🌎 Multimedia Ads.

How to boost rankings for your e-commerce store, opportunity costs in your marketing, and more. September 14, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Happy hump day. If you’re the kind of person who gets super competitive during Scrabble or Bananagrams, make sure you read today’s Poolside Chat. … Because the dictionary just got a little fatter. Details after the news. GOOGLE Your products may get more visible on Google, plus an Ads update [article-image] Don’t use Merchant Center? Apparently Google’s OK with that. Their latest update [lets you tap into merchant listing experiences]( simply by providing product details directly on your website. No centering needed. Here, there, everywhere: Before the update, you had to drop the deets in Google’s Merchant Center feed. But now, eligibility for merchant experiences includes Shopping Knowledge panel and Popular Products, and shopping experiences in Google Images and Google Lens. That means big potential for visibility. Google also introduced new Search Console reports under a new Shopping section in the navigation bar. The report helps you see check up on website health, identifies errors, shows warnings, and other insights for boosting web performance. Oh, and there’s a Google Ads update, too: The release of [automatically applied recommendations]( should provide you with two new flexible options: - Maintain your ads: Suggesting improvements to responsive search ads, conversion tracking, redundant keywords, and more. - Grow your business: Recommending advanced optimizations such as upgrading keywords broad match, maximizing conversions with automated bidding, and more. You can learn more about the recommendations directly from the “Manage tab” in the ads manager. Aaaaand you can turn them off at any time. Why we care: The merchant listing experiences update could help your products show up in more places organically, and with richer features. Unlike some of Google’s updates, this actually sounds helpful. … And the bundled recommendations could simplify your life when it comes to ad campaign optimization. But make sure you always have one eye on performance anyway. MICROSOFT Multimedia Ads now available everywhere Those search results pages are about to get really tactile. Microsoft just announced that Multimedia Ads [are becoming available worldwide]( everywhere where Bing is available. So interactive: The new ad format is “infographic inspired” and resembles a collage of images and videos at the top of search results. When users click on an ad, it expands the right side of the page with more content. How they work: The format combines all your assets – including headlines, images, and videos – to create engaging visual ads. Right now you can serve Multimedia Ads on Bing, Yahoo, the Microsoft Audience Network, and Image Vertical. Multimedia Ads for Dynamic Search and Retail are also expected. Why we care: Multimedia Ads seems to be the most engaging advertising product from Microsoft also powered by machine learning. Could be an effective testing ground if you’re planning to allocate ad dollars to the relatively underused channel that is Microsoft. Remember: whoever tests, wins. Or something like that… SPONSORED BY ATTEST Now any marketer can do advanced market research with a few clicks [article-image]( Knowing how to do consumer research is the secret ingredient to running a successful campaign, from nailing your message to choosing the right creatives. It’s also the best way to level up your career as a marketing professional. But wait – don’t you need to be an expert to do consumer research? [Not with Attest.]( With Attest, doing quick, accurate consumer research is easy for marketers of all levels. Their platform is super intuitive, and the results are foolproof due to human and AI checks. The best part? You get unlimited guidance from a dedicated research expert so you never set a foot wrong. Here’s what other marketers said [after trying it out:]( “Attest makes it extremely easy for my team to gather and analyze consumer research, which we use to build and market a better product” – Lauren Sims, Head of Consumer Marketing, Trustpilot. “Attest is where you can meet the consumer. We can really hear the voice and understand what they want.” – CMI Project Manager at Givaudan [Make smarter marketing decisions with a few clicks.]( E-COMMERCE 6 simple tips for improving your e-commerce store presence in search results [article-image] Making your products visible in search results is no easy feat… But who can provide better tips than Google itself? The company [released a helpful video]( that outlines best practices for making your product visible in search results. Let’s get ranking… 1 - Make sure your products are indexed. Google relies on crawlers to locate and index all product pages on your website. The quickest way to help Google discover product pages is to create a Merchant Center (MC) Product Feed. That’s also the first step to optimize your store for search engines. 2 - Check product pricing data. If Google extracts this data incorrectly, the search results will likely show your original price instead of your discounted price. Use the site:”[url of your product page]” query to check the search results. If the product information is incorrect, add structured data to the page and MC. 3 - Minimize inconsistencies in pricing and availability. Google crawls your website on its own schedule. A gap in timing could cause prices to differ between website and search. You can reduce the lag in two ways: Request MC to process your feeds more frequently, or enable the Automatic item updates option. 