October 2020 - Latest News, Headlines at Peter Zmijewski

Salesforce Beware: Microsoft, Adobe and C3.ai Reinvent CRM

October 31, 2020 news

Microsoft, Adobe and C3.ai have joined forces to use artificial intelligence (AI) to reinvent customer relationship management (CRM). The new product, C3 AI CRM, is powered by Microsoft Dynamics and fully integrates with Adobe Experience Cloud. The goal is to deliver “the first enterprise-class, AI-first customer relationship management solution is purpose-built for industries.” Salesforce, in particular, should be worried by this development. Microsoft has been trying for years to dethrone Salesforce as the CRM king, with little success. While Dynamics 365 has certainly carved out a corner of the market,…

Bing

Bing Ads Updating Segmentation Reporting: Call For Early Testers

October 29, 2020 news

Access segmentation reporting from the campaigns tables rather than having to dig into the Reports section of the UI. Bing Ads has long had performance reporting by segments such as device type, network, time of day and more. To surface those insights, however, you had to dig into the Reports tab. That will be changing soon. A new Segment tab in the campaign tables will enable to you see performance by time, network, device and top vs. other right in the main campaigns interface. Once you select a segment, you’ll see…

google

With an eye toward deal-seekers, Google releases promotions, pricing updates for both advertisers and users this holiday season

October 27, 2020 news

Pricing and promotions in Google Shopping could be more important than ever this year. Along with updates for merchants’ holiday Shopping campaign efforts, on Thursday, Google announced consumer-facing updates in Shopping that retail marketers should pay attention to — particularly as it relates to the importance of pricing and promotions. Retail advertisers will also have access to more reporting and performance insights for Shopping campaigns and new customer targeting for Smart Shopping is coming out of beta. This, of course, is also the first holiday season with free and paid…

SEO

Help us update the Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors

October 23, 2020 news

We’re working on a refreshed version of this SEL stalwart, and we need your input and experience. Every two years since 2011, Search Engine Land has taken a fresh look at all the elements that impact your success in search engine optimization, mapping them out on our Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors. While our staff includes some of the industry’s leading lights, we wouldn’t be where we are today without you — the community that makes our SMX conferences great by speaking and attending, and also contributes insightful content to…

SEM

Why PPC automation wrecks some search marketers

October 22, 2020 news

PPC automation is not “PPC on autopilot” so you need to keep monitoring the machines to avoid mediocre results. Explore Silicon Valley and you’ll see the bubble-topped Waymo minivans essentially “self-teaching” how to drive without a human in charge. In air transportation, the largest and most modern jets are becoming almost foolproof, with the pilots in command for less and less of any given flight. Automation is great… when applied as one part of a more strategic approach to solving needs in our society. But automation isn’t foolproof. It’s not…

Amazon Will Start Paying Customers For Data On Non-Amazon Purchases

October 21, 2020 news

Amazon has launched Amazon Shopper Panel, a program that will pay users for information on their non-Amazon purchases. In addition to sales, one of the biggest benefits Amazon gains is access to customer and purchasing data. For purchases made outside Amazon, however, the company is largely in the dark. To address that, Amazon has unveiled Amazon Shopper Panel. The program “is an opt-in, invitation-only program where participants can earn monthly rewards by sharing receipts from purchases made outside of Amazon.com and by completing short surveys.” The company emphases its commitment…

Marketing

IBM: Strong Cloud Revenue Growth Powers Q3

October 20, 2020 news

IBM today announced third-quarter 2020 earnings results. Although overall revenue was slightly down again cloud revenue was up big. “The strong performance of our cloud business, led by Red Hat, underscores the growing client adoption of our open hybrid cloud platform,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM chief executive officer. “Separating the managed infrastructure services business creates a market-leading standalone company and further sharpens our focus on IBM’s open hybrid cloud platform and AI capabilities. This will accelerate our growth strategy and better position IBM to seize the $1 trillion hybrid-cloud opportunity.”…

Bing

Bing Brings On Halloween With a Spooky Map, Cortana Costume Suggestions & A Horror Movie Game

October 19, 2020 news

Ask Cortana “What should I wear for Halloween?” or “Guess the horror movie” to play Bing’s Halloween-themed game. Bing is gearing up for the holiday weekend, launching Halloween-related Cortana searches and a spooky Bing map that includes locations for haunted houses throughout the US, UK and Canada. For anyone who still doesn’t have their costume figured out, Bing recommends asking Cortana, “What should I wear for Halloween?” Cortana also has a new “Guess the horror movie” game to keep you occupied while you’re waiting to go trick-or-treating — the phrase…

google

Google tests local ads in Maps auto-suggest results

October 16, 2020 news

A local ads shows up as you start typing. Google is testing ads for local businesses in Google Maps auto-suggest search results. Thibault Adda, local search specialist at Darden Restaurants, noticed and tweeted about it Thursday. As he typed a search for “Seafood restaurant,” an ad for the seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster appeared in the auto-suggest results before he completed the search query, as you can see in the screenshot he shared. Screenshot: Thibault Adda. Google confirmed with us that this is an experiment. “We’re always testing new ways…