You’ve probably been served an ad, received an email, or seen a blog post from an agency boasting optimizing your site with AI SEO. Seems great, right? Spend less than a quarter of the money you would on human driven SEO and receive a service that even Google is using.  As artificial intelligence increases its place in digital, this doesn’t feel like a reach. But here’s the thing: It’s objectively wrong.  AI cannot do much for your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) ranking.  The opposite, in fact: Google is configured to recognize and flag AI-generated website influence ..read more

In July of last year, Google transitioned website owners from its widely-used Universal Analytics (UA) platform to its next-generation Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – an effort to keep pace with evolving privacy regulations and user expectations. GA4 reviews so far have been mixed. As they’ve adjusted to GA4 (often begrudgingly!), many businesses have taken solace in and taken advantage of Google’s UA grace period: For one year from July 1st, 2023, Universal Analytics historical reporting data remains available through the classic UA interface, allowing website owners access to insights on use ..read more

Let’s step back in time, shall we? To the early aughts, when websites were a company’s undisputed calling card. Back then, exorbitant resources went into developing, maintaining, and driving traffic to websites, and optimizing for a new-fangled concept called SEO. Today, by contrast, omni-channel marketing reigns supreme. By definition, omni-channel sends users across a sea of messaging platforms, from social to mobile to e-commerce to, yes, websites. With resources now divided among all of the above, though, OG websites sometimes start collecting dust. But here’s the thing: Businesses –&nbs ..read more

TikTok Shop, the social media platform’s e-commerce offering, launched in the U.S. last September, letting TikTok users buy items they see in videos without leaving the app. TikTok’s choice to leverage its influence and reach came as little surprise. Its immediate advertising overload, on the other hand? “I’d now describe my For You Page as a scrolling infomercial that knows it needs to show me a couple Shadowheart memes to keep me looking,” freelance journalist A.W. Ohlheiser lamented on Vox. The majority of grievances, meanwhile, were aired on Reddit and, yes, TikTok. “I can’t just get ..read more

Google’s market dominance is no secret. The search engine receives eight and a half billion queries daily, making its inner workings a goldmine of insight into what people worldwide are asking, wanting, and thinking. Imagine pulling back the proverbial curtain and seeing it all – what’s top of mind at any given moment, in any place, as evidenced by internet searches. You can. It’s called Google Trends. And maybe the wildest part: Very few marketers are using it. WHAT IS GOOGLE TRENDS EXACTLY? Around since 2012, Google Trends is a minute-to-minute look at Google search queries for trending ..read more

We’re pleased to welcome Mike Johnson to the Hammer Marketing team. Mike brings a passion for marketing and nearly five years of experience. Prior to joining Hammer Marketing, Mike worked at his alma mater’s in-house marketing department, honing his copy, design, and analytical skills on print, digital, newsletters, and radio. Mike’s new role expands on those skills, encompassing website content buildouts, SEO implementation, email marketing, and copy for clients. “I’m very excited about working at Hammer Marketing. I have the opportunity to learn, dive in and sharpen my skills on SEO, the bac ..read more

Hammer Marketing is on the front lines of our clients’ quests for success. For businesses who hand us all of their marketing, we are the front line – a key factor in whether or not they gain market share. Most of the time, our rapport with clients is sublime. It doesn’t take long to get in lockstep on all fronts: communication, working style, and rhythm. This stems largely from the fact that Hammer Marketing clarifies what we want, need, and expect, in our clients before we agree to work with them – and from clients doing the same when it comes to vetting us. Because let’s be re ..read more

Change happens at warp speed in digital marketing. Even “old reliables” – Google Analytics and WordPress, for example – are constantly updating and evolving. All the while, new MarTech comes at us like… Brick Dodge GIFfrom Brick GIFs Luckily, deciding which digital marketing trends to leverage for clients is Hammer Marketing’s calling card. Here’s a look back at what worked this year (spoiler: AI is runner-up in our book, not queen!) and some bold digital marketing predictions for 2024. Google Analytics 4 2023 Recap: For the Hammer Marketing team, 2023 goes down as the Year of the G ..read more

Lead generation can feel like one of those chain-reaction contraptions: We hold our breath as prospects travel from one platform to the next (ads to landing pages to third-party forms and so on). The goal? To convert them to customers before they drop.   Now imagine a faster, shinier chain-reaction machine. One with added momentum. With a hand deftly guiding a marble along sturdier pathways – for less chance of hitting the floor.   That’s the crux of one of 2024’s most promising marketing options: Meta lead generation ads. The Meta Touch Last year, Meta brought lead generation square ..read more

Noticing an uptick in ads that compel you to reach for your credit card, scan a QR code, or make a mental note to check something out?   It’s probably not your imagination. It probably is programmatic marketing. What is Programmatic Marketing? Programmatic marketing is the use of automated, real-time bidding (sometimes abbreviated RTB) to buy and sell ad space on digital platforms including: Streaming media platforms, also known as over-the-top (OTT) advertising (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc.) Audio platforms (Pandora, Spotify, Audible, podcasts) Digital billboards Captive audience platfor ..read more