CANFIELD, Ohio – Whatever strategies a business is using to attract new customers, marketing agencies are available to help take them to the next level.

The marketing landscape in the Mahoning Valley was the topic of discussion at The Business Journal’s first roundtable of 2026, sponsored by Advanced Technology Partners. 

Local experts participated in the roundtable discussion March 18 at Courtyard by Marriott to talk about the evolution of marketing, including how artificial intelligence and analytics are changing the profession.

Participants included Jim Houck, owner and president of Houck Agency; Rob Palowitz, founder, president and CEO of Palo Creative; Jeff Ryznar, president and CEO of 898 Marketing; Adrienne Sabo, founder and creative director of Clever; Kelli Hulea, project director at Pecchia Communications; Steve Cross, CEO of iSynergy; and George Farris, creative director and CEO of Farris Marketing.

“You have seven people here that are a little biased, but I think all of us would agree that [marketing] is the most important piece to any organization,” Ryznar said. 

Whether businesses focus on digital, print or other media, understanding their expectations and budget is essential to a strong marketing plan.

“Oftentimes, it comes down to three different types of strategies,” Houck said. “One is owned media, earned media and paid media.”

Farris said the traditional college definition of marketing includes product, place, price and promotion, but today it also requires enhancing the customer experience, fostering engagement and researching audiences online.

Hulea said marketing comes down to strong communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Sabo added that marketing involves everyone in a company communicating with a unified voice and message. Even a logo on a shirt can be marketing, Cross said.

Whether it’s the chief marketing officer, the owner or another team member, Ryznar said everyone plays a role in marketing, which is a constant form of engagement. He emphasized the importance of building and nurturing relationships – especially through social media.

Palowitz said it’s not just the first or final conversation that matters – it’s the entire journey.

“I think just giving you that good presence from start to finish is marketing,” Palowitz said.

Reaching the right customers often requires adjusting where marketing efforts are focused. While a strong digital and social media presence is expected, Sabo said businesses should also target audiences based on the media they consume.

“We don’t really believe that any media is really dead to us,” Sabo said. “I think that there’s a time and place for everything, so I still very much think outdoor, TV, print even those are all still very valuable ways of reaching people.”

She said trying a different approach than others can “cut through that noise.”

Houck said customers may have different personas, and that might require marketing to clients in different ways.

“The beauty of a lot of the digital media strategies we have today is that you can market to very specific demographics and different personas using digital channels,” Houck said.

Farris said it’s important to audit what a client is doing and identify what they may be overlooking. Sales cycles can be different and should be taken into account. So should the marketing budget, he added.

“You could have the greatest strategy in the world,” Farris said, but it doesn’t matter if the client can’t afford it.

Cross said that unless a company is brand new, marketers are often joining the ongoing conversation between a business and its customers midway through.

“You have to make sure you’re meeting them where they live and where they consume their media, whatever type of channel that is,” Cross said.

He added that it’s also important to understand the company’s objectives when determining the type of marketing strategy to pursue.

“We are coming to assist them,” Hulea said. “We are the experts of marketing, but they’re the experts in their business.”

Artificial Intelligence

For better or worse, AI is being used across the marketing industry, as it is in many other sectors. 

“I love it,” Farris said. “I think it’s a terrific resource for a number of reasons.”

For example, Farris said AI can now handle data entry that accountants once performed. He added that AI can identify mailing lists that may not have been previously known and generate ideas that, even if not used, can serve as a starting point.

However, Sabo cautioned that AI doesn’t always answer the prompts correctly, and when used in design, it leads to a sameness. 

“I think it’s leading down this path where everybody looks the same,” Sabo said. “And I think then we start to lose some of the creative marketing aspect of it, because you all look the same; you all sound the same; your logos are starting to look the same.”

She said she doesn’t want to see an AI-generated image of a restaurant’s food – she wants to see it being made in the kitchen.

Palowitz agreed but added that for a client with a fixed budget, using AI to create a little movement in a photo instead of shooting a video can save them money.

Houck, who produces many written pieces with his firm, said he prefers to use AI not as a shortcut but as a force multiplier to enhance his work, helping organize his thoughts or suggest headlines. 

Ryznar said he views AI as a tool, like a carpenter’s handsaw, emphasizing that while it can enhance and complement marketing efforts, it can’t replace the experience, skills and knowledge of a marketing team.

Cross said AI has touched every part of his firm. Instead of hiring a large research firm costing six figures and waiting six months to get information, AI can research something in a day.

“You still need human eyes always on it,” Cross cautioned.

Hulea agreed that AI-driven research is increasingly important, as it can help fill knowledge gaps and improve understanding of a client’s business and audience. However, she added that AI should not be used to create the final marketing product.

“I cringe when I see social media posts that were generated by AI – tons of emojis, all the adjectives and spaces. There’s all those telltale signs,” Hulea said, emphasizing the importance of remaining authentic and credible. 

“If you’re using AI to be your creative, you’re in sad shape,” Farris said.

Ryznar also cautioned that using AI can put a client’s confidential data in jeopardy. 

“For us, there are no specifics,” Ryznar said. “There are no partner names. There are no budgets. There are no reports, because the minute you put that in there, in an open source [AI], that’s out there for everybody now.”

Cross said doing so can be a violation of a nondisclosure agreement marketing firms have with their clients, and Palowitz noted that intellectual property can be exposed.  

The full roundtable transcript will be available in the MidApril edition of The Business Journal.

Pictured at top: From left are Rob Palowitz, Jeff Ryznar, Jim Houck, Adrienne Sabo, Steve Cross and Kelli Hulea. George Farris is not pictured.