Move To A Conversational Search Engine

The theme throughout GML is the idea that AI initiatives and new innovations will supercharge the search experience. Google’s announcements show that the company is moving more toward directly integrating ads into the Search Generative Experience. The Search Generative Experience is Google’s new frontier in the AI-powered future that takes search to a whole new level as it integrates search and shopping ads.

Search will become increasingly more conversational, as Google unveiled its new concept to allow users to drill further down into their search query. The engine will remember previous search queries to supply context for subsequent queries to deliver a refined and curated result specifically for that user. Your content strategy should include multimedia assets, as the search results will showcase images and videos more seamlessly alongside text for a comprehensive experience delivered right to the user. People’s behavior will change as they ask different questions or prompts to get their answer, which will in turn continue to refine and reshape the search experience.

While AI will generate responses, it has to pull that information from somewhere. A robust content strategy is still important to delivering essential information to prospective customers. 

Creating Campaigns Using Conversational AI

Within Google’s new conversational experience, marketers will be able to build more effective search ads more quickly.

Google’s new chat experience can help you create Google Ads campaigns, including keywords, headlines, descriptions, and assets. All you have to do is respond to a prompt for a preferred landing page and describe the product or service you want to advertise. From there, Google AI will help create the necessary assets.

What’s great about this feature is that it’s completely optional. You can still rely on your in-house or agency team to write all necessary content and assets.

Performance Max Continues to Be AI-Driven

When Google first launched Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, they were designed for the AI-powered future. PMax campaigns rely on machine learning to continually showcase the right combination of assets to the right audience at the right moment along their journey. PMax will now leverage even more AI-driven tools, as generative AI will help marketers generate creatives for image and video campaigns for an even greater automated experience.

The refined asset creation process will allow brands to more easily scale their creative potential to maximize revenue and audience reach from PMax campaigns.

Throughout the 2023 holiday season, NetElixir saw that Performance Max campaigns accounted for 48% of paid search orders during Cyber 5. PMax campaigns are set to be the standard campaign structure moving forward, so having more offerings and creative options will allow for better, more personalized ads.

AI-Generated Images

Google’s new Product Studio tool allows marketers to edit, enhance, and sharpen product photos for higher-quality promotional images. Marketers can even add dynamic backgrounds — let’s say a beach or with a pet playing in the back — or remove unappealing backgrounds so the product itself pops more. 

When using AI-generated image tools, it is important to continually test image creation prompts to ensure brands are getting and using ownable imagery; as NetElixir’s Director of Marketing Keith Levitt reminds us that you don’t want the same generic backgrounds as your competition.

“Pay attention to consistency: once you find background imagery you like and that is on brand, try to capture these prompts and continue to use the same prompts so you get consistent images moving forward,” Keith continues.

To capture these brand-specific images, experiment with prompts that include your specific brand colors and use language from your brand guidelines document to align with your brand tone, look, and feel.

New Campaign Types

Google announced two new campaign types, video views and demand generation, to drive more results on YouTube.

Video view campaigns, as the name suggests, will drive the most views for your videos by combining skippable in-stream ads, in-feed ads, and Shorts ads. Video content is an increasingly vital component of your overall content marketing strategy, so more options to drive results across video campaigns is important.

Demand gen campaigns will be available across YouTube Shorts, YouTube in-stream, YouTube in-feed, Discover, and GMail to drive more conversations and expand the brand’s reach. 

Key Takeaway: The Role Of AI Continues To Expand

A crucial takeaway from GML 2023 is that the role of AI will only continue to expand. AI innovations will help digital marketers scale and grow more effectively by reaching audiences with personalized and curated content.

However, AI is only as good as the foundation of data on which it’s built — better data means more optimized assets and insights. Continue to test and experiment with AI generation and prompts to train the algorithm as well as learn for yourself what works and what doesn’t.

Use Google’s AI Essentials checklist to supercharge your Google Ads strategy. Talk with a NetElixir expert today on how to redefine your AI-first strategy.

Further Reading

• How To Optimize SEO For Future AI-Driven Search Engines
• Benefits of Google Analytics 4
• The Future of Digital Marketing

The post Google Marketing Live Recap: A Digital Marketer’s Perspective appeared first on NetElixir.

The Evolution of Search

Search marketing continues to evolve, and digital marketers must keep pace. While Google has dominated the search landscape for years now, how and where customers search is changing. From visual search, to retail marketplaces like Amazon, to platforms with video content, customers have more channels than ever with which to engage with your brand. That can impact what Google has described as the “messy middle” of a customer journey, when there’s potential for a customer to get stuck in loops of exploration and evaluation or give up on their search altogether. A thoughtful marketing strategy that unites these channels can help you funnel a customer out of that messy middle into a sale for your business.

SEO and paid search are still critical digital marketing tools, but new options are emerging to help your brand reach your high-value customers. Consumers increasingly encounter exceedingly curated content, like that on TikTok; other platforms are working to replicate the kind of algorithms that make TikTok such a success. With advancements in technology, the metaverse is slowly becoming more accessible – which means a future where the digital and real worlds mesh together is closer than you might think. Brands will need to continuously innovate and invest to learn what content and channels resonate best with their customers. Shoppers, meanwhile, will continue to explore and adopt new platforms to find what they are searching for.

The Potential of Generative AI

ChatGPT has made headlines recently, and here at NetElixir we’re already thinking about how generative AI is disrupting search. ChatGPT’s algorithms are well suited for providing specific answers to questions, with higher quality answers coming directly from higher quality questions. Traditional search engines like Google still continue to harness a wealth of data to effectively connect with potential customers and offer a range of solutions and information, but numerous ads have made search engine results pages (SERP) less user-friendly and customers will appreciate search options that help them focus on relevant results.

