Seth Godin's Blog, page 46

The pre-mortem

If you want us to take your new proposal seriously, consider including a pre mortem.

Include a detailed analysis of why your project might fail.

Specific weak spots, individuals who need to come on board, assumptions that might not be true...

If you've got a track record of successfully predicting specific points of failure before they happen, we're a lot more likely to trust your judgment next time.

            

Failsafe tip

The last thing to add to an important email is the email address.

Write the thing, save it as a draft, and, an hour later, put the email address in and then hit send.

It's not clear that you should send an important text, but if you're going to, write it in a notes app, then copy, paste and send.

Send it when you're ready, not before.

There's no 'recall' button.

            

How are you organized?

Any organization of more than two people has a structure, intentional or not.

It might be a hub and spoke,

a ladder,

a pyramid,

a lattice,

a hive,

a circle...

Each has an advantage. But the structure of your organization, your systems, your communication--when you work against it, nothing much happens.

            

Media out of balance

Successful media (let's define 'successful' as media that can make a difference, make a connection and possibly make a living) has four elements:

Attention

Enrollment

Trust and

Permission

Too often, particularly online, people just worry about the first one.

It's a race to go viral, to go low, to make a bunch of noise. The quick hit, the shortcut, the inflammation.

But attention is insufficient.

Enrollment means that your audience wants to go where you're going.

Trust earns you the benefit of the doubt.

And permission means you don't have to begin from scratch every time. You've earned some attention. The privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages over time.

            

Selling acorns at the lumberyard

Without a doubt, your little idea is going to grow. We're rooting for your acorn to turn into an oak tree.

But bringing that acorn to the lumberyard, hoping to make a sale... you're wasting your time and their time too.

Most people are waiting for a proven, tested and popular solution.

Some people want to invest in acorns (but they don't go to lumberyards looking for them).

            

GDPR and the marketer's dilemma

On the twentieth anniversary of Permission Marketing, the EU has decided to write the basic principles of that book into law.

There are two ways to look at this.

Lawyers and yield-maximizers can find ways to use fine print and digital maneuvers to get the same sort of low-grade tolerance and low-impact marketing they've always gotten. Industrialise interactions!  The marketing machine at their organization has an insatiable appetite for attention, for data and for clicks, and they will skirt the edges to get more than their fair share.




Realize that the GDPR is a net positive for people with something to say, something to sell or something to change. Because the noise will go down and trust will go up. Embrace this insight and you can avoid the hit and run low-yield spam that marketers have backed themselves into.

Talk to people who want to be talked to.

Market to people who want to be marketed to.

Because anticipated, personal and relevant messages will always outperform spam.

And spam is in the eye of the recipient. 

In two simple words: Ask First.

There's a parallel here in environmental regulation. A hundred years ago, when governments first started paying attention to the effluent and poisons that corporations were dumping on their communities, some companies decided to stay where they were, to keep lobbying for 'relief' and to spend a lot of time and money fighting the change. Others decided to race to the top, intentionally becoming more efficient. It turns out that being clean pays for itself. The efficient path has proven, again and again, to be the smart one.

The EU is responding to consumers who feel ripped off. They're tired of having their data stripmined and their attention stolen. (Here's an episode of my podcast I did on this issue).

Marketers don't have to race to the bottom. It's better at the top.

            

Two bits of fame

Ogilvy & Mather was on line 1. (I actually only have one line, but it sounds cool to imagine that they could be on line 1).

The news was unexpected. They were calling on behalf of the AMA and inviting me to be inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. I actually thought it would be more likely that I'd be invited to join the Roller Derby Hall of Fame.

The ceremony is on May 17th in New York. 

Also!

The Dip was on Billions on Showtime yesterday (note: Cable-TV language included):

            

How cold is the turkey?

If your customers had to stop using your product or service tomorrow, how much would they miss it?

How easy are you to replace?

How deep are the habits, how essential are the interactions?

Being missed when you're gone is a worthy objective.

            

A clean sheet of paper

The last few clues on the crossword are the easiest to decode... there aren't as many choices.

Over time, we let the grid at work get filled up, and spend our work day filling in the little tiny corners. We address the undone tasks or find the small improvements that are next on the list.

Sometimes, this tiny incrementalism leads to a big idea. But often, it's the freedom (and fear) of a clean sheet that opens the door to a different path forward.

Of course, the paper is never fully blank. We have countless assumptions about what our assets are, what's achievable and where we're comfortable. These assumptions could be suspended if we cared enough.

The best time to work with a clean sheet is long before you're confronted with one.

            

The moment of maximum leverage

It's the moment before it tips, that split second where a little effort can make a big difference.

We wait for this. For the day when participating will truly pay off, for the mechanical advantage that gives us the most impact for our effort.

It's a myth.

Maximum leverage is the result of commitment, of daily persistence, of gradual and insane and apparently useless effort over time.

When it works, it merely looks like we had good timing.