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SEO for AI: Keep Calm and Stick to the Fundamentals

David Urry — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:52:39 +0000

Digital Strategy, News & Insights, SEO, Thought Leadership

SEO for AI: Keep Calm and Stick to the Fundamentals

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David Urry

Head of Operations

There’s been a surge in speculation about how AI is transforming the world, our lives, our work, and, crucially, organic search. Just a couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the legal battle between Google and OpenAI, a messy tug-of-war over default apps and market dominance.

It’s no surprise that this landscape is creating confusion. With Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), ChatGPT, and Bing Copilot reshaping how people discover information, search behaviour is evolving rapidly, and so are the headlines. Each week brings bold predictions about ‘the death of SEO’ or ‘AI replacing search as we know it.’ In response, agencies are racing to launch shiny ‘AI SEO packages,’ often designed to capitalise on uncertainty.

So it’s only natural that marketers are asking:

Is traditional SEO still relevant? Do we need a completely new strategy to stay visible in AI-driven search?

The short answer is no, you don’t need to abandon the SEO rulebook. But the context in which those rules apply is changing. Optimising for AI isn’t about learning a new language; it’s about being better understood in the one you already speak.

In fact, when you look closely, many of these so-called ‘AI SEO’ solutions are just good SEO. The kind we’ve been delivering for over two decades.

How AI Is Changing Search

Search is no longer limited to typing queries into Google. Users now rely on a variety of search methods, including voice commands, conversational prompts, and AI-powered summaries. These tools are designed to deliver fast, contextual answers without necessarily sending users to a website.

This shift is introducing new search behaviours:

People ask full, natural-language questions instead of short keywords
AI answers often appear at the top of results or inside chat interfaces
Many queries now result in zero-click outcomes, where users get the information they need without visiting a site

Despite this, the foundations of SEO have not changed. AI tools still depend on well-structured, authoritative, and trustworthy content to generate their responses. A 2024 analysis by Search Engine Journal found that AI summaries most often reference content from websites that already rank on the first page of Google.

In other words, the same SEO principles that work for traditional search continue to drive visibility in AI-powered results. It’s just that in many cases, the user is AI, not you!

What AI Wants from Your Content

AI models do not invent new information. They draw on existing sources and prioritise those that are well-organised, technically sound, credible, and clearly written. Content that performs well in generative search typically shares several qualities:

It offers immediate, relevant answers to user queries
It is structured using clear headings and logical flow
It includes semantic clues that help machines interpret its meaning
It is published on domains with authority and a strong reputation

This is why forward-thinking SEO now includes approaches like AI Optimisation (AIO), Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), and Search Experience Optimisation (SXO). These do not replace traditional SEO. They are extensions of it, focused on ensuring that your content can be discovered, understood, and trusted by both humans and machines.

Five Ways to Optimise for AI-Driven Search

1. Start with the Answer

AI prefers content that addresses user intent directly. Begin each page, article, or FAQ section by clearly answering the central question. Supporting context, data, and examples can follow, but avoid burying the lead.

Tools like AnswerThePublic and AlsoAsked can help you understand how real users phrase their questions, making it easier to match their intent.

2. Structure Content for Clarity

Use well-organised headings, concise paragraphs, and bullet points to guide both readers and AI models through your content. Include clear metadata and internal linking to reinforce relationships between topics.

Content that follows a logical structure is more likely to be selected for featured snippets and voice search responses.

3. Implement Schema and Structured Data

Structured data makes it easier for search engines to interpret and present your content. Adding schema markup to your site supports visibility in featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI-generated summaries.

Google’s own structured data guidelines emphasise that schema helps enhance content visibility in AI-powered interfaces.

4. Maintain Technical Excellence

AI prioritises content from websites that are fast, secure, mobile-friendly, and easy to crawl. Errors such as broken links, slow page speeds, and poor mobile usability reduce your chances of appearing in any search interface.

5. Build Trust and Authority

AI systems are more likely to reference content that demonstrates credibility. This includes strong backlink profiles, expert authorship, positive reviews, and consistent topical depth.

Regular content production around defined themes, supported by internal linking and external citations, reinforces your authority. Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) remains a reliable benchmark for quality.

What to Avoid

In the age of AI, old SEO shortcuts are more likely to backfire. Avoid:

Thin or shallow content written primarily for keywords
Ignoring technical errors and poor mobile experience
Failing to update outdated content or broken schema
Over-reliance on ads while neglecting long-term organic performance

Google’s Search Essentials confirms that helpful, accurate, and user-first content remains central to ranking success.

Fingo’s Was Right All Along: Our Approach to SEO for the AI Era

At Fingo, we don’t follow trends. We’ve always focused on doing SEO properly and that hasn’t changed just because AI is now part of the conversation. While other agencies are rushing to repackage their usual work as ‘AI SEO’ we’ve been helping clients succeed as search evolves for years.
Our results speak for themselves:

We helped an e-commerce brand achieve a 66% higher conversion rate than the industry benchmark.
One of our luxury property developer clients saw a 76% increase in average monthly impressions and an 84% boost in clicks.
We increased our manufacturing client’s share of voice by 175% and grew organic sessions by 760%.

We focus on making sure your business shows up wherever people are searching, whether they’re typing, talking, or using AI tools like ChatGPT.

Our approach includes:

Deep discovery and user intent analysis
Content strategies built for clarity, depth, and discoverability
Schema and site architecture designed for AI readability
Continuous performance monitoring and proactive technical fixes
Authoritative content supported by earned backlinks and digital PR
Transparent reporting and strategic insight tied to business outcomes

From safeguarding audits to full content expansion programs, we ensure your SEO strategy is future-ready without abandoning what already works.

Good SEO Is Just Good Strategy

SEO optimised for AI is not a gimmick or a temporary trend. It is a continuation of everything that has always made content successful: clarity, authority, structure, and user focus.

If your content is helpful and well-structured, it will be surfaced. If your site is fast and accessible, it will be trusted. And if your message resonates, it will be remembered, regardless of how people choose to search.

Want to make sure your SEO is built for where search is headed? Fingo can help.
Get in touch today, email us at hello@fingo.co.uk

The post SEO for AI: Keep Calm and Stick to the Fundamentals appeared first on Fingo Marketing.

Google vs OpenAI: The Battle That’s Rewriting How the Internet Works

Ginny Gilmour — Wed, 21 May 2025 08:54:49 +0000

Digital, Digital Strategy, News, SEO, Thought Leadership

Google vs OpenAI: The Battle That’s Rewriting How the Internet Works

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Ginny Gilmour

Senior Marketing Executive

The Battle That’s Rewriting How the Internet Works – And How You Do SEO

For the last two decades, one company has decided how the internet is organised: Google.

Google didn’t just create the world’s most used search engine; it built a system that influenced how websites are built, products are found, and businesses communicate online. It became the invisible (and iconically visible) layer between every question and every answer.

That control is now starting to be challenged, not by another traditional search engine but by a fundamentally different kind of technology – artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT isn’t just a chat functionality. It’s a new way of searching the web built around query-based, intent-led search, and it’s set to create the most serious challenge to Google’s dominance in two decades.

This new way of searching has major implications for brands and marketers. It’s changing who gets seen, what content surfaces, and how people discover information.

Google Holds the Market – But AI Is Grabbing the Future

Google has long operated with minimal real competition in search. Even Bing, despite years of investment, has rarely reached beyond 3-4% market share in key regions.

