Eric Morris Speaks with Us About Google Advertising for Todays World

Eris is the Managing Director of Google’s retail practice in Canada. Google works with 5 different categories of retailers across the country, Big-box retailers like Walmart or Home Depot, grocers like Loblaws, and online e-commerce retailers such as essence.com, direct Canadian consumer brands like Lululemon or Canada Goose, and online infrastructure retailers such as Shopify.

Eric has worked for Google for 18 years and says it was dumb luck that allowed him to stay for so long and succeed into the position he has today. Early in his career he studied media and wrote a lot, as he puts it, then decided he didn't want to be a writer and switched paths into the business of media and the internet that was new and exciting at the time. Working for a few smaller internet companies early in his career, then Eric moved on to Yahoo and Double click. After many of these companies dropped from the Canadian market in the early 2000s, Google called him up offering him a position to represent Canada at first in individual contributor advertising roles and later moving on to management leading different sectors such as industry-focused teams, the automotive practice, and financial services practice. Working cross country, Eric has also dabbled in launching Google’s mobile ads business and has been currently leading its retail practice in Canada for the last 4 years.

Eric says the magic formula for retailers these days is selling both online and in-store. “It’s the best of both worlds,” catering to the preferences of as many shoppers as possible. We have seen Canadian businesses like Indochino start out as pop-up shops or online-only, and grow as they become more established businesses with storefronts or vice-versa. There's so much to be said for having a physical footprint for consumers to discover you just by walking down the street or in the mall, rather than discovering your business online. “I think that really is the magic for almost all retailers, the best way to serve as many customers as possible is to have the omnichannel experience, so online and in-store,” he explains.

Google advertising helps retailers drive sales and build their brands online. “That's really the core of it,” he explains, working online and in-store to push sales with a signal of intent. Using the Google Search Engine, Canadians are constantly sharing what their next purchase intent is, which gives the Google team the upper hand to target consumers with ads that would best fit their needs. There's a lot of intent there so of course, it's very appealing to businesses but mostly retailers, so driving sales is really the core of what they do.

Eric's team focuses not only on the sale but also on building brand awareness and trust. Allowing customers to become familiar with the product or brand name, and feels comfortable enough to buy the product. “Consumers have to know who you are, know what you stand for, and your values of a business or retailers and sometimes they have to think and know of you to even have that intent and know what you want to buy,” Eric elaborates.

When it comes to Google ads, there are many to talk about. Eric explains the process starts with a search, we’ve all seen and experienced these ads before, these pay-per-click text ads at the top of search results that have the keywords to match said search which allows retailers to track if and when a sale or visit is made from said ad. Then, there are shopping ads which is another “flavor” of search which allows retailers to upload a list of products with a picture and description with price, which is great for retailers.

Other high-level ads that Google provides is contextual advertising, if you're reading an article on say, “The Best Luggage of the Season”, you’re likely to get a contextual ad for luggage on the article. “The intent isn't quite as high, but it's pretty close,” he clarifies, most people reading reviews or articles on products are in the market to buy. Other ad formats like Youtube ads, also reach high intent shoppers that are in the market to buy a specific product and show this intent through searching in google or reviews on youtube.

Eric explains if you're looking to set up advertising for your business online, the two most effective practices are email marketing and search ads. You can also utilize their free tools like Google My Business, Google Trends, and Google Analytics among other tools to get yourself out there.

With Black Friday and the holidays coming up, it's a bit unpredictable for retailers to know where sales will come from because of the pandemic. “Right now the only certainty is uncertainty,” Eric knows it's a challenging time for business owners to stay on their feet. Questions like whether or not a business will stay open or if there will be enough stock for certain products is all unknown.

Many are wondering what's going to go out of stock this holiday season like bikes or outdoor heaters have in the last few months. Eric states that the playbook from the past is kind of out the window, and now we’re in adapt and survival mode. One thing that is expected this holiday season is the major rise in online orders like we have seen over the last year, but now the question is whether or not all of these e-commerce orders can be fulfilled because it's going to be more important than ever. Eric says to be on top of these orders because they are going to come earlier than ever, and they’re going to come in large numbers.

Written by Juliana Bermudez