Some Personal News
#28 New inventory types to test, what good SEO is and how to double your CVR
Happy Sunday. A very warm welcome to all the new subscribers. I’m thrilled to have you as readers and truly appreciate your feedback and support.
In this post I’ll cover:
New Inventory types – where to fit RMN’s, Performance Max, YouTube shorts
What people think “good" SEO is vs what good SEO actually is
Executing effective revenue marketing (and doubling your CVR)
I met a lot of agencies this month. In preparation for one conversation, I came across P&G CMO Marc Pritchard’s keynote at the ANA Media Conference. He talked about how they’ve in-housed lots of work – but are still needing agencies that can see round corners. He talked of how the business is using data and tech to make a real business difference. Asked about tech, he nailed it:
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4 and a Half Inventory Types to Explore
I’ve talked a lot about adtech this February because there’s a lot of really interesting stuff happening there right now, and it’ll affect how we go to market in the coming months. AI, conversational marketing, Influencers, short video and the Metaverse are trends that are scattered across almost every digital screen I scan on the daily.
A lot of it is pure fluff and has been repeated for a few years now but 3 trends come to mind that you could be double clicking into right now, and another 1 and a half others aren’t too far off:
1. Get into Bing while it’s not too late.
It was already performing well for those of us focusing on the older demographics, where Bing has a surprising 15%+ market share. Now with the launch of ChatGPT as a conversational version of the Bing search engine, I suspect there’ll be a lot of advertising value coming. That said why Bing is very interesting right now is as a result of ChatGPT - so many more people are playing with Bing, and liking it. Their “adoption bell curve”has suddenly changed from “laggards” that didn’t switch to Google back to early adopters again, adding many younger users. And with Google's very underwhelming launch of Bard, that trend will likely stay for some time.
Practical application: Consider replicating your Non-Brand SEM campaigns from Google Ads straight into Bing – and seeing what happens. This would fit straight into the areas of the Donor Lifecycle highlighted in red below:
2. Google Performance Max.
Google recently surprised the market by announcing they will kill similar audiences targeting option. Reading more into it, this fits right into the “Rise of AI” pillar. Without spiraling too much into the Don’t do Evil principle that isn’t going too well for them at the moment, all this means is that Google is betting big on Performance Max. They continue taking control away from marketers giving them tools that supposedly can do the job better. “Similar audiences” will soon only be available as a part of Performance Max. I also assume they will, at some point, make the GA4 connection a requirement for this.
Practical application: Performance Max is the all-automated way of running Google Ads – where Google selects inventory, audiences, and everything on your behalf based on the conversion pixel you choose and the creative elements you upload. While this is not in line with our CDP-like approach, this also has its place in the strategy – and the results from some of the marketers I’ve heard from, me included, were better than expected. I see Performance Max fitting well into the Retargeting use cases below:
By leveraging Performance Max this way, you can speed up your Donor Understanding process – analyzing in GA4 who ends up converting. In addition, you’dsxzre relying on P Max to effectively help you determine the “Churn Rate Prediction” and “Lifetime Value Prediction” without doing that exercise as a stand-alone.
3. YouTube Shorts
This inventory recently became available in TrueView advertising. It’s a gem to test out for video advertising and much cheaper than longer-form YouTube ads or CTV. This also hits on the Influencer and Short Video pillars from above.
Practical application: I see this fitting into the Single-to-Monthly campaigns. I’d launch YouTube shorts leveraging (ideally) on-the-ground content of your organization’s impact – hitting both educating current donors about the impact of their contributions and appealing to a younger generation, more prone to become monthly donors. As an added value, you can reuse the content in the general YouTube TrueView ads – we’ve all seen those new-ish vertical ads on Mobile. If this works well replicate the same campaigns in TikTok, making necessary tweaks to the content.
4. Retail Media Networks
I’ve called out Walmart and Tesco as examples before. It was interesting to read that RMNs are now the fastest-growing part of Digital Advertising with huge penetration. Perhaps unsurprisingly Amazon leads the peloton with 77% market share. Purchase data is precious to all advertisers, non-profits included – but so far, the market mainly focuses on the Retail industry, not letting advertisers from other verticals on or significantly reducing the available functionality. But when this changes, I strongly advise creating a place for it in your marketing mix.
4 and a 1/2. Metaverse
This one might just be a buzzword or stay with us for a long time as a new way for people to interact with the internet. Probably best for the glove compartment for now. But if the latter proves true, it has tremendous potential for Non-Profits – likely less so as an advertising channel. On the other hand, it has great value in enabling an immersive experience – letting your donors “visit” the people and causes they’re helping and attend your in-person fundraising events virtually.
What People Think Good SEO is:
> keyword optimizing blog posts
> earning backlinks
> getting traffic in Google
What good SEO actually is:
✅ Strategic alignment with business goals
✅ Deep audience research
✅ UX testing and optimization
✅ Full funnel keyword strategy
✅ Integrated content strategy
✅ Psychology of conversion
✅ Website design
✅ Competitive analysis
✅ Engaging copywriting
✅ Scaling content publishing rate without losing quality
To stand out as an SEO team or agency, you need to go beyond the basics. Do deep, strategic work. Add value.
SEO isn't traffic for the sake of traffic. It's a strategic and effective marketing strategy.
Increase the Effectiveness of your Revenue Marketing
There’s no such thing as “ads not working.”
You’re either running ads with bad creative, poor messaging, bad targeting, or uninformative landing pages, or… your proposition isn’t resonating enough to demand space in the prospect donor’s consideration set.
