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Bestselling author, Entrepreneur and Agent of change. Seth's blog can be found at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
February 2009
Saturday February 28, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:30AM EST on February 28, 2009
A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person's name.The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies,...
Friday February 27, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:26AM EST on February 27, 2009
When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious. One day, I'm walking down the street and I guy comes up to me and says, "Do you have a dollar for four quarters?" He held out his...
Thursday February 26, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:26AM EST on February 26, 2009
If you want to grow, you need new customers. And if you want new customers, you need three things:1. A group of possible customers you can identify and reach.2. A group with a problem they want to solve using your...
Wednesday February 25, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:21AM EST on February 25, 2009
Okay, so Amazon's Kindle is cool and it's gaining in traction and people who have one buy a lot of books. 10% of Amazon's book sales are now on the Kindle.But it could be so much better. Here are my...
Tuesday February 24, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 1:17AM EST on February 24, 2009
This is my 3,000th blog post. (In a row).Within a week of starting this blog, I had a feeling I wouldn't be giving it up any time soon. It's a difficult habit to develop, but an even harder one to...
Monday February 23, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:45AM EST on February 23, 2009
Marketing works.If you spend time and money (with skill) you can tell a story that spreads, that influences people, that changes actions. Marketing can cause people to buy something that they wouldn't have bought without marketing, vote for someone they...
Sunday February 22, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:38AM EST on February 22, 2009
As long as there have been people who want to get rich, there have been get rich quick schemes. The guys who sell mailing lists have a name for people who buy these schemes: "opportunity seekers."Raising ostriches, or timing the...
Saturday February 21, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:19AM EST on February 21, 2009
That's the way Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby) described his mission statement in building the company. "What could I build that would be a like a dream come true for independent musicians?"What an extraordinarily universal way to construct a product,...
Friday February 20, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:54AM EST on February 20, 2009
Do you deserve the luck you've been handed? The place you were born, the education you were given, the job you've got? Do you deserve your tribe, your customer base, your brand?Not at all. “Deserve” is such a loaded word....
Thursday February 19, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:52AM EST on February 19, 2009
In down economies, the only thing that's going to change things is changing things. This is hard for a lot of marketers who are used to defending the status quo, but it's truly the best option.If you're not happy with...
Wednesday February 18, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:24PM EST on February 18, 2009
Sasha at Acumen is hiring. (It's in NY, it's fundraising, it's social marketing and it's for an important cause working with stellar people.) Someone should start a job board that only lists jobs as good as this one.
Posted by: Seth Godin at 12:41AM EST on February 18, 2009
There are interactions marketers have with prospects where the prospect wants something and the marketer or organization just isn't interested in delivering it. These interactions almost always end badly.I visited a Blockbuster store in London, hoping to rent an appropriately...
Tuesday February 17, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:00AM EST on February 17, 2009
The most common frustration I see, and I see it daily, comes from marketers who can't figure out why more people won't buy their product. This particularly afflicts b2b marketers, who ostensibly have rational customers.Let's say, for example, that you...
Monday February 16, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:59AM EST on February 16, 2009
If it acts like a duck (all the time), it's a duck. Doesn't matter if the duck thinks it's a dog, it's still a duck as far as the rest of us are concerned.Authenticity, for me, is doing what you...
Sunday February 15, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:21AM EST on February 15, 2009
Every question you ask is expensive. (Expensive in terms of loyalty and goodwill). Don't ask a question unless you truly care about the answer. This means that a vague question with vague answers (extremely satisfied...acceptable...extremely dissatisfied and no scale to...
Saturday February 14, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:27AM EST on February 14, 2009
It's quite possible that the era of the professional reviewer is over. No longer can a single individual (except maybe Oprah) make a movie, a restaurant or a book into a hit or a dud.Not only can an influential blogger...
Friday February 13, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:21AM EST on February 13, 2009
Some excerpts from an interview on the future of the music industry. I was being specific about one industry, but I think it applies to just about everything:The music industry is really focused on the ‘industry' part and not so...
Thursday February 12, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:24AM EST on February 12, 2009
Billionaire raconteur Mark Cuban just posted a fascinating challenge. Post a business plan that meets certain criteria and he'll consider funding it, right here, right now.Here's what's neat:1. As soon as you see enough plans, you realize that in fact...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:27AM EST on February 12, 2009
An algorithm is a set of instructions that allows you to solve a problem.Each instruction is simple and repeatable. It's important to understand that the instructions work on all similar problems, not just one.Here's an algorithm for sorting any set...
Wednesday February 11, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:01AM EST on February 11, 2009
The secret to being the best in the world is to make the 'world' smaller.Alan Scott was the best community-focused artisan pizza oven builder in the world. A niche that didn't exist before he got there, but one that spread,...
Tuesday February 10, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:41AM EST on February 10, 2009
The top of a mountain is rarely the best part.You can watch "the good parts" of a baseball game in about six minutes. The web has become a giant highlights reel... the best parts of SNL, the best parts of...
Monday February 9, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:21AM EST on February 9, 2009
The best way to overcome your fear of creativity, brainstorming, intelligent risk taking or navigating a tricky situation might be to sprint.When we sprint, all the internal dialogue falls away and we just go as fast as we possibly can....
Sunday February 8, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:49AM EST on February 8, 2009
My post on possible uses of education struck a chord with people. Different people are looking for different outcomes.The first implication of this list: why did you stop educating yourself when you graduated?Not you, of course. You read blogs and...
Saturday February 7, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:22AM EST on February 7, 2009
Richard was telling me that he doesn't care what his customers think.Instead, he writes and creates for himself. If his customers like it, fine. If not, fine.This is the gutsy statement of an artist. I pointed out to him that...
Friday February 6, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 11:19AM EST on February 6, 2009
Wired interview about TribesVideo interview about thriving in a down marketBryan starts a web podiatrist testing/improvement serviceAny Nulman has a surprising new book out (about surprise and expectation and marketing)And here's a video interview I did with Loic two days...
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:16AM EST on February 6, 2009
The Super Bowl hype is blissfully long gone, and lazy media outlets can no longer reprint press releases and dissect multi-million dollar wastes of time and money.The lesson of these ads is simple. Putting on a show is expensive, time-consuming...
Thursday February 5, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:00AM EST on February 5, 2009
The telephone destroyed the telegraph. Here's why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.The telephone offered not one of these four attributes. It was far from universal, and if someone didn't have...
Wednesday February 4, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:15AM EST on February 4, 2009
Well, if you define marketing as advertising, then it's clear you need the product first (Captain Crunch being the only exception I can think of... they made the ads first.) This great clip from Mad Men brings the point home....
Tuesday February 3, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 6:10AM EST on February 3, 2009
Creativity loves a problem, but it hates a lousy audience.If everyone around you is sure the economy is tanking, that the end is near, that time is up and the company is headed for the tubes, it's almost impossible to...
Monday February 2, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 5:24AM EST on February 2, 2009
What do you do when the deadline looms?I often hear blowhards on the radio, wrecking the entire interview because they don't know how to call it quits when the host tells them they have thirty seconds to wrap up. They...
Sunday February 1, 2009
Posted by: Seth Godin at 7:49AM EST on February 1, 2009
In one week, I heard from two companies in the same industry. The comparison is instructive, I think.Every month, I get a great email from Paul McGowan, founder of PS Audio. His newsletter is anticipated, personal and relevant. I signed...
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