Online sales are booming! E-commerce is the way! Brick-and-mortar stores are over! To these paraphrased headlines, I have two words – Amazon Go. Here are another two – Amazon Style. And two more – Amazon Fresh. Yes, the world’s largest e-commerce retailer is actively pursuing a physical retail footprint, and they aren’t the only ones. […]
Many of our articles are about tangible topics, with acronyms like ESG, ABM, or GBP. Marketing, though, is about the mastery of both the objective and the subjective to help you best sell your products or services. In this edition of “Plain Talk,” we’ll discuss why your brand might choose to use black and white […]
Burnout has impacted so many people over the past two years (if I’m being honest, including myself). It’s a topic that hit home with many people from all walks of life and across all industries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to keep up with the constant demands of […]
Yes, you have a digital spirit animal. We all do. The question is, how do you know which one you are, and how can you keep it from messing up your digital marketing efforts? In this edition of Plain Talk, we will define the most common digital marketing biases (spirit animals) and give you a […]
There’s an invisible battle being waged for your attention in the background of the internet. Brand websites, social media apps, and search engines are all vying for your attention by applying algorithms that facilitate showing you content based on the probability that you’ll want to see it. In today’s edition of Plain Talk, we’ll walk […]
Businesses today are investing an increasing amount of effort, strategy and creativity in the content they produce for existing customers and prospects. In this edition of Plain Talk, we will talk about some of the top content marketing tips to consider when developing your marketing content strategy and how to ensure your content is developed […]
Have you ever been to a webpage that wasn’t optimized for your phone properly, and the ads blocked the content? Have you had the page collapse on your article, then the banner ads block the scrollable part of the article? How about waiting so long for an ad to disappear that you clicked on the […]
In media, understanding a consumer target can ultimately mean the difference between success and failure. Understanding who your ideal consumer is, how they use media, how they spend their time, what their interests are, how they behave and what they believe all help build a picture of who is most likely to use your product […]
In 1990, the Canon EOS Rebel camera ad featuring tennis star Andre Agassi boldly told us, “Image is Everything!” Back then, it certainly was something, but was image more important than it is today? You needn’t look any further than your friend’s and family’s social media pages to realize that the “ideal self” is still […]
It seems like we are always being introduced to important new business acronyms. We’ve got Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Then there’s Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), CMOs are now CROs, and the alphabet soup goes on with CRM, CX, UX, CTR, CPC, SEM, SEO, and so on. However, one […]
For many years brands, and not surprisingly, the advertising industry shared the opinion that it was between difficult and impossible to bring the services that a traditional marketing agency provides “in-house” to the client company. There was pretty good evidence that this was the third rail of advertising as many large companies tried to build […]
“I’ll just Google it” has become instilled into every aspect of our lives, and for some reason, we place unconditional faith in computer code that has no face, personality, or distinctive trait that conveys a trustworthy outcome. Yet we continue to rely on the Google Search algorithm for daily wisdom, a great spot for pizza, […]
The chatter about Customer Experience (aka CX) has been growing for the past few years. Initially, this was an offshoot of user experience (UX) for e-commerce companies but quickly grew to be the catchphrase that seeks to map the activities in each consumer funnel, quantify their quality and measure their impact. This has been critical […]
We’ve all heard more than once that people today are overstimulated with information, and their attention is stretched thin. We all feel it, too – the subconscious tug of a thousand different things vying for our attention. In a single morning in a household like mine, kids are repeatedly asking the whereabouts of their favorite […]
It’s a question that we as consumers get asked several times a day – “Would you like to sign up for our rewards program?” In fact, it’s become a key part of the customer checkout experience. Rewards and loyalty programs have long been a way for companies to connect with their customers in a unique […]
Let’s be honest. The last two years have been brutal. The COVID-19 pandemic continues, a lot of us haven’t seen a majority of our co-workers in person since 2020, and many businesses continue to cut back, not by choice but as a result of the hard hit they’ve taken to their bottom line. What, if […]
When COVID first hit in 2020 it brought a lot of uncertainty and along with it a lot of changes to the way people, brands and companies were engaging with each other. As the world collectively began to come to terms with the pandemic, we started to see a lot of brands and companies making […]
Recently, a 13-year-old in your world may have asked for and received a popular virtual reality (VR) headset. You’ve seen them game in it. Maybe you’ve even ventured into their game world out of curiosity. Then, at the end of 2021, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a rebranding of Facebook into “Meta,” its new parent company focused […]
