Seth Godin: Time to Get Your Marketing in Sync with Reality

By B.L. Ochman
A "Dear Blogger" PR Pitch from Hell email from the Search Engine Strategies Conference PR staff was the invite to Seth Godin's pre-keynote webinar for "influentials" last week. Ironic, since Godin was discussing effective ways to use new media.

We didn't zap the email because Godin is a friend, and he always finds ways to put ideas into terms businesses can understand. This time he offers an excellent explanation of the need for companies to make a fundamental shift beyond old media methods of selling.

Godin's new book, Meatball Sundae, explains that the Internet has created a new industrial revolution that most CEOs still don't see. Rather than just adding new media to old media, he says, companies need to totally transform their product, service, and marketing to thrive on today's new consumer-in-charge rules.

His SES webinar identified 14 threads that marketers need to bring together. And Lisa Barone did a great job of live blogging it here.

Companies can't simply add a blog or a social network to their traditional marketing and call it change, he warns. Change has to be transformative. Amen.

Related:
- B.L. Ochman's 12 Tenets of Social Media Marketing
- Chris Anderson's Long Tail of Software
- The Global Microbrand: 10 Questions for Seth Godin
- Kami Huyse: "The funny thing about the new public relations is that it isn't new."

Boy, is this post timely! Here's an example of a company that needs to get beyond its old media mindset:

At least once a week, I get a piece of junque mail from my cable Internet provider. They're trying to sell me on their other services, but, quite frankly, if they didn't have a monopoly on cable Internet service within the city of Tucson, I'd drop them like a hot rock.

They're already ripping me to the tune of almost $60 a month just to have cable access to the 'Net. Why would I want to spend any more of my hard-earned money with their monopoly?

So I called and requested that my name and address be removed from their snail-mailing list. The answer: You can't opt out from our marketing mailings. Even if you ask us.

The cable provider in question is Cox. I'm sure that other providers have similar policies, which, IMHO, are downright stupid.

Thanks for yet another useful post. It sounds a bit like speed dating for smallbusinesses.