Choose Opportunity Over Fear

This is an exciting time to be in the advertising business. There are opportunities all around us that some either can't or choose not to see. While I'll admit it is hard out there right now, I am not unaffected by this mass paranoia either. A great deal of the world around us is a direct reflection of the thoughts we hold in our own mind.

My favorite quote of late is one of Warren Buffet's, "Be scared when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are scared." Well folks, there are a lot of scared people out there. I for one am opting to choose greed and abundance over fear and lack. That is why I have started instituting some dramatic changes within my own organization.

You'll notice that the Azimuth Branding logo is gone from this sight. There is a very good reason for that as I have decided to make this more of a personal forum than an extension of my company. That is not to say that I will not continue to share my insights on marketing and branding. I love the business to much not to talk about it, it consumes me and I enjoy helping business owners understand these topics.

With all the fear and anxiety out there I want to be a promoter of all that can be. Abundance exists all around us, think about it what really changed. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. The moon is still bright in the night sky, and the universe is still expanding. We all started living a lifestyle we couldn't afford on money we didn't have. This is a lesson our grandparents tried in vein to give most of us as they experienced the depression as children.

The length of this little correction will be directly correlated to the thoughts we hold prominent in our mind. Choose to see the opportunities they are all around you. If you got laid off pursue that passion you always told yourself someday to and turn it into a business. Don't give in to fear of the unknown but embrace it as an opportunity to explore new possibilities. Walk in the faith that there is no lack, it is an illusion forced upon us.

This is an exciting time and I am looking forward to the innovation and prosperity that will come out of these troubled times. One more thing, turn off the TV and pick up a book. Preferably a book with a positive uplifting message like 'Think and Grow Rich' or 'Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude' Your brain after all is as much a muscle as it is a computer and if you fail to exercise it you will loose it.

Lessons In Branding Understanding The Creative Process

To help educate small business owners on the process of establishing, communicating, and managing I've teamed up with some other Seattle area Branding & Creative professionals to offer a FREE seminar.

The seminar will be held at the Zenai Center in Bellevue on February 10th. For additional information and to RSVP click here. If for some reason the seminar is full email me and we will try to make arrangements for more space: smatsumoto@azimuthbranding.com

We look forward to seeing you and come prepared to stretch your mind!

The Business of Philanthropy

In my earlier post on Goal Setting & Positive Mental Attitude I spoke about my philanthropic desire to provide 250 full-ride scholarships a year to my old business school at Seattle University. That vision has been evolving into an even greater desire to be able to provide my services to small local businesses on a Pro Bo No basis. To do this of course I have to get my company to a point where that income is no longer required, hence our refocus on the branding and promotions needs of the Luxury & Lifestyle markets.

Well like attracts like it would seem as I have began working with Oasis Entertainment on their up coming concert at the Sundance Film Festival. The concert is being put on to raise money to build a hospital for a community of 100,000 people in the Santiago Antitlan, Guatemala region of Central America. The original hospital was destroyed by mudslides as a result of Hurricane Stan in 2005.

The event is scheduled to be part of a PBS broadcast, but I found out this morning that Oasis is in need of additional corporate sponsorship in order to afford the Satellite Up link Truck necessary for the broadcast. As a result our role at Azimuth has shifted from apparel provider to sponsor allocator. I strongly believe in Oasis's mission and solicit you to contact us if you or someone you know can help. We will promptly send you a sponsorship kit.

Oasis has nine days to raise close to $60,000 to pay for this equipment which will spread their message of hope around the country and possibly the world.

If you're in the Park City, UT area you can click here to buy tickets for the event: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/53637

Offering Local Internet Marketing Class

While at a local gathering of small business owners in the Kirkland area to learn how to more effectively use TeachStreet.com I was a bit taken aback by the lack of basic Internet marketing knowledge. What is taken for granted by so many of us active with web 2.0, social media, and sites like Facebook and Twitter is lost among the vast majority of small business owners. One of the most notable comments was a woman complaining of the lack of relevance of her search results because of companies paying Google to rank high on the page.

Needless to say I felt obligated to help educate the other participants at the event. The first myth to be dispelled was that of having the ability to pay Google for organic ranking. Google does not and will not accept payment for organic ranking as it takes away from the user experience. This is why the randomly change their search algorithm to prevent deceptive optimization techniques. If you want to show up high on organic results you need to have reliable, relevant and authoritative content. It really is that simple, keywords play a role but are not the end all be all.

Proper use of approved SEO and SEM techniques will help you achieve these three qualifiers, so be highly selective when choosing a service provider. Ask them for their certifications, has their company won any awards, ask what industry blogs they read and enewsletters they subscribe to. Personally I get emarketer.com and adage.com daily& clikz.com weekly. Although I must admit I've fallen behind on my Google AdWords Certified Profession status. Something I plan on rectifying by the end of this quarter, as well as Yahoo Ambassador status.

So, if you are in the Seattle/Bellevue area check out my classes on Teachstreet.com. I look forward to meeting you soon.

We're Back!

At long last we have corrected the technical difficulties experienced during our virus infection. The Azimuth Branding website is now, "up and fully operational." Sorry I couldn't help myself with the Star Wars reference. I would like to personally thank all of you for your patience during this brief outage.

We at Azimuth Branding look forward to serving the branding & premium promotional products needs of the Luxury & Lifestyle industry in 2009.

Please come follow us on Twitter as well at twitter.com/AzimuthBranding, and you can follow me personally at twitter.com/StevenMatsumoto

Sincerely,

Steven Paul Matsumoto
Principal

Corporate America's Failure on Twitter

My friend Oliver Blanchard wrote this great blog post about major brands failure to recognize the power of Twitter. If you are not all ready on Twitter I recommend you go there immediately after reading this post and set up an account. If you are a business owner you need to set up several accounts:

1. Your Name
2. Your Company Name
3. Any Trade Marks You Own

Why you ask? Read Oliver's blog post and you'll understand I don't want to steal all his thunder. Pay special attention to the comments from Ford too.

http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet-why-are-so-many-major-brands-still-not-on-twitter/