3 ms·

An interesting low budget guerilla self marketing tip. It goes beyond just giving a few of X away for free, and it's really about the targeting/pre-selection o

by kleevr 18y ago

An interesting low budget guerilla self marketing tip. It goes beyond just giving a few of X away for free, and it's really about the targeting/pre-selection of your audience to maximize your 'advertising' budget. Seems smart, and might get things done...

baha_man 18y ago
It would be more interesting if he'd actually tried this himself, and was blogging about the success or otherwise after the event. I can't access the link at the moment, so I don't know if the other guy actually gave it a go or not.
- iuguy 18y ago
  I get the impression that Seth Godin is a really smart guy. I've got a few of his books and I have to say that he makes some great points. I also think, like most (or all as he said in one book) marketers he is a liar (I mean that in the sense of the book, not in the ad hominem sense of the term). I don't believe for one second that he eats all of his own dog food. Whilst he's great at what he does (marketing), he's not great at doing what he tells others to do. Let me take the example from the article regarding the B52s as a case in point. One commenter has already mentioned that similar items are listed in Amazon. Another point is that in doing the CD giveaway, you're not making a sale (unless you sell the whole package at a profit, which may be lower than your normal profit due to differences between new and used CDs). Yet another point is that the CD giveaway is only effective if you know your target market. If you think you sound like the B52s, then great. If the buyer only likes Rock Lobster by the B52s or the Flintstones you've not really gained much (unless your 'giveaway' was profitable). My final point is this. In the example of the CD giveaway, he missed something: What you really want is dedicated fans of the B52s to talk about your music. This means that you may need to start the conversation. You'll need to get bloggers, community forums etc. to talk about you as an Amazon seller, to talk about your band and to use the opportunity to raise awareness. Giving away the CDs to people who buy B52s music on Amazon alone is not going to achieve this. As usual from Seth Godin, it's interesting advice in a kind of 'why didn't I think of that' way, but the applicability of it changes substantially once you give it some thought. On a final note, has anyone else noticed a distinct increase in the amount of Seth Godin material linked to from here? I get the feeling that not all this is strictly relevant to HN...

by kleevr 18y ago

baha_man 18y ago

It would be more interesting if he'd actually tried this himself, and was blogging about the success or otherwise after the event. I can't access the link at the moment, so I don't know if the other guy actually gave it a go or not.

iuguy 18y ago
I get the impression that Seth Godin is a really smart guy. I've got a few of his books and I have to say that he makes some great points. I also think, like most (or all as he said in one book) marketers he is a liar (I mean that in the sense of the book, not in the ad hominem sense of the term). I don't believe for one second that he eats all of his own dog food. Whilst he's great at what he does (marketing), he's not great at doing what he tells others to do. Let me take the example from the article regarding the B52s as a case in point. One commenter has already mentioned that similar items are listed in Amazon. Another point is that in doing the CD giveaway, you're not making a sale (unless you sell the whole package at a profit, which may be lower than your normal profit due to differences between new and used CDs). Yet another point is that the CD giveaway is only effective if you know your target market. If you think you sound like the B52s, then great. If the buyer only likes Rock Lobster by the B52s or the Flintstones you've not really gained much (unless your 'giveaway' was profitable). My final point is this. In the example of the CD giveaway, he missed something: What you really want is dedicated fans of the B52s to talk about your music. This means that you may need to start the conversation. You'll need to get bloggers, community forums etc. to talk about you as an Amazon seller, to talk about your band and to use the opportunity to raise awareness. Giving away the CDs to people who buy B52s music on Amazon alone is not going to achieve this. As usual from Seth Godin, it's interesting advice in a kind of 'why didn't I think of that' way, but the applicability of it changes substantially once you give it some thought. On a final note, has anyone else noticed a distinct increase in the amount of Seth Godin material linked to from here? I get the feeling that not all this is strictly relevant to HN...