Other types of disruptions are already being developed. Generative AI also has the potential to elevate content creation by providing thoughtful first drafts of copy, and NetElixir’s AI-powered digital marketing platform, LXRInsights, already uses predictive analysis to help e-commerce businesses track and understand the journeys and decisions of their high-value customers. As more brands become aware of the benefits of AI-infused digital marketing, businesses will invest the vast majority of their Google Ads budgets in AI-driven modules like Performance Max for hyper targeted and automated campaigns. We will see even more personalized brand experiences, including campaigns that make automatic, real-time adjustments in response to data gathered and analyzed through AI. 

Work with NetElixir To Create Your Future of Digital Marketing Strategy

NetElixir experts stay on top of digital marketing trends, and we have been leveraging AI to inform our growth optimization strategy for years. Our proprietary LXRInsights platform offers actionable insights to optimize your customer acquisition and engagement strategy that improves your ROI and integrates with Google Ads. The future of digital marketing is quickly becoming the present, and at NetElixir, we predict trends and act accordingly, integrating new advances into our strategies to ensure we offer your brand cutting-edge techniques for connecting with your high-value customers and converting their shopping into sales.

Interested in Learning More?

Check out NetElixir’s e-book 10 Retail and Digital Trends to Watch in 2023 and contact NetElixir today to discover how we can help your e-commerce business prepare for the future of digital marketing.

Watch Udayan’s full interview with Emily Dougherty at WWD Digital Beauty Forum here:

Additional Resources:

• NetElixir’s Insights and Trends for 2023
• Deep Dive into First-Party Data: How to Collect it and Use it Responsibly
• The Importance of Trend Research in Your Marketing Strategy

The post The Future of Digital Marketing appeared first on NetElixir.

The generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has taken the digital world by storm and can fundamentally change our approach to content and marketing. We’ve entered into a brave new world and, understandably, there are a lot of questions about what ChatGPT means for the digital marketing landscape. NetElixir’s Founder and CEO, Udayan Bose, shares some of his thoughts regarding how generative AIs like ChatGPT are disrupting the search experience. And, to spark conversation that is the crux of ChatGPT’s potential, I’ve asked the chatbox to answer the same questions Udayan discussed.

NetElixir’s viewpoint on ChatGPT is to leverage the AI to generate the first draft, to stand on the shoulders of giants, as it were, to elevate our own ideas.

Read on for the starting conversation of NetElixir and ChatGPT’s perspective on the future of search.

What Is ChatGPT’s Long- and Short-Term Impact On The Paid Search Business?

In the short-term, we now have the foundation of a very smart friend who can help marketers generate content. ChatGPT will not change the need for well-written personalized content or the human element of ingenuity; instead, ChatGPT offers a massive boost in creativity and productivity by elevating the starting point of our idea generation. New creative ideas will be the key differentiating factor for agencies, determined, in part, by how they leverage ChatGPT and other generative AIs to enhance their work.

In the long-term, ChatGPT will have a massive impact on search engine results pages (SERPs). SERP has become very cluttered, feeling like a big shopping mall with ad bombardment and an endless scrollable list of options. ChatGPT can add an important more humanized, more conversational dimension to search.

How Likely Is It That ChatGPT Could Displace Current Search Engines?

It is unlikely that ChatGPT will replace search engines entirely as it only shares one answer. However, its innovation will force SERPs to go through a massive update. In fact, we could see ChatGPT create a brand new conversation funnel alongside the traditional search funnel.

The New Bing experience has already integrated ChatGPT into its algorithm for a real-time search function that could enhance the user experience. Google will need to catch up, as Bard’s recent launch has shown, to match the new order that ChatGPT has introduced. However, we don’t know what we don’t know; Google’s response to ChatGPT could add an entirely new dimension to consider and reshape the AI and search conversation once more.

Are We Seeing Ad Dollars Being Diverted To Bing? How Are Advertisers Responding?

This is Bing and Microsoft’s iPhone moment; Bing has made some very bold steps in innovations and restructuring search as more of an assistant rather than just a question and answer format. ChatGPT is not a separate model, but will most likely become more integrated into a user’s life, bringing chat, browse, and search functions to one conversation funnel.

Based on Google Trends data, we are seeing about a 33% lift in interest in Bing. In a post-ChatGPT landscape, traffic is shifting to Bing. With this shift in traffic, it is worth testing a 15-20% incremental budget on Bing to judge how Bing customers compare to Google: is there an impact on performance? Are Bing shoppers showing higher intent and are they more likely to be high-value customers? What is their purchase journey like?

For NetElixir, we will certainly test a higher spend on Bing and track Bing’s customers through our proprietary AI-powered digital marketing platform, LXRInsights, which offers predictive insights about your high-value customers. Through LXRInsights, we can share actionable insights to more effectively allocate marketing budgets and plan promotions.

What Are Your Thoughts On Google’s Bard Chatbox?

Bard is a reactionary release from Google, as Google had to provide an answer to ChatGPT. Although Bard’s live demo did not go according to plan, it is better to lose through actions than inaction. Given Google’s track record as the leading search engine, it is highly likely that they will come up with an innovative response soon that continues to change and enhance the search narrative.

ChatGPT will have an impact on Google; only time will tell how much of an impact. It will be interesting to look at the demographics of early adopters, as we know that Gen Z is more open to new technologies than their older counterparts. Monitoring new trends as they emerge will be crucial.

If OpenAI Has An AI That Others Can Use, Is This Indicative Of Commoditization Of Product?

The commoditization of product is sustainable only if there is a huge pool of marketers willing to invest in and pay for it as a successful business. Yes, everyone will use the same or similar platform, but how they use it will be the differentiating factor. What we’re looking at is the emergence of the golden period of new customer jobs to be done, as some can now be performed by or, at the very least, simplified through the use of AI.

Continued AI innovations will lead to exponential technologies that can then lead to a huge number of new jobs that we cannot even fathom right now. Brands should focus on where they can leverage the generative AI element to unlock and unleash their human creativity and ingenuity. How brands leverage this emerging technology to enhance their creative excellence and strategy will be the key differentiators in the post-ChatGPT future.

What we’re looking at is the opposite of commoditization. ChatGPT breaks commoditization, as it raises everyone’s base-level of creation. The benefits of new heights of creative excellence and new innovations outweigh the risk of commoditization.

