Olivia: Most businesses fail because their marketing is boring. Not bad, just… boring. They spend fortunes trying to be ‘better’ than the competition, but what if the secret to success is simply being the weirdest one in theroom? Jackson: The weirdest one? I like that. It feels more achievable than being the ‘best.’ The best is exhausting. The weirdest? I can do weird. It’s about standing out, not standing on top of some mythical pedestal. Olivia: Exactly. And that’s the entire premise of the book we’re diving into today: Get Different: Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored! by Mike Michalowicz. Jackson: Ah, Michalowicz. I know that name. He’s not your typical business guru, right? This is the guy who’s very open about his own failures. Olivia: That’s what makes his advice so potent. He’s not an academic in an ivory tower; he’s an entrepreneur who built and sold multiple multi-million-dollar companies, but he also lost his fortune—twice. He talks about hitting rock bottom, about his young daughter offering him her piggy bank savings to help the family. His whole mission, which he says is to "eradicate entrepreneurial poverty," was born from that fire. Jackson: Wow. Okay, so this isn't just about clever marketing tricks. This comes from a place of real struggle. That changes things. It’s not just theory; it’s a survival guide. Olivia: It absolutely is. And for him, that survival guide begins with a single, powerful idea that was forged in one of his biggest professional failures.

Jackson: You can't just say that and not tell the story. What happened? Olivia: Alright, picture this. It's 2005. Mike has just launched his first book, 'The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.' He’s followed all the standard advice, checked all the boxes on the book-marketing checklist. Release day comes. He’s refreshing the sales page, waiting for the numbers to roll in. And you know how many copies he sold? Jackson: Oh no. Based on your setup, I’m guessing it’s a painfully low number. Ten? Five? Olivia: Zero. A big, fat zero. Jackson: Ouch. That is a gut punch. I can feel the secondhand despair from here. What do you even do after that? Olivia: You do what any desperate entrepreneur does. You seek out a guru. He drives to Maryland to meet with a legendary internet marketer named Yanik Silver. He’s expecting some secret formula, some complex digital strategy. Instead, they play a game of billiards in Yanik’s basement. Jackson: A game of billiards? That’s not the secret marketing hack I was expecting. Olivia: Mike is venting his frustrations, explaining how his book is genuinely good, how it can really help people. Yanik just listens. After the game, they go out on the deck, overlooking these rolling hills. And Yanik finally asks him a simple question: "Mike, is your book better? Is it truly a better solution than what the other so-called experts are selling?" Jackson: And Mike says yes, of course. He believes in his product. Olivia: He does. And that’s when Yanik looks him in the eye and delivers the line that changes everything. He says, "Then you have a goddamn responsibility to outmarket them." Jackson: Whoa. A ‘goddamn responsibility.’ That’s… intense. That’s not a word you usually associate with marketing. It’s usually about ROI, conversion rates, funnels… Olivia: Exactly. Yanik explains, "People will buy, that is not the question. But they can only ever buy what they are aware exists. If your solution is better, you have to make them notice." He’s reframing marketing from a self-serving act of promotion into an act of service. If you have the cure, it’s your duty to make sure people know about it, otherwise they’ll keep buying snake oil. Jackson: Okay, that lands. It’s not just a business strategy; it’s a moral imperative. If your thing is genuinely better, you're doing people a disservice by letting them buy the inferior option because you were too timid or too boring to get their attention. Olivia: You’re failing them. And this is the moment Mike has his epiphany. He realizes his entire approach was wrong. He was trying to be better by following the same rules as everyone else, just trying to do them a little more perfectly. But that just makes you blend in. The key isn't to be better. The key is to be different. Jackson: It’s like showing up to a black-tie gala in a bright yellow suit. You might not be the ‘best’ dressed by traditional standards, but you’re the only one anyone is going to remember. Olivia: A perfect analogy. And that’s the core philosophy. Better is not better. Different is better. Because ‘better’ is invisible in a crowded room. ‘Different’ is the only thing that gets you noticed in the first place. The book makes it clear that in a world of shrinking attention spans—where you have milliseconds to win what he calls ‘the blink’—sameness is a death sentence for a business. Jackson: So this ‘responsibility’ isn’t just about making money, it’s about the responsibility to be interesting enough to be seen. Because if you’re not seen, you can’t help anyone. Olivia: Precisely. And once you accept that responsibility, the immediate next question is… how? You can't just be different for the sake of being different. A lawyer showing up to court in a clown costume is different, but he’s not going to win the case. Jackson: Right, you’ll get noticed, but for all the wrong reasons. You’ll attract attention, but repel trust. Olivia: And that’s the perfect segue. Because once you embrace the why—the responsibility—Michalowicz gives us a beautifully simple tool for the how. It’s called the DAD Marketing Framework.

