Hook Point

How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World

By: Brendan Kane

Narrated by: Brendan Kane

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World by out-of-the-box thinker Brendan Kane breaks down the most effective strategies to generate new opportunities, innovate and scale your business, and create a compelling brand—both online and off—so you can thrive in the new micro-attention world in which we live.

A lot of people know who they are, what they do, and a few even know why they do it—but even when brands or individuals have clarity in these areas, they often struggle to grab a potential audience’s attention for long enough to get them to learn about their attributes. Others have amazing products or services that fail to achieve great success because they don’t know how to talk about what they do effectively. This is because digital and social media have reshaped our world into one of micro-attention.

There are more than 60 billion messages shared on digital platforms each day, and the average person is exposed to between 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day. This bombardment of stimuli has changed the way we communicate and market content both online and off. In fact, research shows that you have less than three seconds to capture a person’s attention. With such a short window of time, we need to hook audiences quickly, efficiently, and consistently if we want to successfully fuel brand awareness and growth.

Luckily, Brendan Kane, a thinker and strategist who’s built platforms for celebrities like Taylor Swift and Rhianna and worked with Fortune 500 companies like Paramount, Viacom, and MTV, has mastered the art of standing out. In Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World, he reveals the power of hook points—a communication tool that helps marketers package their messages in a succinct, attention-grabbing way that leads to better opportunities both online and off. Whether you’re promoting a brand, product, or service, this book is the essential guide for making it in our three-second world.

©2020 Brendan Kane (P)2020 Waterside Productions, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Brendan speaks a language I understand. He makes navigating social media and standing out in crowded markets easy and effective. He’s become my go-to guy for all these things!” (LaLa Anthony, New York Times best-selling author, businesswoman, producer, and actress) 

“To make a product, service, or yourself ‘stand out’ in a world of obnoxious clutter, everyone needs some type of competitive advantage. In Hook Point, Brendan Kane, a master strategist intersecting technology and commerce, presents a logical and practical way to achieve that competitive advantage.” (Geyer Kosinski, chairman and CEO of Media Talent Group)

“There is a small window to capture your audience’s attention today. Brendan’s book is a must-read to refocus your acquisition strategy on quality as opposed to quantity.” (Faisel Durrani, former GM/EVP of Def Jam Recordings and president of Marketing Live Nation)

90 min in - too much fluff

Well, I hope to update my review later, but so far, for a book that is about grabbing people's attention, this is kinda not practicing what's preached.

A bit of context- I bought it hoping to learn some tips for my youtube channel.

Rather than getting to actual strategies, so far it's just examples and examples trying to convince the reader of the efficacy of hook points.

We know it's efficient - that's why we bought the book. But how many times do we need to hear about Netflix's no late fees policy?

Full of random, irrelevant info

This book should have been condensed to only include chapter 2. Chapter 1 is full of random stories about Brendan that have nothing to do with the concept of the book. Chapter 3 and beyond is a rambling monologue about all sorts of irrelevant topics, most of which is just quoting other people’s books, such as Simon sinek, Keith Ferrazi, and more. Chapter 2 however is full of great info, and would recommend listening to that chapter, but please skip the rest, it’s not worth your time, nor does it have anything to do with hook points. Which is odd.

How many times can you get the narrator to say your website URL?

Too many… This book makes some excellent points and was actually really helpful but I can’t get past the frustrating amount of times this guy forces the narrator to spell out his URL throughout the entire book.

Hook point hook point hook point hook point

After one hour I just couldn’t stand hearing the word hook point one more time.

I have no idea how the author fills the 7 (or was it 8) remaining hours. Probably repeating the word hook point every other sentence while patting himself on the back some more.

Too much self promotion.

Hook Point = You need to make catchy slogan in 3 seconds like "example" company.

No thanks for the ads. Book is mostly just examples of other successful company slogans and motto's and author just calls them "hook points". It feels like author is overusing said company examples too much throughout book.

The book has some useful information, But the constant self promotion from the author is literally like seeing advertisement on a youtube video or watching a show that has ads every 15 minutes. it totally distracts the thought process when he promotes his other books or telling you to go visit his website. Skip.

okay..

Honestly, I think the points in this book were average. Nothing stood out to me. The examples the author used weren't the best in my opinion. I was hoping this book would add value for me in business but it felt as though the author kept dropping his website for you to "shop".

Just an ad for author’s services…DONT BUY

Here's the book summary:
"Here's my email"
"Here's my website"
"Here's my email again"
"Here's my website again"
"Here's my website again again"
"Here's my website again again again"
"Here's my website again again again again"
"Here's my website again again again again again"
"Here's my email again again"
"Hope you learned something, PLEASE here's my email if you want me to just do it for you"

Confusingly mixed

This book starts out talking about "Hook Points", which are a very fuzzy concept. It's explained as both clickbait-but-for-not-worthless-things, but it's also Netflix's business model of delivering DVDs? Confusing.

It then drops that topic entirely and goes on to give advice about how to be a good consultant.

It's not a bad book. The "be clickbaity but then provide something" advice is decent, and the advice about being a good consultant isn't bad, either. It just feels like two half-finished books crammed together.

Good....But!!

The material is really good if you can get over the repeated plugs to visit his website and/or buy his programs. I admit I about broke several times. That said if all that doesn't drive you away (you will strongly consider stopping many many times) the content is really good.

Good for getting out there on social media

Brendan does break down how to handle breaking into social media with your business. He talks about the ways you work people's perceptions and grab their attention. One thing to take away is that there is a lot of trial and error with what you need to do to catch someone's attention. It's interesting that changing a word or maybe a different picture is all that is needed to make your brand catch someone's eye.

Pointing out the obvious

Not exactly a light bulb moment book. It simply points out the blatant techniques that all successful marketeers adopt and we see happening every day in front of us. If you are a real marketing novice, it’s not bad but if you are looking for something more sophisticated and enlightening, you’ll get bored very quickly.

Visit my website, visit my website, visit my website

He really could’ve just said all supplementary content is on his website but say it once. Pretty good book but the ‘VISIT WWW.’ Literally every minute is really distracting and pushy

Visit my website

There are some good ideas but the constant direction to his website every few minutes is jarring and after a while you just lose interest and wish for the book to be over.

I took notes

It got me to pick up a pen and buy a notebook. Some real gems in there. Not every word is breathtaking but there are some real nuggets to get the brain ticking. Enjoyed it.

Hook points

Developing hook points for your social media presence. Throughout he keep trying to get new business by pitching himself

Alright but too long

This book could have been probably condensed down to perhaps 1-2 hours, which would have made it a much more accessible book. The current length just ensures that important information gets lost in the noise. Also, there is a constant reference to the author's website, so much do that I had to stop listening to the audio book, it's just too much self advertising, it feels like I'm paying to get spammed. Having said that, there are good points in this book, but there are other books that bring this message across much better and more concise.

Generous and useful

Yes Brendan sells his offers but in ways that makes sense to the content of the subject matter. Not a problem there then.

The value given here is well worth the purchase and time spent listening/reading this content. Enjoy diving in, take notes and apply to your world.

Best of luck 🙏🏽🌈

Needs editing

There are some little gems in there, but you’ve got to go through a lot of to get to them, it tires you out. If only each chapter would get to its point quicker. Great title, great cover, unfortunately it needs a strong editors hand.

very useful content

yes there is a lot of self advertising but this book does have a lot to offer, I do recommend a read/listen.

An expert and it shows!

Applicable strategies, concepts and logic that make sense - a helpful tool to create your hook points, build your brand, serve your audience and make the most of opportunities. Thank you!