Cutting through the clutter and the thousands of marketing messages to reach your target audience is not so easy any more.

David Shenk, in his book “Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut” states that in 1971 we were exposed to an average of 560 advertising messages per day. By 1997 that number had grown to over 3,000. Today conservative estimates put it at over ten thousand each and every day.

Think about it: Every time you flip through a newspaper or magazine, you encounter hundreds of ads. Add to that everything from TV and radio ads to product placements, billboards, direct mail and postcards, ads on the Internet from every direction (an hour of surfing on the web can easily yield more than a thousand ads), ads on the sides of trucks, vans, signs hung on telephone poles, telemarketing ads, door-to-door salesman, the list goes on.

Ken McArthur just spent a solid year researching and mastering the problem of how to get your ideas, products and services noticed, and make sure that people spread your message to the masses so that you can have a personal impact in a world that doesn’t always want to pay attention.

Ken shares exactly what he discovered in his new book “Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World“. Ken’s book is for small business owners, CEOs and nonprofit champions who are on a mission to reach the masses.

With the book launch, Ken is handing out thousands of dollars worth of bonuses and no-cost tickets to live events to anyone who orders his book. And even if you don’t want the book, you can still benefit. Ken is also kicking off a coaching program to help others make an impact in the world. With that, he is giving away training from over thirty successful business owners with all kinds of specialties to help you succeed in business. It’s available free at The Impact Factor.

How does having, or not having a mission statement contribute to an organization’s ability to have impact? Is merely having a mission statement enough? In this video post, I take a look at what mission really is and how to effectively accomplish your mission.

Recently on Twitter, I asked, “Do you have a mission statement, biz or personal? Do you feel you are having impact? Care to share?” Here is some of the feedback that I got. For non-Twitterites, be sure to read from the bottom up.

I like “Be an Outsider” because it says something about the nature of the organization, while at the same time communicates a passion, a vision and an action – encourage and motivate others to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Short and to the point, it does the job.

The one from Geoff Livingston “Works Well” is also short, but it takes a little more info to get to the heart of the matter. Jeff runs a PR/marketing communications firm where the mission is more fully stated as, ” Our mission is to develop and execute superior outreach campaigns that deliver results, plain and simple.” He also had a recent blog post on Strategy that spelled out in more detail what his company’s approach is to communications. My comments there reiterate the same thought here – there’s got to something more in back of your mission statement than just the words.

Do you, or does your company have a mission statement? Do you feel like you are having impact? I would love to hear your comments.

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Also, don’t forget that next Tuesday, May 13th, Ken McArthur is releasing “Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World“.

To build awareness of his new book, Ken is giving away training from over thirty successful business owners with all kinds of specialties to help you succeed in business. It’s available free at The Impact Factor.

What does it take to have impact? How do you know you are having impact? How do you define what it even means to have impact? Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to consider what effect having a clearly defined purpose, vision and mission has on making an impact. What does it mean to have a purpose, a vision and a mission, and how does that enable you to have impact?

This consideration comes on the front end of a book launch of a friend of mine named Ken McArthur. On May 13th, Ken has a new book coming out called “Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World“. The book will delve into stories of ordinary people who have left their marks on the world and the simple actions you can implement to ensure you make an impact on your world as well. Ken is also launching a coaching program and to build awareness of that and his new book, he is giving away over 100 hours of audio training from over thirty of his hand-picked personal advisers and colleagues across a spectrum of business specialties. It’s free at The Impact Factor.

I’m looking forward to exploring this theme with you and to your comments.

Ken McArthur

Whew! Finally catching up from being out of town for five days to write this post. Last weekend, I was in Orlando, Florida attending an internet marketing event called JVAlert Live!, hosted by internet marketer Ken McArthur. This event is unique because it is really set up by Ken to foster joint venture partnerships and allow the greatest amount of interactivity and networking possible between both attendees and speakers. Ken has done a fantastic job of creating the perfect combination of instruction, planned networking and informal networking in a setting that you can really get to know people. I met some really incredible people, made new friends, and heard some very dynamic speakers share business development expertise that I have applied to my own business activities. Here were some of the highlights for me:

• Author, marketer and persuasion expert Dave Lakhani defined persuasion as helping people come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be the one you share. He stated that this is built on developing 1) visibility – making you, your organization, your brand known, 2) credibility – creating trust through proof & third party endorsements, 3) relationship – creating emotional connections and serving the best good for all involved.

• Author and speaker Brendan Burchard really hit the mark for me when he spoke of the power of nonprofit and corporate partnerships, which is one of the key components of what Mission Driven Marketing is all about. After a near fatal auto accident, Burchard felt like he was given a second chance and wrote the book Life’s Golden Ticket. He asked three questions that he felt everybody consciously or unconsciously asks when they come to the end – Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? Bringing nonprofits and businesses together to impact communities is one of the ways that he feels that he is able to answer yes to those questions.

• Christine Comaford-Lynch, author of Rules for Renegades gave out lots of gems on business development like:
• Make your brand = results. What three adjectives do people think of when they think of your brand?
• Problems + pain = profits. In other words, if you are solving real problems in your business, profits are the result.
• Network palm up (offering), not palm down (grabbing). What can you do for others rather than what they can do for you?

