As part of Fast Company’s 30 Second MBA video series, Brian Solis weighed in on two very important questions all businesses must be prepared to ask themselves.

How do you change the strategic direction of your business?

How do you handle mistakes?

Digital World Expo debuts an annual forum for professional education in all forms of interactive marketing, media, communications and advertising. Attendees will learn, train and build awareness of technology application in media and what’s to come. Four areas are presented to meet the needs of today’s media professionals in digital advertising, marketing, public relations, development and strategy:

Will Assurance Advertising be there?

Our very own Shahab Zargari will be one of many choice speakers of the event! You won’t want to miss his session!

Classroom-Style and “How-to” Instruction

• Seasoned professionals and newcomers finding over 30 classes ranging from viral campaigns to virtual worlds.
• Digital media channels discussed with attendees walking away with applicable takeaways for “next steps”.
• Social Media, Viral Campaigns, Video Advertising, Display Advertising, Behavioral (and data) Targeting, Mobile Advertising, APPs, In-Game Advertising, Analytics and more designed in both “beginner” and “advanced” attendee formats.

Media Opportunities

• First-hand exposure to media placements offered by publishers, creative agencies and service providers.
• Interactive exhibits featuring today’s opportunities across all channels.
• New media channels and strategies presented in an exciting atmosphere.

The “Future” of Media

• Our “digital future” witnessed through special interactive exhibits and keynotes.
• High-profile brands and professionals engaging attendees in a fun, high-energy atmosphere as they experience what’s to come.

Entertainment and Networking

• Accents with special attractions and events appealing to all the senses.
• Specialty acts and casual game tournaments presented for everyone’s participation and enjoyment.
• Cocktail “Mixers” in unique venues during evenings of assembly.

DATES: Sunday, Sept 25th – Tuesday, Sept 27th, 2011

Digital World Expo’s mission is to bring more focus on education in an engaging and fun atmosphere. Classroom sessions, hands-on activity, and engaging media opportunities will arm attendees with tools and next steps for their business endeavors at an affordable price. Become a registered attendee today for the conference you will never forget!

PRINT and eBOOK editions out now!

The ultimate advertising survival guide!

The book features tips, case studies and easy to digest how-to segments for all business owners and marketing managers.

What’s In It For You?

Without this book, you will be hurled into the world of trial and error, which can be costly.

Consider the small price of this guide as a way to invest in your marketing, advertising and social media education. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and frustration in the process.

This guide will teach you the in’s and outs of gaining expert status in your niche or brand.

You’ll learn how to create a powerful campaign that people will not only be receptive to, but will remember and respect. You will have people beating down your door to buy your products and services.

ISBN 978-1-257-90685-7

Things you like, but wouldn’t necessarily share through email or social networking sites…you plus one it.

Still confused? Straight from the horses mouth, check out this new video from Google.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bring current events into your brainstorming sessions

The prince is getting married and the whole world was more than ready to soak up the sappy moments and luxurious décor.

Women were all focused on what the dress would look like and men were wondering what the wedding would ultimately cost.

The royal family even advertised the event all over their official website, twitter, and official flickr stream!

The entire globe was interested in what the big day would look like, and everyone is now more than obsessed.

Now that the whole world is thinking about weddings, this is a great time to figure out how to write an ad that taps into this renewed passion

Here are some ideas:

Fast food: There is a luxurious wedding and when everyone sits down to eat and the waiters pull off the lids we see the fast food under there.

Hotel: Church bells are going off and the bride and groom are driving away they get to their honeymoon suite. Once they get there they see that the hotel is nothing like the brochure. “Not getting what you paid for? At ___resorts you get….”

Landscaping: We see our couple pull up to their new house still in wedding outfits. The groom lifts the lady in his arms and opens the white picket fence to reveal a front yard that looks horrible and is filled with obstacles. We see the groom work his way up to the door with difficulty, finally when he is 2 feet from the door he steps on a rake and just as the rake is about to hit him in the face– cut to the logo of the landscape company “ _____landscaping, more than just nice lawns”

These are just simple starting points that would need to be polished and revised, but you can see how easily you can take a trend and turn it around to benefit you.

If you would like some ideas for your company leave a comment or contact us! We’re always happy to help…and we don’t look good, unless you look good! (Queue wedding procession music)

Want to keep up with the latest advertising, marketing and social media tips and trends? Of course you do!

With test cases, news and analysis relating to the marketing, advertising and social media worlds, upcoming event broadcasts, our newest videos and special Assurance Advertising offers, you won’t want to miss out.

It’s all about credibility, easy to read layout and targeted copy.

CLICK HERE to read a great brief article about this subject on the UP ALL DAY blog

There are many ways to perform a market test to make sure your ideas help sell your product or service. Here are two you may be able to use if you don’t already have a testing process in place.

