💡 Analogies.

New UTM parameters for Google Analytics 4. Three powerful analogies for your copywriting. March 4, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning. If you’ve already watched Tinder Swindler, we want to let you know there’s an agency version of it. More details in the Poolside Chat at the end of this newsletter. Now let’s dive into the marketing news before we head into the weekend. GOOGLE Google Analytics has added new UTM parameters for the first time in over a decade [article-image] We’ve all heard the quote: “You can’t improve what you don’t measure”. So any time a major platform releases something that allows us to measure more things, we take notice. Google is adding 3 new UTM parameters to Google Analytics 4. This is happening for the first time in ~15 years, according to Charles Farina, [who first noticed the change](. The UTM parameters are: utm_source_platform, utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic. Google hasn't yet created comprehensive documentation for those parameters, though the API documentation states that an upcoming feature launch for these [is on the way](, along with examples on how to use them. E-COMMERCE “Buy Now, Pay Later” is on the rise People are getting used to not paying upfront. Klarna, [the world's largest BNPL]( (buy now, pay later) provider, [has reported]( their full-year results for 2021. Here are a few juicy stats: - Users: Klarna now has 147 million active consumers, up from 87 millions the year before. 25 million of those consumers are in the US. - Klarna’s gross-merchandise volume has increased by 42% over the previous year to $80 billion. Why we care: As more and more people use BNPL as a payment method, the more they'll expect your business to accept it. Currently, providers like Shopify offer a [BNPL option]( via Affirm. BNPL is not widely used for software and digital products, but we anticipate that this will change dramatically by 2022. By the way, if you want to see how a BNPL company like Affirm does its marketing, we did a deep dive on it recently for our Insights membership. Check out the [free preview here](. SPONSORED BY ACTIVE CAMPAIGN The difference between an epic marketing campaign and an epic fail might be this strategy template [article-image]( It’s one thing to be a walking library of marketing principles and strategies. But being able to correctly apply those strategies and principles to grow a business is another ball game. And poor execution can be disastrous: Wasted spend, zero added revenue, spinning your wheels endlessly. [ActiveCampaign created a free template]( to help you put an effective marketing strategy into practice for your business. But it won’t just help you create your strategy. It helps get your marketing organized. Once you [fill in the template](, it will be easy to move quickly from template to action with a plan that’s easy to follow and everyone on the team understands. And more importantly, it will help you get more of your ideal customers. This is available for free to download [right here](. [Grab this free template and crush your marketing goal.]( META ADS Are you using bid caps for Meta Ads the wrong way? [article-image] Here’s something we thought could be helpful for someone running Meta Ads (or should we still call them Facebook Ads?) [According to Maurice Rahmey](, most people misuse bid caps because they don’t really understand how they work. The common belief is that bid caps help you maintain your CPA goal. The real objective of bid caps is to help maximize your conversions at your CPA on unlimited spend. And the confusion is also present for lowest cost bidding. Many media buyers assume this bid means Facebook will try to get the most amount of conversions at the lowest cost possible. But with lowest cost bidding, Facebook tries to get you as many conversions as it can, while spending your budget in full and evenly throughout the day. This can come with a disadvantage: If for instance, at 10 AM the CPA is the lowest, Facebook won’t maximize conversions and spend more budget, because it will try to spread the spend evenly throughout the day. Maurice Rahmey suggests doing manual bidding at an inflated budget. Here’s why. Before he was spending $28k per day with the lowest cost bidding. Then he shifted to a bid cap campaign and increased the budget to $40k/day. This is what happens with bid caps: Facebook still wants to spend the $40k throughout the day. But the bid cap puts a constraint on its ability to spend. If you’re not hitting your target CPA, Facebook won’t spend. But if at some time during the day, there is the chance to deliver your ad to more people, while hitting the target CPA, Facebook will spend more budget during that time of the day, maximizing your spend. Shifting to manual bid lowered Maurice’s CPA from $76 to $71, and allowed him to spend more budget without hurting the cost per acquisition. We’re not big on bidding tweaks because they usually make a smaller difference than a great creative and product. But this one sounds worth testing if you have higher budgets to work with. SPONSORED BY AUDIENCESCOUT Stop wasting time and money on tedious manual market research [article-image]( With AudienceScout you can instantly discover the interests and influencers for your target audience. Then you can use that info in your ads and other marketing activities. No guesswork. And no wasted time. Tell AudienceScout your business name, or the names of your competitors, and [you’ll instantly get a list of 250 interests](, competitors and potential partners or influencers, specifically for your target audience. [Get the power of AudienceScout for free.]