In the traditional model, you can only play one program at a time. One radio show or one movie or one show… Scarcity of spectrum has changed just about every element of our culture. Scarcity of shelf space as well. There are just a few radio stations in each market, and each station gets precisely [...]
Entries Tagged as 'SethGodin'
The Extraordinary Revolution of Media Choice
November 15th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Tags:change·channels·choice·consumption·gatekeeper·media·multiplication·multitasking·revolution·shelf space·shifts·surfers·trends·waves
When ideas become powerful
September 8th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Why are we surprised that governments and organizations are lining up to control ideas and the way they spread? When power resided in property, governments and corporations became focused on the ownership, regulation and control of property. When power shifted to machines and interstate commerce, no surprise, the attention shifted as well. Now, we see [...]
Selling the benefits of charity
August 13th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Everything we do, we do because somehow it benefits us. We go to work for the satisfaction (I hope) and because we get paid. We smile at a stranger because it feels good to be nice (and perhaps we’ll get a smile in return). We pick up litter when no one is looking because telling [...]
Tags:belonging·cause marketing·charity·community·giving·why do we give
Are you wow blind?
June 29th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Kevin asked me: “Do ‘great ideas’ possess universally some sort of Wow Factor?” The problems with this question: What does ‘great’ mean? And who decides what ‘wow’ is? The challenge is this: lots of people think they know what both words mean in their area of endeavor, and many of them are wrong. Consider the [...]
The game theory of discovery and the birth of the free-gap
June 12th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
It all started because of the discovery problem. Too many things to choose from, more every day. No efficient way to alert the world about your service, your music, your book. How about giving it away to help the idea spread? The simplest old school examples are radio (songs to hear for free, in in [...]
Tags:advice·change·digital consumption·discovery·free·game·pay·payment·seth godin
Legacy issues
May 27th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
What does your organization do with legacy products and services? Things you started that never really caught on, or died out slowly over time? That’s a very easy way to judge the posture and speed of a brand. If there’s a one-way track–stuff gets added, but it never gets taken away–then the ship is going [...]
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How to fail
April 12th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
There are some significant misunderstandings about failure. A common one, similar to one we seem to have about death, is that if you don’t plan for it, it won’t happen. All of us fail. Successful people fail often, and, worth noting, learn more from that failure than everyone else. Two habits that don’t help: Getting [...]
Tags:FAIL·failure·failure is good·learn·misunderstood·misundertanding·successful people fail·worthwhile
Are you making something?
March 25th, 2011 · 1 Comment · All Posts, SethGodin
Making something is work. Let’s define work, for a moment, as something you create that has a lasting value in the market. Twenty years ago, my friend Jill discovered Tetris. Unfortunately, she was working on her Ph.D. thesis at the time. On any given day the attention she spent on the game felt right to [...]
Jumping the line vs. opening the door
March 4th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Every morning, the line of cars waiting to get onto the Hutchinson River Parkway exceeds 40. Of course, you don’t have to patiently wait, you can drive down the center lane, passing all the civilized suckers and then, at the last moment, cut over. Drivers hate this, and for good reason. The road is narrow, [...]
How should you treat your best customers?
February 12th, 2011 · Comments Off · All Posts, SethGodin
Here’s what most businesses do with their best customers: They take the money. The biggest fan of that Broadway show, the one who comes a lot and sits up front? She’s paying three times what the person just three rows back paid. That loyal Verizon customer, the one who hasn’t traded in his phone and [...]
