The Ad Project – Details, episodes & analysis

Summary

In this episode, Joe Shelerud interviews Corey Brown from buffaBRAND Marketing about AI image generation and its potential impact on advertising. They discuss the various tools available, the importance of having a strong creative foundation, and the challenges of using AI to generate realistic and effective images. They also explore the future of AI image generation and how it could change the industry.

Overall, the conversation emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to AI, leveraging its capabilities while maintaining human creativity and authenticity.

Takeaways

• AI image generation is a rapidly evolving space that intersects with e-commerce and advertising.
• There are various tools available for AI image generation, but it's important to be skeptical and use them in conjunction with a strong creative foundation.
• AI-generated images can be useful for certain types of creatives, such as lifestyle composite shots, but they may not always meet the desired level of authenticity.
• In the future, AI image generation could enable hyper-customization of creatives for different audience segments, but there may also be concerns about privacy and over-customization.
• To start using AI image generation, it's important to have a baseline knowledge, work with people who understand AI, and provide detailed prompts and information.

Summary

In this episode, Joe Shelerud interviews Dan Brownsher from Channel Key. They discuss the current state of the e-commerce space, the challenges and opportunities for brands on platforms like Amazon, and the key factors that contribute to a brand's success. They emphasize the importance of high-quality products, brand building, and maximizing total lifetime value. They also highlight the need for brands to utilize upper funnel activities and measure them correctly.

Takeaways

• The e-commerce space is still relatively early in its growth, and there are opportunities for brands to succeed.
• High-quality products, brand building, and targeting the right audience are key factors for a brand's success on platforms like Amazon.
• Maximizing total lifetime value by driving repeat purchases or cross-selling is crucial for sustaining growth.
• Brands should consider utilizing upper funnel activities, such as streaming TV and video, to create brand awareness.
• Measuring the full funnel and understanding the contribution of each stage is important for effective advertising strategies.

Connect with Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-brownsher/

In this episode, Joe Shelerud is joined by Jack Lindberg from The Mars Agency to explore the intricacies of Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and data clean rooms. They discuss the technical and analogical aspects of data clean rooms, highlighting their significance in maintaining privacy while sharing valuable data.

The conversation delves into use cases, including ASIN purchase overlap reports and insights into customer behavior after viewing ads.

Key Points:

• Understanding the concept of data clean rooms and their role in protecting privacy.
• AMC as a unique clean room where Amazon serves as both the host and data provider.
• Use cases of AMC, such as ASIN purchase overlap reports and insights into branded keywords.
• Challenges and opportunities in the evolving landscape of digital advertising, especially with the deprecation of cookies.
• Eligibility requirements for using AMC and the importance of SQL proficiency.
• Strategic and tactical actions advertisers can take based on AMC insights.
• Leveraging AMC audiences for enhanced targeting in Amazon DSP.

Guest:

Jack Lindberg - Director of Analytics at The Mars Agency

Joe Shelerud - CEO of Ad Advance and Host of the Ad Project Podcast

Catch All and Seeding strategies are simple hacks that we typically leverage in our advertising mix. The key reason we love these strategies is that they generate solid returns on ad spend and help discover long-tail targets when reviewing your search reports.

In today’s episode, Matt and I dived deep into these strategies and answered questions typically asked about campaign structure, results, and overall performance.   

Your key goal is not to just have good advertising metrics. It should be to have advertising that feeds into your entire business, driving solid overall sales and profitability metrics.

We had an amazing time with Mina in today's episode covering some of the core fundamentals sellers should be looking at when optimizing their campaigns. Being a seller himself, Mina shared scenarios that would typically arise when running ads, along with tips on how you can split test images, price, and optimize your ad strategy to meet your overall business goals.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mina.elias.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mina-elias-52313772/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/egyptian_prescription_elias/

Core fundamentals to consider when analyzing ad campaigns    [02:38]

Case study scenarios on ad optimization                                           [07:20]

How to tell if your advertising is working                                           [18:04]

We get asked countless of questions daily around budgeting and how to best allocate advertising spend. In today's episode, Matt and Joe answered these common questions while sharing scenarios to help add value to sellers, no matter their stage or size. 

