PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook Report contains projections for U.S. advertising growth through 2026.  Following are highlights for key media:

	Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Digital Out-of-Home (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) maintains its status as the fastest-growing segment with a +8.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)¹ through 2026. Out-of-home’s +5.1% CAGR is buoyed by digital out-of-home’s strength and OOH reports the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases of at least 37%.
	Online Advertising Online is expected to have a +8.0% Mobile online will grow faster at a +9.2% CAGR, with wired remaining at a +4.7% CAGR.
	Radio Advertising Radio is recovering slowing with a CAGR of just +1.5%. Online radio will be the fastest-growing segment with a +5.5%
	Television Advertising TV’s² overall CAGR is expected to be just +0.8%. Online TV’s +6.0% CAGR will be the fastest-growing sub-segment, with broadcast TV growing modestly at +1.0% CAGR.
	Newspaper Advertising Newspapers continue to decline with a -3.9% Digital’s CAGR of +1.0% is not growing quickly enough to offset print’s -7.7%, and digital is expected to overtake print advertising in 2026.
	Magazine Advertising Consumer magazines continue to fall with a -5.2% CAGR; digital’s +2.9% is not enough to offset print’s -11.7%. Trade magazines’ +1.5% CAGR overall expects digitals’ +4.6% CAGR to make-up for prints’ -3.2%.

¹The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the proportional growth rate from year to year for a business, used to calculate growth over a time period.

Source:  PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook, reported by Marketingcharts.com

Product marketing is in demand, as businesses look for new ways to connect with consumers.  Following are five tactics to help create impact for products/services:

1 ) Embrace both business and product strategies.

Businesses tend to focus on business development, which is important, yet product marketing shouldn’t be overlooked:

• The product/service runs the ship, and product marketing is what makes everything come to life.

• Understand the product/service end-to-end and everything in the process that surrounds it.

2 ) Customer-first mindset: outside in, inside out.

Think outside in by putting yourself in the shoes of the customer, creating a path to connect the customer to both the business and product strategy:

• Customers want products that intuitively meet and anticipate their needs; product marketing helps to represent their point of view and experience.

• It’s simple and effective — deliver for the customer and it ultimately makes the product better.

3 ) Establish a strategic foundation.  

Explain why your product/service is superior and how it solves the customer’s needs:

• Brand strategy, product positioning, messaging, personality and tone comprise the nucleus of your marketing plan and the face of your business approach.

• Ensure these elements are connected, clearly articulated, differentiated from competition, relevant to customers, and authentic to your business.

4 ) Develop a marketing toolkit.

Once the foundation is established, develop moving pieces that connect with the customer and drive forward business goals:

• Create a customer-focused website, product videos, digital advertising assets and targeted email campaigns.

• The marketing toolkit may be constantly evolving, so refer back to your strategic elements to ensure they all look, feel and sound the same.

5 ) Right conversation, right person, right time.

Addressing customers according to their individual wants and needs helps ensure communication will be positively received:

• Different types of customers will require different types of conversations.

• Make sure you’re talking to the right person in the right way through the right channel.

For product marketing to be successful, it is important to understand the product/service and how to represent a customer’s needs.  Build a strategic bridge from the business to the customer and create tools for all channels used throughout the process.

Source:  Media Post-The Marketing Insider, reported by Ben Kuenzle; factorial.com

Video is a versatile and engaging content format that provides pictures which are entertaining, engaging and easy to share across multiple platforms.  Following are four key reasons why video is crucial for your marketing strategy, along with tips for best practices.

1) Informing and Educating

• Over 95% of marketers claim that videos help customers understand products.¹
• Videos excel at giving customers a close look at a product/service.

2) Search Engine Optimization

• It is projected that over 80% of all traffic will consist of video.²
• Search engines love videos because of their high-quality content: optimize videos with the right keywords, a solid meta description* and a strong title.

3) Staying Competitive

• Just over 80% of businesses use video for marketing.¹
• By using storytelling and unique types of media, you can catch, and hold, people’s attention.

4) Boosting Conversions

• Ninety percent of consumers claim a video helps them make a purchasing decision³ and video boosts conversion rates** by 80%⁴.
• Videos keep people around long enough to continue looking on the site: consumers watching video stay two minutes longer and are 64% more likely to make a purchase⁵.

5) Tips for Best Practices

• Boost your SEO: use captions for autoplay, incorporate call-to-action***, keep the video on silent if it’s on a landing page and ensure your video is mobile friendly.
• Organize a library of videos on YouTube and incorporate them into various forms of content such as blogs and emails.

Video is one of the best ways to get close to your audience and give them a glimpse of your business.  Think beyond profit and product:  share your philosophy, provide news on an interesting event, or offer valuable information.  The more they know about your positive practices, the more likely customers will remain loyal to your business.

