Showing posts with label Seth Godin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seth Godin. Show all posts

8.19.2008

Are We (Marketers) to Blame for Our Own Unhappiness?

Just a thought from Seth Godin's blog... and here I thought it was the emo-pop music making us unhappy.

Destroying happiness

A journalist asked me, Most people have a better standard of living today than Louis XIV did in his day. So why are so many people unhappy?

What you have doesn't make you unhappy. What you want does.

And want is created by us, the marketers.

Marketers trying to grow market share will always work to make their non-customers unhappy.

It's interesting to note that marketers trying to maintain market share have a lot of work to do in reminding us that we're happy.

8.01.2008

Godin Reminds Marketers to be Innovative and Ever-Present

Seth Godin wrote a thought-provoking piece on the dilemma of a dentist -

My tooth doesn't hurt, says Godin. That's not something you think about very often, is it? (Not my tooth, your tooth).When you have a toothache, on the other hand, it's all you think about.

Point being, for many businesses that may be need-based, it can be challenging to remain top-of-mind, and even more difficult to draw people to your business in the meantime.

The solution? Don't worry, Godin provides it:

  • Build your brand by finding a cost-effective way to gently be in [the consumers] face so that when a toothache shows up (in whatever form that takes) you're the obvious choice.
  • Create new products and services that build engagement and possibly revenue among members of the population that aren't in pain. That, of course, is why teeth whitening services are so smart. You can sell to people who didn't know they had a problem until they met you.
Ironically, this challenge to marketers also reminds me of a challenge many of us with a PR focus face every day - when your company is in crisis, you are the first place they turn (there's that toothache again!). However, when things are going well, the PR department is often the on the top of the list for budget cuts, due to the struggle to tie your powers of influence back to the bottom line.

Read the full post here.

 
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