Facebook Instagram Linkedin
Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin

Tag: digital advertising

How Work is Changing: The Future for Small Businesses

Posted on by amber90

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced world, the nature of work is undergoing rapid transformation, and businesses of all sizes are adapting to stay competitive. LinkedIn’s inaugural Work Change Snapshot reveals that global leaders and professionals are feeling the effects of this shift, with 80% of executives adjusting their leadership styles and 64% of workers worldwide feeling overwhelmed by the rate of change.

For small business owners and decision-makers, staying informed about these changes is essential for sustaining growth and fostering a resilient workforce.

In this blog, we’ll break down LinkedIn’s findings, focusing on how you, as a business owner, can navigate the evolving landscape of work, adapt to new trends, and empower your team to thrive in this dynamic environment.

1. Shifts in Leadership Styles: Supporting a New Era of Work

Leadership today goes beyond managing people—it’s about creating a culture that embraces change. As 80% of executives adjust their leadership styles, small business leaders are prioritizing empathy, adaptability, and inclusivity.

  • What This Means for You: Adaptability in leadership gives you a competitive edge. Engage in open communication, offer flexible work options, and prioritize understanding your team’s needs. Showing empathy and flexibility helps build a cohesive team.
  • Tip: Schedule regular one-on-one meetings to see how your employees are adjusting and provide additional support if needed.

2. The Impact of AI on Everyday Business Operations

The rise of AI is transforming the workplace. According to LinkedIn’s Work Change Snapshot, generative AI tools are now helping businesses automate tasks, enhance customer service, and improve efficiency. For small businesses, AI offers a cost-effective way to scale operations.

  • What This Means for You: By implementing AI, you can boost productivity and automate repetitive tasks, like data entry or customer support. This innovation lets you achieve more without significant cost increases.
  • Tip: Explore easy-to-use AI tools such as chatbots for customer support or analytics platforms for customer insights. These tools improve your business’s efficiency and customer experience.

3. Upskilling and Reskilling: The Key to Staying Competitive

As job roles evolve, LinkedIn’s report highlights the importance of upskilling and reskilling employees. Investing in skill development helps small businesses remain competitive and retain talent.

  • What This Means for You: Foster a learning culture by promoting skill development. Offering training programs equips your team with new skills relevant to their roles.
  • Tip: Provide access to online courses or plan monthly workshops. Not only does this keep employees updated with industry trends, but it also fosters loyalty as they see opportunities for growth within your business.

4. Changing Job Titles and Roles

Advancements in technology mean job titles and roles are changing to fit new responsibilities. Positions like “Data Analyst” or “Digital Marketing Specialist” are becoming standard, emphasizing the need for data-driven decision-making and digital outreach.

  • What This Means for You: Review and update job descriptions regularly to reflect new responsibilities and required skills. Consider hybrid roles that align with current trends, allowing employees to expand their expertise.
  • Tip: Regularly evaluate job descriptions and adjust them to attract candidates with the skills your business needs to thrive.

5. Employee Well-being: Addressing Overwhelm in the Workplace

With 64% of professionals feeling overwhelmed by the pace of change, prioritizing employee well-being is essential. A supportive work environment helps employees feel valued and improves productivity.

  • What This Means for You: Focusing on well-being benefits your team and reduces turnover. Simple practices like flexible hours, remote work, or mental health days can go a long way in supporting your team.
  • Tip: Encourage regular breaks, especially during demanding projects. Consider an open-door policy so employees feel comfortable discussing their concerns.

6. Embracing Flexibility to Attract and Retain Talent

As remote and hybrid work increase in popularity, flexibility has become crucial. Many employees now prefer jobs that support work-life balance. Businesses offering flexible arrangements gain a recruitment advantage.

  • What This Means for You: Providing flexible work arrangements makes your small business more attractive to employees. Options might include remote work, flexible hours, or even compressed workweeks.
  • Tip: Survey your team to understand their preferences and incorporate flexibility where possible. This improves morale and appeals to potential hires.

