How Does Voice Search Work for Ecommerce Stores?

One of the most familiar elements in online retail is a search bar with a magnifying icon next to it. Voice search may find up making the microphone icon almost as popular as consumers switch from typing the names of products they want to simply saying them aloud.

Using voice recognition technology, eCommerce sites that have voice search optimization enabled provides consumers a natural and intuitive way to find everything from luxury fashion to bags, accessories and more.

Google Voice Search: What it is and How it Works

Many of us have already experienced voice recognition applications on our smartphones or via smart speakers in our homes. Google Voice Search is just one example, where clicking on the mic icon in the search field or Google app lets consumers look up queries as though they were chatting with a friend.

Quick Guide to Google Voice Search

Google Voice Search is powered by Google Assistant, which needs to be activated on your digital device in order to operate. If you want to get a sense of how your customers might experience this kind of technology for shopping purposes, it’s worth trying it out yourself. Here’s how:

How to Set Up Google Voice Search

Setting up Google Voice Search is easy. Either open a tab in your browser and visit Google’s website or open the Google app on your smartphone. You’ll need a Google account and be logged in.

Then, move to the Settings area and tun on Google Assistant. Next, look for settings related to Search. Under the “Search,” select “Voice.” If you’re asked to let Google use your microphone, click “Allow.”  Also agree to let Google access your voice and speech activity, which allows the technology to continuously learn and improve.

What to Do If Google Voice Search Isn’t Working

If Google doesn’t seem to be responding to your voice, double-check you’ve allowed the application to access your microphone. You may also want to select an area called Continued Conversation in settings, which will allow you to ask questions without starting with “Hey Google.”

How to Disable Google Voice Search

If you don’t want to continue using Google Voice Search once you’ve tested it, just turn it off in the same area within Settings.

Where to Find Google Voice Search History

If you’re using Google via a browser, visit a URL called myactivity.google.com and you’ll see everything you’ve looked up. Look for a filter for Google Assistant to isolate this to your voice searches.

The importance of voice search optimization in eCommerce

Given how easy and quick it is to use, retailers that prioritize voice search optimization are in an ideal position to take advantage of an emerging digital channel. This could translate into higher sales volumes, repeat business and improved customer satisfaction.

Why do you need a voice search optimization strategy?

Few websites and landing pages were designed with voice search optimization in mind. Fortunately, many of the same search engine optimization (SEO) principals apply. Voice search SEO means you’re essentially trying to develop and structure your content in a way that will make it more likely to be picked up by Google, just in a different mode.

3 Tips to Optimize Voice Search for your eCommerce

1. Rewrite copy as responses to questions. In your product description for a designer dress, for instance, think of how customers might use voice searches like “Where’s the best selection for designer dresses by XYZ brand?” Your description could then begin with “(Your store) offers the best selection for XYZ brand designer dresses.” Use long-tail keywords in voice search SEO wherever possible.
2. Use a conversational tone to drive conversions. Edit out jargon and formal phrases on your product and landing pages. Instead, imagine you’re face-to-face with a customer and use conjunctions like “Here’s and “It’s.” Instead of referring to “customers,” use “you.”
3. Ensure product feed management is in place. As with any other channel, voice search should take customers to accurate, up-to-date product data.  Automating product feed management makes this a lot easier.

Voice search optimization could be the beginning of a new whole conversation with your customers. Connect with Suvae.org for more insight into growing your eCommerce business.

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Why connected TV advertising? Let’s start with the fact that it’s where a growing number of consumers are choosing to spend their leisure time.  According to data from ComScore, for example, connected TV viewing rose 21% in May of 2023 compared with the same period the year before.

As a result, the competition for viewers’ attention is also on the rise. One forecast suggests that CTV ad spending will grow more than 10% between now and 2028. It’s not just the large numbers of people watching. Connected TV ads are reaching a highly engaged audience that can be targeted in increasingly sophisticated ways.

If you’re trying to make some last-minute marketing investments amid the holiday season – or simply trying to sell off excess inventory in January and beyond – using Google Promotions and CTV ads could be a smart idea.

How do Google promotions work with connected TV advertising?

The business case for using Google Promotions has been firmly established by now. It’s an effective way to distribute product offers across multiple Google properties, including the Shopping tab, Chrome and Search. Mastering Google Promotions can allow you to compare multi-screen traffic, increase conversions and boost your marketing campaigns’ click through rate (CTR), all while building your brand.

Google has made it easy to extend your reach with connected TV ads, particularly based on audiences you’ve already developed through visitors to your web site or those who have downloaded your mobile app. The basic process is as follows:

1.   Log into Google Merchant Center and opt to build a campaign using Display and Video 360.
2.   Select a first-party data audience list.
3.   Add the audience list to your insertion order or line item. This may be similar to how you’ve booked campaigns for mobile or the web.

Google will then ensure your ads can reach those consuming content on smart TVs, OTT and other connected TV devices.

Measuring the results of connected TV advertising using Google Promotions

Of course, investing in any emerging digital marketing channel carries with it concerns of whether you’ll achieve your desired goals. If you’re counting on a Google ads promotion to drive sales amid the holidays, for example, you probably can’t afford to make a wrong choice.

Fortunately, Google has continued to introduce new capabilities that help ensure alignment between your eCommerce goals and your campaign effectiveness. These include:

Optimized targeting

Using its own artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Google has said it can help brands not only reach their desired audiences but help them find consumers most likely to respond to CTV ads. This can help strike a balance between precision advertising and not overstepping on consumer privacy or turning to third-party cookies.

Identity reconciliation

Consumers don’t like feeling as though they’re being pursued relentlessly around the web by a brand. Google said it will help avoid this by distinguishing between those who have visited a brand’s site vs. that of a publisher. This will turn connected TV advertising into a more focused channel, where consumers are served a campaign when it’s most relevant.

