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U.S. Media Advertising Outlook Through 2026

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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

Filed Under: News

Five New Guidelines for Product Marketing

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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:

Build a strategic bridge from the business to the customer and create tools for all channels used throughout the process.

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

Filed Under: News

Ten Tips for Growing Your Business

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Be sure to do your research, create a solid marketing plan and stay focused so your business can continue to grow.

While there’s no surefire formula for instant success, you can boost your company’s growth with a marketing strategy.  Following are tips from small business start-up founders on how to help grow your business.

 1) Focus on established revenue sources:

  • Maximize your current customer base: implement a loyalty program, try out marketing strategies based on customers’ purchase histories, etc.

 2) Be adaptable:

  • Switch direction in response to changes in the market — test different approaches and find out what works best.

 3) Focus on customer experience:

  • Provide superior customer service — when you exceed customers’ expectations, they are likely to tell their friends, family and colleagues about your business.

 4) Always think ahead:

  • Planning your next step – in anticipation of all possible scenarios – is the best way to stay grounded and secure as your business evolves.

 5) Develop a social media strategy:

  • Use social media to drive traffic to your website where customers can learn about you and buy your products/services; post content that’s interesting and relevant to your audience.

 6) Research your competitors:

  • Ask yourself who your competitors are, what they’re doing (that you’re not doing) and how you can differentiate your business from theirs.

 7) Maintain your website:

  • A web presence is essential: include your location, hours, an “about us” page, product/service pages, frequently asked questions (FAQs), a blog and contact information.

 8) Optimize your site for SEO¹:

  • Focus on Search Engine Optimization so customers can easily find you online.

  9) Create relevant content:

  • Provide quality digital content on your site, such as videos, customer testimonials, blog posts and demos, that make it easy for customers to find the correct answers to their questions.

  10) Get listed in online directories:

  • Include your business in as many relevant directories as possible; create listings for your business on specific directories that focus on your industry.

Running a business takes time, effort and perseverance. Be sure to do your research, create a solid marketing plan and stay focused so your business can continue to grow.

*SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the science of improving a website to increase its visibility when people search for products or services.  (techtarget,com)

Source:  businessweekdaily.com, reported by Sean Peek, Shannon Gausepohl; forbes.com, reported by Kathy Haan, Adam Ramirez, Kelly Mail

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Brand Positioning Is Important For Your Business

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Brand positioning is more of a daily commitment than a one-time event, and the results are well worth the effort.

To build a strong brand, focus on how your customers see you and why you’re different from other businesses. Brand positioning is a process of sharing your product/service and establishing it as something worth thinking about.

Here are reasons why and tips on how to position your business:

Why Brand Positioning is Important
Being proactive on positioning helps make an impact on how your target audience sees you:

  • It allows you to differentiate your brand:

    Positioning your brand creates clarity around who you serve and explains what sets your products/services apart, capturing the attention of those interested enough to take action.

  • It helps you justify your pricing strategy:

    Brand positioning emphasizes the factors behind a pricing strategy, high or low, making it become reasonable in the eyes of consumers.

  • It makes your brand more creative:

    Businesses that offer similar products/services differ based on their positioning: a creative, innovative strategy, combined with strong execution, will leave customers coming back.

How to Position Your Brand
Be strategic about positioning and make sure your business appeals to the right audience:

  • Be unique and relevant:

    Emphasize the features that distinguish you from competitors. Identify what matters most to your clients and position your brand around it.

  • Be consistent:

    Find a general direction for your brand with a strategy that helps build your brand over time — think about what you want your business to represent five plus years from now.

  • Be credible:

    To establish trust, make sure that everything you say about your company is believable, will connect with customers on an emotional level and is important to your clients.

It’s not enough to just have a great product or service. Businesses need an engaging customer experience across all channels for their advantage to stand out and be noticed by consumers. Brand positioning is more of a daily commitment than a one-time event, and the results are well worth the effort.

Source: Forbes, reported by Samuel Thimothy, VP-OneIMS.com and co-founder of Clickx.io.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Latest Google Updates for Businesses

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You may have noticed Google My Business (GMB) changed its name to Google Business Profile (GBP). Many local businesses manage their business information through this listing, as it provides easy access for new or existing customers to directly connect with small businesses. But what does this change mean for you?