Jackson: DAD. Okay, I’m listening. Is this another one of those complicated acronyms I’m going to forget in five minutes? Olivia: Not at all. It’s brilliantly simple. DAD stands for: Differentiate, Attract, and Direct. That’s it. It’s a three-step filter for every single marketing idea you have. Jackson: Differentiate, Attract, Direct. Okay, break that down for me. What does that actually look like in practice? Olivia: Let’s start with Differentiate. Michalowicz argues this is based on pure brain science. Our brains have something called the reticular formation, which acts like a bouncer at a nightclub. It’s constantly scanning the environment and filtering out the familiar—the boring, the expected. The sound of the air conditioner, the feel of the chair you’re in. It ignores all of it. Jackson: Right, because if it didn’t, we’d be overwhelmed with information. The bouncer only lets the important stuff through the velvet rope. Olivia: Exactly. And what does it consider important? The unexpected. The different. The rustle in the bushes that might be a predator. The police siren that suddenly changes its pattern. That’s what gets our attention. So, to Differentiate your marketing, you have to be that rustle in the bushes. You have to do something that breaks the pattern of your industry. Jackson: That makes sense. But it still feels a bit abstract. Can you give me a real-world example? Olivia: I have the perfect one, and it’s my favorite story from the book. It’s about an accountant named Gabe Piña. In 2014, Gabe was on the verge of bankruptcy. His accounting business was failing. He was unknown, unnoticeable, and drowning in debt. Jackson: An accountant. That’s a tough industry to be ‘different’ in. It’s built on being reliable and, let’s be honest, a little bit boring. Olivia: That’s the challenge! So Gabe attends a retreat with Michalowicz, and they decide he needs to apply the DAD framework. First, Differentiate. Instead of being a general accountant for everyone, he niches down to a community he’s passionate about: cigar shop owners. Jackson: Okay, that’s different. The cigar-smoking accountant. I’m already intrigued. He’s not just any numbers guy; he has a personality, a tribe. Olivia: That’s the first step. Now for the second: Attract. How does he attract these cigar shop owners? He could have sent a boring flyer saying "Accounting Services for Cigar Shops." But that’s not attractive. Instead, he decides to send his top 10 ideal prospects a copy of a business book he thinks they’d find valuable. Jackson: Ah, so he’s not selling, he’s serving. He’s offering value first. That’s attractive. It’s a gift, not an ad. It builds trust. Olivia: Exactly. But his first attempt kind of fizzled. He just sent the book with a simple note. It was nice, but it didn't compel action. This is where the third step, Direct, comes in. He needed a clear, simple, low-friction call to action. So he tweaked the experiment. Jackson: What did he do? Olivia: He sent the book again, but this time, he put five sticky notes inside, marking specific pages relevant to a business owner. On the final sticky note, he wrote a simple message: "If you have any questions about this, or anything else about your business, just text me." And he included his cell phone number. Jackson: That is brilliant. It’s so simple! ‘Differentiate’ was niching to cigar shops. ‘Attract’ was the thoughtful gift of a book. And ‘Direct’ wasn’t some high-pressure "schedule a call" link. It was just "text me." It’s a tiny, non-threatening ask. It feels like you’re just texting a knowledgeable friend. Olivia: And it worked. Within a month, he had a consistent flow of new leads. Within six months, he had added six figures of additional annual revenue to his business. He went from near-bankruptcy to buying his first brand-new car, all because he followed that simple DAD framework. He was different, he was attractive, and his directive was irresistible. Jackson: That story makes the whole framework click. It’s not about having a massive budget or a crazy gimmick. It’s about being thoughtful. The differentiation came from focus. The attraction came from generosity. And the direction came from simplicity. Olivia: And authenticity! Gabe genuinely loves cigars, so it felt real. The book highlights another great example: Jeff Walker, an internet marketer in a space filled with guys renting mansions and Lamborghinis for their videos. Jeff filmed his videos from his actual home in Colorado, driving his old pickup truck. He was different because he was real, and that authenticity attracted people who were tired of the fake hype. Jackson: It’s about finding your own different, not just copying someone else’s. The book talks about the fear of standing out being the number one reason people fail at this, right? The fear of being judged. Olivia: It’s the biggest obstacle. We’re wired for social conformity. But Michalowicz argues that the pain of being invisible is far greater than the risk of being judged. You have to choose between the comfort of being unnoticeable and the courage of being unignorable. Jackson: And if you have that ‘responsibility’ we talked about earlier, it’s not really a choice, is it? You have to choose to be unignorable. Olivia: You have to. And the DAD framework is the map that shows you how to do it without getting lost.

Olivia: When you put it all together, you see this beautiful, logical flow. It starts with a profound mindset shift—this idea that you have a moral responsibility to market effectively if you have a superior product. It’s not about ego; it’s about service. Jackson: But that mission, that ‘why,’ is powerless if you don’t have a ‘how.’ You can have all the responsibility in the world, but if you’re just shouting into the void with the same boring message as everyone else, it doesn’t matter. Olivia: Precisely. And the DAD framework becomes that practical ‘how.’ It’s a system that’s not about being the loudest, the richest, or the slickest. It’s about being the most thoughtfully different. It’s about understanding human psychology and aligning your marketing with how people are actually wired to pay attention. Jackson: What I love most is that the examples in the book aren't about huge, risky bets. Gabe Piña didn't mortgage his house for a Super Bowl ad. He bought ten books and some sticky notes. The Savannah Bananas baseball team, another great example in the book, got famous for having a senior citizen dance team called the Banana Nanas. These are small, clever, authentic experiments. Olivia: It makes it feel so accessible. You don’t need a million-dollar budget or a team of marketing geniuses. You just need to look at what’s considered ‘standard practice’ in your industry and ask a simple question: "What if we did the exact opposite?" Jackson: Or just something a little bit weirder. A little more human. The book really is a call to action to stop hiding behind industry jargon and professional sameness and to let your own unique personality—or your company’s personality—shine through. Olivia: And that’s our challenge to everyone listening. Think about your job, your industry, your passion project. What is one boring, standard-issue thing that everyone does? The way emails are written? The way meetings are run? The way you thank a customer? Jackson: And what’s a small, different, DAD-approved experiment you could run this week? We would genuinely love to hear your ideas. Find us on our social channels and share one ‘standard practice’ in your world that is just begging to be done differently. Olivia: Let your business grow, but don’t let it grow up. Be bold, be italic, but never be regular. Jackson: I love that. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.