Seth Godin: Think of Your Customers as Weird, Not Dumb

Last Updated: 27 Jul 2020
Pages: 2 Views: 82

Even if you eat yogurt, drink coffee, wear glasses and check regularly, you may not have noticed the one trait that all of these products and services share.

None of them found their way to mass audiences through traditional advertising, entrepreneur and author Seth Godin said on Tuesday during a talk at New York . Put another way, they weren’t created with the average person’s wants and needs in mind.

“When we think about great brands of the last 15 years, none of them were built for normal people,” Godin said.

Order custom essay Seth Godin: Think of Your Customers as Weird, Not Dumb with free plagiarism report

feat icon 450+ experts on 30 subjects feat icon Starting from 3 hours delivery
Get Essay Help

Related:

Godin encourages businesses and marketers to embrace the rise of weirdness, or the decline of the mass audience, and he cautions against the mentality that has prevailed for more than half a century. That is, the pressure to develop average products in hopes of reaching the maximum number of average consumers.

“The idea that you need to dumb, dumb, dumb it down so you can reach everyone is exactly the opposite of what it means to lead,” Godin said. “For the first time in the history of industry at scale, we can treat different people differently. Yet we refuse to do so, partly because of the creative arrogance of the ad business that says we have the right thing, the one thing, here it is, for everyone.”

It may seem like Starbucks, Facebook and the other brands mentioned above are mainstream. But when they debuted, they had niche -- not mass -- appeal. Consider 20th-century for sugary breakfast cereals. Then consider how foreign Greek yogurt seemed to most American consumers a decade ago, and try to remember how it became so popular without billing itself as the preferred option.

“If you give people a choice, they’ll take a choice,” Godin said. “There are now more weird people than normal people. Because the weird people are choosing to be weird. They’re on the edges because they want to be.”

Reaching a particular audience takes more than targeted marketing, though. People are afraid to pitch ideas or build companies based on niche ideas. To get more attention and make more sales, they take the safe route and go with an idea that’s been proven effective and lucrative.

Related:

In 2012, Godin published , and he continues to share his thoughts about the balance between flying too high, or risking a too-far-out-there idea, and flying too low, or failing to make anything new. Because flying low wins out so often, he explains, people falsely believe they lack creativity. They become passive and lose sight of what truly matters.

Cite this Page

Seth Godin: Think of Your Customers as Weird, Not Dumb. (2018, Sep 19). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/seth-godin-think-of-your-customers-as-weird-not-dumb/

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

plagiarism ruin image

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Save time and let our verified experts help you.

Hire writer