A look inside Tailwind's mind

What’s the deal?

Over the past couple of weeks, Google has been facing some major heat for allowing its ads to appear alongside sensitive and offensive videos on YouTube. Although the internet giant has apologized for its mistake, several high-profile firms such as Marks & Spencer and HSBC have already begun pulling advertising for British markets from Google sites. Even the British government has suspended its advertising on YouTube. As part of our campaign management process, we routinely review placement reports for the display campaigns we run. In doing so, we recently noticed our ads were appearing on politically-charged editorial websites that one of our clients DID NOT want to be associated with.

With Google’s recent removal of Automatic Alerts from Google Analytics, we have put together some useful ways to get the most out of the remaining custom alert capabilities within Google Analytics.

The time has come. Google first announced in September 2016 that it would be removing converted clicks as an option for conversion bid metrics. Now, in March 2017, Google will be removing the “converted click” metric and all related data from AdWords. This will leave the “conversion” column as the main metric to measure acquisition.

Tailwind recently got back a brand lift study from one of our client’s super bowl ads. Brand lift is the direct impact your ads have on your customer’s perceptions and behaviors throughout the consumer journey. Many platforms utilize brand lift studies and by testing this you gain real-time insights into your brand affinity. After all this work before and during the super bowl, I wondered how we were going to give our client tangible metrics. This is why a brand lift study is so crucial and fills those unmeasurable gaps. In this article, I will be addressing three major questions you might have before launching a brand lift study. What is a brand lift study? Why would I want to do a brand lift study? What makes brand lift studies so powerful?

Learn how to personalize your PPC campaigns by adapting to the way people search today. By optimizing ad groups and keywords for long-tail voice queries and “near me” phrases, you can better reach your audience with the right message at the right time.

Originally slated for February 6^th, Google has officially launched ‘Automatic Call Extensions’ as of February 21^st, 2017. If your site has a “prominently featured phone number” and you have not opted out, Google will automatically add this number to your mobile search ads as a call extension. Evaluate your media objectives and decide how to opt out of automatic call extensions and learn reasons why you would want to. 

3 Resolutions You Should Actually Keep

Each new year we promise ourselves goals that let’s face it we never keep. Life takes over and some of us fall back into our old ways, I know I already have and we are only one month down! According to think with Google, 40% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions but only 8% of the country actually achieves them! When it comes to sticking to your paid media goals however, this should be non-negotiable. Here are three simple resolutions you can implement into your paid media that will go a long way.

The world has gone through drastic change over the past billion years. Our planet has endured varying climates, from scorching heat to frigid temperatures, making it virtually uninhabitable. However, somehow we’ve managed to survive. Why? Because we’ve learned to adapt.

Adaptation is the key to survival, so what makes online advertising any different? As times change, consumer habits and preferences evolve. For example, with the uprising of the digital world, time spent online is much higher than in the past. New technologies continue to be developed and consumers are utilizing a variety of devices - tablets, smartphones, laptops - to conduct research, watch movies, play video games, shop, etc.

Get the most out of your Google Analytics site tracking. Here are 4 ways to leverage the Multi-Channel Funnels Reports to gain insight into how your paid media channels, Social Media Posts, and Landing pages work together to drive converters to your site.

This week’s Business Insider “Ad agencies are paying out secret settlements so they don’t have to show their clients all their contracts” update reminds us that paid media transparency practices are still heavily under the microscope.

 At this year’s Bolo Conference, Tailwind addressed this huge disconnect between agencies and advertisers. See the talk here to better understand the top 8 things advertisers and brands should expect from their agencies.

Reach out to us if you have questions or want to learn more, as we’re just talking about the tip of the iceberg here.