In the interest of time, if your website is currently WCAG 2.1 AA or AAA compliant, and you’re reading this article because you’re worried about the new imminent WCAG 3.0 compliance threshold, or you think there will be negative SEO ramifications for not immediately adopting these new standards, you can stop reading now. Your website […]
What to Expect in 2022 As we head into 2022, it’s time to refresh your social media strategy and make sure you are up to date on the latest social media development and management trends. In this edition of Plain Talk, we’re diving into five popular and influential trends to consider including in your New […]
In 2015, super brand Adidas realized they had a problem – they were optimizing their marketing efforts against the wrong metrics. Yikes. They discovered they were overinvesting in performance-based digital marketing and underinvesting in brand building. They prioritized efficiency and real-time attribution of digital media and ignored brand impact and brand desire. Since then, Adidas […]
Several years ago, a marketing professional from a large company told me trade media simply wasn’t worthy of their marketing plan. Talking about their product in trade media before it was available to consumers didn’t make sense to them. They had a sales team to handle getting the word out. No offense to their team, […]
Comparing TikTok and Instagram Reels The average adult begins to lose concentration after just eight seconds, according to a 2020 study performed by Microsoft. In other words, we have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. When considering social media for customer engagement, our short attention span is further complicated by the glut of channel […]
The pandemic is slithering slowly away and economic factors seem favorable in the U.S., so it looks like we’re going to be OK. So, what could go wrong? If you are like many companies, a return to normal means staffing up to pre-pandemic levels as we bounce back; however, in many business verticals, something’s different. […]
In a September 2014 interview with Fast Company, Andrew Ng, Chief Scientist at Baidu went on the record to state that in five years he anticipated 50% of searches on Chinese search engine, Baidu, would be image or voice searches. This prediction was concentrated into an article, which implied that “in five years, at least […]
According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), 21% of c-store operators have recently shifted to curbside pickup, while 14% are focused on drive-thrus. These growing numbers are due to COVID-19 consumer trends and falling fuel sales. This results in what NACS describes as “pushing the industry further into the omnichannel universe.” Over the […]
According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, there were roughly 9,400 business-to-business trade shows in the U.S. in 2019. These trade shows by some estimates represented a $15 billion industry that was forecast to exceed $17 billion in 2021. More importantly, these shows routinely represent critical sales opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Then […]
When I was a kid, my near-scratch golfer dad spent a lot of time trying to teach me his passion. There were many steps on how to approach the ball. And there were corrective instructions for most practice swings, but when it came to the actual swing, there were only two things I was told […]
In today’s hyperconnected, digitally focused world, reputation management is a 24-hour job. With countless social media platforms available for both fans and foes to say anything anytime about your brand – like that they found fish tails (well, shrimp) in their box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch – these posts can easily influence a company’s success, […]
First a Story The first restaurant I remember going to was the Howard Johnson’s on Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts. They had great fried clams and terrific ice cream, and I remember when I was five years old going for the first time with my grandmother. She was a very stern and prim Irish Catholic […]
Brands globally worked to build or upgrade their websites and online stores in response to the pandemic, which is no surprise with the closures of brick-and-mortar businesses. However, what many brands did not prepare for was the impact that skyrocketing internet use had on the relevance of their digital image and video asset library. In […]
Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past decade or two, you have probably heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). It has invaded our lives, taken residence in our homes and garages, and – thanks to the advent of the smartphone, become a welcome guest to nearly every moment […]
Is it just me or has everyone been getting an influx of text messages lately? And no, not from your mom or BFF – from politicians, brands and advertisers. Obviously COVID-19 has brought a ton of changes, but maybe it’s also renewed or increased interest in one-to-one communications and new (old) ways to connect with […]
Just 25 years ago, email users would get home and excitedly log in to their AOL email accounts, and after the horrible nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of their modem connecting to the internet, wait with anticipation to hear, “You’ve Got Mail!” Back then, electronic mail was new, rare and definitely under commercialized. A lot has changed since […]
In 2021, it’s safe to say that a big chunk of our days are spent online, whether thumbing through social media, shopping, researching a project or big purchase, or gathering information about current events. Of those daily website visits, how many of them stand out to you as being really great, personal experiences? In this […]
