Month: May 2022

I took the Google Ads Measurements Certification, and I would like to use this platform to give a review on it, so you can decide whether this certification is the correct choice for you.

Some logistics first:

• Time for Completion: Approximately 5-6 hours, and 75 mins for Exam.
• Company: Google Inc.
• Level: Beginner
• Aims: Gain an understanding of how to change marketing objectives in to measurable actions. Optimize performance of marketing strategy by using KPIs. Use google metrics and insights through Google to improve performance, and increase sales.
• Exam: 50 questions, need atleast 80% to pass and 75 minutes to complete.
• Cost: $0

It took me about 5 hours to complete the knowledge portion of the certification, and I took the exam in about 60 minutes. Once you finish the certification exam, you can upload your credentials on Linked In which can be really helpful.

Themes: Creation of SMART Goals that align with Business Objectives, Assigning Values to these SMART Goals, Evaluation and Improvements, Analyzing and Optimizing Conversion Data, Introduction to using Google My Business Suite.

Tips:

• Limit distractions
• Pace yourself: there is enough time for the exam and you can learn each of these modules at your own pace.
• Do well in the assessments after each module, as the exam questions are similar.
• Dont stress – if you do fail, you can take it again after a 24 hours.

What I liked, and did not like in this certification?

I really liked how they used simple examples to build upon the basic knowledge such as a basic difference between KPIs and Metrics which are often used interchangeably. The course started wth the understanding of a small business, and explaining a few different objectives that companies may have such as increasing sales, increasing engagement, or media specific goals. Additionally, after each module, there was an assessment on what we have learned in the module and feedback on what can be improved. This helped in going back and learning if you did not do well in any of the questions in the assessment.

I would have liked it if there were hands-on activities such as creating metrics for business, and carryingout activities to achieve these goals. I felt that this certification was a lot more concept based, rather than activities which personally, helps me in learing better. A more activity based CRM certification course can be taken through Sales Force Trailheads.

I think I gained important insight on how to translate marketing objectives in to goals that are measurable. I learned on tracking conversions, and effectively measure sales, Analyze the conversion data and update strategy accordingly. Additionally, I got some insight on using Google My Business.

Over all, I think that this certfication exam was a good way to refresh some of the concepts that I had learned before. Google’s certficates hold a lot of value, especially as you are looking at job prospects and can be a really good resume builder, which is why I would recommend it. I do not think there is anything to loose here, since the certification is free. I would recommend that new marketers take this, and some other small certification in order to build enough knowledge for a significant certification exam such as Google Analytics Exam.

When people usually think of “Email Marketing” their first instinct is that it is a type of spam or shady email from companies. Additionally, customers also assume that we receive their emails from unsolicited methods unethically. Email messages are the preferred method of communication with companies by customers. (Larson and Draper, 2021) About 70% of the customers in a survey responded that emails are the preferred method of companies to communicate with them. (Burstein, 2015)

What is Email Marketing & Why is it so important?

Email marketing is a method of informing clients on your email list about new products, promotions, and other services. It can also be a softer way to educate your audience about your brand’s worth or keep them engaged in between transactions. It could also be anything in between. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective tools as well that is available for marketers. However, one thing to point out here is that the company must capture an Email List through ethical means only so that the emails do not go in to spam folders or blocked. In a 2015 study done in the UK, the Direct Marketing Association found that for every dollar a company invests in their email marketing content and an email sent, there is an average Return on Investment (ROI) of about $38. Email marketing is important for the following reasons:

Improving customer loyalty and retention is a major goal for all marketers, and email marketing is a major way to do that. Brands can use email marketing to reach out to the consumers and remind them about exclusive offers for the customers. Emails can also be used to tailor specific campaigns to consumer groups. Additionally, inviting and enrolling in a VIP program can make the consumer realize that they are valuable to the company, and can encourage them to engage with the company. Email marketing can also be used to convert inactive users/customers into loyal customers by targetting exclusive offers to this group and sending them incentives to re-engage with the company. (Mughees, 2021)

According to survey research conducted by Litmus, an approximate 82% of the consumers open and interact with the emails that they recieve from companies. (2020) Because it gives you a direct line to your customers’ or potential customers’ email inboxes, email marketing is a terrific approach to build your brand identification. You’ll have a leg up on your competitors if you start providing quality material for them. This shows that customers do see and interact with the emails that we are sending to them. This is especially beneficial as a small business when you are trying to spread awareness of your product and service, email marketing can be a major tool in spreading awareness.

Email marketing can help in boost businsess sales by a lot. As mentioned before, for every dollar that businesses spend on email marketing, they can make up to $30-50 on their investment. (2020) conversion rates. Additionally, 66% of the customer make atleast one purchase being influenced by their emails. (Campaign Monitor) Companiess should do the following to drive up sales through their Email Marketing Campaigns:

• Use catchy statements, and show how the company can bring value. (see image)
• Write concise, and to-the-point messages
• Have a strong CTA for each email.
• Include high quality visuals on your emails.
• Create targetted email campaigns using personas.

What are Personas and Why are they important for Email Marketing?

• Create a Email Marketing Strategy

• Ad-Copy Improvements

When creating an email marketing and ad copy campaign, it is important to utilize personas to find and target the customer. Improvements should be made after understand how and what each segment effectively responds to. Companies would benefit from making headlines stand out, adding attractive imagines and colorful vidyals and make sure that they are focusing on the value brough by the product. Optimizing based on the CTR, and responsiveness is essential to improve the quality of email marketing.

