Make Some Noise

The Unconventional Road to Dominance

By: Ken Schmidt

Narrated by: Ken Schmidt

The former director of communications at Harley-Davidson and one of the most sought-after speakers in the world reveals his exhilarating, innovative approach to creating customer loyalty and marketplace dominance.

Ken Schmidt is a wanted man. His role in transforming Harley-Davidson Motor Company—one of the most celebrated corporate success stories in history—led business leaders all over the world to seek his guidance. After all, how many companies can get their customers to tattoo their logo on their arms?

After having worked with more than one thousand companies worldwide, Schmidt is ready to share the secrets that spurred Harley-Davidson’s remarkable turnaround. An avid motorcycle enthusiast, Schmidt harnessed his passion for riding to create his famed Noise Cubed Trilogy—the three questions he asks every one of his clients. They assess a company’s positioning, competitiveness, and reputation, and are the key ingredients for any successful corporation: What do the customers your business served yesterday say about your business when they’re talking about you to prospective customers? What do you want them to say? What are you doing to get them to say it?

In Make Some Noise, Schmidt shares his full-throttle approach for businesses and individuals alike. Anyone looking to become more competitive and grow customer loyalty can learn from the case studies and experiences he shares. From a nondescript heavy construction company, to the most high-end “luxury” gas station in America, to Apple, and to his own personal landscaper, Schmidt illustrates how the answers to his trio of questions will yield a course of action to stand out in today’s marketplace.

Truly a Different Approach for a Success Business

I don't often write reviews, but this book was so impactful to my business that I had to. I first learned about him when he spoke at a local community college in central Iowa. While we often see claims for novel and different approaches to marketing or building a business or brand, Ken Schmidt lays it all out in 14 hours.

The first part is an introduction to what's different, but along with the actual content, you can follow along step by step with the PDF and make some changes and do some evaluations. There are some real BFOs that you'll reach, blinding flashes of the obvious that you will palm slap your head for (like evaluating the competition's approaches) and see how you can create a company or business that will engage with your customers not in a cliche way, but where you can have a genuine relationship with them. He does this through engaging stories and I'm still listening even though I've got all the nuggets I need to succeed.

He contrasts two interactions with a representative from Harley Davidson and how they could go. The first talks about how a salesperson will give specifics and the person will have no story to tell his friends. The other is about simply worrying about the relationship and taking pictures with the potential client during a rally. Ken does a really great job of helping you think beyond this interaction and towards what will happen next and how what you do impacts what the potential customer does at home. Ken's really entertaining, so it's not like sitting through some sales meeting and sounds like just a genuine guy.

You'll get more than 1 credit's worth from this book, that I can assure you.

Best marketing book I've ever read

I'm only halfway through Ken's book, and I'm here to write a rave review.

I've read book after book on marketing by everyone you're supposed to read, and nothing ever really made sense. It always seemed as if I was missing some puzzle pieces--or worse, that I was putting together pieces from eight different puzzles. I would try to do their exercises and come up with nothing but boring, empty "elevator pitches" (or that equivalent). It made me want to scream. You've read all those books, too.

This book pulls marketing together into a coherent whole, and nails the way we should talk to our customers--and, the core of it all, have our customers talk about us. Marketing makes sense now. FINALLY. (Yes, Ken's exercises actually gave me ideas that I put immediately to use.)

I love that Ken has full sympathy for customers, who have to wade through so much nonsense when they're only trying to figure out what to buy. And he has equal sympathy for struggling business owners, whose main marketing training is the hope that our messages will somehow be heard if we just try hard enough and often enough.

Ken has a frank, entertaining style of writing, and the book is filled with so many nuggets of wisdom that I have pages and pages of notes. He has given it his all in this book: It is filled with both raw honesty and practical ideas born from years of hard-won experience. I feel as if he's telling me everything he knows, generously, and without holding back. I look forward now to being able to create marketing that really works instead of those random, pretty pictures I've been posting on social media.

He reads his own book and has a terrific voice.

If you own a business or work in marketing, I'm telling you, BUY THIS BOOK.