#149 HTE - "Marketing Magic; Let's Hear It"🪄

Good Morning, Everyone! 

As we start this new day, let's take a moment to wish for success and positivity. Here's to hoping that today will be a great day for all of us, and that we will be able to accomplish our goals and have a positive outcome in everything we do. 🏋🏻‍♀️

Let's work together and support one another. Here's to a successful day ahead for all of us! 💪🏻

Okay, let's get started! 🏁

In this newsletter, we will explore: 👇

📱 Walmart Introduces TrendGetter - A Visual Search Tool 

🥤 TikTok-Famous Prebiotic Soda Brand Poppi Has Raised $25 Million In Series B Round

⚡️ Boost Site Traffic With SEO Content Clusters

📈 Best Business Practices - USPs In Your Marketing And Sales

🤩 TikTok Is Experimenting With Full-Screen Mode Similar To YouTube

📕 Top Reads Of The Week

⚙️ Plenty Of Jobs Await You!

To find out what's in store for you, scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter and read on!

📱 Walmart introduces TrendGetter - A Visual Search Tool 

Walmart has launched a new visual search tool called TrendGetter, just in time for the busy holiday shopping season.

The tool uses artificial intelligence to identify and match the items in a photo or image with products sold by Walmart, making it easier for customers to find what they're looking for and discover new products and trends.

Walmart is no stranger to experimenting with image recognition technology - in 2017, its subsidiary Hayneedle launched an iOS app with visual search capabilities.

Other retailers using visual search have reported successful results, with Forever 21 seeing an increase in sales conversions and average purchase value after launching its own visual search function in 2018. With TrendGetter, Walmart is hoping to offer customers a more convenient and seamless shopping experience.

As visual search technology becomes increasingly popular, more companies are integrating it into their platforms. In October 2021, Fast Simon launched AI-powered visual search tools for e-commerce sellers, allowing customers to find products using images from Instagram, their smartphones, or store catalogs.

Etsy followed suit last month, introducing visual search functionality to its app. Shoppers can now use the camera icon in the search bar to upload or take an image and search for similar items on the site.

Other tech giants, including Shnap, Pinterest, and Google, have also added visual search features to improve the shopping experience for their users. With these innovations, shoppers can now easily find the products they're looking for, simply by using an image.

🥤TikTok-Famous Prebiotic Soda Brand Poppi Has Raised $25 Million In Series B Round

Poppi, once known as Mother Beverage, has raised a staggering $25 million in its latest series B financing round. The funds will be used to expand the company's prebiotic beverage line, which is focused on promoting gut health. Poppi plans to switch all distribution to direct store delivery (DSD) by January 2023, bringing its total financing to nearly $53 million.

The round was led by Rohan Oza, the founder of CAVU Consumer Partners, who initially discovered the brand on Shark Tank and played a key role in its rebranding to Poppi. With this latest investment, Poppi is well-positioned to continue its mission of helping consumers achieve optimal gut health through its delicious and nutritious beverage offerings.

Poppi, led by CEO Chris Hall and CMO Lana Buchanan, recently raised $13.5 million in a series A funding round, further intensifying competition in the prebiotic soda market.

Poppi currently employs around 60 workers and holds a 34% share of the functional soda market, according to Nielsen data from October 2022. Olipop remains the market leader with a 61% share, but emerging players such as Wildwonder and Mayawell are also gaining ground with significant backing.

⚡️Boost Site Traffic With SEO Content Clusters

SEO content clusters can be a valuable tool for boosting site traffic for your brand. Here are a few tips for using them effectively:

  1. Identify your website's main topic or theme and create a cluster of related content around it. This will help search engines understand the focus of your site and improve its relevance to users.

  2. Use subtopics to organize your content within the cluster and create a clear information hierarchy. This will make it easier for users to navigate your site and find the necessary information.

  3. Include keywords and phrases related to your main topic and subtopics throughout your content. This will help search engines understand the relevance of your content and improve its ranking in search results.

  4. Use internal linking to connect your cluster content and make it easy for users to find related information on your site. This will also help search engines crawl your site and improve its visibility in search results.

  5. Regularly update and refresh your cluster content to keep it relevant and valuable to users. This will help maintain your audience's interest and improve your site's overall user experience.

📈 Best Business Practices - USPs In Your Marketing And Sales

Using unique selling points (USPs) and a sense of urgency can drive your product or service purchases. You can convince potential customers to choose your product over others by highlighting your USPs in your marketing and sales efforts.

Creating a sense of urgency can also be effective for driving purchases. This can be done by offering limited-time promotions or discounts, highlighting limited availability of your product, or using other tactics to make customers feel like they need to act quickly to take advantage of your offer.

By combining unique selling points and a sense of urgency, you can effectively convince potential customers to purchase and drive sales for your business.

Here is how: 

  1. Identify the unique selling points of your product or service and use them to differentiate your offering from competitors. This could include highlighting special features, benefits, or guarantees your product offers.

  2. Use clear and compelling language to communicate your unique selling points to potential customers. This could include using catchy headlines, bullet points, or other techniques to grab their attention and convince them to choose your product.

  3. Create a sense of urgency by offering limited-time promotions or discounts, highlighting the limited availability of your product, or using other tactics to make customers feel like they need to act quickly to take advantage of your offer.

  4. Use social media and other digital channels to promote your unique selling points and create a sense of urgency. This can help you reach a wider audience and drive more purchases for your product.

  5. Track the performance of your marketing and sales efforts and adjust your strategy based on the results. This will help you understand what is working and what is not and make changes as needed to improve the effectiveness of your efforts.

🤩 TikTok Is Experimenting With Full-Screen Mode Similar To YouTube

TikTok is testing a new full-screen mode that will allow users to flip their screens and watch videos in a horizontal orientation, making the most of their wide smartphone screens. The feature, which is still in the testing phase, will be available to users via a simple button tap. An exact release date has not yet been confirmed.

TikTok to introduce a new feature, full-screen mode, which allows users to record and share livestreams. This allows for the creation and sharing of longer-form content on the platform. Additionally, TikTok has introduced a feature called TikTok Gifts, which allows users to send digital gifts to their favorite content creators. This is similar to the "superchat" feature on YouTube, where users can pay to have their messages highlighted in a chat thread.

TikTok Gifts are purchased with real money and can be converted into real money by the recipient. These features indicate a potential strategy for TikTok to compete with YouTube by offering similar monetization options for content creators.

The app allows users to place dislikes on videos, which can help users express their opinions and engage with the content on the platform. This feature encourages further user engagement and increases the likelihood that people view ads and purchase TikTok Gifts, which can help the platform earn profit. In addition, TikTok provides users with the ability to link their accounts to third-party stores, which can help small entrepreneurs promote their products and services.

📕 Top Reads Of The Week

FedEx to launch consolidated returns service

Nike plans first ‘World of Flight’ Jordan concept

Supply chain should ‘easily handle’ remainder of the holiday season: NRF

Luxury furniture maker RH acquires two companies

Skincare brand InnBeauty Project raises $12M

⚙️ Plenty Of Jobs Await You!

Corporate Manager E-Commerce - Luxottica

E-Commerce Manager - Etam

Vice President - ADT

Software Engineer - Room & Board

Associate Director - Shapeways

Wish you success and a great day! May your direct-to-consumer business thrive and flourish. Keep pushing forward and achieving your goals.