Rebecca Traverzo

I'll shout into the #PrimeDay void. The Bluebird Group clients are seeing something interesting this Prime Day vs. the last. 💡 ASPs for brands are trending up YoY 💡 Slightly lesser ad spend (to flat). 💡 Total sales not suffering Sure product mix, deep hero product performance, etc. can all contribute but I think this speaks to the fact that deep promo prices, on lesser desired products, continues to be a misfire. Focus *ALL YEAR* on your CVR related tactics. SEO, metadata excellence, content (visual), etc. Use your ad spend surgically and give people a reason to purchase items that have ranking, ratings or review validation. It will pay dividends come high traffic days like #PrimeDay, #BlackFriday and the balance of holiday. Open to objections here but my cart was full of items that I already knew I wanted or had crowed-sourced validation.

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Traditional Advertising vs. Social Media Influencing: The Cost-Effectiveness Battle Traditional Advertising: - High cost, broad audience. - Difficult to track ROI precisely. - General appeal, less engagement. Social Media Influencing with Get Desky Chat. - Targeted reach, more bang for your buck. - Easy tracking and adjustments in real time. - High engagement, personal connection. Thinking of boosting your marketing ROI? Let’s explore innovative strategies with Get Desky Chat. Capture. Connect. Close. #DigitalMarketing #SocialMediaROI #GetDeskyChat #AdSpendEfficiency

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As #thirdparty cookies near deprecation, ad tech companies are innovating to build audiences for media buyers. #Sellside curation is emerging as a key trend, where #firstparty customer data from buyers is matched with publishers' first-party audience data to create private marketplaces (#PMPs). This shift changes the traditional roles of #DSPs, #SSPs, and #DMPs, leading to new dynamics in the #programmatic ecosystem. Key Highlights: ✅ SSP Curation: SSPs now leverage first-party data from publishers, enabling large-scale activation of second- and third-party audiences without third-party cookies. ✅ Data Marketplaces: SSPs are partnering with third-party data providers to enhance audience matching, creating new data marketplaces. ✅ Real-Time Reporting: SSPs offer real-time data matching and reporting, improving transparency and efficiency. ✅ Flexibility and Control: Sell-side curation provides advertisers with more flexibility and control over audience identifiers, bypassing DSP limitations. ✅ Industry Impact: The evolving landscape is creating new opportunities and tensions, as SSPs gain prominence and DSPs adjust to reduced control. As the ad tech industry adapts to the loss of third-party cookies, sell-side curation is transforming how audiences are built and targeted, paving the way for a more connected and efficient advertising ecosystem. #sellsidecuration #programmatic #advertising

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Many DTC brands are overcomplicating their discount strategies and losing sight of what really matters: Product innovation and customer experience. Let’s be real—discounts aren’t great for your margins. They lower the lifetime value of customers and can make your brand reliant on price cuts. But the reality is, without some kind of incentive, many customers will simply shop elsewhere. The trick is to find a balance. Here’s a simple approach: Use discounts to land first-time customers. Discounts help get customers in the door, so price them smartly to fit your unit economics. Just remember, most first-time buyers won’t return, so make that discount count in building your list and gathering data. Save discounts for active customers. If customers are loyal and love your brand, they’re likely willing to pay full price. Don’t train them to expect discounts every time. Instead, focus on keeping them engaged with a great product and service. Target discounts at churn risks. If a customer is about to drop off, a well-timed discount might bring them back. It’s better to offer an incentive and retain some revenue than lose them entirely. At the end of the day, don’t let discounts dictate your brand. Use them thoughtfully to drive growth, but always prioritize delivering value through your product and experience. That’s what will keep customers coming back long-term.

