Don’t Confuse Engagement for Authority
📬This confusion is costing you more than anything right now, Google has rolled out updates that rethink how advertisers test campaign mixes, and more!
Howdy Readers 🥰
In this newsletter, you’ll find:
📬Engagement Is Not Authority And confusing the two is expensive.
📊 Google Reshapes Testing, Transparency, and Planning
🏆 Ad of the Day
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Together with Grapevine
📲 Whitelisting That Actually Scales (Creators + Publishers)
Most brands know whitelisting works to lower CPAs and find new audiences. Few can make it repeatable at scale.
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Creator Whitelisting - They source, vet, and negotiate with verified creators (doctors, coaches, finance experts, beauty insiders), managing and handling access and production. Authentic social proof without operational chaos.
Publisher Whitelisting - Their network of 14+ niche publishers (including My Subscription Addiction) provides advertorial landing pages and established handles. You get third-party trust plus storytelling space that bridges discovery to conversion.
Whitelisted content outperforms branded ads by 20-30%. Creator + publisher handles deliver signal diversity and testing volume that’s hard to replicate independently.
Mapping Q1 creative strategy? Now’s the time to test.
👉 Book a strategy call by February 27th for $500 off your first campaign.
📬Engagement Is Not Authority And confusing the two is expensive.
You can send great emails. You can grow your list. You can build a habit.
People open. They click. They recognize your name. That feels like strength.
But here’s what actually moves revenue: Being recognized outside your own ecosystem.
The Difference
Engagement is internal.
Authority is external.
Engagement means: “They know you.”
Authority means: “They trust you.”
And trust rarely forms in isolation.
When someone is close to buying, they don’t just think about your last email.
They search. They look around. They scan for signals.
Have others talked about you?
Has anyone credible featured you?
Do you exist outside your own marketing?
If the answer is no, hesitation increases. Not dramatically. Just enough to slow momentum. And slowed momentum shows up as:
Lower add to cart rate.
Longer decision cycles.
More comparison shopping.
Why This Matters More Than It Seems
The brands that convert fastest are rarely the loudest. They’re the ones that show up in multiple places.
Inside inboxes. Inside search. Inside publications. Inside conversations.
That multi-surface presence changes psychology. Engagement keeps you remembered. Authority makes you safe.
That’s why some brands take high-performing content beyond the inbox and distribute it into trusted regional publications through Share Local Media, April Shared Mailings close on 3/2. Secure your spot now!
One move. Different layer. Different outcome.
The Part Nobody Talks About
You can have strong open rates and still feel resistance at checkout.
That resistance is rarely about price. It’s about validation. Attention is something you build. Credibility is something you demonstrate. And the brands that compound fastest are building both at the same time.
📊 Google Reshapes Testing, Transparency, and Planning
Google has rolled out updates that rethink how advertisers test campaign mixes, measure placements, and plan budgets. The emphasis is shifting from isolated campaign optimization to clearer system-level decision-making.
The Breakdown:
1. Test the Full Campaign Mix - Campaign Mix Experiments beta lets advertisers build up to five experiment arms, comparing different combinations of Search, PMax, Shopping, Demand Gen, Video, and App campaigns in one structured test.
2. Optimize Budgets and Structures Together - You can test budget allocation, bidding strategies, targeting, and even account consolidation versus fragmentation, with flexible traffic splits and normalized reporting for fair cross-channel comparisons.
3. PMax Finally Gets Real Visibility - Performance Max data now appears in the “Where ads showed” report, surfacing placements, networks, and impression data across Search Partners, Display, and other inventory that were previously opaque.
4. Scenario Planner Turns MMM Into Action - Google’s no-code Scenario Planner built on Meridian lets marketers simulate budget shifts, forecast ROI, stress-test investment scenarios, and view complex model outputs in clear visual formats without technical expertise.
Google is moving performance marketing toward smarter mix testing, transparent automation, and forward-looking planning, giving advertisers stronger control over spend decisions instead of relying purely on black-box systems.
🏆 Ad of the Day
What Works:
This Is Seasonal FOMO in a Blender: “Get lucky” ties the bundle to a moment. It’s not just protein, it’s a limited-time St. Patrick’s vibe you either grab now or miss.
Bundles Solve Decision Fatigue: They don’t make you choose flavors. They hand you variety plus a shaker and call it done, which feels easier than building your own cart.
They’re Selling Fun in a Serious Category: Protein is usually rigid and performance-driven. This feels playful, which widens the audience beyond hardcore gym people.
If your category feels repetitive, inject seasonality. Limited themes create urgency and make even routine products feel fresh again.
🪩Events
🎯 When Sponsored Posts Stop Working
February 26 | 11 AM ET | Virtual Event
If your influencer content feels predictable, it probably is. In this live Modash session, Gabriel Gomez, Head of Social and Creators at MCoBeauty, explains how co-creation unlocks higher originality, stronger engagement, and scalable output without bloated production.
Can’t make it live? Register anyway, and we’ll send you the replay.
🔥 The Behind-the-Scenes Performance Fixes That Turn Clicks Into Conversions
March 10–11 | Virtual Event
Marketers lose money every day from slow first loads and never see the real cause. At Cloudways Bootcamp, experts will tear down real production sites live and show you exactly what’s killing conversion rate before your offer even appears. If you’re buying traffic, this is the intel you never get.
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