Reach Planner

Is YouTube your best option for CTV ads? What about Roku, Hulu or one of many other streaming services? Google’s toll allows you to evaluate these publishers based on incremental as well as unique reach. This can build greater confidence in the connected TV advertising decisions you make with Google Promotions.

Unique Reach Overlap

Managing ad frequency is important because it’s easy to unnecessarily duplicate efforts over multiple CTV devices. By offering a greater understanding on where they’re driving the greatest performance with their Google Promotions with connected TV ads, Google is letting you maximize return on investment (ROI).

How does connected TV advertising open up opportunities for localized Google Promotions?

Traditionally, brands have advertised on linear TV by purchasing a spot from a network operator. These spots were then converted into a CPM based on the number of households reached.

CTV ads tend to be purchased a little differently. Brands often buy inventory directly from the publisher, or programmatically using a demand side provider (DMP).

Using Google can offer a more streamlined approach given that many brands are already seeding Google Promotions with ads to run across multiple channels. Google also offers what it calls Deal ID forecasting, which helps advertisers understand how a Preferred Deal or Programmatic Guaranteed deal might perform before it runs.

With a service called Instant Reserve, meanwhile, Google lets you book premium placements on its YouTube connected TV advertising inventory. This includes YouTube TV and YouTube Select.

Regardless of how you book, CTV advertising opens up opportunities to target audiences based on demographics and interests, such as high-income households who are predisposed to fashion and lifestyle content. Connected TV ads also support geotargeting, which allows you narrow campaigns even further to designated neighbourhoods or other areas.

That means consumers watching a fashion show being streamed through a CTV service could also be served local Google Promotions that identify clothing and accessories they could buy at a nearby store. The same tactic could work for eCommerce brands that prioritize fast shipping close to their manufacturing sites.

In this way, pairing Google Promotions and Connected TV advertising could complement the work you’re already doing by running local inventory ads (LIAs) when consumers are searching on the web.

Why successful CTV ads and Google Promotions rely on optimized product feeds

Remember that connected TV advertising tends to focus on the end result: what appears on the screen. To ensure consumers see relevant Google Promotions, you must avoid any errors in how product data feeds from your catalog.

An automated solution supports this by mapping the relevant promotional ID to products within Google Merchant Center that will appeal to the target audience on CTV. This improves campaign planning and goal-setting. Using a platform that allows frequent updates to reflect changes in inventory levels will ensure that CTV ads only showcase Google Promotions for available products, providing peace of mind.

Consider utilizing a product feed management solution as you conduct pilot projects using CTV ads for localized Google ads promotions during peak buying periods like the holidays. Then, based on the results, you can be prepared to scale further as streaming audiences continue to grow

For a close-up look at how Suvae.org can get your product data feeds in a position to make use of connected TV advertising, get in touch and see a demo today.

Related Articles

• The New Omnichannel Experience Retailers Must Master
• Why Google Shopping Local Inventory Ads are a Must-Do For Marketers
• Essential Feed Optimization Techniques for Google Merchant Center

The post Connected TV ads: Using Google Promotions for Local Reach appeared first on Suvae.org.

As one of the companies of Impresoft, Kipcast has assumed in such a scenario, a fundamental role of “accompanying” company-customer towards the right plan of digital sales presence.

Impresoft, today a true reservoir of innovation, was born in 2018 and immediately set an important objective: to become the largest IT player on the market. This is a goal to be achieved also through acquisitions and integrations with other organizations, as happened with Kipcast. As a result, Impresoft has set up four competence centers to cover the various needs of customers: Business Solutions, Industry Solutions, Customer Engagement, and Corporate Resilience.

It is a change of pace in some ways majestic, which will also require a restyling of the whole brand, so that you can tell, almost holistically, what the individual legal entities do.

Kipcast Role

As anticipated, Kipcast deals with a very dynamic industry, ranging from marketing to the online presence of brands in third-party stores. The company launched the Suvae.org platform on the market in 2015, to allow the simplification and optimization of product data distribution to all corporate third-party channels: marketing, store promotions, marketplace sales

The solution, in SaaS mode and hosted on the cloud, is already adopted by over 250 brands in the fashion industry, but also targets brands from other industries.

As Federico Vittadello, VP of Business Development at Kipcast explains: «Our target audience is, in large part, that of large companies, which need to manage and distribute a wide range of data, but also to enjoy a platform that is as flexible as possible. The value which we bring to the world of customer engagement lies in the opportunity to work on software that promises a speed of execution and, as we will see, also quality». The first point deals with a non-trivial problem when the context requires quick and informed decision-making.

The market is changing

As the market is changing, it then becomes necessary to better control sales channels, also the ones different from their own, to know the competition and where the consumer aims. Suvae.org works just like that while simplifying the various steps that companies need to take to launch on the global marketplace.

The primary directives to which Kipcast points are: first of all the automation of the presence of the brand on the marketplace thereby freeing its customer from an often burdensome task both in terms of time and money. «Moreover, as subjects operating for years in the world of online commerce, we can specifically advise brands, also suggesting which architectures to choose, thus laying a solid foundation for the project. Finally, being already integrated with marketplace platforms, once the negotiation process is over, at the technological level we speed up the launch of online products, from their loading to payment, return, and refund management, including special cases».

A key advantage of Kipcast is the consulting aspect that is offered from the start of each onboarding: «Knowing downstream the needs of the marketplace, as experts in the field, we can advise what is best for each customer» the manager concludes. So fluidity but also adaptability and customization of the platform, with vertical know-how that allows a brand to approach a market that presents new everyday challenges, in a much more serene way.

What’s in the future of global marketplaces?

Kipcast sees a trend that could soon take root: the approach, at least in terms of promotion and presentation, of B2B sales channels compared to traditional B2C ones.

