Sage Advice from Seth Godin

Yet again Seth Godin inspires me. His latest blog post extols you to just get on with it, if you've never done anything before using this internet thingy, then start now and catch up quickly!

All the tools are out there you just need to use them, most are even free, they just need you to put some work and energy in. I've used most of these in my previous jobs. Just started at Global Lingo as Director of Marketing, and they're dying to grow as much as they can, so I'll be using some of Seth's points to get things moving quickly.

You should too.

Focus on the goal of your website

When you're building or writing your website the first thing you should consider is:

What exactly do I want this site to do?

Now the fist thing to come in to your head will be - Sell, be read, make me famous etc (depending on who you are)

But once you've got that you need to delve deeper, who do you want to sell to? What type of people are you looking to read your site? What do you want to be famous for?

You need to delve down and focus on your core market, you can't possibly reach an entire population, country, world, universe so don't even try all you'll be is bland and no one buys bland.

Focus your site on what you want to deliver, what really burns in your soul (or your warehouse)

When even a closing down sale doesn't help

Today I visited Borders book store. I've never seen it so busy just goes to show that the British love nothing like a bargain. Odd thing is that though it was packed not many people where buying. I picked up a book but decided against buying it, not sure why just didn't feel right.

And that's the problem with Borders, it doesn't feel right. Sure there's a Starbucks but the whole shop just feel wrong. It has a huge mish mash of stuff in there, books, CD's, stationery, household items, toys and loads of other stuff.

Borders' never knew if it was coming or going and neither did the buying public. Though it didn't buy the book in borders I walked around to Waterstones and I bought a book there, I paid full price when I'm sure if Borders had felt right I could have bought there for a lot less. But in Waterstones it felt right, because it is just a book shop that's what they do.

Choosing a company name

There are several trains of thought on this.

1. Pick a name which describes the business
2. Pick a name which uses a made-up word
3. Use your own name

1. If you have a complex business, then giving a descriptive name which does it justice will be difficult

2. Made-up word can be a great way to create standout, it also makes finding you easier. Seth Godin started Squidoo for that very reason. If you heard of it you'd remember the name because it is so unusual.

3. Using your own name may sound a bit lazy, but think about it. People all ready know you you already have a reputation and therefore a story. If you give a 'brand' name to yourself, there's a dilution of the story as you have to start explaining your decision.

Why long is better than short

In a world of sound bites where everything needs to be in short easily remembered sound bites, there's a common thought that everything needs to be short. Weather that's copy on a website, a TV series, a song, book, film, take your pick.

But all this flies in the face of the facts. Long things when engaging, interesting, artistic, of merit and relevant are pretty much always more appreciated over time, where as sound bites are just that and are quickly forgotten, there are notable exceptions, but most of those actually re-enforce the rule of long because they are made to entice you into the main long element.

I'm listening to The Stone Roses re-mastered on Spotify at the moment and one of my favourite tracks is Fools Gold, it's also a firm favourite of most Stone Roses fans. At 9.52 minutes for some people it's over long, but for a fan who's head starts bobbing from the opening notes it's just not long enough! In a similar vein Stairway to Heaven and Bohemian Rhapsody are stupidly long but and untouchable to their fans. Can you say that about 3 minutes of Lady GaGa?

Same applies to loads of other things which delight and amaze people, you try telling a fan of Lord of the Rings the films and books are too long and difficult. Try saying that watching 24 takes too much time!

In sport even. The World Snooker Championships takes two weeks to complete with some sessions going on into the middle of the next morning. The Ashes and test cricket take 5 days to play one game which may then end in a draw. American Football takes forever to finish as does baseball.

In art, is the Sistine Chapel ceiling too big and detailed? Jackson Pollock paintings too long?

In advertising, why do you think some infomercials are a whole 3 minutes long? And that long engaging copy in direct mail letters works better than short copy? Because it tells a story which is interesting and captivating to the customers who are disposed to buy the products. It's not trying to convince every viewer to buy, how could it? No it works hard on the relevant people and converts them.

What all these have in common is a craftsmanship which takes a long time to perfect, it's then perfectly articulated which makes it enduring, relevant and in a way addictive.

So when some one says that things need to be short because people don't have the attention span then they're clearly looking at the population in general. Fine if you want a quick hit and disappear.

But if you want to stay around for a long time better make things well crafted, interesting, relevant and if its needed long.

Using relevant targeted TV ads

It's Friday and I'm watching crap TV, that's why the ads seem a little more interesting. Lately they haven't been.

I spotted an ad just now that will never win any awards, the direction is functional, the script direct. It has no superstars in it and no whispering back and white film noir camera work. But this is a great TV ad, why is is great. Well because it speaks directly to the audience its targeted at. The ad is for Match.com the biggest dating website.

Don't click away

The ad for was so great because it was timely and relevant. The script is along the lines of "Last month we said we didn't have enough men on Match.com. Well we now have loads more new men". It then signed off with it's 6 month guarantee.

There was no need to fill in the blanks of "So ladies that means there are loads of new men to date" because the ad had achieved that easily and the interested single ladies knew exactly what to do.

The best bit for Match.com is that they will be able to measure success. The equation is simple Cost of Ad/Number of new signups and returning users equals ROI. Simples! (as another measurable clever ad keeps saying)

Get rich quick schemes on Twitter

The web is like any other medium it soon gets filled by spammers and get rich quick artists who sell on thier idea to poor unsuspecting suckers in the hope of creaming off a few quid.

Twitter has been caught up in that in the only way it could - incredibly fast!

The number of tweets promising ways of getting 1000's of followers is incredible, even twitterers who have good long standing reputation get caught up in the volume game (I question on such and didn't get an answer). The question is why? What the point of having millions of followers if:

1. They don't know who you are
2. They have no relationship with you or your knowledge

If there two things at least aren't met then there is no connect with your message and therefore no point having millions of followers because you can't influence their behaviour. It all comes down to permission to speak to people. Twiterers are far better off having and handful of followers who will listen act and respond than millions who don't care.

Quality over Quantity every time