The Cookie Apocalypse 🍪 AirCanada Throws Bot Under the Bus 🚌 Go Small to Get Big ROI 📊

Happy Friday Marketing Engineers!

If you're new here, welcome! 👋 This is our Friday newsletter in which we round up some of the biggest marketing (engineer) news of the week. Is there something else you'd like to see in here? Got a hot tip? Don't be afraid to hit reply and let us know what you think. 🧠 (Replying with a quick "hi" is also a good way to make sure our emails make it through the spam filters.)

Onward!

 🚀 Adam

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🗞 Weekly Marketing News

Reddit has a new AI Training Deal to Sell User Content [2 min read]

Reddit's AI Licensing Game Changer. With Reddit's S-1 dropping pre-IPO we're getting all sorts of juicy tidbits. They've closed a deal worth $203 million with Google (in addition to deals with other AI companies.) This marks a strategic pivot in the handling of data for both Reddit and AI platforms, diverging from the norm of AI training on freely accessible web content. This shift towards formal agreements could set a precedent, potentially reshaping how marketers access and utilize user-generated content for insights and campaigns. 🤝🔍💡💰📈

Research Shows Influencers with Smaller Followings are More Cost Effective [2 min read]

Small Audience, Big Results? Maximilian Beichert and team's research is a game-changer, revealing that nano-influencers, though smaller in following, pack a mightier ROI punch for marketers. Turns out a bunch of smaller cars can carry the same load as a truck while guzzling less fuel. This flips the script on influencer size versus effectiveness, offering a more cost-efficient playbook for digital marketing strategies (not to mention hyper-local strategies.) Marketers, it's time to think small for big gains! 🚗💡📈

Nielsen Crowns YouTube #1 Streamer in America 12 Months Straight! [4 min read]

YouTube Snags the Crown: A Year of Streaming Supremacy! Nielsen has crowned YouTube America's #1 streamer for 12 months, dominating with over 1 billion daily TV hours. This marks a pivotal shift in media consumption, underlining YouTube's vast audience reach. Marketers, take note: it's prime real estate for engaging today's viewers. 📺🥇🎯👑

🤖 The Week in Artificial Intelligence

New Chip Opens Door to AI Computing at Light Speed [2 min read]

Computing at the speed of light! Thanks to Penn Engineers, it's not just a flashy phrase but a reality, with a new chip that uses light to crunch AI's complex math. Imagine a world where your computer processes data faster than you can blink, dramatically slashing energy bills and making overheating laptops a thing of the past. This leap forward is not just cool; it's a monumental shift in computer science, promising to turbocharge AI development and application, making future technologies faster, smarter, greener, and more secure. ⚡🤓🏃

Meet 'Groq,' the AI Chip That Leaves Elon Musk’s Grok in the Dust [3 min read]

Look out Elon! In further chip development news, startup Groq (not to be confused with Grok, the questionable LLM entry from Elon Musk's X) has revealed demos showing that they're chatbot specific Language Processing Unit chips can run applications like ChatGPT up to 13 times faster than current hardware. Add this to the last story in this section and it's clear that we're only at the beginning of innovation around how AI is deployed and trained. 🤖💬⚡️

Air Canada Must Honor Refund Policy Hallucinated By Airline's Chatbot [2 min read]

A Case of Throwing the Bot Under the Bus! After a chatbot misadvised Jake Moffatt on Air Canada's bereavement policy, leading to months of dispute, the airline must refund Moffatt $650.88 CAD. The tribunal summarily dismissed the airline's argument that the chatbot was a separate legal entity whose actions for which it was not responsible. This case highlights the pitfalls of AI in customer service, and the subsequent legal "scape-botting" humorously underlines the importance of accuracy and accountability, even for chatbots. 🤖💼✈️

⚙️ The Machine Shop

Beyond the Funnel: Embracing Growth Loops [5-7 min read]

Like funnels, but with compounding interest. Reforge argues that funnels are outdated, advocating for loops that reinvest successes to fuel further growth. For marketers, it's a wake-up call to evolve strategies with a focus on sustainable, compounding growth that integrates product, channels, and monetization. Embrace the loops model, they argue, and watch your marketing efforts multiply with less effort. If it's a fit for you, it could be a game-changer in driving efficient and scalable growth. 🔄💡🚀

Winning & Losing Big Google Updates: 50-Site Case Study [8 min read]

