Seth Godin's Blog, page 305

Represent

The great brands of our time are not about what they are. They are about what they represent.

Apple, Sarah Palin, Harley Davidson, Tom's Shoes... In each case, the reality of the product means far less than what the brand represents.

The facts of iPod battery life, knowledge of world affairs, gas mileage and foot comfort are almost irrelevant. What matters is the Jungian rush these brands connote, their ability to allow us to identify ourselves and fellow tribe members, the sense of belonging a...

Learning from bad graphs and weak analysis

Yesterday's Times features a blog post about the Kindle. There's a lot wrong with the post (which hopefully has been corrected by the time you read this) and I thought I'd point out two useful lessons. Nick Bilton, the author of the post, also did the graphs, and as a former newspaper art director, he has no one else to blame for the way the graphs appear or are interpreted.

As you can see from the graph to the right, he's trying to make the case that lots and lots of Kindle owners are...

We were waiting for you

If the tooth fairy didn't exist, we'd probably have to invent her. Perfect fable for that moment. What would you say to your kid when he lost a tooth if there wasn't a tooth fairy legend?

Kwanzaa is only 43 years old, but it feels as if it's been around forever. The idea of the designated driver is new too, but it so perfectly fit a moment in our culture, it was adopted almost instantly. We also are delighted that there was Guy Lombardo and then Dick Clark, that someone coined a way to say...

The difference between hiring and recruiting

Bob wonders if there's a difference. I'm pretty sure there is.

Hiring is what you do when you let the world know that you're accepting applications from people looking for a job.

Recruiting is the act of finding the very best person for a job and persuading them to stop doing what they're doing and come join you.

Hiring is easy and fast and is basically a retail operation.

Recruiting is artful and slow and is essentially a direct marketing effort.

Recruiting raises the bar because it demands you h...

First, organize 1,000

Kevin Kelly really changed our thinking with his post about 1,000 true fans.

But what if you're not an artist or a musician? Is there a business case for this?

I think the ability to find and organize 1,000 people is a breakthrough opportunity. One thousand people coordinating their actions is enough to change your world (and make a living.)

1,000 people each spending $1,000 on a special interest cruise equals a million dollars.

1,000 people willing to spend $250 to attend a day-long seminar...

It's no wonder they don't trust us

I just set up a friend's PC. I haven't done that in a while.

Wow.

Apparently, a computer is now not a computer, it's an opportunity to upsell you.

First, the setup insisted (for my own safety) that I sign up for an eternal subscription to Norton. Then it defaulted (opt out) to sending me promotional emails. Then there were the dozens (at least it felt like dozens) of buttons and searches I had to endure to switch the search box from Bing to Google. And the icons on the desktop that had been...

Fear of bad ideas

A few people are afraid of good ideas, ideas that make a difference or contribute in some way. Good ideas bring change, that's frightening.

But many people are petrified of bad ideas. Ideas that make us look stupid or waste time or money or create some sort of backlash.

The problem is that you can't have good ideas unless you're willing to generate a lot of bad ones.

Painters, musicians, entrepreneurs, writers, chiropractors, accountants--we all fail far more than we succeed. We fail at closing ...

In search of customer intimacy

Many brands want deep and long-lasting relationships with their customers.

Social media makes these interactions even more likely, because it encourages customers to speak up and to connect.

The fallacy is believing that whining equals intimacy. It doesn't. Whining and complaining is easy and natural, but it's not a foundation for a long term relationship.

Instead, the goal should be to get your customers to share their dreams, not their peeves.

You don't have the power

A friend is building a skating rink. Unfortunately, he started with uneven ground and the water keeps ending up on one side of the rink. Water's like that, and you need a lot of time and power and money if you want to change it. One person, working as hard as he can, has little chance of persuading water to change.

Consider this quote from a high-ranking book publisher who should know better, "We must do everything in our power to uphold the value of our content against the downward pressures ...

Think like me, agree with me

When you're trying to sell your idea, it's natural to assume that the people you're selling to think the way you do. If you can only show them the facts and stories that led you to believe what you believe, then of course they'll end up where you are... believing.

The problem, of course, is that people don't always think like you.

Go watch some videos of people of different political ideologies talking about why they support a candidate other than your candidate. These people are stupid! They c...