What should you set for advertising budget? [01:52]

Setting budgets to maintain profit margins [05:12]

Setting budgets to cut ACoS [07:38]

Setting budgets for product launches [12:13]

How to allocate ad spend with a tight budget [15:59]

If you’re looking to keep your same ACoS and TACoS goals year over year, it will be very difficult to grow.

With Amazon getting more competitive driving up CPC, sellers will need to have an incremental change with their advertising goals.

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Lucas Kwiatkowski to dive into key reasons we’re seeing fluctuations with ACoS and TACoS. We also highlighted ways sellers can adjust their advertising goals to battle the changes with these metrics.

Lucas started managing PPC over 7 years ago and loved it from the start. He still enjoys diving deep into the advertising data for all of his accounts and usually comes up with advanced PPC topics not popular within the space. Lucas is very involved with all of his clients and takes a hands-on approach to managing their business growth. He spends a lot of time making YouTube videos to help smaller sellers master the art of PPC while also teaching them advanced tactics.

Website: www.amznomadz.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-kwiatkowski-0017

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1Od62QQLo9nmNMysS6wiA

How changes with Amazon impacts TACoS           [02:03]

Key drivers behind fluctuations in TACoS              [03:45]

Analyzing TACoS                                                         [06:25]

Ad cannibalization                                                     [14:21]

Where has the most value for retargeting ads     [18:11]

Key drivers for long term growth                            [19:51]

Ways to battle high TACoS                                       [23:04]

Amazon is continuing to find a lot more ways to motivate sellers to drive traffic from off-channel onto their platform. With countless advertising channels in the space, one of the critical issues we face is tracking performance through all stages of the buyer's journey from multiple sources.

In today's episode, we're joined by one of our Account Execs, Josh, to really talk through Amazon Attribution and how brands can implement this into their strategy to measure consumer behavior from their off-Amazon marketing efforts.

What is Amazon attribution?      [01:46]

Amazon attribution metrics        [03:44]

Options within Amazon attribution [05:13]

Naming conventions and campaign structure [10:35]

How to segment ad campaigns within Amazon attribution [13:08]

Building a brand with Amazon attribution [15:47]

Having access to first-party data on customers' purchases can revolutionize your advertising strategy. For today's episode, we're excited to have advertising expert Vitalii Khyzhniak from Profit Whales join Joe Shelerud to discuss leveraging Amazon DSP data and building an advertising ecosystem.

Key Items Covered:

• Rules of thumb when getting started with DSP
• Allocating budgets between different ad types
• Using DSP analytics to supplement Sponsored Ads

Connect with Vitalii:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitaliikhyzhniak/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/v.khyzhniak

Instagram URL: https://www.instagram.com/khyzhniak_

There have been quite some changes with Amazon Advertising this year. There were new targeting types, new ad types, changes in the user interface of the advertising dashboard, and much more. With all the new features, sellers and brands had more opportunities to leverage advertising and develop strategies to build a long-lasting brand.

In today's episode, Destaney and Joe touched on the major shifts that happened this year and how sellers can optimize their strategies to stay on up of their advertising in 2022.

Connect with Destaney:

Website: https://betterams.com/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyDW8XfX2gTWFHK_otUwAw 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destaney-wishon/ 

Connect directly with Joe:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeshelerud/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelerud

Intro [00:19]

How inventory changes affected Amazon advertising in 2021 [03:00]

Launch or ranking strategy in 2021 [08:09]

Ad types and strategies this year [09:55]

Competition in the ad space [14:25]

The rise in aggregators and its impact on advertising [16:52]

What to expect with advertising in 2022 [21:16]

How sellers can set themselves up for success in 2022 [25:59]