Digital Media Buzz > Agency Spotlight - Simande

Agency Spotlight - Simande

Past Projects: Mercedes-Benz, Wachovia Bank, Johnson & Johnson, The Philadelphia Zoo and hafurniture.com.

Company Size: Four Founders + Freelancers

Company URL: http://www.simande.com

Simande Overview

Simande is a hot new web design and development Studio located in Jersey City, NJ that focuses on building very functional and very stylized websites for each and every client.  Their mission is to create effective websites that are hand-crafted using the highest quality production methodologies and ensuring that the design, interface, and code is clean and very efficient.  Simande gauges their success by how well a client believes that they have successfully translated their ideas into an easy to use functional product

What sets them apart from other agencies?  Simande’s advantage lies in  their small size and extremely talented staff.  Each member of their team plays a very specialized role and completely owns the part of the project that requires their expertise.  This means less management and communication overhead, no lengthy approvals and bureaucracy, and more personalized direct access for the clients.  Moreover, when a client needs to reach them, the person they talk to is guaranteed to have intimate technical and creative knowledge of their project and will be able to address their concerns immediately.

What can they do for you? Simande’s work ranges from non-profit to internal web-based applications for large corporations.  Simande’s team also provides really unique marketing ideas for their client’s by taking advantage of today’s top social networks and search engines. For a full list of our services and a portfolio of their work, please check out their website at: http://www.simande.com.

Interview with Founders

Question: How did this company get started and why open doors in this economy?

Answer: We started Simande because we truly believe that we have assembled the perfect team and that we can consistently deliver work to clients that surpasses all expectations.  Contrary to popular sentiment, we feel as if an economy like this is the perfect time for a company like ours to get started.  It’s safe to say that, today, companies and organizations of all sizes are looking for ways to control their costs.  This, in turn, has created a unique opportunity for small, hungry companies such as Simande to offer our services to clients as a method of saving money by avoiding the larger, more expensive agencies while still getting the same great results.  In addition, working within limited budgets and time constraints helps us focus on the most important aspects of a project and forces us to concentrate on simplicity, that is, doing all the most effective things well.

Question: How do you plan to compete with the hundreds of other interactive shops out there?

Answer: Even though we are a small company, our quality of work definitely does not come second to what the large agencies offer.  We have worked in and done work for the large interactive agencies, and we have an understanding of how they operate: overpriced, a lot of management overhead, and sometimes their work may be inconsistent because they depend on freelance designers or developers who work for them on a per-project basis.  With the nature of our small company, Simande is able to provide consistently good quality work since each member of our company is very knowledgeable in their division of the work.  We are able to maintain a very hands-on work process since we are not dependent on an outside party to get work done efficiently and well.

Question: What do you see as your biggest hurdle in getting your name out there?

Answer: Everything takes time, and finding ways to promote our name is not an exception.  However, we have found that there are ways to kill two birds with one stone.  When designing or developing a site, we are applying new and old information that we have acquired throughout the years to solidify and improve our work.  With the knowledge and information that we have, we like to share it by posting it online in forums, on blogs, or on sites like Digital Media Buzz where the type of information that we share may be interesting to others in our community; this way, we can exhibit ourselves with the knowledge we have and with the work that we are already doing and at the same time, learn from our community as they provide replies and feedback.

Question: What are some of the latest products and/or brands you are working on?

Answer: We are currently working on a community-based product in which individuals looking to develop their career can use as a resource for their growth. Our main goal is to create products that we, ourselves, would use rather than creating a product aimed at a market we are unfamiliar with.  This way we can take ownership of something that we are more intimate with and it can benefit ourselves as well as others who share similar interests and perspectives.

Question: Can you give us some insight into what clients are most looking for these days in regards to online marketing?

Answer: Clients today want to establish a multi-directional dialog with their audiences.  They want to be able to reach out and communicate with their audience, almost as if they’re having a conversation through their online interactions.  Instead of just posting a blog and letting people respond, clients want to tap into the conversations that users are starting among themselves.  We have been able to help a few of our existing clients congregate their multiple media outlets to create a hub for their audience to provide feedback and at the same time get responses to their feedback.  This provides a central place for our client and their audience to interact with one another and develop a community around their common interests.

Question: Can you give us your thoughts on web 3.0 and what that will look like?

Answer: Web 3.0 is the expanded version of social networking and a new approach to the way a user interacts or views a site.  It allows the audience to interact with each other and develop a community around a shared interest, exemplified by sites like Meetup and Twitter.  Web 3.0 can also describe the way social networking is inscribed into a person’s daily life.  There are Twitter applications for your mobile phone; you can post about anything you’re doing from the moment you wake up to the moment you return to bed again that night without ever having to touch your computer.  In the instance of Meetup communities, Meetup users have created their own networks of people who share a common interest and they organize a time and place in which they go to discuss or experience this interest.

Question: Will you forget us when your agency gets really big?

Answer: Simande’s goal is not to get as large as possible; we believe that companies have a natural size that best fits them and the way that they operate.  We want to always give the time, attention, and care necessary to every project as we have seen that the desire to provide the best possible support to clients gets lost in larger organizations.  We are passionate about what we do and we enjoy sharing our information with the people in our community.  No matter our situation, you will always find us searching for or providing knowledge through different online outlets.

If you would like to submit your agency for possible inclusion in our agency showcase please submit here.