Luglio, 2022

I’m excellent at planning vacations — steal my tips
notizie dai blog
1

I’m excellent at planning vacations — steal my tips

I once read that the happiest part of traveling is the planning, and I couldn’t agree more. Before I board a plane, I spend hours researching and documenting the what, where and how of my vacation. Over the past two years I’ve traveled far less than usual, but this year my husband and I decided to go to Italy. It was our first time there, and one of our biggest trips since COVID hit, so I took prepping to a new level. Here’s how I, a self-proclaimed travel nerd, used Google tools to get ready for my getaway.

  1. Get everyone on board with Google Slides.

About a month before our trip, I realized we’d done it all wrong. We weren’t going to have enough time to go hiking, and we were adding unnecessary hours of driving — and with increasing gas prices, that would end up costing way too much. Telling your travel partner you want to start over mere weeks before your trip is tough, and I knew I needed to really sell it…so I made a Google Slides presentation.

A screenshot of a Google Slide presentation in edit mode. The main slide on the screen shows a photo of a Google Map route through Italy and text to the left of the map shows a run down of vacation days segmented by how “chill” they are.

One of the many slides I used to convince my husband we needed to replan our trip.

I’ve used Slides for vacation planning in the past, too — and not just to blow everything up and start over. I’ve also presented what I’ve learned about various travel destinations we’re considering to make a decision. This helps me think clearly about what I want out of a vacation; it feels a bit like I’m vision-boarding the potential trip. And apparently it’s a great selling point, because my husband was completely on board by the end of the presentation.

2. Go off the beaten path with Google Maps.

I often find myself aimlessly “wandering” around Google Maps and Street View, looking for unusually shaped peninsulas or clicking into 360-degree photos that seem impossible to have captured. It’s a great way to cure wanderlust from home, but it’s also an effective way to plan travel. This was how I found a few of our stops in Italy.

Animated GIF of a Google Map showing Italy; the cursor zooms in to Lake Garda revealing the small town of Sirmione.

A little Google Maps “wandering” led me to the town of Sirmione. It caught my eye because it’s basically an island in Italy’s Lake Garda: A narrow road connects Sirmione to the mainland; it’s so tiny that most people park on one side and walk over to the rest of the city, going by foot or golf cart.

An aerial photograph of a town surrounded by water.

An aerial shot of Sirmione taken by my husband.

It’s a place I’ve never heard of, and likely never would have gone.

This is also how we found one of our favorites hikes. The Dolomites are massive — choosing where to visit was overwhelming. But my husband noticed an interesting looking area on Google Earth called Seceda (the fact that it was labeled “Seceda famous view” on Google Maps didn’t hurt our interest either). That was enough for us to add it to our itinerary, and I couldn’t be happier that we did — see for yourself.

A photograph of a mountain landscape, with a dramatically slanted mountain in the foreground that reveals a green pasture on one side and a rocky wall on the other.

3. Take organization to another level with Google Sheets.

Using Google Sheets to organize various parts of a trip is admittedly very obvious compared to my first two tips, but here’s how I like to set things up: I have three pages in a Sheet file — one that functions as a list of things to do in each location, one that lists all of our reservation information and a last tab to collect expenses as we accumulate them while planning and during the course of the trip.

A screenshot of a Google Sheets document showing a list of cities in Italy with various attributes across the sheet listing things like dates, food options, bars, etc.

I like to think of everything listed on this first tab as something potentially worth checking out versus something that’s set in stone. This way, we don’t have to waste time while there looking things up — now if we’re ever wondering “what should we do here?” we can turn to the list for quick, easy access to already researched options.

4. Hit the Search bar…and then the Save button.

I’ve always found it easy to find amazing restaurants and shops when I want to travel, but not quite as simple to grasp what the best outdoor areas are — I want to find the best spot for a sunset, or a viewpoint for an afternoon walk. I’ve found more than a few breathtaking sights by heading to Search and simply entering the name of the city I’m visiting. On the right-hand side, there’s a Knowledge Panel about the location with information like the weather, elevation and local time. Below this is a section that says “Plan a trip,” and underneath that a camera icon next to the words “Things to do.”

And that is how I found arguably the cutest landmark in existence, this “Kiss…Please” sign in Sirmione.

A screenshot of the “Things to do” tab on google.com/travel that’s pulled up the “Kiss…please” landmark. The panel shows various photos and a save option in the right hand corner.

I saved the location straight from this panel so it automatically saved to google.com/travel, and we easily found it when we stopped in the city.

Two people standing in front of a sign that reads “kiss…please” and shows two icons kissing. The two people are also kissing. There is a lake and walkway in the background.

We had to!

5. Stay on budget with a bunch of Google tools.

Traveling is expensive, and while this was definitely a trip we planned and saved for, we were very conscious of not exceeding our budget. I used three Google tools to help us do that. First up, Google Flights. Ahead of buying our flights, I created various alerts to airports in Italy to find the best price and timing. (I also used this feature to price hotels.) Then, while we were there, we used Google Maps’ toll feature, so we could avoid more expensive routes. And of course, there’s the aforementioned Google Sheets tab to collect expenses.

