Seth Godin's Blog, page 70

First aid matters

Without a doubt, it's long-term, consistent and persistent effort that makes real change happen. Systemic change is a process, not an event.

But as we watch Irma bear down on millions in Florida, it's worth remembering that first aid brings urgent help to people in need. I've just made a donation to the Red Cross... It scales, it's powerful and it's needed right now.

I'm thinking of the families that are going to be disrupted (or worse) this weekend and I'm grateful for every volunteer and first responder brave enough to face the danger. Thank you.

            

Common traps, worth avoiding

Don't be trapped into accepting shame from someone who is trying to keep you from doing something you have every right to do.

Ignore the mob that would like you to feel badly for not fitting in. Categories are rarely permanent, and most important work is done by people who don't easily fit in.

Realize that no one is more aware of your minor flaws than you are. No one else is noticing the little nick in your tooth or the fact that your shoelaces don't match.

Someone else's fear doesn't have to be your fear unless you want it to be.

Don't use time and money to paper over insecurity.

...When in doubt, do the generous thing. It usually works out the best.

            

Airbrushing

When they began airbrushing the models in fashion magazines fifty years ago, no one complained much. Everyone knew, we thought, that it was some sort of make believe.

But then they started airbrushing our food.

And then vacations.

And family photos.

And brands.

And jobs.

Spend enough time looking through the glass on your tablet and you'll come to believe that you're the only one with a less-than-perfect situation. With the right filter, the grass really is greener...

Which may very well cause you to amplify the differences, to magnify the distance between you and the airbrushed person with the online life. It's gotten to the point where people even airbrush their difficulties, making them ever more dramatic in their drama.

"Compared to what?" is not always a great question. It might be better to merely say, "this is pretty good."

            

Everybody is a marketer

But most of us don't like to admit it.

That's because selfish marketers are pretty scummy. They steal our attention, they lie to us, they use shame and guilt and the short-term zinger to get us to buy something we don't want and don't need.

That's not you, of course. You're trying to bring your idea to the world, grow your freelance practice or do a great job for the company you work for. You're trying to make change happen, to influence the culture and help people find something that they'll be glad they discovered.

What's the best way to do that?

What's the best way to persuade your boss, your co-workers or your investors to move forward? What's the most powerful story to tell to the outside world, to get a business to stock your product or a person to fall in love with your art?

Answering these questions is the reason we built The Marketing Seminar.

More than 3,000 people have enrolled in the first two sessions, and we're running it just one more time this year.

It's a unique way of learning, a hybrid of more than 50 video lectures from me combined with an ongoing discussion board. Over the course of the 100 day seminar, we ask each other more than 200 different questions, questions that will shape your thinking and give you an opening to find a better way to make a difference.

It's tempting to hide your voice, to keep your work quiet, to shy away from speaking up about the contribution you want to make. We've been so bruised by marketing, by all the noise and hassle that comes with it, that sometimes it's easier to just sit back. But modern marketing is different. Modern marketing is based on humility, empathy and effectiveness. We can show you how to do this, to find your voice, to discover the niche where you can thrive.

I'm delighted to announce that the new seminar begins September 12 (see all the details here). There are new videos every other day until mid-December, and you can watch them and respond at your own pace.

You've already decided to be a marketer, because you've already decided that you want your ideas to be heard. Now, the only question is: will you decide to be really good at it?

PS look for the purple circle at the bottom of the home page. We have a secret discount there, but it gets a little smaller every day, an advantage for people ready to leap.

            

Compulsory Education is an oxymoron (back-to-school rant)

Effective education is rarely done TO people. It's done with them.

I had my first professional teaching gig forty years ago this summer. Since then, I've taught at institutions like NYU and Tufts, at community colleges, from the stage, one on one and most of all, on the vanguard of digital media.

As our hemisphere goes back to school this week, I hope you'll spend a few minutes thinking about who school is for, what it's for, how it works and how it doesn't. We're wasting a huge amount of time and money, bankrupting our children, hindering progress and stultifying growth, all at the same time. Even worse, we're not even seeing all the things we're not learning, not engaging with, not creating, because we're so busy learning like it's 1904.

