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Saved by 136 people (57 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-03-02


Public Comment

on 2006-08-03 by npatel

One of the most innovative and creative thinkers of our time. If you get a chance try to attend one of his events.

on 2006-08-12 by rogerkondrat

Author of Purple Cow

on 2006-09-06 by justinwhitaker

Seth Godin. Flipping the funnel, and growing purple cows.

on 2006-09-28 by bluecockatoo

Seth Godin has an intresting perspective on things that seems to match mine in a lot of ways. I like his critcal thinking and ways to cut through the BS of marketing and advertising. Interesting blog.

Public Sticky notes

The notes were right, but nothing else was. The singer didn’t know what the song meant. And the musicians, they just stood there.

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A concert isn’t about the music, is it? And a restaurant isn’t about the food.

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In response to projects, many organizations figure out the resources they've got and then work hard to do something good enough. On time, within budget. Meeting spec, after all, is your job.

You end up, if you're talented, with something good enough.

Is that enough? Is good enough enough to win? To change the game? To reinvent your organization and your career? In a crowded market, when all the competition is good enough, not much happens.

Good enough is beyond reproach. It's safe at the same time it represents quality. Good enough demonstrates effort and insight and ability. People rarely get fired for good enough, which is a shame.

If you redefined the objective to be, "makes some people uncomfortable, changes the entire competitive landscape and is truly remarkable in that many of the key people we reach feel compelled to talk about it," what would happen?

First, it would require significant risk-taking. Which would include the risk of failure and the risk of getting fired (omg!). Can you and your team handle that? If not, might as well admit it and settle for good enough. But if you're settling, don't sit around wishing for results beyond what you've been getting.

Second, it would mean that every single time you set out to be remarkable, you'd have to raise the bar and start over. It's exhausting.

Third, it means that the boss and the boss's boss are unlikely to give you much cover. Are you okay with that?

I hope so. It's worth it.

Have fun!

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Sing it loud and with feeling and like you mean it. Deliver it, don’t just make it.

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Calling "dregs" is actually a great marketing strategy.

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It's an expression of great humility, sort of the opposite of what people expect from a business.

Pay what you think it's worth,

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The answer, of course, is the intangibles. The things that have no price. Things that customers value more than it costs you to provide them.

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Engage. Contribute. Question. Pay attention. Read. Interact.

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cost-effective way to be there

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gently be in my face

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obvious choice

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Create new products and services that build engagement

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sell to people who didn't know they had a problem until they met you.

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it comes from the TV we're not watching.

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I don't watch TV and I don't go to meetings. You'd be amazed at the difference it makes.

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we're going to see a rapid acceleration in the quality and meaning of things we manage to create with our new-found time.

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Markets love icons.

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for a bigger idea

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to a good

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solution

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Is it possible to be more of a

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Definitely

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an icon

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it's there because it's working

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purpose

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information

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function

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be the next Marilyn

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as far as the lay public is concerned, we don't really need one, thanks very much.

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success keeps going to people who build new icons, not to those that seek to replace the most successful existing ones.

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Promotions work when they're seen as generous or unique or tied into our needs and dreams. They also work as brand builders when they're so ubiquitous we associate the brand with the event itself.

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I want to write a novel. What word processor do you recommend?

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Really

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If you want to do something worth doing, you'll need two things: passion and architecture. The tools will take care of themselves.

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But nothing great gets built just because you have the right tools.

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make an assertion about tools early in the process

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on to a solid draft of the good stuff

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Then, go design something, imagine it, spec it, flesh it out and fall in love with it.

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The natural short-term solution is bait and switch. Advertise the lowest price you can imagine and then require add on fees so you can actually make a profit.

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  • You have to be very careful to apply them equally, because people hate being treated worse than everyone else.
  • You have to be prepared for anger, resentment and brand disintegration.

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    When there is both pain and pleasure associated with your service, work extremely hard to separate them by time and geography.

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    By the time you get to the rides, you're over it. The pain isn't associated with the fun part.

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    For a very long time, one of the top 100 searches into the search box at Yahoo was: "Yahoo"

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    many of us also invented the word "blurb" to describe that ego-satisfying quote on the back of a book from another author, telling the world how great the book is. The idea of Faceblurb is that you can use Facebook to blurb your favorite books or sites or whatever, and then spread those positive vibes to your friends, who will return the favor.

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    video. Showing is far more effective than telling.

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    it's about finding a tiny niche and creating enough innovation that the word spreads among the community.

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    Most people, most of the time, steadfastly refuse to pay attention.

    The tragic mistake of demographics and media planning is that they overlook the single most important issue: is the person you're talking to ready to listen?

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    Here's the essential truth:

    This is the first mass marketing medium ever that isn't supported by ads.

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    TV station

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    exists to make you (the marketer) happy.

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    But the Net is different.

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    It wasn't invented by business people, and it doesn't exist to help your company make money.

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    could be used that way, but it doesn't owe you anything.

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    You don't get a vote on whether Google succeeds

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    The question to ask is, "how are people (the people I need to reach, interact with and tell stories to) going to use this new power and how can I help them achieve their goals?"

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    Rickie Lee Jones knows full well how to record a top 40 record.

    Except she doesn't. She chooses not to. She chooses to make a record she loves, instead.

