This is Marketing by Seth Godin
My Rating of “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin: 7 / 10
This is another great book from Seth Godin to add to the collection. I’m not a marketer however I have learned very early in my career that we all deal with marketing. Whether it is our personal brand or the organisation we work or volunteer for marketing is absolutely critical; and it is not just about the selling process.
This book brings many of the concepts, ideas and approaches that Seth has provided over the years into a book that is relevant in today’s age. As always Seth is a great story teller. With this book and others he articulates his point, provides perspective and then uses an example in the field to further enforce the idea. The book was quite formulaic in this structure.
I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. It is an easy and quick read with plenty of ideas and takeaways; perhaps too many as I am overwhelmed on where to go next with this book. With that said, it will be a great reference book that I will pick up constantly in the future.
Three key takeaways from the book:
- The Internet isn’t built around interruption and mass. It is a large enough medium however it is also small one where it isn’t easy to steal someone’s attention the way we could previously.
- The tyranny of perfect will close the door. Good enough should be a better focus as it isn’t an excuse or shortcut. It leads to engagement and engagement leads to trust. Trust gives us a change to see and seeing allows us to learn. If we learn it may allow us to make a promise.
- There are three narratives for action: the story of self, the story of us and the story of now. This brilliance was from Marshall Ganz who is a Harvard Professor and worked with Cesar Chavez and Barack Obama.