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I'm about a quarter into my salon purchase; here's the good / bad / ugly 👇 Context: I purchased 25% of an existing (15+ year) salon in January. I have right to purchase the remainder of the biz within 2 years for a predetermined price (based on rev levels). The salon did ~ 750K top line (peaked at 1.1 m top line in 2019 i.e. pre-COVID); but grew each of the last 2 years. My process to get to know folks was pretty simple; spend time there. No additional meetings (no one wants extra meetings). Good: - It hasn't been too time consuming (the biz has a manager + strong leadership on staff). Some weeks I spend 0 hours on it; others it's a half-day or so. There are some email chains that go back & forth. But generally fairly hands off. - We had a distribution in Q1. It had to go to pay legal fees for the business acquisition. If you look at it on a rate of return on cash invested; it was about 4% of total cash invested into the biz. If this rate continues (which it should improve; as Q1 slowest); then I'd expect to realize (in year 1); between a 17-20% return on cash invested. You would be hard pressed to find this kind of return anywhere else. - The staff has been very welcoming. They appreciate some new insights & have been helpful as I learn the biz; I also get free haircuts; which is a nice perk! (Yes I tip them) - The biz continues to be profitable (without much in way of major changes) & January is one of the slowest months of the year (cold weather + post holiday slump = slower times) - One of the biggest items to improve top line is just # of staff. We have a few empty chairs still (~100K per chair); so hiring 1-2 new staff this year should help us grow. Bad: - There is a lot of work to be done before we can focus on growth. The salon needs a facelift, there is some issues w/ rising rents (& deciding what to do), the systems are dated (i.e. using paper for everything) - The marketing program is virtually non-existent; a few print fliers here & there, but nothing in the way of a marketing motion. However; with the foundational issues; it makes no sense to spend good $ on marketing until foundational is set. - Things move slow. This is a mix of reasons. #1; both owners have other biz & main owner has a FT job. We could move faster; but hard to do so in a few hours a week. #2; the biz has been around for 15+ years. It's been through the recession & COVID; even though folks say they want change; implementing that change takes longer than realized. Ugly: - Being a minority owner is a dance. You can't make sweeping changes without consensus. You don't control the purse entirely. You're trying to appease staff & the primary owner at the same time, but their perspectives & goals are completely different. It has caused me some stress. - There's a fair amount of politics at a small salon. It can be a lot of unpack & wade through at times. Net/Net Anyone who says "owning a biz is passive income" is mostly full of it IMHO.

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Fintech companies are increasingly tapping into their transaction data to power ad platforms, with PayPal being the latest to jump into the game.  Dr. Mark Grether, who previously led Uber’s billion-dollar ad business, announced that PayPal Ads is set to launch in time for Black Friday. Leveraging data from over 400 million PayPal users, 90 million Venmo users and the 225 billion transactions processed by its merchants, PayPal’s new ad network will allow advertisers to target their ideal clients more precisely and to measure conversions more effectively by handling the whole customer journey, from seeing an ad for a product to paying for it. Initially, ads will run PayPal owned properties such as PayPal, Venmo and Honey. However, starting next year, PayPal Ads will expand to its network of more than 30 millions merchants. Fintechs like Klarna and Revolut are also developing their own ad network to capitalize on their transactions data. Modeled after Retail Media Networks (RMN) that have emerged from retail giants Walmart and Amazon, that allow anyone to display ads in their marketplace and leverage their transactions data, the industry calls those ad networks launched by financial firms Financial Media Networks (FMNs). According to emarketer, ad spend on these networks will quadruple in the next two years on those networks to reach 1.5 billion USD in 2026. This rising importance of fintech data in advertising is driven by the decline of third-party cookies, increased privacy regulations around the world and limitations imposed by private platforms such as Apple that makes it harder for advertisers to track users online. Tech entrepreneur James Borow summarized this shift from behavioural ad networks like Google and Facebook to ad networks powered by transaction data in a recent post on X: “Payments are the new cookies (no matter what Google says about them) and Shopify has one of the best hands to play in ads as a result.“ Companies that have access to transaction data indeed have an increasing competitive edge in targeting consumers. Amazon, with $46.9 billion in ad revenue in 2023, is a good example. Shopify, whose e-commerce and payment platform power no less than 4 millions online stores, keep refining its ad network called Shopify Audiences and recently started allowing advertisers to exclude current customers from their campaigns’ target audiences. As someone who launched a fintech relying on transaction data to recommend financial products, I’ve been expecting this shift for a while. Companies with logged-in users and transaction histories hold a powerful advantage. PayPal, Klarna, Shopify and Revolut are just the beginning, and I would be surprised if the likes of Stripe or Adyen didn’t launch an ad network of their own at some point. This story was initially published in this week’s issue of Global Fintech Insider. To read the newsletter in full, click the link in the comments.