4 - Ensure your pages are eligible for rich product results. Featured snippets, pricings, brand snippets, and other rich results can help you drive more traffic to your product page. Use Google’s Rich Results Test tool to check if your product page is eligible. If not, you should provide structured data in your product pages and a product feed in the MC. 5 - Share product inventory data. If you have a physical store, make sure your products can be found if users search for “near me” queries. Stand near your store and google for “[your product] near me.” If the page doesn’t appear, register your store locations in Business Profile and provide local inventory feed to MC. 6 - Sign up for the Shopping Tab. Maybe your products are available for search results, but aren’t appearing. To see if they’re present, go to the Shopping tab and search for them. If you don’t see them there, provide product data feeds to MC and opt-in to Surfaces across Google to fix it. Basically, we can wrap up these tips with two words: Merchant Center. Make sure you’ve done your due diligence in MC and you’ll have much less to worry about. Simple as! SPONSORED BY #PAID Stop looking at follower count. Your brand can thrive with niche micro-creators, too [article-image]( Pssst… Here’s a secret. You don’t have to hire Khaby Lame or MrBeast to run an effective influencer marketing campaign. Creators with small, loyal followings can provide huge value for your brand. In this article, [#paid explains how brands can thrive regardless of the numbers of followers creators have](… and how creators with niche influence can make big bucks by being proactive. [Find out how creators without influence (yes, they’re real) can boost your brand.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS Are you sure you’re OK with your house burning down? [article-image] Opportunity cost. It’s one of the most effective tactics marketers can use to make a sale. “OK… How does it work?” Fair question. Let’s cover some specific examples. Imagine you’re selling a fire alarm system. Which pitch is more compelling? - Our fire alarm system is up-to-date, easy-to-use, cutting-edge technology. - Our fire alarm system guarantees that if a fire happens, you’ll be alerted before your home becomes a smoldering pile of rubble. The second pitch is wayyy more interesting, right? That’s opportunity cost. It shows customers there’s a tradeoff for not purchasing your product. Why it works: Clicking off a website and moving on with your day is harder if you feel that, by clicking “X” and closing the tab, you’re losing something tangible. The mere knowledge that the product exists is enough to get people to buy it if they feel they’re losing something by not buying. Here’s another example: - Stacked Marketer Pro is packed with advanced marketing insights and tactics. - Stacked Marketer Pro has 1,000+ conversion-boosting insights that you can put to use today—and we’d hate for you to miss out on higher conversion rates because you didn’t have access. See what we did there? Using opportunity cost can feel pushy, but if your product is good enough, it works. Oh, and if you want to subscribe to Stacked Marketer Pro and get those ROI-boosting insights we mentioned, [you can try it out for just $7 here.]( ROUNDING UP THE STACK [PINTEREST:]( Lindsay Shearer of Pins 4 Profit walks you through the 10 steps to launch profitable Pinterest Ads! Learn the strategies she's using to help clients spend over $35M/year at average 2X-5X ROAS at scale. [Get them for free here.](* [SEO:]( 20%. 25%. 30%... Based on initial reactions to Google’s core updates, it looks like traffic is already dropping for lots of marketers. And this update is supposed to take two weeks to roll out completely? Yikes. [TIKTOK:]( E-commerce ad spend is growing almost everywhere, but nowhere as much as on TikTok. Ad spend has risen by 60% in Q2 compared to Google’s 20.5% and Facebook’s 5.6%. TikTok Ads must be getting decent results… [PRIVACY:]( Head’s up. The biggest threat to advertising isn’t privacy regulations by Apple or Google—it’s state legislation. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says marketers need “measurement solutions that are privacy-based and fully compliant with state, federal, and international standards.” *This is a sponsored post. BRAIN TEASER I have seas without water. I have forests without wood. I have deserts without sand. I have houses with no brick. What am I? You can find the [answer here.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Can’t sponcon on dumbphones [article-image] Did you know the Merriam-Webster dictionary adds new words every year? Yep. And at least one of this years’ inclusions made us [a little nostalgic.]( Out of the 370 new words, we like these the most: Dumbphone. Means exactly what you think: all cell phones that don’t have smartphone features, from those old brick-weight phones of the 90s to today’s burner phones. Sponcon. Comes from the words sponsor and content. It refers to the promotional post made by social media influencers that feels “organic.” Magnet fishing. An activity where you put a huge magnet on a rope and salvage metal from bodies of water. Cool hobby! … And Merriam-Webster added lots of words you’re probably already using, including metaverse, altcoin, side hustle, shrinkflation, sus, and more. Wonder if they take requests… SHARING IS CARING Know what’s wayyy easier than memorizing new words to sound smart? Sharing today’s newsletter with other people. You still look insanely well-informed. And you might even build rapport with the right executives. Plus, you earn great rewards. Every time you share your custom link—and your friends and coworkers subscribe—you earn points toward exclusive content, merch, and more. Get started by hitting the link below! 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