Here at Growth Spark Media, our team of professionals has been monitoring the recent changes Google made. While we have adapted your business listings to these changes already, we’d like to summarize the changes and how it could affect your business:

NEW CHANGES FOR BUSINESSES:

  1. Claim & Manage GBP Directly in “Google Search & Maps”:
    • Google now allows businesses to claim and verify a listing through Search or Maps.
    • This makes it easier to gain access to the most integral information for your business.
  1. Managing Multiple Locations through “Business Profile Manager”:
    • Google is tailoring their Profile Manager to help both small and larger businesses manage their listings in one place.
    • This makes it easier for GSM to take care of your business information and adapt as your business grows.

NEW FEATURES FOR BUSINESSES:

  1. Call History Tracker:
    • You can now manage your calls from Search or Maps through your Google Business Profile and stay engaged with customers.
    • The feature allows you to manage all your calls in one place, respond to missed calls and have a short message alerting you to the fact that a customer is calling directly from your GBP.
  1. Customer Messaging:
    • Customers can message you directly so you can answer questions, tell your story and attract new customers.
    • Enabling the Chat feature through your GBP will allow customers to contact you at any time, driving further customer engagement.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER FOR YOU?

Google Business Profiles are the first thing a customer or potential customer will see when searching for you on Google. They look to the information listed there as a trusted source, and often times use it as a guideline when choosing when and how they will reach out to you. This update helps to bridge the gap between you and your online customers.

Growth Spark Media recognizes how important these updates are for you and your business. We’re here to make sure you stay informed. If you have any questions about this update, or would like to work directly on one of these new features offered, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your GSM representative!

Source:  SearchEngineLand, reported by Barry Schwartz

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Out-Of-Home Ad Forecast Sees Sharp Gain Through 2025

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Both U.S. and global Out-of-Home (OOH) ad growth are expected to rise at a fast pace through 2025, fueled mostly by Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH).

Global Out-of-Home Ad Growth:

  • Out-of-Home’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR)* between 2021 and 2025 is expected to be 7.3%, fueled mostly by Digital Out-of-Home’s 12.2% CAGR.

  • Digital Out-of-Home will account for 34.2% of all Out-of-Home ad spend in 2025.

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

  • DOOH (ex. billboard, DMV, elevator, gas station) in the U.S. will accelerate sharply in 2022 with an 8.9% CAGR through 2025.

  • In 2025, Digital Out-of-Home will have a 37.1% share of total Out-of-Home ad revenue in the U.S.

Consumer Exposure:

  • Global: Digital Out-of-Home exposure time will increase at a 7.3% CAGR in 2025, grabbing a 40.4% share of total consumer time spent with OOH media.

  • U.S.: Continuing an ongoing trend, total time spent with OOH among Americans expanded 0.5% to 2.86 hours weekly in 2020.

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

Source:  Digiday, reported by Michael Burgi; PRWeb, reported by PQ Media’s Patrick Quinn (CEO/Founder) and Leo Kivijarv;  Media Daily News, reported by Joe Mandese

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How Digital Marketing Drives the Growth You Need for 2022

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Digital marketing is crucial for growing your business:  according to a recent study¹, companies are diversifying their spend across paid and owned media and customers are spending more time and resources on owned-media channels such as websites, mobile apps, and customer-service channels.
Digital marketing has the ability to drive an increase of 5 to 8 percent in revenues over 12 months by capturing more online traffic and engaging with consumers more effectively.
Here are several ways how digital marketing campaigns can help grow your business:
Wider reach:
  • Reach people without having to step outside of your physical bounds, with campaigns that can be set up easily and with a small budget to cover the cost of advertising.
  • Consumers can be geo-targeted, delivering content or advertisements based on their geographic location.²
Brand awareness:
  • Create an online presence that fuels your reputation and helps make your business easy to find via search results.
  • Build trust by updating social media pages with new products/services, posts about different business trends and ads that boast optimized content and design, which are engaging and attractive.
Cost-effectiveness:
  • Digital marketing can save money in the long run because it is relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising.
  • Provide a new stream of income: for example, if your site does not have banner ads on the homepage or sidebar, place ad space in those places to drive traffic back to the part of your website where people are most likely going to make a purchase.
Better revenues:
  • An effective digital marketing results in high conversion rates and a high number of website visitors.
  • Turn those website visits into customers with an effective email marketing or social media strategy.
Improved ROI (Return On Investment):
  • The more traffic your website gets, the higher the chances that someone will make a purchase and invest in what your company has to offer.
  • Measure the results for the impact digital marketing has on your business – the key is to produce a continuous flow of traffic to your website.
Digital marketing is an effective way to reach new customers and also maintain the ones you already have. Whether you are a small business offering local goods and services, or looking for a way to reach consumers on a limited budget, digital marketing can help meet your business objectives.
Source:  Stefanini Group; ¹McKinsey & Company; ²wordstream.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Foolproof Ways to Improve Customer Loyalty

