For the past month, I've been reading Seth Godin's book “This is Marketing.” I picked it up because I wanted to get a meta-perspective on the new way to do marketing and thus infuse that ethical ideology into my copy.
We each have unique stories and motivations but in the same breath we are all the same, with the same desires and needs. Tapping into that is what copywriting aspires to do.
I learned that, for a while, marketing was advertising. Marketers just bought ads. But then, at one point in time, it changed. Now, anyone can be a marketer. Marketing morphed into aligning with tribes, creating ideas and promoting them in a shameless way, and learning to see through another person's eyes.
And the idea of getting the word out is the wrong way to go about marketing. No spam, no ads, no hype.
The alternative is to persistently and consistently create frequent stories and messages for the smallest viable market, getting these people in sync, thereby earning their attention, trust, and action. Messages and stories that they actually want to hear.
With an empathic approach, marketers don't expect consumers to solve their company's problem. It's more like they use marketing to solve others' problems. So it's understanding and unselfish in that aspect.
One point that stood out to me the most what that people don't really want about what you make. They are focused on how it will make them feel and what it will do for them. Focusing on the tactics and not on the outcome of assisting the aligned market achieve those emotions is the wrong street to go down. The right questions are “Who's it for” and “What's it for.”
But my favorite part so far is where Godin talks about story-telling and creating connections. Stories that resonate with our market, connections which help the market feel seen and heard. Actions that engage with the product and service create stories, connections, and experiences.
I'm halfway through the book. Excited to learn more.