A lot of people ask me what the difference is between institutional advertising and call to action marketing. Simply put, institutional advertising is brand building and is only recommended when you have MILLIONS or BILLIONS in your marketing budget. Call to action marketing I don’t even call it advertising because it’s unilaterally focused on getting suspects to convert into prospects (take an action to show their interest in your product/service/offer) or prospects into clients (give you their money).

A friend of mine, Andrew Powell of Montreal, Canada asked me this outstanding question with the added twist that his company, Bogdon & Gross Furniture has been building furniture for over 80 years, using the tagline “Handcrafting your dreams since 1927″ and the e-mail signature “Canadian manufacturer of solid, hardwood furniture and supplier of Koosh ® mattresses – the world’s first high resiliency, soy-based foam Mattress.”

So here is the short version of the answer – something I cover at our Exponential Business Building and Internet Marketing Bootcamps…

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Regardless of what you thought of Michael Jackson’s ‘lifestyle’ and peculiarities, his passing leaves us all with the awe of his talent, expression and  ability to entertain across boundaries of colour, race and generations. That brings up the question – what will your legacy be? What are you creating that will be left behind when you depart this world/existence/reality?

What will YOUR legacy be?

The reason this is important to think about now is because the NEW YEAR is upon us in a few days…

When would NOW be a good time to start planning to make 2010 You Best Year Ever? Hmmm

When you’re in business, you can create an on-going legacy, one that survives you – most don’t achieve that goal – but you can, if you PLAN FOR IT.

Start by THINKING ABOUT IT…

If you’re looking for advertising ideas, check out this website that has a growing collection of great advertising concepts. I promise you they are way out there – totally original and yes, absolutely positively EXPONENTIAL! Just click on the hyperlink and be amazed!

I recently competed in the 2009 Australian Masters Squash and World Masters Games Competitions reaching the top 12 and 18 National and International Rankings respectively. I tell you this so you know I am qualified to make the statement that squash players make terrible referees. But here’s the thing that boggles my mind. They don’t know they suck.

At the 2009 World Masters Games, I had a match that was horribly refereed – I mean it was absolutely horrendous – it wasn’t biased – the calls were bad for me AND my opponent. But the calls were just plain wrong. The referee and the marker BOTH had NO CLUE how to referee a match EVEN THOUGH they were 50 to 60 year olds with 30+ squash playing experience.

How can that be?

Then it hit me, like a beginner’s exaggerated follow-through on the back-hand swing across the head…

Read More »»

If you don’t already know, I am a competitive squash player, now ranked in the ‘top 20′ in the world in the Men’s 45-49 age category. I learned to play squash less than 10 years ago, have only played competitively for the past 5 years and have competed in less than 10 tournaments in my entire playing career. The reason I tell you this is because it’s an ‘easy’ analogy to use to explain what I call Management By Metrics.

Management By Metrics

Management By Metrics is about tracking and monitoring the things that change in your business that influence your results.

The squash analogy is that at the recent 2009 World Masters Games, where I achieved my personal best world ranking of 18, I filmed all my matches, analysing them and statistically assessing the winners and unforced errors I committed. In the 2009 Australian Masters Games where I reached a National Ranking of 12, I was playing too ’safe’ – not making errors, but not playing enough winning ‘kill shots’.

With that in mind, I spent the last couple of weeks making sure I improved my shots and guess what? The difference was astonishing – I went from a ‘Top 50′ world ranking last year to the ‘Top 20′… In all my matches, more than 25% of my points won were winners – in one match it was more than 50%, from less than 10% in the previous competition less than one month prior.

The business lesson of this squash analogy is that by KNOWING what METRICS you want to manage – your ultimate success will be easier and much faster than you ever imagined.

On my Mindset Of A Champion Blog, I publicly stated that my goal for the 2009 and 2010 World Masters Squash Championships were a top 32 and top 16 finish – I achieved a ranking of 18 in 2009 and now am aiming at a Top 10 for 2010 – well ahead of my own expectations.

