August 9, 2024
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This Week's Top Marketing News

Federal Judge Rules Google Violated Antitrust Law

Google has been in the news lately but for all the wrong reasons. A federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.

Google was attempting to make the argument that they were the best, which is why people prefer to use Google (up to 90% of searches in 2020). However, the ruling focused on Google’s exclusive search deals with Android and Apple devices as key to its anti-competitive behavior.

Google pays Apple billions of dollars a year ($20 Billion) to be the default search engine in Safari. According to Apple’s senior vice president of services, there’s no other meaningful alternative. During the trial, he said that “there’s no price that Microsoft could ever offer” to Apple to get the company to preload Bing in Safari.

In our best Taylor voice - “...like ever.”

We also learned that Google intentionally inflated ad prices - you don’t say! - while also degrading the text search product by withholding information from advertisers in the name of “privacy”. Advertisers don’t receive as much information in search-query reports as they previously have, and Google gets to control all that search data, revealing only small portions to advertisers.

Fish Food:

This is an obvious win for Microsoft and Bing - especially if Google is forced out of these default search engine agreements with Apple and other carriers. But what does it mean for marketers? In the short term, not a whole lot. While they were found guilty, there are no remedies on the horizon. Plus, Google is back in court in September.

The next antitrust trial between the DOJ and Google is set to begin on September 9th in Virginia. That case will focus on whether Google has illegally monopolized digital advertising technology.

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​Pitbull Purchases Naming Rights to Florida International's Football Stadium

Mr. 305 is ​buying the naming rights​ to Florida International University’s stadium for a cool $1.2 million per season. It includes the rights to use the stadium 10 times per year which is probably worth the investment alone. This will be the first time a musician has had the naming rights to a stadium. I just hope they serve Fireball. *cue dance music*
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Dolce & Gabbana Have Launched a New Perfume – But It’s Not For Humans

We’ve heard of designer fragrances and designer dogs - but a designer dog fragrance? It’s the new market D&G is trying to break into. For the low price of $100, you too can have your dog smell better than you. Some people just have too much money.
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Decade of Inflation Across Fast Food Chains

Have you been to Mickey D’s lately? We used to hit the 20 nuggets for $5.00 deal. Nowadays, my family can’t seem to get out of the drive-through without spending $30+. It appears that we’re not alone. It is more expensive, exactly 100% more according to this infographic that shows the rising cost of eating fast food. Mcdonald's has raised prices by 100% while Chic-fil-A, Arby’s, and Burger King have only increased by around 50%.
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Maximizing Your SEO Investment: Tips For Outsourcing Effectively

While wearing all of the many hats of your business, you’ve no doubt heard about how important SEO is to helping customers find your business via search engines.

SEO is important and needs to be done correctly to get the maximum return on your investment. If you spend countless hours learning how to do SEO on your own, you could be wasting your most valuable resource - your time.

By outsourcing your SEO, you can gain a partner who has the experience and can do it faster and for probably less than the value of your time.

1. Lay The Groundwork For SEO Before Outsourcing
2. Choose The Right SEO Partnership Model
3. Vet The Shortlisted Agencies/Freelancers:
4. Enhance Collaboration With Your SEO Partner
5. Leverage Your SEO Partner’s Expertise
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Fish Food:

To get the best returns on your SEO investment, you need to set clear goals, strategically choose the right partner, and, foster a collaborative working relationship that adapts to shifting business needs and market conditions. If you are looking for an SEO partner - Neon Goldfish can help.

How To Find Your Oldest Social Media Posts And Delete Them

The internet lives forever and there are probably posts you’d rather die off than continue to live on the Internet. Verge is helping with step-by-step instructions on how to delete old posts from Facebook, X, and Instagram. MySpace says I don’t have an account - so fingers crossed that died along with my love for Nickleback.
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​LinkedIn Adds Verification for Company Pages

LinkedIn says you can add your company page to the waitlist for verification in your “Verification” settings. LinkedIn will be approving pages at its discretion. If you don’t have it on your page, don’t worry... most businesses are not seeing this yet. Multiple factors are taken into consideration when determining if a Page is verified. Factors may include, but are not limited to:

• Accuracy of certain data points on the Page (for example location, website URL)
• Active Page admin presence
• Page is claimed (not a Listing Page)
• Compliance with LinkedIn policies
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The New Facts About Your Owned Media Strategy

Marketing Gurus tell you to be everywhere. All the socials, all the guest posts, podcasts.

Basically, blanket the internet with your brand.

But that doesn’t work - does it?

Mostly because these are consumption channels - someone else owns the distribution. This is where owning your marketing like newsletters, website, and blog comes into play.

Robert Rose, from Content Marketing Institute, suggests three steps to help:

It typically involves three steps:

• Arrange the Data House - Consider tagging your resources with intent. How is a person interacting with your content and how should they move through your funnel?
• Develop ‘best next’ capability - Use your funnel to offer up ‘best next’ experiences for people in your funnel. Don’t make it harder for them.
• Connect the experiences - Review the data from your CRM as your leads move through your funnel. How can you connect these leads and possibly upsell them into a new service?

Fish Food:

Owning your marketing continues to be an important element to consider as you determine how to allocate your marketing budget. The owned content you invest in needs to go beyond the basics of the facts and get into why the customer should want to buy from you.

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