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What Every Good Marketer Knows

Went Hot: May 13, 2008 - 8:47 am
Posted By: DoshDosh 419 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://sethgodin.typepad.com)
Category: Other Online Marketing

Three years ago, Seth Godin published this list, which was very much a riff, not a carefully planned manifesto. It has held up pretty well. Obviously, knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it.

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from tamar 418 days ago #

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I gotta say, this is a nice post from Seth.

I love his posts that are sweet-and-to-the-point, but this one was also pretty golden. :)

from bwelford 418 days ago #

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I sometimes take issue with the way Seth Godin comes across but I agreed absolutely with every line (and there are many of them) that he included here.

from JamesDuthie 418 days ago #

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Success through simplicity... Seth certainly has a way bringing everything back to the basics. Glad to see one of his posts here on Sphinn.

from dannysullivan 417 days ago #

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I thought it would be interesting to extract the points from the list that are directly applicable to why search is powerful. The very first point is right on target, plus here are the others ones

Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.

These also have some relation to search:

Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
Products that are remarkable get talked about.
You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
Good marketers measure.

And I'm sorry, but Seth disappoints me again as not really getting search in that he never mentions it once in any of these. Blogging gets a call out, at least twice. RSS does. But nothing about search other than this:

In the googleworld, the best in the world wins more often, and wins more.

Yes, quality is important in the search world, but how about points like:

People seek out solutions for immediate needs search. You're stupid if you're not listening to them.
Search can tell you what people want and what they are saying about you. Are you staying on top of the conversation through it?