What’s In A Name?

In 2012, calling Centric an “advertising agency” is kinda like Ford calling itself a “horseless carriage manufacturer.” That is, it may be technically accurate, but it has a ton of old baggage associated with it. And that’s the problem. How do you describe a company that’s doing website development, online advertising, video scripting and production, [...]

Posted by March 6th, 2012 | by Jason | Permalink

The New Retail

Let’s look at just one new ecosystem: The New Retail. 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 [...]

Posted by February 14th, 2012 | by Jason | Permalink

New Ecosystems

We’re in a funny place right now. 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 [...]

Posted by February 14th, 2012 | by Jason | Permalink

5 Opportunities for 2012

So, if you’re not into the whole “2012 is the end of the world” schtick, you may be wondering, “Just what the hell do I do to enhance my marketing in this day and age? Holy moly, we’re living in the future. 2012 is, like, the future, isn’t it?” In some ways, it is. You [...]

Posted by January 6th, 2012 | by Jason | Permalink

Marketing Mistakes #3: Fumbling the Media

“Media? What media? In this wonderful Web 2.0 era, I can get all the exposure I want in the social networks, for free!” Yeah, and if that’s what you think, good luck. Here’s the door. Don’t let it hit ya where the dog shoulda bit ya, and all that. Come back when reality sets in. [...]

Posted by October 27th, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink

Marketing Mistakes #2: Missing the Message

Continuing our series about marketing mistakes, here’s another we run into all the time: missing the message. Arguably, this is even more common than #1: Forgetting the Goal, but it’s a lot more sneaky—it comes in later in the process, usually when legal gets involved. Kidding. Or not. “Wait a minute,” you’re probably saying. “We [...]

Posted by September 26th, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink

Marketing Mistakes #1: Forgetting the Goal

It’s funny. For all the marketing we do—online, offline, B2B, B2C, traditional, cutting-edge, whatever—the biggest mistake we see is simply this: forgetting about your goal. 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 [...]

Posted by August 22nd, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink

Why We’re Rooting for Google+

No, this isn’t going to be a hateful screed about the evils of Facebook. But we are rooting for Google+. We really hope Google+ gets a significant portion of the social market. Here’s why: 1. We hate monopolies! For a while there, it looked like Facebook was going to be like the eBay juggernaut, with [...]

Posted by July 8th, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink

Portfolio Strategy and Online Advertising

One of the questions we get, time and time again, goes something like this: “There are so many things I can do to advertise my product online, where do I start? Ad networks? Search ads? SEO? Site sponsorships? Contests? Social? Mobile? YouTube? Advertising on YouTube? Advertising on Facebook? Facebook presence? Twitter? Paid tweets?” And yes, [...]

Posted by May 31st, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink

Strategic Versus Reactive Marketing

It may just be us, but we get a bunch of clients who come to us with requests like this: “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 [...]

Posted by May 17th, 2011 | by Jason | Permalink