Seth Godin, who will be presenting live via satellite from New York at the marcus evans CMO Gipfel 2011, PharmaBrand Summit 2011 and CMO Summit 2011, on successful marketing today. Interview with: Seth Godin, Bestselling Author, Marketing Visionary, Entrepreneur & Agent of Change

1. Seth Godin on Maximising Marketing Opportunities Now
Seth Godin, who will be presenting live via satellite from New York at the marcus evans
CMO Gipfel 2011, PharmaBrand Summit 2011 and CMO Summit 2011, on successful
marketing today.
Interview with: Seth Godin, Bestselling Author, Marketing Visionary, Entrepreneur & Agent of
Change
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“The most dangerous thing that marketers do is look for the The challenge is to keep asking that question from the minute
next big thing. The next big trend will be a variation of what an idea comes up. What is the story here? If this is a movie,
we already have,” says Seth Godin, Bestselling Author, a book or a conversation taking place about a product, what
Marketing Visionary, Entrepreneur & Agent of Change. would people say? If you cannot capture the feeling or
Instead of waiting around for the next craze, marketers should sensation of what you are trying to create, it is unlikely that
be maximising the current opportunities for successful you will properly build it into the product.
marketing.
What attitude to change do successful companies have?
Named one of the top 21 speakers for the 21st century by
Successful Meetings Magazine and Business Week’s “Ultimate Seth Godin: For 100 years, companies succeeded by building a
Entrepreneur for the Information Age,” Seth Godin will level of efficiency and productivity, and by repeating that in a
be presenting live via satellite from New York at the upcoming reliable way. Change is a problem for people who live in that
marcus evans CMO Gipfel 2011 in Bad Doberan, Germany, world.
PharmaBrand Summit 2011 in Montreux, Switzerland, and
CMO Summit 2011 in Queensland, Australia. We now live in a different world, where shifts in the
marketplace and interactions are actually our friends.
What is lacking in marketing today? What should be done Organisations need to look at change not as a problem or an
differently? issue to be dealt with, but as an opportunity to grow. They
should embrace change.
Seth Godin: The biggest challenge that marketers face today is
that they have made their jobs too small. If you believe that What is your outlook for the future?
advertising and marketing are the same and that your job is to
take a finished product or service, a pile of money and Seth Godin: We are seeing smart marketers putting more
somehow sell this average product to average people in effort into interactivity and permission as an asset. They are
volume, you are going to fall behind. That is the way paying attention to what people say about their organisation
marketing worked in the 60s and the way it worked for big and caring far less about interrupting strangers. I believe that
companies in the 80s, but that is not what marketing is now. the future belongs to those who will lead strong, like-minded
people or organisations to where they want to go and
Marketing is the whole organisation, from the way you connect them to one another. This is an alien feeling for many
answer the phone, what you call yourself, what you make and companies, but I believe it is the only way that they can
how, to what people say when they talk about your company. succeed in the future.
Google, Amazon, Apple, JetBlue and Starbucks are successful
not because they have good advertisements, but because they What has been your greatest contribution to the marketing
have decided that everything they do is marketing. space?
You claim that, “Marketing sells us a feeling”. How can Seth Godin: I give people tools that they can use to speak to
marketers ensure products set off this feeling? one another and to share ideas they already believe in. By
calling it a Purple Cow or an Idea Virus, I make it easier for
Seth Godin: Once people are at a certain level of wealth they people who are embracing change to have an intelligent
do not need things but they want things. If you sell a product conversation with the people they work with. I am good at
that people want, you have to accept that people do not buy noticing issues that need to be talked about and making them
it because of its features, but because of the way it makes easier to do so.
them feel.
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2. Could you share an idea or theory that more marketers should
incorporate into their strategies?
Seth Godin: The most dangerous thing that marketers do is
look for the next big thing. They are focused on getting a
piece of information that nobody has, finding the next trend,
the next Twitter or Flickr. My answer is this is the next big
thing. This is our revolution. The next big trend will be a
variation of what we already have. Rather than wait for the
next big insight, marketers ought to actually do something
with today’s insights.
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