What I Learned From Interning With Seth Godin
So at the request of Valeria Maltoni and Connie Benson, I want to post with respect to my experience with Seth’s Triiibes project, but things have been frantic around here and I haven’t had time to hash anything out. I had been thinking about some of the most impactful things that I took away from my internship experience with Seth, and in lieu of the tribal experience (at least for now) I thought I’d share some of the things I learned. [Note: There are -many- more hence the version 1.0.]
I learned that traditional marketing is dying (or at the very least changing) and that to be a successful marketer you have to join the conversation. This process takes time and you have to learn to be a great listener because sometimes consumers are not saying aloud what they really want or mean. In the end participating in the conversations and cultivating the relationships enables consumers to trust you, to follow you, to purchase from you.
I learned that if you really want to be a successful marketer you have to learn to lead without authority. I had the responsibility to make an impact, but I could not control what people did so I had to learn to establish the tone and build my tribe in other ways. You can do this by building intricate spiderwebs that link together a bunch of small parts that invariably create an immovable object. If you become a voice that stands for something and you are building something worth building all of these intricate, connected thoughts inspire others to follow. Seth is the master of this; I have a lot more to learn about it, aside from the fact that I do know you have to be very passionate about whatever it that you’re doing for this to even have a chance of working on a large scale.
Some of my other favorite take-aways were:
- Creativity thrives in the face of boundaries
- (Sometimes) it is about making noise, and sometimes that means breaking rules.
- Taking risks and (sometimes failing) is inevitable if you are going to consistently stay in the lead pack.
Do you read Seth’s blogs? What have you learned from Seth? What other blogs do you learn the most from?
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Ryan: creativity is everything! It pushes us to new heights…allows us to challenge our limits… Without creativity, we have nothing.
Best wishes on your trip! I definitely look forward to connecting upon your return…
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
@ Ribeezie – I would definitely agree that creativity is imparitive, but I would also argue that there are different kinds of creativity because I’m completely incapable of writing a song or painting a picture worthy of any admiration. I’ll hit you up VERY soon.
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Ryan,
Thanks for this. It’s so great to be able to learn from other people’s learning experiences.
What strikes me about all you said is the undertone message of the importance of authenticity. Passion like this is not manufactured – that’s why it’s successful. People see it and automatically know it’s real. People want to believe in that kind of passion, I think.
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
@ Tiffany – I whole heartily agree. REAL pasion cannot be faked. I’ll follow real passion. Authenticity coupled with genuine passion (even close to the right track) is uber-powerful. It’s one of the MANY things I appreciate about your blog.
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Most of the time Seth talks about companies he had experience with and the things they could had done better. So “thinking like a consumer” is very important for business owners in order to succeed.
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
@ Marketing Deviant – Thanks for your contribution. As my most consistent commenter, I sincerely appreciate your devout following and also enjoy your blog’s content. Keep up the phenomenal work.
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Thanks for your insights. It’s interesting to hear about.
I think that the willingness to experiment is really important.
Connie
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
@ Connie – I apologize in advance for sounding crude, but I really appreciate company’s that let “them” hang. I’m glad you also see the importance in willingness to experiment and take risks.
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Hey Ryan, great thoughts here. You are absolutely right about leading without having all the authority. If you truly want people to think for themselves and believe in what you are doing, you have to be willing to engage in conversation – sometimes taking criticism!
I am most certainly trying to become a voice that stands for something – the continual dissemination of health information and tools to communicate and educate these ideals.
Keep up the great work.
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@ Andre – I love that you’ve found a niche where you have a unique voice and are really making a valuable contribution to the blogosphere. That’s the primary reason while I appreciate your blog. I actually THRIVE on receiving criticism. I WANT to know what to improve on so I can continue serving my readers.
Anyone who under estimates the value of conversation is leaving a lot on the table in my experience…
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I’ve been thinking about your statement that “traditional marketing is dying” and disagree. Here’s why: many companies have not applied true marketing principles in deigning their strategies. As well, what is dying is the old tactics. I posted about that today, in fact. What Seth does is working with the key factors that define user and the way the product is used, together. It’s still the same marketing we (should) learn in school. However, relevance is a moving target – so let’s not apply the same tactics time and time over without a good dose of creativity, discipline and execution.
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
@ Valeria – I think we’re on the same page. When I refer to traditional marketing I’m implying (or trying to) this notion of a marketing model you’d find in a text book. In this information age with all these sophisticated choices, the need for the basic points of communication grows. I think it goes from being a concrete model (in the traditional sense) to a fluid approach.
As Kevin Roberts (Lovemarks, Saatchi fame) would say we’ve transitioned from an attention economy to an attraction economy. That’s essentially what Seth was able to convey to me during my internship experience.
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@ everyone — thanks for the comments. Borrowing a colleague’s computer momentarily (they were willing to pay the absurd price to have the internet for a day at this hotel.. ugh), but I will answer each of your questions/responses individually upon return. Thanks for stopping by and your contributions to this thread!
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August 8th, 2008 at 8:22 pm