How Is Generative AI Impacting Social Media Channels Like TikTok?

As TikTok operates as a creator economy, AI can add more generative content options into the tools creators have at their disposal. As long as the content continues to be engaging and relevant to viewers and be easy to use by the average TikTok user, it will fit seamlessly into TikTok’s platform.

However, social media needs to continually refine their safety and privacy measures to ensure they are up to par with regulations and user expectations. More power to the creators should not come at the cost of our safety. With generative AI, the line between what is real and what is not will get very blurred, so the platform and creators need to be sensitive to these implications.

Key Takeaways Regarding ChatGPT

• Think of ChatGPT as a first draft generator, which elevates the foundation of your creative starting base
• ChatGPT-powered Bing is Microsoft’s iPhone moment, with the capability of revolutionizing the chat, browse, and search experience
• Google is not going anywhere anytime soon; however, the nature of search is evolving
• It is important for digital marketers to test how new trends could impact their brand; as traffic is shifting to Bing, test what a higher ad spend on Bing brings to your business
• The search experience is evolving and we may see the emergence of a conversation-funnel, along with an improvement in the relevance of the search results within the traditional search funnel
• Human ingenuity and creative excellence will become key differentiating factors for agencies and creators alike
• Google search relies on your personal browsing history and patterns to better understand the context of your search queries and populate as many results as possible; the quality of ChatGPT’s single answer rests on the quality of the prompt

How Is NetElixir Leveraging AI?

During his discussion with our partners at BWG about ChatGPT, Udayan asked his questions to ChatGPT and used the results as a launching point to craft his full response. Using ChatGPT as a springboard for more developed, creative ideas is the perfect way to use the AI.

At NetElixir, we celebrate the combination of human ingenuity with AI-intelligence. Our AI-powered digital marketing platform, LXRInsights, leverages predictive analytics to chart the customer journeys of your high-value customers. By gaining actionable insights into your customers’ behavior, you can make more informed strategic decisions to maximize the reach and impact of your marketing dollars.

We aim to integrate ChatGPT into our LXRInsights and LXRGuide platforms to test if it can generate personalized ad copy on the fly in response to specific audience signals and brand needs.

Internally, we are categorizing our Engineering and Operations Departments to identify where we can take advantage of ChatGPT as an assistant to simplify our own jobs to be done and free up employees’ time for more strategic and creative elements.

To leverage our AI capabilities and digital marketing experts, schedule a consultation with the team now!

Future Reading

• Search Marketing Redefined
• Who Is Your High-Value Customer
• E-Commerce Trends for 2023

The post A NetElixir and ChatGPT Conversation: How Generative AI Is Disrupting Search appeared first on NetElixir.

The verb “to search” is shifting focus to the most important element of a search query: the person who is looking for an answer. However, how, when, and where people search and the results they desire will change overtime alongside expanding consumer interests, trends, behaviors, technology, and more. The power of search marketing rests in adapting to changing parameters and showing up on people’s search results at the right time, across a multitude of channels and feeds. 

What Is Search Marketing?

Search marketing is the means of gaining online traffic and brand awareness and visibility through organic and paid efforts across search engines. With the advent of Archie in 1990, the first search engine was born. Of course, since then, Google has refined and dominated the search engine landscape and has largely shaped search marketing’s trajectory. Now, however, with more unique platforms operating within their own ecosystems, search marketing needs to adapt to each unique platform.

Importance of Search Marketing

While the core nature of search marketing remains the same, the role of search engines is expanding. It is important for brands to show up wherever, whenever, and however their customers are searching online. There are tons of opportunities for brands to capitalize on search marketing to strategically promote their brand, content, and products and reach the customers that matter most.

Keeping up with the future of search marketing is crucial for e-commerce brands to continue to meet new and returning customers, deliver experiences, and succeed.

Let’s dive into how search marketing is evolving.

Types of Search Marketing

Traditionally, search marketing has been defined by two solutions, SEO and paid media. SEO helps brands organically reach the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) by building site authority, regularly posting relevant and helpful content, leveraging meta data and alt text, and so much more. Paid advertising helps brands reach the top of the SERPs ad feature through strategic keyword strategies, bidding, and placement to win out over the competition.

While SEO and paid media are as critical as ever in maintaining a strong online presence and connecting with customers, search has evolved beyond the traditional parameters.

Google

Advancements in AI and search prediction have launched us into an era of anticipatory marketing that aims to meet intent at every context, constantly engage the user, and continue to do so responsibly and at scale. Google is reimagining the search engine results page by focusing on visuals and omni-buyers. 

The modern consumer is disrupting traditional search means. With more choices and control than any other digital predecessor, the modern consumer’s path to purchase is no longer linear or neat. Google is introducing the concept of the messy middle; a recent study of theirs found that the average shopper has over 500 digital touchpoints before making a purchase.

Today’s consumer is empowered and receptive to a ton of information. Digital technologies have to transform to meet the needs and expectations of today’s consumer to thrive in the matured digital space. As marketers, we are no longer casting a wide net to see what sticks; we have the technology to bid on the most profitable customer and focus our efforts on engaging and winning the right customer. 

In current campaigns, there are three things you can control:

1. Initial campaign set up, including creatives and assets
2. The quality of audience input and signals
3. Overall end goals

AI handles the rest. 

Google’s search marketing landscape is increasingly run by AI and machine learning to serve the best ad asset combination to the right customer at the right moment. Recognizing who your target audience is and how they shop will help you structure your brand to own the search bar to better position yourself as the answer to your customers’ queries.

YouTube

A few years ago, YouTube became the world’s second largest search engine. YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month and sees more than 100 hours of videos uploaded every minute. Video is a critical element of a strong content strategy; optimizing your video content and descriptions for search is as crucial as ever to rise above the competition.

Similarly to Google, YouTube search results rank based on relevance, engagement, and quality, while also taking an individual user’s search and watch history into account. YouTube also has its own means of discoverability through recommendations in its up next and endless scroll home page.

