⤵️ Podcasts.

Walmart is launching a new marketplace, the latest trend in podcasting, and more. January 24, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo]( [sponsor]( Good morning. Personalities based on days of the week: - Monday—you’re always focused and you get right to the point. - Tuesday—you bring donuts to work. You can work and play at the same time. - Wednesday—you’re a stable, easy-going person. Things could be better, but at least they’re not worse. - Thursday—you’re not easily satisfied. You’re ambitious, and this isn’t your final stop. - Friday—you’re the life of the party. Every day is a weekend for you, and you don’t take work too seriously. Which one are you? E-COMMERCE Walmart launches B2B marketplace [article-image] Hey, small and medium businesses (SMBs) like to shop online, too. Which is why [Walmart launched Walmart Business](, a dedicated e-commerce site tailored for B2B customers. Like Walmart, but for operations: The new site will offer “a curated assortment of more than 100,000 items,” ranging from office supplies and furniture to food and beverage, electronics, and more. Walmart says all items will be categorized and tailored to busy shoppers, hopefully reducing friction from the buying process. Smooth operators: Also, the company claims its new marketplace “will leverage the very best of Walmart,” including its high operating scale, proximity to 90% of the US population, and fulfillment technologies. Oh, and any purchases made through the Business marketplace should be available for in-store or curbside pickup, delivery, or shipping. Why we care: This could be a big opportunity for brands in B2B and wholesale to break into the SMB retail industry via Walmart’s new marketplace. And with Walmart looking to rival Amazon in terms of ad revenue, now might be a good time to test the waters. You know, while the stakes and costs are low. PODCASTS Are we seeing a dry spell? The podcast gold rush seems to have passed its peak… According to Listen Notes, a podcast search engine, the number of newly created podcasts [decreased by 80%]( in 2022 compared to just two years ago. Mics dropping: During the start of the 2020 pandemic, more than one million new podcasts took flight. But last year only gave birth to 219,178 new podcasts—100k+ fewer podcasts than in 2019. The number of podcast episodes also fell to 26.1M new episodes in 2022 compared to 30M in 2020 and 29.5M in 2021. But listeners are still listening: The majority of existing podcasts deal with societal and cultural topics (500,000), followed by education (462k) and arts (347k). If you’re running a business podcast, you’re competing with 330k others. while there are 228k podcasts in the health and fitness niche. So there are still large audiences in all these categories. Why we care: Yes, podcast numbers are slowing down a little bit. Of course, it may just be consolidation after the initial pandemic boom, rather than a signal of any serious downtrend. Keep in mind, too, that podcasts are more of a hassle to create, promote, and maintain than TikToks, Reels, or similar content. So it makes sense that many will burn out naturally. Either way, it’s still a channel worth creating content for, or advertising in! SPONSORED BY STORYBLOCKS Create mind-blowing videos without blowing your budget with Storyblocks. [article-image]( New year. Same tight creative budgets and deadlines. But even more demand for video. Don’t worry—you can find everything you need to create better video, faster with [Storyblocks](. With plans starting at just $30 a month a Storyblocks subscription gives you unlimited downloads of over a million HD/4K footage clips, sound effects, After Effects templates and more. Plus, you get, easy-to-use tools like Maker, their in-platform video editor and the Storyblocks Plugin for Premiere Pro that brings their unlimited stock library right into your preferred editor [dramatically reducing the amount of time it takes to set up and create high-quality video content](. [Get started with one of Storyblocks’ flexible subscriptions today.]( META Ad fatigue is real. Here’s how to avoid it [article-image] Truth bomb alert: no matter how awesome your ads are, your audience will eventually get sick of them. And if you keep serving the same ads over and over, their performance will start to drop. This is called ad fatigue, or creative fatigue. And [as Jon Loomer points out](, it’s difficult to know how to fix ad fatigue because there are multiple factors that impact it, including: - Budget. The more you spend, the more impressions you’ll have – and the quicker you’ll reach the point where everyone has seen an ad at least once. - Audience size. If your audience is huge, your ads are more likely to “hold up.” If it’s small… well, the more likely your ad will get seen by the same people over and over again. - Number of ads. If you run an ad set with only one ad, it’s natural for it to run its course quicker than if you serve, say, five ads in an ad set. How do you detect fatigue? Meta sometimes notifies you in the Delivery column if your ads have reached “Creative limited” or “Creative fatigue.” But that’s not enough. Jon says you need to make sure you’re viewing the maximum number of days that your ad set has run by selecting “By Time” and then “By Week” in your “Breakdown” column. This will help you follow trends over time. And yes, there will be oscillations, but is there a steady increase of costs during past weeks? Is it not profitable any more? If not, then here’s what you should do: - Create a new ad or ads. Show new images, videos, and ad copy to your audience that will throw them off or “resonate in different ways.” - Increase audience size. This way you’ll reach more people and “stretch” your existing ads. You can use Advantage Detail Targeting or Advantage Lookalikes to allow Facebook to automatically