• Segmented Emails

• Call to Actions and Offers.

Business Ethics are one of the most crucial parts of business operations in the current day and age, and rightfully so. Ethical businesses succeed because most customers prefer the brands that they purchase from. Customers today have a variety of options, so ethics can really set you aside. Like all business operations, ethics play a crucial role in Marketing Departments. This is because marketers are using very specific data that the consumers may or may not be aware of that is being shared. This is why, it is important that Marketers are also handling the data ethically, responsibly, and legally. Brands may engage customers with high trust, customer loyalty, large market share, greater brand value, better sales, and better revenue by implementing proper marketing ethics. Additionally, there has been a rise in this dialogue about data privacy for marketing because of the recent policies such as the EU’s GDPR. (Kurzer, 2018)

What is cookieless advertising?

A cookie is a data that browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox utilize, and these cookies store bits of information that are personally identifiable. As marketers, we use this data to target users based on the likes, dislikes, brands they use, etc. in order to better sell our products. In order to understand the term cookieless, it is important to realize the differences between two cookies; First-party and Third-Party.

Types of Cookies

First-Party Cookies are created by the same website that the user is currently using, and these usually save information such as username, password, consumers language preference, and carts they have saved on the website. (IBM, 2021) On the other hand, Third-Party Cookies are controversial, because they are created by domains that the consumer is NOT using. These tend to save information that will most likely be used for marketing and targeting purposes. For example, they will save used site navigation data as they toggle through websites, use Ad serving which is displaying the ads in an optimized and targeted way, and also enable Adware. (Bump, 2022) These cookies are controversial because while they are very effective for the marketers and brands in reaching their target audience, the user has not even interacted with this domain, so it is difficult to justify the use of the third-party domain to store users’ data. Major companies are taking steps to phase out and stop using third-party cookies. This is because not only do they violate the privacy of end-users, but also have become inefficient and ineffective in recent years. (Publift, 2022) As a marketer and a consumer, this topic is particularly dividing. As a marketer, third-party cookies can be an effective tool if it is used in combination with other marketing tools. However, third-party cookies also do violate privacy and store data that the user did not necessarily agree to.

If I need to decide – I would err on the side of cookie-less because there are many advantages that come with it.

Why go cookieless?

• Reaching the consumers in the right state of mind

Without third-party or cookie advertisements, consumers will not \be given information that does not necessarily align with their intents. For example, when someone is searching for “Hiking Boots”, third-party cookies can indicate that the consumer is looking for shoes and boots and general and that may not be their intent and deem the advertisement ineffective.

• Cookieless Targeting helps in gaining real insights

Marketers may monitor real-time information and optimize for maximum performance because relevant advertising campaigns are supplied accurately to consumers. Additionally, we can use the metrics from these targeted advertisements in order to better optimize their advertisements through KPI analysis, and the use of factors like keywords, and page optimizations.

• Builds Brand Recognition

As we mentioned before, consumers now more than before are conscious about what and where the brand is choosing to advertise. Relevant advertisements that are targeted allow the company to focus on their target customer base more appropriately and the consumers will have a better chance of knowing the brand because it follows their search intent.

• Transparency for users

Cookieless advertisements will allow consumers to have stronger control over their data. (IBM, 2021) Moving on, the website will give the consumers to give consent or agree to allow cookies which means that they will know what and who is collecting their data. Consumers need to have the choice of consenting to the data collection and advertising needs to protect consumer data. This is an opportunity for all marketers and advertisers to adapt and respect user privacy. (Gross, 2021)

A Cookieless Marketing Industry

The marketing industry is adapting to be more ethical because the change is already happening and Big Tech companies such as Google and Apple Inc., have taken significant steps in this because of laws and policies announced nationally, and internationally. For example the GDPR act and the California Privacy Protection Law. Google announced that it has “phase out” third-party cookies in its Chrome browser ‘within two years,” which means by 2022 (Bowles, 2021), and Apple announced that the users will be able to opt out of sharing information about their IOS ecosystem. “Today, we’re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products” Google tweeted. However, tech companies have not been readily accepting this because they believe that this law hinders the efficiency and the innovativeness of the Advertisements and provides less opportunity and choice for the users. (Mellor, 2022) /

What do marketers and advertisers have to do differently now?

With the lack of data available about consumers’ activities through third-party cookies, the job of a Marketer will be complicated and challenging. It is now more important than ever that Marketers put more focus on contextual and targeted advertisement campaigns, and focus on what and who the customer is as well as how the company can add value.  60% of senior executives say that the loss of third-party cookies will have a disruptive effect on their marketing. (Abramovich, 2021)

Marketers can try and utilize the first-party data for their benefit. This data includes phone numbers and emails. These can be used in order to create an optimized consumer base and the company can target based on factors such as demographics, income, age, etc.

Marketers would now have to be more focused on the consumer experience, and consumer relationship with the brand because that will be the way that consumers are generally attracted to the brand. However, the consumers would not be able to trust the companies and marketing more now. For companies that relied mainly on third-party cookies, advertisements would benefit from understanding the consumers, and why they would want the product the company is selling.

Without third-party cookies to provide marketers with audience insights that help them target and customize, developing more personalized experiences would become more difficult. Marketers should try and create content that is relevant to their target customers and helps them in engaging.

This change has its pros and cons, just like everything else. However, in my opinion, these pros outweigh the cons and provide for a better, safe, and transparent use for the users. Marketers must use this as an opportunity to strengthen other marketing techniques and utilize Martech tools for their benefit.