Paid Ads Highlights August 6-13

Hey! Welcome to our latest newsletter, a curated blend of the latest news in digital marketing, coupled with insights from top thought leaders on LinkedIn.

Before we jump in:

Not sure about your current Paids Ads performance? Let us audit your accounts for free.

DERU Digital is a marketing agency that helps businesses grow their revenue with PPC and Paid Social.

https://www.derudigital.com/

WHAT'S NEW IN THE INDUSTRY

Google Analytics 4 Enhances Reporting Filters with Match Types

Google Analytics 4 has introduced match types to its reports, offering filters such as 'begins with', 'exactly matches', and 'regex'. These filters allow users to gain more refined insights from their reports by focusing only on the data they deem important. Google emphasizes that these filters simplify data interpretation, making it easier to spot trends and make decisions.

TikTok Adapts Ad Features to Comply with EU Regulations

TikTok is overhauling its advertising products to meet the European Union's Digital Services Act requirements, set to take effect by August 28. Significant changes include a reduction in targeted advertising capabilities, removal of ads violating its policies, and enhanced user reporting options. Specifically, teenagers (13-17) in Europe won't receive personalized ads based on their activities, and the platform will increase transparency about its content moderation decisions.

Yelp's Ad Revenue Jumps 14% Amidst Marketer Shift to Performance Marketing

Yelp has experienced a promising surge in ad revenue, reporting a 14% increase year-on-year for Q2 2023, leading to a total net revenue of $337 million. This growth, surpassing predictions, indicates a revival of trust in the digital marketing sector after a previous economic downturn. Key reasons for this surge include a rise in cost per click and a notable shift among marketers from brand advertising to performance marketing, which offers a more direct ROI measurement.

Generative AI Gets Its Own Name: CHERPs

Generative AI experiences are evolving, and with them, the terminology to describe their outputs. While traditional search results are called SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), the output from chat experiences hasn't had a clear name. Introducing the term "CHERP", which stands for Chat Experience Result Page. This term aims to differentiate between traditional search results and the results produced by generative AI, like Google’s Search Generative Experience and Bing's new offerings. As the landscape of search and chat experiences continues to evolve, the language we use must also adapt.

Google Ads Unveils New Features for the Holiday Season

Ahead of the holiday shopping season, Google Ads is launching a series of new features designed to provide deeper insights and improve efficiencies for digital marketers. These include enhanced insights on the product page regarding issues like stock inventory and high bidding targets, a reduction in onboarding time for local inventory ads, and a new local store unit ad format. Additionally, marketers can now quantify the impact of online-only bidding versus Smart Bidding for store visits with new A/B experiments. The update also brings expanded access to the Search top slot with an interactive ad format catering to local shopping intent. The aim is to empower businesses with AI-driven tools to better understand and engage their customers.

Google Proposes AI Training Access to All Online Content

Google has approached the Australian government with a proposal that suggests altering current copyright laws to let AI mine all digital content, except when publishers choose to opt-out. This change would shift responsibility to brands and publishers to block AI from accessing their content, raising concerns of competitors generating similar content without repercussions. Google's proposal includes discussions on establishing a community-developed web standard akin to the robots.txt system, which allows publishers to prevent search engines from crawling their content.

X (Formerly Twitter) Introduces Safety Measures for Advertisers

X, previously known as Twitter, has announced two new features, Sensitivity Settings and Enhanced Blocklist, aimed at bolstering brand safety and control for advertisers. These tools, scheduled for release in X Ads Manager over the next weeks, enhance the placement of ads by using machine learning to assess content suitability and blocking specified keywords. The new features are part of X's ongoing commitment to provide advertisers with more control, transparency, and brand safety.

Major Update to Google’s Performance Max Best Practices Guide

Google has unveiled substantial updates to its Performance Max Best Practice Guide. The revised guide offers strategies and advice to retail marketers on optimizing campaigns and enhancing conversions. It includes insights on the benefits of transitioning from Standard Shopping campaigns to PMax, tools like A/B testing, Performance Planner, and recommendations on budget planning, seasonal actions, campaign consolidation, and reaching high-value customers. The update also introduces new reporting features and metrics to aid marketers in their strategies.

Google Introduces QR Codes to Sponsored Ads

Google Ads is currently trialing QR code extensions for its sponsored advertisements. When scanned, these QR codes allow consumers to instantly contact the brand or business being advertised. Alongside this, Google is also experimenting with displaying three images across ads, up from the current one.

Lyft Introduces In-App Advertising

Ride-hailing service Lyft is now presenting ads within its app, visible to users from the moment they open the app to their drop-off point. These ads are based on data such as payment methods, ride histories, and user lifestyles. This introduction follows a successful advertising revenue surge for Lyft, and a similar move by competitor, Uber.

11 Must-Have Free Tools for PPC Campaigns

Digital marketers have a plethora of free tools to enhance their PPC campaign management. Notable tools include Google Ads Transparency Center for viewing competitors' ads, Facebook Ads Library to check ads across Meta platforms, and Google Trends for tracking keyword popularity. Other free tools worth exploring are Glimpse, SpyFu, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, Answer the Public, Ahrefs, Canva, and Microsoft Clarity.