«The dynamics seem to replicate, with obvious differences in the quantity of the products to buy and prices, but we see a kind of alignment of the logic underlying the flow of promotions. In such a scenario, the competence of Kipcast in connecting the world of product offering with those who convey them to end customers becomes fundamental for companies which want to extend their aims beyond the traditional horizons».

Reach out to our consulting technology experts to discuss the value and the opportunities we can bring to your business.

The following post has been translated from a previous article located at DataManagerOnline

The post Kipcast: The Value of Consulting and Technology in the Global Marketplace appeared first on Suvae.org.

This isn’t based on intuition. Organizations like Nielsen have been researching and quantifying the connection between emotions and ad campaigns for years. In one study, for instance, Nielsen found that ads with the best emotional response can drive a 23% lift in sales volume. That can make a huge difference, particularly as brands compete for consumer attention in a challenging economic climate.

The Power of Emotion In Advertising

Another way to think about the power of emotions in advertising could be described as emotional intelligence (EQ): in other words, the ability of a brand to understand and recognize how their marketing assets will make people feel before they appear.

In a 2022 study by Carot that assessed more than 50 advertisers across 15 markets, the top 20 brands that showed high EQ grew their revenues so much that they outperformed major stock market indices. The research found that high EQ is based upon acting with empathy, being purposeful of where a brand can add value and having a clear story, among other factors.

How Brands Use Emotion To Drive Connection

Advancements in technology are making it easier to further analyze the use of emotions in marketing. A recent report from market research firm Kantar, for instance, described techniques such as facial coding to understand how feelings influence consumer behavior.

Kantar noted that the use of humor can be a way to take challenging subject matter – such as advertising products focused on improving sustainability – and make it more accessible to those considering a purchase. When some consumers didn’t find a particular ad funny, however, the data could be used to inform revisions to a campaign.

Computer vision, audio inputs, and sensors can all be combined to develop what is sometimes called affective marketing, which aims to develop advertising that aligns with a representative customer’s mood. This data can be refined through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make strategic use of emotional advertising at scale.

Gartner Inc. recently forecast that emotion AI is an emerging digital advertising technology, but may take a decade to become more fully established. In the meantime, there are plenty of other ways to use emotion in ads effectively.

Emotional Advertising Examples

It’s important to recognize that consumers may already be processing all kinds of feelings before they encounter an ad. This was reflected in research published last year by the Kellogg School of Management. Its experts found that a bad mood, not surprisingly, makes us less likely to book a vacation or indulging in a luxury item.

There are sometimes occasions when negative emotions work well, though. Eliciting anger can focus consumers’ attention, for example, while fear may drive them towards a more familiar choice.

For most of us, the most memorable and convincing ads got us into a more positive mindset. This stretches back to the famous “Share a Coke” TV spot that focused on the joys of generosity. More recently brands like Nike have celebrated everyday athletes to inspire running shoe purchases, while Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign centered around body positivity.

These emotional ads worked because they made customers feel the brand shared their interests, values and, in many cases, told a story in which they could see themselves as the heroes.

Emotionally Engage Customers With Enriched Product Ads

Connecting via emotions is a way of building trust with your customers. This was validated by a 2022 study that found “emotional attachment” was the biggest driver of value across 59% of customer groups.

You don’t have to try and harness the power of emotions through guesswork or instinct. Many brands are already sitting on data that’s just waiting to be used. Part of Highstreet’s product feed management solutions, for example, includes taking data from users’ searches, which allows for an informed approach to developing customized, enriched ads that are aligned with what your customers care about.

Connect with us to learn more about product feed enrichment and how it can transform your marketing strategy.

The post How Emotional Advertising can deliver better Marketing Results appeared first on Suvae.org.

Even amid ongoing economic turbulence and supply chain disruption, for example, it’s easy to see how using LIAs aligns perfectly with the SMART goal framework:

Specific

Rather than run campaigns focused simply on the broadest possible reach, Google Shopping Local inventory ads allow you to target specific products at the consumers who are searching within the vicinity of your physical locations.

Measurable

As retailers who have already worked with Suvae.org to implement LIAs have learned, the results of these campaigns can be directly attributed to critical marketing metrics (more on that below).

Achievable

With a partner like Suvae.org, LIAs can be set up and run without adding to the workload of marketing teams who already have enough on their plates. Using product feed management to power LIA campaigns can reduce manual and repetitive tasks.

Relevant

LIAs are relevant to any retailer that wants to increase revenues and lower their costs of acquiring customers. As for shoppers, LIAs represents the most relevant marketing imaginable because they only see what’s in stock.

Time-bound

When you’ve optimized your product feeds for LIAs, they can change as frequently as necessary to ensure available inventory is always front and center in search results.

Making the Most of Google Shopping Local Inventory Ads

As a trusted Google partner, Suvae.org has a proven track record in helping online sellers maximize their marketing budget and deliver increased value for their business.

No question that taking a local approach to omnichannel marketing is essential. According to recent research, 81% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses in 2021, compared with 63% the year before.

If Google Shopping Local inventory ads are new to you, here are three best practices to consider as you get started:

1. Identify the metrics where LIAs can move the needle

Ultimately, marketing is about enticing customers to make a purchase and encouraging them to come back again. LIAs allows you to analyze results at an even more granular level, however. While the metrics that matter can vary from one business to another, some of the common areas where LIAs have proved transformative include:

• Average increase in online conversation rates
• Increase in mobile sales
• Increase in-store visits
• Lower cost per store visit
• Lift in in-store visits at a constant store visit rate
• Lift in offline revenue from traffic driven by local inventory ads
• Increase in return-on-ad-spend (ROAS)

As 2023 begins, talk with your team about where you’ll want to focus in terms of monitoring marketing performance and talk to experts like Suvae.org about how to act upon the data.

