The biggest challenge marketers face today comes in the form of people’s attention spans, shrinking under the weight of a huge stream of information. In his TED talk, “How to get your ideas to spread”, Seth Godin tackles the problem of marketing a product in today’s world of information overload.
A rapid expansion of the web and overuse of the same time-proven marketing strategies led to a phenomenon called “banner blindness”. This term describes a situation when people ignore banner-like information, or they notice it, but forget about it shortly afterward (Benway & Lane 1998, p. 2). This phenomenon proves the idea Godin puts front and center in his TED talk: in a world where consumers are presented with too many choices, we need to create a remarkable product. Having such a product means having a competitive advantage, or having an edge over competitors in securing customers (Huggins & Izushi 2012, p. 81). Godin’s vision of competitive advantage is having a remarkable product: in other words, something that is unique and, therefore, cannot be imitated by competitors. The process of finding and creating a product or service which is remarkable is very difficult; however, if it were easy, it wouldn’t pose a competitive advantage in the first place.
Porter wrote that if a company wants to have a competitive advantage, it should target low-cost leadership, differentiation, or market specialization (1998, p. 120). Either way, the company must differentiate itself from its competitors. This fact is especially true in the world of today’s marketing: being as good as your competitor is not enough. For a company to have a successful and marketable product means creating a product that is above and beyond what competitors offer: in other words, a product completely different in the eyes of its target audience or has a much higher perceived value. Another idea presented by Godin is one that any competent marketer already knows: remarkable products will not sell by themselves. Godin argues that the success of an idea is not defined by the idea itself, rather, by its ability to spread and gather a target audience’s attention.
This argument is what, in essence, marketing is; and successful marketing is about taking a remarkable product and presenting it to the right audience. There are many tools available nowadays that help a marketer research the audience and different advertising models that allow for the advertising campaign to be very targeted. Proper research and highly targeted campaigns seem to be the best way to deal with marketing in a world of data overload. Target audience is the driving force behind the success of this product, and we have seen this many times throughout history. Apple is a well-known example of a company that built a cult following. Another example is Dollar Shave Club, which rode its viral video wave to success. Dollar Shave Club did not do what every other successful company in the utility market was doing; instead, it went in the opposite direction. The idea of membership plans for cheap razors and grooming products that are delivered for free is brilliant in itself, but it was the marketing that helped the idea spread like wildfire.
Godin answers the question of “How to get your ideas to spread” in a very straightforward manner – tell your ideas to those who listen, and they will do the work for you. Creating a remarkable product and marketing it to a passionate audience is the secret of success.
References
Benway, J. & Lane, D. 1998. Banner Blindness: Web Searchers Often Miss “Obvious” Links, Web.
Huggins, R & Izushi, H. 2012. Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters: The Ideas of Michael Porter, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Porter, E. 1998. Competitive Strategy, Free Press, Washington, DC.