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    Some politicians know all the tricks

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    And yet, the best politicians don't use the tricks every time.

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    One difference between creating something you believe in and creating something that's popular is that popularity seekers follow established steps. Do this, do that, do the other thing...

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    The problem with this, that and the other thing is that you end up with a career filled with it. Instead of creating long-lasting art, ideas that matter and things that spread organically, you end up with a bunch of calculated mini-hits.

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    To blast open rules, not to follow them.

    Write what you believe, not what sells.

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    When you launch a new product or service, you have a choice.

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    bestseller list

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    where ego meets profit. A home run. Pixar lives in box 1

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    The very nature of the top of the list is that you're reaching not just the frequent purchasers and the passionate, but those that only show up for the hits.

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    This is the profitable, successful niche product.

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    The reason you can make money in the niche pocket is that it costs far less to compete here.

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    less competition

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    less fierce

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    cheaper and easier to reach your target

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    they're choosing to pay attention.

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    The third pocket is to own the long tail, to make a small royalty on a huge range of products.

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    The Dip really kicks in when you're comparing the first pocket to the second.

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    you need to invest a great deal of time and money.

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    made it through the Dip, easily overwhelmed competition for that niche, easily become the best in that world.

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    The most common misconception about Long Tail thinking is that if you don't succeed at pocket 1, don't worry, because the tail will take care of your product and you'll just end up in #2. That's not true.

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    In order to become a mass market star you make choices about features and pricing and quality

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    Pick the biggest market you can successfully dominate, the biggest slice where you can get through the Dip and be seen as the best in that world.

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    Metcalfe's Law

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    The more people who connect to a network, the more it's worth

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    A lot of people don't seem to understand a key implication of the long tail: Given the choice, it's better to make a hit.

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    No brainer.

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    The problem, of course, is that you don't have a choice. You can give the hit a shot, but it's awfully crowded at that end of the curve.

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    nothing to do with this false choice

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    Collecting many many products among the tail permits you to amalgamate a market that may be just as big or bigger than the short head. But you need a lot of them.

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    Within the long tail, there are micro long tails.

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    entirely new micro-markets to emerge

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    fractal curve of new markets living within markets.

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    The long tail is so clearly a force that the real work is in refining the definitions and expectations of those that are affected by it.

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    be sure to give people a way to reply! I

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    aren't the replies exactly what you need to see?

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    there's an expectation that all interactions are two-way.

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    email to your permission list

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    personal and relevant

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    Set up a "reply to" that's a different address

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    give them an email they can write to that will be read by a real person.

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    the replyto will automatically send the note to the right person.

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    I think it's a fascinating place to start the analysis.

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    I just want good service.

    If your small company can't deliver a better experience (in areas people care about) than a big one, why on Earth should someone do business with you?

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    for some of your customers, you have to be monstrously, demonstrably, better

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    The web is a great equalizer

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    The passionate minority is happy to embrace the small company. As long as they focus and don't whine about it.

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    Scarcity creates fashion.

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    others can't have

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    others want.

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    Lines create demand.

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    Scarcity also creates word of mouth

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    And finally, scarcity drives your product to the true believers,

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    they've self-selected as the sort of person likely to talk about it.

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    The danger is

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    You can spread negative word of mouth.

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    You reward the tribe and you build the tribe at the same time.

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    Waiting in line is a very old-school way of dealing with scarcity.

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    Principle 1: Use the internet to form a queue. If you have a scarce product, you almost certainly know it's scarce in advance.

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    If you sell out before ship date, that's great, because next time people will be even quicker to order when they hear about what you've got.

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    A hot band that regularly sells out on the road, for example, could put a VIP serial number inside every CD or t-shirt they sell.

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    Principle 2: Give the early adopters a reward.

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    Principle 3: Treat different customers differently.

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    Why not offer VIP status

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    I can't think of anything more fair than treating the people who treat you well, better.

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    Principle 4: When things happen in real time, you're way more likely to screw up.

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    do your rollout in small sections

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    Principle 5: Give your early adopters a forum to celebrate.

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    Even colleges do it. They pretend they've got a meritocracy, but in practice, it's a high-pressure lottery with enormous financial and stress overhead involved.

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    with more respect, to communicate the situation more clearly and to architect the environment so that people are grateful, not stressed out.

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    scarcity (intentional or not) is a tool

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    Tell a story and move on. If you can't be both vivid and truthful, it doesn't belong in your presentation.

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    three simple principles.

    1. One Story
    2. No Bar Charts
    3. Motion

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    The only reason (did I mention only) to use a chart in a presentation is to make a point. If you want to prove some deep insight or give people textured data to draw their own conclusions, DON'T put it in a presentation. Put it in a handout. Give them a URL with a spreadsheet at the other end.

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    There is no room for nuance here. You don't have nuance in the other parts of your presentation, and it doesn't belong here.

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    don't use a graph

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    you'll get confusion.

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    Bar charts are dramatically overrated, primarily because they're the first choice in many graphing programs.

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    The correct use of a bar chart is to show how several items change over a period of time. This, of course, demands nuance.

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    You should animate your charts

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    It's simple: create two slides. The first one shows where the data used to be, the second one, on the same axes, shows where it is or where it's going. Motion.

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    press the advance button. Boom.

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