Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, author, and public speaker who is known for his motivational quotes and go-getter attitude. Among the many business ventures Seth founded, Squidoo is one of his most recognized companies, as it is currently one of the 100 top visited websites on the Internet. Much of Seth’s advice can be interpreted for business, life choices, sports, and more, but today we focus 13 of his more memorable quotes on the topic of social marketing.
For those who are unfamiliar with Seth Godin and his teachings, we have provided the following video to get you acquainted with one of Internet marketing’s biggest stars.
Strive To Be Remarkable
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Quote From Seth: “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?””
What You Can Learn From It: The free technologies available on the Internet have made it easier than ever for marketers to put together memorable, remarkable campaigns for their company. Given the power of these new channels, and the free training materials out there for the taking, no marketer has any excuse to be ignore this new movement.
It’s All About The Stories
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Quote From Seth: “The only asset to get built online is permission.”
What You Can Learn From It: The face of marketing has changed over the course of the last decade. No longer is successful marketing about pre-sale hype, but about trust and establishing credibility. Forget about high-pressure sales and flashy delivery – new marketing today requires positioning yourself as an expert; the go to guy when someone has a problem in your field. Get people to give you their permission to sell to them, and you’re in.
Let Your Product Speak For Itself
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Quote From Seth: “The product is the marketing. You can’t out spend.”
What You Can Learn From It: Above all else, your product must speak for itself. You cannot expect to just throw money into the vortex on marketing spend and hope that a mediocre product will become a huge winner. This is roughly akin to strapping a rocket booster on the back of an old Gremlin and expecting to get a performance car that can take on Ferraris. Instead, take the time to build your “Ferrari,” whatever that may mean to you, and you will be amazed at how much more effective your marketing strategies become.
You Cannot Hide From Customers
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Quote From Seth: “Are you going to bet on secrets, or are you going to be open?”
What You Can Learn From It: Unlike businesses ten years ago, your company cannot hide from its customers. The Internet has made it so that almost every part of your business is accessible and transparent to anyone who looks. Seth teaches us not to be frightened by this new reality, but rather to embrace it. Be open with your customers and develop an approachable identity. Those who ignore the world we live in and rail bitterly against transparency will only succeed in infuriating their customers.
Your Plan Isn’t Enough
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Quote From Seth: “Successful people rarely confuse a can-do attitude with a smart plan. But they realize that one without the other is unlikely to get you very far.”
What You Can Learn From It: Every time you launch a new marketing campaign, do so with boisterous confidence. Holding back and treading lightly around your customers is extremely transparent. Without an obvious “can-do” attitude, no one will be moved by your message.
Be Humble
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Quote From Seth: “No one cares about you, not even your mother-in-law. No ones eagerly waiting your press release.”
What You Can Learn From It: There is no deadlier mistake in marketing than narcissism. Truly effective marketing is not even about how great you think your product is – it is about what it can do to change or enhance your customer’s lives. Do not waste time focusing on yourself, the heritage of your business, the triumphs of your team, etc. These things are not directly relevant to your customer’s lives, and frankly, no one really cares to hear them. The sooner this unflattering truth is solemnly accepted, the sooner you can focus on your customers and what you can do for them.
Create Meaning
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Quote From Seth: “Connect, create meaning, make a difference, matter, be missed.”
What You Can Learn From It: As a social marketer, a focal point of your job is creating meaningful content that people can extract real value from. As Seth advises in this quote, strive to connect with your audience on a deep level – no sales pitches, no strings attached. In between updates, your readers should miss your content because it makes a difference in their lives.
The Hierarchy Of Success
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Quote From Seth: “Attitude, Approach, Goals, Strategy, Tactics, Execution”
What You Can Learn From It: This approach was named the Hierarchy Of Success by Seth, and lays out the steps he believed led to the effective completion of any project. If you are approaching Internet marketing for the first time, measure your behavior against this hierarchy. It starts with an positive attitude and a solid approach plan. Your goals then dictate the strategy and tactics you will use to execute your plan.
Listen To Your Customers
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Quote From Seth: “Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul.”
What You Can Learn From It: If you want to carve out a long-term share of the marketplace for your business, you need to listen to your customers and not just yourself. The new social web presents you with hundreds of opportunities to listen in on what your users are saying about your business. Make the changes that matter to them, and you will be around for a long time.
Flex Your Expertise
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Quote From Seth: “Everybody is an expert about something”
What You Can Learn From It: The key to a successful blog is a focused mission. Blogs that jump around between too many topics are rarely successful because there is no compelling reason to read them. Pick an area you feel you are an expert in, and begin delivering useful advice to bring your readers up to your level. By showing your expertise, you will gain a following of dedicated readers who believe in your words.
Implement Quickly
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Quote From Seth: “Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death.”
What You Can Learn From It: No longer must your company wait months to see your ad printed in a magazine, and even longer to experience any results from it. The web allows for lightning fast implementation, so all of your great ideas can have a chance to breath the moment you form them. And if you aren’t satisfied with the results, you can easily change or pull them in an instant.
Choose Your Words Carefully
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Quote From Seth: “Why waste a sentence saying nothing?”
What You Can Learn From It: The art of effective content authoring is to make each piece strong and unique in its own way. Copying other people or churning out meaningless, boiler plate content will not bring the results you are looking for. If you can’t find anything of value to write about, don’t publish anything at all.
Focus On Great Customer Service
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Quote From Seth: “The best time to do great customer service is when a customer is upset.”
What You Can Learn From It: In the past, an angry customer calling into a customer service line was often seen as a nuisance to be dealt with as quickly as possible. The Internet has changed all of that by giving people a very loud public place to air their complaints. If you want to build rock solid customer loyalty and turn your buyers into a brand ambassadors who will recommend your products to everyone they meet, offer top notch customer service to anyone who has a problem with your product.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Being Edgy
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Quote From Seth: “Playing safe is very risky.”
What You Can Learn From It: If you aren’t shocking, touching, or offending anyone, you aren’t doing anything right. Successful social marketing is all about creating such strong reactions to your content that readers feel compelled to share it. If you play it safe and publish tame, stale content, you will never be as successful as you could be.
Find Your Precise Market
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Quote From Seth: “Don’t try to please everyone. There are countless people who don’t want one, haven’t heard of one or actively hate it. So what?”
What You Can Learn From It: Success in marketing hinges solely on your ability to identify exactly who is looking for your product, why they want it, and why they should get it from you. If you strive to please everyone regardless of their desires or motives, you will end up diluting your message so much that it no longer speaks to the few people who are actually in your target audience. Ignore those who don’t matter, focus on speaking to the ones who do.
Push Limits In Your Industry
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Quote From Seth: “You can raise the bar or you can wait for others to raise it, but it’s getting raised regardless.”
What You Can Learn From It: Never wait for a new trend to prove itself popular before getting on board. By then, you are already too late and you can bet that your competitors will have established themselves above you. Instead, try to be first to market on your new strategy or idea and let competitors scramble to catch up with you.
Create Desire
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Quote From Seth: “People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want”
What You Can Learn From It: Too many marketers focus on conveying the bland facts about their product or company. How long they have been in business, how their product technically works, etc. Often times, this is not what motivates purchases. If you want to create ravenous buyers, tap into your audience’s emotions and show them that they should really want what you’re selling, and not why you’re proud to be advertising it.
