Author: Kris Marie

Google AdWords Big Announcement with Machine Learning Roundup
By Kris Marie

Google AdWords Big Announcement with Machine Learning Roundup

Machine learning and AI are infiltrating the world of technology in a good way.  They are everywhere and only set to expand even further.

Google announced today, machine learning is now a strong part of Google AdWords which will be rolling out within the next few months.

What are the big changes Google AdWords will have in regards to Machine Learning?

Within the past year or so, AdWords offered a new option for display campaigns.  Instead of needing to create multiple banners in all different sizes, they created responsive ads which request a few photos of one size plus text.  Through machine learning, Google will choose to display the ads which perform best.  In addition, these ads can be responsive which will fit them to all different screen sizes and web space without needing the advertiser to create multiple different size banners.

Search Ads will now use Machine Learning

In the current form, AdWords requires advertisers to create full text ads of all different varieties.  With machine learning, you will need to add in lines for headlines and descriptions of ads.  Google will take that information and randomly combine messaging.  Through machine learning, Google will let you know which combination of headlines and descriptions work best for the goals you set.

YouTube Ads will use Machine Learning

The most recent data from Google states people watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos everyday.  People are looking to YouTube for inspiration before making purchases big and small.  It was found that 1 in 2 people planning to purchase a car went to YouTube for research before buying a car.

Machine learning will now bring in “maximize lift.”  Instead of maximizing for impressions and views, maximize lift will help put videos in front of the best target market for your brand.  Smart bidding is yet another feature which will automatic raise and lower bids depending on the audience availability.

Local Campaigns with Machine Learning

Google AdWords Local Campaigns 2018
Credit: Google.com

Many potential customers will start their research and buying journey on Google, but 80% will complete their purchase in store for the convenience factor.  In fact, the “near me” search on mobile has increased by 3X in the past two years according to Google.

AdWords will be rolling out a new local campaign.  This new campaign type is meant to solely drive store visits and foot traffic.

Google Shopping Campaigns with Machine Learning

Finally, Google Shopping campaigns will be introduced to machine learning.  Smart shopping campaigns will allow you to hit revenue goals without needing to manually adjust bids and information.  There will be new goals introduced such as store visits and new customers.  In addition to the new goals, the smart campaigns will also help choose where the shopping ads appear, Google, image search, YouTube, or the millions of sites on the network depending on, you guessed it, machine learning.

The above features will be rolling out within the next few months for Google AdWords.  If you want to start benefiting from Google AdWords, contact one of our team members for a complimentary consultation.

Bernie Williams on Bar Rescue on the Paramount Network Tonight at 10 pm!
By Kris Marie

Bernie Williams on Bar Rescue on the Paramount Network Tonight at 10 pm!

Bernie Williams on Bar Rescue on Paramount Network 2018
Credit: Paramount Network / Bar Rescue

Our client, Bernie Williams grew up in the beautiful Puerto Rico and his beloved country has been devastated by two major hurricanes.

When friend Jon Taffer of the Paramount Network’s “Bar Rescue” called Bernie, he asked for his help to come out and restore the beauty which was once there.

Bernie, along with Mark Cuban, Bethenny Frankel and a few other friends of Jon Taffer took on the challenge.

“Bar Rescue: Operation Puerto Rico” will air on the Paramount Network tonight, Sunday 7/22 at 10 pm / 9 central.

Here’s a little on “Bar Rescue” (from Google): Continue reading →

How to Get a Job as a Digital Marketing Manager
By Kris Marie

How to Get a Job as a Digital Marketing Manager

Marketing jobs in the past decade have swiftly turned to digital marketing jobs.  If you’re searching for jobs, you will notice the traditional marketing job listings dwindling down.

Times have changed.  That doesn’t mean you’re obsolete just because you know traditional marketing and not digital marketing!

Many of the concepts you know and worked with in the traditional type still work with digital.  The platforms have changed, the strategies have changed, but the concepts haven’t.

Maybe you haven’t even been in marketing, but are now considering a new path.  Your career isn’t fulfilling you or, let’s be real, the money just isn’t enough.  So now, you’ve decided to look at other options.

Did you know there are even digital marketing jobs which allow you to work full time or part time completely from home?  Yep, working on the beach is actually a real thing in this world.  Watch for another article on this very topic.

A quick list on me:

 

Why should I be giving this advice?

A Short Resume:

  • Digital Marketing Manager at  the #1 Consumer Electronics Gaming Company
  • AdWords Certified
  • Analytics Certified
  • Bing Ads Certified
  • Paid Search specialist for real estate, security, beauty, health, SAAS, etc industries

I’ve been on the company side and the agency side.

I’ve been through the interviews from small startups all the way to major Fortune 500 companies and more in between.

I’m sharing over ten years of experience in this industry (practically the entire amount of time this type of job role has been around!)

So let’s jump into it.

