Google is giving users the option to see three more types of ads less often:

• Pregnancy and parenting.
• Dating.
• Weight loss.

The company today announced a global expansion of user controls that were introduced in 2020, which limited alcohol and gambling ads.

YouTube and Google Display ads. Initially, users could only limit alcohol and gambling ads on YouTube. With today’s announcement, users can now also limit these ads on Display. Users can also choose to limit the three new ad categories on both YouTube and Display.

Fewer, not zero. There’s an important distinction here: Google only limits these types of ads. That doesn’t mean a user will never, at some point, see a weight loss or gambling ad. It simply means they will see “fewer” of them.

As we noted in 2020, short of an ad ban, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee that a user who opts out will never see an ad in one of these categories. 

Given the sensitive nature of these categories, there may be additional restrictions, depending on your country.

How users opt-out. This feature can be found in users’ Ad Settings, under the Google Account dashboard. Here’s what it looks like:

More to come? Google seems to be considering expanding this feature further. According to Karin Hennessy, Group Product Manager for Ads Privacy:

“People want more control over their ads experience, including blocking ads or categories they prefer not to see. Providing transparency and control has always been a priority for us so we’re expanding our tools, enabling the choice to see fewer pregnancy & parenting, dating, and weight loss ads. We’ll continue to listen to user feedback and study which categories to expand this feature to in the future.” 

Why we care. This is a good move on Google’s part to allow users to limit the types of ads they see in sensitive categories. Because it’s opt-in, people need to know about the option and take the time to do it. I’ve asked Google how many people use the ad limitation feature and will update the article if/when I hear back.

The impact on marketers should be minimal. At worst, these controls may actually result in better ad targeting, as it should prevent people who are highly unlikely to convert from seeing your ads. 

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CodeFuel was among Microsoft Advertising’s distinguished regional winners in EMEA before being selected as their 2021 global partner. This prestigious award and recognition is based on excellence in partnership with Microsoft Advertising across the board, including key partnership results such as engagement and revenue growth. CodeFuel is one of only five companies to achieve the status of a global partner. The announcement was made during Microsoft Advertising Elevate on April 27, 2022, the annual global partner summit exclusively for elite and select partners.

The collaboration with Microsoft Advertising

“We’ve had a partnership with Microsoft that extends more than ten years, and this recognition as Microsoft’s Advertising Partner of the Year is a moment of great pride in a long history of successes. Yet it is only the start,” said Doron Gerstel, Perion’s CEO.

“As consumers globally relied on e-commerce to an unprecedented degree – advertisers responded by investing more into search – which is the category where consumers demonstrate the highest degree of intent. Capitalizing on this generational shift required close collaboration between the CodeFuel team and the Microsoft team, and the results speak for themselves. Going forward, we will continue to build our network of publishers while maintaining the impeccable quality standards which matter so much to both of us.” Gerstel added.

Tal Jacobson, CodeFuel’s general manager, and his team worked to strengthen the collaboration with Microsoft Advertising through investments in technology and a focus on quality to maximize user engagement and growth. Working closely with Microsoft Advertising allowed the company to introduce new features while receiving the business and back-end support.

“The growth we have achieved in the last couple of years reflects the close collaboration and the teams’ dedication to our mutual success, year after year,” said Jacobson. “We look forward to further driving success for publishers and advertisers.”

“We are thrilled that CodeFuel, a Perion Company, has been named our Global Supply Partner of the year. This is an award that reflects the growth of the underlying business, which is the result of true partnership, close collaboration, and technology innovation. CodeFuel’s commitment to its clients has been noteworthy during a time of disruption and uncertainty. We look forward to our continued partnership and continued healthy growth of all aspects of the business,” said Sean O’Connor, International Marketing Director at Microsoft Advertising.

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The best way to do this is through advertising. Yet, since mortgage lending is a very regulated industry. Mortgage advertising has laws that must be followed.

Many laws protect people from predatory lending. One of the ways that they do this is by limiting the types of advertisements sent to consumers. All advertisements for mortgage lending services must be non-discriminatory. Ads must also provide clear financial terms associated with their lending products.

Lending companies struggle to balance advertising and compliance, and it is challenging to be creative and informative at the same time. Other industries that are not as regulated can provide more engaging ads. If your mortgage lending company wants to keep giving quality ads, consider these three methods:

1. Craft Your Ad to Meet the Persona of Your Ideal Customer

Many mortgage companies got used to using Facebook to target their ads. They would use the demographics settings to reach people who earned a certain income. 

Others would select specific age ranges or races, and these practices are illegal. Facebook redesigned its ad practices in 2020. Now mortgage lenders cannot use Facebook to attract particular buyers through ad settings.

While the Facebook limitations imposed on lenders can be frustrating, they serve a purpose and help keep lenders compliant with advertising regulations. 

To attract new clients on Facebook, lenders must have a new strategy. One such method is to create ads based on your ideal customer. For example, if your ad is interesting to those in their 30’s or 40’s, those who are 18 will likely scroll right past.

2. Set up a Live Chat on Your Website

It’s become relatively easy to set up a live chatbox on a website. Many websites have one. If a customer has a question, they can ask it. 