2. Optimize marketing for the complete customer journey

For some consumers, the path to purchase is pretty linear. They look for an item they want on Google, see a local inventory ad showcasing the product they want, then visit a nearby store to buy it.

In other cases, shoppers will place orders online and reserve items to be picked up later. Some consumers will be shopping on their smartphones while they’re already in a store, comparing pricing and selection among competing brands.

LIAs offer options to tailor your marketing based on all these journeys, and others. You can promote inventory that can be conveniently picked up on the same day, for instance, or “pickup later” items that will show up in search results with the specific date they’re available.

LIAs can also help guide customers toward their preferred fulfillment experiences, whether it’s buying online, pickup in-store (BOPIS), click-and-collect, and more.

3. Build a Google Shopping Local Inventory Ads partnership to keep your business competitive

LIAs have evolved considerably since they were first introduced, and Google continues to provide additional features and functionality.

In the past year, for example, the company has begun offering formats such as navigational ads that are shown when drivers are using Google Maps. “Similar Places” LIAs, meanwhile, can ensure your stores show up when consumers are looking for products at a competitor that has closed for the day.

The most valuable marketing partnership is therefore not limited to providing a seamless process for setting up LIAs, onboarding, and offering support. Instead, successful retailers work with Suvae.org to explore new opportunities to fine-tune campaigns based on new formats, features, and the unique needs of each business.

Learn more about how to use LIAs to make 2023 your most successful year yet – online, offline, and everywhere in between. To get started, contact us and speak with a feed management professional today.

The post Why Google Shopping Local Inventory Ads are a Must-Do For Marketers appeared first on Suvae.org.

It’s not an additional holiday.
It doesn’t even have a specific date.
It’s what some are calling “Early Black Friday.”

Since mid-October, several brands have already been offering special promotions and discounts in advance of the official Black Friday holiday on Nov. 25. With more brands trying to make up for challenges over the past two years, the race to capture consumers’ time, and attention and wallet has already begun. That said, there is still time to use these Black Friday advertising tips to ensure you stay competitive.

Shopping behavior during Black Friday: What you need to know

To some extent, Black Friday activity may be starting earlier given the supply chain disruptions that made it difficult for some brands to fulfill orders in 2021. Some retailers were also trying to balance the surge in cross-channel activity between eCommerce and welcoming back shoppers to physical stores.

Overall, consumers in the U.S. spent a total of $8.9 billion on Black Friday 2021, but research indicates there is plenty of opportunity for companies with a strong Black Friday marketing strategy to win over new customers.  52% of Black Friday 21 shoppers were first-time buyers – in other words, they were trying out a brand for the first time. In terms of converting those customers into repeat buyers, apparel was the sector that proved best able to recapture buyers from earlier in the year.

How to use the data to develop better Black Friday advertising ideas

Don’t think of Black Friday as simply a way to drive revenue. Success comes from recognizing it as an opportunity to offer real value to customers.

This not only includes the pricing on items you offer. It’s also about making it fast and easy for customers to find the deals you’re offering, understand what makes your brand different, and how well you know their needs. By focusing on building stronger connections with your customers and the experience you bring them during a moment like Black Friday, you’ll be in a better position to entice them to make purchases and capitalize on the sense of urgency they already feel.

Among many Black Friday advertising ideas you might find online, your Black Friday Checklist should also cover the following activities:

1. Leverage Social Commerce

Yes, consumers are shopping online, but not just by going directly to brand websites. They get inspired by the styles they see while scrolling through platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok.

More than a third or 36% of consumers will be looking for Black Friday deals on social media.

Social media marketing can include content you post on your own branded accounts, but consider looking at your referral traffic as well as third-party benchmarks to determine the channels your target audience uses most. Then, develop an ad campaign that ensures maximum reach and conversion through targeted social media marketing.

2. Gain Visibility on Price Comparison Sites

Given the increased costs they face for everyday items amid rising inflation, consumers are probably approaching this holiday season with caution. They are also increasingly savvy about the competitive nature of retail and know that doing a little extra online homework could help them get more value for their money.

This explains why 40% of consumers globally look at price comparison sites to check for the availability of the items they’re considering. Pricespy, PriceRunner, and Idealo are all among the most popular destinations in this category.

While some price comparison sites do their curation, directly integrating your product feed with them ensures you’ll be among the contenders when shoppers come looking.

3. Boost Availability In Multiple Online Marketplaces

Though many consumers will no doubt make a return to physical shopping malls over the holidays, they’re increasingly apt to look for a similar experience online. Almost half (49%) of consumers are making purchases from online marketplaces at least once a month, and 35% are doing so weekly. Amazon is just one example.

Think of using online marketplaces as part of your Black Friday marketing strategy as a way to grow and reach consumers that may not have been exposed to your brand before. The ability to integrate product feeds with online marketplaces is essential here, as it helps you to scale order management at every stage of the buying journey, including identifying fulfillment locations and handling returns.

4. Partner with a Retargeting Service

When consumers sit down to shop on Black Friday, they may navigate through dozens of sites in a sitting. That means they could easily miss a digital ad the first time around.

Fortunately, studies show retargeting can increase online sales by 20%. Perhaps even better, retargeting can reduce shopping cart abandonment by reminding consumers to go back and complete their purchases. Retargeting is usually among the services provided by third-party vendors, or sometimes directly as a service from channels such as Google or Facebook. Retargeting won’t be effective, however, unless you’ve adopted product feed management solutions that ensure the quality and structure of your catalog data. Optimizing for factors such as the correct country, currency, and keywords will keep retargeting campaigns contextual and relevant.

5. Push Promotions through Google Shopping Ads

If you don’t already have a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account, make this part of your list of Black Friday advertising tips and sign up for one.
GMC allows you to highlight particular products or styles for your most discerning customers through cost-per-click (CPC) Google Shopping Actions campaigns. This is yet another plank in an omnichannel retail strategy that could propel Black Friday sales

That said running Google Shopping Ads requires staying in compliance with Google’s standards, such as not advertising products that are out of stock. Product feed management avoids these kinds of errors and helps contribute to a good rating from Google.

