So what’s the problem? Brand image. Although Emotiva was changing the face of high-end audio, they wanted to move past “just price” and express what they really were—a passionate group of people who really care about sound, and who would go to any lengths to redefine the experience. They needed to tell the story about how there’s a new audio company out there, with an entirely new attitude, eclipsing the names of 40 and 50 years ago.

Where do you start? Centric started with a competitive analysis, and quickly identified a position and personality that all the competitors had missed: High-end audio for the rest of us. Combined with a friendly, approachable staff who really want to answer questions, we had everything we needed to create a message platform and brand look to support it.

Now, the first parts of the Emotiva project have launched—an all-new website and repositioning ad. We’re continuing to work with Emotiva on their other brands, helping them redefine other markets in the same way they’ve already changed home theater and high-end.

Welcome to the first major audio company of the 21st Century: Emotiva.

And that’s the problem. How do you describe a company that’s doing website development, online advertising, video scripting and production, social and mobile campaigns—as well as traditional brand and message development, print creative, outdoor, and direct work? Because this is the new reality. Clients have a lot of different marketing challenges, across an incredibly broad range of venues. We have a lot of tools to address these challenges, and many of them don’t fit in to the old “advertising” model. Nor do they neatly slot into the increasingly dated “web development” or newfangled “social media agency” spots.

So what do you call yourself? Let’s start by going through a short list of time-proven candidates.

Ad agency. Yep, we do ads. But we’re so far from the Mad Men era of smoke-filled rooms and scotch-drinking creative directors it’s not even funny. Advertising can still mean broadcast TV ads, but it can also mean AdWords or a Facebook campaign or YouTube placements or a dozen other things. And “ad agency” has a bunch of negative connotations built in: Expensive retainers and charges for every second of time. Egotistical and hard to work with. Focused on TV, even when people spend more time online. So, are we an ad agency? Yes. But not in the historical definition.

Interactive agency. Yeah, we do websites and online marketing. But we also do print, direct, and a whole lot more traditional stuff, if that’s what works to solve our clients’ marketing problems. And “interactive” is feeling really, really old. This isn’t the Web 1.0 days anymore, and websites, while important, are also under pressure to meet the needs of expanding mobile browsing. So, are we an interactive agency? Yes, but also more.

Marketing agency. Ah. Now this feels closer to the mark. Marketing can happen anywhere, on many different media, across online, offline, social and mobile. Cool. The problem is that “marketing” has that old corporate-department feel to it. You know, they have this marketing department, and it does cool things with the agencies, but marketing itself is, well, just part of the same corporate morass. So, are we a marketing agency? Certainly. But does that really express the fun and creative things we do that get real bottom-line results for our clients? No.

Of course, there are a ton more. Digital agency. Barf. Worse than “interactive” by far. We’re all digital agencies now. Nobody uses rubylith and chromalins. Everything is born on a screen, whether it’s a simple billboard or a virtual world. Full-service agency. Yeah. Fill’er up! And also kinda grandiose, unless you’re talking about one of the global behemoths with hundreds or thousands of bodies to throw at every kind of problem. 360 degree marketing. Again, grandiose, with the added benefit that lots of people have no idea what you’re talking about. Branding agency. Yeah, get ready to be hit with that glowing hunk of metal. Ouch. And it has that bad smell associated with “pop and drop” consultants who don’t necessarily deliver any usable marketing tools from the messages they propose.

So what are we? Well, if you came here for single, brilliant, two-word description of a broad-based, hands-on marketing agency, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. We’ll be the first to admit that we don’t have all the answers.

Sometimes simple is best. Maybe we’re just “marketing problem-solvers, online and off.” Maybe we’re just “focused, simply smart marketing.”  Or maybe we’re something to you that we haven’t even thought of. We’d love to hear what you think. If you’re a client or a colleague, let us know what you think.

What do you think we are, and why?

This is arguably the most broad-ranging and significant new ecosystem. And yeah, we know you know about Amazon, and selling online, and all of that. But we’re astounded by the number of clients who come to us and say, “We’re launching a new product, and we are signing up retailers, and we may sell a few things on the website, but it’s really a dealer model.”

Oh really? So this is why online commerce absolutely decimated brick and mortar this last holiday season?

The reality is that buyers are now slipping their old habits. Going down to the local mall, scoping out what’s available, and making a retail purchase seems slow and wasteful in the age of “click to buy now.” Hearing about something on the radio and seeing if it’s in stock at the local dealer is getting bypassed by a quick online search. Let’s face it:

The old model: See something on TV/radio/newspaper –> Call a dealer to check stock –> Drive down to buy it.

