Discussion
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
Hi, I'm Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur and maker of ruckuses. In addition to starting, building and selling two internet companies, I think and write a lot about marketing. Without that, without the ability to spread ideas, none of the work on product pays off. I have a new seminar starting this week, and I'm here to answer your questions about how to integrate marketing early, long before you think it's time. Your ideas deserve it.
Filip Van Hove
@filip_van_hove · Product Manager
How would you balance reading and actually building a business?
I find that reading could also be a from of productive procrastination. (AKA: reading too much, doing too little)
Ps. You are an amazing writer & creator. Huge props!
Nisha Baxi
@nisha · Product Marketing @ Facebook
@filip_van_hove yes! Warren Buffett reads so much and somehow has it all.
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@filip_van_hove Thanks Filip. You've just identified your version of the Resistance (go read the War of Art if you haven't).
Now that you know what it's like, dance with it. Every time you feel like reading, make a promise instead. A generous promise to someone you can serve. Maybe for money, maybe for free, but always generous.
Then keep the promise.
That's the habit that every successful builder I know has.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
If you started or were part of a new company and you were in very early stages but wanted to 'figure out' the marketing strategy in 30 days, what would you focus on?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@bentossell Sell ten.
Find a tiny audience and engage them. Nowhere to hide. No miracles on the horizon.
If it's not good enough for them, who is it good enough for?
Jonathan Antoine
@jonathan_antoine · Product designer, Stepstone
Hi Mr. Godin,
First, thanks for all the great content you provide, that's really helpful.
I have two question:
1- What will be your growth strategy(acquire first user) for a new game app on mobile ? (or mobile app in general)
2- If you had 20 000$, how you will optimise the development of that app(product dev., growth) ? In other words, How will you split the capital (knowing that I am not developer but designer)?
Thank you for your time
Have a great day!
Jonathan (From Belgium)
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@jonathan_antoine Thanks Jonathan. The big mistake mobile creators make, again and again, is that they don't build virality in. Without that at the core, you have a statistical chance of zero. Either you have to build a tribe/platform/asset outside the app, or the app itself must work to create it.
Ayrton De Craene
@ayrton · Code @ Product Hunt
What is the number one piece of advice you ever received?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@ayrton Remember Rule #6
Which came from Ben and Roz Zander, who wrote the amazing book, "The Art of Possibility"
What's rule 6?
Don't take yourself so damn seriously.
But the corollary is much more important:
Take other people more seriously.
Empathy matters. It changes the world.
Zakaria Ouhra
@zakariaouhra · iOS engineer
What is your #1 startup lesson for first time founders?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@zakariaouhra Aim for the smallest possible audience. By possible, I mean the smallest you can live with. Delight them first and always.
Garrison Snelling
@dev_gar · Founder, RemoteTogether
@seth_godin so I'm building an app for my chronically ill Fiancé and we are going to live together in 60 days... Does that count as "the smallest you can live with"? She's rather small as well!
Jacqueline von Tesmar
@jacqvon · Community, Product Hunt ✌️😻
What are the biggest mistakes that you see founders make when it comes to marketing?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@jacqvon My question for the Product Hunt community has two parts:
1. How do you define marketing? Is it the stuff you slap onto the thing you made, after you make it? The necessary hassle you have to go through to actually get paid enough to make another piece of software or another cool product?
And based on your answer…
2. What would happen if marketing happened before you began? What if the action of making something people want is more important than trying to get people to want what you made?
Perhaps the definition of a good product, then, is:
Great marketing, executed properly through good engineering.
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
@seth_godin @jacqvon Love that answer!
Nikhil Jois
@nikhiljoisr · Co-founder, Eventosaur
Seth, your ideas have helped me come up with better ideas. Thank you. I wanted to ask you about platforms and mediums. You have always been choosy about how you spread your ideas. Books, email/blog, a few courses, and Alt-MBA. How do you choose your medium and how do you eliminate a medium as a choice?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@nikhiljoisr Are you able to build an asset? Are you the product or the customer? Is there enough focus to gain momentum? Where are the boundaries?
Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré
@nikkielizdemere · Moderator at Product Hunt
Hi Seth! Thanks for your time! ❤️️
In regards to, " All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low Trust World":
1. Is the future of effective marketing in authenticity?
2. How can brands avoid the pitfall of turning "authentic marketing" into the next meaningless buzzword that we'll all learn to ignore?
3. What have you observed in the authentic marketing space over the last decade since you wrote that book?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@nikkielizdemere I define authenticity a little differently. For me, it's not "what do you feel like doing", because that's unlikely to be useful.
Instead, I define it as, "consistent emotional labor"
Show up as a pro.
Keeping promises.
Even when you don't feel like it.
Especially when you don't.
Alan Cassinelli
@alancassinelli · Sr. Strategic Copywriter at Zembula.com
What do you wish every marketer would know?
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Seth Godin
@seth_godin · Author, entrepreneur, teacher
@alancassinelli That it's not about you.
That we're ignoring you.
That we are waiting for you to be amazing.
That you have more leverage than you know.
And that if you try, you don't have to sneak around.
Alan Cassinelli
@alancassinelli · Sr. Strategic Copywriter at Zembula.com
@seth_godin thank you, great advice!