How I Got Caught Up In The Hype
The Book for Garnering Attention In Today's Oversaturated World
Whether you're a business owner, evangelist for a cause, or whatever it is you may be promoting, rising above the prevailing narratives to get one’s message heard is an enduring challenge. With Supreme Court cases, mass shootings, and international conflicts dominating the news, our media world has become one big echo chamber.
While there are many thought-leaders offering strategies for garnering attention amidst this cacophony of noise, THE HYPE HANDBOOK: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers, offers what many don’t: a set of contrarian yet effective approaches to soaring above the cacophony of competing messages.
Written by writer, speaker, business owner, and hype artist MICHAEL F. SCHEIN, THE HYPE HANDBOOK, offers a fascinating look at the impact of influence psychology on human nature and crowds. Its genesis ties back to a period in Shein’s life where he, like many entrepreneurs, found himself struggling to attract attention for his business.
As he explains in the book:
“Since the standard wisdom about letting good work speak for itself, hustling hard, and implementing sales funnels wasn’t doing me any good, I began to wonder whether there was anything in the strategies and techniques of these more unconventional operators that I could apply to my latest endeavor without losing my soul in the process.”
He says it soon occurred to him that doing things in a common, straightforward manner was a privilege reserved for those with obvious advantages like unrestricted sources of funding. That’s when he began exploring other avenues for garnering attention. He continues:
“It is no accident that the promoters, propagandists, and various mischief-makers I studied were so often outsiders when they started out—whether by dint of poverty, class, or inclination. Driven by the need to operate under the radar, they invented ingenious workarounds that were designed to get the biggest results. These people were, in essence, the original hackers.”
Schein eventually came to the realization that there was nothing inherently wrong with hype being used as an alternative strategy for influence and promotion.
“It was at this point that I got a little obsessed. I read every biography I could find of history’s most notoriously shameless self-promoters.”
In his book, he defines hype as the “practice of generating an intense emotional reaction from a large number of people to achieve a specific outcome.”
Because we are so susceptible to propaganda and persuasion to the point where hype truly runs our world, Schein believes that cult leaders, propagandists, and other shameless self-promoters have become naturals at this, viewing human behavior through a much clearer lens than the rest of us.
Schein’s compelling proposition? — “Imagine if you could generate and leverage hype for positive purposes―like legitimate business success, helping people, or effecting positive change in your community.”
He adds from the book
“For those of us who want to do right by people, and do what we can to make the world a little better, the trick is to selectively borrow those tactics and stunts from history’s most effective attention-getters while leaving the unethical parts aside. Is this difficult? Sure it is. Is it worth it? Without a doubt.”
With fresh insights on leveraging hype to your advantage, THE HYPE HANDBOOK is a go-to guide for those struggling to attract attention for their book, movement, cause, business enterprise — whatever it is they are trying to get the word out about. Unlike other books that spew bloviated ramblings about rising the prevailing public chatter, readers will find Schein’s book an eye-opening counterblast to traditional promotional and influence marketing strategies.
But be forewarned: Shein is not one to don kid gloves in his observations and prescriptions. His writing is direct and full of numerous case examples of hucksters, propagandists, iconoclasts, and contrarians who have skillfully deployed the power of hype to capture what it is that they want.
The 12 fundamental strategies he delivers in the book for those seeking to create and leverage hype for good, include valuable insights into:
Attracting attention from people that matter
Creating a tribe of evangelists to further your cause
Build an atmosphere of curiosity and intrigue
Selling your message with skillful mastery
Developing a step-by-step “manifesto”
While reading this book, I was reminded of a mentor of mine, Alan Weiss, author of the book Million Dollar Consulting. Years ago he shared with me his belief that the best consultants weren’t necessarily the ones with stellar expertise and solutions, but those who were able to secure new business by effectively marketing and selling their value proposition.
Weiss, through his own brand of contrarianism, exposes knuckleheaded approaches that hinder the success of many consulting practices. By way of example, he is unrelenting in his assertions about how the use of hourly rates contradicts the spirit of what may otherwise be an authentic value proposition. Instead, he’s an evangelist for flat-rate pricing options of increasing value, with a discount offered if the entire retainer is paid upfront.
