COMING AT YOU WEEK OF 12.7.21
Get pumped about some upcoming newsletters with us.
Next week: Our interview with Target’s Head of Creative, Vicky Iacarella
A wise and successful woman working at a dream position, it was a recipe for great insights. You’ll get them next week.
December 21: ❄️ Our holiday edition ❄️
We vow to make it fun.
January 11: Advice from Adam Alter
He wrote two awesome books:
1. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
2. Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shake How We Think, Feel, and Behave
Plus, he gave this famous Ted Talk that has over 4 million views. So you absolutely cannot miss that edition. No excuses.
This week’s most important marketing news
EVERY BLACK FRIDAY HAS SEEN AN INCREASE IN ONLINE SALES, EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE
It wasn’t a crazy decrease, but still. We made mom hang up our hideous stocking over the fireplace again because traditions are important to us. And that’s part of the reason why we’re upset over this Black Friday business.
But in all seriousness, trends like this are worth understanding because it’s not just a percentage, it’s a whole lot of people changing their actions enough for the data to show a change we can measure.
In short, COVID is the reason there was a decrease.
But here are 3 more specific reasons less people bought online this cyber week:
- Last year (2020), we saw way more online sales than the year before (2019). So we had a big number to beat to increase Black Friday sales year-over-year.
- More people shopped in-person this year compared to last year.
- Some people worried that the current supply-chain issues would prevent their purchases from arriving in time for the holidays. So they bought things before Black Friday.
Takeaway: Consider getting the word out about your sale earlier. People might hold out for a Black Friday sale on something they plan to buy that year, but first they need to actually hear that there will be a sale.
Start ads earlier. Add notices to your site about the sale sooner. That kind of thing.
“BUY NOW, PAY LATER” OPTIONS ARE GROWING AND PEOPLE ARE USING THEM
If you sell directly to consumers and you have products over $50, look into apps like Klarna and Afterpay to get your site setup with systems that let buyers pay in installments.
Warning: It could keep you up at night thinking about how your idea encourages all of us to be less responsible, spend more than we should, etc.
YOUTUBE STUDIO IS TESTING A KEYWORD RESEARCH FEATURE CALLED SEARCH INSIGHTS
With it, you can:
- See what your viewers search
- See what people search across YouTube
- Filter those searches according to content gaps (as in, highlight searches that don’t have much content to serve the query)
That last option is cool because if you make content to serve that query, you know people will watch it.
THE NOVEMBER 2021 CORE UPDATE TO GOOGLE’S ALGORITHM IS FINISHED ROLLING OUT
In this poll, half of search marketers haven’t seen significant changes from the update.
GOOGLE ADS IS ADDING THE FOLLOWING UPDATES TO THEIR INSIGHTS PAGE:
- Demand forecasts – predictions on search trends for your industry
- Consumer interest insights – keyword themes that lead people to your site
- Audience insights – observations into the “interests and affinities of your customers,” like the types of creatives they like
- Change history insights and auction insights – how auction competition and account changes could impact performance
Not your mom’s holiday playlist
For some weird reason the whole world can really get behind listening to a bunch of songs from the 1940s during the holiday season (including us, we’re not hating).
But here’s a festive playlist that’s less…traditional.
Is there a simple way to get my audience to do what I want?
Our success rides on getting our audience to act, or in other words, in our ability to persuade. We left Daniel Pink’s MasterClass with a bit of a middle-aged man crush on Dan and a bunch of persuasive strategies. Here are a few.
Occasionally show contrast through small blemishes.
In a Stanford study, participants were shown an offering for hiking boots. One group was told all this great stuff about the boots. The other group was told the great stuff, but also was told that the boots were only offered in two colors. In the end, more people opted to buy boots when they heard about the “small downside.” 🧐
Dan believes that’s the case because customers who hear the small blemish might think, “The downside is that I can’t pick from a ton of colors, but that is a small downside compared to this long list of great reasons to buy these boots.”
So don’t hide small drawbacks, just make sure they are relatively small. And talk about them after showing off all the great features you offer.
Show contrast in your marketing.
A famous advertiser s with a friend walking in Central Park. They look ahead and see a disheveled blind man asking for donations with a sign reading, “I am blind.” Then, as they get closer, they notice his cup for donations is practically empty.
Rosser turns to his friend and says, “Ya know, I could add four words to that sign and change that man’s fortune for the day.” His friend gestures to Rosser to go ahead and prove it.
Rosser approaches the man, introduces himself, and writes four words at the top of his cardboard sign. “It is springtime and.” The sign now read, “It is springtime and I am blind.”
Rosser and his friend found a nearby bench and watched as people began to drop donations in the once-empty cup. Before people saw a blind man, but now they compared this blind man to themselves enjoying a spring day.
This old advertising legend teaches us to ask, “Compared to what?”. Our offering is cheaper, compared to what? Our offering is more efficient, compared to what? Then, show the comparison.
Try and get people to do what you want, but don’t be a jerk about it.
The effective way to persuade people is also the empathetic way. Matt Kobach reminded us in his interview: “Don’t ask for favors!” Similarly Dan says, “Find something that works for you AND them.”
You’ll always be most successful at getting people to do what you want when you can really give people what they want.
Let’s get visual