Management By Metrics is what it’s all about – tracking and monitoring what’s working and what’s not. By so doing, you can determine your Next Best Step and optimise your Pathways To Profits much more quickly and easily.

Want to learn to become a champion of business? Click on the hyperlink to atten a 3-hour Boardroom Briefing session to learn how Management By Metrics can help you get more out of your business – by working less than you are right now so you too can get back to your favorite sport, pick up a new one, spend more leisure time with friends and family or whatever fuels your spirit.

There are many instances when I get into a stream of consciousness ‘trance’ and really fun stuff happens. Sometimes I think people think it’s just fun and games, but it’s not – every single one has the opportunity to become a ‘business model or concept’ – here is one example that proves that when you run with something, you can make it into a viable business that really stands out above the crowd!

Antimimeticisomorphism Example: Felony Franks

If you are not a subscriber to my Internet Mastery Blog, shame on you. That means you missed out on this amazing YouTube video on the Social Media Revolution that I published a few weeks ago. Click on the hyperlink now and make sure you watch the video – it will shatter your preconceived notions that the Interweb is just a fad.

As I explain to my clients – a recession is the best, easiest and least expensive time to start or grow a business. At our Advanced Business Mastery and Exponential Business Building Bootcamp, I explain exactly WHY this is the case and HOW to leverage it. That is a discussion well beyond the scope of a blog post, but if you’re keen to peak into a recent Bootcamp, check out this segment called How To Recession-Proof Your Business.

Let’s look at a few recession success stories:

The Walt Disney Company

In the summer of 1923, Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles to find a distributor for one of his first animations. With America two months into a recession this seemed, at best, hopeful. But by October 1923 Walt Disney had signed a contract with a well-known film distributor. The deal marked the formal beginnings of a film studio which started in a garage, went on to survive the stock market crash of 1929 and today The Walt Disney Company is one of the world’s biggest entertainment businesses in the world.
The Walt Disney Company was not the first to launch in a recession. Of the 30 companies on the Dow Jones industrial index, 16 started in a downturn. Household names like General Electric, Kodak, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and Burger King all launched in tough times. So did some of the most successful
products—the iPod, Sellotape and Monopoly.
There are some advantages to launching a company in a recession. Start-up costs are lower, with real estate, computer equipment and labour more abundant and cheaper. Also in a recession there is less competition so less advertising is needed to get people’s attention—all of which, undoubtedly, helps the
a company to grow in its early years or helps an existing company get a lead on its competitors.

Yes, I mean that – GROW your business by NOT exhibiting at the next trade show. Save the $1,000 to $10,000 cost and ATTEND the show with a free pass or invitation and walk the halls of the trade show with a different approach. Meet and greet people who can help you grow your business. I call these Host-Beneficiary Partners and at our Exponential Business Building Bootcamps I teach how to setup up these relationships, but for now you just need to know where to FIND THEM!

Trade shows are excellent places to establish contact. After all, EVERYONE’S in ONE PLACE = no travel costs once you’re there!

Plus you’ll meet suppliers, clients and other non-competitors who already have all the prospects you need. THEIR clients are YOUR prospects…

Now you’re getting this aren’t you?

All it takes is a different mindset – to think differently and then to be able to act on it.

Take a look at our programs – I get into the details to ensure that you get the best business results with the least amount of effort.

We have a wide range from the Silver Momentum Membership at $97/month to our top of the line RESULTS-GUARANTEED Platinum Program!

Every once in a while I get carried away with ideas, thoughts and what I call distinctions (key tips and techniques that make all the difference in producing results)… Today is one of those days. This post covers what I call the basics of Exponential Marketing for both the NOVICE as well as the VETERAN of Exponential MasterMind Thinking.