The live chat is an automatic pop-up that viewers see immediately after pulling up a website. Chatbox is a valuable tool that connects you directly with potential clients. It’s also compliant with advertising regulations since no customer discrimination is involved.

Customers who ask questions receive information about mortgage loans and homes available. They find out about loans they may qualify for.

3. Tailor Campaigns for Your Clients

Although ads must not discriminate against clients, that doesn’t mean you can’t tailor ads. You can create personalized email campaigns based on their needs and preferences. 

For example, if you know, certain customers are looking for a VA loan. You can send them a message letting them know eligibility requirements. Your message can be educational — it doesn’t have to be promotional. This approach helps maintain a connection with the client while remaining legally compliant.

Need a Mortgage CRM?

If you are a mortgage broker or loan officer, you need help managing your customer relations. BNTouch’s mortgage CRM helps you to remain compliant while remaining in touch with clients.

Contact us for a free demo today!

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Every time you type a question into Google, the results page can look completely different. Think videos, images, ads, graphs, and related questions.

Today there are more than 40 different interactive elements or SERP features that can appear. These responsive results offer an improved user experience, but pose a real challenge to search engine optimization (SEO).

So, how can you know what SERP features should be at the forefront of your strategic planning? In this report, Similarweb analyzed the most popular SERP features across various industries. It covers

• Best practices to help you rank for key SERP features
• Important factors that influence search behavior
• Varying trends and growth rates of SERP features
• Which SERP features are most prominent by industry
• How branded and non-branded search impact SERP

Read it now to find out the best strategies to leverage and how.

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When Google rebranded from Google My Business To Google Business Profiles, the search company said it would push businesses to manage their listings directly in Google Search and Google Maps. But it also said the Google Business Profile Manager tool will stick around for larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager.” 

Well, that might not be the case. When you now login to the Google Business Profile manager, even if you manage many locations, you will get a notice that says “from early 2022, you can no longer manage your business here.”

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the notice that says:

Managing your Business Profile is moving to Search and Maps. From early 2022, you can no longer manage your business here. Google Business Profile Manager is changing to make management easier. You can now access everything directly on Search and Maps

Stay here. What happens when you click on “stay here.” Well, you are taken to a short poll asking you if you tried to manage your business listings in Google Search or on Google Maps. If you say yes, it asks you if you want to continue to use Google Business Profile manager or not – in which I said yes, please.

Why we care. Using Google Business Profile manager to maintain and update your business listings is much more efficient and straight forward than doing so directly in Google Search and Google Maps. We do suspect that Google will improve the user experience for maintaining your business directly in Google Search and Google Maps. But there is something to be said about having a list of all the businesses you manage in a single location without having to search for the listing in Google Search or Google Maps.

Will this feature go away soon? I suspect for many it will but hopefully there will be a new portal for larger businesses with many locations and local SEOs that manage many locations to use going forward.

The post Is the Google Business Profile Manager going away for multi-locations businesses as well? appeared first on Search Engine Land.

LinkedIn Ads for real estate are some of the most under-utilized, yet effective digital marketing tools available to real estate agents. The following guide will show you how to tap in to that audience to capture hot leads quickly and grow your personal brand – all within budget.

How to Create Killer LinkedIn Ads for Real Estate (Step by Step) is just one of many great real estate strategies on The Spark

You’ve heard about the results companies are getting with account-based marketing (ABM) and you want to know what it will take to make it work for you. In particular, will it fit in your budget?

Like any digital marketing campaign, the cost of running ABM campaigns consists of multiple components with multiple line items within each component. ABM components include your tech stack, assets, channels, and the expertise to execute and orchestrate everything. What can you expect to spend on each? What variables come into play? What kind of return can you expect from your investment?

Let’s break it all down.

How to think about ABM budgets

You may have seen the Forrester report that found the average annual ABM budget is around $350,000 (excluding headcount costs) and pilot campaigns around $200,000. It found more mature programs with proven value have budgets of around $600,000, and budgets for established programs at large enterprises can run into the millions.

While these averages are a good jumping-off point, smaller organizations shouldn’t be put off by the price tag before learning more, and corporations of any size should keep in mind these findings may have already changed. Forrester found that 70 percent of organizations expected the average cost to rise.

The best way to think about ABM budgets is to understand its components, your ICP priorities, and the right budgeting methodology.

Start by understanding ABM components

Tools, processes, and people — like any digital endeavor, you need all three to run ABM campaigns. ABM components include: 

• Strategy development 
• Tech stack
• Asset creation
• Paid ad channels 
• Expertise to run campaigns and analyze results 

The number of accounts and individuals within those accounts you want to target also drives your budget.  

Determine the relative importance of insight and engagement

Are you primarily looking for insight or engagement from your ideal client persona (ICP)? 

If you want to better understand your visitors’ intent and pain points, you’ll want to allocate more of your budget for insight. You’ll use this information to create targeted ICP content and give your team the perspective to make informed campaign choices.

On the other hand, if your targeted ICP is within the same industry or niche, you’ll want to allocate more of your budget for engagement because the insight provided will be similar for all accounts within your ICP.