ChatGPT, by contrast, holds a tiny fraction of that market today, estimated between 0.25% and 0.5%. Google remains at least 100 to 373 times larger in search volume, depending on the source (Search Engine Land, 2024).

But this isn’t just about market share – it’s about disruption.

OpenAI isn’t trying to beat Google at its own game. It’s redefining the game entirely.

ChatGPT’s new browsing and search capabilities don’t deliver a list of ranked links. They deliver answers. When a user types in a question, ChatGPT:

Searches the web in real-time
Selects content based on trust and relevance
Synthesises an answer
Cites sources, if necessary – but doesn’t rely on rankings

This new model doesn’t require users to click through ten search results. In many cases, the answer is already there, which undermines Google’s core product and business model.

Google Is Responding – But Showing Signs of Pressure

In early 2024, Google released Gemini, its next-generation AI model. Since then, it has started embedding Gemini across its entire ecosystem – from Android smartphones and smartwatches to the Chrome browser and search itself.

But the real story goes beyond the technology – it’s about control.

In April 2025, Google had considered exclusive Gemini AI deals with Android device manufacturers – an attempt to lock ChatGPT out of the world’s most widely used mobile ecosystem. The internal discussions, now public through regulatory scrutiny, show just how seriously Google views OpenAI as a threat.

During a U.S. antitrust trial, a Google executive testified that OpenAI “would buy Chrome if it could.” The point? OpenAI, like Google, knows that whoever controls the platform – the browser, the device, the default assistant – controls how users search, find, and trust information.

In fact, in May 2025, Google took a significant step to defend its position by launching “AI Mode” in Search – a feature that lets users ask complex, multi-part questions and receive direct, AI-generated answers. Powered by its Gemini 2.0 model and currently available to select users through Search Labs, AI Mode signals a shift in how Google itself sees the future of search: less about blue links, more about complete, conversational responses. In other words, even Google is now adapting to a search experience that looks a lot more like ChatGPT (The New York Times).

This isn’t just a competition between AI models. It’s a battle for distribution, defaults, and user behaviour – and it’s happening in public, under regulatory spotlight, in ways that directly affect how your content gets surfaced.

SEO in the AI Age: What Changes Now

Because the way content is surfaced is changing, so must the way it’s created and optimised.

You’re Optimising for Inclusion, Not Ranking

In AI search:

You’re not trying to be #1 in a list.
You’re trying to be used in the answer.
If you’re not included, you’re invisible.

That means your content needs to be:

Specific
Well-structured
Authoritative
Aligned with real user questions

Structured Data Becomes a Baseline Requirement

AI models are still learning how to interpret web pages. Structured data (schema) gives them clarity.
For example, for e-commerce brands, this means:

Product markup with reviews, stock levels, and prices
Category clarity and filterable navigation
Review schema for E-E-A-T signals

AI engines rely on these cues more heavily than Google does today.

E-E-A-T Signals Are Non-Negotiable

Experience. Expertise. Authoritativeness. Trustworthiness.

These are no longer “nice to have” they are the core signals AI search uses to determine whether your content is credible.

That means:

Named authors with bios
Clear references and dates
Real reviews and perspectives
Transparent publishing

Generic, anonymous content is at a significant disadvantage.

Narrative Search is Now the Default

AI search isn’t about keywords. It’s about intent. People aren’t searching for “tent reviews”; they search for: “Which family tent is best for a two-week UK camping trip with a toddler?”

Your content must reflect and answer that kind of real-world query. That’s where much of the current web content, including thousands of SEO-optimised blog posts falls short.

What This Means for Your Brand

You’re no longer fighting for just rank on a search results page. You’re also trying to be trusted enough to be included in the answer generated by an AI.

The implications are clear:

Keyword-based SEO alone is no longer enough.
Link-building as a primary strategy is losing impact.
“Thin” blog content designed to chase traffic will be ignored.
Brand authority, clarity, and structure are more important than ever.

This is no longer just about gaming Google’s algorithm. It’s also about being legible and reliable to an entirely different kind of search engine.

The Monopoly Is Cracking – The Rules Are Being Rewritten

OpenAI hasn’t overtaken Google’s market share – yet. Google still dominates, and traditional SEO strategies continue to work for now. But the way people search is already changing, and with it, how content gets discovered.

The reality is this: you need to optimise for both. Continue focusing on Google’s algorithm, but start adapting your content to meet the demands of AI-native search, where clarity, structure, and authority determine whether your content gets used in AI-generated answers.

This isn’t a distant future. It’s a rapidly evolving present. Brands that prepare now will stay visible and relevant on both the current platforms and those shaping the next twenty years of online discovery.

How We’re Helping Clients Stay Ahead

At Fingo, we’ve been tracking this shift for a while. We understood the impact of generative AI before it reached the mainstream, and we’ve already been helping brands prepare for a world where AI is increasingly deciding what’s seen.

Here’s what sets us apart:

We build content strategies for AI-native search, not just keyword ranking
We implement advanced structured data for e-commerce and publishing
We audit and restructure content for clarity, trust, and inclusion in AI answers
We keep clients ahead of Google’s algorithm changes and the platforms beyond Google

If your SEO strategy is still only focused on page-one rankings, it’s time to rethink your approach.

AI search is already here. If you want your brand to stay visible, trusted, and chosen, not just ranked, let’s talk. Let’s build a strategy that works now and in the future.

Get in touch today, email us at hello@fingo.co.uk

The post Google vs OpenAI: The Battle That’s Rewriting How the Internet Works appeared first on Fingo Marketing.

How We Drive Measurable Results in the Asset Management & Financial Sector

Marissa Freeman — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:56:46 +0000

Digital Strategy, Our Work, Performance Websites, Thought Leadership, User Experience, Website Design

How We Drive Measurable Results in the Asset Management & Financial Sector

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Marissa Freeman

Head of Commercial Success

For marketing leads in the financial services sector, you know marketing isn’t just about generating clicks, it’s about building trust. A single misstep in compliance can erode your credibility, and failing to engage your niche audience can leave your brand behind. It’s a high-stakes game that demands precision, creativity, and results.

Our client, Mitsui Bussan Commodities, is a global leader in trading energy commodities. They chose to partner with us because their digital presence was not aligned with their market position and growth plans. The brand struggled with an outdated website with poor user experience, which could not overcome compliance hurdles. They needed a solution to elevate their brand and deliver tangible results in a complex, competitive landscape.

Navigate strict compliance regulations:
Operating in EU and non-EU regions meant seamlessly juggling GDPR and other regulatory frameworks. Failure to comply could damage both reputation and operations.
Engage a diverse, highly specific audience:
Mitsui’s clients, spanning financial professionals and institutional investors, required precise, value-driven content tailored to their unique needs.
Fix an outdated, clunky user experience:
Their website no longer reflected the sophistication of their business. Key resources like daily financial reports were buried, and users exited before finding what they needed.

The Solution: A Tailored Digital Strategy

Here’s how Fingo helped Mitsui turn these challenges into opportunities driving measurable results. Our approach was simple. We addressed every challenge with precision and creativity. For Mitsui, we created a high-performing platform designed to deliver results.

1. Compliance Without Compromise

At the heart of the project was a solution that could meet strict regulatory requirements without disrupting the user experience. We built a site that dynamically adapts to user locations, ensuring GDPR compliance for EU visitors while providing tailored content for non-EU audiences.