Exponential Marketing 101: Mindset

It all started for me with Albert Einstein’s quote “The thinking that got us to where we are is not the thinking that will get us to where we want to be.” That hit me like a two-by-four across the head when I first hear that in my mid twenties…

If you are in your twenties or can remember what you were thinking back then, chances are you were like me – thinking you ‘knew it all’ or at least knew enough…

Boy were we wrong!

So if we have to change our thinking – HOW exactly do we do that? That’s a dilemma and conundrum wrapped up in a paradox!

I was able to make my first quantum leaps (to use some of Einstein’s terminology) listening to Anthony Robbins for Personal Peak Performance Development. It’s important to note that he is a PEAK PERFORMANCE coach, not just a ‘positive mental attitude’ motivator – in fact he hates being called a motivational guru – for a reason.

Motivation is empty – it just gets you fired up with nowhere to go.

Personal Peak Performance is all about knowing who you are and using THAT knowledge to propel you to an outcome, goal or even a life-long dream. In as much as Tony Robbins is great, don’t get me wrong – he is the world’s best at what he does – his teachings, programs, events and products are not enough.

That’s when I learned I needed to triangulate multiple frameworks from other world-leading minds such as marketing genius Jay Abraham, sales master Brian Tracy and spiritual and philosophical mentor Deepak Chopra.

Triangulation in simple terms is like what a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) does to locate you on the earth – it takes each dimension (x, y and z) and determines where you are along the axis to pin point your exact location.

What I do for myself (and now my clients) is create a continuum of strategies, tactics and techniques along the 4 axes (peak performance, marketing, sales and philosophy) whereby the INTERSECTION of these 4 dimensions is the point where your Exponential Potential is released to give you a quantum breakthrough.

I know it sounds surreal and I guess it is for the uninitiated.

Once you adopt an Exponential  Mindset, it’s like learning a new language – you stop translating and start thinking in the new language – only then can you consider yourself fluent… In linguistics, fluency means you can communicate with a whole new group of people who speak that language. In business, that fluency means abundant wealth and success – because you now possess the language of profitable thinking.

I call this antimimeticisomorphism. I even have a website dedicated to having fun doing out-of-the-ordinary things that create extra-ordinary results with the least amount of effort at the lowest cost.

I have a series of fun videos on the concept on my Personal Mastery Blog under the category antimimeticisomorphism.

I am about to publish a bestseller of the same name – via an interactive publishing model involving a small group of contributors that has already spawned a secret website.

As you can see for yourself – this is a VERY different way of doing things… That’s the whole point!

But you know what? It’s also great fun – producing new, exciting products like the Marc-Ka-Ching Kube™ and concepts like the 1 percent improvement doctrine outlined in the following two short YouTube videos.

The 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine 1/2

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This is just a quick reminder to tune into Sydney’s “Money Talks” Radio Show hosted by David Haseldine on 2RRR 88.5 FM from 8-9 AM Wednesday 8 July 2009 to get some exponential ideas on stress free wealth creation. The podcast will be made available on www.NextBestStep.com.

In a recent article in The Australian Financial Review, Hannah Tattersall highlighted that the casual Friday trend of showing up at work in jeans and a polo short has become another one of the casualties of the recession. Let me tell you why articles like this one is important for you to know as an Exponential Marketing Aficionado…

How To Get 20/20 Foresight

Everyone knows that hindsight is 20/20. But what if you could look INTO THE FUTURE and have 20/20 foresight?!?!

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If you’re based in Australia, you know it’s highly regulated and there’s quite a bit of bureaucracy involved in starting your own business. Today’s post is a link you’ll want to bookmark if you want to start your own business or set up a new company for a new ‘division’ or category of activities… It’s courtesy of Shivam Technologies.

Click here -> To Start Your Own Business Quickly.

I hear it all the time… If only the economy wasn’t so bad, I’d be able to find a job. Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t. What I can tell you is that if you follow the following exponential marketing strategies, you’ll be able to find that job a lot faster and easier.

