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5 Reasons Why Website Security is Important

The importance of website security is increasing rapidly due to an increase in hacking activity.

About 30,000 to 50,000 websites get hacked every day and the numbers are growing daily. Online security is vital to protect your website and the data it holds. Growth Spark Media recognizes this and implements top-level security for your website’s protection. The following are five reasons why we do:

1. Hacked websites can target your customers:

Over half (56%) of internet traffic is from an automated source such as hacking tools, scrapers, spammers, impersonators and bots.
Malicious software (malware) infects websites, gathers data and hijacks computer resources.
If not protected, hackers can infect your website visitors with malware.

2. The number of hacked sites rises rapidly:

Attacks occur every 39 seconds on average; non-secure usernames/passwords give attackers more chance for success.
Hacked websites are used to retarget your site visitors so security is important to keep your customers safe.
Attacks do not always turn into hacks: those targeted at protected websites aren’t successful.

3. Potential loss of revenue and reputation:

More than 80% of hacked sites have been removed from search results¹.
Search engines warn and restrict consumers from entering some websites (ex. sites without SSL², which are marked as insecure, etc.).
Hacked websites may cause consumers to lose trust and not visit your site again, leading to loss of reputation and/or revenue.

4. Website clean-up is more expensive than protection.

Malware is often hidden from the original files/database and attackers work hard to ensure that their backdoors³ are not easily removed.
It is recommended that a professional clean your hacked website, which can be expensive.
Around 84% of websites contain vulnerabilities⁴ so manual clean-ups are preferred.

5. Websites get blacklisted.

Blacklisted websites – those containing something harmful — are expelled by search engines, losing almost 95% of organic traffic.
Google quarantines at least 10,000 suspicious websites each day, warning users to stay away.
To become relisted, a site clean-up is required.

The importance of website security is increasing rapidly. You can rest easy knowing that the team here at Growth Spark Media uses the latest security software to protect your website, your business, and your customers. For more information regarding your website security, we encourage you to reach out to your GSM representative directly.

²SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a secure protocol developed for sending information securely over the internet (techterms.com)

³A backdoor attack uses a specific type of malware so hackers can avoid normal authentication procedures to gain access to a target system (techslang.com)

Source: Agnes Talalaev from patchstack, ¹Search Engine Journal; ⁴research by Acunetix

Prepping for Google Page Experience

It’s important to plan ahead and implement best practices to prepare for Google Page Experiences’ metrics.

Google will be adding a Page Experience metric to its ranking factors, which will measure a site’s overall responsiveness and reward pages that offer a better user experience.

While quality of content remains the most essential aspect from an SEO* perspective, this metric will affect ranking results, so it’s important to be well informed. Following is how to prepare, with steps we continue to provide at Growth Spark Media to ensure the most optimal results in Google search.

1) Get an excellent web hosting service

Ensure your site is fast and responsive – performance is already a key ranking factor.
Analyze your site’s responsiveness with a website performance monitoring tool.
Check out sites that gather and share performance data on web hosting providers.

2) Keep your page’s size light

Avoid overstuffing web pages with visual content that slows down your site.
Optimize images and make them weigh less by using image compressor tools.
If your page is content-heavy, spread the largest items to multiple pages within your site.

3) Optimize your site for mobile

Google only wants to display mobile-friendly sites: there are an estimated 3.5 billion smartphone users, growing to 3.8 billion**.
Ensure that your site adjusts to small screens – it’s what users expect when accessing info on smartphones.
Test if your site is mobile-responsive.

4) Install security measures

Weed out any deceptive content, such as spyware, social engineering scams, false information, etc.
Scan your website to see if any issues pop up.
Add a firewall (network security device) to protect your site from malware and other hacking attempts.

5) HTTPS

Google prefers sites with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate in the website’s URL — http://https://— the latter is SSL secured.
The SSL certificate encrypts any data that travels between users and servers.
A “not secure warning” is mainly due to the site missing an SSL certificate.

6) Tone down or remove large pop-up banners

Google aims to penalize sites that aggressively keep users from quickly accessing content.
Avoid giant banners and pop-ups that cover the screen, are difficult to dismiss or keep popping up.
Disclaimers, cookie info, age policies, login dialogs and reasonably sized banners are exceptions.