Here's my free book-length manifesto, Stop Stealing Dreams. It's been shared (in PDF and video form) more than 4,000,000 times. I hope you'll forward it to parents or learners or people you care about.

Consider the radical shifts being pursued by Acton, by Harlem Village Academy, by Big Picture Learning. Or experiences like Global Citizen Year. Before you go a quarter of a million dollars in debt, it's worth reading Hackiversity, a new book about re-examining what gets learned in college. 

I've written a popular Medium post, "Will This be on the Test?," in which I outline how the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar are pioneering changes in adult education. Digital learning isn't merely a version of in-person learning, (online).

It's an entirely different experience, one that can transform people faster and with more impact. The exchanges, the experience and the outputs are all dramatically different.

When you're in it, it might not feel like a revolution. But it is. One by choice. One that's urgent. One that's happening right now.

            

Irresistible is rarely easy or rational

There's often a line out the door.

It's not surprising. The ice cream is really good, the portions are enormous, and a waffle cone costs less than three Canadian dollars. And it's served with a smile, almost a grin.

It's irresistible.

Of course, once you finish the cone, you'll stroll around, hang out by the water and maybe start to make plans about where to spend a week on next year's vacation.

The Opinicon, a lovely little resort near Ottawa, could charge a lot more for an ice cream cone. A team of MBAs doing a market analysis and a P&L would probably pin the value at about $8. That's where the ROI would be at its peak.

But they're not in the business of selling ice cream cones. The ice cream cones are a symbol, a beacon, a chance to engage.

If you run everything through a spreadsheet, you might end up with a rational plan, but the rational plan isn't what creates energy or magic or memories.

Stew Leonard's was a small supermarket with a big footprint. They were profiled by Tom Peters and had the highest sales per square foot of any store of its kind. As they grew to a few more stores, a new generation took over, one that seems more intent on ROI and less focused on magic. As a result, profits went up. For a while. But now, year after year, it's a bit less crowded, a bit less energetic, a bit less interesting. So when new store options open nearby, they lose a few more customers, then a few more, and finally, people begin to wonder, "why do I even bother coming here?"

It might not be about being cheaper. It's tricky to define better. But without a doubt, the heart and soul of a thriving enterprise is the irrational pursuit of becoming irresistible.

            

Getting serious about remarkable

It's not sizzle or hype or a fad, not when you're serious about it.

Consider FCP Euro, for example. They sell high-performance auto parts. Things like brake pads, oil, oil filters, etc.

People always whine about the fact that they can't possibly make their boring stuff remarkable. That's silly.

FCP has the following policy: Everything is guaranteed for life. Everything. For as long as you own your car. Send it back, they replace it.

Even the oil.

Even the oil.

Think about that.

And yes, it works. Do the math and you'll see why.

If someone can make used motor oil remarkable, what can you do?

            

One step at a time

If you want to teach, to change minds or to cause action, a consistent curriculum is always better than a single event.

Drip by drip, with enrollment.

            

"Nothing matters more than results"

Except for:

Community, contribution and what our friends think

Trust

The perception of quality

How much we like doing business with you

Side effects

and self-esteem.

Also... doing work that matters, with people we care about.

It seems like almost everything important matters more than results.

            

Resilience and the high end

The high end is brittle, unstable and thus, expensive.

The car that wins a race, the wine that costs $300, the stereo that sounds like the real thing... The restaurant that serves perfect fruit, the artisan who uses rare tools and years of training...

If there was a reliable, easy, repeatable way to produce these outputs, we'd all do it and the high end would be normal.

What makes something pure enough, optimized enough and fast enough to defeat the other 99.9% is that it doesn't always work. It is far more sensitive to inputs. It's dangerous...

Maybe you don't need carbon fiber wheels. Maybe you merely need a reliable way to get from here to there at a reasonable price. 

The high end is magic, but magic isn't reliable. On purpose. That's what makes it magic.