🤖 Intern.

Google wants marketers to use third-party advertising, the limitations of ChatGPT, and more. January 25, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo]( [sponsor]( Good morning. The phrase “a face only a mother could love” isn’t entirely true. Lots of people love ugly faces. If you don’t believe us, consider the [UK’s ugliest dog contest](. See? Nothing is so ugly or bad that it can’t be turned into an advantage. Seems like there’s a marketing lesson in here… GOOGLE It’s now okay to use agencies [article-image] The times, they are a-changin’... After years of being kind of against it, Google has [urged advertisers to turn to agencies and third-party resellers]( as it conducts [one of the largest layoffs in its history](. Why the pivot? It makes sense, really. Google wants to reduce overhead related to advertising services, which means there will be fewer Ads representatives. At the same time, agencies and sellers—also known as Google Partners—will be pushed to meet huge ad spends and keep increasing them… to the benefit of the platform, of course. So… good news for third-party Google Ads agencies and consultants? Another sunset: Speaking of Google Ads, the company has announced it will [sunset its Google Optimize feature]( on September 30. Apparently the feature has run its course and Google wants to “invest in solutions that will be more effective,” like split testing in Google Analytics 4, for example. Head’s up, SEOs: Google recommends that you [add canonical URLs to your sitemap file]( so you give it more hints about which pages you want to rank. This may confirm that sitemap is among stronger signals, including redirects and rel-canonical. Interesting. Why we care: If you’re offering Google Ads services, you may get an unlikely help in acquiring new clients - Google itself! ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ChatGPT is still an advertising intern, fyi Marketers and creators have been fawning over the wonders of AI songwriting, storytelling, and problem-solving, but… … [ChatGPT doesn’t actually “know” that much](. Or so its creators say. Not quite a whiz kid: OpenAI’s chatbot can’t “distinguish fact from fiction,” resulting in… - Confident inaccuracies, like claiming “it takes 9 women 1 month to make a baby.” - Hallucinations: i.e., making stuff up 15–20% of the time. - The inability to cite sources for what it said. - Outdated information. - Poor intuition of user intent, giving out different answers depending on how you prompt a question. So, will AI kill the advertising industry? We’ve all seen experiments like the [Ad Age Super Bowl ad]( created with ChatGPT and the DALL-E image generator. But is it the end times for agencies? Well, maybe not. MediaPost [argues things can go in one of two directions](: - Clients will all turn to AI for their campaigns. If AI keeps improving, there might be no need for human input. However… - AI can make ad agencies better. If you’re pitted against AI instead of other agencies, you’ll probably use AI to test your ideas, seek new creative sparks, and add a human touch. Let’s hope it’s the second one! Why we care: OpenAI confirmed that ChatGPT currently lacks everything a human marketing specialist needs to be great at their job. At this point, AI tools are just that: tools that can help advertisers do their jobs more effectively instead of replacing them. SPONSORED BY PINS 4 PROFIT The exact ad strategy this Pinterest marketer uses to help clients generate over $100M annual sales [article-image]( You might not realize this, but Pinterest ads can be an insanely lucrative channel. That’s why Lindsay Shearer of Pins4Profit is sharing her insider ad strategies—normally $497—with Stacked Marketer readers for free. Lindsay is one of few advertisers selected by Pinterest to see The Pinterest Road Map 2023—and now, she’s revealing her updated strategy. This is your chance to leapfrog your own Pinterest ads strategy by [replicating exactly what she does to help clients generate over $100M in sales on Pinterest annually.]( You’ll discover: - 4 types of Pinterest ads you should be using (including new releases from January 2023!) - Pins 4 Profit's signature 2x-5x ROAS ad strategies - Mastering Keywords + Interests for your perfect audience mix That’s not all… Y[ou can also get $20,000 in Pinterest Ad Credit.]( 83% of Pinterest's 300M monthly visitors are there to spend money. So if you want to pin down this market… [Download the guide for free.]( ADVERTISING How to run Quora Ads like an expert [article-image] Michal Pecánek spent over $200k on Quora Ads. And according to him, they’re super effective and super cheap compared to other cost-per-click (CPC) platforms. Just to give you an idea, Quora Ads are: - 40–50% cheaper CPC than Facebook. - 60–95% cheaper than Google Search campaigns. Michal also has [several tips for making the most of your Quora Ads](. And since you don’t hear about them often, we’ve picked a few that could tempt you to test this platform. Let’s see what he recommends… Pay attention to the campaign structure. It looks like Quora’s delivery algorithms favor ad sets with higher bids, while engagement signals play an insignificant role. For that reason, Michal recommends running one ad set per campaign. He groups campaigns by geo-targeting and device type to manage allocation and budget. Another solution, if you’re targeting