A November spent exploring the worldview of Seth Godin, the most famous marketer on the planet
I read two books by Seth Godin, who invented email-based direct marketing all the way back in '89, served as a vice president at Yahoo, and has had a huge influence on the marketing ecosystem with Purple Cow and more.
The Icarus Deception centered less on marketing and more on the concepts of "art" and the "artist," while This Is Marketing offered a glimpse of Seth Godin's insights on marketing, past and future.
Technicians and artists: The Icarus Deception
My goal has been to become a marketing technician.
Rather than accidental results or successes, I wanted to build reproducible marketing skills through a process of forming and testing hypotheses, developing sharp insight and technique along the way.
Maybe that's why, before reading this book, I'd been deliberately keeping art separate from marketing in my mind.
After encountering the message of The Icarus Deception, that we all need to become "artists," my thinking shifted a little.
I realized that the skills I'm building are certainly closer to "technique," but the story of the process that produces them is undeniably "art," something that can't be reproduced.
You could sum it up as sharp
The part of The Icarus Deception I liked most was about "the qualities an artist should have."
How to be a good artist
1. Write consistently
2. Create your own work
3. Make a habit of appreciating and praising other people's work
4. Don't worry about what people think or your reputation
5. Fly higher
The sun is higher than you'd think, so I've decided to keep taking the leap without fear 🔥
You see as much as you know: This Is Marketing
If I had to pick the best books I read this year, This Is Marketing would definitely make the list. The reason is that it gave me a chance to review so many of the concepts I learned this year.
Through concepts like the smallest viable audience, creating and releasing tension, the funnel, and how to raise your status, I was able to organize the marketing concepts and directions I already knew.
That's probably why I thought I'd like to read this book again in about two years.
As the saying goes, "you see as much as you know," and by then I think I'll be able to interpret the book from a whole new perspective!
Seth Godin's five steps to successful marketing
1. Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling and a contribution worth talking about
2. Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about
3. Tell a story that matches the dreams of the smallest viable market, one they can find meaning in and interpret
4. Spread the word
5. Show up, regularly, consistently, and generously, for a long time, to organize and lead and build confidence in the change you seek to make
*Earn permission to follow up and engagement to participate
Next step: Read more of Seth Godin's other work
My birthday is in December, so I'm expecting chances to receive Seth Godin bestsellers and new releases like Purple Cow*, Linchpin, and *The Song of Significance as gifts.
I've never really dug deep into a single author before, but Seth Godin is clearly a marketer who's famous for a reason 👍
A song that goes with these books
<'Tasogare ni Bakabanashi o Shita Ano Hi o Omoidasu Toki o' (Remembering the Day We Talked Nonsense at Dusk) - Aimyon>"People with room to spare are cool.
But a life without room to spare burns 🔥"
"So give me more stimulation, more chaos, more life ✨"
