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

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:

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.

2. 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.

2. 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

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

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

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.

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

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; ⁴11^th Annual Content Marketing Survey: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs