Advertising & Marketing - CEO Sounding Board

John Sowinski
Founding partner / Consensus Communications - Orlando

“What’s always been most important is still most important — that’s figuring out how to tell your story and managing it and how to get it out. The folks in the media are stretched thinner and thinner all the time. And the news hole is getting smaller in newspapers. The evolution of the press as an industry both limits and creates opportunities. The ability to speak unfiltered in a very professional and robust way is achievable at even midlevel budgets. Now there’s video; there’s blogs. We used to have shade tree mechanics. Now we have shade tree journalists.”

Pete Barr Jr.
CEO / Fry Hammond Barr - Orlando and Tampa

“Hot now is engagement-style marketing — kind of dialogue-style communication rather than monologue, lots and lots of digital communication, social media. Companies want deeper relationships with their customers and not just being on the edges superficially. They want to create long-lasting loyalty. Gone are the days of what we used to call ‘spray-and-pray’ and hope it landed on the right ears. It’s critical to target and minimize waste of the message.”

Maxine McBride
President / Clockwork Marketing - Jacksonville

“To me, it’s a mix that works right now. It’s a mix of marketing, public relations, advertising. Print media still works. Online media is a very important piece. We see more companies interested in mobile marketing. There’s still a demand for excellent writing skills and verbal communication skills. We are seeing more work in crisis communications and high-level strategic communication. Product cycles are short. Consumer attention span is short. If you’re interested in investing in a marketing plan, you need to do the research on what consumers want and how they get their information.”