Amazon and Marketplaces

Amazon is currently the largest search engine for products: according to eMarketer, over 61% of US consumers start their product search on Amazon. Walmart comes in third in eMarketer’s findings with 32% of U.S. consumers starting their online shopping journey with the superstore.

Adapting to Amazon’s algorithm means writing strong product descriptions, generating customer reviews, and more. The trick of Amazon and other marketplaces is that while their products appear on other search engines like Google, once a user is within their ecosystem, there are no other external ads. Having a brand presence on Amazon can be a strategic advantage to capturing a new range of audiences.

Social As Search 

Social platforms are quickly becoming new avenues of search. Gen Z is increasingly opting to turn to their social pages — and peers thereon — for answers and recommendations rather than traditional channels. TikTok, unsurprisingly, is paving the path forward for social platforms as a search engine.

TikTok

TikTok is swiftly becoming a contender in the world of search. eMarketer’s survey, previously mentioned above, found that 11% of U.S. consumers start their search on TikTok. Almost 40% of Gen Z use TikTok, Instagram, and other social media channels as a search engine, rather than Google.

Why? The human connection, endless answers, and timely content. As AdWeek puts it, “TikTok can’t be viewed as an exact search match. And that’s part of the appeal.”

How to videos, reviews of the highest-rated beauty products, and restaurant recommendations (among countless other queries) feel more authentic coming from a peer rather than an algorithm. While Google is shifting to visual search, TikTok was built for visuals as the primary content.

A search for something as simple as “nail polish” will show the latest trends in colors and style, how to create unique designs, and deep dives into personal collections. TikTok’s search results put their users in the culturally relevant moment, with controlled filters based on likes and views for a highly curated feed. The short form content of TikTok also means that creators have to share information quickly and succinctly; a user can quickly gather a lot of information from several TikToks in the time it takes to watch the average YouTube video (the breakdown: the average YouTube video is 11.7 minutes, while the optimal recommended TikTok video length is 21 to 34 seconds).

Search on TikTok is not as precise as Google, as creators have not been making content with search and optimization best practices in mind. For recommendations and the latest trends, TikTok has the answers. And, for some among the younger generation, browsing through videos is a lot more fun than reading through Google results.

The Future of Search Marketing

So where do we see the future of search marketing progressing? While trends are changing rapidly to accommodate shoppers’ behaviors, we expect a few key elements to remain steadfast throughout any future of search marketing.

Exponential Growth of AI

Within NetElixir’s dataset over the Cyber 5 2022 weekend (the days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday), Performance Max campaigns accounted for nearly 50% of Google ads. For a product that launched just ten months before the holiday season, this is a phenomenal growth story. Performance Max campaigns are highly automated, relying on machine learning to infer best asset configurations and target new audiences. 

TikTok’s AI will heavily influence other channels; already, TikTok has changed the social game. TikTok’s For You Page shares highly curated content based on each user’s individual app interactions, likes, and interests. Expect to see Meta and Google tweaking their own algorithms to follow suit and take steps to create a highly personalized search experience.

Brand Power To Build Owned Retail Media Channels

Amid stricter privacy regulations and hikes in advertising costs, more brands may consider building their own retail media channels or walled gardens. Each of these will have their own search function to facilitate user experience, reach specific customers, and grow their brand recognition and experience.

The Only Constant Is Change

The safest bet to make on search marketing is that it will continue to evolve rapidly and, often, unpredictably. Stay in constant communication with your customers to know their wants, needs, and expectations, as well as with your agency to ensure you are ahead of current trends. Adjust to what fits in with your brand style and resonates with your customers to keep everyone engaged and clicking.

NetElixir’s Search Marketing Experts

NetElixir’s high-tech and high-touch approach to digital marketing empowers brands to humanize their customer relationships and draw the line between invasive and inventive marketing. Back in 2004, we started as solely a search engine marketing agency and throughout our nearly two decades of experience, we’ve evolved with and became leaders in the digital marketing landscape. We help brands own the search bar across platforms, channels, and apps. 

Find what you’re searching for with NetElixir.

Further Reading

• ABCs Of NetElixir
• How To Collect and Use First-Party Data Responsibly
• The Importance of Trend Research In Your Marketing Strategy

The post Search Marketing Redefined appeared first on NetElixir.

Invest in the Mobile Experience

Heading into 2023, users are tied to their smartphones more than ever, and your e-commerce site needs to be easy to find and intuitive to use on a phone, wherever your customers happen to be when they search. Visual search is increasingly popular, especially among younger users, with many customers likely to use the images results on search to find the product that they want – and increasingly likely to make their purchases from their phones. High-quality, attractive product images with accurate alt-text and content with great SEO will help your site rise to the top of the rankings. Once customers have found your business, it’s important to ensure your site has quick load times and a smooth user experience (UX) on mobile.

Use Customer Feedback to Develop Content

You may not realize it, but when it comes to content creation, you already have a wealth of information available to inform your digital marketing strategy. Look to product reviews, customer feedback, and email campaigns to discover what information your current customers wish they had about your product and business and develop thoughtful, search engine-optimized answers to those questions. Your current customers will thank you and your prospective ones will find you more easily as your content helps your business rise to the top of search results.

Create Content for Multichannel

As you plan your content strategy for 2023, keep in mind the many channels with which your potential customers engage. Whether they find your brand through a search for a specific product, through a post or ad on social media, through reading a review, or directly on your site, customers are likely to research across channels to inform their decision to purchase a product. As they circle through exploration and evaluation (also known to marketers as the “messy middle” of the typical sales funnel), relevant content for every point in the funnel, with actionable next steps, will keep customers moving toward conversion. 

This doesn’t mean you need to create unique content for each phase. With Google’s August 2022 Helpful Content Update, search is becoming more focused on prioritizing human-first content over search-engine-first content. Use the same core content idea and adapt it for different media, from blog posts to videos to infographics, that work well for various channels. Exploring the same key topic from different angles can offer meaningful information for your target audience. 