It’s important to plan ahead and implement best practices to prepare for Google Page Experiences’ metrics. Through testing your site’s performance, security, and mobile friendliness, Growth Spark Media continues to be on top of these strategies and will tweak or add to your site based on the results.

*SEO (Search Engine Optimization): the practice of improving your online visibility in organic search results to increase the quantity and quality of your website traffic (webfx.com)
Source: Searchenginewatch.com, Gert Svaiko; **Research from Statista

How to Analyze, Redesign, Rebuild Brands

To earn consumer trust, it’s important that businesses review and evaluate their brand design, perception and values. Following are three steps to help stay creatively connected with consumers:

1) Re-evaluate your foundation:

Identify the brand story, images and logos associated with your business.
Ensure your message is positive, sensitive and meaningful.
Pinpoint areas of growth to create an identity that promotes authenticity, transparency and a personal connection with consumers.

2) Anticipate the meaning of symbols:

Symbol design helps foster relationships and perception with your audience, conveying different meanings and emotional responses.
It’s critical to anticipate what a symbol might mean to others — establish a logo that aligns with your audience and its values.
Aligning symbols with cultural context will help your logo and brand remain timeless and impactful.

3) Leverage the power of color:

Colors are quick and powerful tools that communicate what your product/service is and how it is perceived.
The way colors mix, match and contrast influences consumers’ emotional responses, perception and trust.
Color makes up to 90% of a consumer’s initial assessment and ultimate judgment for a brand* — choose colors that align with your identity, values, industry and what you want your audience to feel.

Businesses should consistently evaluate how they are perceived and take steps for any improvements. Brands can create positive changes by focusing on core values, colors and logo design.

Source: MediaPost-The Marketing Insider, reported by Beth Doane;
*Studies by CCICOLOR – Institute for Color Research.

Five Point Checklist for Planning Your Digital Marketing Strategy

As the year ends, it’s time for businesses to plan their marketing initiatives. Following is a checklist to help ensure your business is ready for the new year.

1) Look Back to Get Ahead

Review your progress during the past year for insight into which tactics to repeat or eliminate. Ask yourself:

What steps did you take to adjust to any obstacles?
Where did you do well or miss the mark?
What are the short and long-term effects of any challenges for your industry?
Is there anything that needs to be done differently or adjusted moving forward?

2) Center Your Plan on Key Areas of Growth

Focus on areas with the most potential for growth, starting with these questions:

Which parts of your business or campaigns generated the highest revenue?
Do your customers have needs that haven’t been met?
Are there changes in the marketplace that you need to adapt to?
Have you conducted Search Engine Optimization (SEO)¹, social media and content audits to know where you stand?

3) Set S.M.A.R.T Goals

Set clear, reachable goals to measure your success using the S.M.A.R.T. method, which represents these five attributes:

Specific: Help narrow your goals with the five “W” questions:

- What do I want to accomplish?
- Why is this goal important?
- Who is involved?
- Where is it located?
- Which resources are needed?

Measurable: Have something to measure against to monitor your progress toward achieving your objectives.
Attainable: Keep your goals realistic, with the resources and budget necessary to reach your desired results.
Relevant: Assure your plan supports accomplishing other business objectives.
Timely: Keep to a schedule that is realistic and flexible, adjusting along the way as needed.

4) Strategize a Game Plan

Strategize a game plan for obtaining your goals with the following tactics:

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)² and Optimization (SEO)
Online Directories (ex. Google My Business, Yelp, etc.)
Social Media
Content Marketing
Email Marketing

5) Analyze and Track Progress

Set up a way to quantify and track your progress, either by using a third-party or by implementing each of your channel’s reporting features. Having good data keeps you accountable and provides a way to check your progress along the way.

By marking off each section on this list, you will be well on your way to implementing a robust digital marketing strategy.

SEO¹: Optimizing your website for the purpose of getting free traffic from search engines.

