When ad industry veterans Mike Schaff and Dea Goldsmith founded their boutique agency, Echo-Factory, they were looking to do things their way.

"When we started, a lot of it was out of frustration with not being able to do the creative work we wanted to," says Shaffer, a former advertising photographer who had collaborated for eight years with Goldsmith, a creative director, before opening their Rancho Cucamonga-based company. "So we started an agency run and owned by creatives."

In an industry usually dominated by the business end, Echo-Factory's approach is an organic one, centered on the creative process behind quality work, says Schaffer.

"We're creatives. We know how to do advertising and know how to do it creatively," he said. "And we want to do the best work we can. So instead of being so focused on getting media buys we wanted to focus on the creative."

For Goldsmith, the heart of the business also comes down their relationships with clients.

"In order to really understand who our clients are you have to get to know them, and that has to be honest on both sides," she said, "otherwise you never really get at the heart of what they're trying to do and can't communicate that to the public. So it's that relationship that allows us to do the best work for our clients and allows them to do the best for their consumers."

So far, the approach is paying off, and client referrals are helping fuel the agency's rapid growth.

Staying ahead

Another aspect that might ultimately set the company apart from the competition is their ability to stay ahead of the fray with new media.

"In general the agencies in the area are really focused on traditional advertising and catching up with new media, so that's something in the future that we'll have to stay on top of," Schaffer said.

Jen Olewinski, who recently opened her own agency in Orange County that specializes in new media, notes a fork in the road that is driving the industry, especially in the restrictive economic climate of the past two years.

"In our industry for the past couple years it's kind of been traditional, but there's been a huge shift," she says, pointing to the increasing importance of social media. "PR and ad firms have had to look at these avenues and use new techniques to reach people," which they can now do for cheaper with sites like Facebook.

"I think the PR and ad industries have hit a really tough market, but the clients that actually broke off and are doing new media will really be successful," she said.

This is a trend you'll see, says Olewinski, in the breakdown of companies, a lot of which now have a social media department.

"You're seeing it a lot more now in the last six months to the last year," she said." People are teaching themselves, but I would say there's still a lot of firms, maybe a quarter, that are behind."

While some industry veterans are still trying to catch up, companies that have a good command of new media might already be able to offer a more relevant or comprehensive approach.

At Echo-Factory, Schaff and Dea are responding to the demand with a strong new media department.

"Right now we have people in the office and that's all they do, work on online social media and SEO - that's their job," he said.

It's just part of the process, says Goldsmith.

"Just like typesetting and computers there's a progression, and it's quickly outgrowing the title of 'new media' because it's just going to be 'media,' " she said. "There have been advances in print, television, radio, and it's been the job of good advertising people to understand what new technologies mean and the best ways of using them and educating clients about them. I think this is just another advancement and keeps us on our toes."

The right balance

In the two years since they started, Echo-Factory's staff has grown from three people to nine. A simple business model based on a diversified client base is partly responsible for this growth, says Schaffer, who also stresses a robust networking strategy and strong business relationships.

"It's the networking, we're doing social networking both online and in person," he says, adding that they do a lot of "face-to-face" at home in the Inland Empire. "We're meeting new people as often as we can. That's the guaranteed reason for our growth."

And while they just moved to a bigger office a few months ago and are "definitely expanding," says Schaffer, "we don't want to go too fast."

For Goldsmith, the long-term vision for the company broadly centers on the fundamental task of doing relevant work for clients they enjoy working with. But she is cautious about the kind of growth that would alter the way they do business.

"We don't believe in sales people," she says. "The creatives and experts at marketing and new media, they deal directly with clients. We would hate to get too big where we couldn't have that personal connection with our clients."

But Echo-Factory is definitely growing, and Goldsmith admits that "it's a tough call" to know what the pace of that growth should be.

"I'm not sure where that line is," she said. "We're not out to conquer the world, we're out to do good work for good clients and hope we have the wisdom to know when we reach that limit."