Natalia Sampériz (Semmántica): “The increase in the use of AI will generate an effect of revaluation of humans”

Let’s start at the beginning: what is Semmántica and what is it for?Semantics is a digital marketing agency specialized in Paid Media and digital analytics. Our reason for being is to achieve the best business results for our clients on a sustained basis, always trying to ensure that our service is impeccable in terms of diligence and treatment. This helps us create long-term client-agency relationships and provides us with recommendations that translate into new clients trusting us.

What is the secret ingredient to your success? Can you tell us how you get people to see the right ads when searching for products?The only secret is numerical optimization based on business data. Advertising platforms like Google, Meta or TikTok are designed so that advertisers invest the maximum possiblebut companies’ marketing budgets are always finite and advertising investment must be optimized: that is where we come in with strategies and implementation of campaigns that optimize the results we achieve for the client.

If, for example, the client has an e-commerce with 20,000 references, there are products that are profitable and others that are not, some that generate a greater volume of sales and others a lower one: the commercial margins and the acquisition cost of each of them will be key in the selection of products to promote at all times. The selection of products to promote is crucialand it is also something alive, changing.

You started your professional career when Google ads were almost science fiction. What inspired you to enter the world of digital advertising at that time and how has your vision evolved since then?When I discovered that Google was much more than a search engine, back in 2007, I was fascinated by the company’s philosophy, its vision and the products they developed.. Google Ads was a turning point in digital advertising because they are ads that satisfy a need ipso facto depending on the search query.

In addition, any company can start with a low budget, which democratizes the rules of the game between small and large companies, something that also happens in other digital marketing channels.

This idea attracted me enough to delve deeper into it academically, dedicate myself to digital marketing professionally and create a business around it, Semmántica.

Semmántica has been one of the pioneers in Spain in this field. It was also successful in obtaining the Google Partner Premier badge. How has this recognition impacted the agency’s reputation and growth over the years?From the beginning we opted for a service specialized in Paid Media and web analytics, which was a success, since it represented a competitive advantage over other generalist agencies that also offered web design, SEO, social media management, etc.

Google has also been able to recognize our focus on Google Ads and Google Analytics, which is why we were one of the first agencies in Spain to be part of Google Partner Premier. This has allowed us to be at the forefront of product launches and new developments.it is very interesting to be able to get to know them first-hand by attending the events they organize for this in Dublin, New York or San Francisco: being there with the best agencies in the world allows you to take a different perspective on daily work.

The Google Partners International Growth Program has been key to the international expansion of your clients. What specific challenges have you faced in this expansion and how has the program helped you overcome them?Although we have been working on international campaigns for many years, the Google International Growth program has represented a qualitative and quantitative leap in our way of approaching campaigns in other countries, from the initial analysis to assess which market may be most suitable to the continuous optimization to achieve a sustained growth in a foreign market for months or years.

Google has provided us with everything from international market analysis tools to specific training in internationalization for the team, so we have consolidated this business line, improving it and giving it more importance in the growth strategies of our clients.

You have competed in the prestigious Google Agency Excellence Awards on several occasions. What work has led you to be candidates for these awards and what has been their impact?The first nomination was in 2022 for the internationalization work carried out with Futbol Emotion, the second in 2023 with Mayoral and this year 2024 with Desigual’s great success storya client with whom we started managing Google Ads campaigns in 19 countries and, in less than a year, we have expanded to 28 countries today.

It is difficult to know exactly the impact that these nominations generate, but I can assure you that Sitting in a box at the Google offices in Dublin and seeing Semmántica alongside the best digital marketing agencies in Europe is a huge source of pride. for the entire team and a boost of motivation to continue growing and improving.

The digital advertising industry is very dynamic. How do you stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies and how important is innovation to remain competitive in such a changing environment?Daily and collaborative learning is key in this industry. To do this, in addition to the motivation of each team member to learn and explore, they must be accompanied by the appropriate tools, in our case Slack or Google Workspace are essential to communicate daily and share knowledge, especially with people who work remotely.

Nevertheless, In my opinion, it is essential that there is one-on-one human contact from time to time, which is why face-to-face sessions are something that we promote.: Remote work is a great advantage, but being able to share laughter in person in a creativity session or talk about any topic over coffee strengthens relationships on another level.

Artificial intelligence and machine learningg are increasingly relevant tools in the field of digital advertising. How is Semmántica incorporating these technologies into your current work?He machine learning It is something that has been with us for many years, since the algorithms that Google and Meta use for advertising optimization use it directly to suggest improvements or directly to make automatic changes to campaigns.

The important thing is to know how this machine learning works on each platform and know how to use it to combine powerful machine learning with business knowledge and the common sense that humans can provide as complementary skills to those of the machine.

What are Semmántica’s next objectives in terms of innovation and international growth?In terms of innovation, we are exploring and implementing the latest AI functionalities that they are incorporating into their tools. partners like Google or Microsoft.

Along these lines, a new dimension has been opened in the way of processing data, exploiting it and representing it to offer more value to the client and in a more efficient way in terms of operations.

In terms of international growth, we have the luck of sailing with hiberus in the jump to the other side of the Atlanticwhere we are growing in several countries in LATAM and the USA. For us it is a new and exciting path that allows us to cross borders, taking on the challenge of working with new clients from different cultures in different markets.

How do you see the evolution of digital advertising in the next five years?Nobody has a crystal ball and five years on the Internet is a long time, but I’m going to get wet: on the one hand, I am sure that the changes that are taking place in All advertising and data analysis tools with the incorporation of AI will allow us to work more efficiently being able to allocate our time to high-value tasks.

Besides, I have doubts about where the continuous legislative changes being made by the European Union will take us. regarding data protection, privacy and digital markets; It will be interesting to see if any large technology companies are put in check with the changes in the market that this may entail, as well as in what regulatory framework companies will have to navigate when advertising on the Internet. Technology allows us to do almost anything nowadays, but legislation limitsfor better or worse, how far can you go.

Finally, I am sure that the increase in the use of AI will generate an effect of revaluation of humans: I think that the personal brand of someone with a face, name and surname will have more value than ever and that, in addition, commercial brands are going to merge in a certain way with personal brands because what is a brand if not a group of people who work behind her?