Greg Verdino is someone that I've respected for a long time. He loves to wear rock and roll shirts, is a dedicated father and knows what he is talking about when it comes to marketing. That combination made me very excited to read his first book MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small. I haven't had a chance to read the whole book yet, but I did agree to read and review a single chapter of his book as part of a series of small reviews he is doing to raise awareness for the book. I was assigned Chapter 8: From Awareness to Attention.

Don't listen to their words, fix your attention on their deeds. - Albert Einstein

So starts the chapter and while I had never seen the quote before I instantly knew what he meant by this and what the chapter was going to be about. While many company's spend tons of time and money to get consumers attention, they then proceed to follow that up by freaking out over what they might say or how they say it rather then embracing that we each have our own voices and show our passion for something in our own unique ways.

I got a little worried as I began reading and he dove into the topic of earned media. If you are not familiar with this term, it refers to getting media attention based on your actions rather than paying for it. But, just when I feared that Greg had gone down a rabbit hole that I didn't want him to, he pulled up and told his readers to focus on something bigger and harder to earn than media. That being attention.

The world is crazier than ever and we live in a world where each of us can click a button on a mouse or remote control and skip to the next thing that we are interested in. We no longer have to sit through a commercial to wait for the good parts. Each of us in control of what our attention is paid to and companies that want to be successful need to change their tactics and thinking to break through and gain it.

In addition to examples from Delta and Samsung, I was extra happy to see that he spent a lot of the chapter profiling my close friend J.C. Hutchins and the marketing tactics he used for his highly successful 7th Son novel. I use Hutch as an example in many of my presentations to prove my theory that passion is contagious.

Verdino uses him as a shining star of what microMarketing is all about. Thinking small, but with purpose. Getting attention and then insuring that it is kept and valued at all times. Instead of trying to reach the world, going after the right audience that have the highest probability of being interested in what you are reaching out to them about.

These approaches are preached throughout the chapter. You've got to think small when it comes to the content you are creating so that you can breakthrough the clutter and capture someone's attention. But, then make it worth their time. Give them reasons to engage with it, share it and react to it. I agree completely with Greg since my book, Content Rules, is all about these approaches so how could I not?

I can't wait to finish reading the whole book so I can do a more in depth review of it. Based on my professional and personal opinion of the author and this one chapter I read for the review, I'd recommend you go out and buy a copy today because I know the entire book will be great.