²SEM: Increasing visibility in search engines either by getting paid traffic through PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, when advertisers pay a cost per click, or through SEO. — reliablesoft.net

Source: Vivial.net

U.S. Media Advertising Outlook Through 2024

PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook Report contains projections for U.S. advertising growth through 2024. Following are highlights for major media:

	Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Digital Out-of-Home (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) remains strong with a +7.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)¹ through 2024. Out-of-home has the strongest forecast of traditional media with a +2.8% CAGR, buoyed almost entirely by digital out-of-home’s growth.
	Online Advertising Online is expected to have a +4.1% CAGR, below forecasts of past years. Mobile online will grow faster at a +6.2% CAGR, with wired forecast to decline at -1.5%.
	Radio Advertising Radio is expected to remain flat with a CAGR of +0.6%. Online radio will be the fastest-growing segment with a +7.1% CAGR.
	Television Advertising TV continues to grow slowly at a +0.4% CAGR, despite a rise in TV viewing. Online TV is also growing slowly at a +3.9% CAGR, below forecasts of past years.
	Cinema Advertising Cinema advertising revenue will decline with a CAGR of -2.2%. Cinema box office takings will not fare any better.
	Magazine Advertising Consumer magazines remain pessimistic with a -4.2% CAGR; digital’s +2.9% is not enough to offset print’s -11.1%. Trade magazines -0.7% CAGR expects digital’s +4.4% to make up for print’s -7.0%.
	Newspaper Advertising Newspapers continue to decline with a -6.3% CAGR. Digital’s CAGR of +1.9% is not growing quickly enough to offset print’s -12.4%.

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

The Importance of Investing in Ongoing Marketing

“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two… basic functions: marketing and innovation. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result… from the customer’s point of view.” — Peter Drucker, leading expert on management theory

Successful businesses never stop marketing. Marketing is the regular, sustained nourishment that gets your business where you want it and keeps it there. Following are four reasons why thriving businesses engage in vigorous, ongoing marketing efforts:

ONGOING MARKETING:

Protects your reputation:

Your business is always improving, yet people’s perceptions tend to remain fixed and may be out of sync.
It takes time to define/shape your reputation and you need to be doing it continuously, keeping customers up to date.

Shapes your customer base:

As your business evolves, target different audiences: your focus may change only slightly or it may expand to a new customer base.
Constantly evaluate your target and adjust your messaging, visuals, and strategy accordingly.

Gives you many options:

Having “just enough” business isn’t enough; with active marketing, there should be more demand than you can meet.
This allows you to properly select your customers, focusing on the most profitable ones, and have a waiting list ready for slower times.

Secures your business’s future:

Marketing creates and strengthens business.
Don’t leave your future up to chance — plant seeds now that will harvest next season.

Viability – lots of work, happy customers, a busy staff – is a key milestone in the life of a business. This is the beginning, not the end, of your journey and marketing will be your constant companion every step of the way.

Source: Posted by James Archer, crowdfavorite.com

How to Use Emotion to Elevate Your Marketing

“Humans are driven by feelings. So if you want the consumer to remember your product or brand, they must be engaged and impassioned by the interaction with your company.”

– Logan Chierotti, Inc.

People buy emotions, not products/services: up to 80% of consumers’ decisions are fueled by emotion, not logic (1), so to compete, marketers must appeal to consumers’ feelings.

Following are insights into why and how businesses should use emotions to optimize their marketing strategies.

Research Reveals that Emotions Influence Consumer Decision Making:

Consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences), rather than information (brand attributes, features, and facts), when evaluating brands (2).
Consumers’ emotional response to an ad has a greater influence on their intent to make a purchase than does the ad’s content.
Likeability is the measure most predictive of whether an ad will increase sales (3).
Positive emotions have a greater impact on consumer loyalty than trust and other judgments, which are based
on a brand’s attributes.

Important Components of a Brand have Emotional Dimensions:

Rich and powerful representations of a brand include its personality.
Brand personality is communicated through packaging, visual imagery, and specific words used to describe products/services.
A brand’s emotions are found in its narrative – the story that communicates who it is, what it means to the consumer, and why the consumer should care – and is the basis for brand advertising and promotion.
Most importantly, emotions push consumers toward action.

Use Data to Prioritize the Emotional Needs of Consumers:

Lean on data to learn what customers search for and to understand their emotional needs.
Dig into common emotional motivators, which are the feelings that drive customers’ behavior (4).
Emotional motivators provide a better gauge of a customer’s future value to a business than any other metric, including brand awareness and customer satisfaction.
In your search efforts, maintain the brand voice and feeling that you channel in your advertising, so that customers have a consistent experience with you, producing a consistent emotion.

An understanding of consumer purchase behavior should be based on knowledge of human emotion and include the paramount influence that they have on decision-making. Businesses that successfully appeal to emotions have reaped considerable rewards.

