Seth Godin and Tribal Marketing

Source: From Gaping Void, Interview With Seth Godin

Update: Seth Godin answers my question in the comments.

I like Seth Godin. But when I read point number one in this interview, I had to wonder if I was dumb.

He claims to be saying something radical but it seems to be a confusing restatement of the most basic business principle: If you provide a product to a market that wants it you are going to be successful.

Or is he saying that if you want to really be successful you should create a product that can become a cult brand for people who are not going to be mere customers but enthusiastic fans who long to rub shoulders with members of a product-oriented clan.

What I'm calling a fan club, he calls a tribe. And someone who wants to sell to a group with very specific tastes, can't worry about trying to please everybody. The decision to turn away from that which is broadly appealing (and therefore bland), he calls leadership.

His examples: Barack Obama, Adrianna Huffington and Harley Davidson.

Harley D is a famous cult brand. But should all motorcycle companies aim at the same kind of appeal, is that what he's saying?

Obama's popularity is simple pop stardom which at times can resemble messianism. In 1968, the new Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, had a fan base resembling that of The Beatles. But once he started governing, it didn't last very long.

The Huffington Post is something I haven't figured out. I thought that the needs it aimed to meet were already being served by an endless number of blogs. What does it offer that is unique? Its size?

How does this apply to recruiting? He's telling you to become a cult brand for a niche.

And in case you're thinking of writing a blog to attract your niche, Seth's ideal posts are as short as they can possibly be.

Comments

[Seth Godin]

Thanks for reading the interview. Of course, there's a big difference between outlining my point of view in 2000 blog posts or in a 160 page book and in two paragraphs on Hugh's blog.

My point is that most brands are focused on a top down, mass market, middle of the bell curve attempt to carve out big time success.

And that this will almost always fail going forward.

Passionate groups of connected people (fan clubs aren't connected within, merely to the leader) drive most success now.

[William]

If you think that recruiting can only be described in "sales" terms, this wouldn't make sense to most. Seth views things in marketing terms.

His response to interview question #1 applies to recruiting in the following way. Most view recruiting as a funnel process (wide advertising etc.) narrows to a hire. He is advocating developing/cultivating a following so that when you recruit you have an "opted-in" audience - a megaphone to announce your opening.

It's greatly influenced my thinking/approach to recruiting...

[Jim Durbin]

Marketing is something that recruiters do very well on a personal basis, but very poorly anywhere else.

Heck, our recruitment marketing firms used to just write job descriptions and put them in newspapers.

But what Seth is describing is what social networkers do. We build pools of talent, that are easy to fish from. We just don't use the marketing speak to do so, because recruiters wouldn't understand it.

As for Huffington, that was a fame driven site. Famous people who knew Arianna wrote on the site, and since lots of writers could join, they did so to be close to the famous people.

Quickly, the famous people dropped out, leaving a large mass of people who are excited to be writing without getting paid.

And there's still lots of celebrity dirt on the site, juicing up the page views.

Obama is different, as he's a blank slate that everyone projects their hopes onto. He really is closer to a star with a fan club then a tribe.

Harley Davidson is a total tribe.

Got your e-mails - very busy lately.