Marketing and all things related

Seth Godin recently took up Hugh MacLeod's thrown gauntlet to write a 500 word (or less) manifesto about marketing. In all of its glory, here it is:

Unforgivable.

Does it take 500 words to change things?

Probably not. It probably takes less than a hundred, plus a secret ingredient.

The secret ingredient is your desire to actually do something about it. To take action, to believe that it’s worthwhile, to confront what feels like a risk but really isn’t. The secret ingredient is to ignore excuses, abandon procrastination and stop looking for proof.

So, where’s my manifesto?

1. The greatest innovations appear to come from those that are self-reliant. Individuals who go right to the edge and do something worth talking about. Not solo, of course, but as instigators of a team. In two words: don’t settle.

2. The greatest marketers do two things: they treat customers with respect and they measure.

3. The greatest salespeople understand that people resist change and that ‘no’ is the single easiest way to do that.

4. The greatest bloggers blog for their readers, not for themselves.

5. There really isn’t much a of ‘short run’. It quickly becomes yesterday. The long run, on the other hand, sticks around for quite a while.

6. The internet doesn’t forget. And sooner or later, the internet finds out.

7. Everyone is a marketer, even people and organizations that don’t market. They’re just marketers who are doing it poorly.

8. Amazing organizations and people receive rewards that more than make up for the effort required to be that good.

9. There is no number 9.

10. Mass taste is rarely good taste.

So, decide. Decide before the end of the day. If you reject the aphorisms above, replace them with your own. But don’t settle. That’s unforgivable.

As you might guess, my inspiration for this post's headline is #7 plus a little Shakespeare. But there is a lesson in each of them for us as marketers even #9.

Perhaps it would be easier to digest this manifesto if you turn it into a set of questions to answer with brutal honesty:

1. How often do you settle?

2a. Do you treat your customers with respect?

2b. Do you measure your marketing efforts?

3. Are you doing enough help your sales team to overcome inertia and "no" answers? 

4. Do you blog for your readers? Seriously?

5. Are you focused on the long run? 

6. Are you honest?

7. Are you using everything your organization does as a marketing tool? Even your customer service?

8. How amazing are you? Really? 

9. What should you stop doing? Because what you don't do is as important as what you do.

10. Are you appealing to the masses? Or a highly lucrative niche?