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Drop the look, keep the voice.

High-performing brands have shifted to voiceover-first UGC, Ads that strip away the face, drop the performance, and just let the message land.

As Google Ads tries to become more like social, are social ads becoming more like podcasts?

via Buyology

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Tracking a submit button click is not the same as tracking the submission.

Measure the action you want taken, not a loose proxy or the easy thing that’s kind of the same.

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What Google announced at I/O that you might want to know about

(hint: it rhymes with “hey why”)

The two main questions for marketers:

  • How will this change user behavior?
  • How will big G monetize AI search?

We might get some hints during Marketing Live today.

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Lots of people focus on getting attention.

Stopping the scroll.
Perfecting the hook.
Pausing the swipe.

But what are you going to do once you get that attention?

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Loomer on Lead Forms

Jon Loomer has been writing a lot about Meta Instant Forms lately, so here’s a round up of recent test features and ideas on improving lead quality.

Recent updates / tests:

How to improve quality (list of 16 ideas):

  • Custom events based on post-form fill actions that signal a quality lead
  • Change who performs the action
    • “Changing who performs the action is rarely about targeting. Impact the people you attract with your ad copy, creative, and offer. Create form questions that apply to your ideal lead. You might even use conditional logic to kick out people who don’t qualify.”
  • Question quality
    • consider open-ended questions that aren’t easily answered with a yes/no or checkbox
    • add conditional questions
  • Optimize Landing Page > Confirmation Page > Outreach flow
  • A bit on Conversion Leads optimization
    • “When this is selected, Meta’s focus will be on finding people who perform other goal actions after submitting your form. To do this, you first need to define your funnel for Meta, which can be a long, frustrating process.”
  • A bit on form types
    • “More Volume” will be the most streamlined, making it as easy as possible to complete the form with the fewest steps.
    • “Higher Intent” will require an additional confirmation step. While the difference may not be significant, it can impact quality.
    • “Rich Creative” allows you to add more information to your form like social proof, incentives, and a product feed.
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Ad targeting is no longer what you think it is

Changing who performs the action is rarely about targeting. Impact the people you attract with your ad copy, creative, and offer. Create form questions that apply to your ideal lead.

-Jon Loomer

Craft your message in a way that resonates.

Use the language of your audience—both verbal and visual.

Understand what they want and deliver it in your unique way.

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rearrange the stack

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How will marketers react to uncertainty (thanks tariffs!)?

According to EMARKETERS Zach Goldner:

I think what marketers are going to do is what they always do during turbulent times.

Clamp down more on experimental spending

Reallocate more toward safer bets, like search > Lean more into the triopoly: Google, Meta, and Amazon

A Chinese pullback should lead to lower CPMs but be brave

Zig to the above zag

Now is the time for brand building and experimentation

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Could be handy when working out potential audience size

Population Around A Point tool

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Sometimes you just need to acknowledge the state of reality and keep things simple

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It’s not just about delivering the right message to the right person.

It’s about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time in the right context.

In the words of Phill Agnew:

Our surroundings always anchor us.

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Some Google updates you might have missed earlier this year:

Exclude age groups from shopping placements in Performance Max campaigns

an AI sales assistant in shopping related search results (in testing)

Demand Gen campaigns are adding display network to the placement portfolio at the ad group level (so much for quality).

Video Action Campaigns are being migrated to Demand Gen, but you

will be able to use Demand Gen to create a YouTube only performance campaign

More robust campaign planning with Advanced Plans. Looks to offer options based on your objective, recommending the campaign type mix and budget allocation.

Customer Match list membership duration will be capped at 540 days

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If you’re using link click optimization on Meta ads, you’re doing it wrong.

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Louis Grenier & co shared some great nuggets on a fun CXL webinar earlier this week:

  • “Strategy is deciding what not to do”
  • Don’t just aim for no, but say no
  • Do something unrelated to your core services to stand out
  • Don’t be broad, be focused in your messaging

And, of course, the key to this whole business thing:

Find a group of people that have struggles in common that you can serve by solving them in your own unique way

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What memorable message is your marketing leaving?

Is it easy to remember?

Does it focus on the customer or action?

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The Art of the Deal author and Big Daddy Xi continue their game of tariff checkers with a new round of negotiations.

In the near term, penalties are way down

Amid the 90-day pause, Trump’s 20% fentanyl-related tariffs on China, imposed in February and March, will remain. That means Chinese goods entering the US will face a 30% tariff, down from 145%, while US goods going the other way will be subject to a 10% levy from Beijing, down from 125%.

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Could Google’s best anti-trust defense be to play up its coming irrelevance?

Apple SVP of Services Eddy Cue said last week that AI will one day replace search engines like Google.

Cue said he expects Safari to eventually swap out Google for AI services from up-and-comers including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity.

Which of course brings to mind the Twain-ism, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

In the long run, Google’s 10 Blue Links™ approach is likely dead, a former monopoly. But how long is that long run?

via The Daily Upside

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Charlie Day with the advice all marketers need to hear:

A good campaign probably has a little bit of risk. You’re much better off taking the risk and taking the swing on something that could be wildly successful.

Playing it safe is planning to fail.

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You can set brand guidelines in Meta Ads Manager to help steer / personalize the AI to your brand for more on-brand generative options.

Another clear step towards less direct input from marketers and more genAI in the ads platform (and everywhere else) a.k.a. Zuck’s dream.

A branding setup interface is shown, featuring options for logo, font, colors, text tone, and visual style preferences.

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Tears for Fears shows songwriting is just like making ads

You get a great title, it’s half the battle.

Good beat. Good title. Ok, the rest is simple.

Your creative is your beat.
Your headline is your title.

Something something Shout