Google Ads is making changes to improve user privacy and automate the platform. These changes will include more robust data protection measures, increased transparency around data collection and automation technology to streamline the advertising process for both advertisers and users. Here are some of the updates that we can expect in 2023.

1. Google Ads to discontinue content targeting for Youtube conversion campaigns

One of the first and foremost things ad campaign managers do involves thinking about their audience—who they are, what their challenges look like, and how they’d benefit from a product or service.

Understanding your audience is critical, so when we are asked by the client to skip the reach portion of a media plan to allocate more budget to the parts that bring in traffic and conversions, we try to educate the client on the importance of establishing visibility with a new audience before expecting favourable action from them. 

In this ever-evolving world, gaining mindshare from your audience is essential before making your product proposition to them. That is why major mature brands like Nike and Starbucks still spend millions of dollars on brand marketing without featuring any products.

To gain mindshare, you need to be present where your audience is, at multiple frequencies, and not all of it will be directly attributed to you. 

To drive traffic to a brand’s store or app, it has to be visible across all touch points possible. 

Once you have gained recognition, you should move on to the next stage. This holds true for any e-commerce or direct-to-consumer brand.

Customer data is a key source in shaping a Data-driven marketing strategy. Finding and collecting this data is extremely challenging in today’s world, particularly in the last five years. 

In this occasionally hectic world managing and executing data-driven strategies is not child’s play. In addition, Data-driven Marketing tools are technology-dependent, making them too dynamic. At Upila, we talk about both the good and the bad, and hence it is important to discuss the challenges that every marketer faces with data-driven marketing. Let’s not waste time, cut to the chase and discuss 6 major challenges that marketers face.

Improvements in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have enabled all ad platforms to improve automation and simplify digital advertising for everyone. Google, one of the most noted advertising platforms especially for PPC campaigns has made automation its most crucial feature improvement last year, paving way for many small businesses. Google hopes to streamline all of the PPC marketing efforts with Automated Bidding.

But how helpful, Is it? Are Marketers worried about automation?

Smaller businesses and young marketers find automation the most beneficial because it simplifies PPC on the user level, whereas some marketers are very apprehensive about giving complete control to Google. They fear automation might replace their relevance in the Online Marketing sphere. Well, What do you think? Have you been using Automated bidding?  Is it a timesaver for Marketers?

To understand this better let us pit Automated bidding with Manual Bidding and learn which is the way forward in driving better ROI.

What I think about when I think about Performance Marketing: “Marketing with data and accountability!”

Imagine that every dime that you spend on marketing is tracked, calibrated and optimised to deliver measurable and tangible results for your business. Wouldn’t this be the only marketing that you would ever do? We call this act “Performance Marketing”.

The ‘Performance’ in Performance Marketing ensures that we create, distribute, optimise and manage communication so that they contribute to your business growth.

Although revenue and profit are most impacted by this practice, for holistic marketing growth, ‘Performance’ needs to be driven for all metrics that are housed inside the marketing funnel and at all stages of this funnel.

A few examples of funnel wise metrics that are worth tracking:

Top Of the Funnel (awareness): Ad reach (among your TG), Ad recall survey results (brand lift surveys) etc.

Middle Of the Funnel (consideration): Click Thru Rate (CTR), Website Sessions, Email Open rate, Email CTR, Bounce Rate, etc.

Bottom Of the Funnel (conversions): Total Conversions (leads, purchases etc.), Abandonment rate, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Avg. Order Value (AOV), Cost per Customer Acquisition (CPA), etc.

Not driving any of these metrics could leave holes in your funnel and could lead to customers dropping out of the buyer journey that you would like them to take.

Performance marketing as an approach will ensure your business or brand gets concrete results and an ROI that can steer your business in the right direction.

Marketers worldwide employ data-driven marketing as a strategy to communicate their brand and reach the right audience. It is based on audience data and information and is carried out by understanding consumer needs and behaviour to create more convincing and personalised ads that ensure better conversion.

Google Marketing Live 2022  was held last month with many new improvements and features, Marketers are eager to hear about all the new features they might come across this year. But before we discuss them let’s look at Performance Max, the major feature release of Google Marketing Live 2021.

Click-to-action (CTA) is the key to maximizing conversions. In our previous blog (CTA in Digital Marketing for online businesses), we discussed that the CTA is not relevant everywhere but adding one to a campaign makes a big difference in clicks and conversions. It motivates actions and suppresses the conjectures in decision-making for the user.

CTA makes a marketers campaign stand out in the crowded digital ad space. Maybe it is the first thing the audience finds, but ensure that it is the last piece that the audience remembers. A CTA should capture the curiosity of its audiences by having a lasting impression to keep them clinging to the purpose of the campaign.

Well the difference between the above ad banners are apparent. One calls the user to take a particular “Action”, while the other simply announces something. The “Order Online” button is the Call-To-Action here and it is a cue or direction indicator for the user to take, to progress to the next step if they are interested in what they are looking at. 

Call-to-action or CTA in Digital Marketing is in-fact a “Signboard” informing the user about what would happen ahead and also a motivation for them to perform the activity that you as the site owner desires from them. 

Now one might ask: Is it that important that we tell the user what action needs to be taken? Isn’t it always obvious?  

Well the answer to this question is an emphatic “No”; it needn’t always be obvious. And this article below will explain why it is fatal to not have a CTA accompanying your Digital Promotions, especially if this is an activity you are doing to solicit a Direct Response. 

CTA’s are also important to have on your website, especially if it is an ecommerce website or if you desire a particular action to be taken by users who visit your website or even your blog.