( THE CREW'S INSIGHTS Three ways you can use powerful analogies in your copy [article-image] We did something crazy. We spent over 100 hours looking through over 3,000 landing pages to come up with the ultimate landing page copywriting deep dive for our Insights members. You can see [a free preview of the deep dive here.]( One of the powerful copywriting tactics we discovered was using analogies. So we want to share three ways you can include analogies in your own copywriting efforts. 1. Use a powerful long-lasting meme. Chuck Norris is a meme that precedes social media, and [this example]( of using his “reputation” is just awesome. It transcends generations, it gives us a laugh, and it conveys clear value. 2. Convey the results of something hard or time-consuming with the ease of something easy or fast. There are many examples of this. The whole “Shot on iPhone” campaign from Apple is an analogy of “DSLR-level camera in your pocket”. Before any photographers and videographers out there shout at us: Yes, we know the quality on the iPhone is not as good as pro cameras, but it’s good enough for the average consumer. 3. Stack several analogies, just like [this old Citroen ad](. Yes, if you have the space and creativity, you can really stack the analogies to convey the value of your product. You can see a dozen more tactics for writing good landing page copy in our [free deep dive preview here](. And if you want to get your hands on the full deep dive, [you can sign up for Insights here](. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [E-COMMERCE:]( Automatically save 100% of UGC about your brand without having to be online 24/7. Archive App is free to install and Shopify setup takes 3 minutes. Use code “STACKED200” to [save your first 200 posts for free.](* [MICROSOFT:]( You probably don’t spend all your day here but the time you do just got better. There are some exciting changes coming to Microsoft’s Advertising Editor, related to using the Microsoft Audience Network. [SEO:]( Quickly changing landscape, terms that become outdated within less than a decade… With this glossary that includes visual examples, you will be able to keep up with all the new and old elements of search results. [MARKETING:]( Working with creators is certainly a trend.. In the past year, 66% of brands spent more on creator marketing. We have a feeling this will continue… [E-COMMERCE:]( And we’re live! Livestream shopping that is. Walmart’s new livestream shows with Talkshoplive are scheduled to run through March 21st. [GOOGLE:]( Martin Splitt announced Google’s Search Central Virtual Unconference will return later this month. *This is a sponsored post. BRAIN TEASER Two very short friends, John and Jack, were living together in an apartment. Since they used to lose their apartment keys very often, they decided to leave it on top of the door frame when they leave home. In order to reach the key, John was climbing on Jack’s shoulders and thus taking it down from the frame. However, John was the taller and the heavier guy of the two. Why didn’t Jack climb on his shoulders instead? You can find the [answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT The agency you work for doesn’t exist [article-image] Welcome to the job version of the Tinder Swindler. The name of the company is Madbird and its founder is Ali Ayad. According to social media sources, Ali Ayad has worked for Nike and many other influential brands. He has an Instagram account with over 90,000 followers and was featured on an issue of GQ magazine. There’s only one problem: All of this info is fake. The Instagram account had fake followers. Nike stated that they didn’t work with any agency named Madbird. The GQ magazine feature was photoshopped. [BBC spent a full year]( investigating this unsettling story that led many people to work unpaid for this company for months. Lesson: Triple-check every claim on the internet before you decide to spend your time and money based on it. SHARING IS CARING You know what is real though? The “thank you” from us for sharing this newsletter with your marketer friends. Yes, we will send you goodies, and we would even pay for a trip to Vienna, Austria for you. Grab your referral link below and share the newsletter. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [INSIGHTS]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking [here.]( Our postal address: Spectrum IT Solutions GmbH, Canettistraße 1/Top0107, 1100 Wien, Austria