‘Click here’ isn’t working, B2B digital ad spend is up, and audio ads are flexible.
Your weekly digital marketing matchbox to kindle creative content.
August 13, 2020
Anchors (Text) Aweigh
You flawlessly integrated keywords into your website copy. You placed H1 and H2 tags in all the right places. But an SEO marketer’s work is never done. Next step: Optimize anchor text (AKA the clickable text in a hyperlink).
The words in your anchor text help Google’s search crawlers understand the link’s content. So, to improve SEO, avoid generic anchor text like “click here” or “read more.” And on the other end of the spectrum, don’t get overly keyword happy or specific. It’s all about using diverse and succinct text that’s relevant to the linked page. (Oh, and know that if your anchor is a photo, Google views the alt-text as the anchor text.)
No detail is too small when it comes to SEO, and there’s always room to improve — both new content and old — through tiny tweaks. Because at the end of the day, all the minutiae add up to big (Google search) results.
TL;DR: The anchor text in your hyperlinks matters for SEO, so keep it succinct, relevant to what you’re linking, and don’t stuff with keywords.
B2B Bests 2020
It feels like an oxymoron to use “2020” and “thriving” in the same sentence … but B2B digital marketers are actually thriving in 2020. Even though overall ad spend is down this year, B2B digital spend is up nearly 23%.
Healthcare, technology, and financial services are leading the pack, and brands are taking advantage of search, LinkedIn, podcasts, and B2B publishers to rein in leads. (Account-based marketing? Not so much.) And this year, the desktop has become the avenue of choice — not mobile — as time spent on computers has risen 5.3% Y-O-Y as of April.
2020 has allowed B2B brands to shine digitally, and it’s not over yet. If your usual marketing tactics like ABM have been faltering, remember nothing about this year is traditional. So don't be shy about increasing your desktop-friendly ad and content efforts, be bullish moving forward, and ride this digital B2B wave through 2021.
TL;DR: B2B digital marketing thrives in 2020 by targeting users on a desktop through search ads, social media, and more.
Like Music to Our Ears
Audio and advertising go together, like music and lyrics. Sure, you can have one without the other, but together, they deliver a full experience. And Google knows what’s up — it just announced a new range of audio ad options.
The new Dynamic Ad Insertion provides ad flexibility around how they’re delivered. For example, if you’re background streaming music with an app on your phone, the ad is delivered in an audio-only format. But if you're active on the screen, the ad could take the visual route — providing both video and audio. Optimization like that is music to a marketer's ears. And Google’s new Audio Mixer adds a collaborative platform for audio ad creation to create and share with your team.
Historically, audio ads haven’t kept up with other forms of digital advertising, but Google’s Ad Manager helps brands monetize their audio content to become ad maestros. And a lil’ audio can go a long way in a robust advertising strategy.
TL;DR: More people are consuming additional audio content every day, so it may be time to diversify your ad-mix and throw in a lil’ bit of audio via Google’s Ad Manager.
WHAT LIT US UP THIS WEEK
Everybody Loves Bagel Bites
The Bagel Bites’ ad-team is coming hot out of the oven (or, let’s be real, the microwave) as it launches its first campaign in decades. And boy, is it timely. By playing off the polarized American population, Bagel Bites’ campaign identified a seemingly elusive common ground: Pizza on a Bagel — We Can All Agree With That.
Bagel Bites’ based its entire campaign on the light-hearted, pop culture-induced internet arguments of its crucial audience: Gen Z. The idea was born from a 2019 study by its parent company, Kraft Heinz, that found cultural chatter is driven by internet conversations, especially on sites like Reddit and YouTube. Inspired by all of the silly squabbles (and more intense disagreements), Bagel Bites inserted itself into the modern world of internet debates.
By studying its consumers’ online habits and quirks, Bagel Bites' well-intended mockery demonstrates a deep understanding of its target audience — an approach any brand can mimic. Whether or not you think pineapple belongs on pizza (it does, BTW), we can all agree that the Bagel Bites campaign takes us on a comedic journey uniting Americans one bite at a time.
TL;DR: Bagel Bites is thinking outside of the pizza box to reach Gen Z — drawing inspiration from unlikely places, like Reddit threads and YouTube comments.
We’re curious though, would a dog wear its pants on all four legs, or just the back two?
