Google Marketing Live 2024 focused on the company’s cutting-edge AI changes. Speakers illustrated how marketers can use these features to address changing consumer demands.
Some key features are Generative AI, Project Astra, reliance on first-party data, and shopping ad changes.
Keep reading to discover anything you missed and how to use these changes to maximize your marketing efforts.
What’s New with Google?
1. There Will Be New Creative Updates for Shopping Ads
Google is expanding its shopping ad experience with immersive AI-powered rollouts.
New virtual try-on ads will allow users to assess apparel fits on different body types for all genders.
Additionally, Google showcased 3-D spinning ads using Adidas shoes. These offer clients 360-degree views, which are realistic and comprehensive and may increase purchasing desire.
You can also include interactive and clickable self-generated or influencer short-form videos in ads. This update lets your customers get stylish suggestions and see related products.
2. Google Will Use Generative AI to Keep Up with Changing Search Behaviors
According to Google, 15% of daily searches are new. Most of these new search behaviors fall under three categories:
- Exactly-What-I-Want Searches: Google noted that compound searches exceeding four words grew 1.5 times faster than shorter ones.
- Visual Searches: 25% of all visual searches in 2024 were of commercial intent.
- Search Beyond Answers: Many searchers seek lists, ideas, and inspirations, among other explorative responses, rather than specific answers.
Google introduced Generative AI to keep up with these new search trends. Gen AI crawls search results and offers an overview. It also looks at search intent to offer uses related products and websites.
The introduction of Gen AI raises concerns for marketers. Some think it may reduce site visits due to instant answer provision. However, Google notes that better-quality consumers will visit your site, which may improve the likelihood of conversion.
3. Performance Max Campaigns Are Going to Get Better
The new Google ad updates allow you to create better PMax campaigns quickly inside Google ads suite
For instance, asset-level reporting will now allow you to assess conversions for individual creative assets. As a result, you can determine which creatives to focus on based on conversions.
They have also added additional design tools to allow you to modify or create ad creative with ease. You can now:
- Add color, imagery, and font preferences in the campaign’s brand guidelines.
- Let Google ads suite use your product feed to auto-generate ads.
- Add backgrounds to images, resize them to suit different ad placements, and add objects to highlight things within the picture.
These PMax campaign changes will also allow you to use profit goals in ad optimization. Google noted that profit goals can yield up to 15% more returns than revenue-only campaigns.
They claim that combining Performance Max with AI-powered Search can also help advertisers improve their conversions. It boosts your campaigns by integrating Smart Bidding with broad match keywords.
Providing the right data is also crucial in maximizing PMax campaigns. For instance, use the voice of customer insights to drive revenue through personalized responses.
4. Project Astra Will Pave The Future of Search
Google introduced this multimodal agent to answer real-time text, speech, and visual questions. Some of its capabilities include:
- Identification and labeling of object parts.
- Using recorded history to locate lost objects.
- Identifying locations.
- Crafting names.
- Identifying the use of different things like programming codes.
- Analyzing data and drawing conclusions.
When it’s rolled out fully, it will make it easier for customers to search for products through images and videos.
Meanwhile, marketers will benefit in various ways, like:
- Being able to predict demand better, hence lowering overproduction.
- Improving product location and status tracking efficiency, allowing swift issue resolutions.
- Optimizing transportation routes to lower delivery expenses and durations.
5. First-Party Data is Going to Become Important for Success in Advertising
In the wake of third party cookie depreciation, it is more crucial than ever before to rely more on first-party data for ads.
Initially, there were concerns on how lack of third party data could affect audience targeting in Google ads, but the company used the Google Live platform to clarify that it doesn’t have to be a gloom or doom situation.
They emphasized that relying on first-party data will be key for success in online ads. Their new Ads Data Manager and Measurement Diagnostics tools will also allow advertisers to transition to using first-party data for ads easily.
Ads Data Manager allows you to incorporate first-party data from different sources. This can help you target your brand’s audience more precisely.
Measurement Diagnostics tool assesses your data collection habits by crawling your website. It allows you to determine missing data points and new avenues for collecting first-party data.
6. Google Clarified That AI Can’t Replace Human Marketers
Although Google’s position isn’t anti AI, and it advises using AI to streamline marketing processes — they remain insistent that AI tools shouldn’t be used to replace human discretion. They emphasized that human interference is needed at all stages of using AI for marketing to ensure accuracy and ethical usage.
They also asked marketers to reframe how they think about AI and to embrace it as an ally, rather than seeing it as competition that will take their jobs.
One of the presenters, Vidhya Srinivasan, noted the importance of the human touch by explaining that your competition is with marketers using AI, not AI alone. So, use your rich product and customer insights to maximize AI potential.
Google Live 2024: Recap
- Project Astra will make it easier for shoppers to access your products through photos, video, and text in the future.
- Generative AI will allow Google to address new search queries easily.
- Performance Max Campaigns are now easier to curate with in-built tools that make it easier to modify or curate ad creatives. The profit-based bidding model will also likely improve ROI from these campaigns.
- Google is committed to making advertisers transition to first-party data with relative ease, especially as Google Chrome gets ready to bid goodbye to third-party cookies. They have new tools that allow for precise ad targeting with first-party data.
- Google has clarified its stance on AI usage in content once again. It asks marketers to see it as a tool, and not a replacement for human discretion.
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At Vizion Interactive, we have the expertise, experience, and enthusiasm to get results and keep clients happy! Learn more about how our status as a Google Partner, along with our PPC Management, Google Shopping Ads, Social Media Advertising, Amazon Advertising, and other Paid Media services can increase sales and boost your ROI. But don’t just take our word for it, check out what our clients have to say, along with our case studies.