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Marketers Return To Simplicity ⏎ Google Ads Optimization Score Updates 🚨 Ad Spend Vs. Volume By Channel 💸

Also: B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, And Trends For 2025

Happy Friday Marketing Engineers!

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🗞 Marketing News

Marketers In A Dying Internet: Why The Only Option Is A Return To Simplicity [7 min read]

Trust in online platforms has significantly diminished, making it harder for users to distinguish genuine interactions. Concurrently, major social media platforms are experiencing declining user engagement as individuals migrate to smaller, niche communities, complicating traditional advertising efforts. In response, marketers must embrace simpler and more authentic strategies, such as using traditional media channels and fostering genuine word-of-mouth marketing to effectively reconnect with their audiences.

Google Ads Optimization Score Now Reveals Specific Competitor Impacts [2 min read]

Optimization Score provides specific insights into how major competitors impact impression share, giving advertisers a clearer understanding of competitive pressures. This real-time competitive analysis enables more informed optimization decisions, though it cautions against simply mimicking competitor strategies. While the enhanced transparency can significantly aid in optimizing paid search campaigns, it also carries the risk of encouraging advertisers to spend more driven by fear of missing out rather than strategic optimization.

Ad Spend Vs. Volume By Channel Tells Two Tales [3 min read]

In 2024, ad prices rose significantly in the second quarter but began to decline in the third quarter, hindering spending growth in search and social channels as increased ad volumes were insufficient to offset the lower prices. Retail media experienced substantial growth in click volume, while new advertising formats like Amazon DSP, Google Performance Max, and Meta’s Advantage Shopping Campaigns+ drove significant year-over-year spending increases, outpacing overall channel growth. These trends suggest that in the fourth quarter, advertising will continue to shift toward lower funnel volumes and the adoption of innovative strategies to maintain and enhance growth.

B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, And Trends For 2025 [30 min read]

Many B2B marketers face ongoing challenges such as limited resources, ineffective content strategies, and inadequate team structures that impede their success. The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) is helping some improve workflows and content optimization, though concerns like accuracy and lack of training still hinder widespread adoption. Top-performing marketers overcome these obstacles by implementing scalable content models, setting clear goals, investing in advanced technologies, and focusing on high-quality, engaging content to achieve better results and maintain a competitive edge.

🤖 AI

Meta AI Has More Than 500 Million Users [1 min read]

Meta AI is on track to become the most-used generative AI assistant globally by the end of 2024. Enhancements in AI-driven features have led to increased user engagement on Facebook and Instagram, as well as significant adoption of AI tools by advertisers, with over 15 million ads created using generative AI in the past month. Also, Meta’s Threads app has grown to nearly 275 million monthly users, experiencing rapid daily sign-ups and increasing user engagement.

Why The Deep Learning Boom Caught Almost Everyone By Surprise [15 min read]

The deep learning boom was propelled by three key innovations: Fei-Fei Li's creation of the extensive ImageNet dataset provided the essential large-scale data needed to train sophisticated neural networks. Geoffrey Hinton's development of the backpropagation algorithm revitalized neural network training, enabling more effective and efficient learning in deep architectures. Also, Jensen Huang's introduction of NVIDIA's CUDA platform harnessed the power of GPU computing to accelerate the training process, making large-scale deep learning feasible and driving its widespread adoption.

🧠 Hacks & Tactics

How To Use AI To Increase Efficiency In Your User Research [5 min read]

User research is important for enhancing user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimization (CRO) by providing insights into user needs and behaviors. However, it often encounters challenges like data overload and the complexities of analyzing qualitative responses, which AI tools can help address by automating data analysis and extracting insights more efficiently. By leveraging AI, researchers can improve the accuracy of their findings and focus on strategic insights rather than getting bogged down in manual data handling.

8 Content Repurposing Examples From Marketing Experts [15 min read]

Content repurposing maximizes marketing efficiency by transforming existing materials to save time, generate more ideas, and reach broader audiences across multiple platforms. By implementing strategies like leveraging unpaid channels, focusing on core concepts, and collaborating with influencers, content remains impactful and enduring. Adopting best practices such as strategic planning, delivering consistent value, and continuously adapting content ensures sustained engagement and expanded market reach.