The new model: See something on a blog –> Click to the site –> Buy it.

There are entire industries where specialist retailers are falling by the wayside, as e-commerce provides more stock, more selection, and more information than they ever could. There are entire new industry leaders being created who eschew retail sales entirely, for a total direct-sale model. And there will be more, as industry learns about the extreme price advantage conferred by cutting out the dealer margin. In some vertical industries, direct is already the de facto standard.

The lesson here? It’s easy to look around and think, “Nothing has really changed.” In fact, it has. And if you’re architecting your company to perform well in the old ecosystem, don’t be surprised if a new competitor comes up and threatens your dominance using the new ecosystem.

So what can you do:

Start with a brand that means something. The New Retail begins with a strong, differentiated brand. Online, there’s a lot more noise than in the traditional space. Take chances. Create controversy. Say what you really need to say.

Get good at all parts of the new ecosystem. Then, you absolutely need online PR and advertising, engaging the communities who are interested in your product. It continues with a slick online sales system that converts the prospects that come to your site. And it finishes with a more hands-on approach to customer service.

Measure and optimize. There’s no excuse to not know where your sales are coming from—you’ll be able to track the blogs, media sites, forums, and blogs that drive sales. You’ll know the messages that work. Heed these results, tweak the campaign, and make the results better.

Don’t be afraid to change. In The New Retail, you’ll know a lot more about what your customers actually want. They’re vocal. They talk to each other on forums. They chat with friends on Facebook. And they have no problem telling you what they think. Missed the mark? Change it. Because if you won’t, someone else will.

Scary? Not really. In fact, making it in The New Retail is a lot less chancy than getting your products in the right dealers and paying their margin to get them to pay attention to it.

And . . . don’t forget the future. As mobile commerce comes to the fore, be prepared for even more change.

Traditional advertising—television, print, and outdoor—seem to be holding on for most leading brands, and for specific industry verticals. Sure, newspapers are gutted, and radio is sliding, and many magazines are bleeding subscribers, but it’s not like companies aren’t doing Super Bowl ads anymore.

Websites, banners, and search marketing are so mainstream—and, in most cases, standardized—that they’re only remarkable by their absence. The online revolution, in that sense, is complete.

Social is even beginning to be relatively stable—Facebook is getting ready for their IPO, and Twitter continues to provide a megaphone for celebs, both the “traditional” Hollywood ones and the newer digerati. Both have plenty of ways for brands to engage through advertising, contests, and other venues. Sure, there are tons of startups, including some really interesting ones like Pintrest, but it’s not like brands are panicking about how to incorporate a whole new paradigm into their marketing.

Mobile is moving a lot faster, and more brands still need to catch up, but we know the general template here: target phones with specific mobile sites, and make sure your main site is tablet-friendly. QR codes, apps, location-based services are viable and known options.

Augmented reality remains niche, but it’s arguably moving towards much more general acceptance with applications like Google Goggles. It still takes a fairly hefty investment, and tolerance for “marketing on the edge” to engage with augmented reality, but it’s a real option for brands, especially toy and entertainment brands. As it becomes more mainstream, expect many more opportunities at all levels, from functional “this is how to change your printer cartridge” applications to broad-ranging, geolocated treasure hunts across real space.

Virtual worlds are quiet for now, mainly due to the small audience and large investment needed to really engage. This will change as virtuality moves into the browser and more people engage with it, but for the moment, it’s a small niche.

So why is this a strange space? Because, on the surface, marketing opportunities appear to be relatively stable. This is a fairly significant change from the panic of the first Web 1.0 days, or the upheaval centered around the first social marketing.

But under the surface, entirely new ecosystems are emerging—and, in many cases, brands aren’t taking complete advantage of them. We’ll look at some of these new ecosystems in upcoming posts.

Kidding. Or not.

“Wait a minute,” you’re probably saying. “We come to you for messaging! If you miss the message, it’s your fault! We’ll fire you and move on to another agency. Done.”

Well, yes, that’s true. A lot of our clients come to us for messaging. Some have a platform that’s handed down by the All-Seeing and All-Powerful Product Marketing Gods. In that case, there isn’t much latitude. But let’s take you at your word, and say that you’ve come to us with your really super-cool, best-iPod-dock-in-the-world product (the fictional example we used in #1) and want us to take charge of the messaging. In this case, you’ll hear something like this from us:

“A great message stands out. It actually says something. Great messages use absolute words like, ‘first, only, and best.’ They can ruffle feathers and generate controversy. Can your product support these kinds of messages in its inherent design?”

