This is Marketing

This is Marketing by Seth Godin brings together the lessons that he has been teaching in his course ‘The Marketing Seminar’. He stresses that you need to see the customer, to understand him or her, and to intelligently serve them better.

There are no lessons about which program to use, how to do analytics or anything like that. The lessons revolve around understanding who you are serving, why, and what. I think it can be summarised as on the back of the book “People like us do things like this.” Seth has a deep understanding of human psychology and this book is a perfect example of how he uses this to make marketing better.

Here are the chapters and some relevant notes:

Not mass, not spam, not shameful …

Start with a good product that adds value, rather than trying first to reach millions of undifferentiated people. Penguin Magic is the example in my notes: its videos are informative and shared free of charge.

The marketer learns to see

The marketer needs empathy for customers: see the world through their eyes and work on the problems they face.

Marketing changes people through stories, connections, and experience

“People don’t want what you make, they want what it will do for them”. The notes call for being market-driven rather than marketing-driven, while recognising that people often, perhaps almost always, make choices that are not rational.

The smallest viable market

Find a specific market and focus boldly on the few people you can serve best: “… walk away from the ocean and look for a large swimming pool”. The book offers a way to state that choice: My product is for people who believe… I will focus on people who want… I promise that engaging with what I make will help you get…

In search of “better”

Each group of customers defines “better” for itself. The XY exercise is a way to see how your offer is “better” than the competition for that group.

Beyond commodities

Products in many markets become interchangeable commodities. A story and a vision can make an offering more than its physical product and help prevent that.

The canvas of dreams and desires

We do not need most of the things we buy. That makes me ask which dream or desire a product is meant to help with.

More of the who: seeking the smallest viable market

Stick with the small market you have chosen. Those people can remain fans for a long time; the example in my notes is the Grateful Dead.

People like us do things like this

Find out what your tribe does and which norms guide it. Then ask how your product or service could become part of that group’s narrative.

Trust and tension create forward motion

Show people something worth buying, while creating a playful tension between their present situation and what they want. The course describes that tension this way: “Marketers sometimes call themselves architects of desire. An old-school ad was supposed to paint a picture of something you wanted — that in fact, until you got that thing, you were unhappy. Hence, tension. The tension of “I want it” combined with the knowledge of “I don’t have it yet.”” (from the course)

Status, dominance, and affiliation

Where are customers on the status ladder, and where are they moving? The point of those questions is to understand how the product fits into that movement.

A better business plan

The business-plan exercise has five parts: Truth, Assertions, Alternatives, People, Money (see exercise).

Semiotics, symbols, and vernacular

Symbols can represent rich ideas; the Nike swoosh is the example in my notes. They are not everything, though, and a bad symbol can be changed later.

Treat different people differently

Differentiate between customers and focus on those with the most value. That can sound difficult or wrong, but I think it is good and necessary in this context.

Reaching the right people

In advertising and online search, the goal is to be the person or offering people look for specifically, rather than to chase generic search words or ads. The example in my notes is someone seeking Seth instead of a generic blog.

Price is a story

Price sends a strong signal about an offering. A higher price can also suggest better quality, so use that signal wisely.

Permission and remarkability in a virtuous cycle

Make something worth talking about and worth opting in to hear about, something people would miss if it disappeared.

Trust is as scarce as attention

Connections are multiplying, but trust feels scarcer. Becoming trusted is therefore valuable.

The funnel

“Visualise a funnel… at the top is attention… at the bottom committed loyal customers come out”. The larger you become, the leakier that funnel gets. This matters when buying ads and makes me think of this Stratechery article: “If you can’t see the funnel, don’t buy the ads”.

The notes also say “We like what everyone [like us] is doing” and “The bridge across the Chasm (see here) lies in network effects”. Early adopters can tell others about a product, helping it spread to new groups that want something already tested. The practical suggestion is to cross that chasm in a local market or pond first, whether a school, region or country.

Organising and leading a tribe

Tell a story about the individual (me), the group (us), and the present moment: the change or movement happening now.