6 Psychological Techniques To Help You Write Social Media Hooks [12 min read]

Effective social media hooks are important for capturing attention and increasing engagement, serving as the deciding factor between users interacting with your content or scrolling past it. By following a structured framework—choosing the right topic, selecting a compelling angle, and continuously refining your hooks—you can enhance the impact of your posts. Also, applying psychological techniques such as curiosity gaps, social proof, and storytelling makes your hooks more enticing, driving significant growth for your social media accounts.

⚙️ Machine Shop

How Mid-Funnel Content Can Be Your Secret SEO Weapon [11 min read]

Mid-funnel content is becoming increasingly important for SEO as changes in Google's interface reduce the effectiveness of traditional top-of-funnel (TOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) strategies. By transitioning searchers from problem-aware to solution-aware, mid-funnel content builds brand trust and increases customer touchpoints, driving higher conversions. Creative strategies like feature roundups, solution hijacking, quizzes, niche calculators, scorecards, and alternative assets offer significant untapped potential for capturing valuable traffic and outperforming competitors.

What Percent Of Marketing Budget Should Be Creating Demand Vs Capturing Demand? [2 min read]

To allocate your marketing budget effectively between demand creation and demand capture, first determine your total ad spend for a given timeframe. Next, assess the available demand by analyzing your existing campaigns and identifying how much more budget could be allocated to fully capture it. Finally, estimate the cost of reaching your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) on social channels to guide your budget for demand creation efforts.

What The State Of Social Media Saturation Means For Brands [7 min read]

Social media saturation has made it difficult for brands to capture and maintain audience attention due to the overwhelming volume of content. Marketers face challenges in standing out amidst the rise of AI-generated content and the evolution of social platforms. To navigate these challenges, brands should focus on creating original content, aligning closely with audience preferences, and adopting new creative practices to break through the noise and build stronger connections.

🔮 The Future

The Slow, Steady, Frustrating, Relentless, Remarkable Rise Of Reddit [5 min read]

Reddit has achieved unique and sustained growth over nearly two decades, breaking into the mainstream and maintaining high user engagement unlike many short-lived social media platforms. This success is driven by content-licensing deals with major companies, monetizing its API, and expanding its advertising offerings, which have led to profitability and a significant increase in market capitalization. Also, Reddit's strong community structure, organized through diverse subreddits and enhanced by AI technologies, fosters a sense of belonging and enhances the platform's functionality, ensuring its long-term relevance and continued growth.

YouTube Is Eating The TV Industry's Lunch [2 min read]

YouTube is outpacing the traditional television advertising market by generating $8.9 billion in quarterly ad revenue, positioning itself to match the entire broadcast industry's 2024 revenue. This growth is fueled by the decline of TV advertising due to cord-cutting and an aging audience, which makes traditional TV less attractive to advertisers compared to YouTube’s younger, more desirable demographics. Also, YouTube's streamlined revenue model and superior appeal to key age groups give it a significant competitive advantage over other streaming platforms, solidifying its dominance in the video advertising landscape.

Why 2024's Search Revolution Isn't Just Another Tech Disruption [3 min read]

AI-driven search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI are rapidly transforming how users interact with information, challenging the dominance of established search engines. Marketers must adapt by developing dual content strategies that integrate traditional SEO with conversational AI, placing greater emphasis on understanding and addressing human intent. Also, new measurement metrics are needed to effectively capture the impact of AI-powered search, presenting both challenges and opportunities for marketing teams to innovate and optimize their strategies.

Why 3 In 5 Content Creators Are Betting Big On LinkedIn In 2025 [2 min read]

Content creators are increasingly turning to LinkedIn, with 60% planning to expand their presence in the next year, driven by the platform's strong performance in B2B influencer marketing that offers higher engagement and conversion rates compared to B2C strategies. LinkedIn provides creators with competitive engagement rates, access to new audiences, and diverse revenue streams, making it an attractive platform for growth and economic benefits. Also, consumers—particularly in the U.S. and among the 25-34 age group—favor increased brand content on LinkedIn, encouraging marketers to leverage B2B creators to humanize their brands and enhance relatability.

🗳️ Feedback Dept!

That's it for this week! See you next week. 😎

✌️ Team Marketing Machine

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