"Google is my friend" "Google is my life"

I just recently watched a video called "All Marketing are Liers" where speaker Seth Godin spoke his mind on the aspects of marketing. Besides being an author of six best sellers and a well respected business man, Mr. Godin is a funny, well spoken, intelligent marketer who speaks to Google about the focus points of marketing. Although Godin is the founder and CEO of a company that has been acquired by Yahoo!, one of Google's biggest competitors, he cannot praise Google's marketing tactics enough.

I believe that Godin really captured the essence of bringing the customers to you instead of you going after the customers. Google is one of the great examples of this idea. When someone goes to google.com marketers already have their interaction and attention unlike a television or radio advertisement. Godin brings up a powerful idea of "permission marketing". Godin describes it as "the privilege of marketing to people who want to be marketed to". If a customer is self-interested in a a product they are much more likely to purchase it then if they felt pushed to buy it by an outsider.

Another important point Godin makes is that you need to sell a story and not just a product. He gives an example of the $5 cans of cat food called "Fancy Feast". In some people eyes this is a waste of money where others think that it is necessary for their pet. These people enjoy the story of "Fancy Feast". The images in their TV ads and magazine ads of "special" cats getting "special" treatment.

I think Godin speaks about many strong ideas on marketing. He puts himself in both the shoes of the marketer as well as the customer, which gives him a credible balance.