7. Leveraging LinkedIn’s Work Change Snapshot to Stay Informed

LinkedIn’s Work Change Snapshot gives valuable insights small businesses can use to make data-driven decisions about workforce management. From embracing AI to promoting adaptability, these trends help business leaders stay ahead.

  • What This Means for You: Use reliable industry reports to stay current with workplace changes. Insights from reports like LinkedIn’s Work Change Snapshot enable you to make informed choices for your business.
  • Tip: Subscribe to business publications or set LinkedIn alerts for topics such as leadership, AI, and employee well-being to keep informed on emerging trends.

8. Partnering with Amber 90 for Data-Driven Marketing and Online Presence

In a digital-first world, a strong online presence is essential for any business. With more people turning to digital channels for information, your business’s online visibility can make a difference in attracting and retaining customers. Amber 90 helps small and mid-sized businesses leverage data-driven marketing to enhance visibility, engage audiences, and drive growth.

  • What This Means for You: Amber 90 can assist you in developing a data-based marketing strategy focused on measurable results. Using tools like SEO, social media marketing, and paid ads, Amber 90 helps you reach your target audience and maximize your marketing budget.
  • Data-Driven Decision-Making: With platforms like Google Analytics, Amber 90 identifies content that resonates with your audience. This allows for optimized messaging and ad placement, ensuring the best return on investment (ROI).
  • Building a Strong Brand Presence: Amber 90 helps you create a cohesive online brand, from optimizing your website for search engines to developing engaging social media campaigns. Their expertise strengthens your position as an industry leader.
  • Personalized Strategies for Growth: Understanding that each business is unique, Amber 90 tailors its marketing plans to align with your specific goals. Whether you want to boost brand awareness, attract leads, or improve customer loyalty, their data-driven approach ensures impactful marketing efforts.
  • Tip: Consider a consultation with Amber 90 to assess your current online presence and identify growth opportunities. They can help you focus your marketing strategy, aligned with your business’s strengths, target audience, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Final Thoughts: Preparing for the Future of Work with Amber 90

The work environment is continuously evolving. By partnering with experts like Amber 90, you can ensure your business is ready for these changes. Embrace data-driven marketing, invest in a strong online presence, and use insights from industry leaders to stay future-ready. With Amber 90’s support, you can confidently navigate today’s dynamic landscape and build a resilient, engaged, and growing audience. Contact us today to get started.

Meta’s Removal of Detailed Targeting Exclusions is a Game-Changer for Advertisers

Posted on by amber90

Introduction

The world of digital advertising is always changing. Meta, a leader in social media ads, recently made a big update that will affect how businesses target their audiences. Starting July 29, 2024, Meta will no longer allow detailed targeting exclusions in new ad campaigns. This change, backed by Meta’s advanced AI, aims to improve ad performance by letting the platform optimize who sees your ads.

Why Meta is Removing Detailed Targeting Exclusions

Many advertisers might be surprised by Meta’s decision to remove detailed targeting exclusions. In the past, these exclusions helped refine audiences by filtering out certain demographics, interests, or behaviours. This seemed like an effective way to improve ad performance. However, Meta’s research suggests otherwise.

The Impact of Meta’s Research

In fact, campaigns without detailed targeting exclusions had a 22.6% lower median cost per conversion compared to those that used exclusions. This data shows that exclusions might actually harm, rather than help, your campaign’s effectiveness.

Moreover, Meta’s AI-powered ad targeting has become very good at showing the right ads to the right users. By trusting Meta’s AI, advertisers can reach a broader, more engaged audience without accidentally excluding valuable prospects.

What Does This Mean for Your Campaigns?

So, what should advertisers do now that detailed targeting exclusions are being removed?