Enhance Your Social Media Strategy

The social media landscape – and social media advertising – may be undergoing changes, but it’s as important as ever to meet your customers where they are by creating an engaging and seamless social commerce experience that makes it easy for users to convert to a sale. What does that mean for your business?

• Prioritize short-form video. Whether we’re talking TikTok or Reels on Instagram and Facebook, audiences are turning to short-form video not only for entertainment but also for information – and that includes organic and paid ads. Users spend five times longer looking at a video ad than a static one, and Facebook video ads on average have a lower CPC at $1.86. 
• Create engaging, native-feeling ads. It’s not enough to just put out a quick video and hope for the best. Users prefer native ads that don’t break the flow of their experience of their feeds and instead seem like organic content. Your business can take this one step further by creating authentic, immersive, and interactive augmented reality ads. These ads instruct users who click on them on how to interact with the ad and offer users an opportunity to experience your product or service. 
• Optimize for AI recommendations. TikTok has created user expectations for relevant AI-selected content based on their in-app habits. In 2023, we expect that AI-recommended posts will infiltrate Facebook feeds, and the push for more content from Pages and people that you don’t follow will give Facebook a much-needed boost. 
• Engage with customers via DMs. Brand engagement via direct messages continues to rise, and Meta is looking to feature more tools to help brands tap into this shift. Meta recently highlighted the growth in Click-To-Message ads across Messenger and WhatsApp. In 2023, marketers should expect additional ad options that align with this new form of engagement.

Take Advantage of Trends…. 

NetElixir’s trend researchers have a few ideas of what design trends we can expect in 2023:

• The retro trend will continue strong, so if it suits your brand, consider using subtle cues to the 90s and other relevant decades in your designs, including colors and fonts. 
• We’re seeing more use of realistic-looking photography that doesn’t look overproduced, as it helps brands connect with their customers on a human level. 
• Gradients will still be big in 2023, with liquid-looking gradients adding another level to this visually appealing style.
• Tap into the coming metaverse by adopting or creating the sci-fi-augmented, futuristic reality feel that comes with avatars.
• Grab attention with cinemagraphs, still photographs stitched together as a video clip or animated GIF to show very subtle movement.

…But Stay True to Your Brand

From design to strategy, brand authenticity is important to your customers. If your brand tone relates to a current trend, do make the most of it – but don’t force it. Your brand will draw attention by presenting a consistent identity that customers connect with and remember.

Leading with your brand’s values and staying true to them will continue to position your business for success. In 2022, companies like United Airlines, Keystone Light, and Miller Lite tapped into their identities and values to promote on-topic messaging that draws attention to their brand: remember UA’s commitment to carbon neutrality and other environmentally-friendly stances, Keystone Light’s focus on their rural customers’ sense of community and self-sufficiency, and Miller Lite’s emphasis on Americana. In 2023, consider how your brand can explore its own values in ways that capture the interest of potential customers. 

Work with NetElixir

Whatever your plans for 2023, NetElixir can help your business develop a digital marketing strategy that will resonate with current customers and connect with new ones. From web development to prepare for the cookieless future and make your e-commerce site more mobile-friendly, to SEO and thoughtful content creation, to engagement with trends, NetElixir’s team of experts will work with you to frame a strategy for success in the new year and beyond.  

Additional Resources

• Crafting an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
• How to Optimize Your Website With The Latest Digital Marketing Trends
• Recent Changes In Google Search Console

The post NetElixir’s Insights and Trends for 2023 appeared first on NetElixir.

Short-form Vertical Videos 

With social platforms like Tiktok and reels on Instagram, short-form video marketing is a significant trend. All you have to do is pick up your smartphone and capture a video that your users may find interesting — show behind-the-scenes of your company, spotlight your employees, or a how to tutorial. Ensure your videos are still high quality even on your smartphone.

You can also embed these videos on your website to engage users visiting your website. Add video structured data to it, and it will also be eligible for ranking in the video results on Google providing additional exposure to your content and thereby driving more users to your website.

Marketing For The Cookieless Future

Google plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome by the end of 2024. The web browser has implemented an update that prevents third-party tracking cookies by default, which will significantly impact how online ads are currently tracked and served. In such a scenario, organic channels will be crucial as it will not be impacted by third-party cookie deprecation. As long as you keep creating relevant and fresh content, organic marketing will help you continue reaching new customers and stay competitive in your industry.

Now is the time to shift your focus to SEO if you’re not already doing so. Invest your time and effort in creating valuable and engaging content around your niche and ensure the good technical health of your website to rank in the top positions on Google for relevant searches.

E-A-T Focused Marketing

E-A-T stands for a page’s expertise, authority, and trust in a subject matter. This has been a significant criterion for Google ranking since 2021 when the platform announced core updates that included a major overhaul in how content ranks on its search engines.

Having good E-A-T is essential for both search engines and users. By portraying these key characteristics, you will see improved user conversions as this provides them with a more trusted, expertise-driven experience. Showcasing your expertise could assist new users in converting and reassure them of your brand’s trustworthiness and credibility.

How to improve E-A-T?

• Add more FAQ-based content to your website. This content will not only help with your search rankings, but also aid the customer experience.
• Ensure author profiles are regularly updated, clearly visible and informative. It’s also good to specify your expertise.
• You can also have guest posts by inviting experts to provide insights.

More Direct Conversations with Customers

There has been a major shift in how brands communicate with customers. Customers are choosing to interact with brands on their terms. Brands can create more channels for their customers to reach directly through social media, online discussion forums, or chats.

You can install a live chat on your website for customers to reach you directly. Another way to show you care about your customers is to respond to reviews and customer feedback (both positive and negative feedback!). If you’re not on top of your communications, are slow to respond, or have an inconsistent message, you risk turning customers off and away.