One of the BIGGEST questions I receive: “Which skills does X company look for in a Digital Marketing Expert?”

This can be pretty broad.  However, I am cutting it down and organizing this into an easy to understand list.

To Get a Digital Marketing Job You will want to know:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – the techniques you need to make the search engines work for you.

Email Marketing – This is very important, become familiar with the platforms like MailChimp or iContact. An email list is extremely important to a business.  Knowing how to grow the list and consistently nurture it is a very valuable skill.

Social Media Marketing – (Think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc) Beyond what it means to have a Facebook profile or an Instagram page, but knowing how to build a community of hardcore fans for your company’s brand.

Paid Search – Google Ads.  Find out how you can skip the wait time to get a business listing to the coveted top spot in a Google search.

Ecommerce – Selling online.  It’s the future, and if you know how to work an Ecommerce shop, companies need you.

Content Marketing – Blogging for business.

Those are the top skills you will want to know.  Don’t want to learn all of them?  That’s ok, you can find jobs (in office and remote) for each one of these in the list!  The key will be to have the right skills that companies find valuable.

The right skills, learned the RIGHT way will increase your confidence that you will go into interviews with ease.  You will breeze right by all of their questions, and the interviewer will be impressed with you.

If you are serious about finding a Digital Marketing career.  Get on my list to continue receiving more information.

Sign Up to Get Started On Your Digital Marketing Career

By being a part of the list you will have inside information on:

  • What I learned you need to know as a Digital Marketer after over 10 years of experience
  • Access to my mini courses on Digital Marketing before they are announced
  • Digital marketing news and trends to keep on top of the trends
  • Interview tips specifically written for Digital Marketing jobs
  • How to ace Digital Marketing interviews
  • How to Rock Your Digital Marketing position
  • Job listings
  • Opportunities for remote work as a Digital Marketer

Sign Up Now

 

Track Foot Traffic in AdWords Now
By Kris Marie

Track Foot Traffic in AdWords Now

The Foot Traffic Conversion in AdWords

The new AdWords experience lets you see how viewable impressions drive foot traffic.

Foot traffic is very important to anyone with a brick and mortar store or business. Until recently, it wasn’t exactly easy to match up your digital marketing efforts with foot traffic. You could never be too certain if the digital efforts brought people in or if there was some other variable at play.

Now Google AdWords has a way you can measure the ad’s effects on foot traffic into your business, right through your door.

Store Visit Conversions

You will be able to see if your store’s physical location visits are influenced by an ad click or viewable impression. This would be otherwise known as a store visit conversion. That store visit data can show in reports.

How to See Store Visit Conversions in AdWords

In order to see these types of conversions in your reporting you can do that from the AdWords platform.

Go into the level of the campaign you want. It is available in campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. They you can setup a segmentation. Choose the conversion source under “conversions” in the segment dropdown. Store visits will show as this view will indicate where your customers completed the conversions you’re tracking.

You can also create a report for your store visits. Go into the reports and add the table by clicking the plus button. You can create your table columns which should include all conversions, all conversion rate, view-through conversions, cost/all conversions. The rows in the table should be, conversion source, network, and device. Then save and you will have your report.

By Kris Marie

Ecommerce on Instagram – Brand New Feature

So you have an eCommerce store and you’re using Instagram of course!

You post pretty regularly and have built up a following.  If not, we have a very fun way to gain your first 50 followers without paying a penny!

Your community spends time on your Instagram page.  In 2017, Instagram reported users under 25 years of age spend an average of 32 minutes on the platform per day while those over 25 spend 24 minutes on average per day.

What is the problem here?  You’ve probably experienced it whether you know it or not.

You have users on your Instagram and if you use Instagram, you know you can’t include any linkable web addresses in photo post captions.  You can type them in, but they won’t link anywhere.

Here comes the problem, drumroll!  Getting the people who are visiting your page or even just seeing and liking your photo to actually take an action such as buying from you.

Most of your followers don’t typically leave Instagram, so how does it help from a shopping point of view?  Up until now, you had to hope people would click the link in your bio or use the “swipe up” feature in your Instagram stories if you have a business page.

You’re feeling it because you put a lot of time into your Instagram.  It looks great but you’re not seeing the sales like you should.  Does the time you put in make sense in terms of the return on investment?

There’s a new solution.

Instagram just introduced “Shopping with Instagram” this week.

Instagram Shopping Feature 2018

It’s a new feature allowing Instagram to start competing from a sales point of view and apparently a move to boost the amount of businesses building profiles on the platform.

Since it’s a new program in beta, only certain stores have this feature available.  We’re about to show you how it all works.

Instagram Shopping is Live

One of the retailers that is able to use Instagram Shopping is Macys.

Macys Instagram 2018 Shopping

 

Step 1: When you click on “Shop” that’s on the main Instagram profile you will be brought to a page of photos you can shop from.