All of these things helped me plan (and thoroughly enjoy planning) my trip — and obviously enjoy the trip itself. Whenever you take your next vacation, hopefully these tips are just as useful for you.

22 Luglio 2022
B2B Marketing News: Effective B2B Data Acquisition, Always-On Brand Social, Facebook’s New Multiple Accounts, & Google’s Updated Ads Creative Studio
notizie dai blog
2

<div>B2B Marketing News: Effective B2B Data Acquisition, Always-On Brand Social, Facebook’s New Multiple Accounts, & Google’s Updated Ads Creative Studio</div>

2022 July 22 MarketingCharts Chart

2022 July 22 MarketingCharts Chart

Brands Are Investing More Social Budget On Creator Partnerships
74 percent of marketers expect to invest a quarter or more of their social media budgets on partnerships with content creators over the next three to six months, with 53 percent looking to strengthen their social community and some 41 percent using creator partnerships to promote brand values — three of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released Sprout Social study data. MediaPost

[bctt tweet=”“Creators are the backbone of our business. We take enormous pride in connecting them not only with listeners, but also with advertisers to help them monetize their work.” — Lee Brown of @SpotifyAds” username=”toprank”]

LinkedIn Business Manager is now in public beta
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has begun public testing of its previously-announced LinkedIn Business Manager, aimed at making it easier for marketers to manage advertising for multiple accounts on the professional platform, with an array of new integrated dashboard and campaign-related features, LinkedIn (client) recently announced. Search Engine Land

Meta May Soon Enable Users to Set Up Various Facebook Profiles Tied Back to a Master Account
Facebook parent Meta has begun a test that allows users to have up to four separate additional Facebook profiles, a move that would bring an array of new possibilities to marketers utilizing the platform, Meta recently announced. Social Media Today

Research Points To Power Of Social Brand Conversation On Consumer Decision Making [Study]
56 percent of consumers see brand conversations conducted via social media as having as much or more impact on purchase decisions than traditional reviews, with always-on brand conversations being viewed as important throughout the purchase journey — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released joint Twitter and Publicis Media survey data. MediaPost

Content Marketers Are Facing A Range of Issues with Integrated Technology
Business intelligence analytics, marketing automation, personalization, and digital asset management (DAM) were the top four technologies content marketers said they use, while the integration of this array of technology was seen as the leading obstacle that content marketers face, according to newly-released marketing technology report findings from Parse.ly. MarketingCharts

ANA Releases First-Ever Guidelines For Measuring Influencer Marketing
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has published its initial selection of influencer marketing measurement guidelines, covering social platforms Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat, the ANA recently announced. MediaPost

2022 July 22 Statistics Image

2 in 3 Multicultural Internet Users Have Upped Their Online Activity
Multicultural groups have continued to be under-represented when it comes to media spending, despite an increased presence online, as some 66 percent of multicultural adults said they had spent more time online compared to a year ago — more than the 55 percent of all other groups, according to newly-released survey data of interest to B2B marketers. MarketingCharts

Google Ads Creative Studio Launches With Custom Video And Display Ads
Search giant Google has globally released its previously-announced Ads Creative Studio platform, with an array of features centered around working with multiple versions of video campaigns, with display advertising soon to be added to the mix, while the new platform is able to work in conjunction with Google Ads, Display and Video 360, and Campaign Manager 360 offerings, Google recently announced. MediaPost

The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2022 [Infographic]
When is comes to the top times for achieving engagement on social media posts, Wednesday through Friday were seen as best for Twitter, Tuesday through Thursday for LinkedIn, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for Facebook — some of the findings of interest to digital marketers contained in a newly-released analysis of over 37 million social posts. MarketingProfs

Which Contact Data Acquisition Strategies Are Most Effective for B2B Marketers?
79 percent of B2B marketing professionals pinpointed the registration forms contained on the website of their organization as the top B2B tactic for acquiring customer and prospect data, with 54 percent pointing to content downloads or offer forms that exist on their own dedicated landing pages, according to recently-released survey data of interest to B2B marketers. MarketingCharts

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

2022 July 22 Marketoonist Comic Image

A lighthearted look at “How Same-Day Delivery Works” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

TensorFlow Lite – On A Commodore 64 — Hackaday

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

  • TopRank Marketing — New Report Reveals 86% of B2B Marketers are Successfully Working with Influencers — Associated Press / AP
  • Lee Odden — This Week in Marketing: Get Data-Driven to Reach for the Stars — LinkedIn (client)
  • TopRank Marketing — Total Annarchy Newsletter #117: Writing inspo from the best thing on Netflix — Total Annarchy / Ann Handley
  • Lee Odden — Does SEO Still Matter to Content Marketing When Google Takes Your Clicks? — Content Marketing Institute

Have you found your own top B2B marketing news this week? If so, please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and please return next Friday for another selection of the most up-to-date and pertinent B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Effective B2B Data Acquisition, Always-On Brand Social, Facebook’s New Multiple Accounts, & Google’s Updated Ads Creative Studio appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

22 Luglio 2022