Let’s ‘make marketing better’ – says Seth Godin
As soon as we take responsibility for the marketing we do and the marketing that’s done to us, we have a chance to make things better, writes marcoms industry legend Seth Godin
Photographer credit: Bjorn Amundsen
If you need to persuade someone to take action, you’re doing marketing.
If you’re looking for votes at the city council meeting, or looking for a promotion, you’re marketing.
If you’re writing copy on your website, taking a selfie for your social media profile or trying to talk your way out of a speeding ticket, you’re marketing.
Marketing goes way beyond advertising, email pitches or the way you do pricing. In fact, most of the time, marketing has nothing at all to do with money.
We’re surrounded by people who would like a piece of our attention, a bit of our trust and some of our action. Those people are marketing to us, and it helps to know what they’re doing right (and wrong).
If someone says “I don’t do marketing,” they probably mean: “I don’t spend money on ads.” Those are very different things.
Our culture is driven, more than ever, by marketers. The links we click on, the shows we watch, the people we vote for – they’re all marketing artefacts. If you don’t like the political situation, you’re commenting on the marketing situation.
As soon as we take responsibility for the marketing we do and the marketing that’s done to us, we have a chance to make things better (by making better things).
Seth Godin is the author of 17 books and creator of Permission Marketing – this post first appeared on his blog
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