Everything is worth exactly what someone else is willing to donate for it at any given moment in time.
As a brand, or an operator, your goal is to create a sustainable and revenue-generating operation to deliver your mission; get people to care (through advocacy, marketing/advertising), get them to donate, and then deliver on the promise of your mission over and over again.
In other words, finding your initial “product-market fit” just means finding a repeatable process to consistently create, advertise, sell, and deliver what you’re selling. That is PMF.
In today’s marketing and advertising world, there are a few proven ways to get your message out there. Here are some of the most common:
• Organic content: including any and all social posts, articles, videos, images, podcasts, comments, and more.
• Ads: Paying for reach, clicks, or a “conversion event.”
• Creators: Paying other creators/people with distribution to mention your product or service in their content.
• PR: Getting mentioned in the traditional, legacy, or industry press and media outlets.
• Word of Mouth: Having friends, family members, happy donors, collaborators, or colleagues share more about what you do.
• Events: Hosting digital or in-person events to help spread the word.
• Collabs: Partnering with a creator or brand to co-promote your mission in a way that’s mutually beneficial to you both.
Obviously, there are a bunch more, but those are some of the basics. For now, let’s focus on ads.
I love ads because they guarantee reach. No matter what, you’re guaranteed to get views when you spend money on Google, Meta, TikTok, or Twitter to promote your brand. Even spending just $250 dollars per day on these platforms can give you some really meaningful insights.
Ads definitely work; people just need to learn how to crack the code.
After working with organizations to perfect their donor acquisition cycle, here are some thoughts on how you can increase the effectiveness of your revenue marketing.
Messaging
To be successful, you need to be able to explain your mission in 1-2 sentences max. The shorter, the better. The more flawless your one-liner is, the better everything else that’s much longer, will sound.
For example, Tobes Inc (made-up company) scales category-defining non-profit brands.
In theory, we could also say, “Tobes Inc builds websites, runs ads, makes creative, builds landing pages, etc” or we could just say that Tobes Inc scales brands. In just one sentence, I articulate what I do. Tobes Inc helps you grow.
I feel like this thinking can be applied to pretty much everything in your creative funnel. i.e., if you’re creating an ad, what’s the immediate punchline? If you’re creating a physical label for your event, what’s the value prop or enticing hook? If you’re creating a landing page, how can you quickly explain what’s in it for the donor on the other side of the screen?
The clearer you can be with your messaging across all of these initiatives, the easier it will be to “sell” your mission at scale.
Discussing Benefits, Not Features
Another common mistake I see many organizations make when it comes to their messaging and ads is focusing too much on the features instead of the benefits. Then you can add angles.
Does Nike’s content and ads lead with the fact that their shoes are made with rubber soles and nylon laces? Rather, they use their content and ads to paint a picture of a consumer's life once they own more Nike gear. Think about it from the journey of a donation perspective; take the donor on a journey, show them the impact they can make, paint a picture of a recipient’s life once they receive your deliverable/product/funding.
Once you’re hooked on that, Nike take it to the angles. They show you how a particular shoe is much better for distance running because the additional padding will prohibit shin splints from occurring… You’re still assuming all the right value props in your head, but you’re seeing it personified — that’s why we get so excited to buy them.
Because their ads and content are about athletic performance (not materials or features), you envision yourself as an “athlete” by purchasing their gear and partaking in the Nike story/brand.
IMO, this is exactly what great marketing/advertising is all about. It’s the story of how this mission or service will help us transform into who we want to be. Wearing Nike makes us an athlete. Drinking Grand Cru makes us sophisticated. Donating to X makes us… You get the point.
The Price Is (NOT) Right
The last element of your ads, landing pages, creative, and messaging not working is oftentimes that the donation amount you’re suggesting doesn’t make sense to the prospect. It’s “general”.
Build a donation form, duplicate the page, and try 2 different donation price points. Split test running the same traffic from your favorite ad source (i.e., Meta, TikTok, etc.) and see how the market reacts.
Are you getting statistically significant improvements to CVR when you suggest 20% higher donation amounts for those coming from iPhone vs Android or mid-week vs a Friday-Payday. This is definitely worth a test. We saw incredible results when we tested this and it put in motion new processes and platforms that resulted in an extraordinary revenue trajectory.
Research the competition and alternatives, A/B test multiple price points via landing pages, and then let the market decide.
Make it rain.
Jobs & Opps
If you’re searching for a new role or contemplating a change, let me know how I can help you.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Lead North America
Environmental Defense Fund: Senior Director Donor Engagement
GiveDirectly: VP, Development
Human Rights First: Digital Director
National MS Society: VP Content Strategy
Sloan Kettering: Director, Social Media Strategy
University of Miami: Senior Director, Digital Engagement Marketing
Reads of My Week
The Next Wave of Game-Changing Companies Will Be Life-Changing Companies (Forerunner)
The Consumer Subscription Roll-Up Opportunity (Brett Bivens)
AMC Theatres to Change Movie Ticket Prices Based on Seat Location (Variety)
Twitter Will Provide a Free Write-Only API To Bots Providing Good Content (Techcrunch)
Why Slow Motion Really Does Help Sell Luxury Goods (WSJ)
Retail Media Networks are the Next Big Advertising Channel (Forbes)
AdAge: SuperBowl Ad Reviews (AdAge)
Thank you for reading Some Personal News
How can I help you? I use my experience, expertise and network to help mission-driven organizations solve interesting problems and grow.
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See you next week.