EP.28: MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN: SETH GODIN ON MODERN MARKETING

It seems like a waste of time to introduce Seth Godin. Just search his name, "Seth" to Google is Seth Godin. He's founded several companies including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. He is the author of 18 best-selling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. They include perennial classics like Permission Marketing, written in 1999 that elucidated the [then] new idea of delivering relevant, personalized messages that people agreed to receive. Practiced everywhere now but in 1999 it was controversial, and it birthed the  dollar permission-based email marketing industry. 

The book most of you probably know him by is Purple Cow, his thesis about attention being the game. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people.

In 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame.

His new book, This Is Marketing, which is more or less the focus of this episode is the first, in his words, "real book from a real publisher about marketing" that he's done in more than seven years.

You don't have to be in business or into marketing to benefit from this episode. It's about how to make change happen or as Seth puts it, to cause a change you'd like to see in the world.

I think work and business dilemmas usually focus on the tactical, what's step #1 step #2 which is also true personally and in relationships. How can I get Jim or Jane to do x? What's the technique?

Seth proposes the answer to many questions we have about work - and I'll add life in general - is really the answer to "who can you help"?

Answer all the who, what, where, why questions that way; who can I help, what can I help with, where can I help - and you win, no matter what happens with the business, the campaign, the interview.

Seth exceeded my high expectations. I could write 50 things I learned from our chat, but I will spare you. So here are just a few highlights of what we talk about. 

• How to make a change 
• How to deal with resistance and fear
• What marketing has to do with culture
• What a brand really is
• Why he doesn't use Facebook and how to look at Social Media in regards to marketing  
• Where optimization lives 
• The long tail
• The biggest idea in his book 

It's well worth your time at approximately 38 minutes.

Enjoy!