PDF Summary:This Is Marketing, by Seth Godin

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

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How to Match the Story to Your Audience

In his 2005 All Marketers Are Liars, Godin goes into greater detail on how to match your story to your audience’s point of view. He suggests three possible tools:

Frames: Framing a story involves providing a specific context or perspective to shape how the audience perceives and interprets the information. For example, if you tell someone “the glass is half full,” they’ll look at it more favorably than if you tell them it's half empty.

Euphemisms: A euphemism is a different name for the same idea. You can use euphemisms to steer attention away from negative connotations or biases that already exist to present your product or service in a more favorable light. For example, a marketer might call something “economical” rather than “cheap.”

Oxymorons: In the context of marketing, oxymorons let you present two seemingly contradictory ideas together, allowing you to appeal to someone with worldviews that are potentially at odds with each other. For example, by marketing “non-alcoholic beer,” you appeal to someone who doesn’t drink but still wants to participate in drinking culture.

Use Tools for Alignment

Two of the tools you can use to align your story with your audience’s self-perception are branding and price.

Branding

Godin argues that a brand isn't merely a logo but the sum of all customer experiences and expectations. He therefore defines a brand as a promise to deliver a specific level of quality, reliability, and value to customers. Although a brand encompasses more than just visual elements, Godin acknowledges branding elements like symbols, fonts, and language still play a significant role. These elements help shape customers' perceptions and expectations and serve as signals for conveying the brand's values, personality, and positioning. To establish effective branding, Godin suggests utilizing simple and consistent symbols, language, and colors.

Coca-Cola is an example of a company with simple and consistent branding that has ingrained Coca-Cola in popular culture, establishing instant recognition and positive emotional associations. With its classic red color, logo, and familiar commercials and slogans, Coca-Cola has successfully built a globally recognized brand that symbolizes happiness and shared experiences.

(Shortform note: Some marketing experts suggest that your branding doesn’t actually matter. Byron Sharp, marketing professor and author of How Brands Grow, argues consumers generally don't care enough about branding for it to influence their purchasing decisions. Surveys indicate that consumers perceive brands within a category as mostly interchangeable, and when differences exist, they are often overlooked. Sharp argues that consumers rarely consider a brand's image or personality; therefore, any marketing strategy that aims to demonstrate a brand's superiority compared to its competitors misses the mark.)

Price

Godin argues that price is also an important part of a marketing story because price can be used to strategically position a product or service in the market. For example, a high price can signal that a product is exclusive and high-quality, while a low price can signal that a product is affordable and accessible. One isn't better than the other; they just appeal to different audiences. The price you choose should align with the point of view of your audience.

McDonald's and Gucci both effectively use price as a part of their marketing strategy, albeit differently. McDonald's emphasizes affordability, targeting a broad consumer base by positioning itself as a budget-friendly choice with a focus on value and convenience. In contrast, Gucci takes a luxury approach, using higher prices to create an exclusive and desirable image associated with prestige, craftsmanship, and indulgence in high-end fashion. McDonald's appeals to a wider audience with affordable pricing, while Gucci caters to a more selective segment seeking luxury and status. Each brand's pricing strategy aligns with the self-perception of its target market.

(Shortform note: If you're unsure of how to price your product or service, research suggests setting the price high. One study found that if the quality of a product isn't clear to the consumer, setting a higher price can influence their perception of quality. This phenomenon, known as the "price-quality heuristic," suggests that consumers tend to associate a higher price with superior quality, assuming that the quality of the product must justify its higher cost.)

Apply Pressure to Inspire Action

To effectively engage your target audience, it's important not only to communicate that your product or service is tailored to them but also to inspire them to take action. Whether it's convincing them to sign up for a newsletter, purchase a new product, or support a candidate, motivating people to act requires applying pressure. This can be achieved by presenting a relatable problem and offering a solution that resolves it. By presenting this combination of problem and resolution, you can motivate your audience to alleviate the pressure they feel by actively engaging with your brand.

