Welcome back to another edition of Leveling Up!

In today’s email:

• Top 5 mobile advertising trends you can’t ignore in 2023

• 7 fatal blunders that founders make (do these to kill your business)

• The rare traits all high-performing employees have in common

• And much more…

Here are the top 10 most interesting links to check out this week:

1. 🔨 How to build a $14.4M company in 5 years with $0 funding

2. 🧠 46 psychological marketing examples for smarter marketing

3. 🤖 Is this AI tool the end of Excel spreadsheets?

4. 📟 Here are 10 incredible sources for marketing inspiration

5. 📡 How to future-proof your online presence in the AI-search era

6. 💬 Avoid email spam folders by never using these 188 words

7. ✍️ Newsletter expert ranks his top 25 landing pages of all time

8. 💲 8 rare traits that all high-performing employees share

9. 📚 Use these AI hacks to make your research 10x faster

10. 💵 How to successfully launch products like Apple

👾 Deep Dive

Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2023

1. Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization (VSEO) is the process of tailoring content to cater to voice search queries, such as optimizing content for natural language processing, utilizing keywords, and delivering concise answers to questions.

Because of this, you need to optimize your content for the rank zero snippet (or featured snippet), which is essentially the one and only answer that voice assistants will give when responding to user questions:

Since 40.7% of all voice search answers come from a featured snippet, if your marketing is strong enough, you could be the one hitting the rank zero snippet (which is essentially a “featured snippet” that voice assistants will convey to searchers). This can give you an enormous competitive advantage.

To learn how to optimize for VSEO, check out this guide

2. Visual Search Growth

Visual search refers to a type of search engine function where users can look for information using real-world images rather than through text-based inputs.

Visual search engines use artificial intelligence to understand the content and context of these images and return a list of results.

For example:

A user takes a photo of a type of plant they encountered during a hike.

Using visual search, the search engine can analyze the photo, identify the plant, and provide the user with information about it.

This kind of search can be especially useful in e-commerce, where customers might want to find similar products based on an image.

Keep in mind that 36% of online shoppers have used visual search and images are showing up in the SERPs for about one-third of all queries:

Combining visual search with VSEO offers customers the opportunity to easily locate the products they desire, further enhancing the overall user experience.

3. Augmented Reality Shopping

Augmented reality (AR) shopping is also revolutionizing the way customers interact with products and brands.

40% of consumers said they would be willing to pay more for a product if they could experience it with AR:

Let’s say you run a clothing brand:

With AR, you can create a more immersive shopping experience that allows customers to virtually try on products and see how they would look in their own homes or on themselves in real-time.

One company already does this with great success, Sephora.

Sephora’s Virtual Artist app allows users to virtually try on different shades of lipstick, eyeliner, and other makeup products.

This is a great example of how you can use AR shopping technology to improve customer interaction with your products:

Of course, there are still challenges with this technology.

However, the potential benefits of increased customer engagement and improved customer experience cannot be ignored.

4. Shoppable Posts on Social Media

Shoppable posts on social media platforms have become increasingly popular among mobile users and businesses alike.

These posts allow customers to seamlessly purchase products directly from the platform, leading to increased traffic and sales for businesses.

Instagram is the leader in social selling since this platform offers many tools for e-commerce brands, such as shoppable posts, where you can tag products in posts.

Live shopping takes this a step further, where brands can not only sell products but interact with customers in real-time.

With 76% of people acquiring items they have viewed on social media, shoppable posts offer a powerful tool for businesses to enhance customer engagement.

Dive deeper: How to Sell More on Instagram with Social Shopping 

5. Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting refers to a strategy in mobile advertising where ads are delivered based on the context or content of a web page or app, rather than relying on user-specific data or third-party cookies.

This approach has many benefits, including:

With the increasing emphasis on privacy and the phasing out of third-party cookies, which are used to track user behavior across websites, contextual targeting has gained importance.

It offers a privacy-friendly alternative that respects user data and preferences.

Let’s say you’re browsing a mobile app that focuses on fitness and healthy living.

As you scroll through an article about running shoes, you notice an ad appearing on the page. Instead of showing an ad based on your personal information or browsing history, the ad is contextually targeted to align with the content you’re currently engaged with.

That means the technology analyzes the text, keywords, and overall theme of the running shoe article in real-time.

It recognizes that the content is related to fitness and running and, subsequently, delivers an ad for a new line of running shoes or sports apparel.

Last Word on Mobile Advertising Trends

The future holds immense potential for businesses to engage their target audience in new and innovative ways.

By harnessing the power of mobile marketing, and staying ahead of emerging trends like voice search optimization and augmented reality shopping, you can create personalized experiences that resonate with your customers.

The world of mobile advertising is evolving at a rapid pace, and those who dare to stay ahead of the curve will reap the rewards.

For morel mobile advertising trends, click here to read the full post. 

7 Fatal Blunders That Founders Make (Do These to Kill Your Business)

In this episode of Leveling Up, Eric Siu talks about mistakes you should avoid that can make or break your company.

Watch to learn:

• Why entrepreneurs shouldn’t start a new business abruptly

• How you should work and lead people in your business

• Hiring mistakes you should avoid to save more time

• Why you shouldn’t hire people based solely on potential

• Should you spoil your people to make high-performers?

• What your top three priorities should be as a founder

Click here to watch the full video.

Top 3 Available Marketing Jobs

1. Senior Paid Media Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Manage and optimize ad campaigns on Google and Facebook, develop and lead strategic presentations to clients, including media strategies, QBRs, and year-in-reviews. (Full job description here.)
   

2. SEO Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Perform ongoing keyword discovery, content strategy, expansion, and optimization. Audit client websites to identify optimization opportunities and prioritize work based on SEO impact. Develop and implement link-building strategies using competitors as a baseline and more. (Full job description here.)
   

3. CRO Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Analyze web data to monitor website performance and identify areas of opportunity. Execute CRO activities to help achieve overall marking goals and objectives for assigned clients and more. (Full job description here.)

Until next week,

The Leveling Up Team

P.S.

Here are more ways we can help your business grow:

• Listen to our Marketing School podcast for daily marketing tips

• Subscribe to the Leveling Up YouTube channel

• Read the Single Grain blog for actionable marketing playbooks