Running commercials at the levels they do is meant to serve two purposes. First, it gets the advertiser more business. Duh. Second, it’s meant to scare off competitors from entering the fray. Most people think they can’t compete against the media hogs so they don’t even try.  Jacksonville media buying isn’t unlike media buying in Scranton, Chicago or Honolulu. It’s a numbers game. And if you know how to play, you too can become a lion instead of the proverbial lamb. Here are some tips to get you started.

Look for value first – New clients often come to us with a lot of excitement, ready to make a big splash. They want to be seen on high profile shows right away. In more cases than not, we steer them in another direction. Often times, marquee shows such as American Idol charge a premium because of their buzz. If you look simply at the audience and the rate for that audience, you can almost always get a better value by being on several lower rated shows with more frequency and a cumulatively a bigger audience. Look at it this way, instead of talking to one room of 50 people, why not talk to three rooms of 30 people and reach almost double the audience. If the price is the same, the 2nd choice will deliver much better results so long as the audience is the same.  A professional media buyer in Jacksonville or anywhere else can help you analyze the numbers and make a smarter buy.

It’s better to own one form of media versus having a presence on many – The clients at the top of the mountain have the funds to have billboards, radio spots and TV commercials. You probably don’t. Instead of competing with them on all fronts, find an area that you can own. It might be a couple of AM radio stations OR (not also) billboards in just one part of town. At the onset it’s important just to be remembered for something and that takes frequency. If you dilute where your message appears, the only one who will remember where you’re advertising is you. Pick an area where you can have a presence, dominate it and expand after that. It’s how most of those lions got where they did.

Paying a professional if worth it! – Ok, so we’re a little biased on this. However, the truth is media buying is a serious investment and unless you’re able to negotiate based on cost per point, perform a post-buy analysis, negotiate in added value and have buying power beyond your own money, your buy isn’t going to be the best it can be. As a Jacksonville advertising agency, we work with clients in several markets – from small towns to major metros. In nearly every case we’re able to quickly offset our commission with the buy we’re able to secure. We’d have a tough time doing your job without any training or guidance. You’d probably have the same luck with media buying.

We hope these tips give you some food for thought. If you’re interested in exploring TV commercials, radio spots, Internet banner ads, billboards or print advertising (yes, it still exists) give us a call for a free consultation. Do it the right way and you won’t just be on air, you’ll be walking on air.

While we’re a Jacksonville advertising agency, most cities have a similar situation: You see the a few category killer clients who dominate TV and radio year after year. There’s the local personal injury attorney, the car dealership, the local restaurant chain, etc.

They command the lion’s share of the air waves and win a lion’s share of the business. (Lion roar sold separately.) Running commercials at the levels they do is meant to serve two purposes. First, it gets the advertiser more business. Duh. Second, it’s meant to scare off competitors from entering the fray. Most people think they can’t compete against the media hogs so they don’t even try.

Jacksonville media buying isn’t unlike media buying in Scranton, Chicago or Honolulu. It’s a numbers game. And if you know how to play, you too can become a lion instead of the proverbial lamb. Here are some tips to get you started.

Look for value first – New clients often come to us with a lot of excitement, ready to make a big splash. They want to be seen on high profile shows right away. In more cases in not, we steer them in another direction. Often times, marquee shows such as American Idol charge a premium because of their buzz. If you look simply at the audience and the rate for that audience, you can almost always get a better value by being on several lower rated shows with more frequency and a cumulatively a bigger audience. Look at it this way, instead of talking to one room of 50 people, why not talk to three rooms of 30 people and reach almost double the audience. If the price is the same, the 2nd choice will deliver much better results so long as the audience is the same. A professional media buyer in Jacksonville or anywhere else can help you analyze the numbers and make a smarter buy.

It’s better to own one form of media versus having a presence on many – The clients at the top of the mountain have the funds to have billboards, radio spots and TV commercials. You probably don’t. Instead of competing with them on all fronts, find an area that you can own. It might be a couple of AM radio stations OR (not also) billboards in just one part of town. At the onset it’s important just to be remembered for something and that takes frequency. If you dilute where your message appears, the only one who will remember where you’re advertising is you. Pick an area where you can have a presence, dominate it and expand after that. It’s how most of those lions got where they did.

Paying a professional if worth it! – Ok, so we’re a little biased on this. However, the truth is media buying is a serious investment and unless you’re able to negotiate based on cost per point, perform a post-buy analysis, negotiate in added value and have buying power beyond your own money, your buy isn’t going to be the best it can be. As a Jacksonville advertising agency, we work with clients in several markets – from small towns to major metros. In nearly every case we’re able to quickly offset our commission buy we’re able to secure. We’d have a tough time doing your job without any training or guidance. You’d probably have the same luck with media buying.

We hope these tips give you some food for thought. If you’re interested in exploring TV commercials, radio spots, Internet banner ads, billboards or print advertising (yes, it still exists) give us a call for a free consultation. Do it the right way and you won’t just be on air, you’ll be walking on air.

Jacksonville ad agencies are able to keep costs lower which makes our work waaaaaay more affordable for our clients.   We work really, really hard but not so hard that we miss spending time with family and friends.  We can’t do power lunches at sushi restaurants overlooking Central Park but we can dine with a view of the ocean where the fish are actually caught.