*Meta description:  an HTML element that summarizes the contents of your page for the benefit of users and search engines (wordstream.com).

**Conversion rate:  the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors (e.g., if a site receives 200 visitors in a month and has 50 sales, the conversion rate would be 50 divided by 200, or 25%) (optimizely.com).

***Call to action:  a prompt on a website that tells the user to take some specified action, typically written as a command or action phrase, such as ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Buy Now’ and generally takes the form of a button or hyperlink (optimizely.com).

 

Source:  digitalmarketinginstitute.com; ¹Hubspot; ²Cisco; ³Social Media Today; ⁴Wyzowl; ⁵Comscore

With the vast majority* of people using online to learn more about a local company, it’s not surprising that 18% of local mobile searches (mainly using Google) lead to a sale within one day.¹  As a result, it’s important your business is easy to find online.  Google My Business (GMB) is a local business listing platform that enables you to do so.

Following are tips for using this important tool:

Claim Your Google My Business Listing

• Create a profile from scratch or claim a business that’s already on GMB’s list.
• Update your page and verify your business with a code Google will send to your business address.

Include All the Essential Info

• Choose a category (from over 2,000 available), name, address and other essential information.
• Add a description with relevant keywords and attributes that will attract customers.

Upload Quality Images

• Add images of your storefront and/or team to help build a rapport and entice people to visit.
• Ensure the images are high quality and show your business in a positive light.

Attract Visitors to Your Page; Garner Positive Reviews

• Reviews affect your SEO**: GMB reviews with relevant keywords were the second most influential factor in rankings for local searches².
• Include signage in your store/business, add a link to review your business in your email signature and/or share positive reviews on your social media pages.

Respond to All Reviews

• Respond to all reviews on an ongoing basis, showing consumers that you’re responsive.
• By providing a satisfactory response, customers may leave a more favorable review than they did initially.

Post Content Continuously

• Google Posts enables GMB account owners to post content directly into the search engine results page.³
• Keep your listing fresh by sharing content continuously, including special offers, blog posts, events, photos, videos, etc.

“One solid way to attract visitors to your website and to your business … is by having an optimized Google My Business page.”  – Seth Rand, Founder/CEO of Rand Marketing

 

*97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else.

**SEO is a set of practices used for optimizing a website’s content, structure, and other integral parts with the goal of manipulating search engines’ result pages. (SEO Tribunal)

 

Source:  smallbiztrends.com, reported by Annie Pilon;

¹A study from Glo-Globe; (moz.com);

²A study from Local SEO Guide;

³hallaminternet.com

Both U.S. and global Out-of-Home (OOH) ad growth is expected to rise at a fast pace in 2020, with U.S. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) increasing even more rapidly.

Out-of-Home Ad Growth:

• Global: Out-of-Home is expected to see an 8.5% growth in 2020, the fastest increase in 13 years, and will continue to ramp up until 2023.
• U.S.: Out-of-Home’s compounded annual growth rate (CAGR)* will be 5.4% from 2018 through 2023.

U.S. Digital Out-of-Home Ad Growth:

• In the U.S., Digital Out-of-Home (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) will rise even more rapidly at an 8.5% CAGR from 2018 through 2023.
• In 2023, DOOH will have a 38.3% share of all Out-of-Home media in the U.S.

U.S. Consumer Exposure:

• U.S. consumer exposure to OOH advertising is expected to rise 1% to 2.96 hours per week through 2023.
• DOOH consumer exposure will rise at a 5.1% compounded rate to reach 1.23 hours by 2023.

 

*The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the proportional growth rate from year to year, used to calculate growth over a time period.

• Source: MediaDailyNews, reported by Wayne Friedman

“The future of the industry lies in understanding the customer’s intent.” –thinkwithgoogle.com

With the rise of voice assistants, chatbots, and conversational search, the customer journey more often starts with a question, a desire, a need, and AI-powered¹ discovery services (ex. search engines, apps, maps, etc.) are responding with more relevant, detailed information.  With this shift in consumer search behavior, following are insights for SEO² (Search Engine Optimization) strategies:

IF THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY STARTS WITH A QUESTION:  HOW DO MARKETERS ANSWER?

• To ensure your business appears in search results as the answer to your customers’ questions, manage your brand data, which is made up of hundreds of facts, concepts, and details about your products/services.
• The ideal architecture for AI-powered search and discovery services emerging today is to consolidate brand information in a single location. It must be accessible and structured to align to the changing digital ecosystem.

THE NEW CUSTOMER JOURNEY

• Search engines are retraining consumers to ask instead of search; the customer journey starts with a question, which leads to new, different questions as a part of the research process
• Google search results pages include a feature that shows what “people also ask”, with a set of questions to click on for answers, and to click through for a full search.