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Flying in the face of other reports on widespread B2B marketing budget strains — and, with it, the faces of anyone feeling those particular strains on a daily basis — a new survey of B2B and B2B tech marketers found that 92% are going to see increased marketing budgets this year, with just as many creating more content than last year. In fact, the 10Fold Communications study, titled Engagement Equation: How B2B Tech Marketers Are Creating And Delivering Content That Captivates In 2024, found that 40% expect to create as much as 3-5 times as much content as they did in 2023, and 13% expect to produce 10 times more. “The findings paint a clear picture of a global surge in content marketing,” the report says. “Marketers across various industries are significantly increasing content output, with some — including manufacturing/robotics and IT networking — aiming for exponential growth.” Helping with that surge, of course, is AI, which 81% of survey respondents said they leverage occasionally or frequently to create that content. “AI’s efficiency is particularly useful when distributing content in written formats,” the report says, “including social posts, e-Books, contributed thought leadership pieces, whitepapers, etc.” Social media and video content were far and away the most prioritized formats (for 46% and 41% of respondents, respectively), followed by blogs (20%) and newsletters (19%). 10Fold says companies with a budget between $250,000 and $499,999 allocated for content development “stood out for their aggressive social media focus,” with a planned 51% increase for social media content distribution. “[This suggests] a potential sweet spot for budget allocation that allows for efficient content creation and a strong social media presence,” the report says. “For those with modest to low marketing content budgets, increasing the amount of social content is one way to cost-effectively amp up the volume.” #contentmarketing #aimarketing #marketingbudgets #publishing #publishingindustry #digitalpublishing #mediapublishing #AIsoftware #AImarketingsoftware #digitalmarketing #digitalmediamanager #digitalmediamanagement #MarketingManager #MagazineManager (Photo Source: 10Fold)

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Hey, retail store owners, while you're in the thick of selling season, remember that your website has hidden messages. I know you're swamped right now, but take a moment to make notes when you spot friction points in your customer journey. These notes will serve as your roadmap for powerful improvements in 2025. Want to really understand what's making customers abandon their carts? Microsoft's Clarity tool can show you exactly where they're getting stuck. Our team can help you set it up and turn those insights into actions. Don't let those valuable customer signals slip away. Check out my weekly retail tips video below for more ways to turn holiday headaches into next year's wins! If you need help setting up Microsoft's Clarity, let me know our firm is here to help. Watching what's making your customers abandon carts will provide you with a clear direction to needed improvements on your website for 2025.

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Make sure to read this today. It's a good recap of the current status of ecom/DTC from a business owner/executive perspective https://lnkd.in/duMdxQhd

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Secrets I learned from working with payment processors... Turns out we’ve been lied to. #1 Most people think they’re getting paid fairly, but it turns out most merchants have hidden fees, tiered fees, OR none-transparent structures Secret insight: request a breakdown of every fee and compare it to their contract #2 Most sales teams are incentivized to upsell not SERVE the customer… GOOD modern-day sales people find solutions to real problems. Secret insight: If you’re getting pitched RUN, make sure they’re understanding your business #3 Automation isn’t enough Without human oversight, there will be fraud, errors in invoices, and payments. Secret insight: Make sure automation is combined with a customer-first mindset This is a universal business lesson.. Make sure to dig deeper, hold your partners accountable, and ask better questions If you’d like recommendations on trusted processors shoot me a DM!

