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I like this idea, just might steal it

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We’ve started to see performance bounce back for our clients most in danger of a “pre-election slump” (vindication!), so I’m dipping back into that well one more time.

via Sounds Profitable:

Many brands either reduced or outright halted investments in influencer marketing to barricade themselves from political blowback during a heated election season.

Not only did the campaigns spend a lot, but other advertisers spent less, furthering the omnipresence of political messaging.

Consumer focus narrowed and behavior followed.

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Google Analytics 4 adds benchmarking data

reference metrics that help you compare your business performance against the performance of other businesses in your industry.

in percentiles (median, 25th, and 75th) based on peer groups of businesses for a wide range of industry categories. The businesses that form the peer groups are determined by an industry category assigned to each property. This industry category is determined by a combination of factors including the broad industry category provided in setup and signals from things like a property’s URLs and App attributes.

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Google’s getting ready for shopping szn

Google Lens

Google Lens can quickly show you product insights tailored to the store you’re in. Just snap a photo to find product information, similar products in-stock, whether a store’s price is competitive and shopper reviews.

Shop Via Maps

search for products in Maps and find nearby stores selling them

As the moat around Google’s Knowledge Graph erodes in a post-AI world, the “Shopping Graph” may be the next fulcrum for revenue growth.

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Samsung and Google are working on smart glasses to rival Meta’s Ray Bans to be released late next year.

Gemini would handle AI tasks alongside support for “payment,” QR code recognition, “gesture recognition,” and “human recognition functions.”

I think we’ve found the most probable next consumer computing platform.

AI needs a computer, but not necessarily a screen.

The era of ambient computing is upon us.

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Pew Research has released the latest update to its data set on US adult social media usage.

The trends:

  • YouTube, Facebook up
  • big gap
  • Instagram growing
  • TikTok dipped
  • Pinterest: more popular than you think?
  • Up: LinkedIn, Reddit
  • Steady: WhatsApp, Snapchat, BeReal
  • Down: X (Twitter)
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A survey says trio

A study by Harvard Business Review found that 95% of purchasing decisions are emotional, not rational. 

Research shows that 40% of impulse purchases lead to regret, which can hit return rates hard.

Studies show that loyal customers are 60-70% more likely to convert than new customers.
  1. This is what always bothered me about economics, humans aren’t rational engines.
  2. The sale doesn’t truly end until the item gets used.
  3. Retention is the most important part*.

*caveat that not all businesses are high-repeat

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[Trump] wants tariffs on imports and intends to shrink the labor pool by reducing migration, both of which economists say could have inflationary outcomes, making the Federal Reserve less inclined to reduce interest rates.

As mentioned in Why I think 11/6 was a release valve, there is now a window before expected price increases hit, especially on imported goods.

Some purchases will pull forward. Then things could really slow down.

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The study found that companies that relied heavily on social ads weren’t getting their full money’s worth.

This is because so-called “light social users,” who don’t use their social apps as much compared to other apps on their phone, make up a large proportion of consumers.

The days of scaling a DTC e-commerce brand on Meta ads alone are long gone.

Think outside the feed.

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Thoughts on building a media network from the NBA Front Office Show that’s also great brand building advice. 🏀

You want to do things really well before you just try to do a lot of things.

That’s one of the biggest mistakes people make is, “I want to do everything.”

Let’s do one thing really well first.

Find your niche. Get great at that. Then you can branch out.