This sometimes generates a lot of blank looks, but more often than not, it gets us talking about this product and its competition. Sometimes things become very black and white at this point. Let’s say this best-iPod-dock-in-the-world is the only one that has an integrated subwoofer that goes down to 20 Hz. Now, let’s realize that most people don’t have any idea of what 20 Hz is. But if it does have a subwoofer with a ton of bass, it can create a club-like sound in your house. And there’s your message. The only iPod dock that turns your house into a club—don’t be surprised if you knock some pictures off the walls!

Sometimes things remain shades of gray. Yeah, it’s a $500 dock, and it sounds great, and it looks great, but there are a half-dozen other $500 docks that are competing in the same market. Some are a little better at one thing, some are a little better at another. The good news is that this isn’t the end of the world. In this case, you can create unique differentiators.

“Wait a minute!” You cry. “Isn’t that dishonest? You can’t just create stuff out of thin air!”

No, you can’t, and we’re not advocating you do so. However, there’s almost always some kind of unique differentiator available, if you dig deep enough. Oh hey, your iPod dock was created using the same circuits as used in high-end amplifiers? Well, guess what: you have the only iPod Dock with high-end reference amplifier design for superior sound—the same as you’d find in $10K speaker amps!” Or, let’s say a ton of recording studios have picked up on this dock for casual meetings with clients. Congrats. You have the first iPod dock chosen by professional recording engineers! Or, let’s say you’ve done listening tests with professional musicians, and 9 out of 10 of them chose your dock. Now you have the best iPod dock, period, chosen by professional musicians 9 out of 10 times.

You see where we’re going with this. If you can’t claim a first, only, or best, you can usually find a relevant conditional claim that is almost as powerful.

Now, all you have to do is make sure the message is supportable (if you have a powerful claim, have the proof points to back it up—you may be challenged!), make sure it is congruent with your brand personality, and segment the message so it’s appropriate to the media. Yes, lots of work. Yes, we know, marketing should be about trips to Costa Azul and schmoozing at the awards shows. Or not.

In review:

A great message is:

1. Able to claim one or more true, unique differentiators
2. Supportable by multiple proof points
3. Simple, direct, and understandable to the audience
4. In-line with the image, personality, and tone of the brand
5. Appropriate to the media.

An acceptable message is:

1. Able to create one or more unique differentiators based on lifestyle, audience, or preference.
2. Supportable by conditional usage
3. Simple, direct, and understandable to the audience
4. In-line with the image, personality, and tone of the brand
5. Appropriate to the media.

Bottom line: don’t blend in. If your product or service doesn’t have any true, unique differentiators, you need to create some. If you can create controversy, do it. The message is the most important part of any campaign—don’t miss it!

In fact, I think we irritate a lot of clients when they first come to us and say, “Wow, we have this great new product or service and we need to get the word out and I’ve heard there’s all these cool things you can do on Facebook and on Twitter and virally and maybe even some online ads and a microsite and all that stuff!” And all we do is sit back and say, “That’s great. What’s your goal?”

A lot of times, we get a blank look, and a reiteration of the above.

Luckily, a lot more times, we get a hard stop, followed by an “aha!” moment, where our client realizes that we are really looking out for their best interests.

Sure, we can do pretty pictures and snappy copy as well as the next agency out there (or better—hey, I’m biased) but if those pretty pictures and snappy copy don’t get you the sales results a client wants, what good are they? Yeah, they may get you some shiny pieces of chrome and plastic to put on a mantle and wow the punters, but we don’t go in for awards. At all. Every award we’ve won has been for client-entered work, not stuff we’ve submitted. We don’t have time for it, and we don’t think they matter.

“That’s fine,” you might be saying by now, “But what’s so hard about a goal? We want to sell our stuff, that’s the goal, it never changes, there you go!”

Well, you’d be surprised how many marketers forget even that. Sometimes, in the excitement of a new product/service/brand, the bottom line goes out the door. But a good goal is more than a bottom line.

We’d define it as:

Goal = Action + Audience + Metrics + References

Here’s how that could break down, for a hypothetical consumer electronics product (let’s say, it’s a high-end iPod dock that costs $500) that is being sold exclusively through stores, both physical and online.

Action = Get people to buy products at the stores.
Audience = People who are interested in iPod docks, excellent sound, and have incomes that support a $500 accessory buy.
Metrics = Move 1000+ of these products per month on a sustaining basis
References = The product needs to outsell two other competing $500 docks so the stores will continue to carry it, and our previous cost per sale when driving to online stores has been $150.

Note how none of the above can be done with a genericized product. We need to know what it is, what it costs, and what the competition is like.

