Win the branding game online with surer steps
“Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World”
By Michael Hyatt
Thomas Nelson, 2012
This is a noisy world. Ours is a community of public relations, advocacy and advertising clutter. We have what one book calls an “attention economy”—meaning, “attention is scarce, as money is scarce in any economy.” Attention scarcity is happening, even while information is exploding. How does one stand a chance to grab attention, hold such attention—and do business from engaging your readers, listeners or, as this book says, your “tribesmen”?
I have read books on how to survive the digital world, how to win in social media, and which elements would make a “wow” impact on one’s readers in social cyberspace. These books are useful, informative, eye opening— yet they are not written in an easy, interesting, and “doable” manner like the book “Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.”
The first appeal of the book is the title: “Platform.” To communication theory students and graduates, this calls to mind Dennis Mcquail’s “display attention,” referring to media’s power to call attention to what someone is saying, espousing or selling. While Mcquail initially spoke of mass communication, he subsequently covered digital, one-on-one communication.
Mercifully, author Michael Hyatt has made it easy for us to proceed from the “platform” concept to the book promise of covering all aspects about speaking or writing from that “stage.”
Hyatt, at first blush, sounds all-too-literal, but he is not.
“A platform,” he defines, “is the thing you stand on to get heard. It is your stage. But unlike the stage in the theater, today’s platform is built of people. Contracts. Connections. Followers.”
Written like an online expert!
Interestingly, the “platform” of President Noynoy Aquino is wherever the Presidency is. His office at the Palace is his platform, his perch, from where he addresses our people.
Author Hyatt is thus in sync with these realities when he writes: “Your platform is the means by which you connect with your existing and potential fans.” He pointed out that this will include one’s website—corporate or personal—blog, Twitter account, online video show, podcast, public speaking engagement, concert, show, traditional media clippings.
Time was when Demosthenes must stand at the Grecian agora to get attention. A bit later, George Washington must mount his white horse to grab and hold the attention of his fighting soldiers. Martin Luther King led marchers to the Washington Monument where he would deliver his ringing “I Have a Dream” speech.
Michael Jackson brought all the props of dizzying lights, ropes for acrobatic acts, and smoke-emitting machines to rivet the attention of followers to his spell-binding concert. Aspiring beauty queens and singers create their own video shows and, virally enough, get the attention of online lookers and listeners.
Each one has a platform to use for his/her own branding or for his/her product or service. You need only two things, says the author: A compelling product and a significant platform. Will a good product take care of itself? Hyatt says no way. “Competition has never been greater, and people are more distracted than ever.”
He revealed that he was once looking for a flat-screen TV on Amazon, and he got 19,069 search results. If your product is one of these thousands of choices, how do you stand out?
“It’s the product, stupid.” That’s how Hyatt stresses the value of a product that inspires a “wow!” from its intended market. Can a great platform compensate for a really bad product? No way, Jose! A quote from advertising guru David Ogilvy underscored the truth: “Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.”
And yet this author makes an audacious remark, saying “kiss marketing good-bye.” It’s no longer marketing, he says, but “tribe-building.” The mass media-driven marketing has been replaced by the one-on-one viral reach of tribe building.
For a “wow!” product, Hyatt predictably cites Steve Jobs’ Apple products, and he draws three principles from Jobs’ example. These are: Create products you would personally use, create products that solve problems in unexpected ways, and create products that exceed your customers’ satisfaction. His discussion of principles are generously illustrated by examples.
Your dreams must be translated to goals, the book says. It becomes a goal when you set a timeline to achieve every target. Otherwise, your best platform remains a dream. How does one move from dreamland to action territories? Answer: By setting deadlines for one’s self.
(I did that once when I finally fixed a deadline for finishing my dissertation—and so I defended it successfully and earned my Ph.D.!)
Aside from branding, starting a blog, and managing a list of post ideas, creating video interviews—the book offers tips on how to “secure raving endorsements.” His valuable advice: “Endorsements can make a huge difference in whether or not your product gets noticed by the gatekeepers, trendsetters, and your target market. Take time to get them in.”
This tour-de-force of a guide for online sellers also offers tips on how to prevent intellectual theft.
If you are the public speaking type, who has fallen in love with his or her voice—and his/her audience would likely fall in love with such voice and reason, Hyatt suggests that one can “build a speaking page.” He is down to specifics with a camera on a tripod, an audio-technical microphone and mono-to-stereo adapter from Radio Shack in order to sell himself beyond the physical page to the online page that has reached over 500,000 followers every month!
He took note of websites losing readers because their titles “make me yawn,” their posts are “boring” if not infrequent,” and the website owner has gotten tired of keeping the conversation going.
Has traditional media finally taken a backseat? Nope. In fact, he advises digital platform owners and players to prepare for interviews on television, and to master the art of media appearance that is the stuff of media training. He even advises netizens to hire an image consultant, a refreshing prescription, since most of our website leaders don’t bother about their look—only the look of their pages.
On the whole, every chapter in this book can stand alone. One section that should attract netizens is titled: “Monetize your blog.” Make money from selling advertising, promoting affiliates or outright selling of products.
With his experience as a blogger, Hyatt gives the impression that these are all easy steps. And they could be. He steers clear of complicated procedures. And yes he wants you to “take the first step.”
What if they don’t like you? What if you look foolish? What if you fail? Just take the first step. Then “figure out the rest.” No guts, no glory is, as always, the operative principle here. You want to win a woman’s hand? Hold her hand. You’ll either win a slap or a kiss.
