👮 Big tech.

Google’s new integration, how we write our sponsor ad copy, and more. March 16, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Looking good, Wednesday. [Have you shared your honest opinion]( about our referral program yet? Do that now and we’ll send you an in-depth look at how the Morning Brew team grew their newsletter from scratch. You’ll find the complete details at the end of today’s newsletter. ANALYTICS Google’s bringing the data together [article-image] Cross-channel attribution… contextualized data… Who doesn’t want more of that? What’s new: Google just released their [Search Ads 360 integration for Google Analytics 4](, which means now you’ll be able to see things like users and conversions within relevant dimensions like source, campaign, medium and default channel grouping. Take advantage: If you’re eager to start playing with this new integration, Search Engine Land has a nice [guide to linking GA4 and Search Ads 360 here.]( ADVERTISING Government pokes big tech In another round of big tech vs. government, Ireland’s fining Meta, and Brazil wants Google to comply. One of these elicited a strong reaction. The other, not so much. Google’s writing letters. In 2020 Brazil’s Congress proposed legislation to fight the spread of false information. If passed, Google would have to comply with several rules, including revealing how their systems work. Google Brazil’s president published an open letter [criticizing the legislation](. Meta, Twitter, and Mercado have also expressed concerns. Meta owes $18.6M. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission received notifications about 12 data breaches in 2018. After consulting with other European authorities, [they slapped Meta with a fine.]( $18.6M sounds like a lot of money… until you compare it with the $32.6B Meta made in ad revenue last quarter alone. Big tech continues to get hammered by governments around the world. We have a feeling it will only continue. SPONSORED BY DRIP “This is the most impressive email marketing tool I have used! And I have used them all” [article-image]( This is what some marketers think about [this full-stack email marketing platform.]( Why do they love Drip? This other review might explain it: “Drip empowered (us) to make 1.5M (dollar) in 2020” Simply put, [Drip makes more money for businesses.]( After switching to Drip, The Spice House grew their sales so much that they broke past the capacity of their warehouse. Haute Hijab made $600k in 2021 using Drip’s automated abandoned cart workflows alone. These are some reasons why this platform is so powerful: - Drip’s advanced segmentation and personalization features make it easy to build a strong relationship with your list. - Leveraging your website data, Drip learns what messages resonate better with your audience, showing them what they want, at the right moment. - Their dashboards and analytics reveal untapped segments into your list you can utilize to propel conversions. - Drip’s automations make it so your potential customers get the right message at the right time with very little effort from you. These are just some of the features that 33,000 companies leverage to make more money. [Try Drip for free, no CC required.]( CONTENT MARKETING There’s a new content marketing behemoth in the making… [article-image] Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, Canva and MasterClass. All of these content marketing juggernauts started with a single blog post, webinar or email. Now, they’re content empires. According to Foundation’s Ross Simmonds, there’s another content marketing behemoth on the rise: [Calm for Business.]( Calm is a meditation app. They recently launched “Calm for Business” with the goal of providing mental health help to organizations. Ross Simmonds believes [three key factors]( position Calm to become another content marketing beast: They’re creating backlink-driven assets. Backlinks are essential to a content empire, and Calm is creating the type of content that attracts them. Take their “Self Care Guide For HR Professionals” guide for example. It has 30 high value links driving back to it. Calm created a guide tailored to their ideal audience: HR professionals. It’s a perfect user-content fit. Calm is investing in hard-to-copy content. One of the most difficult types of content to replicate is research. The Calm team is partnering with actual PhDs and academic researchers to produce content and research that shows how successful the Calm app is at supporting people. They make click-friendly content. Not the same thing as click-baity. Click-friendly content leverages human psychology and speaks to people's emotions. Here’s a headline example from Calm for Business: “Are You Suffering From HR Burnout? Here’s How To Tell—And What To Do About It” This works because: - It calls out the target audience. - It addresses their pain points. - It promises a solution if you click. Now you might not have the same marketing budget Calm has, but [you can still learn from them](. Pick one idea and one target audience, and start building your own content empire. SPONSORED BY MOTION Get data-driven insights about what creatives are bringing you the best results [article-image]( Marketers are data-driven. Creative teams are visual. Their siloed workflows makes for difficult collaboration and wasted spend. [Enter Motion](. It’s the must-have tool in every marketer's toolbox. - Identifying key drivers of creative performance so you can quickly scale winners? Check! - Empowering your team with easy-to-digest visual reports so they don’t have to rely on spreadsheets? Check! - Real-time learnings shared with your creative teams to help their creative production process? Check and check! [Learn how industry-leading teams at VaynerCommerce, Foxwell Digital and Wpromote optimize their performance creative strategy.]( THE CREW'S INSIGHTS Questions we ask our sponsors so we can write better ads for them [article-image] Want a peek behind the curtain? When we write ads for our sponsors, we ask standardized questions that help us gather information in the quickest and most efficient way possible. No need for 20-page marketing briefs! Here are the most important questions from our advertiser onboarding. “Please summarize what your company does.” Sounds basic, but there’s a good reason for it. Sometimes it’s obvious what a company does. Sometimes it’s not. It’s always better to get the answer straight from the company. It helps us understand their language and how they want to position themselves. “How is your product better or different from your competitors?” This is basically a company’s unique selling proposition (USP). Since we often have sponsors that provide similar services, this helps us to better position each brand. “Who's your target client or ideal customer?” This helps us understand the demographics as well as the psychographics of the company’s audience. Since the main goal of our ads is to get you to click for more information, rather than to “sell,” sometimes it’s enough just to know the audience and the offer. “What's the main pain point, problem, or issue that you solve?” The pain points of an audience are the foundation of creating great hooks, headlines, angles, and more. And last but not least, we ask for a link to the landing page for each promo. We want to make sure our text and visuals don’t send a confusing message once you click out. If you write copy or run ads for your clients, we hope this helps you produce your own questions and collect detailed briefs. It certainly helps us over here! ROUNDING UP THE STACK [GOOGLE:]( There’s a new Google Analytics support page that details how and why the search giant shares data across multiple data centers and locations. Is it to avoid GDPR fines? Or to prevent getting booted from analytics? Hard to say. [MARKETING:]( First HubSpot, now Salesforce. Both companies have released AppExchange experiences, making it easier for marketers to reach customers… and even sales teams. Maybe marketing and sales will finally align. [BUSINESS:]( Slow growing. According to the National Retail Federation, retail sales are expected to grow between 6–8%. It’s better than 2021, but maybe not as high as retailers had hoped. [PINTEREST:]( Now you can post Idea Pins to Facebook and Instagram. There’s also an option to save and upload watermarked Idea Pins onto Snapchat and TikTok. [APPLE:]( Apple Pay is now available in Argentina and Peru. And if you’re in Chile, don’t worry… it’s coming soon. [TWITTER:]( Not gonna fly. As soon as Twitter rolled out a new algorithm that decided what you would see first, users slammed the update. Looks like it’s being rolled back. [GOOGLE:]( Watch out, GoDaddy. Google Domains is now fully out of beta mode and available in 26 countries. BRAIN TEASER What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, and has a bed but never sleeps? You can find the [answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT The story behind “lol” [article-image] You use “lol” in messages and texts, right? We use it all the time. And apparently, so do the French. Ever wondered how this three letter word became so ubiquitous? Or noticed that it has many meanings? [This Vice article]( goes deep into the history and development of “lol.” It’s a fascinating read… maybe more than you’ve ever wanted to know. Lol. 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