Seth Godin's Blog, page 78

A shared and useful illusion

Ask a frog or a housefly or a dog to describe the world around us and they'll give you the wrong answer. The frog will talk about moving objects, the housefly will describe things repeated hundreds of times and the dog only sees in black and white.

Of course, our vision of the world is just as flawed, just as fake. We can't see the smells, as the dog does, nor can we visualize things on the edges of the spectrum. We make up a reality based on our particular way of seeing the world.

But, here's the good part: That made-up reality is shared by many people around us, and it's useful. We can use it to make predictions about what's next, we can avoid bumping into people, we can appreciate a sunset.

If the illusion is working for you, stick with it.

Where we run into trouble is when the vision isn't shared, when we assume others can and must see what we're seeing, but they don't. And worse, when the vision isn't actually useful, when our narrative of the world around us isn't working, when it's merely a fantasy, not a tool.

If the way you see the world isn't helping you make the changes you seek to make, consider seeing the world differently.

            

Drip, drip, drip

Who do you subscribe to?

And who subscribes to you?

Those simple questions determine what you know and what you learn. And they influence whether a business or a charity will succeed, and whether or not lives will be changed.

Newspapers are discovering that without subscribers, they can't do their work. Online voices that were seduced by the promise of a mass audience are coming back to the realization that the ability to deliver their message to people who want to get it is actually the core of their model.

Big hits are thrilling. Launch days, deadlines, the big win... That's easy to sign up for as a creator or marketer. But subscriptions are what work.

Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime... subscriptions. This blog wouldn't exist without the people who trust me enough to read it every day.

Consider the case of charities. If they raise money from consumers, they get almost their entire budget in the last month of the year, or related to some sort of external event. And most people who donate never do so again. Out of sight, out of mind.

Who do you subscribe to?

Who subscribes to you?

Seven years ago, I dedicated my annual birthday post to raising money for charity:water. 665 generous readers like you ended up contributing more than $39,000. Enough water to impact the lives of 3,000 people. On their behalf, thank you.

Five years after that, we did it again, but this time I encouraged my readers (people like you) to donate their birthdays to charity:water. 204 of you raised more than $50,000 and saved even more lives. And again, thank you.

This year, I'm hoping 1,000 people will subscribe to charity:water today. A monthly drip, the best possible pun, drip, drip, drip in a way that not only becomes a habit but gives the organization a chance to plan, because thirst doesn't have a season. Every month becomes your birthday, because you're giving a magical present, paying it forward. I just subscribed for $4,000 a month. If more than 500 of you subscribe at any amount (even $6), I'll double my monthly commitment.

Scott and his team made a film and built a site. You can skip the film if you're busy, but don't skip the box at the bottom of the page.

This is how we change the world.

Literally with a drip, drip, drip.

            

But what if you're doing it wrong?

Marketing doesn't have to suck.

It doesn't have to be a miserable experience for consumers, and it certainly doesn't have to be a distasteful, creepy or annoying task for the creator.

We don't have to market at people, pin them to the wall, target them, track them, stalk them, trick them, manipulate them and sell them things they don't want. 

Not if we care enough to do something better.

The other kind of marketing, the marketing that's consensual, useful and effective, is possible. This is marketing that we eagerly connect with, marketing that we'd miss if it were gone.

I call this modern marketing, and it's easier than ever to do this effectively.

The second edition of The Marketing Seminar launches today. It's a special summer school program, compressing the 100-day process into just 30 days.

The first session worked beautifully. Thousands of people were transformed by the combination of 50 videos and (more importantly) thousands and thousands of direct online discussions in our 24/7 discussion board. You learn by asking and you learn by teaching.

If you're ready to love what you do and have it work better than ever, I'm hoping you'll check out the Seminar. Scroll to the bottom of the page and if you click on the purple circle before July 12, you'll save $75 because you're reading this blog. Lessons start July 24, so today's a great day to get it sorted.

Here's a chance to join with others and do work we're proud of.

            

Caring is free

In the short run, of course, not caring can save you some money. 

