Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Power of Social Networking (Part 2)

Another fantastic example of the power of social networking came yesterday when a former colleague of mine from at Matrox Graphics Inc. requested that he and I be LinkedIn. I've been using LinkedIn for many years now and am approaching 200 business contacts, most of whom are clients, or those who represent potential clients.

After seeing his list of connections, I noticed another former colleague from Matrox that I wasn't yet connected to and decided to link with her. When she was working at Matrox, she was the one of the heads of the Marketing department, and sure enough, she was still in a pretty prestigious position at a different company.

She accepted my LinkedIn request pretty quickly, but the amazing thing was that she sent me a message asking me whether or not Red Dream Studios could fulfill a bunch of graphic design requests... Her company was looking to outsource to a new company. Could the timing have been any more right?

So I was once again blown away by the power of social networking and its ability to connect to new business opportunities. It's no wonder why convential advertisers are scrambling... At least in my company's case, I haven't been resorting to it (yet...).

View my profile on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nealcaminsky

For more information, visit Red Dream Studios.

Monday, February 04, 2008

The Power of Social Networking (Part 1)

Today was a remarkable day for Red Dream Studios. Our company doesn't advertise in the conventional sense, at least, we spend no money to do so. Instead, we rely on networking, sales champions (word-of-mouth), and more recently, social networking to get our message across.

Face-to-face networking is paramount for the success of any company. Nothing is more powerful than a handshake.

However, when this is not possible, such as when catering to a potential client hundreds of miles away, you typically need to rely on a referral. Such was the case with the company, Balance Integration. Through a word-of-mouth referral by an extended family member, Tali Gillette (who's husband is a client), Balance Integration, a New York-based company dedicated to improving the company-employee relationship, chose Red Dream Studios to provide an overhaul to its corporate website. Coming to it in a semi-state of flux, we worked with existing content and design, added some of our own touches, programming, and Flash content to bring the site to its final, launchable state. Succeeding and a relatively short period of time, the Founder of Balance Integration, Tevis Gale (Trower), had this to say about us:

"It's always a relief when you find someone who seems to GET a project without ever having met or spent time with you. Neal really GOT our project from the very start - even though we brought him in after several headaches/turned nightmares with other providers. He and his team delivered on time, within budget, and with no static in the tweaking of our site to perfection. Having never even spoken to him on the telephone, I have to say that they have mastered understanding product specs and communicating clearly pixel to pixel. We love our new site!"
Wow... What a compliment. This is truly a fantastic testimonial to our efforts, and once again why client relations is key to a successful partnership. We'd like to think that from this moment on, Balance Integration will be one of our newest sales champions...

For more information, visit Red Dream Studios.