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Marketing Case Study: Seth Godin

"Take Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach and Mark Twain.
Combine their brains and shave their heads.
What's left? Seth Godin." - Jay Conrad Levinson

Confession: I am not the biggest fan of Seth Godin’s books. His books are good, but I think there are other better books written about the topics he raises. The problem is, these other books are not as famous as Seth Godin’s books and haven’t sold as well. And so it pays to watch how Seth Godin markets himself and his books.

And I have to tell you... the more I observe Seth, the more I admire him. I think you can learn more about marketing by observing what Seth Godin does to sell his books, than by reading his books themselves.

So what does Seth Godin do to sell his books?

1. Repackaging Ideas and Products

Seth is great at giving a new look to an old product or an idea by repackaging it. He became bald so that people would easily remember him as a speaker. He just shaved off his hair and instantly became more noticeable than hundreds of other authors/speakers in the market!

Seth is great at repackaging his books too. Look at the ways he gives new named to old concepts to make them new again:

Being different: Be a “Purple Cow”
Delighting people: “Free Prize Inside”

On top of that, he packaged his books into cereal boxes and sold them. When people see a book in a cereal box on their friends or colleague’s desk, they would be impressed and buy one for themselves.

Seth differentiates himself and creates a buzz with his packaging of books and ideas. And as a result, they sell like hot cakes.

2. Giving away Free Goodies

Seth Godin’s claim to fame lies in the success of his free ebook: Ideavirus. Seth was one of the first people to use the power of internet to give away his content for free. 2 million people downloaded his ebook Ideavirus. And Seth became famous instantly.

Since then, Seth Godin gives away free content through his blog (a kind of an online journal) and gives away excerpts of his new books before they are released.

3. Connecting with Influencers

The third (and possibly the most important) thing Seth Godin is good at is connecting with the influencers. Connecting with people who have a big network of listeners.

Seth Godin created an ebook titled “99 cows” to promote his book “Purple Cow.” This ebook honoured 99 people who were the best in their fields. And in return, these 99 people promoted Seth Godin to their network, by giving the ebook away.

Before releasing his next book “Free Prize Inside,” Seth did something similar. But this time, instead of honouring just 99 people, Seth honoured more than 500 people. And created a big buzz on the internet.

More recently, Seth Godin gave away a copy of his upcoming book “All Marketers are Liars” to many bloggers before it is even released. And as a result, these bloggers are already publishing pre-release reviews and providing insider information to their site visitors. Making sure that the book earns a big buzz before it’s released.

Besides this, Seth also wrote articles for magazines like “Fast Company” and “Before & After.” And these magazines in return promoted Seth Godin and his book in front of thousands of readers for free!

As a result of these 3 tactics, Seth Godin has become one of the highest paid marketing speakers, and his books hit the best sellers list religiously.

Action Summary:

Seth Godin teaches us a few very important marketing tactics by promoting his books. But the main thing he teaches us is: use more than one marketing tactic to become famous. You can do better than most of your competitor’s by using just one or two marketing tactics effectively. But if you want to become a superstar and a house hold name, you should use more than just a couple of marketing tactics simultaneously.
How can you repackage your ideas and your products? Can you give a unique name to your product? Can you place it in a unique package?
What can you do to your appearance to stand out? You don’t necessarily have to shave off all your hair. You could just wear a different hat. Or a bright coloured shirt.
Use the power of giving away free goodies to penetrate the market. If you give away something for free, more people will start knowing you. And if they like your free goodie, they will trust you. And in the future, buy from you.
Influence the influencers. Leverage the networks other people have made.

(This case study was first published in Marketing Hotsheet # 21)

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Posted on 4/30/2005 | Permalink | |

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