ADVERTISING
Google and Meta add new creative tools
You don’t have to feel bad about your whiteboard sketching skills anymore.
Google and Meta are doubling down on ad creative tools, and they look incredibly useful…
Google launches Ads Creative Studio: This tool lets you swap out the elements of all your ad creative—from image, to audio, to text—depending on audiences and context.
For example, if you’re targeting people shopping for cold or warm weather gear, you can swap the text to make a bunch of different creative, targeted variations.
Right now it’s available for video ads only, but will soon launch for display ads as well.
Meta introduces AI text-to-image: Turns out AI image generators aren’t only for making memes.
Meta’s AI-powered tool lets you create simple sketches and use text descriptions to turn them into digital imagery.
Why we care: With both Google and Meta investing in creative tools, it’s evident that ad creative is—and will continue to be—the most important element of successful advertising.
Time to get those creative juices flowing!
AMAZON
No more unfair advantages
Good news: Amazon has finally offered to limit its use of seller data in its bid to avoid massive EU fees.
That’s not right… For years, Amazon has used private seller data to replicate best practices and gain an unfair edge over competitors.
Now they’re promising to level the playing field by:
- Not using seller data to sell branded goods.
- Showing competing Buy Box offers instead of prioritizing Amazon’s offers over third-party sellers.
- Committing to Equal Prime treatment instead of creating discriminatory conditions for Prime sellers and using third-party carrier data for their own logistic and fullfilment services.
Why we care: If you’re selling on Amazon, and the European Parliament’s proposed changes go through, you may see less competition from Amazon in the near future.
Which means your products will have a greater chance of being seen and purchased by shoppers.
Here’s to that.
SPONSORED BY EMBURSE
Grow your bottom line every time you spend a dime
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With Emburse’s free corporate card, you get unlimited cashback on all your expenses.
And if you spend a lot of money on advertising, you’ll be glad to know…
Emburse is the most flexible corporate card program for managing ad spend.
And here’s why:
- No more wasting time on monthly reconciliations. Capture spend in real-time and synchronize it with your accounting software for immediate, automatic reconciliation.
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- Watch your team or client spend in real-time, and pre-approve it before they spend.
Emburse helps you save money, gives you more control over where your money goes, and earns you unlimited cashback. What CFO doesn’t love that?
Optimize your ad spend and grow your bottom line now.
CONTENT MARKETING
How to get new subscribers for your newsletter… quickly
Starting a newsletter is one thing… but acquiring thousands of active readers?
That’s a different beast.
Thankfully, Marketing Max posted a thread that explains how he got to 10,000 subscribers in less than 100 days.
Let’s take a look at what he did…
Viral tweets: Publish valuable, actionable Twitter threads frequently, and there’s a chance one of your tweets will “blow up” and go viral.
Max started by posting one thread a day, then shifted to a few threads every week. Some threads got him 2,000 subscribers.
Viral TikToks: Same goes for TikTok. Post engagement-worthy tricks once per day… All it takes is one post going viral to win you new readers.
Sponsor in other newsletters: Putting your newsletter in front of other newsletter readers is the best way to get new subscribers.
These audiences are already familiar with the medium and are much more likely to become regular readers as well.
Paid ads: Running ads on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram can get you subscribers for $2–$3 per reader.
According to Max, plain text ads with a bold tagline and a compelling story work better than short videos when you’re advertising a newsletter.
Referral campaigns: This method works better for daily newsletters, since you’ll incentivize your readers every day to share your newsletter with friends for a reward.
Weekly newsletters are less frequent and it can take more time for you to see results. But even if it’s slow, it’s a still steady way to get new subscribers dripping onto your list.
… And there’s more where that came from. We don’t have room for it all, so jump to Marketing Max’s thread to get the rest.
If you have any other tips that helped grow your subscriber base, let us know!
SPONSORED BY INSIGHTS
Every day is a holiday if you want it to be
Did you know you can turn almost any day of the year into a profitable holiday? Yep… even if you’re a dermatologist!
… Or that if you sell a seasonal product, you can use the holidays of the opposite season to maximize your profit?
And did you know that during the Q4 shopping rush, most online purchases happen on desktop?
Discover all this and more profit-boosting tips inside The Ultimate Holiday Marketing Deep Dive.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
How to use out-of-stock products to your advantage
Here’s a fascinating statistic:
People would rather switch brands than wait for out-of-stock products to come back in stock.
Interesting, right?
It gets better: During the 2021 holiday season, customers were shown more than 2B out-of-stock product messages.
Seeing the opportunity yet? Products from popular brands frequently go out-of-stock during the holidays.
And because people are desperate to make purchases, they’re open to buying from new brands.
So if you’re looking to steal some customers from your competition, this is your opportunity.
There are two easy ways to do this:
- Promote it. If you notice that one of the items you’re selling is commonly out of stock on your competitor’s sites, try bumping ad spend for that product. Odds are, customers know the product is hard to find and will jump at the chance to get it.
- Bump it up. You can also try giving that product more visibility on your own website.
Of course, pre-holiday planning is important, too. If you can accurately predict which items will go out of stock and bolster your own supply, you’ll have a better chance of welcoming thousands of new customers when the next holiday season comes around.
P.S. We apologize if this gives you any flashbacks to $30 rolls of toilet paper on eBay in mid-2020.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
E-COMMERCE: Have you ever thought about selling in the huge Chinese market? It’s way easier than you think. You don’t have to set up a store. Nor to translate yours. In The Fastest Growing E-commerce Channels Deep Dive, you will discover three ways to do that. Join Insights to read it.*
GOOGLE: Political ads just got more transparent. If you’re running election campaigns on Google Ads, you’ll have to include a clearly visible “Paid for by…” directly on the ad. For audio formats, the disclaimer has to match the tone of the ad.
SEO: MozCon just wrapped. There’s a recap available of the most interesting bits from day two, covering topics like local landing pages and how to use machine learning to create more accessible websites.
PRIVACY: If you were keeping an eye on Britain’s proposed Online Safety Bill, you can take a break until the fall. The legislation designed to protect social network users is on hold, thanks to Boris Johnson’s abrupt exit.
*This is a sponsored post
BRAIN TEASER
I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody.
What am I?
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.
Where French fries really came from
Once upon a time, there was pommes Pont-Neuf…
Believe it or not, French fries didn’t become everyone’s favorite fast-food delicacy overnight… It literally took centuries.
And it’s not easy to sort history from legend.
Did French fries really originate in eighteenth century France… or were they the creation of an inspired Belgian cook?
Is it true Thomas Jefferson served them in the White House?
This entertaining history of French fries busts myths and reveals truths.
Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re next in line at the Drive-Thru and need to order… Yes, hi, extra crispy pommes frites with ketchup please, thanks…