Don't bother making the facilities quite so clean. Save time and hassle and let the display get a little messy. Don't worry so much about one particular customer, because you're busy and hiring more people takes time and money.

But in the long run, caring pays for itself.

Caring is expensive, but it also generates loyalty and word of mouth.

In the long run, an organization that puts in extra effort gets rewarded. 

Not to mention that caring makes us all more human. Worth it.

            

The rationality paradox

If you see yourself as an engineer, a scientist, or even a person of logic, then it's entirely possible that you work to make rational decisions, decisions that lead to the outcomes you seek.

The paradox is that you might also believe that you do this all the time, and that others do it too.

But a rational analysis shows that this is far from true. Almost every choice we make is subconscious. We're glitch-ridden, superstitious creatures of habit. We are swayed by social forces that are almost always greater than our attraction to symbolic logic would indicate. We prioritize the urgent and most of the decisions we make don't even feel like decisions. They're mostly habits combined with a deep desire to go along with the people we identify with.

Every time you assume that others will be swayed by your logical argument, you've most likely made a significant, irrational mistake. 

Your actions and your symbols and your tribe dwarf the words you use to make your argument.

            

Does it help?

Isn't this the essence of design thinking?

I have a great wool hat that I wear in the winter. Does it help?

Well, that depends on what it's for.

If it's designed to keep me warm, then yes, it helps.

How about that meeting you're going to, that website you're updating, that question you're about to ask?

What's it for?

Does it help?

If it doesn't help, or you don't know what it's for, perhaps it's time to revisit your choice.

 

[PS we're about to launch the summer session of the Marketing Seminar. We got great feedback on the last session, and you can sign up here for first dibs and more details on the next one.]

            

Simple approach to the things you check

The data, the dashboard, the comments, the statuses, the likes, the rankings:

Check them half as often and do twice as much with what you learn.

Then, after you've gotten good at that, repeat the math:

Check them half as often and do twice as much with what you learn.

            

The cost of independence

Freedom comes with choice and choice comes with responsibility.

Why do people willingly give up their freedom to a boss, a method or even a despot?

Why do successful entrepreneurs who start a new company take on investors even when they don't need the cash?

Why do so many choose to go into debt when they might be able to avoid it?

Sometimes, we willingly sacrifice our freedom because it creates an other, someone to blame. It gives us hard boundaries and eliminates potential choices. And mostly, it lets us off the hook, because someone else is driving the bus.

Trying to drive from the back of the bus might feel less risky, but it rarely leads to much agency, influence or control as to where the bus actually goes.

Careful what you do with the keys.

            

Whose business are you minding?

Industries have rules. Rules and benefits.

Hollywood requires agents, casting calls, big budgets and content aimed at a certain part of a certain market. If you follow enough of the rules, the thinking goes, you get a multi-million dollar budget and the red carpet.

Broadway requires a certain length, certain compromises, certain deals. This creates scalpers and hangers on and small audiences filling small theaters. And, if you follow just enough of the rules, you might end up with Hamilton. Perhaps one in 10,000 pull this off.

Publishing requires a fealty to the book and to the bookstore, alliances with the right cultural forces and a willingness to create scarcity. If you're persistent and very, very good, you can get picked by the New Yorker and you get picked by Little, Brown and you end up with The Tipping Point. Perhaps one in 100,000 pull this off.

Outsiders who want in, who want to make their mark in movies or investment banking or in politics often decide that minding the business of their industry is the way to reach their goals. After all, it's the insiders that win the awards and get the benefits that go to people who are by and for their industry.

But what if instead of focusing on the industry, you focused on the change you seek to make? On the audience you seek to serve. On doing your customers' business, not the industry's...

It's not in any of the manuals, but the door is wide open, the path is far wider and you can start today.

            

Just because you can doesn't mean you should

It might be a market you can enter, but that doesn't mean it will reward your time and effort.

It might be an all-you-can-eat situation, but there's a difference between all you can eat and all you care to eat.

You might be kindly invited to participate, to weigh in or to engage...

But that doesn't require you to change your priorities, to exchange the important for the urgent.