2. Personalised Content for Global Audiences

Understanding Mitsui’s audience was key. We integrated a system that easily made daily financial reports, market insights, and other key content accessible. This wasn’t just about functionality, it was about creating an experience where users quickly found exactly what they needed.

3. Elevating Visibility with SEO

Finance audiences are notoriously hard to target, but our SEO strategy focuses on elevating rankings and visibility- which in turn supports brand awareness and trust By identifying and optimising for high-value keywords, we ensured Mitsui ranked where it mattered. Every aspect of the site, from metadata to site structure, was optimised to connect with their audience.

4. A Modern, User-Centric Redesign

We overhauled Mitsui’s site to reflect the sophistication of their brand. Clean navigation, intuitive layouts, and engaging calls-to-action turned the website into a powerful tool that worked as hard as their team.

The Results: Transforming Performance

The impact of our work wasn’t just visible, it was measurable.

119% growth in new users year-on-year:
The new platform expanded Mitsui’s reach, unlocking untapped audiences in key markets.
24% higher engagement rates:
Visitors spent more time on the site, interacting with key content and finding value in the experience.
80% surge in clicks:
With optimised pathways and targeted messaging, Mitsui’s content is connected with the right people at the right time.

These results were proof of a digital strategy that delivered on every promise.

What This Means for You

Mitsui’s success highlights an important truth: your digital strategy in asset management and financial services is a critical tool for building trust, navigating compliance, and driving engagement.

At Fingo, we understand the stakes. We specialise in helping financial services brands tackle complex challenges with precision and creativity, crafting strategies that deliver measurable impact. Whether building a high-performing website or creating campaigns that connect, we’re here to help you stand out in a competitive market.

The finance industry doesn’t wait, and neither should your marketing. Let’s chat about how Fingo can help you transform your digital strategy and deliver results that make a difference.

Contact us today at marketing@fingo.co.uk

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Strategic Insights for Property Marketing Leaders

Peter Woollven — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 09:12:57 +0000

Digital Strategy, Property Sector, Thought Leadership

Strategic Insights for Property Marketing Leaders

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Peter Woollven

Managing Director

In conversations with clients, I am asked regularly if the government’s ambitious pledge to deliver 1.5 million new homes over five years, marks a turning point for the UK property market. It certainly offers the potential to reshape the market, while presenting challenges that demand strategic foresight. This isn’t just policy; it’s a call to action for brands to adapt, innovate and lead the market.

At Fingo, we help our clients stay ahead by aligning our expertise with evolving market demands and I’d like to explain the three key market shifts, the strategic responses they necessitate, and how we are proactively supporting our clients through these transitions.

Key Market Shifts

To remain competitive, industry and marketing leaders must navigate the immediate implications of the following changes while preparing for their long-term impact.

Increased Funding for Housing Development: The new government has allocated substantial resources to accelerate large-scale housing projects, aiming to boost the supply of affordable homes and stimulate economic growth. (FT Adviser)
Sustainability Priorities: A strong emphasis is being placed on sustainable construction practices, including the use of low-carbon materials and energy-efficient designs, to align with the UK’s net-zero goals (Politics Homes)
Market Volatility and Emerging Competition: Maintaining buyer trust and engagement is crucial during these volatile periods, especially when new competition emerges. A strong digital presence, grounded in optimised platforms and adaptive content, can stabilise brands, helping them navigate uncertainty while maintaining their momentum.

Understanding New Demand Drivers

With these market shifts come new buyer behaviour trends and market dynamics changing the way brands must engage with their audience.

Growing Buyer Market

With an increase in housing availability and government schemes, more first-time buyers, families, and young professionals will be entering the market. This growing audience is seeking affordability, convenience, and lifestyle-enhancing features. Brands must adopt inclusive messaging and dynamic strategies to capture these diverse segments effectively.

Rising Demand for Sustainability

Buyers are increasingly prioritising homes that reflect sustainable values, not just eco-friendly features. This, along with the government’s emphasis on sustainable construction, means buyers and stakeholders will be considering factors such as responsibly sourced materials, community energy schemes, and infrastructure that supports long-term environmental goals. Developers and marketers must articulate these broader sustainability benefits, connecting them to buyer aspirations for quality, responsibility, and future-proof living.

Emerging and Unexpected Competition

The influx of new developments is broadening the competitive landscape, requiring established brands to focus on differentiation. Smaller players are leveraging niche approaches to appeal to targeted demographics, challenging traditional market leaders to innovate and stay ahead.

Digital strategy can help position property brands to be market leaders amid these new demand drivers.

Growing Buyer Market

The Labour Party’s Get Britain Building Again manifesto introduces the Freedom to Buy mortgage scheme, enabling prospective homeowners to purchase a property with just a 5% deposit. This initiative is expected to bring a surge of new homebuyers, particularly from previously priced-out audiences.

For property brands, this presents an opportunity to engage this emerging market. This requires an adaptable, forward-thinking digital strategy to stay relevant and drive growth.

At Fingo, we are already helping our clients prepare for this market shift. Our work for a Surrey-based estate agency involved designing a tailored digital campaign targeting first-time buyers. Through a Paid Search campaign focusing on long-tail keywords, we ensured the agency’s services appeared at key moments in the buyer journey.

To complement this, we launched a LinkedIn Paid Social campaign to drive valuation enquiries and attract potential franchisees. This dual approach achieved a 10% increase in conversions beyond the client’s target and a cost-per-click 267% lower than the industry benchmark.

With the right expertise, property brands can capitalise on opportunities like Freedom to Buy to drive long-term success. At Fingo, we’re here to help you lead the way.

Sustainability

The government’s commitment to building all new homes to the highest sustainability standards signals a fundamental shift in buyer expectations. Sustainability is no longer a bonus, it’s a baseline. For brands, the challenge isn’t just meeting this standard but leveraging it to stand out in a competitive market.

Sustainability has become a core part of the brand identity for our luxury property clients. Developers who highlight renewable energy systems, environmentally-conscious materials, and community-focused green initiatives are setting themselves apart.

At Fingo, we are already developing this narrative for our clients. We understand that sustainability needs to go beyond checklists to truly resonate. That’s why our work with a luxury development in Andalucia in Spain prioritised storytelling and connecting the tangible benefits of sustainable living to buyer aspirations for a better future. Our tailored Paid Social campaign blended this message with targeted high-end appeal to drive high-quality traffic and enquiries.

As expectations evolve, brands that position sustainability as a competitive advantage rather than just a requirement will lead the market. At Fingo, we’re here to help you take that lead.

Emerging and Unexpected Competition

With increased funding and incentives driving large-scale development, the property market is more crowded than ever. This influx of new players is intensifying competition, making it essential for brands to respond strategically. In such a volatile market, even one misstep could significantly impact your brand’s visibility, trust, and long-term growth.

To stay ahead, property brands need a digital strategy that not only adapts to market changes but positions them as leaders. Partnering with a specialist agency in the property sector can be the difference between staying relevant and falling behind, as tailored strategies deliver measurable results.

A prime example of the power of a robust digital strategy in an increasingly competitive market is our work with a leading London property developer. Due to a saturated market, they were struggling to generate high-quality leads and couldn’t track their conversations effectively, leading to inefficient ad spending and missed opportunities.

