Today in Digital Marketing - When Your Ads Are a Whole Mood

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Wednesday, September 11th. Today, happy words hire clicks. How your copywriting's emotion matters. Ads are coming to AI, but why are marketers so hesitant? Pinterest really wants you to pay more attention to it. And lawyers are first up on Google's new hit list. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Could good vibes be the secret to more clicks? I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing. Traditional strategies tend to focus on using deal-related or brand-specific keywords to boost relevance, but are they missing something? Well, a new study in the Journal of Marketing has found that positive emotions affect the words used in search queries and can boost clicks on paid search ads. Researchers found that when consumers feel good, they tend to use more emotionally charged keywords in their queries. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of clicking on paid search ads. Quoting from the

Starting point is 00:01:12 study authors, quote, we find that experiencing positive emotion at the outset of an online product search primes emotionally congruent thoughts. This priming makes consumers more likely to use positive emotion keywords, like a happy book, than neutral keywords, like a paperback book, to describe the product they're searching for. Thereafter, upon encountering sponsored content like paid search ads and search results, consumers are unlikely to use their lay beliefs about advertisers' ulterior motives to manipulate them. As a result, consumers are more likely to click on paid search ads if they used a positive emotion keyword rather than a neutral keyword in their query, unquote. The study's researchers suggest that using these keywords could also reduce costs per click, as bid prices for these types of keywords are low, yet consumer ad clicks in response to these keywords are higher.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Focus on targeting these keywords during high emotion periods, like weekends and holidays, when consumers are more likely to use positive keywords. And hedonic products like clothing, entertainment, and dining are more likely to benefit from positive emotion keyword strategies. We have a link to the full study in today's email newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link at the top of the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. Well, earlier this week, we reported on Google's announcement that they are sunsetting the enhanced CPC bid strategy. Starting next month, you will not be able to select enhanced CPC anymore when creating or editing a campaign. And by March, all existing campaigns

Starting point is 00:03:01 using eCPC will automatically be moved to manual CPC bidding. Here to tell us more about this change and what it means for you and your campaigns is our Google Ads correspondent, Jill Saskin-Gales. Jill spent six years at Google. Today, she runs the Inside Google Ads training program for practitioners and is host of the Inside Google Ads podcast. Jill, before we get started on the change, what is enhanced CPC bidding? Enhanced CPC is a bid strategy that's kind of like your Goldilocks solution between manual bidding and automated bidding. So you want control over your campaigns, but then you also want some of Google's magical

Starting point is 00:03:39 AI to help you. Enhanced CPC was your solution. And so practically what it does is you set your bids for your keywords or audiences or ad groups, just like you would with manual bidding. So say for the keyword marketing podcast, you set a $2 bid. That means you're willing to bid up to $2 to advertise when someone searches for that keyword. But with Enhanced CPC turned on, what that means is you give Google permission to bid up a little bit if they think that user is very likely to convert, and then to bid down a little bit if they think that user is not likely to convert. So just bring in a bit of conversion data to adjust your bids.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And at the end of the day, although it gives Google permission to bid higher than your max CPC, enhanced CPC keeps your average CPC at or around your max CPC, enhanced CPC to keep your average CPC at or around your max CPC. So for example, if you previously had set a $2 bid limit, Google could potentially bid $2.50 or another, it might not bid at all or only bid $0.50. At the end of the day, your average CPC would still be about $2. Gotcha. And how is this different than Target CPA or Target ROAS, which are also Google bid strategies that sound a little similar, sort of? Definitely similar. So Target CPA and Target ROAS are two smart bidding strategies. And so smart bidding means using AI, but also means Google is taking into account a whole bunch of different signals at auction time. So with the manual bid strategy,

Starting point is 00:05:05 you set the maximum amount you're willing to pay per click, and that's that. But with smart bidding, you don't set a bid at all. Instead, you just tell Google your goal, like my target CPA I'm looking to get from this campaign is $40, or my target ROAS I'm looking to get from this campaign is 325%. And then Google gets to choose your bids for each and every single auction with the goal to eventually get you that result. And so that's how you can end up sometimes paying $20 for a click or even $100 for a click sometimes. The smart bidding can seem really stupid, but with enough data and time, these things learn and it's focused on driving a result rather than driving a specific cost per

Starting point is 00:05:46 click. Okay, so back to Enhanced CPC, which they are sunsetting. Why? Why are they getting rid of it now? Enhanced CPC's day came long ago. I mean, Enhanced CPC was the first kind of automated bringing automation in that we ever saw. It predates all the smart bidding we have now. So back when we all manually bid all the time, enhanced CPC was this revolutionary thing to bring some conversion data and automation into your bidding. Now that Google, in my opinion, rightfully pushes smart bidding so hard, and that means maximize conversions, target CPA, maximize conversion value, or target ROAS. Those are the four smart bidding strategies. There's not really a need for this in-between solution anymore.