Set Sail in Search with Admiral Shepard! Cyrus Shepard's recent ranking factor case study navigates the stormy seas of Google updates, showing how on-page elements like ad placement and stock images can sink or sail your site's visibility. Marketers, it's time to captain your site content with originality and user-friendly navigation. Steering clear of the common pitfalls can help your site weather Google's algorithmic waves. 🚢🌊🔍💥🛠️

9 Trends Leading Brands to Organic Success in 2024 [8 min read]

LinkedIn Vibes: 2024's Trendy Twist. Sonya Matejko at studioID forecasts nine LinkedIn trends for B2B organic success in 2024, emphasizing visual content, video engagement, and employee advocacy. For marketers, adapting to these trends is essential for staying ahead. It's time to polish your LinkedIn strategy, ensuring your brand shines brighter than your competitors. Dive into these insights, and turn LinkedIn into your lead-generating powerhouse. 🚀🔍💡🤝✨

🧠 Hacks of The Week

WebAIM: Contrast Checker [tool]

Don't Ignore Americans with Disabilities Act in your Web Design! It might not be top of mind when you're building fast, but there are a set of standards out there for how to make your website as accessible as possible. They're about accessibility, but they're also rooted in good UX. (Also, they're built into SEO rankings.) WebAIM's Contrast Checker is a nifty tool that helps ensure your website's color contrasts meet accessibility standards. (It also solves for your grandmother saying she can't read your site.) This tool is perfect for marketers aiming to maximize website inclusivity, reach, SEO. It's a step towards smarter, data-driven design decisions that impact accessibility. 🎨🔍🚀

Baader Meinhof Phenomenon Explained [3-5 min read]

Harness Familiarity, Enhance Recognition! Kira Hug's exploration of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon highlights a key marketing strategy: leveraging repeated exposure to boost brand recognition and trust. This cognitive bias, where newly noticed brands seem to appear everywhere, can be utilized to make marketing campaigns stickier and more effective. By intentionally placing a brand across various platforms, marketers can create a sense of omnipresence, humorously playing with our brains' pattern recognition. It's about making the familiar unforgettable. 🧠✨🔁

E-Commerce SEO in 2024: A Beginner’s Guide [6 min read]

SEO: Your Website's Love Potion! E-commerce SEO turns search engines into matchmakers, pairing your products with consumers eager to find them. By weaving keywords naturally into titles and descriptions, and ensuring your site is easy to crawl, marketers craft a digital storefront that's irresistible to both Google and guests. This digital flirting helps your site pop up as the perfect match for queries, leading to more clicks and conversions. It's like setting up the perfect first date, but for your products and potential customers; playing cupid with code, ensuring love at first site visit. 🎯💻🛍️

🔮 Future Upgrades

Check if you're in Google Chrome's third-party cookie phaseout test [2 min read]

The Browser Cookie Apocalypse is Upon Us! Google's testing a shake-up in Chrome by phasing out third-party cookies, impacting how marketers track us across the web. With about 30 million guinea pigs in this experiment, it's a heads-up for marketers to explore new, privacy-friendly ways to target ads. Google is finally saying, "Maybe let's not follow everyone home from the store anymore." 🍪🔍🚫👀🚀

Gartner: Search Engine Volume Will Drop 25% by 2026 [1 min read]

Search Volume Shake-Up Alert! The Gartner forecast reveals a pivotal shift with a 25% dip in search engine volume by 2026, underscoring a stark reality for marketers: the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI chatbots carves out a fresh, potent channel, reshaping digital engagement. This evolution hints at a tightening impression pool, potentially driving costs per click and conversion upwards. The message? As AI paves new paths, traditional SEO's stronghold wanes, urging marketers to rethink strategies. It's a call to balance the old with the new, optimizing for a future where AI leads the conversation. 🌐🤖💬💸

📺 Flashback Friday

Want to submit your favorite ads from days past? Just hit reply and send us a link.

Dive into Greatness. Since the NBA All-Star Weekend just happened, we were laughing at this classic in the newsroom and thought we'd share it with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsoP6bjADic

In this iconic LeBron James Nike ad set in a swimming pool, LeBron showcases his unmatched skills and work ethic, even in water. It's a metaphor for going beyond conventional limits, urging athletes and individuals alike to push boundaries. This commercial is not just about shoes; it's about inspiration, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of greatness. 🏊‍♂️👟🏀💦✨

And that's a wrap for this week! Remember, stay curious, embrace the hacks, and keep crushing your marketing goals. See you next week for another round of goodies!

It's the End of the Web as We Know it, Do You Feel Fine?

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