Q1 2021 Paid Social Media Recap

Dana Haltiwanger StrubJune 2, 2021Blog, Social Media

Q1 2021 is officially a wrap and as is tradition, Parallel Path has curated the latest news when it comes to all things Paid Social. Ad Spend Trends Socialbakers’ data showed Facebook and Instagram ad spend was up 60% year-over-year — an impressive growth rate after a record-setting year for social media ad spend. Facebook’s ad reach grew around the … Read More

Google Ads iOS14 Updates

Wyeth LeemonMay 21, 2021Blog, Marketing, Regulatory

iOS14 Updates Apple recently introduced new privacy and security features for their iOS14 software update. As a result, Google, Facebook, and other digital advertising platforms have had to make significant updates to products to comply with the new privacy and security features. This update is largely focused on user privacy within apps, so Google’s updates were less significant than Facebook’s, … Read More

Why Hulu Might Be the Next Advertising Channel in Your Marketing Mix.

Russell OrrisMay 7, 2021Blog, Marketing

Search, Social, and now Streaming.   Self-service advertising continues to grow across almost all digital touchpoints. With several companies such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok all having their own ad managers, Hulu will be jumping into the mix. They began beta testing their self-serve ad-buying tool early last year and will continue to allow businesses to … Read More

Google Ads Quarterly Digest – Q1 2021

Wyeth LeemonApril 30, 2021Blog, PPC

Q1 was a relatively quiet month for Google in terms of major product updates, but there were still a few noteworthy changes.  Keyword Matching Updates In typical Google fashion, they shook up the SEM world in early February by announcing a significant update to the keyword match types/matching behavior within paid search campaigns. For an in-depth guide of what’s changing, … Read More

How to Use Geographic Data for Competitive Conquesting

Willow SmithApril 19, 2021Blog, Marketing

Geo-Conquesting Most marketers that have been in the digital game are familiar with the concept of Geo-Targeting and some of the more traditional ways to use this tactic to reach their prospective customers. But, what about some unconventional ways of applying this targeting to help achieve business goals?  A standard application would be to use geo-targeting around physical store locations … Read More

Google Tracking Changes and the Future of Data-Driven Advertising

Hardy KalisherMarch 26, 2021Blog

Behavior Tracking in Google’s New “Cookie-less” World June 2021 Update: Google has since delayed its planned cookie removal until 2023 In marketing where a data-driven world is the promise of modern advertisers, what happens when the data as we know it disappears? In March 2021, Google announced that it will no longer allow advertisers to target consumers based on their … Read More

What Google’s Keyword Matching Update Means for Your Brand

Wyeth LeemonFebruary 19, 2021Blog, Marketing, SEO

Agency POV Google recently announced that they will be making significant changes to the way phrase and broad match modifier (BMM) keywords trigger ads for various search terms. Essentially Phrase and BMM keywords will be combined into one overarching match type. The current Phrase match type will expand to cover broad match modifier traffic while still leveraging word order when … Read More

GA4 Predictive Audiences

Wyeth LeemonFebruary 12, 2021Blog, Web Analytics

Agency POV Google recently rolled out their highly anticipated Google Analytics 4 that leverages machine learning models to provide marketers with some unique tools that can help improve performance and drive results across Google Ads. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is the ability to create Predictive Audiences. Before diving too deeply into this article it must be noted that … Read More

How to Build a Successful Health and Wellness Brand

John KadlicFebruary 8, 2021Blog, Health and Wellness

Three fundamentals of health & wellness brand strategy to drive awareness, growth, impact, and consumer trust.   Introduction The global wellness industry is expanding at breakneck speed, growing by 6.4% annually over a two-year period. That’s nearly twice as fast as overall global economic growth. By 2026, the industry is predicted to hit $6.54 billion and have a compound annual … Read More

Facebook Ads iOS14 Updates

Dana Haltiwanger StrubFebruary 2, 2021Blog, Marketing, Social Media

How Apple’s Recent Release Could Affect Your Facebook Advertising You have probably heard by now that Apple’s recent iOS 14 update will impact Facebook advertising, but you may still be wondering exactly how this will unfold. There are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered, but we’ve compiled what we know so far and some tips to help you … Read More

