Blog - plain talk

We’ve all seen them—60-second commercials that pop up during our favorite TV shows. In these commercials, everyone seems to be dancing, mountain biking, or kayaking to happy music while the list of potential side effects is described in the background. With revenues exceeding $600 billion, it is not surprising that pharmaceutical companies spent almost $8.1 billion last year on paid advertising, according to Endpoints News. Seventy percent of that was spent on linear TV. The top 10 pharma advertising brands alone contributed to a combined total of $1.68 billion in ad spend. But are they necessary? Do they work? In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll address those two questions. We’ll also explore what the rest of us marketers can learn from pharma advertising—TV advertising’s fourth-largest industry.

Recently, we onboarded a new client with a rapidly growing technology company. The company needed help in several areas, but most importantly, they needed a new website. In reviewing their current website, we noticed a stock photo we laughed about because we were certain we’d seen it many times before. After a quick Google Images search, we found the same image on hundreds of similar and competitive websites. Understanding that even the biggest of brands can, at times, rely on stock photography, in this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll look at the two factors that lead to most stock photography fails. Plus, we’ll discuss how to best avoid stock photography and how to best maintain brand authenticity when stock is your only choice. Then, we’ll look at the present state of AI as an alternative.

Every year, CMOs, IT, and agency folks like us are asked to deliver websites that are great looking, offer a great customer experience and accessibility, and ultimately drive business. Part of that process always includes the selection of a content management system (CMS) that will make the site easy to update and maintain but that also offers great security features because it’s a scary hacker-filled world out there. In the urban mythology of website content management systems, few myths seem to be as pervasive as the idea that somehow, sites built in the WordPress CMS are “not secure.” In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll get to the truth about WordPress website security and how you can build a secure site.

Does Gen Z spend their tax refunds differently than older taxpayers? The simple answer is, yes! Is now the time to talk about how tax refund season can fit into your marketing plans? Also, yes! After all, you know the old saying, “In this world nothing is certain, except death and taxes.” So, in this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll discuss Gen Z spending and how this generation spends (or pre-spends) their tax refunds differently from Millennials and other Americans. We’ll also discuss whether you should target their refund and how to best align and market your products or services to them during their annual influx of cash.

For most of us, social media is an integral part of our daily lives, and it certainly plays a pivotal role in shaping public perception of brands and businesses. While positive feedback and glowing customer reviews can boost a company’s reputation, negative reviews and customer complaints can spread like wildfire and lead to a full-blown crisis. Effective crisis management for social media reviews and customer complaints is crucial for preserving a brand’s image and ensuring its long-term success. In this edition of Plain Talk, we will examine the importance of social media crisis management for businesses on social media. We’ll discuss effective strategies to combat negative reviews, with examples on both local and national levels. We may also uncover some valuable lessons.

Pinch. Tap-tap. Swipe. Spread. Tap. A new take on Morse code? A video game character’s ultimate move sequence? Slightly naughty dance moves? Nope. Just some typical user behavior when interacting with a mobile version of a website. Over 60% of searches happen on a smartphone, which is why Google switched to mobile-first in 2016. As nanotechnology and responsive artificial intelligence continue to advance, the proportion of desktop searches is flatlining while searches from mobile continue to rise. So, how mobile-friendly is your website? In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll reveal six ways to future-proof your website and enhance user experience (UX) with mobile SEO.

Just when we thought there were enough social media platforms (or maybe it’s just me), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg rolled out “Threads,” a new text-based app that was likely intended to give the very similar Twitter (now known as “X”) and its CEO, Elon Musk, a run for their money. A spinoff from social media giant Instagram, Threads has taken the same Instagram fan base that is accustomed to sharing videos and photos, giving them a platform to have more authentic conversations. But is it time just yet for your company to add Threads to your overall social media strategy? In this edition of Plain Talk, we’re exploring the possibilities of a Threads social media strategy. We’ll break down what to expect with Threads, what’s on the horizon with advertising, and whether it really is the missing thread you’re looking for to help your brand stand out.

“No-code” WordPress website builder plugins have gained popularity in the past decade. Their shiny promise of simplicity and ease in creating decent-looking websites without the need for coding knowledge is enticing. In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll delve deeper into the world of no-code WordPress builder plugins. We’ll reveal the hidden truths, costs, and considerations that businesses and website owners should be aware of before choosing the proverbial easy button. By understanding their limitations, challenges, and potential drawbacks, we hope you can make more informed decisions about whether these plugins are the right choice for your needs.

This year at Google’s I/O 2023 conference, Google unveiled a host of new products and features. Unsurprisingly, the focus was on efforts and advancements made by leveraging artificial intelligence (or “AI”). It was so important to Google to establish expertise, authority, and trust (sound familiar?) in all things AI that Google execs used the phrase “AI” more than 100 times during the two-hour keynote. In this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll discuss what we know (and what we don’t) about the future of generative AI in search. We’ll also share what you can do now to ensure you are capturing low-hanging fruit.

In this issue of Plain Talk, we’ll build on past articles and discuss how the convergence of digital and traditional media and the increase in on-screen time have evolved media expectations, particularly for young people. We’ll then discuss how technological advancements and generational preferences have evolved to better support this digital marketing dinosaur. In doing so, we’ll argue that in this blended digital world we live in, YouTube banner ads should be viewed as online billboards, and thus they should be bought and measured primarily as top-of-funnel awareness tools… just like roadside billboards.