Starting point is 00:06:29 Either you're going to manually bid or you're going to smart bid. So this was baby AI. Baby AI, exactly. And now AI has gotten its wings and learned to fly and doesn't need those training wheels anymore. Gotcha. And if advertisers are using Enhanced CPC right now in their campaigns, perhaps this is one of those set it and forget it campaigns that they set up two years ago and just applied a daily budget to it and they're getting good results. How do those people prepare

Starting point is 00:06:53 for this change? If you're using eCPC and it's working well for you, I'd recommend that you test target CPA or target ROAS. And the reason I'd recommend one of those bid strategies is if it's working well for you, that means you're currently hitting your CPA target or you're currently hitting your ROAS target. I would not recommend that you move to a maximize strategy like maximize conversions or maximize conversion value because those work really differently. Those tell Google, here's my budget, spend it to get me results. Whereas when you use target CPA or target ROAS, you're saying, here's the efficiency I'm looking for, only spend my money if you can get me that efficiency. And so it's much more similar to how something like ECPC

Starting point is 00:07:37 would have worked. So you can use an experiment to divide your traffic and see how one of these bid strategies works better. You can just go ahead and make the change right away. Or you can wait until, you know, March 2025, like most of us, and then have a little freak out and then decide which bid strategy you want to use next. And of course, if you do want a manual bid, at least for now, going backwards to purely manual bidding is still an option. Which is what will happen as you you mentioned, in March of 2025 of next year. Exactly. If you do nothing, then your campaigns that use enhanced CPC will just become manually bidding campaigns that no longer take conversion data into account. All right, Jill, thank you.

Starting point is 00:08:16 Thanks, Todd. Jill Saskengales is our Google Ads correspondent. She's here every second Wednesday. You can learn more about her Google Ads training program at our affiliate link at todayindigital.com slash GA. Adobe's generative AI video content has entered the chat. The tech giant today announcing its new Firefly video model with tools including text-to-video and a new feature that can produce video clips from your brand's stock photos.

Starting point is 00:08:48 Adobe's text-to-video feature lets users create video clips from written descriptions and adjust the results using various camera controls to simulate different camera angles, motions, and shooting distances. The model also includes an image-to-video feature that can turn specific reference images into video clips. Adobe suggests this could be useful for creating B-roll footage or addressing gaps in production timelines. The Firefly video model is designed to be commercially safe and will be available in beta later this year. It will eventually be integrated into Creative Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Adobe Express applications. The company also previewed the upcoming Generative Extend feature for Premiere Pro,

Starting point is 00:09:32 which can extend the length of existing video footage, similar to Photoshop's Generative Expand tool for image backgrounds. This feature is also expected to be released later this year. As Adobe makes way with generative AI in video content, Perplexity, a generative AI search engine, plans to launch ads in Q4. But eMarketer reports this week that advertisers might be hesitant to invest without proof that their ad dollars will stretch further than they do on Google. Zach Woolfolk, Associate Director of Paid Search at ad agency VML, points out that advertisers are wary of trying the new platform due to privacy concerns. Media buyers need assurance that perplexity can deliver relevant

Starting point is 00:10:17 content, accurately display ads, and lead users to relevant landing pages. To win over advertisers, the search engine needs to prove its success with early adopters who do take a chance on the ad platform. It'll need to build trust and address brand safety concerns, including recent plagiarism allegations against it. If successful, it could tap into the vast U.S. search ad market, forecasted to hit $125 billion this year, with Google capturing about half that share. But as AI-powered search engines evolve, Google is anticipated to adapt to maintain its lead. According to eMarketer's forecast, Google's share of traditional search ad spend is expected to grow in the generative AI era.

Starting point is 00:11:09 Pinterest is looking for a piece of your ad budget. The platform recently launched the next phase of its promotional campaign designed to boost awareness among potential ad partners. The campaign, which was first launched in July, aims to show how the platform benefits users by connecting them with a wide range of interests. In this new phase, the focus for marketers is on party planning, recipes, and shopping discovery. This expanded push is part of Pinterest's broader strategy to increase revenue, particularly in Western markets. Google is now enforcing stricter verification checks for local service ads.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Earlier this year, the tech giant introduced a new process for its local service ads program. Now, Google has started the rollout, first with law firm advertisers. Here is what the email Google sent out said, quote, In order to keep your local services ads running, the business owner or senior partner at your law firm or practice will need to pass an identity check by November 15th. Additionally, any featured professionals will also need to pass an identity check by November 15th in order to keep appearing in your ads. On September 16th, the lawyers listed on your local services ads account will be sent emails from our partner, Evident, to verify their identity. Once their identity is verified, local services ads will use that check to verify the name on the professional license in their profile. They will have 30 days from the start of the check to complete identity verification.

Starting point is 00:12:55 And finally, Meta's digital ad supremacy persists, topping digital ad revenue growth in every quarter for the past year. eMarketer reporting that in this year's second quarter, Meta outpaced Pinterest and Snap for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to the company's earning. Pinterest and Snap, however, have narrowed the gap so far this year. Despite rising ad loads, Meta's user base grew by 7% last quarter, with ad impressions and price per ad both jumping by 10%. eMarketer forecasts a 15% rise in Meta's US ad revenue for this year. That will get it to nearly $65 billion. So the battle for sleep failed again last night. I was up from two in

Starting point is 00:13:37 the morning to six in the morning, at least this time not completely awake. It was kind of like a tossing and turning very aggressively. Someone had mentioned that I should try magnesium. And then Steph and I were talking. And she's like, oh yeah, magnesium. That's a thing. That actually works. So as soon as we put the show in the news center to bed, I went right to the drugstore.

Starting point is 00:13:57 And of course, there's a million brand extensions. There's like three or four different kinds of magnesium. And there's magnesium blended with this. And I really want the gummy magnesiums because, you know, candy. But they're like a fifth of the dosage and five times the cost. So still trying to figure out the secret to sleep. And yes, I put my phone away an hour before bed and do all the things. Better living through chemistry, they said.

Starting point is 00:14:24 I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

Today in Digital Marketing - When Your Ads Are a Whole Mood

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