Make Your SEO and PPC Strategies Work Together

Parallel PathJanuary 20, 2021Blog, PPC, SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) are two digital marketing channels that direct traffic to your website. Though the two approaches to capturing clicks from the search engine result pages (SERPs) are unique — SEO is “earned” media and PPC is paid — they work most optimally when they are used together. Therefore, your SEO and PPC … Read More

Google Ads Beta and Innovations You May Have Missed from Q3 & Q4 of 2020

Wyeth LeemonJanuary 15, 2021Blog, PPC

Google Ads platform is constantly innovating with the introduction of new features or betas. Here is an overview of the highlights from some of the more impactful and relevant for brands and organizations in health, wellness, and lifestyle. Feel free to reach out to Parallel Path if there are any questions on anything specific or want to learn more about … Read More

Clubhouse – The Newest Social Media Platform You Should Be On

Paris OsbornJanuary 12, 2021Blog, Health and Wellness, Social Media

A Guide for Health, Wellness, and Lifestyle Brands    What is Clubhouse? It seems like everyone’s raving about the exciting new social media platform that recently hit the App Store. Clubhouse is a new live audio chat room that has built its reputation, in part, on exclusivity. Because the app is still in beta testing, Clubhouse is invite-only and each … Read More

The Digital Marketing Analytics Checklist

Parallel PathJanuary 6, 2021Blog, Web Analytics

A Digital Marketing Checklist to Make Your Data Work for You   Digital marketing analytics can provide a wealth of information regarding consumers’ preferences, behaviors, and desires. It can also help marketers measure the effectiveness of their marketing practices and strategies. There are hundreds of ways for brands to use data to grow their business.   Unfortunately, many businesses don’t know … Read More

Google Analytics 4

Greg GarrisonDecember 22, 2020Blog, Web Analytics

Google’s most significant change to its analytics platform launches in response to a cookie-less future. What you need to know to keep your competitive edge. Introduction to GA4 Google recently released its newest analytics offering, Google Analytics 4, and that’s a big deal. GA4 is an entirely new analytics platform from Google that is meant to address and combat the … Read More

How Your Brand Can Promote Social Media Wellness

Megan JoosteSeptember 22, 2020Blog, Marketing, Matrix, Social Media

With people spending so much more time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the danger of over-using social media is real, even for people for whom health and wellness is a priority. Remember what Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba said: “Today’s customers want to be healthy and happy, no matter who they are.” He’s right. And for brands … Read More

Analyzing the Health Insurance Customer Journey

Megan JoosteSeptember 11, 2020Blog, Content Marketing, Health Industry, Health Insurance, Healthcare, Inbound, Matrix

You know the saying about taking a walk in another person’s shoes? If you’re in the business of providing health insurance plans, your marketing efforts need to start by donning more than just a new pair of shoes. To really understand how people find their way to your company, and also understand their experience once they’re there, you need a … Read More

Enabling Enhanced Ecommerce With and Without Shopify

Greg GarrisonSeptember 3, 2020Blog, Consumer Packaged Goods, Matrix, Web Analytics, Wellness Industry

Enhanced Ecommerce is an extension of the reporting available via Google Analytics Ecommerce reporting. As the name suggests, enabling this reporting expands upon what e-commerce information is available within Google Analytics. Enhanced Ecommerce provides additional information around shopping behaviors and checkout behaviors.  Examples of Enhanced Ecommerce Reports Enabling Enhanced Ecommerce (EE) looks to populate the information highlighted in the screenshots … Read More

Paid Media Tips for Brand Safety During COVID-19

Willow SmithSeptember 1, 2020Blog, Marketing, Matrix, PPC

Brand Safety encompasses all the strategies and activities brands employ to safeguard their reputation while advertising online. This spans from paid media strategy all the way down to ad placement, as well as ad content. Traditionally when marketers think about brand safety, it’s in reference to where ads are placed online and ensuring “safe” content adjacency. This entails making sure … Read More

Better KPIs for Wellness Digital Marketing

Greg GarrisonAugust 26, 2020Blog, Matrix, Web Analytics, Wellness Industry

High-performing digital marketing strategies rely on a built-in feedback loop that pulls regular analytics reports, analyzes marketing activities, and optimizes based on those findings. But marketing teams (and their analytics specialists) can sometimes get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data that is accessible to them. It’s easy to wonder what are truly important key performance metrics to put at … Read More