Source: Yext.com, reported by Jaime Netzer; ONWARD19; 1 Psychology Today; SocialMediaToday, by Bryan Kramer; 2 Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); 3 Advertising Research Foundation (ARF); 4 Harvard Business Review

Creating a Strong Brand Positioning Statement

Branding plays an essential role in a business’ development: studies show consistent brand presentation increases revenue up to 23%*. Each piece of content – ads, website, social media, etc. – should communicate your business’ core values. Following are steps to ensure your marketing efforts are aligned with your brand:

Define the Core Elements of Strategic Market Positioning

Target Market: Define and target your ideal customer so that your message resonates.
Market Category: Determine your competition and how to position your brand against them.
Customer Concerns: Address customers’ issues and provide a solution.
Brand Promise: Outline what consumers will gain from using your product/service.
Mission: Establish your approach, objectives and goals.
Brand Identity/Values: Execute the personality of your business, both visible (e.g. logo, design, etc.) and less visible (e.g. values, voice, etc.), to set you apart and gain recognition.

Create a Positioning Statement

A positioning statement is an internal tool used to align your marketing efforts, and describes how your product/service fills a need of your target market. It emphasizes your brand’s identity, purpose, and distinguishing features:
- Who you serve
- What you offer them
- How you offer it
- Why you do what you do
- How this compares to what’s already out there

Tips for Writing a Positioning Statement

Keep it brief, concise and to the point, aiming for no more than five sentences.
Make it unique and memorable, highlighting the distinctive qualities of your brand.
Remain true to your brand and reflect your business’ core values.
State who your customers are and how you help them.
Communicate how your business differs from the competition.
Keep it clear for use as a guideline to ensure that your business decisions align with your brand.

Your positioning statement should provide room for growth as your business matures and products/services change. Be sure to consistently market your brand and develop an ongoing message across all platforms.

Source: Meredith Hart, Hubspot.com; *lucidpress.com

The Importance of Video Marketing

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.

Video is one of the best ways to get close to your audience and give them a glimpse of your business.

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

What do Consumers Pay Attention to When Judging a Local Business by its Reviews?

A recent study shows that online reviews for local businesses are the norm for many consumers: 82% report reading reviews and over 90% say that a positive review makes them more likely to use a business.

Reviews have a vital impact on the behavior of local consumers.

Following are key findings:

Recency:
Recency of reviews impacts consumers’ decisions:

Nearly 3 in 5 consumers judge a review by how recent it is.
Almost half say a review should be within two weeks of when they view it in order to impact their decision, while one-fifth say it can be as recent as one month.

Star Ratings:
Consumers consider a minimum number of stars before using a business:

The majority of consumers pay attention to overall star ratings.
Seventy percent say a business should have either 3 or 4 stars, 53% would consider 3 stars or less, and 12% insist on a 5-star rating.

Quantity:
The quantity of reviews influences consumers’ trust:

Half of consumers pay attention to the quantity of reviews.
Consumers read an average of ten reviews before trusting a business.

Posting Reviews:
Consumers are more likely to post positive reviews:

Three-fifths left a review for a local business after having a positive experience.
Only 25% say they left a review after a negative experience.

Reading Responses to Reviews:
Consumers place value on businesses that respond to reviews:

Just over 70% of consumers are more likely to use a business that responds to existing reviews.
Businesses should respond promptly, politely and helpfully to both positive and negative reviews.

Reviews can have a vital impact on the behavior of local consumers–an online reputation strongly affects whether customers choose to use a business.

Source: The Local Consumer Review Survey-BrightLocal.com, reported by MarketingCharts.com

Google will be adding a Page Experience metric to its ranking factors, which will measure a site’s overall responsiveness and reward pages that offer a better user experience.

1) Get an excellent web hosting service

Ensure your site is fast and responsive – performance is already a key ranking factor.

Analyze your site’s responsiveness with a website performance monitoring tool.

Check out sites that gather and share performance data on web hosting providers.

2) Keep your page’s size light

Avoid overstuffing web pages with visual content that slows down your site.

Optimize images and make them weigh less by using image compressor tools.

If your page is content-heavy, spread the largest items to multiple pages within your site.

3) Optimize your site for mobile

Google only wants to display mobile-friendly sites: there are an estimated 3.5 billion smartphone users, growing to 3.8 billion**.

Ensure that your site adjusts to small screens – it’s what users expect when accessing info on smartphones.

Test if your site is mobile-responsive.