broad, is to bid across all running ad sets within a given campaign. However, if your targeting differs, you may waste a lot of ad dollars. Questions retargeting is crushing it. The biggest upside of Quora ads is that you can choose to bid on specific questions, thereby targeting high intent visitors. How do you find questions? The easiest way is to use the platform’s question suggestion feature when you click on “Bulk add” in your targeting options and write at least 10 relevant keywords. Quora will then provide a list of keywords with weekly views. Nice. Try to combine paid and organic by boosting answers. It’s called “Promoted Answers” and it can help you get “tens, even hundreds of thousands of views.” Michal says you can go through all the promising questions and note answers that positively mention your brand or product, then promote them for a low cost. Worth testing! But that’s not all, Quora folks. Michal’s extensive article has more tips you should check out before venturing into the wild Q&A world of Quora advertising. Check it out! SPONSORED BY CXL From zero to marketing hero: hire the right talent in less than 100 days [article-image]( With an average salary of over $70,000, US marketers aren’t cheap. Why not look abroad for talent [vetted and trained by CXL](? Salaries start at $40,000. All candidates are vetted for experience, English fluency, and undergo CXL's world-class certification program at no cost to you. No job postings, no headaches. [Hire remote marketing talent, faster.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS Email marketing is content marketing, and we should treat it that way [article-image] Too many marketers treat email as a cheap tool for making sales. They send promotional email after promotional email after promotional email… with very little interesting content along the way. Unsurprisingly, people don’t like this. In one of our [recent reports for Stacked Marketer Pro](, we outlined how the best brands treat email as a content channel. Here are a couple key insights from the report: - The best emails spark curiosity. Don’t lead with a promotion. Instead, lead with something interesting, like “The Spookiest Bed Time Story Ever…” or “How Many Plants Is Too Many?” This depends on what you’re selling, of course. - Write good content, not just good advertising copy. If you lead with curiosity, you need to follow it up with something worth reading, not just advertising copy. This builds trust with the reader as you lead up to a sales pitch. - To come up with good topic ideas, find burning questions. Sit down for a brainstorming session and ask yourself, “what burning questions do my customers have?” Then, answer those questions. Want to see more tactics you can use, plus some of the best emails we’ve come across? [Sign up to Stacked Marketer Pro to read the whole thing.]( ROUNDING UP THE STACK [CASE STUDY:]( Can you really earn $30,000 in 30 days? This affiliate marketer found that even when profits decreased, these easy-to-use tools from ProPush helped him recoup at least some of his money. Read the full free case study for more. Are you new at ProPush? [Watch this video.](* [PAYMENTS:]( It’s a handshake! Amazon and Stripe have officially expanded their partnership. Stripe will become Amazon’s strategic payment partner in Europe, while Amazon expands its use of Amazon Web Services. Good to know if you’re selling on Amazon. [PRIVACY:]( Uh oh. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has accused Apple of using double standards when it comes to its app tracking transparency (ATT) regulations, claiming the services use the term “personalization” when asking users to opt into tracking. Cheeky. [REGULATIONS:]( And while we’re talking about troublemakers… The Justice Department is apparently ready to file the anticipated digital advertising antitrust case against Google for using monopoly to gain competitive advantage. Who’s surprised? *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER It is flat as a leaf, round as a ring, Has two eyes, yet can’t see a thing. What is it? You can find [the answer here]([.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT “I bet there will be flying cars in the future…” [article-image] Yes, it’s a meme template. But it’s also a real prediction from almost a century ago. 100 years ago, [people made predictions about the future](—otherwise known as “today” for us. And their predictions are fascinating for a few reasons… People were more optimistic about the future then, predicting stuff like: - 4-hour workdays. - Life expectancy of 100 to 300 years. But while those predictions were maybe too good to be true, some predictions were eerily accurate. Take “humans communicating through watch-size radio telephones” for example, or the US population reaching 300 million. Not bad as far as predictions go, huh? SHARING IS CARING “I won't recommend because I'm gatekeeping.” —A happy subscriber Yep… one reader literally said they wouldn’t share our newsletter because it’s too good. But if you decide to share us with friends and colleagues, we’ll reward you, promise. You’ll unlock prizes like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals). - The Ultimate Holiday Marketing Deep Dive (4 referrals). … And more. Share the referral link below to get started… pretty please. [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