I tried this approach myself which led me to ink my first major client with a California-based biotech firm, replete with a $ 60,000 upfront retainer.
Back to THE HYPE HANDBOOK, I was particularly struck by Shein’s breakdown of former President Donald Trump’s use of hype to capture and sustain a loyal political base. As Schein notes in his book:
“There is nothing more effective for getting people to rally around a leader than the existence of a common enemy. While this doesn’t mean you should go around calling on people to commit acts of violence or cruelty, you will need to publicly take a bold stand about what you’re against, in addition to talking about what you’re for.”
Trump’s style comes across as nauseating to many, including yours truly. Large pockets of the press and social media are often left shaking their head about his often abhorrent behavior. But as Schein notes:
“….the more the feuds he starts, the more his followers continue to adore him. Quite simply, the man has an intuitive understanding of human nature.”
Back in 2015 during the Colorado gubernatorial campaign, candidate Mike Dunafon, Mayor of Glendale, Colorado, was advised by one of his political operatives to “pick a fight” with the other candidates to boost his poll numbers. This may have been a wise move per Schein’s advice in the book where he notes:
“One of the strategies I saw these characters using time and again in my research was what I now call “picking fights and making enemies.” In short, they identify a person or a status quo idea and position themselves and their ideas in opposition to it. I had become convinced the tactic was effective.”
Instead, Dunafon made his case by recording a song and video with the noted musician Wyclef Jean, a form of hype that was unconventional in its own right.
Schein himself has experimented and succeeded with a more direct approach to picking a fight through an article targeting popular marketing charlatan Gary Vanerchuck. He adds:
“For those of you who aren’t familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk, he’s an internet marketer who made his name by preaching the gospel of hustle. In his books, videos, and talks, he constantly tells aspiring entrepreneurs that the only way to succeed is to spend the majority of every day talking about yourself online. For example, he talks about his habit of shooting tweets from the toilet at three in the morning as a healthy lifestyle choice.”
Schein later shared what resulted from this move:
“…. that night I took a wayward look at my phone and saw something that blew me away. Over a period of 20 minutes, I gained a hundred new Twitter followers. I opened my email. My inbox was full of messages from people thanking me for saying what I had said because they had always felt the same way.”
So as you can probably ascertain, THE HYPE HANDBOOK: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers isn’t for the fair of heart or those seeking to pursue a status quo route with their marketing influence efforts. Readers with old-school mindsets are likely to smirk and grimace at some of Schein’s missives. Nevertheless, he is an adroit thought-leader who is not afraid to throw shade at the prevailing winds of status-quo thinking. His book delivers some curve balls, for sure, but it does so in a manner that delivers some pragmatic strategies and perspectives for those looking to get their message heard.
Schein’s clarion call to us all is to study the mischief-makers, the propagandists, the con artists, the boundary breakers, the hype artists. Then in finding the alignment with what you do, leverage their approaches to your advantage:
Upon completing THE HYPE HANDBOOK, I immediately commenced a study of some of my favorite hype artists. Here’s who I’m trolling these days:
Culinary Celebrity Anthony Bourdain
Media Mogul 50 Cent
Serial Entrepreneur and Adventurist Richard Branson
Rap Artist Techn9ne
Women’s Evangelist Lisa Carmen Wang
Here are a couple of final excerpts from Schein’s timely book to conclude this review:
“Over the last few years, I’ve watched so many people with great ideas—ideas that could truly make the world a better place—fall short or get left behind because they didn’t recognize the truth about what it takes to get the word out about what they were doing and get people whipped up into a frenzy about it.
Today success has become more dependent than ever before on the ability to mold perception. It became my mission to make sure those committed to making real contributions to the world have the same shot as those who are driven only by ruthless self-interest.”
BONUS READS
Also check out these similar books: How to Use Hype When You Hate Self-Promotion: Smashing The Plateau with David Shriner-Kahn; The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene; Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson; Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different by Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger
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