Greetings!

You’re traveling through another dimension – a dimension not only of digital marketing but of mindfulness. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop: Perceptive Marketer!

Yes, we changed our name. No, this is not a drill. The name change is better aligned with our mission: to widen our perceptions as marketers through industry news and mindful perspectives.

Let’s jump in!

• Want to know what’s keeping marketing and PR leaders awake at night? Check out the top 10 challenges marketing decision makers are facing in 2024, based on UK respondents. Search engine updates and volatility, anxiety of being replaced by AI, plus a lack of understanding how we could use AI are some of the top concerns. This report is from the UK, and they haven’t even seen the Google SGE roll-out yet. No wonder a separate survey cites 76% of UK employees have experienced some form of stress-related staff absence.

• Understand Google SGE through this Lady Gaga search result. Business Insider’s overview helps you gain a deeper understanding of how disruptive SGE (and other Gen AI platforms) can be to the traditional search marketplace. The article even includes a discussion on the emergence of ads as sponsored links in Gen AI results – a topic we just covered in our latest blog.

• Google SGE has been released to the public… at least for a starting set of queries. Whether you’ve signed up to see SGE or not, you may see AI overviews filling your result pages. This is only a test but stay tuned for alerts when SGE finally goes live for reals.

• Are you afraid of the robot uprising? 🤖 Maybe this might make you feel better. The United Nations adopted a resolution for the “respect, protection and promotion of human rights in the design, development, deployment and the use of AI.” Sustainable development and a commitment to closing the digital gap between countries are two purposes of this resolution. If you love legal jargon, here’s the full resolution.

It’s Raining Ads! 🌧️

Ads in AI to be specific. Google SGE and Bing Copilot are showing ads in their Gen AI responses. What does this mean for Search AI Optimization? Find out here: Spring 2024 Rains Ads On Gen AI Results!

• As a perceptive marketer, you’re probably aware of multichannel and omnichannel marketing strategies. Have you heard about “optichannel”? “Optichannel strategies aim to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time through each channel, maximizing engagement and conversions.” Martech explains the optichannel approach is a way of optimizing individual channels to improve customer experience.

• TikTok is not giving up! (And who would expect them to?) The attempt? A $2.1 million TV ad buy. Many TikTok users have been lobbying the senate to not pass the house bill, especially with so many businesses depending on the platform. But will a TV ad make a difference to the senators’ thinking? We have to keep watching.

• 🦉 With hot tracks like “Spanish or Vanish”, who wouldn’t want to go see Duolingo on Ice! Check out this spoofy Disney on Ice remake released on April 1st! (Pro tip: if you go to the ticket link, you can get promo codes for future Seat Geek tickets AND a free month of Duolingo.)

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

Spring makes life go a million miles a minute. Are you taking time to pause? Here are some ways:

• Take nature breaks.
• Look up from your screens.
• Focus on your breathing.
• Eat without distractions.
• Ground yourself with nature-inspired activities like gardening.

Overall, finding moments of stillness will help us truly see the beauty and wonder that is the spring season.

Happy Wednesday!

Natalie

10 points if you got the intro reference! 👏🔟👏

Here’s some spooky fun facts about the famous show. 🙂