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?

Who Should Attend The Mashable Media Summit Meetup in Las Vegas?

The Mashable Media Summit attracts a diverse range of professionals in digital, tech, advertising, sales, marketing, mobile, and publishing. Whether you’re a brand, agency, strategist, entrepreneur, startup, journalist, community manager, blogger or a creative, the Mashable Media Summit is a valuable opportunity to learn from and network with leaders in the industry.

When it comes to the future of media, the possibilities are endless and a number of questions arise: How will we consume news and information? Can media companies be sustained? Is print truly dead? Come to discuss all of these topics and more!

Click here to RSVP

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 5:00 PM

The Loft by Freevi (Downtown)
450 Fremont St, Suite 167 Las Vegas, NV 89104

Here are a few topics the Mashable Media Summit will spotlight that we encourage you to discuss at your local Meetup:

Reinventing journalism with social reporting
Advancing the relationship between news organizations and their communities
Reinvigorating advertising and creating new business models
Changing the way we consume media and entertainment
Redefining the way we view privacy and our senses of self

Make Sure you use the #MediaSummit #Vegas and #Vegastech hashtags on Twitter!

Watch it on youtube and set the settings to 480p for best resolution. Also make sure you take some time to pause on each slide to read the entire text as the voiceover does not read the slides verbatim. ENJOY!

Digital World Expo – Video Campaign Development presentation

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

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)

Whether you are an advertising professional or a business owner you must immerse yourself in your product to give it the advertising it deserves. Learn what it is that makes your products emotionally appealing to your various target markets and find yourself making the profits you never knew were possible.

If you are looking at your products and taking them for face value then it’s time for you to leave creative advertising to the pros and get back to your extremely important administrative work.

You can’t sell people on just straight-forward logical explanations of product benefits. The late sales guru Zig Ziglar said it best, “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

Keep that in mind as you go over your product and try to find a pitch.

Science and advertising: Don’t take it from Me. Take it from the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

What motivates clients to get up from in front of the TV, magazine etc. and to go buy your products?

Sure, you can tell your target market that your broom cleans things quickly. But if you demonstrate that the side effect of this quickness will be the extra time they’ll get to spend with their family… simply because they bought your broom, then you’ve stepped into their emotional zone.

As presented in this article by Jonah Lehrer, emotional ties in our advertising actually has an affect on the way people perceive your products. So much so, in fact, that it makes things taste better. Lehrer sites a study by Read Montague comparing Coke and Pepsi, where people actually liked Pepsi better when it was labeled as Coke.

Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t present logical information or that you must come up with completely hair-brained advertising schemes. Not at all.

Just make sure you give the people true emotional reasons to buy from you and that will be the edge you need to win the fierce competition in the marketplace!

Happy marketing!

Is your web copy sending people away from your content?

Get a free website evaluation

If you are the owner and operator of a business who feels you know everything there is to know about writing about your business, step back and take a moment to digest what I am about to tell you, as you could be losing customers every day simply based on the copy featured on your website.

No one wants to read long-winded essays on why you think your business is great

The people who land on your page need to know how utilizing your business will benefit them. They definitely don’t want to be lectured endlessly on products and theories.

Most business owners are educated and have experience writing essays or proposals, but very few have actual experience doing persuasive writing to consumers. These are two completely different things and should be treated as such.

As I’ve stressed in so many blogs before: know your target market and write to them. Better yet, get someone who has experience writing call-to-action rich content that is short and sweet to do it for you.

If you think your website can do better, or maybe you’re not sure but would like to increase revenues, maybe we should take another look at the writing. Submit your website here for a free evaluation.

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