Seth Godin Knows Marketing… And More

It’s day two at the CMA – Canadian Marketing Association – National Convention and Trade Show (full disclosure: I am the co-chair of this event). And, after hearing Avinash Kaushik (Occam’s Razor, author of Web Analytics – An Hour A Day and Analytics Evangelist, Google) present yesterday, there we many people buzzing that his keynote was worth the price of admission (and, I would agree). Then, this morning Seth Godin took the stage. Beyond being recognized as a leading Blogger, author of countless best-selling business books like, Meatball Sundae, The Dip, Purple Cow, and more, Seth is an excellent presenter.

The top level stuff is there: strong presentations skills, high passion, great visuals, compelling stories that seem actionable, marketing insights that seem, obvious (but few are doing). No surprises there. Seth is a master communicator and, clearly, understands how Marketing connects. But, after the countless times I have seen him present live, I came to a new realization… and it’s one that I think speaks to the Black Belt level of understanding Marketing.

After Seth’s keynote this morning, I reviewed the notes that I was taking (which, for the record, I do on my BlackBerry) and I had a huge realization. The notes had nothing to do with what he was saying and everything to do with a fistful of creative sparks that were inspired by what he was saying. Stuff I need to get doing… now.

That’s a pretty amazing thing to be able to do as a Marketer (and a Presenter).

It’s one thing to be great at giving content about what Marketers should be doing. It’s a completely higher level to say a bunch of very insightful things that actually inspire newer and different ways of thinking. I know most speakers promise this, but the reality is that ninety-nine percent of the time, you leave with notes about what they said, and not what you’re going to do now.

That’s the biggest lesson I learned from Seth today: inspire by giving people inspirational ideas.

It was a good way to start the day.