6. Appeal to the Neighborhood Crowd with Local Ads

Last year, 80% of consumers said they wanted to support local businesses as they planned shopping expeditions. This didn’t just include paying an in-person visit to a retailer in their neighborhood. 70% said they were shopping locally either online or using a mix of online and physical browsing.

Be sure to include Local Inventory Ads in your list of Black Friday advertising ideas too. Optimizing landing pages and promoting only what is available nearby ensures customers aren’t disappointed and can easily get the products they want without waiting a long time for shipping Product feed management helps here too, by promoting specific items within a particular radius, which means you’re sending the most qualified buyers possible to your stores.

The Importance of Product Feeds

As with any peak period in the shopping season, Black Friday is a time you should be focused on your customers and their needs. Having to spend excess time manually configuring and adjusting product feeds gets in the way of that, and poses the risk of making human errors that damage your customer experience.

Black Friday can be an extremely busy time for retailers, which means no one can afford to have mistakes in product or catalog data. This is a moment to not only drive sales but create a positive impression that will bring customers back through the rest of the shopping season. Product feed management solves this by keeping your data continuously synchronized and tailored to the channel where your customers shop.

Prepare Your Black Friday Advertising Campaigns With Suvae.org

Suvae.org’s product feed management solutions were designed with major events like Black Friday in mind. We make it easy to provide product feeds to any critical shopping channel while making sure pricing, inventory, and other data are properly displayed. This drives strong performance across digital channels and in turn, increased sales.

Give your Black Friday campaigns a boost with Suvae.org. Contact us now to get started.

The post 6 Black Friday Advertising Tips to sell more this season appeared first on Suvae.org.

As Vogue Business reported, some of the luxury world’s best-known fashion houses have used everything from pop-up shops to limited-edition merchandise to cater to local interests. Others have set up permanent physical locations that reposition their brands from mass-market merchants to an integral part of specific neighborhoods.

This builds upon a long tradition of local advertising that connects with discerning consumers through their language, their sports teams, or cultural celebrations.

The Case For Selling Products Locally

Local online marketing and selling products locally became an even greater priority in 2020, when lockdowns amid the early COVID-19 outbreak restricted many consumers from shopping with brands nearby.
At the time, research from consulting firm Accenture found that 56% of consumers were shopping in neighborhood stores. The overwhelming majority (79%) said they were planning to continue this behavior in the long term.

The increased reports of floods, forest fires, and other impacts of global warming are also influencing shoppers’ decision-making. Data from Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram found that “sustainable fashion” is nearly 12 times more likely to be discussed on Instagram than any other topic.

As shopping locally becomes the norm, global brands may need to combine their marketing activities with changes in where they source materials and how they manufacture goods to align with their customers’ values. This will not be without its challenges, but with the right strategy, it opens the door for deeper, more personalized relationships.

Local Online Advertising: Challenges And Strategies To Consider

Global brands that use local advertising need to market themselves to consumers in specific locales in a way that’s both authentic and credible. In other words, the ads they create or tactics they use need to demonstrate a genuine knowledge of, and interest in, the characteristics of specific communities.

If you’re ready to begin selling products locally, keep the following principles in mind:

1. Being present everywhere in the omnichannel journey

A 2022 survey of consumers found that 75% of people who use their mobile phone to make a local search end up visiting a store within 24 hours. For the quarter who choose to shop locally online, the customer journey needs to be just as simple. That means making it easy to find products on digital storefronts and displaying them with local pricing and currency information.

Remember that customers may also turn to brands with a local presence when browsing on social media or other channels. The path to purchase should always be as smooth as possible.

2. Ensuring every local brand promise is kept

If local advertising for a limited-edition product drives interest among niche clientele, they will have expectations that product inventories are accurate and up to date long before they walk through the door. The same research found that 58% of consumers who found incorrect information on a brand’s website would leave and not give them a second chance.

This is why smart global brands use local inventory ad campaigns. By showcasing products that appeal to them – and are ready to be picked up or shipped – they can have confidence they’re delivering a positive customer experience. This, in turn, means customers will have good things to say about a brand to their friends, family, and visitors. Another study showed that nearly 80% of local businesses believe their reputation is their greatest differentiator.

3. Reinforcing local inventory ads with brand visibility

Local online marketing works best when it resonates with the lived experience of its target audience. Beyond the pop-up shops and other examples mentioned above, there are plenty of local advertising opportunities global brands could pursue. These include:

• Creating products or merchandise tie-ins that connect with a locale’s history or heritage, such as images that include an element from a national flag, an iconic building, or local cuisine.
• Sponsoring a local charitable initiative, such as a food bank, that speaks to a locale’s unique needs
• Collaborating with local suppliers or artisans to boost the fortunes of an entire community
• Develop ads featuring the stories of local people that reflect their aspirations and milestones

When this is done well, brands can make a positive impression on consumers – one which can be reinforced by the local inventory ads they see later.

Next steps: Working with an experienced Local Online Marketing Partner

The way forward will have brands taking a two-pronged approach: marketing to the world at large but also honing on local communities that represent significant sources of potential growth. It may require rethinking how marketing budgets are allocated, the advertising content that is created, and even the people they hire.

In such a fast-changing industry, we believe innovation is the key to success. That’s why you should consider incorporating the right technology into the process.

An effective product feed management solution, for example, ensures customers are never disappointed. That’s because this technology allows you to organize all your product data in one place while running local inventory ads that cover a broader range of items within a specific radius.

Reach out to us for a consultation with our product feed management experts to get started.

The post Local Online Marketing: How Big Brands Respond to Local Competitors appeared first on Suvae.org.