We tackled this by integrating their Salesforce CRM with Google Ads. We used first-party data, to refine audience targeting to focus on high-intent users and launched hyper-targeted paid search campaigns using advanced geo-targeting, segmentation and dynamic retargeting. This strategy resulted in 10 sales directly attributed to Google Ads, a 125:1 return on ad spend and a clickthrough rate 54% above industry benchmark.

In a highly competitive market, investing in precision and agility is no longer optional, it’s essential.

Leading the Market Through Change

The government’s housing pledge is more than a policy, it’s a catalyst for transformation in the UK property market. The opportunities it presents, from attracting new buyer segments to leveraging sustainability as a competitive edge, are significant. But capitalising on these opportunities requires more than just adaptation; it demands leadership, innovation, and strategic foresight.

At Fingo, we’ve built our reputation on helping property brands navigate change and thrive within it. Whether it’s refining your digital strategy, amplifying your brand’s sustainability story, or cutting through in a crowded market, we’re here to help you lead with confidence.

This is a moment of unprecedented opportunity for your sector. The question is: will your brand seize it? Let’s work together to ensure that it does.

Contact us today at marketing@fingo.co.uk

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Budgets Have Changed, and So Must Your Board’s Budget Decision-Making Process

Lorenzo Brach del Prever — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:24:02 +0000

Digital Strategy, Performance Marketing, Thought Leadership

Budgets Have Changed, and So Must Your Board’s Budget Decision-Making Process

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Lorenzo Brach del Prever

Head of Performance

Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes in five years, coupled with the rise of hybrid working models across the UK, has fueled fierce competition in the property and construction sectors. The theme here is that more people have buying power and working power- and this is a great opportunity to capitalise on the increase of buyers in both markets. Meanwhile, rapid advancements in platforms and AI are forcing marketers to rethink how budgets are allocated and strategies aligned. This means one thing for businesses: adapt quickly or risk being left behind.

This housing pledge and the growing demand for flexible workspaces are true game-changers for the property and construction sectors. It’s not just about building faster; it’s about marketing smarter. With an influx of new brands entering the market, standing out is no longer optional. It’s essential. Success in this saturated landscape depends on marketing strategies that are precise, data-driven, and aligned with commercial outcomes. Broad-brush approaches simply won’t cut it anymore.

Faster Builds, Bigger Challenges

Labour’s housing pledge has accelerated the adoption of modular construction, with the market projected to grow by 400% in the UK between 2022 and 2025. Modular techniques are revolutionising the industry by cutting build times by up to 50%, enabling faster project delivery and reducing costs. However, this efficiency has also allowed new competitors to leverage these methods to challenge established players.

At the same time, the flexible working sector is undergoing a rapid transformation. With 69% of London employers now offering hybrid working models, the demand for flexible office solutions has soared. Currently, 52% of office take-up in London involves flexible workspaces, underscoring the growing need for adaptable, premium environments that cater to hybrid workforces. Like the modular housing boom, this surge in demand for flexible workspaces has created opportunities for new competitors to enter the market and disrupt traditional players.

With looming large-scale competition, reputation and existing market share are no longer enough to stay ahead. To maintain a competitive edge, brands must invest in standout marketing that effectively communicates their unique value proposition and drives measurable results.

Smarter Marketing, Intelligent Budgets

This blog urges marketing teams to shift from a traditional “set-and-forget” budget to a dynamic, opportunity-driven mindset. All too often, we meet marketing leads who have been set a rigid marketing budget by the board—with no wiggle room or ‘Spend to Opportunity’ in mind. Worse still, sometimes the digital component of the overall marketing budget has been proportioned, leaving even less flexibility for marketing leads to adapt and respond to changes in the competitive landscape.

This article aims to equip sales and marketing leads with ambitions for growth, with the language and understanding they need to challenge board decisions on budgets that stop the business from being able to grow in the way everybody wants.

Advertising platforms have developed precise bidding technology, meaning we can accurately calculate your cost per conversion (CPA) and Conversion Value. The technology has been around since the advent of Biddable Advertising. However, the integration of AI means we can estimate your cost per lead with such accuracy that you can pretty much build your business case and project your pipeline on the solid data provided by the major advertising platforms. With that in mind, there is no guesswork in budget planning, you’re essentially given a formula for success based on your forecasted CPA.

However, forecasts are only as good as the conditions they are based on, and market factors can shift quickly. This means businesses must remain flexible, using these tools to guide decisions but also adapting to real-time changes in performance and opportunities.

Achieving your revenue goals begins with understanding the numbers. If you know the revenue required, your leads-to-sales conversion rate, and your CPA (cost per acquisition), the only variable left is your digital marketing allocation. Advertising platforms are performance ecosystems offering actionable insights into how much needs to be spent to achieve specific goals. This precision transforms marketing from a cost centre into a growth driver.

Yet many businesses remain hesitant to embrace this new model. Traditional, rigid budget models hinder the ability to adapt to real-time market conditions. Success now requires flipping this approach: while goals can remain top-down, budgets must be informed by bottom-up data from platforms that know what it takes to win. Crucially, businesses must adopt an agile approach to budget allocation, moving spend between platforms based on performance and opportunity. For instance, if one platform is delivering lower cost-per-conversion or higher engagement, reallocating funds to maximise returns becomes essential. By embracing this flexibility, organisations can ensure that every pound spent is strategically aligned to deliver the best possible outcomes.

We’ve already seen the impact of this approach with our clients. For one of our clients in the manufacturing and construction sector, we developed an agile campaign that allocated budgets based on the business’s specific commercial needs. The campaign was tailored to drive more sales in a key area of their production, leveraging platform data to optimise performance. The results were remarkable with 182% higher conversion rate than the industry benchmark, 32.5% lower CPC than the industry benchmark and 40% higher CTR than the industry benchmark.

This case highlights how a flexible, data-driven strategy transforms marketing into a tool for measurable growth. By embracing agility and aligning budgets with performance insights, businesses can unlock opportunities and achieve results that go far beyond traditional approaches.

Flipping the Script on Budgets

Outdated budget models, where boards set fixed marketing spends based on arbitrary percentages, are no longer fit for purpose. In a world where platforms provide real-time data on what it takes to succeed, agility is essential. Budgets must be fluid, adjusting to market conditions and opportunities in real time.

This is where the concept of “Spend to Opportunity” comes in. Rather than sticking to rigid allocations, it emphasises maintaining overall budget discipline while ensuring no growth opportunities are missed. Fluctuations in demand and seasonality often result in missed conversions, the potential business that slips through the cracks.

The chart below highlights this. The pink bars represent missed conversions due to budget caps, starkly contrasting the blue bars of actual conversions. Each pink bar is an opportunity left untapped.

This requires a mindset shift at the board level. Marketing is no longer a cost centre; it’s a revenue driver. By adopting a “spend-to-opportunity” mindset, boards can empower marketing teams to allocate budgets strategically, leveraging insights to maximise impact. It’s not about spending more, it’s about spending smarter.

The Roadmap For Smarter Budgets

To help businesses embrace this new approach, Google’s Growth Roadmap offers a clear progression towards performance-driven strategies:

“Google’s Growth Roadmap illustrates how brands can leverage tools and insights to move from static budgets to performance-driven strategies. Each stage highlights the progression from data capture to driving real growth through AI-powered campaigns.”

Capturing Signals: Build a foundation of durable measurement with tools like Google Tag and Consent Mode to fuel campaigns with reliable data.