Also note how all of the above lead to more details which will need to be addressed for a successful marketing program:

For the Action, getting people to buy products at the stores means getting them physically into a store, or it means getting them to an online store where they can purchase it. This means we have to use tactics that are congruent with those sub-goals. Getting people physically into a store may mean mobile tactics, or, for an older audience, it may mean direct mail. Getting them to online stores may mean Adwords, or sponsorship on sites where iPod fanatics hang out.

For the Audience, what else do we know about them? What’s their demographics? Male/Female split? Age? Incomes? Do they really value standout sound or standout design? The more we know, the better.

For the Metrics, where did these numbers come from? Are they based on competitive information, or previous product launches, or are they arbitrary? Do they line up with what we can expect from this kind of product, based on history?

For the References, are the two other docks all that matter, or are there $400 docks we need to know about? Do the stores have a number they need to sell in order to continue carrying the product? Is it possible to get real metrics on the cost per sale from external stores? If so, what kind of analytics do we have to set up?

Now, you’re thinking, “Hell, this is too hard! I got into marketing because I wanted to do cool commercials, and I thought I’d get a chance to travel around with the director when they shot in St. Lucia!”

Well, that’s entirely fine, and good luck with that!

For the rest of us, we’ll continue putting in the long hours to create targeted and effective campaigns that hit the bottom line.

“Video?” You say. “But that’s expensive, and time-consuming, and it isn’t for me, and the last time we put up a video on YouTube, we ended up with 23 views, so why are we bothering anyway?”

Well, let’s start by clearing up a few misconceptions.

It’s Not About the Views
Video isn’t just about YouTube. In fact, most corporate videos don’t belong on YouTube, unless they’re simply living there to simplify video serving. And video isn’t just about mass viewing. If you’re selling a $50,000 product, and 1000 people see your video, and ten respond, you’re gonna be pretty thrilled with that. Heck, we’ve done videos that were sent to as little as 75 people around the world—and still resulted in multi-thousand-percent ROI.

It’s Not About Entertainment
Corporate video doesn’t need to be the next summer blockbuster. If you can post a 90-second video that shows a customer how to properly connect your new product to his PC and reduce service call volume by 90%, that’s an effective video. If you have a 2-minute “quick tour” that gives prospects a much better idea of what your product does, when compared to text and photos, and increases your order rate 80%, that’s a great video.

It’s Not As Hard (or Costly) As You Expect
If you haven’t done much video production lately, you may be in for a shock. Video production is easier and more cost-effective than ever today. High-def production and sophisticated effects that might have broken the budget a few years ago are now in reach of most companies. And when you work with an agency with significant in-house resources for scripting and deep connections in production, your work is further streamlined.

So, ask yourself: what can video do for me?

Do you have a complex product that needs more explanation than text and slides can provide, or are you introducing a new product at your next show that really has to sizzle? Need a software walk-through to help everyone understand your advantages, or are you deploying a technology or branding initiative that needs to be revealed to all your staff?

In all cases, video can help increase the effectiveness of your communications—and you may be surprised at how easy production can be.

Video Example: Epson

Video Example: Wesco Aircraft

“I need a new print ad.”

“I want a Facebook presence and a really compelling social media campaign.”

“Our website blows, can you redesign it?”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of those requests. Not inherently. And yeah, there are tons of agencies that’ll simply toddle away and come back to you with ideas for an ad, a social media campaign, or a website. And that’s perfectly fine, too, as long as those requests are grounded in solid strategy.

But most of the time, they aren’t.

Here’s the difference. If you come to us and say, “I need a new print ad, based on the fact that print has always been our best response medium, and the magazines we’re in are holding up well in terms of size and quality of subscriber base, but our current ad is stale and it’s not pulling,” that’s wonderful. That’s strategic. And it’s very likely that a new print ad is really all you need. The only other question we might ask would be about your media buy, and if you’ve looked at sponsorship or partnership opportunities with the magazines’ online presence, since there are usually some interesting opportunities on that side.

But here’s how it usually goes:

Client: “We need a new print ad.”
Centric: “Cool. What’s up? Isn’t it pulling?”
Client: “Well, it’s kinda old.”
Centric: “But how is it doing, response-wise?”
Client: “It’s been falling a bit. I think.”
Centric: “How are the magazines doing? Have you looked at the subscription numbers and demographics lately?”
Client: “Well, no, but aren’t all print magazines kinda dying?”
Centric: “In many cases, yes. But if your media is dying, isn’t it time to look at another approach to get the results you want?”
Client: “Are you actually trying to talk me out of giving you money?”
Centric: “Nope. We just want to get the best results. Now, what exactly are you trying to do here…”

And so we find out what’s really happening with their marketing, and we can make suggestions about how to better spend their budget.

