Marketing: a failed experiment

You'd be hard pressed to find two better marketers than Steve Jobs and Seth Godin. But the reason for their success is remarkably simple. They don't focus on marketing, on creating "an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities discover that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others - Wikipedia". Instead they focus on selling.

A fantastic example of this is the state of the christian religions in the early 15th century. For thousands of years the church had been marketing religion. They told people what it was, how to do it and why it was important in to them. Then Martin Luther changed everything. His nailing 95 Theses to a church door kicked off one of the most important religious changes in history, the Protestant Reformation. He changed the face of religion because rather than market it to the people he put it in their hands, he sold it.

Jobs and Godin do the same thing. Jobs doesn't tell you why you'd want a mac or an iPod, he doesn't even tell you why it would make your life better. Jobs tells you what it is and lets you figure out why you want it. Seth doesn't give his perspective on marketing he sells a way of thinking about products and customers. When they speak they don't focus touch points or demographics, they don't rely on gimmicks or humor, they just sell.

If you find you're faced with a marketing decision don't fall for the hype, pick the one that sells.