Maximising Existing Demand: Use advanced strategies such as Performance Max and Broad Match to optimise campaigns and fully capitalise on opportunities.

Generating New Demand: Leverage AI-powered campaigns like Demand Gen to expand reach and uncover new growth opportunities.

This roadmap underscores how aligning budgets with performance data can turn marketing into a measurable growth driver.

Partnering for Success

Navigating this complex landscape is no easy task. Partnering with Fingo can transform how your business approaches marketing. As a performance-driven agency, we specialise in helping brands excel in competitive markets. Here’s how we can support your success:

Data-Driven Strategies: We decode complex platform data to craft actionable, commercially focused strategies aligned with your goals.
Sales and Marketing Alignment: We bridge the gap between sales and marketing teams, ensuring campaigns deliver measurable ROI.
Expert Guidance: Our experienced team educates your board and stakeholders on the value of agility and data-driven decision-making.
Results That Matter: From increasing brand visibility to improving campaign performance, we deliver results that position your brand as a leader.

Thriving in a Saturated Market

Labour’s housing pledge, alongside the rapid rise of flexible working models, has sparked unprecedented competition, but it has also created enormous opportunities for brands willing to adapt. Standing out in this crowded market requires more than just clever campaigns; it demands precision, alignment, and a commitment to embracing change.

Businesses can turn competition into an advantage by adopting a spend-to-opportunity mindset, aligning sales and marketing, and leveraging advanced tools and insights. The time to act is now.

Your competitors aren’t waiting, and neither should you.

Contact us today at marketing@fingo.co.uk, and let’s discuss how we can help you lead the market.

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Marketing Challenges for Construction, Manufacturing and Engineering Firms

Marissa Freeman — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 09:27:23 +0000

Digital, Digital Strategy, Our Work, Thought Leadership

Marketing Challenges for Construction, Manufacturing and Engineering Firms

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Marissa Freeman

Head of Commercial Success

With energy prices climbing, regulations tightening, and global expansion, construction across manufacturing and engineering – marketing budgets are feeling the pressure as a knock-on effect of profit margins narrowing and operation costs growing. I meet many sales and marketing leads each week who tell me the stakes have never been higher. Their budgets are shrinking, their competition is intensifying, and innovation (especially around sustainability) isn’t just expected – it’s demanded.

I always tell them – this isn’t the time for vague strategies or vanity metrics. Digital marketing is the most accountable channel for delivering measurable ROI, helping firms navigate these pressures while seizing growth opportunities.

Marketing Budgets Must Work Smarter

Despite many firms cutting back on marketing spending, we know that reduced budgets don’t mean reduced impact. Instead, it’s about doing more with less, using digital campaigns that deliver maximum ROI.

At Fingo, we help our clients maximise their budgets without compromising results. Our emphasis on Return On Investment helped us develop a laser-focus campaign for one of our clients in the luxury construction sector, who had experienced a catastrophic and overnight increase to his project’s operational costs. Our team delivered a strategic, data-driven Paid Search campaign that achieved a remarkable 7:1 ROAS, well above industry benchmarks. The team achieved this through strategic precision targeting and intelligent optimisation, so as you can see, it’s not about spending more; it’s about spending smarter.

Beyond the budget crunch, sustainability and energy efficiency are emerging as critical selling points for firms looking to differentiate themselves. Digital marketing can amplify these efforts through:

SEO-driven brand content showcasing the business’s commitment to innovative green building practices and sustainable manufacturing solutions.

Paid Search campaigns targeting decision-makers actively searching for energy-efficient suppliers or contractors.

Case studies and thought leadership pieces that position firms as leaders in sustainability.
For those willing to invest in messaging that highlights their commitment to innovation, the payoff is survival and market leadership.

Challenges and Competitive Edge

Few industries feel the weight of regulatory changes as acutely as construction and manufacturing. But these shifts aren’t universally negative. For some, changing regulations have created new revenue streams. I’ve recently supported many clients enjoying increased demand for retrofitting projects to meet compliance standards. Some of the recent regulatory updates we have seen have particularly focused on:

Cladding Safety, ensuring buildings meet updated fire safety requirements.
Water Safety, enforcing better standards for safe usage and waste management.
Fire Safety, tightening measures to prevent and manage fire risks.

The challenge, however, lies in standing out among a rising tide of competitors all targeting the same opportunities. The firms succeeding in this space are tailoring their messaging to position themselves as trusted experts who understand the regulations and their practical implications.

Digital marketing plays a key role here:

Precise messaging aligned with the latest regulations to demonstrate authority and expertise.
Targeted campaigns that ensure your solutions reach the right stakeholders at the right time.
Content strategies that go beyond compliance to communicate the tangible benefits of your approach.

For another of our clients in the manufacturing industry, we developed a strategy that focused on aligning their digital marketing efforts with industry trends and compliance. Through targeted Paid Search campaigns and keyword-driven SEO content, we not only elevated their share of voice by 175% but also delivered conversion rates 182% higher than industry benchmarks. By positioning their brand as a trusted leader in craftsmanship and energy efficiency, we helped them capitalise on opportunities created by tightening regulations.

Balancing Global Expansion with Brand Integrity

In response to budget pressures, many manufacturing firms are testing overseas production. While this can lower operational costs, it also creates a branding challenge, especially for companies that have built their reputation on being “British-made.” Additionally, the transition period can require staggering upfront investment, which can temporarily reduce marketing budgets for smaller or medium-sized firms. Another trend I’m seeing is aggressive product expansion as firms look to drive additional revenue. While this strategy has clear benefits, it often comes with the added financial burden of a product launch. My clients need a partner agency that can pivot with these sudden new demands to help throw up good quality product launches with all the digital fanfare that comes with them- brand awareness campaigns, effective lead generation, and in many cases, new, impactful, cost-effective websites.

Because Fingo is an integrated digital agency with teams of specialists across content writing, creative design, web dev, SEO and advertising- we’re uniquely positioned to take on these challenges. We’ve been able to develop brand positioning to help our clients communicate their heritage and commitment to quality while positioning their global expansion as a forward-thinking advantage. We can leverage data-driven insights and audience-first experience to help our clients expand whilst ensuring their values remain at the core of their story, no matter the market.

Let’s Overcome These Challenges Together

At Fingo, we have over two decades of experience supporting development, construction, manufacturing and engineering through solid marketing strategy and delivery. We know these industries are no strangers to pressure, but we can help transform these pressures into growth opportunities, enhancing brand positioning and long-term resilience.

Let’s work together to create strategies that drive real growth. Contact us today at marketing@fingo.co.uk

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The Rise of AI – A Silent Revolution With Loud Impacts

Ginny Gilmour — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 08:29:19 +0000

Digital Strategy, Thought Leadership

The Rise of AI – A Silent Revolution With Loud Impacts

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Ginny Gilmour

Senior Marketing Executive

In the first part of our AI series, we explored how technological revolutions – from the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Age – have shaped society, transforming how we live, work, and connect. Each era brought its own opportunities and challenges, from fears of job loss to incredible leaps in productivity and connectivity. Today, we stand at the forefront of another such revolution: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quietly woven itself into our lives, shaping how we live, work and interact with the world. From recommending your next Netflix binge to streamlining business operations, AI is both convenient and a disruptor. But while many embrace its benefits, others feel uncertain about its implications, be it bias, job displacement, the overwhelming reliance on technology, or because we all remember The Matrix.