At the end of the day, cities don’t do the work, people do.  We’re lucky that our climate, cost of living and community attracts a lot of people to the area. As a result, our city and several other Jacksonville ad agencies are staffed with some really legit talent.  So thank you Jacksonville for being a great home to our advertising agency.  While you’re not perfect, as no city ever is, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

If you’re looking for video production, website design, or any other marketing service, whether you’re in Jacksonville or not, we’d love to hear from you.  Thanks!

At Spark Inc, we’re known for having a talent pool of big agency strategists, graphic designers, writers and more.  A lot of people don’t know we also have what we believe to be the best website design team in Jacksonville.   So we put our heads together and came up with a list of the four things you should change about your website.  Whether it’s doing website design for Jacksonville clients or clients located as far away as California, here are some things you can do to make your site better ASAP.

1) Add a video. In our experience, websites with even a single compelling video on the home page, convert visitors to customers/clients/patients at a much higher rate than traditional static sites.  Thanks to technological advances, video production (even HD production) is far more affordable and easy to incorporate than you might think.  The results make it worth investigating.

2) Have a memorable headline. In building websites, one of the most critical statistics we look at is the bounce rate.  These are visitors who came to your site and left without clicking a single item.  A high bounce rate can mean you’re attracting the wrong visitors or that they see your visitors aren’t drawn in by your message and leave.  People downplay the importance of a headline but it can make all the difference in the world.  Go for something creative that sets you apart.  You see your bounce rate drop.

3) Don’t make contacting you hard! We see this from Jacksonville website design companies and those in New York, California and, well…everywhere.   Yes, you want to avoid a hard sell or seem like you’re peddling used cars with a big flashing number but too much subtlety can kill you.  Instead of making “Contact Us” the last link on your page and making the visitor scroll to find it.  Put it on the home page…and every page.  Do it tastefully but do it.

4)  Have the ability to capture an email address.  As much as you know you have a great product or service only a moron would pass up, the rest of the world out there might not realize it for a little ways down the road.  But if you can get visitor email addresses, you can take their initial interest and nourish it with E-newsletters, special offers and more.  You’d be surprised how many people will give you their email address if you just ask for it and provide value in return.  That might be an E-book that informs them about what you do, special access to white papers, special pricing and more.

Remember, websites should always be evolving and improving.  Sometimes it starts with the smallest change.  So get out there and think about implementing these measures.  It could yield big returns.

Yes, we’re still very proud of our web design work and the other services we offer.  We’re just really into video now, too.  If you’re ready to get a free estimate, give us a call!

Our Jacksonville videographer when working with our Jacksonville-based animation and editing team can give you Hollywood-level production values for a very affordable rate.  Whether you need a corporate video, a television commercial, a web video or presentation video, and you

*Actual resemblance to Brad Pitt can neither be confirmed nor denied.

We couldn’t be more thrilled or honored to have Mark Sapienza serving as Spark’s Vice President and Creative Director.  Spark is known as the smallest big agency on earth because we offer big agency talent in a small agency setting and Mark is certainly no exception to that formula.

Before coming to Spark, Mark spearheaded marketing projects at some of the world’s most prestigious ad agencies. Mark has developed campaigns for Chevrolet, Expedia.com, Minute Maid, The Ritz Carlton and many more. He is a winner of multiple national advertising awards for both creativity and effectiveness.

Today, as Spark’s VP and CD, Mark is utilizing his formidable talent to help our clients realize outstanding, measurable results.  Mark’s education includes a degree in business and in art, making him the ideal advertising executive.  He understands strategy. He understands the power of ideas. And he combines those passions into brilliant marketing.  Spark’s creative product couldn’t be in better hands.

Our first response is always the question, how happy are you with your brand? Whether it’s the latest emerging media craze or an old-fashioned direct mail piece, how your target audience perceives you is the most critical aspect. Without a strong brand, nothing you do is going to make an impact.

A brand is your marketing foundation. Your brand should be consistent, engaging and relevant. It should be aspirational. It should make customers/clients/patients excited to do business with you.

One of our favorite brands right now is Progressive Insurance. For decades Progressive was a faceless, undefined brand – just another boring insurance company in the minds of customers. From a marketing perspective they seemed, well, anything but progressive.

To make things worse, Geico with its gecko, cavemen and the like, were pulling even more market share away.

Then Progressive’s marketing firm invented a feisty, slightly left-of-center brunette named Flo. She’s the quirky “salesgirl” manning (or lady-ing) the counter of the fictional Progressive store. The commercials stand out. For the first time customers have a concrete image to remember in reference to Progressive. They established a desperately needed brand. Most importantly, they are doing the unthinkable – they are taking customers away from vaunted Geico.

Now think about how Progressive can utilize Facebook. (Actually how they ARE using Facebook.) In just a short amount of time, Flo has accumulated almost 34,000 friends. These are people who proactively chose to get messages from a car insurance company! From good branding comes clients!

In addition, there are also fan groups on Facebook, fan created Flo websites and more. Once you have a brand, then you’re ready to figure out ways to spread it. But the brand must always come first.

Brands can come in all shapes and sizes. The Susan G Komen “brand” with its pink ribbons for breast cancer is serious and reverent. The Mountain Dew brand is young and extreme. There’s a great brand for your company waiting to be revealed. Find that and Facebook, Twitter and everything else will take care of itself.

This campaign for Shands Advanced Breast Imaging Center included direct mail and outdoor. We’re happy to report that the campaign has garnered such great results it’s being continued and expanded.