INSIGHTS FROM EXPERTS ON LINKEDIN

Maximizing B2B Ads for New Customers by Erik McKinnon

Erik MacKinnon suggests B2B marketers redirect a portion of their new contract budgets to LinkedIn Ads targeting their new customers. Depending on the company size, marketers should either target the entire company or specific roles. The goals are to boost product adoption, ensure customer success, and facilitate account expansion. Metrics to track include changes in churn, adoption, and expansion revenue.

The Essence of Google Ads: Intent Over Volume by Justin Rowe

Justin Rowe , after investing over $142,000 in Google Ads, underscores the importance of targeting ads based on user intent rather than mere lead or traffic volume. He urges startup leaders to ensure the search phrases align with their business priorities, emphasizing that the overall ad strategy should be comprehensible and closely linked with the overarching business strategy.

Why B2B SaaS Paid Search Results Might Be Declining by Roman Krs

Roman Krs points out a common pitfall in B2B SaaS paid search campaigns: prioritizing volume and lower CPA can inadvertently lead to a drop in the quality of leads over time. He recommends revisiting investment in top regions, analyzing top-performing keywords, being wary of broad match campaigns, and ensuring device-specific targeting to maintain lead quality. Periodic reviews and trend analyses can help in better budget allocation and improved results.\

Andrei Zinkevich on Crafting a Joint Marketing and Sales Playbook

???? Andrei Zinkevich breaks down a five-step process to create a cohesive marketing and sales playbook. He emphasizes starting with a clear definition of campaign types, goals, and objectives based on sales feedback. The process involves assigning responsibilities, defining positive indicators of success, and ensuring there's enough time to evaluate the playbook's efficacy before making judgments.

Xan Mannekens Explores the Power of Static Images in LinkedIn Advertising

Xan Mannekens highlights the enduring power of static images on LinkedIn Advertising amidst the surge in popularity of video and animated content. To stand out, advertisers should avoid generic stock photos, craft a compelling narrative, utilize data effectively, and be bold in their design choices. Thoughtfully designed static visuals can resonate with audiences and create strong brand connections.

Floris de Schrijver's Insights on Google's Smart Bidding Optimization

???? Floris de Schrijver shares insights into the intricacies of Google's smart bidding algorithm. Contrary to popular belief, Google doesn't only prioritize best-performing products and keywords but also allocates impressions to test other audiences and placements. By segmenting campaigns based on performance data, advertisers can guide the algorithm to allocate more budget to top-performers, potentially improving overall results.

Cassidy Shield Explores Demand Creation in Marketing

Cassidy Shield challenges the notion that demand cannot be created, asserting that it is the most critical role of marketing. He uses Nike as an example, highlighting how the brand invests heavily in "Demand Creation Expense" to build desire for their products. Shield underscores that creating demand isn't just about tangible products; it's essential for B2B products and services too, and a CMO's success hinges on their ability to effectively generate demand.

Gauthier Gallin Shares How to Boost B2B SaaS Demo Requests

Gauthier Gallin details the methods his team used to achieve a 50% increase in demo requests for a B2B SaaS company in just two months. He offers insights into optimizing metrics, the importance of conversion tracking, and how to structure campaigns effectively. Gallin also emphasizes the significance of crafting robust remarketing campaigns.

Blake Strozyk on Building an Effective B2B Paid Media Program

Blake Strozyk delves into the challenges of developing a B2B paid media program without enough initial data. He stresses the importance of reaching certain milestones, like qualified demo requests and deals from paid campaigns, to get a clearer picture of the program's ROI. Strozyk also provides pointers, such as understanding customer acquisition costs and knowing your customer's preferences, to guide the program's direction and gauge its efficiency over time.

Reviving Your PPC Account with Jared Platero's Quick Wins

Jared Platero offers strategic advice for those facing low click-through rates (CTR) and conversions in their Google Ads accounts. He suggests optimizing by pruning irrelevant queries, refining location targeting, excluding low-converting keywords, crafting relevant ad copy, and leveraging extensions. These changes, Platero emphasizes, can rejuvenate a languishing account and make the most of your marketing budget.

Vladimir Blagojevi? on Aligning CTA with Buyer Intent

Vladimir Blagojevi? underscores the importance of matching calls to action (CTA) with a buyer's intent. He breaks down buyer intent into three levels: low, medium, and high. For each level, he recommends actionable steps: e.g., connecting with those who've downloaded content or registered for webinars, offering personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts, and engaging in 1-1 interactions with buying committee members. Blagojevi? concludes by noting a majority of B2B buyers find their purchasing experiences unsatisfactory, suggesting brands can differentiate themselves with improved buying journeys.

And that's all for this week! Hope you find this valuable. Please share this newsletter with people who you think would benefit from it!

#ppc?#paidads?#demandgeneration?#demandcapture?#googleads?#linkedinads?#facebookads?#twitterads?#microsoftads?#b2b?#b2bmarketing?#twitterads?#brand?#paidstrategy?#marketingstrategy?#paidtips