Book Review: ‘This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See’ by Seth Godin

This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See,  perhaps best described as the “magnum opus” of marketing genius, Seth Godin, guides readers through Godin’s most important teachings, presented in a timeless fashion that is likely to preserve the work’s real-world applicability for decades to come.

This Is Marketing describes how the Internet has transformed media from being monolithic – with the vast majority of people viewing the same media at the same times of day – to a smorgasbord of numerous, targeted, choices; Godin describes how such a change forces effective marketers to adopt an approach of identifying their targets’ underlying goals, developing offerings that help customers achieve those aims, and communicating related messaging to the core group of folks likely to adopt the offering. Helping people become who they want to be – and doing so with their permission to do so – has become the ideal form of marketing.

Godin stresses the importance of distinguishing between true adopters who will purchase a new offering and help create the network effect needed for success, and those who merely adapt to new products and services once their use has become accepted by the masses as a de facto standard. He explains how to address people and groups who consciously or subconsciously seek to become dominant through advancement, and those who simply wish to strengthen their group affiliations.

This Is Marketing provides actionable advice on topics such as how to best obtain permission to communicate with potential prospects, deciding to whom you should (and, perhaps more importantly, should not) target your offerings, and how to refine messaging by applying opposing pairs of values at extreme ends of the messaging spectrum.

All in all, This Is Marketing is an important read for people interested in marketing – which, truly, should include nearly everyone. The rules of success that apply to professional marketers of products and services also apply to individuals seeking to improve their own, personal brands – which is something that most people need to do in order to succeed in today’s world.

This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See is available from Amazon.com.