Nielsen ‘s Global Advertising Trends, Q1 2012 report was released revealing three key trends that will a profound impact on your business.

1. On the global level, the web is leading advertising growth. What’s more, the two categories that showed the smallest growth were the two mainstays of traditional media – television with only 2.8% growth and magazines advertising that actually shrunk by 1.4%.

2. Shifting focus to the U.S. in the chart below, it’s worth noticing that newspaper advertising dropped by 2.1% and magazines by 5%.

3. Thirdly, emerging markets like the Middle East and Africa saw double-digit increases while North America and Asia Pacific saw modest more gains of 2.1 and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Taken together, these insights should trigger important shifting in your marketing strategies. For instance:

1. If Internet ad growth is outstripping all other media, and newspaper and magazine advertising continues to fall in the U.S., have you adjusted your marketing spend to reach consumers eyeballs on the web?

2. If emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa are experiencing dramatic growth advantages, how are you optimizing your products, services and content to capitalize on those markets.

3. With the rise of ad platforms on social media networks and the complementary rise in web usage on smartphones,  how well is your company positioned to be a mobile, social and global brand?

Answer these 3 questions to set your self apart from your competitors and position yourself for future success based on current trends. Which question do you find most difficult to answer and why?