Today in Digital Marketing - Everybody Hates Google

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

More details on the change to Google Ads that many digital marketers are saying will have a staggeringly negative effect on their campaigns… Meanwhile, Microsoft’s ad platform adds perhaps its biggest upgrade ever — one that you B2B marketers will love… TikTok opens the door to a whole bunch of third-party digital management platforms, all while Snapchat just had one of its best months ever. And a warning if you’re running ad campaigns this weekend… you may want to hit the Pause button before you close your laptop for the weekend. JOIN OUR SLACK COMMUNITY! • Click: http://TodayInDigital.com/slack SPREAD THE WORD: • Tweet It: http://bit.ly/tweet-tidm to preview a tweet you can publish • Review Us: http://RateThisPodcast.com/today ABOUT THE PODCAST: • Produced by: http://engageQ.com • Advertising: http://TodayInDigital.com/ads • Transcripts: See each episode at http://TodayInDigital.com • Theme music: Mark Blevis (all other music licensed by Source Audio) TOD’S SOCIAL MEDIA: • Twitter: http://twitter.com/todmaffin • LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/todmaffin • Tod’s agency: http://engageQ.com • TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@todmaffin • Twitch: http://twitch.tv/todmaffin Sources and links referenced in this show can be found in the transcript — visit http://todayindigital.com and click today’s episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/todayindigital/messageOur Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, more details on the change to Google Ads Be protected. Be Zen. Thank you. today in digital marketing. All right, I'm back. It's a busy show and we start with what everyone in the digital marketing world seems to be talking about this week. We have more details now on the huge change that happened rather suddenly to the Google ads platform. As I reported Wednesday, Google said it will stop showing which keywords led to your ads if those keywords weren't searched by a quote, significant number of users, unquote. That's what we knew.

What we didn't know was what Google meant by significant. Will the bottom 1% drop off? The bottom 5%? 20%? Well, actually, it's worse. Quoting searchenginelandLand.com, of PPC clicks, meaning for every $100,000 you spend on Google search, you get search term data for 71,000 of it. For every 100,000 clicks you get, you see search term data for fewer than 78,000 of those clicks, unquote. The author of that piece in Search Engine Land, Ginny Marvin, wrote,

quote, this morning, I negated a word that cost a campaign more than $3 for the one click it received in a brand campaign last week. I didn't add the whole query, just one irrelevant word that triggered a brand keyword. Going forward, I might not ever see that word or know if it showed up across multiple low-volume queries, unquote. Nine years ago, Google pulled nearly all organic search terms out of Google Analytics, citing privacy as the reason. Of course, all they actually did was move that data to the ads platform, meaning you just had to pay if you wanted to see that data. And the reason cited by Google now for pulling them out of the ads platform too?

Privacy. Again, quoting Jeannie's piece at Search Engine Land, quote, Regardless of Google's intentions, there are millions, if not billions, of dollars in ad spend reflected in this long-tail data. It's no wonder advertisers are looking for more answers and clearer communication, unquote. One PPC guy, Colin Slattery, reported on Twitter, it is entirely possible that we are losing data for at least 51% of ad spend. At a minimum, it's going to be at least 30% of our ad spend. Google taking this data away from us will have an absolutely staggering impact on accounts big and small. Speaking of Google and its dominance in the search marketing space, the New York Times this week reported that the U.S. Justice Department is planning to take Google to court in an

antitrust case perhaps as soon as later this month. Apparently, there are about 40 lawyers who've been working on the investigations. Officials appointed by the Trump administration apparently told them to wrap up their work by the end of September. Of course, that would mean any court case that would come somewhat conveniently would show up around the time people would be voting on whether to give President Donald Trump a second term. Quoting the Times, while there were disagreements about tactics, career lawyers also expressed concerns that Attorney General Barr wanted to announce the case in September to take credit for action against a powerful tech company under the Trump administration, unquote. Most of the 40 staff lawyers opposed the deadline, saying the date was arbitrary and they didn't have enough for a strong case yet.

And so Google plunders along, pissing off advertisers, pissing off regulators. Meanwhile, Microsoft just keeps pushing out a stronger and stronger platform. Today, they announced three huge additions to their Microsoft ad network. First, dynamic remarketing that will show your ads to customers

based on products they've browsed, considered, or already purchased. Second, so-called in-market audiences are now available for French and German markets. There are a predetermined set of audiences across verticals like apparel, automotive, travel, financial services, and so on. People who Microsoft believes are investigating purchases in those verticals. But the one that I thought was really a huge deal is that Microsoft has now integrated LinkedIn profile data directly into their ads platform. Remember, Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26 billion about three and a half years ago.

So now, if you want to reach realtors or digital marketers or senior vice presidents, you no longer have to guess at their title, as you more or less have to do on Google. Even Facebook, which, yes, includes a field for job title, many people on Facebook just don't put their job or professional data there. And it's not just job titles. On Microsoft, you can now target with precision specific industries or specific companies. And where do your ads get shown? Well, on Bing, the Google competitor.

Yes, Bing's market share is small. The latest numbers show it at around 3%, but that doesn't include a lot of places where Bing's engine is used. Search on Yahoo, that's actually Bing. AOL, which shockingly still exists, that's Bing too. Search in the millions of installations of Windows 10 or Microsoft Office apps, that's Bing as well. Surveys, studies, research. There are lots of blog posts and news articles covering the latest industry survey, forecasting what a post-pandemic digital marketing landscape will look at.

