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Talia Schmidt

Book Review: "This is Marketing. You Can't see until you learn to be seen" - Seth Godin

Updated: Jan 6, 2019

Seth Godin is the author of 18 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing - among themPermission Marketing, Purple Cow, Tribes, The Dip, and All Marketers Are Liars. This is a review of his latest book.


I used to think of marketing as a series of tasks I needed to do each month in order to drum up new business. Now I see marketing as a noble adventure with the intent to create meaningful change in some part of the world. On page 144, Seth talks about “your quest to matter.” That’s a beautiful way to some up his perspective on marketing. It’s not a task. It’s a quest, a call to adventure, something in sync with Joseph Campbell’s work on The Hero’s Journey.

Seth emphasizes three critically important questions:

1. What change are you trying to make? 2. Who are you seeking to change? 3. What promise can you make to your potential customers? (Hint: your promise needs to connect to the change you want to make in the world.)

He points out that the primary purpose of marketing is to create change in the world; meaningful, positive change.

Then in Chapter 10 he explains how important it is to create tension that causes people to make a decision to work with you. On page 121, he wrote, “There are two ways to do your work. You can be a cab driver. Show up and ask someone where they want to go. Charge them based on the meter. Or you can be an agent of change, someone who creates tension and then relieves it.”


I felt that the this is one of those books that is packed with such wisdom that I found myself often needing to pause after a page or a passage to integrate his thoughts into my projects and myself. The book delivers actionable and practical marketing advice


In a world obsessed with SEO, Facebook ad hacks, extreme growth, and scaling up, Godin offers a contrarian message for those interested in making change: Start small. Focus on the smallest viable audience. Do things that don't scale. Once the right people are invested in your ideas, they'll tell everyone they know. While this isn't a new concept, and Godin (and others) has discussed these ideas before, there is merit discussing them again while unfolding some of the books new ideas.


Early in the book I decided to put a star next to statements that really meant a lot to me. By the end of the book I had over 70 stars and most of the book underlined. Here are some of the most powerful statements for me:

(Page 12) “Marketers make change happen: for the smallest viable audience, and by delivering anticipated, personal, and relevant messages that people actually want to get.”

(Page 12) “Marketers have the empathy to know that those they seek to serve don’t want what the marketer wants, don’t believe what they believe, and don’t care about what they care about.”

(Page 28) “You have no chance of changing everyone. You need to change someone. Which ones? Do they share a psychographic?”

(Page 70) “Great marketing is the generous and audacious work of saying, ‘I see a better alternative; come with me.’”

(Page 81) “Marketers make change. We change people from one emotional state to another. We take people on a journey; we help them become the person they’ve dreamed of becoming, a little bit at a time.”

I can’t encourage you enough to read, This Is Marketing. I believe you will see your marketing work as a noble adventure to make great and positive change in the world. And the book is filled with nuances and processes for you to consider as you move your marketing into action.

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