What’s clear is this: AI is here to stay and we can’t afford to wait for its challenges to fix themselves. Whether you’re navigating its role in your personal life or your workplace, understanding how to manage AI today is key to thriving in this new era. This digest is about where AI stands today, how it’s transforming everything from your morning routine to global industries and why understanding its challenges is just as important as celebrating its benefits.

In Your Pocket and Your Day-to-Day

Let’s start with a simple truth: AI is already a part of your life, even if you don’t realise it. Google Maps doesn’t just tell you how to get somewhere but uses real-time traffic data and predictive algorithms to save you time. Spotify’s AI DJ doesn’t just queue up your favourite tracks but analyses your listening habits to create a personal mix, right down to the timing. Then there’s Netflix, which knows what you’re likely to binge-watch next and Amazon, which suggests exactly what you didn’t know you needed.

These aren’t just clever features, they’re AI in action, using complex systems to analyse your behaviour and give you what you want (or what it thinks you want).

Even voice assistants like Alexa or Siri, now commonplace in homes, rely on AI to interpret commands, answer questions and control smart devices. AI is no longer futuristic, it’s practical.

The Big Picture

While AI makes life easier in small ways, its impact on industries is massive. It transforms how businesses operate and compete. It’s no exaggeration to say that AI is reshaping the global economy.

Manufacturing: Smarter, Leaner Processes

Thanks to AI, factories are getting smarter. Robots powered by machine learning perform repetitive tasks precisely, while predictive maintenance systems can anticipate equipment failures before they happen. Companies like Siemens and BMW use these technologies to streamline production and improve quality.

This is great for efficiency but not so great for the workers whose jobs are being automated. The question is: How do we balance technological progress with the need to support people whose roles are disappearing?

Finance: Spotting Fraud and Managing Risk

AI is a game-changer in finance. Fraud detection systems can analyse thousands of transactions in seconds, flagging anything suspicious. Robo-advisors like Betterment help people manage their investments, while high-speed trading algorithms execute trades faster than any human could.

But here’s the catch: when systems this powerful go wrong, the results can be catastrophic. Flash crashes caused by automated trading are a real risk and the complexity of these systems makes accountability murky.

Retail and Marketing: It’s All About Personalisation

AI has turned shopping and marketing into highly personalised experiences. Retailers use AI to recommend products, predict customer behaviour and adjust real-time pricing. Tools like Sephora’s Virtual Artist let customers try on makeup virtually, blending AI with augmented reality to create engaging experiences.

But this level of personalisation raises ethical questions. Are dynamic pricing algorithms fair? And at what point does targeted advertising cross the line into manipulation?

The Challenges AI Brings

AI isn’t just a shiny new tool; it has real challenges that are already affecting people and businesses.

Bias in AI Systems

AI learns from data and if that data is biased, the results will be too. Recruitment algorithms have been shown to favour men over women in certain industries because they’re trained on historical hiring data that reflects existing biases. Facial recognition systems have wrongly identified people of colour, leading to real-world consequences like false arrests.

These aren’t minor glitches, they’re systemic issues that demand attention and accountability.

Job Displacement

AI is great at automating repetitive tasks, which means it’s also replacing jobs. Retail workers, drivers and even customer service agents see their roles taken over by machines or algorithms. While some new jobs are being created, they often require skills that displaced workers don’t have, leaving many behind.

Privacy Concerns

AI relies on data and that data is often personal. Whether it’s voice assistants listening for commands or shopping platforms tracking your habits, the sheer amount of data collected raises serious privacy questions. What happens to that data? Who owns it? And how is it being used?

Over-Reliance on AI

The more we depend on AI, the more vulnerable we become when it fails. Whether it’s a diagnostic tool making an error or an algorithm driving a financial meltdown, the consequences can be huge. And with AI systems often operating as “black boxes,” it’s not always clear why they make the decisions they do.

Strategies to Manage AI Today

As AI continues to shape how we live and work, it’s vital to approach it thoughtfully. The goal is to harness AI’s benefits while mitigating its risks, whether that’s protecting your privacy at home or preparing for its impact on your workplace.

At Home: Navigating AI in Everyday Life

Take Control of Your Data
AI runs on data and much of it comes from you. Be intentional about what you share. Check the privacy settings on platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon and restrict data sharing where possible. Use tools like DuckDuckGo for browsing and privacy-focused apps to limit tracking.

Choose the Right AI Tools
Not every AI-powered gadget or app is essential. Focus on tools that genuinely add value, like smart assistants for managing schedules or AI-driven learning platforms like Duolingo to build skills. Avoid adopting technology for its novelty alone.

Stay Informed and Critical
AI recommendations, whether for shopping or health advice, aren’t perfect. Stay curious about how these tools work and double-check critical decisions. Ask yourself: is this tool actually helping me, or is it just convenient?

At Work: Thriving in an AI-Driven Workplace

Upskill Yourself
AI will reshape many jobs, but it also creates opportunities. Learn how to use AI tools relevant to your industry, like predictive analytics in marketing or automation software in logistics. Platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning offer accessible courses to get you started.

Balance Automation with Human Skills
AI excels at repetitive tasks, but it can’t replicate human qualities like creativity, empathy and strategic thinking. Focus on these strengths to remain indispensable and use AI as a support tool rather than a replacement for human judgment.

Foster Ethical AI Practices
If you’re part of an organisation using AI, advocate for fairness and transparency. Push for regular audits of algorithms to catch bias and ensure data privacy is respected. Diverse teams working on AI projects can also help mitigate unintended consequences.

Adapt and Innovate
Don’t wait for AI to make changes for you, stay proactive. Explore how AI can enhance your role or department. For instance, in sales, AI can analyse customer behaviour to refine pitches; in HR, it can streamline candidate screening. Use AI to complement your efforts, not to replace them.

So, Where Does This Leave Us?

AI is no longer the future, it’s already here, reshaping the way we live, work and interact. The benefits, like personalisation, efficiency and innovation, are vast, but so are the challenges, from bias and privacy concerns to the risk of job displacement.

To thrive in an AI-driven world, we must engage with it thoughtfully. At home, that means protecting your data, choosing the right tools and staying critical of AI’s suggestions. At work, it’s about embracing lifelong learning, balancing automation with human qualities and championing ethical practices.

In the final part of this series, we’ll explore how to prepare for an AI-powered future. We’ll discuss how education, regulation and collaboration between humans and machines can ensure AI works for everyone, not just a privileged few.

AI isn’t going away, but how we choose to engage with it will define its legacy. Let’s ensure that legacy is one of progress, fairness and opportunity for all.

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Webinar Recording Now Available: “The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle: Navigating the Marketing Funnel”

Zahra Nurmohamed — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 10:29:21 +0000

Paid Social, Performance Marketing, PPC, Social Media, Thought Leadership

Webinar Recording Now Available: “The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle: Navigating the Marketing Funnel”

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Zahra Nurmohamed

Paid Search Manager

We’re excited to share the recording of our recent webinar, “The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle: Navigating the Marketing Funnel.” In this session, we explored optimising customer journeys across the funnel and discussed strategies to streamline the often chaotic “Messy Middle.”

Watch the Webinar

Did you miss the live event? No worries! You can watch the full recording below to catch up on everything we covered:

Q&A

Question: With the emphasis on AI-driven campaigns like PMax, how do we ensure that we’re not losing the human touch in our marketing efforts?