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Some good points are made by PubMatic’s Andrew Baron in AdExchanger’s latest Data-Driven Thinking column. Ironically, cookies were never that big of a problem in the first place—your humble, anonymous cookie is far less personal than a hashed email (which, as the FTC recently reminded us, is in fact still PII). But to the writer’s point, years of worrying about their impending deprecation have led to some very positive changes. First- and carefully curated and enhanced second- and third-party data will always yield better results, assuming you can protect the privacy of the consumers who produced it. And yes, whatever more personally identifiable data you’re working with—whether it’s sell-side targeting, modeled audiences, or contextual signals—alternative IDs have shown great promise in creating a layer of privacy protection. However, the real challenge arises when these identifiers traverse the bidstream and are shared with third parties. No matter how secure your encryption, once data leaves your control, it’s vulnerable to exploitation or reverse engineering. Anything can happen. The signals aren’t the problem—it’s the way we’re sharing them. We built Symitri to solve these inherent privacy challenges in adtech infrastructure. By ensuring that personally identifiable data never leaves the control of its owner, Symitri offers truly deterministic targeting without sacrificing privacy. With Symitri, you can achieve precision, performance, and privacy—no compromises necessary. #Symitri #Privacy #DataProtection #Trust #TRUSTX https://lnkd.in/eS9Aem8B

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The Search Ad Market is Shifting, and Google’s Lead is Shrinking TikTok and AI startup Perplexity are challenging Google’s dominance in the search ad market by offering ad targeting based on search queries and AI-generated answers, respectively. Google’s U.S. search ad market share is expected to drop below 50% next year due to competition from Amazon and other platforms. Despite Google’s strong position, advertisers are eager for more competition, which could lead to increased ad spending and potential legal pressures on Google. For years, Google has dominated search advertising, the cornerstone of its business. But rivals are chipping away, and the rise of AI-driven innovations is reshaping the landscape. TikTok is now directly challenging Google by allowing brands to target ads based on user search queries—an unprecedented move for the platform known for short-form social videos. Perplexity, an AI search startup backed by Jeff Bezos, plans to roll out ads in its AI-generated answers, while Amazon continues to capture more search ad dollars, with its share of the market expected to grow by 17.6% this year. Additional pressure comes from the rise of Amazon.com, which has grown large and share search ad spending. Most product searches start on the e-commerce platform. While not standing still, Google rolled out ads in the AI-generated summaries it has begun placing at the top of search results this past week. At first, the ads will only show up on mobile searches in the U.S. Almost 60% of U.S. consumers used a chatbot to help research or decide on a purchase in the past 30 days. Some analysts have questioned whether ads in chatbots will be as valuable as traditional search ads because people might be less likely to click on them. Targeting search budgets is a logical step for TikTok. Up to now, the company has offered brands the option of displaying ads near search results, but advertisers couldn’t target their ads based on the keywords in user searches. Advertisers remain drawn to TikTok because of the platform’s strong appeal to younger adults—interest that hasn’t diminished despite the U.S. government’s efforts to force the app to sever ties with its Chinese owner or face a potential ban. While TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue is expected to jump 38.1% this year, it only has a 3.4% share of the U.S. digital ad market. With #AI transforming search into a tool that offers fully formed answers, not just links, the future of search advertising looks very different. Google, TikTok, Amazon, and emerging players like Perplexity are all pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. The question remains: who will win the next phase of the lucrative search ad wars? #digitalmarketing #searchads #advertising #brands #innovation #futureofads #marketingtrends The Wall Street Journal

