What the Google and Shopify partnership means for the future of marketing

News Article

Google has announced a monumental partnership with the e-commerce platform Shopify, making selling products online easier than ever before. More than 1.7 million sellers using Shopify will be able to feature their products on Google’s platforms such as images, maps, lens, and YouTube.

Whilst Google hasn’t released the specifics of how these ‘shopping journeys’ will work thus far, there is no denying the positive impact this will have on businesses. A new, simpler process will be implemented, allowing companies to show off their products through Google in ‘just a few clicks’.

We are eager to see the benefits that the partnership will bring to small businesses. However, we are also looking forward to seeing its inevitable impact on the future of digital marketing.

Results of current marketing strategies are subject to increased chance

The majority of digital marketing methods have become probabilistic over time. Channels such as SEO have become increasingly probabilistic. By targeting keywords through the production of authoritative content and obtaining trustworthy links, you have an increased chance of ascending up the ranks of search engine results pages. The algorithm for SEO has then paved the way for other channels to use similar tactics to achieve desired results.

In the last 5 years, Facebook and Google AdWords have followed suit. They moved towards automated bidding, making it easier for your campaigns to become a success, as the AI behind these platforms works extremely well. This means that they take a lot of the manual work out of producing a campaign, whilst still delivering remarkable results using algorithms alone.

Humans and Robots working in harmony.

The integration of this partnership is likely to back up these techniques, creating a solid foundation from which to produce targeted campaigns. While it may be possible to see positive growth from a spreadsheet, if everyone has access to the same tools and platforms, one impact of this partnership may be that it will become increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd and generate above-average results.

Human imagination is the future

Creativity and individuality are going to become a key part of the success of ad campaigns. That’s why we believe it is important to invest in our new creative studio. The majority of manual features we previously used to advance a campaign are now completed by robots, therefore, you need to have a creative human edge to put your campaigns ahead of the game.

The one thing AI and automation cannot replicate is imagination. Whether you put your own twist on the latest trends or set out to invent a new one, it is important to give customers something they have never seen before. In the online world, you need to stand out and cut through the noise to grab your customers’ attention. Attention is a transaction in terms of engaging with your business and making conversions, therefore you need to invest in obtaining attention for each exchange. Making use of talented designers, photographers, and copywriters will give your campaigns an artistic advantage, drawing customers in time and time again.

Focused brand consistency and other traditional marketing methods are also likely to come back into play. We’re talking Mad Men style tactics and unwavering confidence - minus the misogyny and otherwise unacceptable behaviour! Marketers are going to have to revert to using conventional theories in combination with captivating visuals to produce the results they want.

Final thoughts

There is no denying the hard work that PPC and Paid Social teams put into making their ads a success. Analysts have a huge role in these channels, ensuring that businesses are getting value for the money they put into their campaigns and bringing a human touch to each ad. In light of the Google and Shopify partnership, these teams’ work will now lay a solid foundation by sending out the right signals to show these giants that our clients are a good source.

Here at 43 Clicks North, we will always be led by data but we cannot ignore the fact that creativity has an important role to play in performance marketing. With both advancement of paid channels moving into automated bidding, by purposefully using the automation tools in place across such platforms, we can focus valuable time on producing innovative and outstanding creatives.