ADVERTISING
The not-so-surprising threat to television ads
If Fantastic Four devoured ad dollars instead of battling Doctor Doom, their members would be Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta.
According to tech firm Omidia, these four tech giants will be responsible for 68% of the $500B ad revenue made by companies outside of China.
Biting into TV’s ad share: Video ad campaigns are the fastest-growing area in online advertising, as Google and Meta have become much bigger than any TV broadcaster.
With the big tech companies competing for the same market share as broadcasters, it’s no surprise that Disney and NBC launched their streaming sites and ad-buying platforms.
But nobody is safe, not even the big four.
There’s a chance TikTok may surpass Meta’s and YouTube’s combined advertising revenue, potentially making TikTok the default video entertainment medium in the future.
Why we care: Short videos appear to be the future of video advertising, so you should probably start gearing up for video production.
And with streaming platforms making it easier for smaller businesses to advertise on TV, now’s a good time to test your ads on less popular channels.
Oh, and while we’re on the topic of production…
PODCASTS
YouTube wants to help you craft the perfect podcast strategy
Remember: even Joe Rogan started from the bottom.
If you’re marketing or launching a podcast, you’ll appreciate YouTube’s podcasting guide, which covers best practices in addition to what has been working best on the platform.
From soup to nuts to headphones: The 67-page guide takes you from creating a niche brand to standing out once you’re already established.
The main categories include:
- Content strategy – planning, packaging, publishing, and promotion.
- Channel strategy – channel management and frequently asked questions.
- Content creation – different formats, logistics, essential tips, and more.
It also offers tips for understanding content performance in analytics, and using formats such as Stories and Shorts to boost your reach and visibility organically.
Why we care: Niche podcasts are marketable and relatively underused channels for growing an audience, amassing first-party data, and monetizing subscribers.
And this is one of the most thorough guides on the subject yet – and straight from a big platform. Definitely worth skimming.
SPONSORED BY FLIPPA
How much is your business worth? Find it out in 3 minutes
Fun fact A: Over $1B worth of online businesses has been sold through Flippa.
Fun fact B: Flippa is the largest marketplace for buying, selling, and investing in sites, stores, apps, and online businesses.
Flippa can give you a precise evaluation of yours.
… And it’s quick and free.
Flippa compares your business to 20,000 historical assets and business sales. It looks at business model, category, age, and other factors. And it considers how many buyers are interested in businesses like yours.
Within a few minutes, you’ll learn how much you can get from selling your company.
And if you decide to head for the exit, you can cash out quickly: 30,000 new buyers join Flippa every month and their community has over $50 billion in purchasing power.
All About Cookies was acquired for a 7.8x net profit of $5.24M after being on sale for just four months!
Discover how much your business is worth in minutes.
ADVERTISING
Organize your Amazon account with this simple folder structure
Truth bomb incoming…
If you’re running an Amazon Ads account—or multiple accounts—and your files look like Taz from Looney Tunes has just blasted through your folders… you’re in trouble.
Navigating through ad folders as clients pile up can become overwhelming and impossibly time-consuming.
And it’s nearly impossible to track the changes you make over time.
That’s why we like the organized account folder hierarchy Elizabeth Greene recommends.
Based on Elizabeth’s framework, each account folder should contain three parent categories:
- Advertising reports folder with Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display, and Sponsored Brands subtopics.
- Bulk files folder with New Bids, Account Changes, New Campaigns, and Negative Keyboards subtopics.
- Advertising creatives folder where you keep client’s creative assets separated by Logo, Images, and Videos.
It might not look much, but having a clear framework helps you scale your business and later delegate the same tasks to someone else.
It’s all about the system, after all.
Of course, this simple hierarchy could be a foundation for more complex structure, depending on the scope of your work.
Remember, the better your system, the better your performance. And key to a good system to work is a good organizational structure. Good luck!
SPONSORED BY EVADAV
The antidote to high CPCs
Advertisers swear by the In-Page ad format (banners that appear in front of users while they’re browsing).
Why? Because In-Page ads aren’t subject to browser regulations, and they increase traffic and ROI.
EvaDav recently put this ad format on steroids with custom styles and minimal-involvement scalability. Custom styles make the banners blend in more, which leads to higher CTR and conversion rates.
Check out the results for yourself.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
The branding principle that successful companies follow
Branding.
It seems like a wildcard in marketing. Some people put lots of weight on it, others don’t.
In general, though, there’s a tendency among mediocre brands to hire an agency, figure out their “brand identity,” and etch it in stone.
Marketers often stick with this initial branding exercise for years and years, even when their businesses change substantially.
Successful brands like Morning Brew don’t do this. Here’s a quick story:
- Morning Brew started out as a finance newsletter called “The Market Corner.” Their logo was a bull and a bear dancing. While this worked, it was hyper-focused on finance people, especially students.
- As they grew, they changed their visual and written identity. The Morning Brew you know today has mass appeal, a wonderful name, and a simple logo: a coffee cup with an arrow going up.
It’s not just Morning Brew: Most successful brands completely overhaul their brand identity as they grow.
There’s a good chance that what worked when you started isn’t the best branding to be using today.
Don’t be too hard on your first branding assets and positioning. Instead, just iterate and evolve.
Plus: Early on, good branding often follows an MVP-like framework, meaning that you don’t need much more than the basics to get running.
Your typography, color scheme, and logo aren’t likely to make or break your business.
So if it’s not perfect, that’s OK. Just make sure to be flexible as you grow to the point where you can pay a design team to improve the work you did on three Red Bulls at 2 a.m.
Speaking of growth… want to get your hands on our deep dive into Morning Brew’s marketing and business model? Read it in Stacked Marketer Pro.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
GROWTH: Noah Kagan was employee #30 at Facebook. After he left, he built AppSumo into a $100M+ yearly business. This Black Friday, for just $1, Noah’s course will teach you everything you need to build a $1,000/month business. Get the course here.*
E-COMMERCE: So you’re ready for Black Friday. What about Secondhand Sunday? Poshmark—one of the biggest second hand online stores—has announced a holiday taking place on November 27 to promote thrift shopping. Yikes, more Q4 campaigns…
SEO: Believe it or not, guest posting is very much alive… at least according to the 44% of participants in a recent Twitter poll who claim to still do it. Hey, as long as it works!
MARKETING: Can science help you sell cookies? This interesting report suggests you make use of different marketing approaches to sell different items. Small teaser – the less you appeal to rationale, the better.
BUSINESS: Are those pound sterlings in their eyes? The UK government banked £360M—or $434M—through the Digital Services tax it imposed on US tech giants. That’s 30% more revenue than predicted! Guess taxing Google, Amazon, and Apple 2% of their gross revenue pays off…
*This is a sponsored post
BRAIN TEASER
What can be touched but can’t be seen?
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.
“We won against Argentina” is now a holiday
It’s been a festive couple of days for people in the Arabian Peninsula.
Because it’s not every day you beat Argentina’s soccer team, spearheaded by Lionel Messi on the biggest possible stage and against all odds—which is exactly what Saudi Arabia did.
To make the unbelievable feat history, Saudi Arabia declared yesterday a public holiday for both public and private sector.
And on Saturday, Saudi Arabia will face Poland for the chance to pass to Round 16. A new public holiday incoming?