PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook Report contains projections for U.S. advertising growth through 2028. 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 +6.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)¹ through 2028, and its share of total OOH advertising is increasing each year.
	Online Advertising Online is expected to have a +9.7% CAGR.
	Cinema Advertising Cinema has rebounded and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of +5.0%.
	Radio Advertising* Radio’s CAGR of +0.8% is down from last year, as is terrestrial online radio at +0.8% CAGR.
	TV Advertising² TV is expected to decline at a -2.6% CAGR.
	Newspaper Advertising* Newspapers continue to decline with a -2.1% CAGR; print retains the majority share of ad revenues and drops with a CAGR of -5.7%; digital will see muted growth with a +1.4% CAGR.
	Magazine Advertising Consumer magazines continue to fall with a -4.7% CAGR: digital drops slightly at +2.7% and print declines with a -12.0% CAGR; Trade magazines drop to a -2.9% CAGR: digital’s +1.0% CAGR is not enough to offset print’s -11.6%.

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.

²This year, online’s category includes online TV and digital publishing.

Source: PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook, reported by Marketingcharts.com; *includes Canada.

Media mix, the blend of channels a business uses to reach its audience, helps target prospective customers on the consumer journey and guide them through to conversion. Following are steps to help create the right media mix.

1. Consider your Media Mix Goals
Determine your primary media objectives:

• Startups should focus on building awareness, while established brands should focus on reaching consumers who are ready to buy.
• Set goals – to increase awareness, generate leads, drive sales, build loyalty, etc. – which helps determine who to target.*

2. Think about the Marketing Funnel
Media channels are effective at different points of the consumer journey:

• Examine which media types can influence awareness, interest, decision-making, loyalty, etc., and connect them to create pathways to conversion.
• Use consistent messaging themes/design across your media mix to help build brand recognition, nurture trust and reinforce your message.

3. Analyze your Audience
A media mix depends on the demographics and preferences of your target market:

• Identify your target audience and understand their media behaviors.*
• Run surveys, send out questionnaires and conduct interviews to help highlight new channels, see what’s working for your competitors, etc.

4. Bring your Media Channels Together
The channels in your media mix are more impactful when they work together:

• Connecting different channels and data sources presents your audience with consistent messaging.
• Implementing a comprehensive omnichannel strategy helps to link your media and provide targeted marketing messages.

An effective media mix can help achieve brand awareness and communication with your target audience. It is an essential part of reaching the right people at the right time and is key to driving conversions.

Source:channelsight.com; *linkedin.com

A recent study shows that small-medium sized business owners are growing in their optimism about the future. Customer satisfaction and overall revenue are increasing, while concerns about business issues continue to tick down every year. Following are highlights:

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Business owners are feeling confident about their relationships with new and existing customers:

• Fewer than half are concerned about creating relationships with new customers, down from two-thirds.
• Concerns have eased around maintaining relationships with existing clients.

PRODUCTS/SERVICES
Business owners are feeling positive about their products/services:

• Less than half are concerned about marketing their products/services effectively, down from 6 in 10.
• Creating new products/services that meet the changing needs of consumers is less of a concern.

With revenues and customer satisfaction increasing, and concerns trending down, small-medium sized business owners expect their business to be doing better this year.

Source: State of Small Business Report from Verizon, reported by marketingcharts.com

Building brand awareness is the foundation of your marketing efforts – sharing your name in the community, and earning trust, can influence consumers’ decision-making and purchases. Following are ways to help measure brand awareness.

1. Branded Search Volume
Monitor the number of searches about your business:

• The more people who search for your name or variations of it, the more people become aware of your business.
• Use tools for both organic search results and paid search campaigns.

2. Website Traffic
Measure direct and new traffic to provide insight into your brand’s reach:

• Direct traffic refers to users who type your website’s URL into their browser.
• New traffic cites users who visit your site for the first time.

3. Brand Mentions
Chances are good that people are talking about you on the internet:

• Monitor brand-mentions on social media and online publications.
• Set up alerts to get notified every time there are new results for your branded search term.

4. Social-Media Engagement
Social media works along with “word-of-mouth”:

• Understand how well your brand is performing across social-media platforms.
• Measure reach, impressions, mentions, followers, saves, and engagement, using native analytics¹ or social listening tools² on every social platform.

5. Customer Feedback
Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend you to others:

• Good reviews indicate that your business is leaving a positive impression on your customers.
• Less positive reviews highlight opportunities for improvement.

Understand how visible your brand is to your potential customers – from your website to social media to your customer’s entire purchase journey – and your efforts should transform into better customer engagement and increased revenue.

¹Native analytics: built into the back end of social platforms to provide insights on your following and engagement, and the performance of your content. (prnewsonline.com)

²Social listening tools: software that allows users to monitor, track, and analyze social media conversations. (brand24.com)

Source: Young Entrepreneur Council@YEC; Solomon Thimothy, president of OneIMS

Branding is the ability to distinguish your products/services within a target market and brand equity is the total value of a brand based on associations and expectations. Following are key elements that help determine brand equity:

1. Brand Awareness is critical and falls into two categories:

• Recognition: refers to consumers remembering past exposure to your brand.
• Recall: is about what product/service comes to mind when a category is discussed.

2. Brand Loyalty measures how loyal a consumer is to a brand:

• Cultivate strong relationships by providing exceptional customer service and high quality products/services.
• Offer loyalty rewards and incentives to encourage repeat purchases and referrals.

3. Perceived Quality is the value consumers equate with a brand … perception is everything:

• Differentiate yourself from competitors – specialization and/or exclusivity can lead to a higher perceived quality.
• Share your brand story to build trust and establish an emotional connection; consider how your product/service addresses customer needs.

4. Actual Associations is anything with which a consumer might associate a brand:

• Use a logo, specific color, tagline, etc., to encourage consumers to think about your business.
• Ensure consistency across all marketing materials, such as websites, social media profiles, etc., creating a cohesive visual identity.

Brand equity is an invaluable resource that sets your product/service apart and keeps your customers loyal. Understanding this equity can help generate insights to help narrow down a target market and determine a brand’s need for growth or repositioning.

Source: Entrepreneur.com, reported by Erica Dushley Saraway, Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor/VP Marketing & Sales