Personalized Customer Experience

Marketing has shifted from convincing customers to buy from your company to providing a world-class customer experience that will keep them coming back. Customers expect a seamless experience from the zero moments of truth to customer service after the sale. When you focus on building a positive business culture and providing outstanding service, the marketing almost takes care of itself through your brand’s reputation.

Personalized messaging and excellent user experience plays a significant role in capturing customers online. Provide as much information as possible about your brand and the products or services you provide, which helps customers make informed decisions. To create a seamless customer experience on your website, focus on page speed, navigation, relevant content, and different payment options.

Conclusion

The digital landscape is constantly changing. Adapting current trends to fit your brand’s style, voice, and story is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage, while also staying true to your brands’ values. 

Further Reading

• What Are Core Web Vitals And How Do They Impact Your Organic Rankings?
• What The Delay Of Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Means For You
• Loyalty Programs: Why Brand Allegiance Is More Important That Ever

The post How to Optimize Your Website With The Latest Digital Marketing Trends appeared first on NetElixir.

Use the extended time as a safety net to experiment with all available options and learn what works for your brand. Here’s what marketers should still be doing so that they are ready when third-party cookies eventually deprecate:

Adopt a Test-and-Learn Approach

There is no one-size-fits-all solution that will drive results for every business. Brands need to figure out what works with their audience, brand identity, core values, and more.

Experimentation is the key to a future-proof growth strategy, as you are continually learning new best practices, what doesn’t work, and what can be improved upon. Allocate a portion of your marketing budget to test out different channels that are optimized for the cookieless future. Consider solutions like streaming platforms, connected TV, and gaming, as well as experimenting with new content or a bigger budget on channels that already perform well to maximize your results. Be sure to consider your holistic growth strategy and see how each channel fits into your customer’s overall purchase journey.

Continue to make the most of Google’s current offerings. Google’s Performance Max campaigns are a future-proof paid search campaign solution and by August and September, Shopping campaigns will transition to Performance Max. We expect that 50% of the total paid search ad budget will be assigned to Performance Max campaigns by Q4 2022 and will progressively increase to 80%+ over the next 12 months from there. It is important to test and learn what works best for your brand now, as the 2022 holiday season will rely predominantly on Performance Max campaigns. Use the rest of Q3 to compile your baseline performance, initial tests, and top-performing assets. Performance Max campaigns leverage Google’s machine learning algorithms and strong content options to promote the best ad for each customer. There are three input signals that matter for Performance Max campaigns:

1. Campaign goals
2. Campaign set up
3. Creatives (content and design assets)

A critical success factor for Performance Max campaigns is setting the right signals from the start. Google’s machine learning algorithm builds off the initial signals added to the campaign to find similar audiences who will engage with your ad. Ensure you are feeding high-quality audiences into your signals with NetElixir’s AI-driven digital marketing platform, LXRInsights. LXRInsights combines with Google Ads to fill in the gaps of identifying your high-value customers — brand loyalists who spend three to five times more than the average shopper.

Google’s actionable insights and diverse content opportunities will strengthen your paid media campaigns by finding out what makes your customers click. LXRInsights will help Google target and engage higher quality customers to sustainably and profitably grow your brand. Leveraging AI to synthesize the best ads and audiences will allow marketers more time to strategize and make better decisions based on data and results.

One of the most important tenets for the cookieless future is relying on data-driven insights for better business decisions. Only through innovation and experimentation will you drive performance that sets you apart.

Update To Google Analytics 4

There is one deadline that is not changing: Google’s choice to sunset Universal Analytics in July 2023. If you have not already upgraded to Google Analytics 4, now is the time to do so. If you’re still using Universal Analytics, you will not be able to see YoY data for 2022-2023. Every day that you don’t upgrade is a day of data lost. 

A major benefit of GA4 is its predictive analytics regarding your customer’s likely online shopping behavior. GA4 offers more accurate reporting, cross-device insights, event tracking, and more to help you glean actionable insights from your website data. More reliable insights means you can be more confident in your business decisions.

Prioritize Your Customer Relationships

Consented, first-party data is some of the most powerful data you can collect to inform your marketing strategy. While we won’t need to rely on it just yet, having first-party data collection systems in place now will acclimate your customers to sharing their information with you and give you a headstart on building stronger, more meaningful relationships. Getting data now shows initiative that you already value your customer’s privacy. And the more you learn about your customers now, the better you can personalize your messaging, sales, and products to meet their needs. 

At NetElixir, we specialize in identifying, targeting, and winning high-value customers through LXRInsights. On average, high-value customers drive 3-5x more revenue than the regular customer. By leveraging Google’s AI capabilities to find and engage shoppers who are similar to your high-value customers, you can create a sustainable customer acquisition and growth strategy. 

Brand relationships are only becoming more crucial. Sharing your values and story in an authentic and transparent way will earn you meaningful customer engagement, especially among the younger generations. In your marketing strategy, continue to respect and prioritize customer’s privacy, as that is where the e-commerce landscape and consumer sentiment is inevitably heading. Hone in on customer values and expectations so you can be sure to retain their loyalty and already have first-party data to use when the third-party cookie finally crumbles.

Conclusion

In short, the delay of third-party cookie deprecation should not change any of the cookieless strategies you had been working on. Now, you just have more time to continue testing and learning what works best for your brand so you can be more confident in your solutions for the future.

Taking the steps now to future-proof your business will help your brand navigate any and all opportunities and challenges. Google may continue to postpone third-party cookie deprecation, but it is an eventuality. Preparing for that eventuality now will help you stay ahead of the competition with a robust strategy in place. As such, NetElixir will continue to update our Cookieless Corner with freshly baked insights to keep your strategy hot and ready.

Further Reading

• Your Social Strategy For The Cookieless World
• Go Organic: Your SEO Strategy For The Cookieless World
• What Are Audio Ads?
• Loyalty Programs: Why Brand Allegiance Is More Important Than Ever

The post What The Delay Of Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Means For You appeared first on NetElixir.

A distinguishing feature of Spotify advertising that sets it apart from other streaming hubs like Amazon or Apple is its unique take on audiences. Spotify sorts its own content by genres, devices, real-time contexts, and more, which allows advertisers to serve more relevant messages to listeners. 

