We sat down last week for Google Marketing Live 2019, a collection of keynotes and workshops delivering the latest and greatest happenings in the Google Ads world. We learned some of the latest trends in search marketing like refining intent based on query context, the importance of inclusive marketing, and of course, more updates to machine learning.
To keep things simple, here are three of the most notable new features to come out of last week’s event:
1. Discovery Ads
Within the Google app itself, there is a neat feature you may or may not have noticed before. Once you land on the main screen of the app, continue scrolling down and you will see your “discover feed” appear. Here, Google collates a feed of custom content tailored to you based on your browsing history and interests.
A recent Google / Ipsos study found that 76% of consumers enjoy making unexpected discoveries while shopping and that 85% of consumers will take a product-related action within 24 hours of discovering a product. Because of this, Google saw a great opportunity to start monetizing the discovery feed. These native ads will blend in on the Discover feed and on other Google’s properties including YouTube and Gmail. Take a look at an example below:
2. Bumper Machine
Video advertisements are a great tool to build your brand awareness among consumers. After all, more than 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands…more than any other type of content. You keep hearing about how popular video has become lately and how important it is for your brand to be well-positioned across video platforms. In fact, short-form videos like the 6-second bumper-ad drive higher ad recall than longer variations because they focus on a single message. Keep it simple stupid!
Thing is, you might lack the resources or production budget to create a suitable pre-roll ad to share with the world. Enter Bumper Machine. This new feature allows Google to edit one of your existing videos already on your YouTube channel to create a 6-second bumper with as little time and effort as possible. Its machine learning technology scans the original video for “key elements,” like a voiceover, closeup of a face or logos, then ends with an ending call to action in the final few seconds.
While this new feature certainly won’t take the place of an experienced video editor and is not meant to diminish the creative process, we do see a use for this for advertisers with limited time and budget.
If you’re wondering how to get started creating videos to promote your brand, check out these 5 ways to use video marketing in your next campaign. Hint: you don’t really need a fancy camera and all the latest gear to go with it, so take that iPhone out of your pocket and start filming!
3. New Custom Audiences
Affinity and intent-based audiences will now be merged into one Custom Audience. Historically, these two types of audiences seemed to overlap each other anyway. So hopefully this will help to clean up the shared libraries of marketers who are segmenting their audiences into many different lists.
If you’re interested, you can check out all of the on-demand keynotes from Google Marketing Live 2019 here.
Dave is Manager, Search & Analytics at RDW. Fascinated by the way buyers make purchase decisions, you’ll usually find him optimizing a PPC campaign, researching keywords or trying to keep up with the latest Google trends. If not that, he’s probably out on the water or up in the mountains depending on the season.