move beyond your target audience. - Try Meta Advantage+ creative. This feature helps you create variations of your ad automatically – but you’ll have to trust the system for it to work. Uh-oh… That’s it! Ad fatigue is not a complex issue, but it is something to be aware of. Otherwise, your audience will yawn and sigh while they scroll past your ad… and nobody wants that. SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO Why do certain emails get read more than others? We analyzed the top 1%. Here's what we found… [article-image]( We went through thousands of email campaigns sent by hundreds of businesses and categorized the psychological principles used by the top 1%. We uncovered the strategies that make your prospects more likely to: - Notice and open your email. - Believe and trust what you say. - Take action based on your message. You’ll find [hundreds of email examples to swipe.]( [Check a preview of the report and join Stacked Marketer Pro to get it.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS How to get better marketing angles from Twitter and Reddit [article-image] There’s a marketing mistake as old as time: Assuming you know what your customers actually like about your product. Sometimes, in the blur of thinking of value props and brainstorming after your fourth cappuccino of the day and doing all the other things marketers do… … You forget to check what your customers think about your product in the first place. So if you want to find better angles, do some digging and see what people say about your product or similar products. A few ideas: - Head over to Twitter. Do a search for tweets containing your company’s name or one of your competitors’. Look for tweets like, “Has anyone used [company name]?” or replies to tweets like “Anyone know a way to [do the thing your product does]?” Sometimes, customers write the copy for you. - Try scouring Reddit. Lots of people use Reddit to get product recommendations. See if you can find people talking about your product or similar products and focus on the things they care about. - Do a Google search. People still write product reviews as blog posts. If you can find one for your brand, read what they’re saying. Sound simple? It is. But many marketers assume they know this stuff and skip this step. Why this works: Asking your customers directly for feedback can work. But, providing feedback directly to a company and talking about it online are two different things. You’re likely to get more objective customer language with the latter. See what people care about, and then… you know, talk about those things. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [COPYWRITING:]( Start your next big thing with this big New Year’s offer from Panda Copy — get 7 days of unlimited, pre-vetted copy for $49. Yup, no sourcing, managing, editing, or begging freelancers to create content. [See how it works here.](* [APPS:]( Looks like apps have a hard expiration date. Half of Android apps are uninstalled a month after they’ve been downloaded – and half are removed within the first 24 hours. Gaming apps lead the churn (66%), while travel apps have highest brand loyalty (31%). [LINKEDIN:]( Whoa. LinkedIn is making newsletter subscriptions visible. Starting February 11, you’ll be able to see which newsletters users are subscribed to, the same way you can see shared interests, pages, and groups. A new channel to promote your newsletter? Sounds sweet. [ADVERTISING:]( It can’t rain all the time, right? Ad spend is predicted to rise 6% this year, with over 60% coming from online channels. The biggest growth is expected to come in the connected TV (CTV) industry – 27%. Fingers crossed! [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:]( Microsoft is extending its partnership with OpenAI, announcing a new “multiyear, multibillion dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs.” The company has already announced multiple projects and integrations, including adding ChatGPT to Bing search engine. Watch out, Google. [PAYMENTS:]( Banks strike back. Several financial services companies, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, are teaming up to launch a digital wallet for online shopping to rival PayPal, Apple Pay, and similar payment providers. Interesting… *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER You can't keep this until you have given it. What is it? You can find [the answer here]([.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Book cover vs. movie poster: who did it better? [article-image] No Country For Old Men. Green Mile. The Godfather… Books to movie adaptations can often be Oscar-worthy. But movie to book adaptations? Does that even happen? Well, it’s not as common… but if you can’t read it you can still imagine it. With a little drop of creativity and an ocean of talent, this artist and designer [turned some of his favorite movies into fascinating book covers.]( He created covers for Mad Max: Fury Road, Top Gun, and Star Wars: A New Hope, and countless others that look like they’d fit right in your vintage Stendhal, Dostoyevsky, and Dickens collection. Beautiful. And yes, we’d definitely read those… SHARING IS CARING Hey. Did you know you can join Stacked Marketer Pro… for $0? Stacked Marketer Pro gives you insights, swipe files, and growth tactics that can take your brand or business to new levels. It’s marketing research you won’t find anywhere else. All you have to do is get 100 people to sign up to our newsletter. And you’ll unlock other rewards along the way, like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals) - The Ultimate Holiday Marketing Deep Dive (4 referrals) Hit your custom link below to unlock exclusive content, merch, and membership! [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [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/Top 0107, 1100 Wien, Austria