QUESTIONS ARE THE NEW KEYWORDS

• To keep up with the shift from keywords to questions, marketers must structure their brand data to provide direct answers, on and off the brand website.
• Question = Search = Intent: search marketing has moved beyond keywords to searcher’s intentions, and consumers’ questions state exactly what they want.

UNDERSTANDING INTENT ALONG THE JOURNEY

• To understand the customer’s journey and what’s important to them, examine their searches and the questions they asked.
• Map the journey by looking at when those questions were asked, and strategize to meet similar customers along the way.

BUILDING AN INTENT MODEL

• Build an intent model, which creates the basis to answer consumers’ questions, and identifies which search terms to target to get the best return for your customers.
• The goal is to understand and optimize marketing strategies for the customer’s path of intent.

DEMOGRAPHIC VS. INTENT MARKETING

• Demographic targeting studies who your customers are, but not what they do or how they feel. Relying only on demographics to reach consumers risks missing more than 70% of potential mobile shoppers.
• Research customers’ intent based on signals of interest in a product/service. Intent marketing is more effective at reaching and converting customers, and is reactive to their stated needs and raises fewer privacy concerns.

The customer journey starts with a question, and consumers expect answers. Provide accurate, consistent, brand-verified answers to consumer questions, no matter where or how customers are searching.

 

¹Artificial intelligence (AI):  the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems (searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com).  ²SEO (Search Engine Optimization):  the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through search engine results (moz.com).

Source:  Marc Ferrentino, Chief Strategy Officer at Yext; thinkwithgoogle.com; how-to-build-buyer-intent-model

PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook Report contains projections for U.S. advertising growth through 2023.  Following are highlights for major media:

	Online Advertising Online is expected to have a +8.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)¹ through 2023. Mobile online is projected to grow at a +13.1% CAGR, with wired forecast to decline at -16.6%.
	Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Digital out-of-home (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) remains strong with a +7.1%. Out-of-home has the strongest forecast of traditional media with a +3.1% CAGR, buoyed almost entirely by digital out-of-home’s.
	Cinema Advertising Cinema is predicted to grow at a CAGR of +3.6%. Cinema advertising revenues are much smaller than box office takings, although its CAGR is higher.
	Radio Advertising Radio is expecting a slight increase with a CAGR of +0.7%. Online radio will be the fastest-growing segment at +7.1%.
	Television Advertising TV continues to grow slowly at a +0.3% CAGR, in part due to declining TV viewing. Online TV is also growing slowly at a +4.6% CAGR, below the forecasts of the past several years.
	Magazine Advertising Consumer magazines remain pessimistic with a -2.8% CAGR; digital’s +3.9% is not enough to offset print’s -8.3%. Trade magazines -1.1% CAGR expects digital’s +4.8% to make up for print’s -7.6%.
	Newspaper Advertising Newspapers are expected to see a decline with a -4.7% CAGR. Digital’s CAGR of +2.5% is not growing quickly enough to offset print’s -9.3%.

¹The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the proportional growth rate from year to year for a business, used to calculate growth over a time period.

Source:  PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook, reported by Marketingcharts.com

AI (artificial intelligence) assistants*, like Alexa, could better connect businesses with customers, and new features expand Alexa’s reach.  Here are four Amazon updates for voice application developers that could change how businesses operate:

 1) Skills Recommendations

“Skills” are applications (apps) that let Alexa speak to devices, even websites, allowing users to perform more actions with voice-activated control and third-party offerings:

• Amazon’s “CanFullfillIntentRequest” interface checks location, so Alexa can answer questions like “Help me find a nearby carpenter”.
• Alexa can tap into its universe of voice apps with this interface, offering a new and growing way for local businesses to reach customers.

 2) Payments

Amazon accepts Amazon Pay for one-time payments or ongoing subscriptions:

• Curation services that recommend local activities and offer to buy tickets could also help facilitate commerce and provide convenience for users.
• With user location access extended to third-party voice app developers, businesses can complete the transaction loop by offering delivery.

 3) Notifications

Voice apps are bypassing some voice commands to interact with users through notifications:

• Notifications can be sent via an auditory noise or by animating the ring of light atop an Echo speaker.
• They’re available for a select group of skills, including Domino’s Pizza delivery updates, Washington Post news, and AccuWeather alerts.

  4) Voice Identification for Skills

If paying by voice alone, Alexa needs to understand whose credit card to use:

• “Your Voice” by Amazon is a voice identification service that provides personalization: playing news flash briefings, adding events to calendars, choosing the right number to call, and logging a user’s previous interactions with a game or skill.
• Alexa can also remember whatever you tell her, including what you recently said.