4) Install security measures

Weed out any deceptive content, such as spyware, social engineering scams, false information, etc.

Scan your website to see if any issues pop up.

Add a firewall (network security device) to protect your site from malware and other hacking attempts.

5) HTTPS

Google prefers sites with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate in the website’s URL — http://https://— the latter is SSL secured.

The SSL certificate encrypts any data that travels between users and servers.

A “not secure warning” is mainly due to the site missing an SSL certificate.

6) Tone down or remove large pop-up banners

Google aims to penalize sites that aggressively keep users from quickly accessing content.

Avoid giant banners and pop-ups that cover the screen, are difficult to dismiss or keep popping up.

Disclaimers, cookie info, age policies, login dialogs and reasonably sized banners are exceptions.

To earn consumer trust, it’s important that businesses review and evaluate their brand design, perception and values. Following are three steps to help stay creatively connected with consumers:

1) Re-evaluate your foundation:

Identify the brand story, images and logos associated with your business.

Ensure your message is positive, sensitive and meaningful.

Pinpoint areas of growth to create an identity that promotes authenticity, transparency and a personal connection with consumers.

2) Anticipate the meaning of symbols:

Symbol design helps foster relationships and perception with your audience, conveying different meanings and emotional responses.

It’s critical to anticipate what a symbol might mean to others — establish a logo that aligns with your audience and its values.

Aligning symbols with cultural context will help your logo and brand remain timeless and impactful.

3) Leverage the power of color:

Colors are quick and powerful tools that communicate what your product/service is and how it is perceived.

The way colors mix, match and contrast influences consumers’ emotional responses, perception and trust.

Color makes up to 90% of a consumer’s initial assessment and ultimate judgment for a brand* — choose colors that align with your identity, values, industry and what you want your audience to feel.

Businesses should consistently evaluate how they are perceived and take steps for any improvements. Brands can create positive changes by focusing on core values, colors and logo design.

As the year ends, it’s time for businesses to plan their marketing initiatives. Following is a checklist to help ensure your business is ready for the new year.

1) Look Back to Get Ahead

Review your progress during the past year for insight into which tactics to repeat or eliminate. Ask yourself:

What steps did you take to adjust to any obstacles?

Where did you do well or miss the mark?

What are the short and long-term effects of any challenges for your industry?

Is there anything that needs to be done differently or adjusted moving forward?

2) Center Your Plan on Key Areas of Growth

Focus on areas with the most potential for growth, starting with these questions:

Which parts of your business or campaigns generated the highest revenue?

Do your customers have needs that haven’t been met?

Are there changes in the marketplace that you need to adapt to?

Have you conducted Search Engine Optimization (SEO)¹, social media and content audits to know where you stand?

3) Set S.M.A.R.T Goals

Set clear, reachable goals to measure your success using the S.M.A.R.T. method, which represents these five attributes:

Specific: Help narrow your goals with the five “W” questions:

What do I want to accomplish?

Why is this goal important?

Who is involved?

Where is it located?

Which resources are needed?

Measurable: Have something to measure against to monitor your progress toward achieving your objectives.

Attainable: Keep your goals realistic, with the resources and budget necessary to reach your desired results.

Relevant: Assure your plan supports accomplishing other business objectives.

Timely: Keep to a schedule that is realistic and flexible, adjusting along the way as needed.

4) Strategize a Game Plan

Strategize a game plan for obtaining your goals with the following tactics:

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)² and Optimization (SEO)

Online Directories (ex. Google My Business, Yelp, etc.)

Social Media

Content Marketing

Email Marketing

5) Analyze and Track Progress

Set up a way to quantify and track your progress, either by using a third-party or by implementing each of your channel’s reporting features. Having good data keeps you accountable and provides a way to check your progress along the way.

By marking off each section on this list, you will be well on your way to implementing a robust digital marketing strategy.

PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook Report contains projections for U.S. advertising growth through 2024. Following are highlights for major media:

Digital Out-of-Home Advertising

Digital Out-of-Home (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) remains strong with a +7.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)¹ through 2024.

Out-of-home has the strongest forecast of traditional media with a +2.8% CAGR, buoyed almost entirely by digital out-of-home’s growth.

Online Advertising

Online is expected to have a +4.1% CAGR, below forecasts of past years.

Positive emotions have a greater impact on consumer loyalty than trust and other judgments, which are based
on a brand’s attributes.