Use the right budgeting methodology

You can use the same budgeting approach for an ABM pilot or 1:Many ABM campaign as you would for a traditional digital marketing campaign, but budgeting for 1:Few and 1:1 campaigns is more complicated and fluid.

Personalized ABM campaigns focus on targeting individuals within accounts — the cost is determined by account value and not a fixed budget. The more valuable a particular account, the more you’ll want to spend on it. Account values often reveal themselves during the campaign, so you’ll want to use an account-based methodology with more flexible line items.

How to price out technology and expertise

While the actual dollar costs of targeting specific accounts and individuals are too variable to cover here, we can quantify the cost of technology and expertise.

Budget for the tech stack you need

You’ll need to subscribe to a few key platforms to run ABM. The cost of your combined tech stack is based on the size of your organization and the platforms you choose — you can expect to pay $165-$325K in total for the annual licenses needed to run ABM.

Budget for the channels you need

Targeting accounts with the right messages at the right time means you have to get your assets in the right channels. ABM channels include programmatic, content marketing, paid search, SEO, paid social, email nurture, and online gifting. The total cost for each channel includes creating the assets and running them in the channel.

While spending for each channel is highly variable by campaign, determining an overall paid-ad budget is part of your campaign strategy.

It’s best to stay flexible with specific allocations so you can spend more on the channels that are proving to be more successful as your campaign progresses and less on the ones that aren’t.

Budget for the expertise you need

You can use the right tech stack and channels for your ICP, but it’s tough to get the right ROI without the right team. You need:

• Tech stack integration specialists: Connect all platforms so they work together and convert data into dashboard visualizations everyone can understand. 
• Analysts and strategists: Translate ongoing campaign data into actionable tactics that ensure you’re targeting accounts most likely to convert.  
• Content writers and designers: Develop display ads, white papers, case studies, landing pages, and personalized assets for 1:Few and 1:1 campaigns. 
• Search marketers: Convert complex marketing plans and research into SEO and PPC strategies that get ads in front of buying committees at every funnel stage.

Remember to keep turnover in mind. Marketing specialists have a 19.8% annual turnover rate. 

How omnichannel impacts ABM budgeting

Much more of the buying process and B2B marketing is taking place online now — the pandemic changed how the world does business. B2B marketers who embrace the change are reaching accounts where they’re already hanging out.

Omnichannel changes how buying committees make decisions

The new B2B buying journey doesn’t include a lot of talking with suppliers. Most of it happens online before buyers reach out and includes more people on the buying committee. 

In 2017, you could engage in buying scenarios by targeting one or two buyers. Now, buying committees with two people represent only 18% of purchases while most have five or more people. These people are looking for solutions online and increasingly find them in social channels — B2B social sellers outperform their peers who don’t leverage social media by 72%.  

Why omnichannel ABM requires insight

To know which channels will work best, you need to apply ABM insight.

For example, if you advertise on LinkedIn but the accounts within your ICP are more active on Facebook, your ads aren’t likely reaching your intended audience. By applying insight using an omnichannel approach, you ensure your ICP will see your ads while enabling you to target specific pain points. This dramatically increases the likelihood your ICP will follow your ad to your website.

How to optimize omnichannel ABM

More personalized ABM campaigns work better. The data prove it — 1:Few and 1:1 ABM campaigns deliver much higher ROI because they move accounts further down the funnel faster. 

As you might guess, personalized ABM campaigns cost more because you need to create and orchestrate personalized assets. But if it’s ROI you’re after, the investment pays off. Make sure to be strategic during account selection and focus your budget on running campaigns that only target high-value, in-market accounts. 

ABM investment strategies 

While the bottom-line number for an ABM program deserves thoughtful consideration, keep revenue generation in mind as you deliberate. To realize the promise of ABM, look at all of your options and allow the strategy to play out once you start. 

Patience is a must

The B2B buying process takes many months or even a year or more to move a buying committee from awareness through decision. The first ROI benchmark for ABM is usually around month six — by then, if you’ve invested wisely and your sales team is leveraging campaign data correctly, you should be seeing a return of three times your investment.

The agency alternative

The most sophisticated ABM agencies run full-funnel ABM campaigns that include sales enablement as part of their services. These agencies earn their clients up to nine times annual ROI for 1:Few and 1:1 campaigns starting with the first campaign because they already have the teams, technology, and orchestration expertise. 

Agency results can be replicated in-house over time as you build the right team and a seamless operation. Consider comparing the budget you develop to the cost of partnering with an ABM agency by requesting demos from one of more agencies.

Ways to reduce in-house costs

There are a few things you can do to reduce the cost of running AMB in-house. The key is informed decision-making and careful planning:

• Research your tech stack options so you choose the ones that match your needs the first time
• Consider your data goals to cut back on costs associated with trying different products  
• Have the right team in place before you start
• Establish SOPs to avoid obstacles

As you’ve seen, budgeting for ABM is complex but you can get accurate numbers when you understand what’s involved and apply a lot of forethought. Reaching out to peers and experts about their hands-on experiences with ABM budgeting is always a good idea, as is giving equal focus to the other side of your balance sheet as you make your allocation decisions.

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