Answer: “AI-driven campaigns, like those powered by PMax, are designed to handle the heavy lifting in terms of data processing and optimisation, but the human element remains crucial. Your role as a marketer is to provide the creative direction, messaging, and overall strategy that resonates with your audience. AI can optimise the delivery, but it’s up to us to ensure that the content is compelling and aligns with our brand values. Moreover, regular monitoring and adjustment based on the insights provided by these AI tools ensure that we stay connected to our audience’s evolving needs.”

QuestionIf a campaign is underperforming, how do you determine whether the issue lies in the strategy, the creative, or the platform?

Answer: If a campaign is underperforming, it’s clearly a concern, and we want to investigate what’s causing that underperformance. We take a very systematic approach to diagnosing the issue. This means digging into the data as much as possible and reviewing every stage of the ad creation process, including the entire user journey.

We typically start by analysing when the performance began to decline, looking at data over a 3-6 month period. This helps us identify the exact point at which the drop-offs started. From there, we work to determine the root cause.

We examine various aspects, such as engagement and conversion metrics, to pinpoint where the issue lies. For example, if engagement is low, perhaps the cost-per-click (CPC) is high, or there may be a problem with our creative or messaging. We might also discover that our audience targeting or keyword selection isn’t optimal—either too narrow or too broad.

If the issue seems to be with conversions—such as an acceptable click-through rate but low conversions—then the problem could lie with the landing page. Perhaps the form is too complex, or the page doesn’t provide enough information for users to make a decision. We consider all these factors to understand where the underperformance originates.

Often, minimal tweaks—such as adjusting targeting or updating creative—can lead to significant improvements. The key is constant testing. We follow a test-and-learn approach, using A/B testing to find that “sweet spot” where we see strong engagement, conversions, and quality. Once we hit that spot, we continue optimising until more adjustments are necessary.

Question: With the growing importance of first-party data, how should companies approach collecting and utilising this data to improve campaign performance?

Answer: “First-party data is increasingly valuable as privacy regulations tighten and third-party cookies phase out. To make the most of your first-party data, start by ensuring that your data collection methods are transparent and compliant with privacy laws. Use this data to build detailed customer profiles that can inform your targeting and personalisation strategies. Integrating your CRM with your marketing platforms, like Google, allows you to use this data to refine audience segmentation and improve ad relevance. The key is to continuously analyse and update your data to keep your campaigns aligned with your customers’ evolving behaviours and preferences.”

Key Insights & Takeaways

We know life gets busy, and you might not have a full hour to catch the entire webinar. If you’re pressed for time but don’t want to miss out on the insights, we’ve got you covered! Check out our blog, where we’ve highlighted all the key takeaways from the session.

Read Here

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Webinar Insights and Key Takeaways: The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle

Zahra Nurmohamed — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:03:39 +0000

Paid Social, Performance Marketing, PPC, Thought Leadership

Webinar Insights and Key Takeaways: The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle

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Zahra Nurmohamed

Paid Search Manager

In our recent webinar, The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle: Navigating the Marketing Funnel, we explored actionable strategies to optimise the customer journey – from awareness to conversion – and how to address the often chaotic “Messy Middle.” If you missed it, here are the key takeaways and insights.

The Marketing Funnel: A Strategic Framework

The marketing funnel remains a foundational model for understanding and guiding the customer journey. It’s divided into three essential stages:

Awareness (Upper Funnel): At this stage, the focus is on capturing attention and generating interest. Brands reach a broad audience through ads, social media and outreach, aiming to build initial recognition.
Consideration (Mid Funnel): Once potential customers are aware of your brand, they begin evaluating their options. In this phase, nurturing that interest is crucial. Tactics like retargeting ads, email marketing and informative content can help build trust and keep your brand in front of consumers.
Conversion (Lower Funnel): The goal at this stage is to turn interest into action—whether that’s a purchase, a sign-up, or another desired conversion. Optimising this phase is key to driving tangible results from your marketing efforts.

Moving potential customers through these stages strategically is critical to maximising the effectiveness of your campaigns.

The Power Pair: Broad Match and Performance Max

One of the major highlights of the webinar was the explanation of Google’s “Power Pair” – a combination of Broad Match and Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. These two tools work together to enhance both reach and targeting.

Broad Match Search Campaigns: Broad Match allows your ads to appear for search queries that are broadly related to your keywords. It helps you reach a wider audience by considering synonyms, related terms and contextual variations of your keywords. It also uses signals like user behaviour and natural language processing to expand reach to queries you might not have anticipated but are still relevant. Broad Match acts as a superset, covering a much wider set of queries, ensuring that your ads capture new relevant audiences that might be missed with more specific keyword strategies.
Performance Max (PMax): PMax gives you access to all of Google’s platforms- Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. Using Google’s advanced machine learning, PMax optimises ad placements and targeting in real-time, ensuring that your ads reach the right people at the right time. PMax functions similarly to Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs), which focus on matching queries with the themes of your website content. While it’s limited to the content it can match on your site, PMax complements Broad Match by ensuring your ads remain highly relevant when users show strong intent.
Pairing PMax with Broad Match Search: Combining PMax with more traditional Search campaigns, particularly Broad Match, has produced remarkable results. This synergy, powered by Google’s AI, allows for maximum coverage across relevant search queries and keywords. By uniting PMax’s multi-channel reach with Broad Match’s expansive query matching, we’ve seen decreased CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), increased conversions and significant customer acquisition improvements. This combination truly capitalises on the full capabilities of Google’s AI.

Why Use the Power Pair? The Power Pair is the ultimate AI flex, when it comes to machine learning and smart bidding, we haven’t seen a combination of campaigns that harness the power of artificial intelligence and instinctive targeting in such an impactful way.. Broad Match allows for wide-reaching targeting by capturing searches that don’t exactly match your keywords, while PMax fine-tunes your campaigns by aligning user queries with specific themes within your website content. Together, they not only reduce costs and increase conversions but also provide a seamless connection between users’ online behaviour and the information in your ads. Broad Match, in particular, uses signals like landing pages, keywords in the ad group, user behaviour, and even location, ensuring your ads are seen by the right people at the right time.

In essence, Broad Match creates a holistic approach that leverages multiple signals, enabling AI to target with greater precision and drive better campaign performance.

The Power Couple: Combining Brand Awareness and Bottom-Funnel Tactics

In addition to the Power Pair, the webinar introduced the concept of the “Power Couple” – a strategy that combines brand awareness campaigns with bottom-funnel tactics to create a more efficient and streamlined funnel. This approach is particularly effective for guiding customers from discovery straight to action, bypassing the traditional consideration stage.

Brand Awareness (Top of Funnel): Brand awareness efforts, often focused on platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), aim to capture broad audiences through video reach campaigns or social media content. The goal is to introduce your brand to people who may not yet be searching for it but could become potential customers. By focusing on top-funnel campaigns, you create brand familiarity and recognition early in the customer journey.
Bottom-Funnel Tactics (Conversion Focused): At the other end of the funnel, bottom-funnel tactics, such as targeted search campaigns, focus on users who are ready to convert. These tactics are designed to push high-intent users to take that final step- whether it’s making a purchase, filling out a form, or completing another desired action.
Why Use the Power Couple? This evolved strategy accelerates the customer journey by seamlessly moving users from awareness straight to conversion, bypassing the traditional consideration phase. By pairing top-funnel brand awareness with bottom-funnel conversion efforts, you streamline the funnel and maximise performance. It’s an efficient way to convert customers quickly when time and resources are limited, yet the goal is to drive maximum conversions.

