By Z

With our new BFF, Emerge Sales, moving into a corner office here at New Media, this seems a good time to review the importance of strategic alliances — not only during times of economic crisis, like the Great Recession that rocked our national economy for the better part of two years, but also in times like these, when recovery is a reality and the business savvy are gearing up for better days.

See those logos up there? Each of those companies — Emerge Sales, Trade Show Solution Center, Software Reproduction Technologies and Naz Creative — is a New Media professional ally. And each brings something unique and critically important to the party. While New Media provides these partners with services such as website development, corporate rebranding and Relationship Marketing, the partners provide New Media with access to their valuable skills. The result is a solid team — a corporate bloc, if you will — capable of addressing an expanded range of professional needs.

If our good friend Laura McLeod at Trade Show Solutions Center has customers interested in developing a Social Media network, she refers them to us; if we have clients who need a killer presentation for the big convention, we know whom to call. And so on.

“This is where the future is,” says Michael Kitakis, New Media’s CEO and architect of many of his agency’s strategic alliances. “In today’s economic reality, companies like ours should embrace our ‘vendors’ and turn them into ‘partners.’ It’s just good sense.”

The benefits go far beyond the services allies provide each other; it’s not only about New Media’s advanced talent for web design or Emerge’s unparalleled telemarketing knowledge or Naz Creative’s SEO expertise. As with any sound business practice, these alliances don’t just benefit current clients — they help the member companies drum up new business.

“All of these companies share their databases,” Michael notes. “The idea is to provide existing clients, as well as potential ones, the kind of nourishment that shows them — rather than tells them — the benefits each company can provide.

“If I’m a business owner and I see someone is producing a webinar with an hour’s worth of vital content about trade shows, or search-engine optimization, or the kind of transferable-media services SRT provides, why wouldn’t I listen to that?” Michael adds. “This is all beneficial stuff, and if one webinar doesn’t exactly apply to your particular business, the next one will.”

The corporate quintet is already spinning some intricate webinars. This week, Emerge cofounder and CEO Michael Sperduti web-casted two live webinars for salespersons working the health-care trades from a New Media conference room. And production has already begun on a series of webinars, slated to web-cast live before the end of this year, featuring all five allies discussing the best bets for 21st century marketing and communications.

New Media and its professional pals, meanwhile, are always looking for new allies, with digital signage pros and networking aces being strongly considered. The more, the merrier, according to Michael K.

“As long as a business can provide a new or better service that applies to our world, we’ll consider bringing them in,” New Media’s head honcho says. “This is all about providing the best services for our customers, and for our partners’ customers, and for all the customers out there waiting to be discovered.”

Rich Ciota spent his weekend pitching Division 7's state-of-the-art solar-energy services.

By Z

Homeowners in all stages of remodeling, and those just dreaming the dream, came in droves this weekend to Suffolk County Community College’s Brentwood campus for the Long Island Fall Home Show.

Presented by American Consumer Shows (America’s No. 1 home-show producer) and Findapro.com (ACS’s online division), the three-day extravaganza featured hundreds of Long Island’s top remodeling, landscaping and decorating firms in a massive home-improvement smorgasbord. This was the scene for anyone considering any level of home renovation; everyone from Alure Home Improvements to the Long Island Builders Institute was there, and right in the middle was Uncle Richie.

Well, he’s Uncle Richie to our man Graz. To everyone else, he’s Managing Partner Rich Ciota of Division 7, a Stony Brook-based provider of roofing and solar energy solutions. A registered Woman-Owned Business (Aunt Kerry, Kerry Ciota to you, is the boss), Division 7 is re-tasking over 40 years of roofing expertise and emerging as the Island’s new solar authority – and the Ciotas were thrilled to spend their weekend in Brentwood showcasing their cutting-edge wares and services.

Uncle Richie (left) shares his solar knowledge with customers at the Long Island Fall Home Show.

“We have so much wonderful solar-energy and efficiency knowledge to share with customers,” Rich said during the show. “We’re still the Island’s best source for residential and commercial roofing, single-ply roofing, built-up and modified bitumen roofing, all of that. But now our expertise includes solar thermal and solar PV solutions, and the Home Show was the perfect place to share that with thousands of homeowners.”

Now, lest you think the Power of New Media blog has eschewed all professional standards and devolved into a nepotistic love-in, please note Division 7 is also one of New Media’s hottest new clients (our blatant favoritism remains reserved for customers, thank you). This summer we designed their new logo and smart new business cards; we’ve helped hone their new message, assisting Rich and Kerry in their transition to major solar players; we even produced their display booth for the Home Show. Next, we’re developing Division 7’s website, which is good now and begging to be great.

The fact that Graz spends half his weekends wolfing down Uncle Richie’s world-class barbecue will have absolutely no bearing on the negotiations.

The WKJY can is cool, but not the coolest vehicle at Thursday's Subaru Love at First Sight event at Hassett of Wantagh.

By Z

Deals, giveaways and a special appearance by a popular Long Island DJ set a festive atmosphere Thursday night, when Hassett of Wantagh hosted its 2010 Subaru Love at First Sight Preview Event.

Hassett, one of the first U.S. dealerships to take delivery of Subaru’s shiny new Legacy and Outback models, pulled out all the stops for the one-night-only showcase. DJ Jim Douglas and the staff of WKJY radio broadcasted live from the event, where enthusiastic customers munched on snacks and enjoyed free beverages and took advantage of special deals and door prizes (the free iPods disappeared as fast as the new models).

Hassett Subaru Manager John Fanuzzi made some new friends Thursday night.

“The Love at First Sight Preview Event was met with a lot of enthusiasm,” said John Fanuzzi, who was milling around the showroom answering questions and assisting the sales staff as numerous buyers took advantage of special prices, exclusive warranties and other Preview Event bonuses. “We’re very happy with the way it turned out.”

