. There’s a new social media app trending on college campuses called BeReal. The point is to “show your real self,” no filters. Could it be the next big social network?
INSTAGRAM: Coming up with content is hard. If you struggle with this, Sarah, a creative strategist at Instagram, has ideas to help you fill up your April social media calendar.
META: Mark your calendar. Meta is hosting a business event May 19 to help businesses “meet people where they’re at” by building better messaging experiences on major platforms.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
Why is Europe like a frying pan?
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.
Don’t throw away your used cooking oil
Now we know what to do with our bacon grease.
Turns out an A380 superjumbo jet recently flew on waste oil and cooking fats.
Airbus wants to become the first zero-emission aircraft in the world, so there will probably be more flights like this in the near future.
Of course, the challenge is that cooking oil is an expensive fuel.
Maybe we can sell our bacon grease to airlines as a lucrative side gig?