This is what strategic marketing is all about: making the most of your outreach, so you can meet and exceed your goals. And this is how we approach every project–not simply reacting to a request, but actually looking to understand the needs of the campaign.

Strategic marketing isn’t hard, either. It’s usually just a repetitive application of one question: Why?

Here’s how it works. Let’s suppose your CEO has just read an article about the wonderful new world of social media marketing, and storms into your office, saying, “We have to have a Facebook presence! Get me an order of that social media marketing right now, pronto!”

Now, you may not want to get up in the face of your CEO and start asking him, “Why?” But you may want to bring in an agency that can ask questions like:

“That’s great. Will you be the first company in your industry up on Facebook? If not, how are your competitors doing? Oh, hey, look, one of them has 87 likes. You know, that’s not so great. And have you thought about the staffing needs for social media? Ah, you didn’t know this was a full-time job. That’s cool, there are some companies that are doing pretty well with Facebook. But there are a lot of failures, too, so let’s talk about what you really want to accomplish here.”

And then, in the end, if it’s right for you to have a Facebook campaign, you will.

But if it’s not, you won’t. And your marketing budget will be free to be invested in vehicles with a better return.

This isn’t just in the course of business, either—I can’t tell you how many twentysomethings I’ve heard repeat the phrase, “I want to do something huge, world-changing. Like Google. Like Facebook. Like Apple.”

That’s when I usually say something like, “Hmm, that’s strange. When I was a kid, I was taught that you start small, work hard, and overdeliver on everything you do, and—over time—you’ll build to a level where you can realize all your dreams.

And they scoff. “That’s old-school. All I need is a Big Idea.”

Yeah. A big idea. And capital investment. And the right team. And the great good luck not to be left back on the floor with a lot of other big ideas, like Friendster and WebVan and Beenz and Pets.com and Second Life and Plurk and Yammer and Orkut and Digg and and and . . . the reality is that for every Facebook, there are ten dead high-profile competitors, a hundred dead you-may-have-heard-about-thems, a thousand ideas that made it online, ten thousand people who started building something, a hundred thousand who sketched on napkins, and a million or more who had the same big idea, but never really did anything about it.

The point is: hitting a home run isn’t about a Big Idea That Changes Everything. Like in the real world, a home run is the product of decades of training, years of extreme competition, the perfect conditions for the hit, and more than a little bit of luck.

Betting on a home run with no training, experience, or imperfect conditions is kinda like buying a lottery ticket. Sure, it might happen, but the odds are astronomical.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Okay. Let’s say it’s another perfect day at your office. As head of marketing, you’ve just successfully launched your great new UltraProduct, and it’s cleaning up in sales. Response and conversion rates are looking good, and the campaign is cool enough that it’s also picking up some word of mouth buzz. Nothing could be better!

Until the SEO guys come to call. “You know, you could have done all of that cheaper with SEO! Why don’t we sell you some SEO right now!”

Or until the Social Media Consultant comes to call. “Hell, you’re missing the biggest opportunity out there. Did you know Facebook has eleventy billion people on it now? Did you see our report that shows each Like is worth over $100? Why aren’t you taking advantage of this great opportunity? Why don’t we sell you some social right now.”

Or until the Mobile App Developer shows up. “Ya know, you could make even more money selling that through the App Store and Android Market. Why don’t we sell you some app development right now?”

Suddenly, your day isn’t perfect. Look at all those wonderful opportunities you’re missing! How could you possibly market without them? You have to get some of that right now!

But wait. You’re not going to be stampeded by the shiniest new thing on the block. You’re a savvy marketer. You already have campaigns in place, and an ad agency that has been making noises about that cool new stuff.

But these guys have charts! And graphs! And white papers!

And they’re persistent. They come back! Again! They talk about that great new movie they worked on, and show you some mind-blowing numbers for clickthroughs and time on site.

But you’re still not convinced. How does it work with the rest of my marketing, you ask?

“No problem, this can be separate, just buy now.”

You cross your arms. But how do I compare it with the results I already have?

“No problem, we have our own metrics and reporting platform, just buy now.”

Now you’re getting irritated. But what about other programs? Is this the right thing for our company?

“Of course it is, just buy now.”

Because when you’re only selling a single thing in marketing, obviously that single thing is the best possible answer for all marketing needs.

Just like, when you’re selling only ice cream, it doesn’t matter what season it is.