Proximity Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency designed to help companies and organizations grow by finding new business opportunities with new and existing customers through social media, websites, online campaigns, and search engines. While many companies assume a family member or friend can handle their social media because they know how to use a tool, the reality is marketing requires an understanding of buyer habits and patterns, human behavior, and the technology side to be effective. 

In college, Mark Priebe sold advertising for the school newspaper, The Lantern. He enjoyed the sales process and also the advertising so upon graduation he went to work for an advertising agency. After observing the business for about a year, he felt he could do it better on his own and struck out to start Proximity Marketing. Originally all advertising was print and Mark did all the production. He started doing more targeted marketing for his clients through faxing information to specific potential clients and found his niche. Throughout the evolution of his business, targeting the right customers, as opposed to blasting information to everyone and hoping the right people notice, has been the core of his business. 

Artificial Intelligence or AI is an interesting challenge in marketing. On one hand AI may replace some of the more repetitive tasks and can create content. But it is only as good as what is already available so for Proximity Marketing’s clients, there may not be anything for AI to pull from. But they are exploring ways to use AI to make their lives easier. 

Additionally, finding people who are experienced with the technologies and have a background in marketing is always a challenge. The person must be qualified, but also have the right personality fit in the environment and be curious so they are interested in staying up to date with technology changes. Doing things the same way may not work anymore so having people able to adapt to change is vital. 

While Proximity Marketing could work all over the world, they have chosen to focus on Northeast Ohio because they value the in-person meeting opportunities. Meeting in person and seeing customers takes them out of the vendor role and moves to more of a partner in that they hear about more than just marketing goals. They become someone aware of the overall goals of the company.

We have recently upgraded all the lighting in the building to LEDs which will use much less energy. We also have an employee-led recycling initiative to recycle as much as possible. To some degree the majority of our work is part of our sustainability efforts as we produce very little hard copy advertising. Our work is almost exclusively digital. 

We have had the opportunity to sit on some committees and advisory boards to help governmental agencies make good decisions and bring about new programs. We have provided input on new laws and procedures being developed at the city, and interact with our state and federal officials on a regular basis. 

We post all of our positions through social media as we want people who use the tools to apply. We also receive great referrals from our current staff and our partners who find people they think would be a good fit in our organization. 

Why do you like to work here?

Every day is different because no two clients work in the same space or do the same things. One day you could be marketing peanuts and cashews and the next auto parts. Our team is very close-knit and we like to have fun while we work. We tell our customers they need to show their personality in their marketing and we make sure we do the same so everyone has a voice and is part of the process. And we just really laugh a lot!