6 Words of Wisdom from Seth Godin for Better Marketing

“Less is more.” That’s what Hemingway taught us.A6-word story often attributed to him would tell you how deeply this shines through his writings.

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

In marketing, Seth Godin takes “Less is more” to a whole new level. Seth Godin says it in lesser words, with more clarity than any other marketer would say in articles 10 times longer.

But this post isn’t about the conciseness of his or Papa Hem’s writing. It’s about the complex marketing ideas Seth has been able to express so clearly. Let’s look at a few excerpts from his blogs that would compel you to do things differently than you have been doing so far.

1. Be a problem solver, not a sales person
“It's a blend of two things. "I'd really like to help you," and, "If this isn't for you, that's okay, there are others it might be a better match for."
Generosity, not arrogance.Problem-solving, not desperation.Helpfulness, not selfishness.”

The definition of sales has shifted. It’s not about the volume of sales that you make, but about the quality of it. Your product should exactly address the problem of the customer; otherwise eventually that customer would slip.

Seth has often said that he doesn’t want new readers for his writing; he just wants to make his writing relevant for his readers. That’s how he is seemingly effortlessly able to write post after post and book after book for his true readers.

The best quality in your salesperson would be the ability to identify the product-customer fit, and then make the sale.Persuasiveness is not the only quality good enough now.

2. Value simple & significantbefore complex
“I intentionally abandoned the hard stuff early on because not only do I think it's useless, I think it's a distraction.”

Fix the seemingly simple things first. Maybe you haven’t identified who you want to sell to yet. Identify that.

You might have an existing system that needs simple fixes to be functional again. Maybe you need to move on from a dated system to a new one for it to work. Try to find the simple loopholes and fix them, before you start implementing all the new things that media is talking about.

If you keep on setting up new methods of lead generation, instead of first fixing how your existing and future leads would be organized, you would eventually just add to the disorganization.

3. Permission Marketing, not Interruption Marketing
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

Never cross the lines you were not given permission to cross. Use opt-ins.

To get a willing opt-in, offer them things of value. Allow them to download e-books, attend webinars etc. and then you would have the right context to start a conversation.

And the conversation that you start has to be really relevant to your recipients. Know what it is that they want, and serve just that.

Even if you are trying to make a cold-reach attempt, tell the recipients why you are in their inbox. Research them before you reach out, and try solving their problemswhen you are allowed in. That’s how you would catch their attention.

4. Listen to your customers, instead of popular opinions
“The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that's how long it's going to take, guys.”

Seemingly overnight successes also need years of hard-work in shadows. In Seth’s own words, about the supposed overnight success of his most recent book – “I am an overnight success with this book, and it only took me 20 years to do that.” (Source: SocialMediaExaminer)

Instead of listening to everyone who has something to say (and everyone has something to say), try listening to people who would actually pay for your product - your customers.Eventually, you would be able to build a great value fit for them.

5. Be a part of a Community, instead of Running Solo
“Human beings can't help it: we need to belong. One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe, to contribute to (and take from) a group of like-minded people.”

Invest in gaining a community of loyal subscribers, who are interested in what you have to say. After all, people who would go ahead and buy what you sell are the ones who like what you have to offer in the first place.

These community members would also become the distributors of your ideas. They can be anywhere – your newsletter subscribers, your social followers and so on.

6. Measure your efforts, instead of doing things blindfolded
“What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get the results? If you can afford it, try it. If you measure it, it will improve.”

Measure all your marketing efforts, if you want to arrive at any concrete result. For all the dollars you invested in those adword campaigns, don’t be satisfied by the numbers Google serves you. Right measurements don’t come that easy.

Dig deeper. Yes, you want to know how much traction you received; but more than that you want to know how much of that traffic, how many of those leads actually translated into customers. Pretty soon, you would find out that the number is lower than you expected. This is the first step in changing the way you run your campaigns.

So, these words of wisdom from Seth Godin’s posts can help you mend your ways in marketing. To summarize, it all boils down to these 6 things:

a) Identify your exact audience, and sell to them, instead of force feeding your offer to everyone.
b) Fix the simple things first.
c) Take permission for your marketing, and respect that permission by being relevant.
d) Listen to your customers before anyone else.
e) Build a community of like-minded individuals.
f) Measure everything you do.
For more marketing & life advice from Seth, you should check out his blog.

BY:
NILESH PATEL
Founder And CEO
LeadSquared

(Image credit: Indiatimes)