A 22-year-old inventor in Durham wants to read your mind. The young CEO of NeuroSpire, Jake Stauch aims to revolutionize marketing by making neuromarketing tools more accessible.

Neuromarketing isn't consumer mind control though ads. By measuring brain activity, neuromarketers think they can get closer to what consumers really want and avoid costly marketing decisions.

Still a subject of debate, neuromarketing is used by some heavyweights including Disney and Google who can afford the high expense of the process.

Neuromarketing studies can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but NeuroSpire has a brain-scanning headset system for about $5,000 that can be used with your computer.

Does it work? Durham-based ad agency McKinney has tried it.

PopSci spotlights Stauch and his Durham startup in a easy-to-read explainer on neuromarketing and how the inventor thinks he can revolutionize it.

The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for a lot of small businesses. Here are tips from the Small Business Administration on how to get the most from holiday shoppers.

It’s almost time for small businesses to face the holiday rush.  The U.S. Small Business Administration blogger Caron Beesley shared these tips earlier this week on making sure your business is prepared for the holiday shopping season.

Ensure customers feel welcome by having someone greet them with a smile when they walk in the door.  Offer festive treats, such as a cookie, warm cider, or product samples.

Utilize social media to advertise your deals, but also listen to and interact with your fans.

Non-retail small businesses can participate in Small Business Saturday by connecting with valued customers and let them know they are participating, possibly through a time-sensitive deal that can be redeemed after the event.

Ideas to capitalize on the increased traffic in a retail store include offering to make a small donation to charity for every email captured at the point of sale, hand out free samples in exchange for a customer’s information, or hold a raffle or competition.  Follow up with all the customers within a week to advertise special deals.

Suggestions for marketing online businesses include making sure your website is festive with holiday graphics, create a dedicated holiday Pinterest board to highlight deals, use Facebook to highlight products, use banner art to highlight specials, and utilize shipping deadlines as a motivator.

For more of Beesley’s tips, view the entire web chat here.

Bronto Software is getting a bigger pad.

The email marketing company is adding another 8,000 square feet to its 13,000-square-foot headquarters in Durham's American Tobacco Campus by expanding into three adjacent offices.

Bronto employs about 90 people, but wants more room as its business increases. The company has about 20 open positions, said CEO and co-founder Joe Colopy.

"Things are going in the right direction," said Colopy, who co-founded the company in 2002 out of his Durham house. "We're having a good time."

Bronto sells marketing services to retailers and other businesses, including Party City, Timex, BatteriesPlus, Dean & Deluca, Samsonite and more. They hire Bronto to help connect with customers through email, social media and, increasingly, various mobile devices.

A late October meeting with Charlotte Bobcats owner and basketball legend Michael Jordan helped seal the deal for Brad Wilson.

Wilson, the CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, announced Friday that the state's largest health insurer has revived a sponsorship deal with the professional basketball team. Financial terms of the one-year deal weren't disclosed.

Wilson talked with Jordan for about 15 minutes when he was in Charlotte on other business and stopped by the Bobcats' offices.

"I didn't go there to negotiate the terms and sign a deal, but my visit certainly validated the alignment of the interests of the two organizations," Wilson said.

Raleigh's downtown may not yet rank among the most exciting, but apparently its branding campaign is one of a kind.

The downtown's "You R Here" campaign has been given the 2010 Pinnacle Award by something called the International Downtown Association.

The IDA promotes "creating healthy and dynamic centers that anchor the well-being of towns, cities and regions."

Raleigh's branding campaign beat out 72 other campaigns that were submitted.

The "You R Here" campaign was developed by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

It was tied in with a number of other downtown efforts, including the R-Line, the free bus circulator, and the launch of free Wi-Fi service in downtown.

The April issue of Entrepreneur Magazine features Ryan Allis and Aaron Houghton, the co-founders of iContact, discussing how they run a successful business that also helps others.

The article highlights the Durham-based e-mail marketing company's "4-1s" policy, where iContact donates 1 percent of its payroll, employee time, product and equity to help nonprofit groups.

With $26.4 million in revenue last year, 190 employees and a 2009 payroll of $10.9 million, iContact donated $109,000 in cash last year. The company also donated free usage of iContact to nearly 700 nonprofits and gave each iContact employee two-and-a-half paid days off to perform volunteer work -- effectively generating 475 days of volunteer work among 63 organizations, the article says.

A competitor is quickly snapping up laid-off marketing reps who lost their jobs Friday when Raleigh-based Catevo Group shut down.

Media Two Interactive, also in Raleigh, has already hired two former Catevo employees and would like to hire as many as 15, said Media Two CEO Michael Hubbard. Media Two has job offers to several more ex-Catevo workers, he said.

Catevo laid off 25 people when it shut down as part of a reorganization by its parent company, the Laudes Corp. The company's portfolio included Blue Cross, Novozymes and BB&T, among other top drawer clients.

A Raleigh public relations and marketing agency will shut down Friday and lay off its 25 employees.

The Catevo Group has represented a variety of local businesses, including Blue Cross, Novozymes and BB&T.

But the company's parent corporation, the Laudes Corp., recently decided to "restructure and consolidate its businesses both in the U.S. and abroad," Catevo wrote in a prepared statement.

Most businesses have cut back on spending during the recession, hurting many PR firms. The closure of Catevo follows news in August that Ray Hornak had been named as the company's president.

Catevo was formed in 2006 by the merger of Epley Associates, a PR agency, and Digiton Group, a marketing firm. At its peak, Catevo employed more than 50 people with offices in Raleigh, Charlotte, Washington and London.

Ray Hornak, a mainstay of the Triangle's public relations circuit, has ascended to the pinnacle of the company where he has burnished corporate reputations for the past 26 years.

Hornak, 59, this month was named president of The Catevo Group, a company that provides PR, communications, marketing and other services. He takes the helm from Mitch Javidi, who left to pursue other opportunities.

"We've struggled over the last 12 to 18 months to make ends meet," Hornak said. "I'm lucky because I'm going to get to preside over a growth rather than a holding back."