Why Should Your Brand Advertise on Spotify?

Amongst the different music streaming platforms, Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with over 406M users. Because listening to music or podcasts is a personal and sometimes an emotional experience, this audience is truly unique in many ways. Spotify has been able to identify just the right ‘screenless’ moments to connect with their users: curated playlists. Spotify’s personalized playlists based on individual taste, preference, and habit allows brands to share highly customized and relevant content in real-time contexts with potential customers.

Because Spotify’s algorithm inherently builds off its listeners’ unique interests, tastes, and content selection, it does not rely on third-party data. A self-sufficient and highly personalized platform is perfect for the impending cookieless future. Spotify advertising could be a new tactic in your omnichannel growth strategy to increase brand awareness and reach new top-of-funnel customers.

Spotify can help diversify top-of-funnel customer acquisition. According to Spotify, 41% of their ad-supported listeners are millennials and Gen-Z. Spotify offers an opportunity for brands to get in front of younger audiences and connect with them conversationally in their day-to-day lives. Through Spotify’s own audience and content creation, marketers can reach listeners based on their demographics, behaviors, and contexts while they stream music and podcasts. What’s more, more than half of Spotify listeners use the ad-supported version.

Spotify also creates hubs around cultural and personal moments to spotlight movements like Black History, Pride, and Female Artists. Brands whose business strategy align with social movements can find a great voice to cater to listeners who share their values. Spotify is twice as likely to be seen as trend-setting and enjoyable compared to radio.

Getting the right message to these active and open listeners can greatly help brands capture attention and interest from prospective customers.

Spotify Advertising Features

With a simple to use self-serve ad studio and free creative tools to build and produce your audio ad, campaigns can be set up in a matter of a few hours. 

On the music streaming side, ads are placed between songs. For podcasts, ads are placed at the beginning, middle, or end of the show.

Ad targeting on Spotify relates to highly personalized content and audience creation. Because ads are hosted entirely within Spotify’s app, targeting and measurement will not be affected by the third-party cookie deprecation or Apple’s iOS privacy updates. Marketers can target based on Spotify’s curated fan based, interest groups, and genres. The streaming platform reportedly has over 5000 genres in its database that include the traditional music genres, as well as others that may fit unique brands better, such as escape room, bubblegrunge, and more. Additionally, brands can leverage Spotify’s pre-made playlists that include All Out 2000s, Alternative Hip-Hop, Power Workout, and more to find their audience niche.

Spotify recently released CTA cards — clickable ads that pop up for podcasts within the Spotify app. CTA cards appear in tandem with select podcast ads for an additional visual cue that allows the listener to click to a brand’s website or relevant product page. While this does bring Spotify a smidge closer to traditional forms of advertising with visual cues and clickable content, the novelty of audio ads cannot be understated.

Social shopping integration is in the works. Through this feature, Spotify would integrate ads within an artist’s page. This could be used to highlight partnerships and influencer relationships, as well as connect brands with a specific lifestyle or mood an artist displays. In the midst of the pandemic, Spotify found that 53% of their Millennial and Gen Z listeners actively sought content from diverse creators. Getting on different creators’ platforms could go a long way to developing new customer relationships.

NetElixir’s Insights

Businesses can benefit from greater brand exposure through Spotify advertising. Spotify is a new and unique channel for brands to consider when thinking about where else they can go for top-of-funnel branding. Audio ads create more positive feelings in listeners and garner a higher retention rate. In the evolving digital future, having a presence on Spotify can open new channels and opportunities for brands.

NetElixir can help in researching brand placement moments on Spotify. Our experts can assist with omnichannel strategy and optimizing ad content that best represents your brand.

Read more about how we spiced up our client’s Spotify ads strategy!

Further Reading

• Who Is Your High-Value Customer
• Tracking and Reporting in a Cookieless World
• Digital Marketing Trends That Are Shaking Up The Industry

The post Your Introduction to Spotify Advertising appeared first on NetElixir.

Data-Driven Insights on the Changing Consumer

Everyone acknowledges that there have been major shifts in consumer behavior over the past 2+ years. Multiple trade show panels have focused on conversations around the importance of building a strong first-party data strategy to combat the cookieless future, building a tech stack to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer, and how to offer customers a seamless online-offline experience that is localized around the world.

An enormous amount of talent is currently working on how brands can use first-party data in a smarter, more effective manner. For example, Google is working to grow and scale loyalty programs, which will reward customers for sharing their data to help brands navigate the cookieless world. 

Leading with consumer insights rather than focusing solely on strategic execution will separate successful companies from their competitors. Actionable data insights will help brands better understand the evolving consumer behavior and better anticipate and serve customers’ expectations. The future of collection, as well as measurement, is consented data. 

At NetElixir, we specialize in identifying, targeting, and winning your high-value customers — brand loyalists who drive 3-5X more revenue than average customers. A successful strategy for the cookieless world relies not just on an omnichannel growth strategy, but targeting and engaging the right customers at the right touchpoint with the right message.

New Shopping Trends

Social commerce, live shopping, and the metaverse surge are emerging as new e-commerce shopping trends. Brands need to provide seamless and personalized experiences across all touchpoints — from in-store to the new metaverse reality.

Live shopping, whether conducted through a social media platform or directly through a website, is gaining momentum. Coresight Research said that 24% of live shopping viewers under the age of 45 make a purchase during the stream. Live shopping creates unique moments for customers to interact immediately with brands, influencers, and other shoppers to get to know products better.

Just as live shopping on social and other digital channels have evolved from home shopping channels like QVC, TV is seeing its next step as well. Google is pushing YouTube as the next television screen, as YouTube Live Shopping will complement livestream shopping across other channels. 

Roles are changing: keep in mind that macro-influencers drive brand awareness, but micro-influencers drive conversion. Customer relationships require consistent branding across all touchpoints and channels. Window shopping has translated to online window shopping (as nearly 70% of shopping carts are abandoned), but Google may be taking that one step further. Google is working on creating a form of window shopping from the SERP to cement a relationship between themselves and shopping.

