Top Announcements from Google Marketing Live 2024

Google Marketing Live 2024 brought a slew of exciting updates and new features designed to enhance the capabilities of digital marketers. From innovative new ad experiences to AI-powered insights in Google Analytics, this year’s event was packed with announcements that promise to drive better performance and efficiency in digital marketing campaigns. Here’s a breakdown of the top announcements and how you can leverage them to benefit your business.

1. New PMax Tests

The Update: Google introduced new testing capabilities for Performance Max campaigns, including asset uplift tests and incrementality tests.

How to Use:

• Asset Uplift Tests: Use these tests to determine the impact of adding more text, image, and video assets to PMax campaigns. This is designed to show the benefits of leaning all the way into PMax to advertisers still running feed-only PMax campaigns that only serve product ads.
• Incrementality Tests: These tests allow brands and marketers to assess the incremental value of adding PMax campaigns to accounts by comparing geographic areas with and without the campaign running.

Who Should Leverage This?

If your brand isn’t already running PMax campaigns, it’s time to start. But this latest update provides a great way to test the waters before jumping in completely. Retailers hesitant to expand their PMax campaigns to Display and YouTube and businesses wanting to validate the incremental impact of their PMax campaigns should take note, and start implementing these testing capabilities. Additionally, advertisers not currently running PMax campaigns can leverage these updates to test the impact of PMax on their campaigns.

2. Updates to Demand Gen

The Update: Google announced improvements to Demand Gen, including the ability to pin videos for specific placements and use lookalike audiences based on just 100 people.

How to Use:

• Pinning Videos: Pin videos to specific placements like vertical videos on Shorts to ensure optimal creative placement.
• Lookalike Audiences: Create lookalike audiences from as few as 100 people to expand your reach effectively.

Who Should Leverage This?

Brands interested in controlling where each specific creative asset serves and small businesses looking to expand their audience reach quickly could benefit from implementing these Demand Gen improvements. However, this update is most exciting for businesses with strict brand guidelines, as they can now expand into placements they may not have previously leveraged due to lack of creative control.

3. New Reporting Features

The Update: Google introduced AI-generated insights in GA4 to help diagnose performance fluctuations and conversational reporting in Google Ads for generating specific reports through prompts.

How to Use:

• AI-Generated Insights: Use these insights in GA4 to quickly identify and understand performance changes in your campaigns.
• Conversational Reporting: Generate custom reports in Google Ads by interacting with the AI, making it easier to access the data you need.

Reporting improvements are always welcome, and these are particularly exciting for data-driven marketers needing real-time insights. The updates will also be beneficial for agencies looking to streamline reporting processes and businesses that require customized reporting for specific campaign metrics.

4. Shopping Updates

The Updates: Google introduced several updates for shopping campaigns, including automated discounts in Merchant Center Next, profit-based bidding, new customer pricing, and customer loyalty promotions.

How to Use:

• Automated Discounts: Use AI-powered pricing to dynamically adjust product prices and maximize gross profit.
• Profit-Based Bidding: Optimize bids based on cart data and cost of goods sold (COGS) to enhance profitability.
• New Customer Pricing: Set different prices for new customers and exclude current customers using first-party data.
• Loyalty Promotions: Implement member-exclusive promotions to boost customer loyalty and retention.

This update will be particularly helpful for E-commerce businesses looking to maximize profits, e-retailers focused on acquiring new customers and brands with established loyalty programs.

5. Creative Enhancements

The Updates: Google introduced new creative tools including the ability to edit existing product images, add or remove objects, and use image references to ensure brand consistency.

How to Use:

• Image Editing: Edit product images directly within Google Ads to add or remove specific objects, enhancing visual appeal.
• Brand Consistency: Use AI to generate brand-appropriate images by providing reference visuals.
• Customization: Customize colors and fonts to align with brand guidelines, ensuring consistent branding across all campaigns.

The right creative can have a huge impact on advertising, and these new creative tools are sure to help brands deliver visually appealing imagery. While all brands should benefit from these tools, brands prioritizing visual appeal and consistency, e-commerce businesses looking for quick and efficient image editing and businesses with strict brand guidelines that require customization will find the tools to be most useful.

6. SERP Shifts

The Updates: Google announced several changes to the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), including visual brand profiles, 3D images, virtual try-on, AI-powered interactive ads, and shopping ads for image search.

How to Use:

• Visual Brand Profiles: Highlight promotions, shipping details, and customer reviews directly on the SERP.
• 3D Images & Virtual Try-On: Use these features to provide a more interactive and engaging shopping experience.
• AI-Powered Ads: Implement AI-driven ads to streamline quote generation directly from the SERP.
• Shopping Ads for Image Search: Optimize product visibility by leveraging shopping ads in image search results.

An interactive, engaging shopping experience is especially critical for fashion and beauty brands, so these changes to the SERP are a huge win for them. Retailers looking to enhance product visibility and engagement, fashion and beauty brands utilizing virtual try-on and businesses seeking to improve their interactive ad experiences on the SERP should all leverage these new features.

There’s no shortage of new tools and features from Google, but knowing which updates to leverage and when is critical for brands. By incorporating these updates into your digital marketing strategy, you can help your business achieve better performance, improved engagement, and higher profitability in their campaigns. Stay ahead of the curve by leveraging the latest tools and features announced at Google Marketing Live 2024.