My primary goal for Banter for the year is stability and sustainability and to do that, we need a happy team that can feel the balance every day. It's been a hard 6 months with people changes and I'm thrilled to now make another people announcement - meet Rachel.
Rachel joins our design team, with a marketing brain, design eye and technical knowledge that has us ooh-ing and aah-ing as she shows us her processes, fresh ideas and thinking. An exceptional illustrator - one day she hopes to write and illustrate her own children’s book, including creating her own hand-written custom type face 🤯 - and a talented baker 🍰, we feel very lucky to have her with us!
We hope your downhill run into the end of Q2 is a productive one 🏃♀️ - as many businesses continue the juggle and struggle post-NSW election and post yet another interest rate hike. The mountainous climb continues, and we're here to help you overcome those challenges with consistent and clever marketing solutions.
Valentina xxx
Apple's iOS 16 and mobile marketing challenges
Apple's at it again with their iOS upgrades having a pretty big impact on marketing success. With the recent iOS 16 features, such as text message filtering, feature changes will result in a 30% to 40% drop in SMS open rates 🤯, and mobile marketing success will require more focus on push notifications.
SMS has notoriously been fantastic with open rates - seriously, who doesn't open an SMS message? If marketers are expecting to continue generating 90% open rates, brands need to work around new iOS limitations - and that might mean building their own app to generate personalised experiences. Targeted communications are so very important, and social targeting and email marketing are pretty high on the channel list for consideration.
❗️ This is your must-read article of the newsletter, don't ignore this intel.❗️
Scammers can be verified too!
When the scammers take over the platforms - yep, social media managers, be wary of ads that look like this. It's a fake. 🙅♀️ The landing page looks legit, though it redirects users to malware. Hackers have somehow gained access to a selection of verified accounts on Facebook, which they’re now using to promote Facebook-specific scams, by posing as official Meta providers. If the URLs aren't facebook.com, fb.com, meta.com or the like, they aren't the platform and should be avoided.
There are a whole lot of assumptions and investigations going on, and at the time of writing, Meta had removed the accounts. So can you trust a verified blue tick? Not a chance! 🚫
Agoga: A boutique Eastern Suburbs Gym
Meet Agoga, a boutique gym providing a unique fitness experience that is tailored to make you stronger, leaner, faster. 💪 Based in the Eastern Suburbs, the team approached us with hopes to increase their web traffic and convert these visitors into like-minded fitness lovers.
Starting with an SEO audit, we identified issues that were affecting their search engine ranking and provided recommendations for improving the visibility and performance of the website with search engines. 💻
We then turned our attention to improving their Google Ads performance. Our job was to make sure that specific geographical locations and demographics are reached. It's no secret that Bondi is a highly competitive area for fitness providers, and there's nothing more rewarding than helping small businesses compete with the big dogs.
Less than 5 min reads for you
This section: Short reads, 👀 not just about marketing.
_____________________
Privacy Regulation Update
Ok, it's not a 5 min read 🙈 but it's super important. It's in the bottom section because everyone finds regulatory issues boring. So I'll spice up the desire - how about reading how TikTok copped a £12.7 million fine or using children's data without parental consent? That whet your appetite, right?
_____________________
Ad Standards squashed sexy billboard complaints
When a Perth-based 'content creator' used a billboard to promote her OnlyFans account... Whilst the complaints are, well, interesting, it's the findings of the Ad Standards board that sets a precedent - and it's rather black and white: "the image was consistent with images used to promote fashion, health or fitness brands and that the actual content of the advertisement was not overtly sexual or explicit." I'm actually delighted that the Ad Standards upheld its standards!
_____________________
Marketers Move the Dial on Inclusive Advertising
The inclusive and diverse conversation in marketing is an ongoing one, as we (the industry) try to ensure an even representation of 'real-world people'. Nielsen's sad stats highlight that only 1% of primetime TV represents people with disabilities, despite these individuals making up 15% of the world's population - our largest minority group. This article has a nice round of up of disability inclusion - not just a representation of disability, but product creation based on true disability insight. This is my fave though - don't forget people with disabilities still have a sense of humour.
Beautiful Switzerland 🇨🇭
It's a magnificent country.
I caught a lot of trains when I lived in Switzerland for a few months and so this caught my eye. It's a tourism ad, and you throw in a little Roger Federer, and a bit of humour with Trevor Noah, and you've got yourself a dreamy ad that will take you to the Alps in a heartbeat (and with snow in Bowral last week, I felt like I lived in the Alps). Enjoy the scenery. 🚞
Catch you next time 😃