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Customer loyalty is a gauge of how devoted customers are to a business, and is the result of a consistently positive customer experience. Following are tips on how to effectively measure, increase and maintain customer loyalty.
Customer loyalty is important to all businesses — it costs more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.

1. Measuring Customer Loyalty
 Understand your current customer loyalty status:
  • Determine your repurchase rate: consumers who continue to buy your products/services.
  • Examine the likelihood that consumers will recommend your business to colleagues, friends and family.
  • Evaluate the number of customers who have purchased other products/services offered by your business.
  • Measure the percentage of customers retained over a given period.
2. Increasing Customer Loyalty
Employ these tried and tested strategies to increase loyalty:
  • Recognize and value regular customers and give them special attention.
  • Reward your customers — two-thirds say they enjoy a customer rewards program.
  • Always provide what the customer expects; respond to negative feedback
  • Go beyond transactional: three-quarters of consumers are more likely to purchase from a business that knows their name, purchase history and makes recommendations based on their preferences.
 3. Sustaining Customer Loyalty
Identify any changes in customer expectations and how they feel about your business:
  • Routine conversations and customer surveys can help pinpoint concerns before they become issues.
  • Take an objective view of your business as experienced by customers.
  • Keep tabs on competitors’ products/services, promotional campaigns, and development programs.
  • Manage the impact competitors may have on your customers.
Customer loyalty is important to all businesses — it costs more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.  As you build customer relationships, focus on strategies to increase and sustain loyalty.
Source:  CustomerThermometer, reported by Lindsay Willott

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Utilizing Social Media for Your Business

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Statistics are important to look at when planning your social media marketing strategy, and can be used to benchmark performances within your industry.  The following information can help businesses set expectations when entering the social media market.

Social media usage stats¹

Social media continues to grow in popularity, as people keep track of family, friends and brands:

  • Globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media.
  • This number is projected to increase to 4.4 billion in 2025.
  • The top networks ranked by active users are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger.
  • Internet users spend an average of 144 minutes on social media per day.

Facebook stats²

Facebook continues to be vital, regularly adding new features for businesses to easily interact with their customer base:

  • Facebook is the most used social network with over 2.7 billion monthly active users in Q3 2020.
  • The all-industry median benchmark for Facebook engagement rate per post is 0.09%.
  • Facebook has 10 million active advertisers in Q3 2020 and mobile accounts for 92% of its total ad revenue.
  • Links are the most commonly used content type, claiming 44% of all brand posts.

Consumer behavior stats³

Consumer use of social media is growing:  50% increased their usage in the last six months:

  • Consumers follow businesses to learn about products/services (57%) and company news (47%).
  • After following, consumers continue to engage: 91% visit websites/apps, 89% make a purchase, 85% recommend a brand to family/friends.
  • Consumers preferred content includes: images (68%), videos (50%), text-based posts (30%).
  • The top reasons consumers unfollow are poor quality of product/support (49%), poor customer service (49%), irrelevant content (45%), too many ads (45%).

Social marketers juggle challenges in an ever-changing landscape. These can include identifying/reaching a target audience, measuring ROI, or supporting business goals³. Being aware of social media marketing statistics can help you decide where to put your advertising dollars and how to make the most of them.

Your team at Growth Spark Media is here to help you navigate the industry and offer support. If you’re interested in trying social media advertising, we encourage you to reach out to our experts!

 

Source:  Sproutsocial.com, written by Jenn Chen; ¹We are Social, Hootsuite; ²Facebook, Socialinsider; ³Sprout Social Index; ⁴11th Annual Content Marketing Survey: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs

Filed Under: Uncategorized

5 Reasons Why Website Security is Important

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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

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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