This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

by Seth Godin

People don’t want what you make They want what it will do for them. They want the way it will make them feel. And there aren’t that many feelings to choose from.

we let everyone down when we focus on the tactics, not the outcomes.

Who’s it for and what’s it for are the two questions that guide all of our decisions.

Humans are lonely, and they want to be seen and known.

marketing is all of it. What we make, how we make it, who we make it for. It is the effects and the side effects, the pricing and the profit, all at once.

When you’re marketing-driven, you’re focused on the latest Facebook data hacks, the design of your new logo, and

when you’re market-driven, you think a lot about the hopes and dreams of your customers and their friends. You listen to their frustrations and invest in changing the culture. Being market-driven lasts.

“When in doubt, assume that people will act according to their current irrational urges, ignoring information that runs counter to their beliefs, trading long-term for short-term benefits and

most of all, being influenced by the culture they identify with.”

Regardless of what the specifics are, if you’re a marketer, you’re in the business of making change happen.

It’s no wonder that you’re stuck—you’re seeking to do the impossible.

Perhaps it makes more sense to begin with a hurdle you can leap. Perhaps it makes sense to be very specific about the change you seek to make, and to make it happen. Then, based on that success, you can replicate the process on ever bigger challenges.

What promise are you making?

The promise isn’t the same as a guarantee.

“Roll Tide!” is a promise about dominance.

“Choosy mothers choose Jif,” is a promise about status and respect.

“I pledge allegiance . . .” is a promise about belonging. “The Earth needs a good lawyer” is a promise ...

Your promise is directly connected to the change you seek to make, and it’s addressed to the...

Can you pick them out of a crowd? What makes them different from everyone else and similar to each other?

“Who’s it for?”

Begin by choosing people based on what they dream of, believe, and want, not based on what they look like. In other words, use psychographics instead of demographics.

you can group them based on the stories they tell themselves.

worldviews. A worldview is the shortcut, the lens

each of us uses when we see the world. It’s our assumptions and biases and yes, stereotypes...

Everyone deserves to be treated as an individual, with dignity and respect for their choices.

we must begin with a worldview, and invite people who share that worldview to join us. “I made this” is a very different statement than, “What do you want?”

The relentless pursuit of mass will make you boring, because mass means average, it means the center of the curve, it requires you to offend no one and satisfy everyone.

Begin instead with the smallest viable market.

What’s the minimum number of people you would need to influence to mak...

Choose the people who want what you’re offering.

Choose the people most open to hearing your message. Choose the people who will tell the right other people . .

Choose the people you serve, choose your future.

The smallest viable market is the focus that, ironically and delightfully, leads to your growth.

Specific is a kind of bravery Specific means accountable. It worked or it didn’t. It matched or it didn’t. It spread or it didn’t. Are...

Organize your project, your life, and your organization around the minimum. What’s the smallest market you can survive on?

Find a position on the map where you, and you alone, are the perfect answer.

Overwhelm this group’s wants and dreams and desires with your care, your attention, and your

focus. Make change happen. Change that’s so profound, people can’t he...

Figure out the simplest useful version of your product, engage with the market, and then improve and repeat.

viable.

When we combine these ideas, we can think small and think quickly. Our agile approach to the market combined with a relentless focus on those we seek to serve means that we’re more likely to be of service.

The goal of the smallest viable audience is to find people who will understand you and will fall in love with where you hope to take them.

Perhaps instead of talking about prospects and customers, we could call them your “students” instead. Where are your students? What will they benefit from learning? Are they open to being taught? What will they tell others?

If you had a chance to teach us, what would we learn? If you had a chance to learn, what would you like to be taught?

There’s a dangerous prank that relies on thief-detector dye. This dye, sold as a powder, is quite bright and a tiny bit goes a long way.

Once the powder touches the moisture on your skin, it blooms into a bright purple and won’t easily wash off.

Drop a teaspoon of it into a swimming pool, and all the water in the pool will become permanently bright purple. But if you drop ...

When you seek to share your best work—your best story, your shot at change—it helps ...

It he...

it’s permanent. But even if it’s extraordinary, it’s not going to make a difference if you drop it in the ocean. That doesn’t mean you give up hope. It means you walk away fr...