As Google’s research has shown, for example, 70% of viewers say they have bought a product after viewing YouTube ads about it.

Part of this success can be attributed to the reach and immersive nature of the platform. Just over 27% of consumers admit they watch more than 10 hours of YouTube video content each week. The rise of smartphones and tablets, meanwhile, means retailers investing in YouTube ads can reach their audience from any location. This could be why research has shown that paid YouTube advertising is 84% more likely to capture viewers’ attention than TV.

This means brands have an opportunity to treat online video as more than an extension of their sales and marketing strategy. Instead, they can begin selling on YouTube by managing it as a virtual storefront in its own right.

Secrets of Selling on YouTube

Creating YouTube video ads doesn’t necessarily depend on hiring an agency or aiming for the kind of production values we associate with movies and TV shows. A simple clip created on a smartphone can work, provided it tells a compelling story about your audience and how your product aligns with their wants and needs.

Once you’ve developed video content you’re ready to market via YouTube, make sure you’ve addressed the areas below:

1. Apply SEO Best Practices To Boost Organic Visibility

When people type queries into Google today, a YouTube clip is as likely to pop up in the results as a link to a page of text. Make sure you haven’t overlooked any opportunities to be on the first page of search results by optimizing your content accordingly.

People aren’t just watching content on YouTube, for example. They’re also often reading the description below the video for more context and to find out more about who created it. This is where you can embed popular keyword phrases and links back to your site and even direct them to specific product pages or e-commerce URLs.

Remember to focus on the common aspirations or problems your target customers face as you write these titles and descriptions. “Best,” “ultimate” or “top” may reflect the kind of goods luxury shoppers are seeing. “Why,” “How” and “Where” might address difficulties they’re having finding a specific kind of product.

2. Leverage In-Feed Video Ads To Drive Discovery

You might be trying to drive awareness of your brand and its products. Maybe you’re trying to boost consideration of your products over the competition or have specific revenue targets to meet. Regardless of your eCommerce marketing objective, in-feed ads offer a highly effective means of achieving it.

Formerly known as video discovery ads, in-feed ads on YouTube maximize your exposure to potential customers in places they’re most likely to notice your brand. This not only includes the YouTube home feed but in search results when people are browsing for specific video content. In-feed ads can also make your video the “Watch Next” clip YouTube recommends, allowing viewers to continue an experience they’re already begun by exploring your brand and its products.

Rather than content that is simply a hard sell, make sure videos served through in-feed ads provide high value to YouTube’s audience. This could include a tutorial about how to address a common problem, answers to frequently asked questions, or review-style walkthroughs that showcase the details about a product.

3. Save Viewers Time and Drive Interactive Engagement with Shoppable Ads

Brands understandably want to drive people directly to their site as often as possible, but that’s not where most people want to spend the majority of their time. A better customer journey would be to let them stay on YouTube – or social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest – and make purchases directly. In this sense, social media platforms are also channels for social commerce. This is the core value shoppable ads offer eCommerce merchants.

Though they vary depending on where they’re featured, shoppable ads on YouTube (also known as Video Action Campaigns) streamline the process of viewers taking the next step after a clip has sparked their intention to buy. By bringing product feed management into YouTube ads, for instance, prospects can instantly view your inventory and click to purchase without leaving YouTube.

TrueView for Shopping is similar in that it allows retailers to directly connect a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account to their product feed, developing a more sophisticated call to action (CTA) for selling on YouTube, where the content can expand into a series of links to your inventory.

Getting Started With YouTube Video Ads

Treating YouTube as a virtual storefront offers plenty of room for creativity and a variety of approaches in marketing your products to a highly engaged audience. That makes it easier to experiment and measure the results of selling on YouTube and to continuously optimize your approach.

Suvae.org has already helped our clients realize the potential of YouTube for brands in fashion, consumer electronics, and many other categories. Talk to us about how to simplify connecting GMC and product feed listings to YouTube ads so you can focus on enhancing customer relationships and boosting eCommerce sales. Get in touch with our team to get started.

The post 3 Tips to turn YouTube Video Ads into a virtual storefront appeared first on Suvae.org.

Your customers are no different. When they’re searching for products, they go online to find them. And, if the product is available within reach of their location, thus they can get it right away, and they will make that purchase.

Search marketing is usually focused on driving traffic to websites & online sales, so it is not easy for marketers and retailers to attract customers to their brick-and-mortar stores.
In the world of advertising, there are many solutions to better grab users’ attention and bring them to your website – but how do you attract people online, and turn them into in-store shoppers?

In this post you will learn about users’ local search intent, and how local online advertising can help you better meet customer expectations, boost foot traffic to your store and increase sales.

The importance of Local Online Advertising

Almost half of Google searches showed local intent with a third of consumers checking local products and local businesses online every day, with mobile queries prevailing. According to Forbes local search helps people find what they need when they need it.

Local search has also the greatest potential to connect consumers with your products and services better than any other marketing medium.
It’s all about the intent to buy. So, when people perform a local search, there is typically a much higher intent to purchase. Therefore, a higher conversion rate, as searched products are available within reach of the user’s current location.

Consumers are searching for locally available products everywhere, on every device, and at every point in the purchase journey. If we look at mobile users, the likelihood of local searches resulting in an in-store visit increases by 35%.

This is why having your products available across Google properties on Google search and Google Display it’s so important.
Remember, you must make sure your product availability, address, location, and directions appear in your ads across smartphones and computers/tablets to truly succeed in your local advertising.
Check out how to better manage your business listings

How Local Online Advertising Works

Local Online Advertising specifically centers around a local business or local store chain and targets potential customers in a physical store’s area.

By showing people products that are at hand in their location, they will likely become more attracted to you and your products, and take a step into your store to purchase as it’s immediately available within their reach. The takeaways? Consumers would buy in-store instead of online knowing they are closer to the store, and that they can get the product quickly.

