Categories: Articles

Seth Godin Knows Marketing… And More

It’s day two at the CMA – Canadian Marketing Association – National Convention and Trade Show (full disclosure: I am the co-chair of this event). And, after hearing Avinash Kaushik (Occam’s Razor, author of Web Analytics – An Hour A Day and Analytics Evangelist, Google) present yesterday, there we many people buzzing that his keynote was worth the price of admission (and, I would agree). Then, this morning Seth Godin took the stage. Beyond being recognized as a leading Blogger, author of countless best-selling business books like, Meatball Sundae, The Dip, Purple Cow, and more, Seth is an excellent presenter.

The top level stuff is there: strong presentations skills, high passion, great visuals, compelling stories that seem actionable, marketing insights that seem, obvious (but few are doing). No surprises there. Seth is a master communicator and, clearly, understands how Marketing connects. But, after the countless times I have seen him present live, I came to a new realization… and it’s one that I think speaks to the Black Belt level of understanding Marketing.

After Seth’s keynote this morning, I reviewed the notes that I was taking (which, for the record, I do on my BlackBerry) and I had a huge realization. The notes had nothing to do with what he was saying and everything to do with a fistful of creative sparks that were inspired by what he was saying. Stuff I need to get doing… now.

That’s a pretty amazing thing to be able to do as a Marketer (and a Presenter).

It’s one thing to be great at giving content about what Marketers should be doing. It’s a completely higher level to say a bunch of very insightful things that actually inspire newer and different ways of thinking. I know most speakers promise this, but the reality is that ninety-nine percent of the time, you leave with notes about what they said, and not what you’re going to do now.

That’s the biggest lesson I learned from Seth today: inspire by giving people inspirational ideas.

It was a good way to start the day.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.