Each week, The Columbian offers a brief snapshot of an interesting Clark County business. Send ideas to Mary Ricks: mary.ricks@columbian.com; fax 360-735-4598; phone 360-735-4550.
Business name: EcoDigital Media.
Owner and president: Kimberly Brecko.
Owner and director of technology: Randy Short.
Address: Most work is done on site.
What the business does: Eco Digital Media is an integration and design company pairing emerging digital media solutions with LCD/LED digital signs. It helps companies tell their story visually through interactive engagement technologies. The media delivery system allows a business to design a full-screen template into independently controlled live zones playing a variety of content, including marketing messaging, video, live camera feeds, ads and social media content.
EcoDigital serves a broad range of public and private business sectors, including health care providers, food service providers, churches and other nonprofit organizations.
EcoDigital offers an array of services to support its clients’ marketing technology needs, including consulting, creative development, content design, installation, hosting and monthly content management.
Steps to build the business: Brecko and Short said they look at each client as a long-term relationship to service, nurture and grow. Referrals are key to their business. They said outsourcing locally benefits their company, as it allows them to create value for their clients by not carrying overhead and they can find the right team of talent for each project.
The digital media company has a specialty sales staff in California, which allows the company to provide good customer service. It is prepared to build sales throughout Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona this year.
Greatest challenge: Brecko and Short said their greatest challenge is earning people’s trust. Often, buyers are not aware of all the options before purchasing digital sign systems and find themselves with a system that doesn’t meet their initial needs or future growth. Educating people on the flexibility and scalability of a digitally networked sign system is key, they said. Merging all the technology into the environment, together creates a seamless multi-sensory viewer experience.
What’s ahead: Brecko and Short said they will continue great customer service and pay attention to detail to maintain their client base. They are focused on four core areas in 2013: health care, retirement facilities, nonprofit organizations and athletic facilities. Overall, they see food services as a large growth sector.
A favorite part of the job: Brecko and Short say it is like magic seeing a digital sign come alive on installation day after a few months of site planning, IT integration and working with the client on content design and development. They love to generate uses for the digital platform they had not initially thought of.
Professional background: Short was an account manager in the commercial printing and advertising industry. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle. Brecko owned a sportswear textiles trade show and worked at Nike for more than 10 years.
Year established in Clark County: 2009.
Employees: Two, plus approximately 10 contractors.
Telephone: 971-270-0705.
Email: info@ecodigitalmedia.com
Website: http://ecodigitalmedia.com
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Friday.