Starting July 29, 2024, you won’t be able to use detailed targeting exclusions in new ad sets. If you currently use this feature, you’ll need to adjust your campaigns before January 31, 2025. After this date, Meta will stop delivering ads that include detailed targeting exclusions.

Adapting to the Changes

This might sound worrying if your campaigns rely on exclusions. However, Meta offers other ways to make sure your ads reach the right people. For example, you can use custom audience exclusions and audience controls to protect your brand and ensure your ads meet specific criteria.

Meta’s AI aims to improve the accuracy of ad delivery. Even if you’re nervous about giving up control, the data shows that this change could lead to better results. The focus is now on broader, automated targeting that uses AI’s ability to learn from user behaviour.

How to Adapt to the Change

To stay ahead, it’s important to adapt to this change now. First, review your current ad sets and find any that use detailed targeting exclusions. Meta Ads Manager will show a warning banner for these ad sets, helping you edit and republish them without exclusions.

Shifting Your Strategy

Next, consider shifting your strategy to take full advantage of Meta’s AI. By embracing broader targeting and letting AI optimize delivery, you may find that your campaigns perform better, reaching new and more relevant audiences.

The Future of Meta Advertising

Meta’s decision to remove detailed targeting exclusions is part of a larger move toward automation in digital ads. The company’s vision for the future includes less manual input from advertisers. Soon, you might only need to provide a product URL, and Meta’s AI will handle the rest, from creating ad content to choosing the best audience.

Embracing AI-Driven Advertising

This shift might seem unusual, especially if you’re used to having more control over your campaigns. However, the evidence shows that Meta’s AI is effective at connecting ads with the right people. By allowing AI to lead, you might achieve better results with less effort.

Conclusion: Prepare for the Future with Amber 90

Meta’s removal of detailed targeting exclusions marks a new era in digital advertising, where AI takes centre stage. For businesses that want to stay competitive, it’s essential to understand and embrace these changes.

At Amber 90, we specialize in optimizing Meta ad campaigns to help your business succeed. Contact our team today to learn how we can help you navigate these updates and get the most out of your advertising.

Digital Advertising in a Cookieless World: Embracing the Future

Posted on by amber90

Introduction

As the digital landscape evolves, the imminent phase-out of third-party cookies by 2024 marks a pivotal shift in digital advertising. This change necessitates a strategic adaptation for marketers to maintain effective customer engagement. The reliance on third-party cookies, once a cornerstone of digital advertising, has faced increasing scrutiny due to privacy concerns. This blog delves into the implications of this transition, explores the benefits of first-party data, and underscores the pivotal role of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) in a privacy-first world.

The Demise of Third-Party Cookies

Privacy-Driven Changes by Major Browsers

Apple

Apple’s commitment to user privacy began with the iOS 14 update, which required explicit user consent for tracking. The iOS 17 update further enhances privacy features with mail privacy protection, safety checks, and updated passkeys.

Google

Google’s Chrome browser, holding approximately 60% of the global market share, will phase out third-party cookies by 2024. Instead, Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative will introduce privacy-preserving APIs to protect user privacy while enabling digital businesses to thrive.

Mozilla

Mozilla introduced Total Cookie Protection in 2020 and recently launched Mozilla Monitor Plus, a privacy monitoring service that helps users manage their data across various platforms.

Impact on Key Stakeholders

Publishers

Media companies and tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta will be significantly affected. Forward-thinking publishers are shifting towards first-party data collection to sustain their revenue streams. According to Digiday, 78% of publishers believe that removing third-party cookies will enhance the value of their audience data.

Tech Giants

Google, Facebook, and Amazon have built robust first-party data ecosystems, positioning them well to weather the impact of losing third-party cookies. These tech giants leverage their vast user bases to gather first-party data, ensuring continued advertising effectiveness.

Advertisers

Advertisers must overhaul their strategies, focusing on first-party data to enhance transparency and control. The fragmented and non-transparent programmatic ad supply chain has resulted in significant inefficiencies. Moving towards first-party data collection will improve campaign performance and user trust.