The confident and dynamic 2010 Legacy and the rugged and adventurous 2010 Outback were the real stars of the show, but making these attractive vehicles even more desirable was Subaru’s Guaranteed Trade-In Program (ensuring the highest possible trade-in price for older Subarus, plus an additional $500 in Subaru Rewards) and the complimentary two-year maintenance program for all new vehicles purchased during the Love at First Sight event.

Similar deals will be flying Oct. 15, when Hassett of Wantagh hosts its next big premier event – this time spotlighting the 2010 Lincoln MKT. For more on that event and all the great deals at Hassett of Wantagh, check out Hassett’s main website and the exclusive Hassett Highlights blog!

That's a wrap!

By Z

Holy guacamole, whatta week!

Two weeks, really, ticking down to deadline on Renewable Energy Long Island’s biannual Green Guide. I have friends in the newspaper business who will understand this immediately, but if you’ve never labored over a printed work – in this case, 64 glorious, full-color glossies highlighting humanity’s best environmental practices – under the frenetic lash of punctual printers and anxious clients, well, I’m not sure I can describe it.

Busy, certainly. Tense, yes. Hours of steady work punctuated by moments of deep despair and total triumph. As is often the case, however, the tougher labor produces the sweeter fruits – and so, New Media is very, very proud to present the latest edition of RELI’s uber-informative magazine, coming next week to a National Solar Tour stop near you.

We worked very closely with RELI on this book, conferring constantly with Executive Director Gordian Raacke and his top lieutenants on content, layout, art, even grammar. They were very exacting, and you know what? They should be. The Green Guide is their baby, their face, the No. 1 means of spreading their very important word. It should say what they want, how they want. This was a challenge, but in the end, we nailed it.

“When we saw the first printed copy, we were oohing and aahing over here,” Gordian told me.

From the exclusive one-on-one with superstar model, forthright activist and concerned Long Island mom Christie Brinkley to the eye-opening articles to dozens of everyday energy-efficiency tips, the Green Guide is exactly what was intended: the Island’s ultimate environmental resource and the blueprint for every Island-based greening brochure that follows. The photos and graphics are sharp (kudos to those punctual pros over at Spectragraphic), the information is up-to-date (and mind-blowing, in spots), even the ads are a wealth of practical ecological opportunities.

The green-minded (and everyone else) can find their copy and other important renewability materials all along the Island leg of the National Solar Tour. Sponsored locally by RELI, the American Solar Energy Society event is scheduled for 10 am-4 pm Saturday, Oct. 3, and stacks of the Green Guide will be available at many of the 90 LI stops. They’ll definitely be at 16 “hub” locations, according to Gordian, including the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, the Department of Conservation and Waterways in Hempstead, Tanner Park in Copiague (Town of Babylon), NYIT’s Central Islip campus and the Mount Sinai Heritage Trust facility (Town of Brookhaven).

For more information on the tour and its stops, see the RELI homepage (www.renewableenergylongisland.org). The tour is free, but participants are asked to preregister on the RELI site.

The Green Guide is also free. Considering what it can do for the environment and the homeowner’s bottom line, it’s priceless, too.

By Z

Wow, things are flying forward on Renewable Energy Long Island’s new Green Guide.

We told you in this very space a few weeks back that RELI, the Island’s preeminent nonprofit environmental watchdog, honored New Media by choosing us to take creative control of its super-informative biannual manual. We also cited a daunting challenge – to improve a book that was already attractive and brimming with environmental resources.

Well, we picked up that gauntlet and now we’re thrilled with the Green Guide’s progress. It all starts with the backing of major sponsors like LIPA and National Grid and a list of advertisers that would choke Al Gore. (Did you get your ad yet? Pity. Your chief competitor did.)

And it rockets up from there. Our crack design staff has created a beautiful cover (that’s it up there) and head copywriter Jeff Borno – he’s what would happen if Ed Asner and George Carlin somehow produced a child, gruffy and absolutely brilliant – has crafted an A-list of departments and articles. Among them: discussions on cost-effective optimization of your home’s energy efficiency, explorations of more personal aspects of ecological sensitivity, workplace renewability and numerous ideas for scaping your land without ticking off Mother Nature.

And those are just for starters. Throw in a rundown of recent environmental headlines, a jam-packed calendar of regional energy events and enough tips and tricks to keep you greening until the next biannual issue (not to mention a possible celebrity cameo or two!) and RELI’s all-new Green Guide promises to be Long Island’s ultimate environmental resource. A slamming good read, too.

As Borno put it, greening “is not a sacrifice, it’s a gain,” and the Green Guide isn’t only about helping the environment or promoting healthier lifestyles. It’s about “opening eyes to what’s possible,” Borno said – and it turns out the first eyes opened were ours.

Get your copy of the Green Guide this fall!

Ray Negron, the celebrated author of the best selling book, The Greatest Story Never Told: The Babe and Jackie, recently held a book signing to raise money for ‘Literacy for Children’ at Paces Steakhouse in Hauppauge New York. New Media Marketing & Communications was proud to have assisted with photographing the event and supporting Ray Negron’s mission to improve children’s literacy.

Also on hand was famed New York sport star Darryl Strawberry who was one of the most feared sluggers in baseball from the 1980s to the early 1990s leading both the Mets and Yankees to World Series Championships.
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NSL Showroom Grand Opening Material

What does a successful company do in the new millennium to stay on the cutting edge of an ever-evolving technology while confronting a volatile economy? You invest in yourself by hiring a company familiar with the heartbeat of your target market, able to provide programs that not only enhance your mission but totally take it to another level – a company that will exceed your expectations.
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