June 30th at The Holiday Inn Express in Henderson

Holiday Inn Express and Assurance Advertising would like to warmly invite you to their first ever social media/business networking event.

Grow your social media community and rub elbows with other local businesses.
Enjoy the BBQ, guest speakers, wall of tweets and amazing giveaways from a taste of MGM Grand and UNLV Tickets.

Guest Speakers:
Margit Macchia, speaking on importance of networking
Reza Zargari, speaking on generating creative advertising

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoaqU8_f-dU

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO RSVP CLICK HERE

We’ve said it over and over again: the best way to increase sales is to find out what your competitors are doing; learn it, refine it, better it and then implement it.

Otherwise expect your business to wither and die.

It seems that the longer people are in business the more they forget to stay fresh and modern. You have to keep in mind that you and your business age but your target customer never does. As new people filter in, and old customers filter out, the expectations they have of companies like yours will change with them.

Which is why updating your company is so critical.

photos by Shahab Zargari

Downtown Las Vegas’ Golden Nugget, which was originally built in 1946, is one of the oldest casinos in the city and as we discussed just being around for a long time can mean next to nothing when doing business in a city like Las Vegas.

The Golden Nugget was in need of a makeover if it was going to attract customers and keep them coming back; especially when competing with new and exciting hotels that seem to pop up every year in this city.

Simple ideas can modernize a business

SO what did The Golden Nugget do?

They implemented the elegance and modern design of more recently developed casinos right there in downtown LV by building a shiny new 25-story tower.

I know you’re probably thinking: “That’s it? I could have thought of that!” and you’d be right. So let it be a lesson to you; simple ideas can also make businesses fresh again.

The Golden Nugget’s addition, which opened a month before City Center opened it’s doors, is the first new hotel tower to open downtown since former Golden Nugget owner Steve Wynn built the South Tower in 1989.

Just look at the elegance of our photos inside one of the Rush Tower rooms.

Does this look like the “Fremont Street Experience” you remember?

Marketing the new aspects of the business

This new addition has not only made the stay more enjoyable for patrons, it’s also added new marketing opportunities for the company.

Just think about it. You can stay at Aria for $200 a night on average or Mandarin for $600 a night on average; but if you stay at Golden Nugget’s new Rush Tower you are in a luxurious new hotel for as low as a hundred bucks a night? Amazing.

Can’t you just feel the deal-hunter inside you aching to take advantage of this deal?

Bravo, Golden Nugget. Bravo.

Now, it’s your turn.

Take a look around; are there things that show the age and dilapidation of your business? Well update them, and let every one know that you did!

In conclusion, a fresh coat of paint in a hip new color, a stylish new logo, the modernization of your online presence, or even updated designs on your marketing materials can be all your business needs to look and feel more exciting to potential customers.

Until next time-

Happy marketing!

Managers have the daunting task of trying to stay on top of all day-to-day activities, training staff and servicing clients; developing a good tracking system for your staff can give you the time and the edge necessarily for success.

Keep your staff in the loop

First organize your sales process into steps, if you have not done so already. For example: Step one- meet and greet. Step two- needs assessment; and so on.

Next develop a system of organization that you can be comfortable checking. It’s always good to have instant access from anywhere at any time.

Also remember that sales never end; even when you’re not on the sales floor you are looking for prospects and handing out business cards. Logging these prospects into your system at any time of the day or night can keep you and your staff on top of these prospects.

The next step to good organization is having everyone on the same page. If you are already using a system make sure you train everyone on the specifics of the program as well as how you specifically want them to use it. This type of training is essential to avoid any employee from veering too far from what you expect from them.

In the rare case your system is still analog make sure everyone knows when and how to log their info. If your system is digital make sure pass codes are up-to-date and that all staff receives continuous training.

The best way to incorporate the continuous training is to hold weekly training and progress reporting for your staff.

First, ask everyone to explain where they are in the sales process and how they plan to find more clients.

Next ask if everyone is current on their logging of new prospects. Make sure to check and see if everyone has completed what they said they did.

By making this a weekly habit and making people responsible for their actions you’ll find that after a while your staff will police itself; putting an end to the constant nagging that is the biggest culprit of staff burnout on the sales floor.

Another benefit is that you yourself will have greater access to your staff and will be ready for problems before they come up.

In conclusion; management sales and organization can bring you more money

Give your staff the cutting-edge in sales tracking and organization and you’ll surely see an increase in sales that means bigger pay checks for all.

Remember great businesses are great because of the systems they use to making things efficient. This is one of the fundamental ideas companies like Walmart and Mcdonalds used to get to the top. It’s time to put these ideals to good use, don’t you think?

A great book that goes over this is “The E Myth” by Michael E Gerber. If you haven’t read it, I do highly recommend it. It’s easy to read, fairly short and has some of the finest management and business tips to this day, and the book was first published in 1985!

If you have any questions on types of programs or organizational tools feel free to leave a comment. We are, after all, here to help you learn and make more money!

Getting your blog and networking sites to work together.