I get pitched one or two of these a day. And most I don't share because the methodology is lousy or the sample size is like, we asked four digital marketers and they say, you get the idea. But one industry group that I would say most analysts consider to be the most authoritative in this space is the IAB, the Interactive Advertising Bureau. They have released some numbers from a study they recently did of 242 ad executives. So, sure, not thousands, but senior enough people, I think,

to be able to report on. And they found that spending on traditional media, that's linear TV, out-of-home, standard radio, print, and direct mail, that category will plummet in terms of spending when all the numbers are in this year, down as much as 30%. Where will the growth be? In digital, of course. Overall, the digital ad space will grow 6% this year, and they broke that down. So see if these priorities are matching where your brand or agency is spending. The fastest growing tactic will be, according to this IAB study, paid search with a 26% jump.

Social media ad spend is just behind it at 25%. Then connected TV, 19%. Digital video, 18%. And digital display, 15%. There are some drops forecasted, though, in digital spending. A 43% decline expected for digital out-of-home, and, sadly, an 8% decline for podcasts. The study said only 30% of advertising executives said they had a clear idea of their budgets. The rest said they had either vague or non-existent estimates for their spending in 2021.

While all the hype around TikTok is certainly loud these days, like I've said countless times on this podcast, count Snapchat out at your peril. It may not be as flashy these days, may not be in the headlines as much, but honestly, it's still killing it when it comes to audience and engagement. Sensor Tower, which studies App Store data, found that Snapchat's mobile app got about 28 and a half million new installs

just last month. To put that in perspective, that's its single largest month for first-time downloads since May of last month. To put that in perspective, that's its single largest month for first-time downloads since May of last year. And that May was actually a bit of an outlier because the only other month where Snapchat had more downloads

than it did this August was December 2016. In fact, SensorTower says Snapchat downloads were up 29% year over year last month. The month before, July, only a 9% bump. And since we're here, of course, we have to talk about TikTok briefly. It is the law, after all.

While I was gone yesterday, the company launched a new creation tool called Stitch, which lets users sample up to five seconds of video from another user for use in their own TikTok posts. But the big news, at least for us digital marketers, is a massive expansion in the number of third-party platforms they now support. For campaign management, you can now use Bidalgo, Bidshake, Sprinkler, WinClap, or MakeMeReach on the creative side to create videos, QuickFrame, ShuttleRock, VidMob, VidSee, and Koli. They've also added platforms like Byte that can create branded AR and VR content. And on the measurement side, you can now use your Kantar dashboard to peer into your TikTok campaigns.

It's been a rough few months for larger ad agencies and digital agencies. All the majors, WPP, Publicis Group, Omnicom, Interpublic Group, have all had wide-spanning layoffs, which, you know, makes sense with so many brands scaling back their ad budgets during the pandemic. Outside partners were one of the first to be cut. And the agency Droga5, which AdAge named agency of the decade this past April, they laid off about 7% of their U.S. staff this week. Their clients include HBO, The New York Times, and the International House of Pancakes.

The global firm Accenture bought Droga5 about a year ago and plans to lay off about 5% of its total Accenture global workforce. Which brings us to a somewhat busy lightning round. If you can't find Instagram's competitor to TikTok, which it calls Reels, you're not alone. There's no tab for it yet, though this week the company started testing a tab at the bottom of the app in India, so expect it to come to the rest of the world soon. Google is apparently now showing how long your brand has been in business in the GMB profiles that pop up in search or maps. Apparently it's tied to your opening date field, which was added two years ago. If this is a marketing opportunity for you, you know, you've been around for a while,

maybe double check to make sure you have a year in there. Shopify today launched a nice little thing for digital agencies that have multiple clients who run stores, a single dashboard that will show the store speed of all your client sites. Google Tag Manager now lets you subscribe by email to any changes that happen to your containers, like when getting published or when submitted for approval. Apple is telling some developers it will delay the launch of an anti-tracking feature that's coming to their new iPhone operating system.

The feature could significantly affect how many people can be targeted by advertisers. Apple says it will push that back to early next year. The Adobe app Spark has a new creation tool called Animations. This lets even the most design-deficient digital marketer create animated text and photos. They've also added new asset sharing and management features. Sprout Social has published an excellent blog post about how to market your brand on the game streaming site Twitch. It is one of the most comprehensive explainers of the platform I've seen, and there's a link

in this episode's notes if you'd like to check it out. For the first time in almost 30 years, McDonald's is naming a menu item after a celebrity. That celebrity? Travis Scott. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him either. Turns out he's a rapper and the proud namesake of the Travis Scott meal, which, for the record, is a quarter pounder with cheese,

fries with barbecue sauce, and a Sprite. Apparently that's his favorite order. Recently, McDonald's said it will cut all ad spending that wasn't tied to its new three part priorities. Drive through, delivery and digital. And finally, remember, friends, we're coming up on Labor Day weekend. Despite all the COVID stuff, it's still back to school season for a lot of the world. That means more brands out there advertising, which means more competition in the ad markets, which means higher prices for you. If you don't have to be running ads this weekend, you may want to consider pausing your campaigns.

Some people are seeing CPMs well past $60 this afternoon. Glad to be back. I had to leave you yesterday. Some people are seeing CPMs well past $60 this afternoon. to say who it is. Believe me, I am working on it because I'm dying to brag about it. Suffice to say, we came back with branded snack bags full of their candy. So it is going to be a sugar-fueled long weekend here. Our theme is by Mark Plevis, music licensing by Source Audio. And this podcast is produced by our agency, EngageQDigital.com. Full transcripts to every episode are on our website, TodayInDigital.com. And also, don't forget, there are now more than 100 people in our Slack community, including managers of banks, digital brand managers for sports teams, pretty much everyone.

Tons of smart people in there you should get in too. TodayInDigital.com slash Slack, or just tap the link in this episode's notes. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful and safe weekend, friends. I will talk to you after the long weekend on Tuesday. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,