How to Apply Pressure Using Your Marketing Story

In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller offers a seven-part formula for crafting a story that connects with customers and leads them to engage with your brand.

Part 6 of the formula is about applying pressure by telling your audience what’s at stake if they don’t act. Miller explains that without a sense of negative consequence from not buying your product or service, the customer won’t feel compelled to buy. For instance, you can tell customers that your chiropractic services will improve their posture, but unless you also tell them that bad posture can lead to back problems, they likely won’t feel enough of an urge to engage your services.

Miller adds that when applying pressure, it’s important to elicit only a moderate amount of anxiety about the negative stakes for your customer. If you overplay the negative stakes (”You’ll damage your back irreparably without my services!”) you’ll repulse your customers, but if you underplay the negative stakes (“There’s a small chance your back might hurt occasionally without my services”) you won’t create enough of an urge to buy.

One way to apply pressure is to challenge the status or position of your core audience. Godin defines status as an individual's perceived position or rank within a particular social group or hierarchy.

(Shortform note: According to some psychologists, people tend to have a preferred status (high or low), and often default to playing that status in relationships and interpersonal interactions. This preference can lead to mastery in one status and feelings of incompetence in the other. For example, one person may feel confident when taking charge and leading others (high status) but feels uneasy when placed in a subordinate role (low status). Another person may feel most comfortable in supporting and assisting others (low status) but feel anxious when placed in a position of authority (high status). Identifying and acknowledging your preferred status can help you become more self-aware and adaptable when navigating different social dynamics.)

Godin argues that many of our decisions are driven by the desire to maintain or shift our status, but we do so in different ways. Some people seek to maintain or shift their status through a sense of belonging, while others do it through superiority.

Belonging is about the desire of people to connect with specific groups or communities whose opinions they value. To apply pressure on people who seek belonging, provide opportunities for them to belong. Jones Road Beauty exemplifies a brand that skillfully utilizes the concept of belonging to apply pressure on its customers. By promoting natural beauty and authenticity, Jones Road Beauty taps into individuals' longing to be part of a community that shares these values. Through inclusive marketing campaigns featuring diverse models and fostering active online community groups, Jones Road Beauty cultivates a sense of inclusivity and creates opportunities to belong.

Superiority, on the other hand, is fueled by people's desire to differentiate themselves and demonstrate their dominance. Godin writes that to apply pressure to this audience, you need to provide them with opportunities to excel and outperform others. Tesla effectively applies this concept to exert pressure on its customers by showcasing groundbreaking electric vehicles with cutting-edge technology and performance. Their marketing campaigns highlight exceptional features, positioning Tesla as a leader in the electric car industry. This motivates individuals to invest in Tesla vehicles as a means of showcasing their superiority and staying ahead of the curve.

(Shortform note: The desire to fit in and to stand out aren't necessarily incompatible. According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, the two desires often coexist. People want to fit in with a group while also wanting to express their individuality. Researchers found that people are able to satisfy these seemingly conflicting motives by choosing a brand that represents their in-group for group identification while selecting unique elements such as colors or styles to set themselves apart. For example, a snowboarder might wear a popular brand jacket to show they are part of the snowboarding community but choose an uncommon pattern to be different from other snowboarders.)

Transform a Culture

Ultimately, the goal of the story you tell is to transform the culture of your core audience because you want what you’re offering to become a part of their cultural norm. When something becomes embedded in a culture, it becomes deeply ingrained in people's behaviors, beliefs, and values. This cultural integration ensures that your offering isn't merely seen as a transactional product but rather as an essential and meaningful aspect of their identity and lifestyle.

(Shortform note: Stories are a particularly effective tool for cultural change because they can capture people's attention and engage them emotionally, making them more receptive to new ideas and perspectives. According to Kindra Hall, author of Stories That Stick, one of the reasons that stories are such a powerful tool is because storytelling is a collaborative process. As you tell a story, regardless of the format, your audience mentally fills in the gaps. They add images, feelings, and context to the details you provide, and in doing so, become personally invested in the outcome of the story.)

