Selling cheap products? Google loves you.
Google wants to turn itself into a “deals” search engine.
The company is experimenting with displaying an “affordable picks” carousel next to its search results. People have already started to notice this when searching for terms like “ceiling fan” or “refrigerator”.
Basically, when you search for a product, Google wants to show you the most affordable options first.
Not new: Google announced a month ago that it would start highlighting deals in search results. This appears to be a logical next step.
Why Google is doing this: People love “cheap”. Searches for “discount code” have increased by 50% since last year, according to Google data. It seems the pandemic took a hit not only on people’s health, but also on their wallets.
Selling expensive products? Here’s a tip: If you only sell high-priced items, these updates may not go in your favor.
But, as the saying goes, “adapt or die.” One thing you can do is to release a lite version of your product to capture Google’s “deals” spots. Then, upsell a more expensive item with enhanced features.
ADVERTISING
Everyone loves the idea of privacy-based advertising (but nobody knows how to make it work)
Does personalized, privacy-based advertising sound like a contradiction? Well, it (sort of) is. That is why companies such as Facebook and Google are struggling to make it work.
Google is clueless: After FloPping with Google FloC due to privacy concerns, Google is now experimenting with a “topic-based” approach to personalized ad targeting.
Facebook is clueless, too: In an interview with The Verge, Facebook’s VP of Product stated that the company is making a “very meaningful pivot” to deliver personalized ads privately. That’s a diplomatic way of saying: “we’re still trying to figure things out (and need your help btw).”
What if privacy-based advertising fails? According to Eric Seufert, Apple’s ATT change will only hurt Facebook in the short term.
In the mid-term, the company will do just fine. They’re creating a content fortress that will allow all interactions to take place within the platform (and Facebook’s metaverse).
Which kinda makes sense. If you don’t have enough third-party data, focus on getting more first-party data instead.
What you can do: Not much, for now. Knowing where things are likely to go can be quite useful though (if the content fortress prediction comes true).
That’s both good and bad news. Good because we may get our targeting capabilities back. Bad because we will become even more reliant on large tech platforms.
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BRANDING
Marketing lessons from a brand obsessed with victory
Have you read Shoe Dog?
It’s the book written by Nike’s founder Phil Knight, telling the whole story behind starting one of the most valuable brands in the world.
In Greek mythology, Nike is the goddess of victory. (Funny enough, in the Italian market the book title Shoe Dog has been translated into “The art of victory”.)
In this thread, Alex Garcia outlined how Nike won (and continues to win) the marketing game:
+ Nike started as a running shoe company. Everyone within the company was a runner.
They knew exactly what customers wanted. And when they got into other sports, they consulted top athletes in that sport to find out what they needed both functionally and aesthetically. Lesson: Research what your ideal customer wants. And give it to them.
+ They wanted their product to be suitable both for Michael Jordan as well as the average Joe. They would go to amateur sports events, gyms, tennis courts, and so on to understand everyday consumers.
+ Building a brand: According to Phil Knight, “a brand is something that has a clear-cut identity among consumers, which a company creates by sending out a clear, consistent message over a period of years.”
They wanted to be “the world’s best sports and fitness company and for the Nike brand to represent sports and fitness activities.” They defined their messaging according to this mission statement.
+ Nike’s marketing goal was to create an emotional tie with customers. The messaging is what hits the emotions, but without a good product it is worthless (not to mention dishonest). Nike started with a good product, then conveyed their philosophy.
+ Partnering with athletes: Nike was one of the first brands in history to start partnering with athletes. The purpose? Get customers to know the athletes as a “whole person” so they could “win their hearts and their feet.”
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
ADVERTISING: Thanks to Apple, advertisers are beginning to explore non-digital acquisition channels. Out-of-home advertising is one of them.
GOOGLE: Don’t worry, Google will not penalize you if you link to “lesser” websites.
VIDEO MARKETING: Connected TV is breaking records. A whooping 35% of video ad impressions came from CTV devices.
PODCASTS: Google sets new requirements for podcasts to be discoverable on Google Podcasts.
E-COMMERCE: When it comes to Core Web Vitals, Shopify and Squarespace lead the pack.
BRAIN TEASER
If we are holding a bee, what do we have our eyes?
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.
Hackers steal $600 million in crypto, then change their minds and return it
And the award for the nicest people of the year goes to…
…the hackers?
A hacking group gained access to Poly Network, a blockchain-based platform. They stole a whopping $600 million (yes, million) in crypto, making this one of the largest heists in history.
Out of desperation, Poly Network begged the hackers to return the money. Nobody really expected this would work.
Except…it did.
A few days later, the hackers sent Poly Networks a secure message stating that they are ready to return the funds. Poly Network provided them with three wallet addresses, and they soon began receiving their money back.
Lesson of the day: It never hurts to ask.
Also, in the spirit of giving, we’re wondering if they can do anything about those… um… student loans? Please, and thank you.