Recession Job Finding Tip #1

Go to www.LinkedIn.com and sign up for a FREE account. Invite anyone you know to join you. Connect to me on Linked In and you will INSTANTLY get 1.2 Million connections.

Once you’re on Linked In, you want to make sure your profile is 100% complete so search consultants (a.k.a. head hunters) can find you to offer you positions that otherwise are not advertised anywhere.

This is a skill you can acquire in my Internet Mastery Silver Momentum Membership to get jobs offered to you EFFORTLESSLY.

I have a 5-part article series that explains step-by-step how you can get and leverage 7 million connections on Linked in in 3 days. It’s part of all my Internet Mastery Programs.

Several years ago, I had the job search function activated within Linked In and I got ‘offers’ posted to my homepage every single day…

Imagine that – job opportunities coming to YOU automatically. Read More »»

If you’re a subscriber to this blog, you know Sam Kritsokakis of Eskae Jeweller has been on fire since the 2008 Exponential Internet & Business Building Bootcamp… He’s been having fun with MasterMind Groups and has this to say about his experience thus far:

“Starting and participating in a MasterMind Group- since the Bootcamp I have started a group of like-minded friends. We meet about business issues that we’re all facing or we discuss obstacles that we are dealing with. The most amazing thing about being a part of something like this, is that I now have access to thoughts and ideas that I have never thought of on my own, in my 8 yrs of owning my own business!

New, fresh and different ideas that I would not normally think of from my own singular perspective, some of which are actionable straight away, and they always bring results with them, which is amazing.”

Click on the hyperlink if you want to learn how to harness the Power Of MasterMind Groups, there’s nothing like it to get exponential results.

What would happen if your marketing worked? Answer the questions in the Business Marketing Autopsy and you’ll discover the profit cancers that may be killing your sales… Click on the banner below to access it for FREE.

Usually $297, it’s yours for FREE, until I change my mind… Which could happen at any time. Don’t wait, it’s not worth the risk to your business’ health.

Want FREE Marketing? Try one of one of these 46 ‘Guerrilla Marketing’ tactics…

1. They post signs in places where there is high visibility and no cost:
2. In front of their own business
3. In front of neighboring businesses
4. Train and Bus stations
5. School offices
6. Senior recreational facilities and retirement homes
7. College dormitories — in the community area, hallways and bathrooms
8. School Clubs
9. Churches
10. Other local community clubs and organizations
11. Apartment buildings — in laundry rooms and bulletin boards
12. Community activity centers
13. Grocery stores – local corner stores are the best
14. Shopping malls – Local strip malls are ideal for the niche marketer
15. Car washes
16. Laundromats
17. Condominium complex party centers
18. Hotel and motel lobbies
19. Utility poles – check council ordinance to make sure you’re ‘allowed’ to do this one
20. Counters of public places
21. Meeting convention centers and rooms
22. Construction walls
23. Libraries
24. Union halls
25. Chambers of commerce
26. Medical or professional offices
27. Roller rinks and bowling alleys
28. Waiting rooms at auto repair and tire shops
29. Liquor and convenience stores
30. Company bulletin boards of friends and family
31. Tourist information centers
32. Highway rest stops
33. Factories
34. Their cars — featuring a compelling sign, parked in a conspicuous place
35. On the fences outside a construction site
36. College and high school newspapers and yearbooks (might not be free, but are ‘almost free’)
37. Classified services on the World Wide Web — many are free
38. Classified services on commercial online services — many are free
39. Local entertainment and tourist magazines
40. Community group and association newsletters
41. Small, local newspapers
42. Chamber of Commerce publications
43. Radio talk shows — by appearing as a guest or calling in (I did this, and created a product with the recording = $$$!)
44. A lingerie store owner stenciled small messages onto the sidewalks of New York, with provocative sayings like, “From here it looks like you could use some new underwear.”
45. Project your brand or USP at night onto the side of a building.
46. On your voice-mail message, but please keep it brief!