For years, we’ve used digital advertising as an efficient and effective means of reaching exactly who we want to reach, with the right message, at the right time. Ad tech and publishers have been competing to offer better targeting, more capabilities and better tracking, and each ad tech call offers something new – some new […]
It’s certainly easy to get into the habit of developing creative resources or websites in a vacuum, believing that these strategically sound, well-designed and expertly curated assets will be the doors through which your customers and prospective customers will first experience your brand. In reality, several gatekeepers can stand between your brand and your customer. […]
This year has been unlike any other. From trade show cancellations to public relations crises, we’ve rolled with the punches that 2020 threw and wanted to highlight some of the exciting things we’ve worked on this year, even during a global pandemic. Our team breaks down 10 of our favorite projects. Hershey – National Hot […]
As 2020 – a year unlike any other – finishes up, marketers are faced with a new world of replacing crucial business leads. One of the most impactful methods – trade shows – is still in flux. Many early 2021 shows have been canceled while others are considering postponing or moving to a completely virtual platform, […]
Whether your focus is on B2B marketing or B2C, there are few topics more relevant today than generating qualified leads to move your sales forward. There are a great number of ways to do this (in combination for best results), but in today’s edition of Plain Talk, we’ll be discussing the anchor tactic for “pay-per-click” […]
In 1972, advances in and increased access to computer processing spawned the first experiments in what would come to be known as computer graphic imagery (CGI). That year, the future founder of Pixar, Ed Catmull, created the first known 3D CGI film. Simultaneously Hollywood writer/director Michael Crichton’s engineers pioneered the first use of CGI in […]
During this year’s PRSA Bluegrass Landmarks of Excellence Awards, PriceWeber was proud to be named Best in Show for the evening and receive 33 awards overall. PriceWeber was awarded for work we did for the following clients in 2019: Amplify Snack Brands, Blessings in a Backpack, Capital Now Funding, Centra Credit Union, Charah Solutions, CHI […]
In 2020, typical communications strategies took a back seat amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses quickly pulled all marketing efforts during the start of COVID-19, evaluating how to best handle this crisis and still get key messaging to the public without appearing tone-deaf to what was happening in the world around us. But while […]
For a long time to come, 2020 will be known as the year that changed everything – the way we live, socialize, shop, travel and work. You name it and it was impacted this year. That includes crisis communications plans that were already in place. Many businesses have formal plans that help them prepare for their worst-case scenarios, but who was ready for a pandemic that affected how businesses operate, or for national protests as a result of racial injustice that held businesses accountable to be transparent about where they stood in the Black Lives Matter movement? The answer: absolutely no one.
Podcast advertising has recently become a hot topic among brands and media planners. In today’s PriceWeber Plain Talk post, we’ll talk about why the medium is growing, some reasons it might be time to consider adding podcasts to your media strategy and some of the best practices for podcast advertising if you do. The technology […]
While most of the world is in quarantine and practicing social distancing, one social media platform has continued to maintain a rapid growth in downloads, especially in the U.S. According to Sensor Tower’s report, 2019’s second most downloaded app worldwide, TikTok, saw an 18% increase in downloads, tallying the number to 2 million between March 16 and 22, compared to the previous week at 1.7 million.
Influencer marketing has become a digital monster. Are you doing it? Are you doing it wrong? Should you be doing it at all? If so, how and under what circumstances? In this edition of the Plain Talk series, we’ll take some of the mystery out of influencer marketing and dispel a few myths along the way. First, let’s talk about the money.
In our Plain Talk article earlier this year, Can your website land you in court? Making your website ADA accessible, we discussed a few reasons why businesses should consider upgrading their website accessibility for people with disabilities. At that time, a flood of discrimination lawsuits were hitting the courts that related to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and we recommended that if your business had a physical location and a website, you should “probably” make it WCAG 2.1 compliant to meet contemporary recommended standards for accessibility. In this edition of our Plain Talk series, we’ll be upgrading that “probably” to a “definitely” and explaining what’s changed and how it may impact you and your business.
In today’s plain-talk newsletter, we’re talking social responsibility trends. Americans’ trust in the federal government to handle both international and domestic matters is at the lowest point it has been in more than twenty years, according to a recent Gallup poll. Only 35 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the U.S. government’s ability to handle domestic issues. Meanwhile, trust in the government to handle international issues ranks only six points higher at a mere 41 percent.