Implementing programs to enhance your web marketing

Having a blog in business these days is essential; so is using networking websites. If you haven’t become a part of this new social media landscape you are about to miss the express bus to Successvile.

Why Social networking sites are important to your business

Setting up a blog, which can easily be done on sites like Wordpress, writing quality information about your company and possibly some of your products is a great way to get customers. It’s also the best way to optimize your website through use of SEO, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

However if your blog is not set up with your networking sites properly you may be wasting your time altogether because you aren’t making it readily available to your customers and target markets.

Remember the article about Lazy Technology? If not, this may be a good time to read it!

How to connect your blog to your network.

At Assurance Advertising we are pros at this. To see an example of how our network is set up check out our Twitter page , our Facebook fan page, and our Myspace page.

Basically instead of just posting a series of blog posts, we maximize links and keywords on multiple sites which all ultimately lead to the blog…which itself has direct links to the main website. Keep in mind, easy connectivity is a key in directing customers where you want them to go.

Once a blog is posted, we post the link on Facebook, where all of our fans see it automatically. Our Facebook fan-page is set up to automatically take all of our posts and directly post them to twitter, no additional log in needed.

From the blog-post itself anyone in the world can repost their favorite topic onto all sorts of social media sites with the click of a button (check out the nice WORDPRESS plugin that shows up as “SHARE THE WEALTH links” below each of our posts).

We use this to repost the blog again to Linkedin, Twitter and Myspace for those who might have missed it the first time.

We can also repost all of our blog entries over and over again at different times and days so that the blogs can be seen by most of our contacts whenever it is they happen to be signing in.

This automates the blog posts so that all we have to focus on is talking with our followers about their likes, dislikes and daily lives.

Your social media accounts should always feel personal and never robotic. Remember people like doing business with humans as opposed to heartless machines.

Most companies don’t have the time or resources to manage the daunting task of keeping up with social networking. This is why Assurance Advertising offers services that handle all social media needs at a low monthly cost.

Usually this amount can prove to be less expensive than paying an employee to do this work, not to mention we employ specialists trained to write blogs that will get attention.

To find out how much it will cost to set up your company please contact us. Make sure to ask about our social media flat rate program and blog services.

Happy marketing!

Got more insight on this topic that can benefit our esteemed customers and blog fans? Make sure and leave us a comment!

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Then tell us you did via email, twitter or in the comments below and receive 1/2 off your next print job with us (1 per customer)!!

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You can also watch the presentation at a lower quality without having to download anything here:

Create business cards, postcards, letterhead and more with our new user-friendly Printing Tool

Design and print made simple for small business owners

Most business owners want to get good printing at the lowest price, as they should! But they usually lack the time they need to design the job, find a good print shop with competitive prices, and then run it over before the shop closes.

Business owners know that sometimes the only time available is late at night when no print shop is open to take an order to; which usually leads to design issues and costly delays.

That’s why the Online Do-It-Yourself Enhanced Design & Printing Tool, now available on the Assurance Advertising website, is a great solution for the modern day business owner.

Why is this the fast and easy way to do online printing with Assurance Advertising: printing made as Easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Upload your own artwork, or choose from a library of stock images, fonts and templates.
2. Check for typos or errors.
3. Submit your artwork for approval and processing.

Once it’s been submitted you’ll receive online verification and a phone call to confirm the order and set up payment. Just think about all the time and energy you’re going to save!

The best part is our prices are extremely competitive and the turnaround is just as fast, if not faster, than any print shop in town.

So if you’re tired of talking to sales-reps who may or may not have your best interest in mind, or working around the print shops schedule CLICK HERE now and check out all the great time-saving options that you now have available at Assurance Advertising.com

Not sure what to do? Click on help before you start and follow the easy step by step instructions to get the job done!

Fun Business Expo for Las Vegas Locals

The reason I attended this specific event was to help introduce the brand new Las Vegas branch of Assurance Advertising to some of the local businesses. I expected the usual boring business expo. You know, slow paced and millions of the same types of businesses. But I actually ended up having a blast!

The doors opened to the LV Chamber Expo at 12:00 on Wednesday the 24th of June, and as I walked into the Las Vegas Convention center I could instantly feel the energy radiating from its 200 exhibitors and thousands of attendees.

There were so many great resources to be connected with and tons of innovative new businesses to investigate. Technologies for clean power, video and radio resources, lots of food (including Gudfud’s amazing Hello Kitty-style packaging of jelly filled marshmallows!), and I even got to see the photographer Adam Shane’s breathtaking portfolio.

If there’s one thing to be said about the current day and age and our economy, it’s that we seem (at least in this instance) to be pushing ourselves to use new ideas, cutting-edge technologies and community networking to stimulate business and get sales. There is definitely a transformation happening in business right now, and it’s fantastic!

All in all, it was great to see businesses sporting “can do” attitudes and great new products. Not to mention the amazing job the Chamber did to promote for its members.

Bravo Las Vegas! I hope I get to visit again next year.

Reza Zargari

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