Ad Tech Players

Ad Tech players like The Trade Desk are developing initiatives such as Unified ID 2.0 to replace cookie-based identifiers and maintain advertising attribution without third-party cookies.

Understanding Data Types

First-Party Data

Collected directly from users, first-party data is highly valuable and accurate. It reflects actual customer behavior and is gathered with user consent.

Second-Party Data

Shared between non-competitive partners, second-party data is less accurate than first-party data but still useful for marketing purposes.

Third-Party Data

Collected and sold by data brokers, third-party data is often unreliable and ethically questionable. Its availability to anyone diminishes its value.

Zero-Party Data

Voluntarily shared by customers, zero-party data is highly accurate and reliable, especially when combined with first-party data insights.

Transitioning from DMPs to CDPs

Data Management Platforms (DMPs)

DMPs manage anonymous cookie IDs and create audience segments using third-party data. However, the phasing out of third-party cookies will limit their effectiveness.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs)

CDPs collect and organize first-party data, providing a comprehensive and consented view of customers. This shift allows brands to deliver personalized experiences without relying on third-party cookies.

Benefits of First-Party Data

Improved Accuracy

First-party data offers superior accuracy as it directly reflects customer interactions with a brand. A study by Google and Boston Consulting Group found that brands using first-party data achieve a 2.9x revenue lift and a 1.5x increase in cost savings.

Enhanced ROAS

First-party data enables highly personalized customer experiences, improving return on ad spend (ROAS). By leveraging this data, businesses can create more efficient lookalike targeting and retargeting campaigns.

Comprehensive Customer View

CDPs provide a holistic view of customer activity across channels, enhancing data quality and optimizing marketing spend. This comprehensive view helps brands understand user journeys and improve advertising performance.

Why CDPs Are Essential in a Privacy-First World

CDPs are crucial for businesses to comply with privacy regulations like CCPA and GDPR. They enable effective data management, including data deletion and suppression, ensuring adherence to regional privacy laws. CDPs also provide real-time customer profiles for personalized marketing, enhancing customer trust and loyalty.

Preparing for a Cookieless Future in Canada and the US

The Canadian and US Landscape

The impending phase-out of third-party cookies presents unique challenges and opportunities for advertisers in Canada and the US. Both regions have significant digital advertising markets and a strong focus on user privacy, making the transition to first-party data and CDPs essential for staying competitive.

Adapting to Privacy Regulations

In the US, privacy regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) set the stage for a nationwide emphasis on user privacy. Advertisers must ensure compliance with these regulations by adopting CDPs that facilitate data management and user consent.

In Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) governs data privacy. Canadian businesses must prioritize first-party data collection and management to meet these regulatory requirements and maintain customer trust.

Leveraging First-Party Data

Advertisers in both countries should focus on building robust first-party data strategies. This involves collecting data directly from users through transparent and ethical means. By fostering trust and providing value in exchange for data, businesses can enhance customer relationships and gain a competitive edge.

Implementing CDPs

CDPs play a pivotal role in this transition by providing a centralized platform for managing and activating first-party data. Canadian and US businesses should invest in CDPs to unify customer data, improve personalization, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.

Building a Privacy-First Culture

Creating a privacy-first culture within organizations is crucial. This involves educating employees about data privacy best practices, implementing robust data protection measures, and regularly reviewing and updating privacy policies. A privacy-first approach not only ensures compliance but also builds customer trust and loyalty.

Conclusion

The end of third-party cookies marks a transformative moment in digital advertising. Businesses must pivot to first-party data and CDPs to maintain effective customer engagement and comply with privacy regulations. By embracing these changes, brands can build stronger customer relationships, enhance marketing performance, and secure a competitive advantage in a privacy-first world. Twilio Segment has released a full downloadable guide – check it out here.

Make sure you’re ready for this transition and contact Amber 90 to prepare for what’s next!

As Seen On