Marketing and advertising technology grows smarter every day— are you using these tools to make yourself and your communications smarter, too? In this 90 with 90, Cross-Channel Director Maddy Cross and Search Supervisor Jessica Nothnagle dig into insights from the Google Marketing Live conference, including what’s changed with the latest set of product updates.

Behind the Scenes at Google Marketing Live

Walking into this year’s Google Marketing Live conference felt like every digital marketer’s dream. As Google’s annual advertising summit, GML is where best-in-class brands and top agencies come together to hear firsthand all of the changes coming to the Google suite of products. All while enjoying bottomless iced lattes, tasty sweets and a surprise concert. Suffice it to say, we were thrilled to be invited.

Here are our three key takeaways from the conference:

INTEGRATION

Google’s devotion to creating integrated and collaborative solutions for advertisers was a central theme of the conference, as they announced plans to streamline and combine many of their current product offerings to create a more seamless experience. They also are continuing to develop new product features and evolve existing ones, all with the goal of providing advertisers with simple and efficient ways to get their job done.

AUTOMATION

Google is definitely leaning into the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), and much of the conference centered around the freedom and efficiency that comes with using automation. For instance, Smart Campaigns are a new campaign type in Google Ads which uses AI to help marketers to get their programs off the ground faster than was possible before—a huge benefit for small business owners who don’t have much time or resources to dedicate to an AdWords campaign. Responsive Search Ads are another example, allowing Google’s machine learning algorithm to mix and match headlines and descriptions to create top-performing ads.

Google is trying to make it easier for advertisers both big and small to maximize the impact of their campaigns.

In addition, many of the speakers noted that while automation may seem like it reduces the role of the marketer, it actually elevates it. Any tool is only as powerful as the person using it, and the technologies available to marketers now are more advanced than ever. As marketers, it’s time to level up and create smarter consumer experiences.

INNOVATION

The new products introduced at the conference underscored Google’s ongoing commitment to providing creative, innovative solutions for advertisers. However, it’s equally important for advertisers to think creatively about how we use those new products. We must always challenge ourselves to keep users’ intent top of mind and think about how we can serve them the right messaging at exactly the right time. Marketers need to truly understand their consumers in order to anticipate when their products would be useful and ensure they are serving up marketing in a way that is centered on value rather than opportunity.

As Google leaders mentioned repeatedly during the conference, the goal of everything they do is to drive better results, with simpler experiences and stronger collaboration. Here at 90octane, we are already implementing new learnings and product betas into our current campaigns. Want to get on board? Reach out to us.