However, culture does not change all at once. It begins with a few people. When you first begin your marketing journey, before anyone has heard of you, your story should focus on the trendsetters (what Godin calls adopters), people who are always looking to try the next new thing because your product is new and no one has tried it before. The story you tell will be about innovation. You need to explain how your product pushes the boundaries of technology or revolutionizes an industry.

How to Market to Trendsetters

In Perennial Seller, Ryan Holiday explains how you can use price as a tool to market to trendsetters. He suggests lowering the price of your product or making it free. Lowering the cost barrier almost always gets more people to try your product or service, which gives the product a fighting chance at proving its value.

Here are some potential pricing models to attract early adopters:

• Freemium models that provide a feature-lite free product, with options to upgrade for a price

• An excerpt of your product for free (for example, free book chapters)

• Limited free trials before the user has to pay

• A promotional period at which you offer the product or service at a lower cost

• An entirely free product or service funded through another business model (for example, ad-supported social apps or sponsorships for videos that are free to viewers)

As more and more people hear about what you do, your audience will shift from trendsetters to assimilators (what Godin calls adapters), people who tend to follow the crowd. You need to adjust your story accordingly, communicating how what you offer also provides a sense of familiarity and fits seamlessly into your audience’s existing routines.

(Shortform note: TikTok has become a valuable tool for bridging the gap between early adopters and a broader customer base, making it a top platform for consumers to discover and purchase new products. By leveraging influencers on the platform, businesses can reshape their narrative and effectively market to assimilators by showcasing how their offerings align with popular trends and provide a sense of familiarity that a broader audience seeks. The platform's algorithm-driven content discovery also ensures that influencer content reaches a wide range of users, further amplifying the exposure and acceptance of early adopter trends.)

Principle 4: Capitalize on Word of Mouth

While your initial fans, the trendsetters, appreciate your unique approach, it may not resonate with the wider public. To make the jump to a broader audience, you need a product or service that people want to talk about. Godin explains that the products and services that people will talk about are the ones that become more valuable the more people know about them.

Consider the example of dating apps. Early adopters of dating apps, like Tinder or Bumble, had a reason to talk about the product with other people. More users meant a wider pool of potential matches and increasingly diverse profiles. Additionally, the accumulation of user data allowed apps to refine their matching algorithms, suggesting more accurate and compatible matches. Moreover, the more people that use the apps, the less social stigma there is around using dating apps as a tool of connection.

(Shortform note: Godin suggests that people want to talk about products that will become more valuable if more people use them. This assumes that people only talk about products or services out of self-interest. In Contagious, marketing expert Jonah Berger suggests other strategies for harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, including generating an emotional response and providing practical value. These strategies go beyond self-interest and tap into the innate human desire to share experiences, emotions, and valuable information with other people.)

By creating a product that thrives on word-of-mouth and effectively addresses the needs of your core audience, you can tap into their network power and transform them into invaluable marketing assets. As your core audience witnesses firsthand how your product or service meets their needs, their passion for your company grows, prompting them to voluntarily spread your product's message to attract more people, all without incurring additional costs.

However, Godin says it’s crucial to consistently fulfill the promises you've made and provide effective solutions to the problems you claim to solve. By delivering on your brand promise, you establish trust with your customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat business. This consistency also enables you to cultivate a community and foster a strong brand culture over time. As a result, your customers become your most fervent supporters, advocating for your company's mission and products.

(Shortform note: Pat Flynn, author of Superfans, says that consistency is key to cultivating superfans, a small core of passionately devoted customers that are the lifeblood of any organization. He explains that as fans repeatedly have positive experiences with your brand, they tend to move through different levels of connection to your brand, from casual, to interested, to connected, before reaching superfandom.)