There you go – FREE Marketing Tips to get your business going and growing — Exponentially!

Onward and upward!
Marc

P.S.

Other FREE Marketing Strategies and Tactics include:

1. Send me a case study example and I’ll publish a blog post and put you and your business in front of thousands for FREE
2. Ask for referrals from your existing clients
3. Go to my Internet Mastery Blog to see FREE Internet strategies!
4. Add your ideas as a comment on this blog!

This list was compiled from an e-mail I received from the original Guerrilla Marketer – Jay Conrad Levinson. If you haven’t read any of his books – get your hands on at least one of them over the holidays… They are a MUST read!

Today’s post is about what separates Champions from Challengers, Challengers from Competitors, Competitors from Participants and finally Participants from Spectators.

I am currently competing at the World Master’s Squash Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand and chronicling my exploits on my Personal Mastery Blog.

Yesterday’s post discussed the ‘Kryptonite’ phenomenon in sufficient detail that I won’t repeat it here, but there is one additional distinction that I didn’t quite articulate sufficiently that has more to do with business than squash so I will post it here.

You have to be MUCH better to beat a lesser competitor when that competitor is a ’scrappy’ hacker style player. Let me be crystal clear with the squash analogy first – if an unorthodox player wins, he wins.

That’s how the game is played. All points count. Elegant masterful winners as well as off-the-racquet-frame spinning shots that die 1″ above the tin. If you’ve played competitive squash, you know what I’m talking about. The funny grip, the two-foot stance facing the front wall, the inside-out boasts from the weirdest angles…

In business it’s exactly the same – the ’scrappy’ competitor may win a client today, tomorrow and the next day after that, but if you stay the course and improve, you WILL get to the point where you can dictate terms and conditions and set the rules for you to win.

In academic circles, it’s called the ‘terminal degree’ – no, not the degree that kills you (even though it might feel that way!), but the LAST DEGREE you end up with.

There is a similar, but quite different concept in corporate development called the Peter Principle which is not quite where I’m headed with today’s distinction.

THE GOOD NEWS: Every competitor has a point where his/her ’scrappy’ skills won’t take them any further. Most people don’t realise this is the case, but if YOU DO, you can use that and leverage it to YOUR ADVANTAGE.

THE BAD NEWS: You have to be a LOT better to overcome the ’scrappiness’. You can’t just be a little better, you have to be a LOT better.

Case in point – I played a match today that I lost BECAUSE I couldn’t put enough pressure to PROHIBIT my opponent from using his unorthodox shots. I was the BETTER PLAYER TECHNICALLY – but he had a weapon that I couldn’t neutralise.

I wasn’t better enough. Even though that is poor grammar, I’m sure you understand.

With your sales, marketing and product/service delivery, you have to be MUCH BETTER to become the DOMINANT PLAYER in your ’space’ – whatever that may be.

The more specific you are about your niche, the easier it is for you to develop the necessary skills to be ‘better enough’…

There you go – another distinction that if you think about it and APPLY IT can have a dramatic influence on your results as you continue to push…

Onward and upward!
Dr Marc Dussault

Australia’s #1 Exponential Growth Strategist

P.S.

A recession is the ’scrappiest’ business cycle there is. Everyone is scrambling to make ends meet, desperation and fear take over pretty quickly.

If you want to know my thoughts on what to do in a recession or what to do to recession-proof your business, click on the hyperlinks. I produced a $17 video that explains it 42 minutes.

Your competitors won’t know what hit them if you do what I suggest in the video!

Gavin Buckett’s Case Study will motivate you to get off your butt and ‘do stuff.

Click here to download Gavin Buckett’s Case Study now.

It’s good something for everyone – if you’re looking to get the BEST RESULTS with the LEAST amount of EFFORT.

