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COMING AT YOU THE WEEK OF 3.15.22

This week’s most important Marketing News
 

GOOGLE’S ‘RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE’ RESULTS INCLUDE NEW SEARCH FEATURES

With so many of us wanting to know what’s going on in Ukraine, Google has been updating its search engine results page. The new features include sections for background information, estimated casualties, and photos of the conflict.

MCDONALD’S IS CLOSING ITS LOCATIONS IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coke, and Pepsi are all closing their stores temporarily in Russia and Ukraine. Unfortunately, they do not know how long their stores will remain closed, but McDonald’s will continue to pay their employees.

GOOGLE SHOPPING ADDS “SMALLER STORES” FILTER

Google has a shopping filter where you can find products that come from “smaller stores.” They announced it last year but now, it’s available for everyone. This is a great step to supporting small businesses.

They are also introducing vehicle ads, which give viewers the option to buy cars nearby or get them delivered. With vehicle ads, you will be able to see location, make, model, price, and mileage.

TWITTER JUST LAUNCHED A BETA EXPERIMENT CALLED “TWITTER SHOPS”

🥸 If a seller has Twitter Shops enabled, you’ll see a “View shop” button just above their Tweets.

👆🏼When you tap the button, it will open up that merchant’s shop, where you can scroll through items.

👛When you’re ready to purchase, you can click on the product of your choice. It will open an in-app browser where you can learn more about the product and checkout on the merchant’s website.

NOW MUSICIANS CAN MAKE MONEY FROM GOING VIRAL ON TIKTOK

TikTok has partnered with SoundOn, allowing musicians to upload their songs to receive royalties.🎤💵

PINTEREST ANNOUNCED UPDATES AND NEW FEATURES AT THEIR CONFERENCE THIS WEEK

🤓 Now, merchant details are shown under the brands’ name and call out brand values.

✌🏾 Product tagging on idea pins is a thing. Creators can tag product features in their idea pins, and brands can approve/disapprove.

⏳ Consumers can now purchase from merchants directly on Pinterest, with up-to-date product information.

🔮They also shared predictions on upcoming trends.

dimenSIONALIZE

 

Check out this picture. What do you see? Not much, huh. But ultimately, it’s a…

LINE

But then you take a step back. It’s a…

SQUARE

But wait—now you realize that the object has even more to it. It’s a…

CUBE

I know, a white cube on a white background. Kinda hard to discern, but trust me, it is really a cube.

There’s a noncanonical term for what we just did:

DIMENSIONALIZE

Di-men-sion-a-lize
Verb

  1. To provide with dimensions

It’s intriguing what happens when you add dimensions to something or when you discover that something has more dimensions than you realized. Like how our simple line became a cube.

There’s more than one kind of dimension

We’ve been talking about mathematical dimensions, the kind that build cubes and tesseracts. I want to make connections between that kind of dimension and another kind.

The not-mathematical dimension:
di-men-sion 
noun

1. An aspect or feature of a situation, problem, or thing.

“Sun-dried tomatoes add a new dimension to this sauce.”
Similar: aspect, feature, element, facet, side

Discovering and understanding dimensions will make you a better marketer

Here’s what dimensionalizing might look like when you’re doing something like writing an ad or landing page or planning a campaign.

First: 😶 find the one-dimensional customer

What’s the obvious trait of your ideal customer?
Examples: managers, balding men, or maybe parents

Next: 😃😭🤪 dimensionalize the customer

  • Realistically consider how they’ll interact with what you’re creating (the ad, landing page, campaign, etc.).
  • Think of moments when your product would make them feel a strong, positive emotion.
  • Imagine what could be happening in the customer’s life right now, even things that at first glance wouldn’t be connected to your product.

Then, 🟦 find the one-dimensional product
What’s the obvious benefit or feature of the product?

Example: helps you clean small crevices in your ear (can you guess what product we’re thinking of here?)

After: 🧊 dimensionalize the product
How does it provide that main benefit? Why were the founders passionate enough about this to start the company? What do people mention in reviews that they love about the product?

Finally, 👭 discover dimensions of the relationship

Your audience and product have a relationship. You’ve probably already considered certain aspects of it in the exercises above. But take a few moments to exclusively focus on it.

Once you think about more of these dimensions, you have a larger arsenal of messages. Then, you can decide which one is best for the project you’re working on.

 

RESOURCES

 The Curious Bunch—We all struggle to improve our creativity. This weekly newsletter recommends resources and tools to help your creativity and productivity.
MasterClass—This isn’t a free resource, but it’s one of my favorites. For marketing, I love Dan Pink’s class about persuasion. But I also have a blast learning about writing and even dog-training from other classes they offer.

LET’S GET VISUAL

Google is the new homepage