Seth Godin

Seth Godin in a marketing extraordinaire, the author of 15 books- most of them worldwide bestsellers, a spreader of ideas, a disturbance in long-held traditions, a rules changer, and an observer. Yesterday he held an even in TriBeCa, which I was lucky to attend.  These are my notes.

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MARKETING:

There is a shift in the economy from symbols to identity.

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Marketers think they have to get the word out.

Marketing has changed from companies marketing to consumer, to consumers marketing to each other through the stories they tell one another.

Technology is changing the industrial revolution life and companies are succeeding because of connections to customers.

The internet was not invented for advertisers.

The industrial revolution mindset is: If you give everything they will ask for a little more.

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So many companies have convoluted statements about their mission.

You can’t come up with a better story and not change the product.

The crazy mad scientist story is a meme that has resonated throughout decades.

The internet is biggest meme machine.

Ask yourself: What story am I prepared to live vs. How cheap can I make this product.

People can’t resist watching someone dance in the edge of danger. You must be that person. Where is the edge you can dance on? Are you willing to get arrested for what you believe in, like Philippe Petit?

Don’t spam people with what you think is so important. The world view of spam is to get shut down.

Everyone wants more real connections.

The future is going to be about bringing together a group of people and a connection they desire, so customers will buy your product to be a part of the group and interact with the group. Clients are lonely, invite them to connect to others. Focus on how to bring tribes together. Be the connector of these groups of people.

What do your customers have in common?

Change often makes people feel incompetent.

What makes a movement is when you start talking about things.

Give a story that others choose to spread. You need to figure out how to put ideas into the world that spread.

Attention is the precious commodity of the future.

The enemy is obscurity.

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Micro targeting works! People want to buy the familiar.

Become famous to a group of people not to everybody. You want to build a small group that you can speak loud and clear to and become a celebrity to them, rather than a big group that you whisper to.

In the last few years the statistical bell curve has been changing. Normal (the short head) is going away and weird (the long tail) is taking over. Long tail is the obscure products. You don’t need the short head now.

This is the moment when free is still getting attention- free e books, free downloads, etc. In the future free won’t be such an attention getter.

We want to buy new connections. We don’t just want to buy new products, we want to buy the connection it gives us.

Challenge of changing world views is very difficult. Find customers who have the world view that’s most like yours. Creating an experience (images, videos) that changes someone’s world view, that actually stimulates chemical change in the brain is more effective than a rational explanation of why they should change their world view.

If you want control you need a weak tribe. When you build a movement you need to welcome lack of control.

The real world is public media (billboards, commercials), the internet can be private. You can send different messages to different groups.

People at the bottom of the pyramid have risk oriented world view.

The brick and mortar store of the future is offering noteworthy stuff that goes along with products they sell. Circuit city went out of business because it was a showroom for Amazon. They didn’t offer anything noteworthy.

Authority and responsibility: Are you willing to take responsibility without authority? And then give credit away to your boss? They will want more of you. When they want more of you, you have power because you can refuse. This is one way to move up the latter.

Direct marketing will be important for the future.

World view equals personal biases.

PICKING YOURSELF:

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Why are you worth picking? Give an honest answer!

You need your own- it’s not about waiting for someone to pick you- it’s about picking yourself.

Call your own bluff!!

No one can promise you it’s going to work.

We have a choice of everything right now. We ALSO have an inner sense of discomfort.

What’s your list of what’s holding you back?

Growth opportunity comes from your decision of going to the edge and dancing with the thing you are afraid to dance with. This is the next big thing. This is our revolution. Not the tactic of how you use tools.

The lizard brain – the louder it tells you not to do something the more you should do it.

When you get in the habit it’s easy to do.

World view in a big company: How can I make my boss happy? How can I keep out of trouble? and How can I  keep me safe?

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Most people don’t care about your story- start by figuring out who is going to love your story.

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Constantly objecting means you are stalling. At some point the objections get silly. The sillier they get the closer you are coming to the truth of the objections. The root cause. That’s when you ask the obligated question: Why are you really stalling? Call your own bluff by asking the obliged question. The internet calls many of out bluffs.

A wondering generality- what you don’t want to be.

How many people would complain if your work went away tomorrow?

How do you make yourself indispensable to others?

Executing ideas-  in the act of writing an idea down the stakes change.

You don’t get to insist on doing your craft the way you used to. You can try but it won’t work

You want to make people want to buy your show.

We spend most of the day procrastinating and worrying- if you can eliminate both and TV you can achieve a lot.

Running around the forest and chopping at different trees doesn’t work- find one tree, one section of the forest and work on that.

Most common mistake- everyone thinks their opinion matters.

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Learning to push the rules, break them, and survive is the skill of the future.