Shoptalk conversations understandably gravitated around the metaverse. Every business is trying to figure out how the metaverse works and how to incorporate it into their brand strategy. As the metaverse evolves, shopping will too. As avatars will need to be clothed, brands have an opportunity to sell virtually to customers and further their branding to whole new worlds. NFTs driven by authenticity, creativity, and scarcity have been constantly gaining momentum and will continue to influence and impact the digital space.

Increasing Emphasis on Sustainability

Employees, customers, and regulators are pushing for transparency and authenticity when it comes to the environment. This is an urgent issue that’s shifting from a nice-to-have pushed by marketing to a critical initiative owned by everyone. Customers can tell when companies are green-washing and they will not hesitate to reject an inauthentic brand and find one that truly aligns with their values. Customers want to know how brands are supporting the environment so everything from a brand’s packaging labels to product detail pages can share the story of sustainability initiatives.

ShopTalk announced their Atlis Awards which rewards brands for their sustainability efforts. According to ShopTalk, “The retail industry has a pivotal role to play in making the world a better place by setting new standards for sustainability, customer health and wellness, and diversity and inclusion. Customers are looking for it, employees crave it, society requires it. Shoptalk wants to shine a light on the retailers and brands that are creating innovative and scalable programs, achieving high impact and measurable results, and generating awareness for their efforts so that the industry can advance.”

While a growing group of consumers is actively demanding businesses to do more, the question remains: are enough businesses doing enough? I personally am not convinced. We all need to do much more, now, to make a sizable impact.

Retail Media Networks

Marketers are moving their budgets from social and search to retail media networks, which offer a privacy-first approach to customers. Retail media networks are expanding the walled garden landscapes that will continue to arise in the cookieless future. 

While brands have the opportunity to build their own networks, larger questions loom: how many networks are too many? Will these networks be able to get the needed traffic to build and maintain long-term growth?

Conclusion

While new solutions arise amid transitional times, such as what we’re going through with the cookieless world and digital innovations, many of those solutions may not be lucrative or feasible. Innovations will continue to change the landscape in unforeseeable and unpredictable ways. And I, for one, am excited to see what comes next.

I will leave you with a quote that, despite its age, still resonates with us:

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” -Socrates

Additional Reading

• ABCs Of NetElixir
• The FACES Of Your High-Value Customers
• Not Your Average Web Development Service

The post Digital Marketing Trends That Are Shaking Up The Industry appeared first on NetElixir.

So what can you do instead to break free from the digital clutter?

The key to successful and responsible marketing is to appear in the moments when people are truly engaged, whether on or off screen. Audio ads can reach potential and returning customers who are in those engaged moments, especially away from their screen.

Introduction to Audio Advertising

Audio advertising is a type of advertising that is distributed in audio format through digital streaming platforms like digital radio, podcasts, and music apps. Spotify, Apple, and Amazon are currently the biggest players in the podcast and music streaming world.

Audio ads are gaining momentum as a screenless link between brands and their potential customers. 

Listeners typically aren’t engaged with other media when listening to podcasts, radio, or music; this means they likely won’t be distracted by other digital assets when they hear your audio ads. 

For example, 90% of podcast consumers in the U.S. prefer to listen to podcasts at home, 64% while driving, 43% at the gym, and 37% at work. While listening to podcasts at home, 59% of consumers listen while doing household chores, with 51% preferring to listen while they cook. 

According to Spotify, knowing the context in which people listen truly sets audio apart from different mediums, as people want a soundtrack for specific aspects of their lives. For example, Spotify found that 44% of their listeners create playlists for relaxing, 23% while using the internet, 25% while gaming, 25% while getting ready to go out, and so on.

Knowing the other activities your customers are doing while listening to their favorite podcast or playlist of choice can help inform brands what messaging and products are likely to drive more relevant audio ads. 

Experiment with sonic advertising to portray your brand in a new medium. Use audio ads as a top-of-the-funnel activity to increase your brand awareness and connect with potential new customers. 

Benefits of Audio Ads

Audio ads are a rising trend, especially as podcasts continue to gain popularity.

Listeners have a greater attention span for audio ads compared to other ad mediums. We know mobile and display ads have a 1-2 second window to grab consumers’ attention before they scroll or click onto the next thing. Facebook videos have an average watch time of 10 seconds. Audio ads, however, have a greatly higher completion rate: 15-second audio ads have a 91.7% completion rate, while 30-second ads have a 90.5% completion rate.

Adobe found that people have more positive feelings towards audio ads compared to other traditional forms of advertising: 52% find audio ads more engaging, 57% find them more relevant, and 51% can better recall audio ads versus other ad formats. Pandora and Adobe reports that nearly half of audio streaming listeners find audio ads less disruptive and intrusive than other forms of advertising.

Audio cues tend to stay with people longer than visual mediums. Moreover, audio can drive an 81% lift in ad recall. Think of your favorite jingles; you’d even surprise yourself by remembering an old tune from your childhood. Audio has that effect. 

Conclusions

Music and podcasts create emotional bonds that advertisers can leverage to help potential customers connect with specific products and brands. Audio ads can be targeted to highly receptive and engaged listeners.

Audio ads have a more human element than visual ads. These ads can set your brand apart and above from the noise of crowded digital landscapes like Facebook and Instagram.

Audio advertising is definitely key to creating brand awareness and a top-of-the-funnel-focused marketing approach.

Further Reading

• Spicing Up A Streaming Strategy
• The FACES of Your High-Value Customers
• Staying on Trend With The Evolution of SEO
• Modern Search: Introduction to AI and Audience

Additional Sources:

• According to Spotify Nielsen Brand Effect Benchmarks (US, April 2019)
• eMarketer
• https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/
• https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/news-and-insights/marketing-to-gen-z-on-spotify/

The post What Are Audio Ads? appeared first on NetElixir.