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Influencer Marketing: Proven Strategies for Success. Influencer marketing has exploded in recent years, becoming one of the most effective ways for brands to connect with their audience in an authentic and engaging manner. By leveraging the trust and influence that content creators have with their followers, brands can generate awareness, drive engagement, and increase sales. However, to fully harness the power of influencer marketing, you need the right strategies. In this blog, we’ll explore some proven influencer marketing strategies that can help your brand succeed. 1. Define Clear Goals and Objectives Before diving into influencer marketing, it’s essential to set clear goals. Do you want to increase brand awareness, boost website traffic, generate leads, or improve product sales? Establishing specific and measurable objectives will guide the selection of influencers and determine the success of your campaigns. Pro Tip: Align your influencer marketing strategy with your broader marketing goals for maximum impact. 2. Identify the Right Influencers Finding the right influencer is crucial. The ideal influencer should align with your brand values, have a strong connection with your target audience, and produce content that resonates with their followers. Instead of focusing solely on follower count, consider engagement rates, audience demographics, and the influencer’s credibility in your industry. Types of Influencers: • Mega-influencers (1M+ followers): Reach large audiences but may have lower engagement rates. • Macro-influencers (100K–1M followers): Well-established but more niche. • Micro-influencers (10K–100K followers): Highly engaged audiences, great for building authentic connections. • Nano-influencers (1K–10K followers): Super targeted with extremely engaged communities. 3. Focus on Authenticity and Collaboration Authenticity is key to successful influencer campaigns. Audiences trust influencers who are genuine and true to their voice. To foster this authenticity, let influencers have creative freedom over how they present your product or service. Their content should naturally fit their style while still conveying your brand’s message. Pro Tip: Instead of dictating the message, collaborate with influencers to co-create content that aligns with both their brand and yours. 4. Leverage Multiple Content Formats Influencers are skilled at producing engaging content across various platforms. To maximize the impact of your campaign, encourage influencers to create content in different formats. This could include Instagram posts and Stories, YouTube videos, TikTok clips, blogs, podcasts, and more. Each format allows for different levels of engagement and storytelling. Further Reading: If you want a deeper dive into digital marketing, including influencer strategies, check out my latest book, Practical Guide to Digital Marketing, to explore all aspects of marketing #digitalmarketing #socialmedia #saas #abm #sebastianpistritto

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The new TCPA rules are going to hit both the debt space and the business funding (MCA) space extremely hard. This is why it's more crucial than ever to generate your leads from digital opt-ins rather than churning and burning through endless amounts of "trusted" data sources. I've said it before and I'll say it again— Paid ads are an inevitability. If you think otherwise you're so far back in the stone ages that I'm surprised you've had time to read this in your pursuit of inventing fire.

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When you reach the right customers, with the right message, on the right platform, and at the right time - marketing drives revenue. Period. But you need the right technology and targeting in place to get stellar results. E.L.F. BEAUTY Is a great case in point. They went from spending 7% of net sales on advertising in 2019 to 25% in 2024. The result? Marketing reached 34% of net sales in the quarter! To have that kind of success, you need to ask yourself these questions: - Do we have the first-party data we need? - Are we collaborating with partners to expand our reach? - Are our match rates high, and can we find our customers on the platforms they love? - And most importantly, can we measure how each component of our plan is working? If your answer is no to any of these questions, we should talk.  🙂 LiveRamp  #datacollaboration #marketingstrategy #marketingdrivesrevenue

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She tells my career story better than I ever could! Kait Stephens, it's an honor to be featured in your female leadership series. Thanks for shining the spotlight! #FemaleLeaders #WomensEmpowerment #Leadership #CareerJourney #SuccessStory #ProfessionalGrowth #Networking #DirectToConsumer #Ecommerce #Advertising #PerformanceMarketing #Digital

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Check out my latest blog post for @SEMpdx: Navigating the @Reddit Rabbit Hole: #SEO Opportunities and Pitfalls for Brands https://ow.ly/XTpN50SnEvC #reddit #redditSEO #redditmarketing

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