ADVERTISING
Ads perform better in context
Remember that time you browsed a tech website and saw an ad for kitchenware…
… and it made you want to buy a cutting board?
You probably don’t because you were focused on a completely different topic!
Customers feel that, too: According to the latest study by Ad Science, contextually relevant ads can boost purchase intent by 14% compared to non-contextual ads.
Here’s what else the research found:
- Contextual ads are easier to memorize and may increase brand recognition by 4x.
- It only takes users four seconds to notice contextual ads. For random ads, the average is 10 seconds. That’s a big difference.
Why we care: Not only may contextual advertising be more profitable… it may become essential in our increasingly privacy-first advertising world.
Besides, when companies like T-Mobile are willing to sell their customers’ data, users are less willing to opt-in, which makes behavioral advertising less effective.
By the way… Want to know a great channel for contextual advertising? Newsletters.
Just saying.
META
Facebook is dumping Premieres and updating its privacy policy
Meta wants to come clean.
… about privacy and pre-recorded Live videos, at least.
- Bye, Premieres. It seems the feature could be going away August 22. While you’ll no longer be able to schedule pre-recorded videos as Live moments, you can still schedule them as posts.
- Not selling data. Facebook is updating their privacy policy and terms of service July 26. According to their privacy announcement, Meta assures users they “do not and will not sell your information.”
Why we care: Facebook’s privacy update seems to point to their efforts to become a privacy-conscious, first-party platform.
Does this mean the Facebook Ads algorithm will change again? Guess we’ll see…
SPONSORED BY YOTPO
Using these two channels together maximizes your ROI
Know what the two highest revenue drivers for e-commerce brands are?
Hint: They also happen to be the two most popular communication channels among consumers…
We’re talking about email and SMS.
Put them together, and these two channels can work together to generate sales for brands.
Rely on each of them separately, and you miss out on big revenue opportunities.
Yotpo shows you how to combine email and SMS for maximum engagement and results in this guide.
Inside you’ll find out:
- Why it’s critical to combine both channels.
- What type of messaging works best for each channel, plus the kinds of content to use when you combine SMS and email.
- 8 tips for creating a unified SMS + email strategy.
- The long-term benefits your brand can achieve when combining these two channels.
Discover how this power duo can maximize your results.
CONTENT MARKETING
How to turn complex topics into easy-to-digest content
Ever had someone talk to you about a complex topic… and felt like they were speaking Klingon?
It’s frustrating!
So if you’re creating content about a complex topic for customers, don’t be that person.
Sarah L. Parker offers a few ideas for turning complex topics into content that your audience will understand.
Let’s take a look…
Understand your audience’s knowledge level: If you’re writing about a highly technical subject to a lay audience, then you need to keep it simple.
But if you’re writing for an audience of specialists, they will think that you don’t own the subject if you are too basic.
Match your language with the knowledge level of your audience.
Understand the topic: This is a basic concept, but often overlooked. If you don’t know the topic you’re creating content about, it will be hard to educate your audience about it.
There are two techniques you can follow here:
- Explain your topic to a rubber duck. It sounds stupid, but it will force your brain to “dumb it down,” to make the language understandable to everybody. And this will reveal flaws in your own understanding of the topic.
- Visualize your topic with a concept map. Arrows and diagrams will help you better visualize the topic, its steps or processes, and more.
Learn the topic straight from the source, then turn it into a story: The best way to learn about a complex topic is to consult with subject matter experts. You can ask them questions and get clear explanations.
Once you’re done, it’s time to turn their knowledge into a story your audience understands.
Use testimonials, case studies, and customers’ hero journey stories to create compelling content.
And there you are. Simple, right?
SPONSORED BY CHILI PIPER
10,522 B2B marketers read this newsletter to hone their skills
Would you like to know the latest and most effective B2B marketing tactics to drive pipeline?
The Sauce newsletter by Chili Piper sends zesty tips, insights, and inspiration to the inboxes of more than 10,500 savvy marketers twice a month.
It’s short. It’s fun. And it’s actionable.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Don’t make this mistake with Google Reviews
This is for all of you who run a local business or do marketing for local businesses.
In case you didn’t know already…
Google’s review filter is getting stricter.
So it’s easier than ever to do the wrong thing and get your Google Reviews hidden.
A good example of this? Writing reviews from the same IP address.
We know… it’s hard to see why Google doesn’t like this. After all, it’s not like you’re not writing fake reviews from your basement, you know?
Well, kinda.
For many businesses, your best shot at getting a customer review is asking them on the spot.
But if all of those customers are sending reviews from the same building and WiFi network—like from a hotel lobby, for example—Google may flag these reviews and hide them.
So keep chasing those sweet, sweet five-star reviews… just don’t ask customers to do it from your store or lobby.
P.S. This is a bite-sized insight from our Deep Dive on fresh growth hacks. You can get the complete list of growth hacks here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
BUSINESS: Get smarter and thrive in conversation with the #1 visual newsletter from Chartr. Join 230,000+ who love snackable charts and easy-to-remember data insights on business, tech, entertainment and society. Sign up for free today.*
GOOGLE: A double-edged sword? Google is now showing customers the pros and cons in search result snippets. Sounds like ranking and click-throughs may have gotten a little harder…
SEARCH: Will retail search beat paid advertising in the long run? Amazon Ads already caught up with Google and Meta advertising… Other online marketplaces could be next.
BUSINESS: Rising prices won’t stop people from celebrating the 4th of July… but it may prevent them from spending big. The most eager spenders? Younger generations. Time to oil up the good old TikTok ad machine.
TWITTER: How do you know what makes a carousel ad successful? Twitter recently published a guide that may come in handy. Like we’ve said before, if you want good ad tips, it can help to listen to platforms…
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?
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.
Too cute to be dinner
It sounds like the beginning of a horror flick…
An eagle snatched a baby hawk and brought him to feed its hungry eaglets.
But when the eagles stood over him, the adorable hawk made a sound to let them know… he was hungry too!
His sound triggered the mother eagle’s parental instinct and made her think he was one of her own.
The hawk was last seen playing and eating together with its new eagle siblings.
If Pixar makes a movie based on this story, we’d totally watch it.