Consulting Magazine - December 2016

Q&A with MicroFame Media’s Michael Schein
Michael Schein is the CEO of MicroFame Media, a marketing agency
focused on the needs of consultants. He recently sat down with ALM
Intelligence’s Liz DeVito to discuss how he turns consultants into celeb-
rities when they don’t have the time to do it themselves.

: What’s your
background and role at
MicroFame Media?

Schein: In a lot of ways, I’m a writer at heart. I have been ever since I wrote a story in second grade called Wrestlemania XXXIII (this was back in the Eighties) and it was the big hit of the class. Once I grew up, I found out I was especially good at using words persuasively so I got into marketing. The reason I started MicroFame Media was that I was working as a freelance copywriter and I saw all these consultants who were investing tons of money into branding and ending up with little more than a decent looking website. It occurred to me that what these consultants actually needed was to be highly visible to the people who might buy from them. I realized that it was consultants who people saw as niche celebrities, thought leaders, and gurus that could name their price. So I started making that happen for them and the agency grew from there.

: What is the
genesis of MicroFame Media’s
products and services?
Schein: When I originally had the
idea to start the agency, the first
thing I did was study all of the most
high-profile thought leaders in the
consulting world. What I found was
that they all have a number of things
in common. They all have a book.
They all have really strong hooks
that make their content stand out.
They all have a very strong digital
media presence. And they all have
strong connections with influencers.
I quickly realized that the main rea-
son that every consultant doesn’t do
the activities needed to make this
happen is lack of time. The way peo-
ple usually approach writing a book,
for example, is extremely time con-
suming. As a result, it doesn’t get
done. So we created a very efficient
process for executing these sorts of
things for our clients. When clients
go through our process, they end up
with...in a short period of time…a
book, a podcast, a working strategy
for connecting with the influencers
in their field, and so on. Not to men-
tion all the resulting exposure that
comes along with it.

: How do
MicroFame Media’s products and
services apply to management
consulting?

Schein: When you’re a consultant, management or otherwise, you’re not selling a physical product. What you’re actually selling, at the core, is a set of ideas. As a result, those consultants who do the best job at communicating the value of their ideas do the best in the marketplace. All consultants know this but often have trouble making it happen for a variety of reasons. What we specialize in is giving consultants’ ideas the best shot at being seen.

: How does
MicroFame Media differ from
traditional marketing agencies?

Schein: Well, for one, our focus is
narrow—we work with consultants.
Also, a lot of other agencies say
things like “we’re a social media mar-
keting agency” or “we’re a content
marketing agency”. We see things dif-
ferently. From our viewpoint, social
media and podcasts and blogs and
whatever else are all tools to help us
get the goal. And the goal is turning
consultants into thought leaders.

: What are
you working on now that you’re
particularly excited about?

Schein: I’m in the midst of writing a book with co-author Kembrew McLeod, a writer who I’ve been a fan of for a while. Our book’s tentative title is Hype: Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Promoters, Propagandists, and Con Artists. It’s based on the idea that persuasion principles are universal, so it makes sense to study those who do it best, no matter who they are. It’s been a whole lot of fun.