This type of marketing can be very effective for brands and retailers who want to increase awareness and effectively advertise their products and availability, bringing more qualified customers into in-store purchasing. Let’s take a look at how advertising locally available products within a specific area user are searching, can help you stand out from your competitors and gain more qualified in-store traffic.

Powerful Local Online Advertising Tips

Advertising locally available products online can be a tremendous tool for many different businesses. And it is especially useful for larger businesses, looking to build their customer base in specific areas.
Here are some powerful local online advertising tips that can help hyper-localize your marketing:

• Create more appealing ads that are relevant to customers’ local search intent
• Tag location-specific keywords onto your product titles and description to match relevant search queries
• Geo-Target your audience. targeting users interested in a specific product that is locally available, can easily increase the chance to have more potential buyers at your store
• Incorporate location data into your marketing campaign to better reach consumers based on qualifiers like proximity to a store, events happening in their area, and more
• Optimize your landing pages by showing products available in a given store and provide your customers with all the information they need to confidently buy in-store
• Promote only available and in-stock products to avoid bad customer experience, so you can meet customers’ needs and expectations

Key Benefits of Local Inventory Ads Campaigns

Local inventory Ads allow retailers to promote all of their store’s inventory across Google.

Here’s how Local Inventory Ads can benefit your business:

• Generate more in-store traffic and sales
  With Local Inventory Ads, you can promote your locally available products to users who are searching in a specific area.
  As you attract them into your store, you can provide them with the product they want to buy, by addressing and satisfying their needs. Plus you get a chance to cross-sell related products per purchase.
• Build trust with your customers
  By bringing customers to your retail store, you can enrich their in-store experience with human interactions.
  A positive experience will lead to repeat visits and long-lasting trust. Plus, Google tends to increase organic search rankings for businesses that are relevant and trusted by local users.

• Spend less and get more
  Local Inventory Ads make you reach out to a specific number of people. You will have a lot more flexibility in terms of ad budget and get a higher ROI because you specifically target certain demographics to maximize your sales.

Conclusion

Big Brands have always struggled to try and reach customers at the local level. And when it comes to advertising big catalogs of products for different stores, most marketers spend more than half their day optimizing campaigns and marketing data.

Maintaining multiple campaigns across multiple channels can be challenging at times. It requires a level of attention and fine-tuning that can often create headaches for you and your team, leading to a lack of accuracy. What if there were simple and smarter ways to manage all of your product data for your local campaigns?

A Product Feed Management Tool helps you:

• Manage all of your product data in one place, to improve your local inventory ads

• Advertise a broader range of products and services in a specific location radius, to better serve your audiences with products they’re looking for

• Send more qualified customers to your stores by showcasing product availability at a nearby location

With the right marketing technology, you can effectively advertise your local products, on a large scale, with ease and efficiency. Discover how Highsteeet.io can become your ally in getting more local sales and traffic.

The post Local Online Advertising: Turn Online Browsers Into In-Store Shoppers appeared first on Suvae.org.

So why would you start selling on TikTok in addition to the other social channels you’ve integrated with? The simple answer is massive reach and high engagement rates.

Hootsuite reported that as of January 2022, TikTok is the most engaging social media app by far, with an average user session of 10.85 minutes. They have over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide and their ads reach 17.9% of all internet users age 18+.

Contrary to popular belief, advertising on this platform is no longer an experiment for retailers. TikTok’s annual revenue skyrocketed to 4.6 billion in 2021 and it came in fifth for app lifetime consumer spending worldwide against big players like YouTube.

So, how did TikTok increase its revenue so dramatically in such a short time period? Simply put, revenue from advertisers.

In August of 2021, they partnered with Shopify to launch TikTok Shopping, a feature where users can shop while scrolling through videos or click on a business’s profile and explore products in the Shopping Tab.
Later on, they launched Dynamic Showcase Ads to make it even easier for users to buy and retailers to advertise their products.

Keep reading to find out more about:

• Is it worth selling on TikTok?
• How do brands go viral on TikTok
• How to sell products on TikTok
• How to engage customers to sell more on TikTok
• Why using an optimized TikTok data feed helps you increase product visibility & better campaign performance

Is it worth selling on TikTok?

The answer is yes. In recent years TikTok has expanded its audience beyond the under-20 crowds. During the COVID pandemic topics like DIY hacks, recipes, travel, health, beauty, and fashion began trending, which attracted a new demographic to the platform. Brands and retailers are now capitalizing on the opportunity to engage with this broader audience by coming up with a separate TikTok marketing strategy focused on the types of videos their audience likes to watch. Not to mention the new social commerce experience that brings in-app shopping and streamlined product discovery to the platform, allowing users to directly shop on TikTok without leaving the app.

Some of the major benefits of selling on TikTok include:

• Drive more brand awareness by developing a new and highly engaged audience
• Sell more products by showcasing them in organic posts and ads
• Stay relevant with your customers by participating in trends
• Create better content that leads to results by tracking your performance

Check out these 10 fashion brands to see how they master selling on TikTok:

• Abercrombie & Fitch
• Amazon Fashion
• UGG
• Aritzia
• Levi’s
• Target
• Skims
• Lululemon
• Zara
• Nike

How do brands go viral on TikTok?

The options are endless when it comes to developing viral-worthy content but the key is being consistent and creative with your content. Creating a viral video isn’t a perfect science but some of the types of videos that have gone viral fit into these categories.

1. Tutorials
2. Dance Challenges
3. Comedic Skits
4. User-Generated Content
5. Putting your spin on a trend

Ocean Spray is a prime example of a brand gaining recognition through user-generated content on TikTok, without even trying! In 2020 Idaho native, Nathan Apodaca (a laborer at a potato warehouse in Idaho) filmed himself skateboarding while drinking a carton of Cran-Raspberry Ocean Spray. Since then many versions of the video have been posted. Even Ocean Spray’s chief exec Tom Hayes got on his skateboard and recorded a version as part of their content strategy.

