Last week I attended the Seth Godin talk in London. Seth’s a respected leader in the field of marketing and all things web, and this was a rare opportunity to hear him speak. Staged in the grand setting of Church House behind Westminster Abbey this was a great event and I felt three points stood out for marketers which I’ve paraphrased below.
"Being remarkable" – It sounds obvious, ‘remarkable’ meaning being worthy of making a remark, but how many brands, experiences, products or services are truly remarkable. Many companies before entering into the social media space such as blogs, Twitter, forums or Facebook should take time to think about whether their companies products, services or the brand itself is worthy of customer remarks. Make what you market excellent and people will talk, otherwise the review and forum sections on your newly launched website will be empty
"Scarcity versus ubiquity" – Think about your industry, what has become commonplace, a commodity or ubiquitous; and what is rare, difficult to find, uncommon. Then think about how you market and how you charge for those products and services – a Blog is ubiquitous and common, so make that free – whereas a good speaking event is rare, so you can command a high fee. A good example of this in the entertainment marketplace is Live Nation who have understood that mp3 and file sharing has made recorded music ubiquitous and free, and have focused their business model on making money from what in their industry is rare, outstanding, uncommon and valuable – live music performances.
"If we’re in the middle of a industrial and marketing revolution, what are the new rules?" - During the day, Seth highlighted a vast number of traditional marketing rules were changing, highlighting recent changes brought on by social technologies and the low costs of commerce through the web. This was food for thought, but as well as understanding which rules were now broken, he suggested those who will do well through the recession will be the ones who build new marketing rules, particularly how companies can lead customer tribes.