• Glenn Dietzel of Awaken the Author Within gave a riveting presentation on becoming the knowledge broker in your industry through entrepreneurial authoring. He spoke about the “Science Of Reframing” as the ability for you to use the power of metaphors and human experience and deliver customized education to your ideal clients. His words of wisdom included how the marketplace always chooses the top expert in the field, how important it is to not allow your value to turn into a commodity, and that greater sameness will not get results. He also spoke about building laser focus and clarity by asking yourself, “What am I trying to prove right now?” In his effort to “move the free line”, Glenn has tons of great resources at his various websites. There’s a clip from JVALert and I love his driving videos. Check them out.

• Kevin Nations sought to reshape people’s paradigms about achieving higher profits by asking questions like, “What is your biggest profit challenge?”, “Is that challenge the limiting factor in making profit?”, and “Are you acquiring puzzle pieces, or are you completing the total picture?” He illustrated this by telling the story of seeing his young daughter working on a jigsaw puzzle with the box top propped up as a point of reference. He made the point that people often focus on what he called “means goals” and not the final destination. This especially applies in the world of internet marketing where activities such as list building, traffic generation, and copywriting often become an end unto themselves. Successful businesses begin with the end in mind.

• Jermaine Griggs of HearandPlay.com is truly the Nitty Gritty Marketing man! He has used very creative and innovative marketing techniques to build a community around playing music by ear. The one that impresses me the most is the way he uses lead segmentation to deliver a highly personalized follow-up process. In a systematic way, he gathers detailed information about each person who opts-in to his offer for free lessons, then leverages that information to plant seeds for paid courses. He has also been very successful at community building by providing a platform for people to interact with one another on the musical learning journey. If you want to delve more deeply into the techniques that Jermaine uses, check out his NittyGrittyMarketing.com site.

• Ken McArthur also spoke about his upcoming book Impact and his Impact Factor coaching project and membership site. He talked about identifying where your customers are right now. The key is, if you want to know what your stuff can do – ask them how it can help them. What do they need? What problem are you solving? He also talked about not lobbing canon balls, but instead creating landslides. In other words, concentrate on activities and systems that generate widespread impact, not ones that only hit one or two targets. Ken’s book is set to launch on May 1st. To build awareness, Ken is giving away training from over thirty of his hand-picked personal advisors with all kinds of specialties to help people succeed in business on the Internet. Very helpful and interesting stuff here. You can also keep up on his Impact Factor blog.

Another very cool thing was the creation and launching of an ebook right on the spot called Instant Joint Venture Secrets. Originally, Joel Comm was supposed to do the presentation, but Joel got sick and went home early. His teammates, Eric Holmlund and Dan Nickerson carried on in Joel’s stead.

Here’s how they did it. First, they handed out 3 slips of paper that asked for:

1. Your best Joint Venture tip.

2. A Testimonial.

3. A Bonus you would be willing to give.

After the forms were filled out, everyone worked together to compile the material, write the sales page, complete with video and graphics, and put it up live on the internet within 90 minutes.

It was amazing to watch orders come in for the $7.00 ebook right after everyone mailed out to their lists. And what was really cool, was that the money generated from the sale of the ebook went to Helping Hands, an organization that helps children at risk around the world. Very cool!

The cast and crew of the internet’s first reality TV show, The Next Internet Millionaire was on hand for a panel discussion, and winner Jaime Luchuck also gave her first ever presentation at this type of event. Her inspiring story, which is chronicled in her book “Cubicle Slave to the Next Internet Millionaire“, had everyone giving her a standing ovation. I also got a chance to get to talk at length with Alisande Chan and Nico Pisani, chat with Thor Schrock and spend a lot of time with Jason Marshall and his wife Heather. What a great couple! I really enjoyed getting to know them.

For me, this was really the best part of the whole event, getting to know lots of really great people. People like The Tool Wiz, David Schwartz, systems guy Brad Semp, of Cashmap Systems, and Life Coach Ruddy Ortiz. I had a great conversation at lunch with Singpore’s leading internet marketer, Stuart Tan and eBay whiz Ben Wee. I had a really nice dinner with Jason and Heather, Jeff Wellman, SEO expert Paul Counts, Ruddy, and Harry Fink of Rising Star Marketing. I had great talks with Margaret Hampton and The Story Lady, Ronda Del Boccio, who also works with Glenn Dietzel. I got to chat with Frank Sousa, co-creator of Traffic Geyser, Dr. Ron Capps, the NicheProf, and successful internet marketer Willie Crawford. And on the last day of the conference, I got some good feedback at breakfast from Ross Goldberg, who’s the only person I know who made thousands of dollars online while in a coma.

So why am I reporting all this? Because after attending this event, I am convinced now more than ever of the importance of networking and attending events like this for the growth of your business. Social media has opened up a tremendous opportunity to connect with people from all over who who can impact your business, either as partners, mentors, or customers. In fact, many of the people I have mentioned here I was connected with online prior to coming. But there is still nothing like face to face encounters to really create meaningful relationships. I highly recommend it, and would like to thank Ken for helping to make it happen for me.

For more photos, check my Flickr set.