Onward and upward!
Marc

P.S.
If you’re still keen to consider coming to the 2008 Exponential Internet & Business Building Bootcamp, our LAST SERIES of bootcamp previews are this week in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

I’d love to see you there.

To contact Gavin, go to his site at www.AGBSolutions.com.au.

Australia’s very own “Dr Jan” calls it like it is.

Dr Janet Hall is an Exponential Marketing Bootcamp Graduate who eat, breathes and (literally) sleeps exponential strategies.

I am on her subscription e-mail list and I am amazed at her ability to deal with such a delicate subject in such a professional manner.

I am also impressed at her deployment and implementation of the Exponential Mindset™ and strategies. For example in this month’s edition of her e-mail subscription, she mentions two articles by a prominent American Sex Therapist “Top 10 Sex Mistakes Women Make” and “Top 10 Sex Mistakes Men Make”.

That rebuttal (excuse the intended pun) creates interest and Dr Hall responds with her own “Sex Tips for Aussie Blokes” in the same publication as well as in her e-mail subscription.

I have attached them here for your enjoyment and evaluation.

Dr Janet Hall’s Original E-mail

Dr Janet Hall’s Article Sex Tips For Aussie Blokes

Article: Top 10 Sex Mistakes WOMEN Make

Article: Top 10 Sex Mistakes MEN Make

Dr Hall has deployed several exponential marketing strategies, each compounding the RESULT and INFLUENCE she gains.

Here are some of the outstanding strategies she uses:

Pacing and leading
Future pacing
Preeminence
Influence, authority and credibility
JV and H-B Partnerships
Creating Value
Front and back-end strategies
Professional branding
Multiple Rivers Of Revenue™
Exponential Internet Strategies
Differentiation
Endorsements
1% Percent Improvement
Educating the client
Informing the client
Pathways To Profits™
Killer Kopywriting and Headlines
Long Copy Sells
Referrals
Antimimeticisomorphism
Testing
Core Story
Entertaining Story Telling
Strategy combined with tactics
Adaptation to Dr Dussault’s Demographic Descriptors™

If you’d like to learn more about these Exponential Marketing Strategies so you too can grow your business exponentially, please go to
www.MarcDussault.com or www.ExponentialPrograms.com/Business

For help to exponentially improve your sex life, contact Dr Janet Hall at
www.DrJanetHall.com.au

Life is to be lived to its fullest. Enjoy and have fun as you keep pushing…

Onward and upward!
Marc

P.S.
There was no pun intended, but I have to admit it’s kind of funny.

There is nothing funny about sex problems, challenges and hang-ups. Dr Janet Hall is a true professional. She is devoted to helping you have your breakthroughs either through personal consultations or if you’re a little timid and shy via her online therapies that can be found at http://www.sextherapycourses.com/

She espouses the Exponential Mindset™ by making it easy for you to buy and deal with her. I hope you learn from this exemplary case and apply some of these strategies to your business.

Life’s too short to be too serious.

Here is an excerpt from my Wizard’s Wisecracks™ that you can receive for FREE by clicking here.

——— Wizard’s Wisecracks™ Excerpt ————

Isn’t it funny how we are so precocious with gender labeling of
humans, but yet in some languages it’s a major ordeal to give a
gender to inanimate objects?

Is it me or is this just a little too complicated?

Have fun debating this one with your spouse and/or colleagues.

A French teacher was explaining to her college class that in French, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. House is feminine: la maison. Pencil is masculine: le crayon.

A student asked, ‘What gender is computer?’

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups – male and female – and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The men’s group decided that computer should definitely be the feminine gender (la computer) because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. That native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for possible later review; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay packet on accessories for it.

The women’s group, however, concluded that computer should be masculine (le computer) because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can’t think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realise that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

Onward and upward!
Marc

P.S.
Who do you think won? The men or the women…

Yeah. I’ll leave that one alone for today.