MICROSOFT
Coming soon: Managing multiple ad channels from Microsoft Ads’ dashboard
Your campaigns may be smart…
But are they “running ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Google from Microsoft’s dashboard” smart?
Is this… synergy? The new Smart Campaigns feature will help you run ads across all four advertising platforms from a single interface.
Microsoft says their AI will “automatically optimize budget for best performance from across all these platforms.”
Who can use it: The feature is currently available only to a select few advertisers. But if you want to test it out, you can sign up for early access here.
That’s not all: Microsoft rolled out Smart Campaign tools that can help you…
- Build a brand new website from scratch.
- Generate a website from your Facebook’s business page.
- Use social media tools to schedule posts across platforms.
- Respond to your customers across different channels including Twitter and LinkedIn.
For now, the tools will be free to use. Marketers would only pay for ad spend.
Why we care: Having a centralized interface for all your advertising channels seems ambitious and exciting. We’re curious to see how Microsoft will fare.
It will also be interesting to see how Microsoft’s AI optimizes budgets across different platforms.
And while we’re on the topic of ads…
New examples of invalid ad traffic, plus additional updates
Behind-screen pop-up ads? Invalid. Hidden ads? Invalid.
Google has been flagging these and other tactics so advertisers don’t have to pay for no-intent engagement.
That’s helpful: And now the company just revamped their Traffic Quality website with more examples of invalid traffic, along with animations to help you visualize the examples.
Why we care: Even if you think all your methods are “white hat,” make sure you check the invalid traffic recommendations.
No sense in running ads that aren’t profitable!
Oh, Google also dropped another Analytics update: You can now see a Recommendations section at the top of standard reports, giving you actionable tips for improving your data and marketing.
… And there are fresh data metrics in Google Ads: You’ll find them under the new “Setup” section, including number of eligible images, number of eligible details, and six more.
That’s enough Google updates for one day, no?
SPONSORED BY PAVED
Scale your sales with this advertising channel without risking a single dollar
The stats are out!
Based on research from Sharethrough, native ads have an 18% higher lift in purchase intent than display ads.
And when you mix native ad units with highly engaged audiences, you get click-through rates that are 10x higher than display and 3x higher than social.
In short, this is what you get with newsletter advertising.
And with Paved’s advanced technology, you can try out this ad channel without wasting a single dollar.
Here’s how:
- You can reach millions of people with a single campaign. One single ad gets published in different newsletters, which gives you…
- Full control over your budget. You decide the maximum CPC you want to pay and how often a user sees your ad.
- Plus, you can target users by newsletter content, job title, location, demographics, and more.
… Aaaand, you’re also getting $150 in advertising credit to start you off.
E-COMMERCE
How you can use loss leader pricing to boost the average order value for your store
Have you ever thought about pricing some of your products lower than market value?
Wait… wait… what?
It sounds crazy, we know. But store owners often price their products low so they can attract customers and upsell products which pay off the low-priced product.
This is called loss leader pricing.
And it’s a strategy you can use to boost your store’s average order value (AOV), compensate for the loss, and acquire customers who stick around.
Shopify recently published an article that contains notable examples of loss leaders:
- Holiday deals. Think Black Friday, Christmas, and similar event discounts that store owners use to attract you to their store instead of their competitors’.
- Electronics. Gaming consoles are loss leaders. Equipment and games are the upsell.
- New brands use loss leaders to establish their presence in a crowded market.
Shopify also provides tips on how you can use loss leaders to grow your own brand or business:
Use excess inventory. If there’s low demand for a particular product, you can use that product as a loss leader.
You can empty your stock and use that product to cross-sell and upsell other items—or acquire customer data you can later use for retention.
Sell consumables and replacement parts. Gillette is fine with selling razor handles at a low cost because they know they can get you to buy replacement parts at a higher profit margin.
If you know customers will come for necessary consumables, sell your main product parts for cheap.
Use product page recommendations. E-commerce stores use this tactic often.
Sell one product for a lower price, but then use recommendation and upsell apps to suggest complementary products to boost AOV.
Analyze your business. Sometimes you can sacrifice a bit of cash to get a lot of data. Loss leaders will boost customer activity in your store and give you more insight on their behavior.
You can then use this insight to optimize your ads and website for more conversions.
Intrigued? Now may be a good time to experiment with lower prices so you can start making a bigger profit… as strange as that sounds.
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This is a full immersion event where 250 DTC killers will show you their customer retention strategies to help you prepare the best for the biggest sales season of the year.
Join Princess Polly, Liquid Death, Brumate, Love Wellness, and True Classic Tees for 3 days of workshops, networking, giveaways, and boozy brunches.
Save your spot at the DTCx Retain event.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Creative writing techniques you can use when you write copy
Recently, we featured a piece of creative writing advice from Brandon Sanderson and explained how you can use it in your marketing.
Turns out, there’s a lot more that copywriters can learn from novelists.
So today, let’s talk about approach. In the creative writing world, there are generally two types of people:
- Gardeners, also called “discovery writers.” These writers perform best when they don’t plan too far in advance. They start with a few seeds, watch them grow, and finetune during revisions.
- Architects. These are people who write best when they’ve written a whole outline for their story before they’ve begun. Architects spend lots of time on their outlines, story, and characters before they put a word on the page.
Most marketers aren’t familiar with these terms, and even fewer have experimented with both.
This is unfortunate, because like writing a novel, writing ad copy is somewhere between an art and a science.
And, if you’re not using the right approach, you could be missing out on some of your best work.
Try this: Write one campaign—be it an email series, landing pages, or anything else—using the “Gardener” method.
Don’t plan before you write, don’t write down a big list of value props, don’t create any fancy spreadsheets.
Just sit down, write, and write. See what happens.
Then, the next time you sit down to write a campaign, use the “Architect” method.
Write and format everything in advance: Customer personas, value props, all that sort of stuff.
Then, evaluate. Which approach felt better? Which produced a better result?
This’ll help you figure out what type of writer you are—and help you write better copy as a result.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
EMAIL MARKETING: We partnered with Chase Dimond to share three money-making email campaigns with our Stacked Marketer Pro members every Thursday. You’ll get design and copy ideas, magnetic subject lines, and profitable segments. Swipe them now.*
BUSINESS: Glass half… full? Shipping rates are falling worldwide along with the demand for goods. That might be bad news for the economy, but it could also offer a short term boost for merchants that pay a lot for shipping.
TWITTER: Elon Musk is not the only one wondering about Twitter bots. Similarweb conducted in-depth research of their own. Their takeaway? The number of bots may be small, but the amount of content they generate can be significant.
META: Trying to bump the performance of your Reel ads? Meta published a new Instagram Reels ad strategy guide for the attendees of the House of Instagram event. And Matt Navarra uploaded it on LinkedIn. Nice find, uh?
SNAPCHAT: How do you kick-start growth of your social platform? Simple… By onboarding 30 and 40-year-olds. At least, that’s the plan Snap CEO Evan Spiegel laid out in a memo to employees this week.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
When you need me, you throw me away. But when you’re done with me, you bring me back.
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.
Wanna gravy wrestle?
Forget about WrestleMania and WWE… Here, it’s all about the gravy.
Yes, The World Gravy Wrestling Championship exists. It takes place in England, and it’s back after a two year break.
According to the hosts, “people come from far and wide” to watch or participate in the event.
Oh, and all proceedings from the event go to charity, which makes gravy wrestling more appetizing.
Bonus: There’s a feast afterward. And no, the competition gravy is not included in the menu.