 

 

Step 2: You can choose one photo by tapping it with your finger which will lead you to a page like this.  By lightly tapping the photo it will display which items in the photo are for sale as seen below.

Step 3: Here are two more examples of a how an Instagram shopping photo might look.

Step 4: When you click on the labels on the items in the photo, it will take you directly to the product page on the eCommerce store.

Macys Ecommerce Product Page 2018

 

While this is a huge step and will likely be a positive for sales attributed to Instagram, it is still missing the full checkout right on Instagram.

Since this is a feature that will be rolled out to more business users and is one that should be free to setup, you should definitely take advantage of it!

By Kris Marie

Exclusive Interview with DeCicco Brothers from ABC’s Shark Tank for SUNNIVA Super Coffee

New York native brothers, Jake, Jim, and Jordan DeCicco entered the tank this season (9) to pitch their unique SUNNIVA Super Coffee.

As college athletes, the guys were tired.  They were not satisfied with the usual coffees and energy drinks being sold on campus.  The brothers created their own coffee with much better ingredients.  It wasn’t long before their teammates, classmates and even coaches were buying their original concoction.

Introducing Super Coffee, a gluten free, sugar free, low calorie, and kosher certified drink.

We caught up with the brothers to bring you an exclusive Q&A.  Continue reading below!

(Bonus! We have a special discount code for you to try.)

SUNNIVA Super Coffee Jake Jim and Jordan DeCicco
Jake, Jim, and Jordan DeCicco of SUNNIVA Super Coffee on ABC’s Shark Tank 2018

Interview with Jim DeCicco of SUNNIVA Super Coffee

How would you describe your experience on “Shark Tank?”
Shark Tank was an exciting media experience, powerful business exposure, and personally empowering. We needed an investment from one of the Sharks and we prepared intensely for the most important business meetings of our lives. Despite not getting a deal, we returned to work on Monday with a newfound confidence which has allowed us to raise funds from private investors and continue to grow our business—the national television exposure has been a nice help too.

How has Super Coffee evolved since appearing on the show?
We filmed our episode in June of 2017 and the show didn’t air until February 2018. During those 8 months we took the Sharks feedback and revamped our core product line improving the taste profile while removing sugar and reducing calories. Since the episode air we’ve been offered many new PR and media opportunities which has been a spring board for the launch of our upgraded products.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received about business?
The best business advice I’ve ever received is general life advice: “Never miss an opportunity to make someone’s day.” Traditional business is based on the bottom line and maximizing profit often times at the expense of people. We’ve found that be treating people with love and respect and sharing good vibes every day, great things happen in the world and for our business!

Any words of advice for young people wanting to start their own businesses?
YOU ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. If not you than who? My brothers and I had no idea how to start and grow a beverage company (we still don’t) but we believe in ourselves, in each other, and in our team and we’ve quickly learned that we are capable of doing the difficult things we once thought we couldn’t.

What is your favorite coffee flavor?
I love our Smooth Mocha. I’m a sucker for Dark Chocolate.

We know you were starting your career in finance in NYC. How long were you at your job and
what ultimately convinced you to leave it to pursue Super Coffee?
I was a financial analyst in the retail real estate department for the Blackstone group for only 3 months before my Youngest Brother, Jordan, called me and told me he was dropping out of school. He forfeited his full scholarship and his lifelong passion for basketball so I knew he was onto something big and I wanted to be a part of it.

We love that Super Coffee is a family venture. What is the best part about working with your
brothers?
We are so lucky and grateful for this unique dynamic. Three co-founders, partners, brothers, roommates in best friends. I think the best part is the trust. We’ve been building trust amongst the three of us since Jordan was born 22 years ago. We each bring something unique to the table and our skill sets complement each other’s nicely. At the end of the day if we disagree or argue or fail, we’re still brothers and we quickly bounce back.

How has social media impacted your business?
We would not have been able to start our business 20 years ago. Without social media, brands could not compete against traditional Coke and Pepsi marketing budgets. Social Media has allowed us to reach millions of users through brand partnerships, influencer collaborations and worldwide networking. We also use social media for customer service—it’s real time, personal communication with real people. My brothers and I are often behind the scenes of our social media which creates a personal connection with our customers.

Where can our readers purchase your drinks?
Use discount Oldest Bro at www.drinksupercoffee.com for 25% off your order!
In retail we’re distributed from DC to NYC in chains like Whole Foods, Wegmans, Fairway, Wawa, Quickchek and more!

 

Google AdWords Express: Don’t Miss Another Call
By Kris Marie

Google AdWords Express: Don’t Miss Another Call

It has been found that when someone searches for a local business via smartphone, they are looking to visit rather quickly.  They want to find a pizza shop, a bank, a salon, etc near them.  They are in the market to call those companies.

AdWords Express is a portion of AdWords which allows local businesses to gain top billing in these “out and about” searches by grabbing Google’s ad space at the top for local results.   Continue reading →