However, it’s essential to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital strategy. We always tailor our strategies to meet the unique needs of each client, considering their budget, target audience, market conditions and the strengths and weaknesses of the platforms they’re using.

Navigating the Messy Middle: Understanding Today’s Consumer Journey

The “Messy Middle” describes the unpredictable, non-linear phase of the customer journey, where potential customers bounce between exploration and evaluation before making a decision.

Exploration: Consumers explore their options by searching for products, reading reviews and checking out different brands across various platforms.
Evaluation: They compare those options based on factors like price, reviews and brand reputation. This continuous back-and-forth can make it challenging for brands to stay top-of-mind.

How to Influence the Messy Middle To capture customers during this chaotic phase, brands need to focus on retargeting, interactive content and social proof:

Retargeting Ads: Re-engage users who have interacted with your brand but haven’t yet made a decision.
Interactive Content: Use engaging content like polls, quizzes, or videos to keep customers interested and learning more about your product.
Social Proof: Leverage reviews, testimonials and case studies to build trust and confidence in your product or service.

Case Studies: Real-World Success with the Power Pair and Power Couple

During the webinar, we shared two case studies that showcased how these strategies deliver measurable results:

E-commerce Success: A leading wine retailer saw a 6:1 Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and an 86% increase in Average Order Value by using the Power Pair of PMax and Broad Match. This strategy allowed the retailer to reach high-intent users across multiple channels while continually optimising ad performance based on real-time data.
Luxury Real Estate Developer: By using the Power Couple – brand awareness combined with bottom-funnel tactics – a luxury real estate developer increased qualified leads by 172% and boosted engagement by 300%. This approach helped the developer guide potential customers through the funnel more efficiently, resulting in high-quality leads and better conversion rates.

These examples demonstrate the power of integrating top- and bottom-funnel strategies with smart AI-driven tools to achieve significant improvements in campaign performance.

Addressing the Messy Middle with a Multi-Channel Approach

To truly capture the potential of the Messy Middle, it’s essential to adopt an always-on, multi-channel approach that keeps your brand present throughout the customer journey.

Search and Social Strategies: Combining Broad Match and PMax ensures that your campaigns cover a wide range of user behaviour, while social media platforms like Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and LinkedIn help you engage users where they spend most of their time.
Always-On Strategy: Maintaining a continuous presence across platforms ensures that your brand stays top-of-mind as customers explore and evaluate their options. Whether through retargeting ads, email marketing, or interactive content, staying engaged with your audience is crucial to converting those caught in the Messy Middle.

Final Thoughts

The key takeaway from our webinar is that today’s digital marketing success requires both flexibility and precision. By leveraging the Power Pair (Broad Match and PMax) and the Power Couple (brand awareness and bottom-funnel tactics), you can guide customers through the funnel efficiently while addressing the chaotic behaviours of the Messy Middle.

If you’re ready to implement these strategies in your marketing efforts, we’re here to help. Our team can help you create a tailored approach that drives results and fits your specific needs.

The post Webinar Insights and Key Takeaways: The Digital Power Couple and The Messy Middle appeared first on Fingo Marketing.

Webinar Video Recording – Under the Bonnet of a Biddable Campaign: Decoding Performance Marketing

Lorenzo Brach del Prever — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:56:00 +0000

PERFORMANCE MARKETING

Webinar Video Recording – Under the Bonnet of a Biddable Campaign: Decoding Performance Marketing

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Lorenzo Brach del Prever

Head of Performance

We are excited to share the video recording of our recent webinar, “Under the Bonnet of a Biddable Campaign: Decoding Performance Marketing.” This session was packed with valuable insights on optimising your digital marketing strategies and leveraging data-driven decisions for better performance.

Watch the Webinar

If you missed the live event or want to revisit the key points discussed, you can watch the full recording below:

Q&A

Question: How do you decide on the budget allocation between different platforms for a new campaign?

Answer: “When deciding on budget allocation, we first define our campaign objectives—brand awareness, lead generation, or direct sales. Then, we analyse where our target audience spends most of their time online using tools like Google Analytics and platform-specific insights. We also project the potential performance with in-platform tools, trying to understand trends and opportunities. This data helps us allocate our budget to the platforms most likely to achieve our goals.”

Question: How do you see the future of digital performance marketing evolving with new technologies?

Answer: “The future of digital performance marketing is exciting with the integration of AI and machine learning. However, that future is already here; we are already using those technologies to enable more precise targeting, better ad personalisation, and real-time optimisations. Advancements in data analytics will provide deeper insights into customer behaviour, allowing for more strategic decision-making. However, nothing beats experience and human-led strategic decision-making that is sector-specific and integrated across the entire marketing plan. However, don’t think about the future and those new technologies as being something coming soon because actually, they are here, it’s just a matter of finding the best way to actually leverage them.

A lot of people ask ‘“What about AI?” ‘’What does it mean?’’ “How are we integrating AI with these technologies?” Our platforms are already using AI and they have been for a long time, before AI was such a hot topic. Nothing beats human intervention but also experience, experience in sectors, experience across multichannel campaigns and what else is happening for a client. For those clients and marketing leads listening, do trust your instincts as well and see yourself as a partner with that technology, with your agency and with those platforms rather than thinking they can completely lead and overtake what you are doing because you will have knowledge, experience and an instinct for what is right for your campaign. As well as of course leaning on the data.”

Question: How often should you review and adjust your campaign strategies based on performance data?

Answer: “We recommend reviewing and adjusting campaign strategies at least monthly. We typically have monthly performance meetings with our Account Managers, our clients and often the actual performance practitioner who has been managing the campaign. This allows a good 4 weeks for us to see what has been happening, we can look at any optimisations we have carried out in that month and we then review progress against what those KPIs were, depending on what it is. That’s really a good time to start seeing what works. Now it’s not uncommon that there might be a bit of dip as campaigns don’t only go in a straight line and perform onwards and upwards, sometimes there are plateaus, sometimes there is a little dip and sometimes it really spikes, and so depending on where we are in the month it might be a funny old time, it might be off-season or a really difficult time in the month. What we will also see is what machines will like to do is, it’s not uncommon for them to spend that first week in the month to decide what they want to do, learning again and then you will see for the next 3 weeks fo that month all of the good things happen and so id say again its that really strong trust and partnership with your agency and with that practitioner to understand that entire landscape when you are looking at your performance, because you might be panicking or thinking to, hang on a minute, things haven’t quite picked up and then actually the following week they really do.

So that is why there are times when we have not wanted to intervene with a campaign because we know it’s on the eve of doing something glorious and we are essentially asking our client, hold your nerve, give it a few more days and we are quite sure it will pick up and 9 times out of 10, it does. That’s how they work, so we would say reviewing and adjusting maybe monthly maybe less often if things are going really well. They don’t always need a major overhaul but then thinking about the refresh that’s something we can be doing regularly. Ultimately it’s not about what not going well but also about what is going really well, because we see success more times than we don’t and so learning from that and thinking ok we had more impressions than we forecasted and we are seeing it this particular keyword or it’s the DSA campaign that’s performing, why don’t we ensure we are spending more budget, that’s where that fluid budget allocation comes in. There are so many ways that we can look at optimising and improving and there’s no real one rule, but I think monthly is fantastic.”

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