1) Place a few TV ads in a small region-

Choose the area and shows or events specifically to match your target demographic. Don’t put ads up in areas and times that your target market cares nothing about. For instance, it’s probably not a good idea to play commercials for a surfboard in Kentucky during Days of Our Lives. This would be a waste of your money because your commercial’s call to action will fall flat on the viewers.

This test works best with direct response but can also work well if you have a strong call to action.

Once the ads have been placed keep track of everything!

For the duration of the test (two weeks, one month) monitor the amount of orders, and the type of people that are calling (income, age, sex etc).

2) Do a field test for your product and commercial-

Good ads don’t save bad products. Before you throw away your money on advertising make sure people see your product as something they would be willing to buy. This is going to take some legwork (if you work for a large company it’s time to grab the interns!). You’ll have to ask everyone possible and a good place to get started is at a trade show.

Sometimes you can set up a test online by use of a blog or even set up a center right in front of your store (or one of your store locations) or even at a busy park on a weekend. All you have to do is ask people walking by to be part of your study. If you have trouble finding test subjects bribe them with candy or prizes (just try not to be creepy).

Test sites are especially good for testing the commercial itself. Play the commercial for the subjects (this is as easy as bringing your laptop, tablet or iPad… or can even be done online with a podcast and virtual questionnaire or poll). Once your volunteers have watched the commercial you ask them a series of questions: Does that product seem like something you can use? Were you entertained by that commercial? Did the commercial make you want to sign up/find out more/run and buy it…?

Make sure you write down everything from the subject’s responses to their ages and income levels. It’s a good idea to develop a questionnaire to give them at the beginning as well. That way you can compare their thoughts before and after seeing your advertising materials.

Once analyzed you will notice certain things you already knew and other things that you had no idea about. Once you’ve figured out what people want you can implement changes and watch your business grow by leaps and bounds.

I hope that was helpful,

Happy marketing!

People don’t always “need” your product; unless you’re water or power and with the advent of alternative energy like solar and home-based wind turbines the latter is also up for review.

Hopefully, however, through the use of targeting you should be able to find out who is eventually going to need your services. But what happens if your target doesn’t think of YOUR Company when they need you the most?

What are you going to do to stand out in their minds as opposed to any one of your competitors?

Always start online

People are constantly on the internet these days so make sure you have an excellent SEO and positioning campaign to ensure potential customers have easy access to your website (this is very important and if you need help with this, don’t hesitate to contact us).

Whether it’s online or in the physical world, only repetitive advertising can turn your business or product into a household name.

In my experience most startup businesses run an ad in a local magazine and use the bare minimum “free design” that comes from that media company.

The fact that there has been no positioning, targeting or any fore thought into the design or copy on these “free” designs is a major problem. People aren’t interested in boring designs that look and sound like all the rest.

Avoid print ad mistakes

Usually the new business will end up pulling the ad after running it two or three times because they get no response, then they resort to only word of mouth to generate new clients.

Avoid falling into this predicament at all costs!

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to promote your business, true, but you will never experience real growth without the use of repetitive advertising.

Companies that can’t utilize direct response won’t be able to quantify how many people came in from one specific ad; so don’t give up too soon. If you stay consistent and memorable for your target market, you’ll notice an increase in customer traffic over time.

Rules to advertise by :

1. Make sure you do good targeting

If you put your ads where your target market can’t see, hear or feel them, then you may as well throw your money in the trash. There are tons of books you can read on the topic of targeting and I have even written a few blog posts on the subject– if you do a quick search on this site you’ll find them easily.

2. Run the ad everywhere all the time

People have to see or hear your message at LEAST seven times before it registers and then seven more times before it is actually committed to memory.

3. Make an impression on potential clients

Getting people to notice your ad is about placing quality, attention-grabbing ads in as many mediums your target consumers will be exposed to.

Putting advertising concepts together

Now, I’ll use a fictional video game company as an example.

XYZ Games, a new independent gaming software company, has a new “shoot-em up” game targeted to Males between 16 and 25.

The first thing they do is put together a website equipped with: Blog, Facebook and Twitter. Then they run a banner or link ad on as many websites catering to their target audience as they can budget for.

Next they place ads in a magazine, publications like Wired or FHM. The ad will be placed consistently for at least 6 months.

Lastly they use television to really demonstrate the quality and excitement of the game while also making sure the channels and time slots are appropriate for reaching their specific target consumer.

There are hundreds of other mediums like DVD previews or video game previews that can and should be used. This is just one version of a marketing mix that they chose to start with. Over the next six months the response will be measured and the marketing mix can be shifted and changed based on the findings.

As you can see deciding on the proper outlets can be daunting so if you need help don’t hesitate to call.

Until next time…Happy marketing

Click the image below to see how it can be done!