Don’t Fret/Forget! If you are a GSM client with business listings management, you are already listed on Alexa!  Since Alexa uses Google, Yelp and Bing listing data for local service/product voice searches, your business will be found if someone is searching for a service/product you provide.

 

*AI (artificial intelligence):  Conversational computers that people can interact with simply by having a conversation.

Source:  Venturebeat.com, reported by Khari Johnson.

Many internet marketing companies state that their services can get you to “number one” on Google, but do you know what is actually being done to get you there? Search engines have changed and “number one” cannot be guaranteed. Here is what you should know:

1. Getting to “number one” on Google isn’t necessarily the best goal for local businesses.
The first position on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are paid ads. This is what is being offered to you when you hear the line “we can get you to number one on Google” (see example at right)

• People who search for local businesses tend to ignore ads, and scroll to listings and search results.
• Searchers know that ads may be from national companies with no local presence in the community.
• Nearly all clicks on ads are accidental during searches for a local business.

2. No one can guarantee that you will be “number one” on Google.
Google doesn’t allow any website to be the “king of a keyword”; it’s about showing searchers what THEY want to see, based on their prior internet activity and location at the time of search:

• Google changes its ranking algorithms¹ frequently, so what worked previously, might not work today.
• If your business/website was previously visited, you are more likely to be number one, or high up on the page, if that person does a search relating to your business.
• You might be number one for those who live around the block from you, and number five for those who live one town over. Your position is NOT static even if it looks that way when you search for
  your own business.

3. Google AdWords² is not Search Engine Optimization, so what is?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about the content/structure of your website being tuned to peoples’ searches, not about placing ads leading to clicks to your website:

• The hit on your website through AdWords is not making it more “in demand” in the eyes of the search engines because the click did not originate from your website’s link on the SERP.
• Focus on actual SEO, so that the rankings you generate are real, with quality over quantity content that is relevant to who you want to drive to your website.
• Come up with a specific goal, such as pushing a product, service or sale and keep track of results.

Local businesses should have a unique approach when it comes to SEO, based on industry, location, and other factors. Be wary of companies making promises before getting to know your goals. Being number one on Google is not necessarily the ticket to success anymore in today’s digital landscape.

¹Algorithms: how social media platforms filter, rank and organize the content we see based on a specific set of criteria (prosperforpurpose.com).

²Google AdWords: An advertising service by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google and its advertising network. Businesses only pay when people click on ads; the service is largely focused on keywords. (webopedia.com).

All businesses are digital in some aspect.  Between finding new customers or staying connected to current ones, there’s much to consider for your marketing strategy.  Below are 4 key ways to give your business a digital tune-up:

1) Give your digital platforms a review.
Consider the look of your website, which is often your first impression to consumers:

• Ensure that your website is clean, responsive and easy to navigate.
• Fix broken links, refresh images, and update designs to engage more visitors.

2) Yes, you probably should pivot to video.
Research predicts that video will account for more than 80 percent of web traffic¹:

• Video can often better engage and tell a story than can a whitepaper or blog post.
• Video can be repurposed and shared across multiple platforms.

3) Think about your social media strategy.
Determine how social media plays a part in your overall business:

• If it is a source for new customers, or if continued engagement is important, then focus more attention on social media.
• Social media platforms each have their own strengths and weaknesses. If you have a loyal following or products/services that do well on a specific platform, stay the course.

4) Great content still matters.
Research indicates that longer-form, higher-quality content will be even more important in the years ahead²:

• Avoid generic filler content that populates the page with useless language.
• Provide readers with value so they feel they’ve learned something beneficial.

Leading trends in digital marketing will help move your business forward with a vision for success.  A balance between traditional marketing and an eye toward the future of brand building through digital is important in today’s media landscape.

Source:  BusinessNewsDaily.com, written by Derek Walter, founder of Walter Media; ¹Cisco Visual Networking Index-Forecast and Trends 2017-2022; ²Forbes-buzzsummo.com; internetmarketinginc.com

A recent study shows that CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) rank business growth as the top priority in marketing goals. Following are insights into achieving this objective, as well as other strategies and challenges*.

What are the top priorities in marketing?

Business growth ranks first as the primary role of marketing:
• #1: Delivery of business growth.
• #2: Ensuring effective brand management.
• #3: Developing the overall customer experience.

How do CMOs support business growth?

Building lasting relationships with customers is key to delivering business growth:

• #1: Securing long-term customer relationships.
• #2: Driving revenue growth.
• #3: Enhancing margin growth.

CMOs see a battle for consumer attention.

There are challenges in building long-term customer relationships:
• #1: Increasing levels of competition.
• #2: Consumers’ less responsive to traditional advertising.
• #3: Information overload.

*Top 3 rankings for each category

Source: Dentsu Aegis CMO Survey Report, reported by Marketing Charts