@420doggface208 22secs of Vibes 1yr ago today thx you all for what has come from this video the love, support, smiles, and strength it brought out in others #thanks #tiktok ♬ Dreams (2004 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac

Tutorial Style Content from Brands

Beauty brands have a unique opportunity to capitalize on TikTok’s tutorial-style content. Fenty Beauty has mastered this content type with help from Rihanna herself. Her tutorial showcasing a concealer hack has received over 1 million views and counting.

@fentybeauty Mama likes it MILKY, SILKY 🥛get into @rihanna’s fave ✨Precision Concealer Brush✨Have y’all tried her yet? #fentybeauty #rihanna #makeup #concealerhack ♬ original sound – Fenty Beauty

How to sell products on TikTok

Selling products on TikTok is unique compared to other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. These platforms have the advantage of a proven track record of driving sales through their platforms.

On the other hand, TikTok is adding more social commerce features and advertising options to compete for marketing dollars.

Options for selling products on TikTok:

1. TikTok Creator Marketplace: This self-serve portal makes it easy for brands to find a diverse variety of creators that best aligns with their interests.
2. TikTok Creator Marketplace API: This API enables access to our first-party marketplace data for creator marketing experts including Captiv8, Influential, and Whalar to provide brands with white-glove services to help manage the entire end-to-end process of creator marketing on TikTok.
3. Open Application Campaigns: Brands can post campaign briefs to creators across TikTok Creator Marketplace so that they can self-apply and participate.
4. Branded Content Toggle: This tool allows creators to mark videos and disclose commercial content without disrupting their creative flow.
5. Customized Instant Page: Brands can create landing pages that load in seconds – 11x faster than standard mobile pages – to let users dive deeper into a brand’s message by watching videos or swiping through different content similar to promoting your products and brand on other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. It involves creating content that appeals to your fans.

Other options for advertisers to sell products on TikTok include:

• In-Feed Ads
• Brand Takeover Ads
• Top View Ads
• Branded Hashtag Ads
• Branded Effects Ads
• Dynamic Showcase Ads

Find out more about each Ad option

How to engage customers to sell more on TikTok

Now that you know the options to sell products on TikTok, you need to know how to engage your audience to buy more of your products.

Get familiar with what kind of videos your audience is posting and watching. Fans aren’t interested in a commercial for your product. They’re looking for authenticity, creativity, and a more personal side to your brand.

The platform is extremely interactive so the more you interact with fans by creating or joining challenges or creating inspirational content, the more your target audience will remember what you’re promoting and be motivated to make a purchase.

About TikTok Dynamic Showcase Ads

Reach a Highly Engaged Audience

In September of 2021, TikTok released Dynamic Showcase Ads (DSAs) to help eCommerce merchants drive awareness of their products and increase purchase intent.
By connecting your product catalog to the platform’s video templates, you can dynamically generate a massive number of personalized product video ads on TikTok.

There are two ways to use Dynamic Product Ads on TikTok:

• Prospect to new customers
  TikTok makes personalized recommendations from your product catalog to help drive installs, user acquisition, and sales.
• Retarget existing customers/leads
  TikTok will automatically show ads about relevant products to people who have expressed interest in them on your website or app.

Before getting started: Only available for managed accounts based in launched markets can create Dynamic Showcase Ads.

How TikTok Dynamic Showcase Ads work

1. Create a catalog on TikTok Ads Manager.
2. ​Upload products to your catalog.
   • Manually Add: Fill out a form for each product.
   • Data Feed Schedule: Automatically import your products from an online file.
   • Upload File: Upload products from a template.
3. Generate videos for the products in your catalog.
4. ​Integrate events between your catalog and measurement partner or TikTok Pixel.
5. Publish a campaign using the products in your catalog.

Get In-depth information on each of these steps

How to create successful TikTok Dynamic Showcase Ad (DSA) Campaigns

Just like a plumber needs the right tools, experience, and set up in place to get the best results, the same goes for running Dynamic Showcase Ads on TikTok that convert to sales.

As an eCommerce marketer, the next step of the Ad creation process is where you need to understand what’s involved with uploading your products from a data feed schedule. The more you know about this step the better your ads will perform.

Automatically importing your products from an online file involves generating a product feed for TikTok.

Creating and managing a product feed that increases product ad conversions demands technical expertise in things like:

• Integrating various data sources to create a complete feed
• Changing product titles and descriptions from how they’re written in your catalog to fit TikTok’s ad structure
• Synchronizing product data changes from your eCommerce catalog to TikTok for up-to-date product prices and other information

Enhance your TikTok Ads with a Product Feed Management Partner

If you do not have the right technical expertise and in-house resources to create and manage high-quality feeds, relying on a product feed management partner might be the best approach.
Suvae.org platform can help you:

• Boost conversions: Creating TikTok ads that attract the right audience can involve integrating multiple data sources into one feed, optimizing your data sources to add missing information, and keeping your product details up-to-date with real-time feed synchronization. Suvae.org has the technical expertise and platform to transform your product information into a sales tool for all of your marketing channels.
• Save time: Your time is an asset that should be used on marketing instead offered management tasks. Our managed service takes care of the day-to-day duties of managing your feeds so you can free up your time and get your work done.
• Deliver value: You’re under pressure to prove results from investing in marketing tools that help you reach your goals. Our customer support and account management teams deliver value by proactively communicating how to improve your ROI from our solution and address requests quickly to make changes or answer questions that improve your marketing results.
  

With the right support and partner, you can reach your audience in new creative ways by producing compelling videos that showcase your products, leading to more sales.
Grow your presence on Tiktok alongside your other social media channels. Contact Suvae.org to strengthen your social media strategy and get started.

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