This is Marketing
The 2019 bestseller from Seth Godin
Find it here on Amazon. [If you need more than one, consider 8CR which has them in stock, ready to go…]
Here’s a podcast on it. From Akimbo 2018.
Now officially a Wall Street Journal, Amazon and New York Times bestseller. More than 50,000 sold in just a few weeks.
#1 business book in Italy…
And here’s a reader review:
Here’s a free PDF excerpt from the uncorrected galleys.
Here are links to buy the book at:
Book Depository outside of USA
And in French!
Here’s a video from Seth talking about the book:
And we’re trying something new: Your reviews, on video. To see some of the reviews we’ve already received, check this out.
Here’s more of what’s new from Seth…
And here’s a live presentation, recorded at AdWeek NY, courtesy of PPAI:
Here’s the Marie Forleo interview:
The Marketing Seminar has run more than half a dozen times. This is a magical workshop, a 100+ day interactive experience with cohorts and project work and connection and more than fifty videos. The book is based on this experience. If you click the link above, you can sign up to be notified when the course goes live.
If you’d prefer to simply watch the 50 videos, please do! More than 40,000 people have taken my Udemy courses, and you can find the Marketing course here. You can go at your own pace and start any time.
Thanks for reading. Can’t wait to see what you’ll ship next.
Just in! More reviews:
“With the increased use of social media platforms, many marketers (that’s me and you), have been focused on the masses. We want to be like everybody else. We’ve been focused on likes, Tweets, views, shares and other things that have little long term meaning. We’re focused on looking at the “other gal” and comparing sizes. We’re focused on looking at our 1 (or none) reTweet compared to the thousands some celebrity received. In This is Marketing, Seth reminds us what true marketing, long term marketing, human marketing is really about. It’s about building trust, creating a connection, enabling an emotional bridge between your solution and the need that someone else has. Buying ads is easy. Handing out flyers is easy. I’ve done it.
What I most like about This is Marketing is that Seth shares lots of case studies showing us that THIS WORKS. It’s hard work. It’s not easy. But it’s the kind of marketing that builds long term results for your business. In addition to the many case studies, Seth’s insights woven through the pages make it a gem and a must read for EVERY marketer. Whether you’re a very small business owner working from a home office or the Chairman of a billion dollar company, the insights in This is Marketing apply.”
Ramon Ray
“Feeling like you’re a fighter jet pilot mysteriously stuck on the tarmac watching jets flying about you is painful. Despite an MBA, I was stuck on the tarmac. Then, I enrolled in Seth’s “The Marketing Seminar” and just finished reading THIS IS MARKETING. Seth is like a jet fuel truck driver bringing to those of us with empty tanks or the wrong gasoline premium jet fuel: Fill Up and fly! Read THIS IS MARKETING and enroll in The Marketing Seminar!”
Bryce Kurfees
“I’ve owned my business for 21 years, but Seth Godin’s book, This Is Marketing, has transformed the way I think about marketing my business. I think this book could be called, The Philosophy of Modern Marketing, or Marketing that is Truly Effective.
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:
- What change are you trying to make?
- Who are you seeking to change?
- 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.”
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 20) “Marketing is our quest to make change on behalf of those we serve, and we do it by understanding the irrational forces that drive each of us.”
(Page 28) “You have no chance of changing everyone. You need to change someone. Which ones? Do they share a psychographic?”
(Page 65) “Our calling is to make a difference. A chance to make things better for those we seek to serve…Not for your own benefit, but because of what it can produce for others.”
(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.”
Do you see what I mean? Over and over and over Seth is teaching a new philosophy of modern marketing. Decide on the change you want to make, decide on who to change, and make a promise as to what those people will gain from you to make that change.
This book is not a quick read. It’s a cheesecake book. Take a bite, read a page. Think about what it means. Think about your answers to his questions. Write them down. Then go to the next page. Slowly your marketing design will emerge, and I believe it will be very helpful to you.
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.”
Dan Coughlin
“My biggest takeaway from This Is Marketing is that “real” marketing is about telling true stories to the right people so that you can promote well-being. Marketing is not about B2B (business to business) exchanges or B2C (business to customer) transactions, but H2H (human to human) connection.”
Scott Perry
“Seth Godin’s latest book, This is Marketing, is for people who choose to lead. It’s a blueprint for making change happen in which Godin invites the reader to see the forces at play and navigate in a new way. In my work as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I have turned to Godin’s work repeatedly to help me learn how to change the culture of a large Federal agency. This is Marketing provides the reader everything I wish I had known when I first started my career, namely how to overcome the noise in your head so that you can help those you seek to serve become the version of themselves they seek to be. It’s not about you, it’s about them. It’s emotional and it might not work, but it’s worth turning pro because it matters. For everyone who has the courage to make a difference, This is Marketing helps demystify how people make decisions so that you can help create an experience for them that is both exceptional and worthwhile. Decide what impact you want to make, be open to what’s possible, and do it with intention. For those who are generous and willing to see in new ways, This is Marketing will help make your ideas spread.”
Paula Braun
“More than a year ago, I joined Seth Godin’s The Marketing Seminar. There I learned new marketing techniques that I could apply to make positive difference in the world happen. Not only were the lessons super interesting, they were also insightful.
Seth’s thinking changed the way I look at the world. He and other coaches from TMS opened my eyes to the real social problems that our society is facing right now.
The same people helped me also find meaningful solutions to these problems. Therefore, I would like to thank Seth for making The Marketing Seminar accessible and affordable. Without the right pricing I would’ve never joined.
I thank Wendy Reese for spreading generosity and kindness while we were going through the course. – The lessons were tough, but with you I felt at ease. I will never forget the first interaction that we had.-
I thank Lori and Rinat for inviting me to the mastermind sessions after we finished TMS. In the weekly Zoom sessions I gained even more knowledge. Further, I would like to thank Louise, Mark, Erwin, Francesca, Elizabeth, Andy and Anna for sharing the wisdom with me. That what all of you are doing is incredibly valuable. — To me this is the real marketing.”
“Concise, generous and essential
This Is Marketing, the latest book by renowned marketing expert Seth Godin (Purple Cow, Linchpin and The Dip) is based on his online workshop The Marketing Seminar where people complete assignments in an open forum and with a focus on cross-pollination; people helping each other by providing feedback and learning from each other along the way.
In clear bursts the book takes apart your concept of marketing and rebuilds it, each chapter taking a different idea and, by providing anecdotes, case studies and other examples, allows you to get a clear grasp of how to best reach your intended audience.
The journey the book takes you along is one where you first relearn what marketing is, through the different ways that people perceive a product and through the stories you can tell with the different characteristics of your product.
As an alumnus of both the altMBA and the TMS workshops, it is a great reference work to refresh what I have learned, but it is also a book that I can easily lend to friends and colleagues who want to learn more about marketing. An essential part of any marketer’s library, either student or veteran.”
And here’s one more video review, from the amazing Ramon Ray:
Historical note: We created a special collectible edition of the book. There were only 2000 sets, but now they’re gone…. I’d like to give you a look at what it’s about.
Here are two quick preview pics. There are more hints at the site. Hurry!
This just in… Financial Times business books of the month…
And if when you’re ready to learn marketing…