Marketing Book Summary
This is Marketing
By Sarah Zane
In the world of marketing, Seth Godin is a legend. The marketing expert and lecturer has written 18 bestselling books, including classics like Purple Cow and The Dip, and inspired millions of marketers and business owners around the world with his game-changing advice and revolutionary ideas.
In This is Marketing, Godin offers readers the crux of his marketing approach in a single, timeless work. Inside its pages, you’ll read about using marketing to connect with your members and solve their problems without relying on dated methods, like print ads and aimless email campaigns.
Here are the 3 key lessons of This is Marketing:
Lesson 1: Find your smallest, viable market.
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is trying to be everything for everyone, all the time. This often translates into casting an overly large marketing net, and attracting fewer clients than hoped for or anticipated. The solution, Godin writes, is to narrow your target audience as much as possible.
“When you seek to engage with everyone, you rarely delight anyone,” he writes.
Godin further stresses his point by explaining how the internet has made the goal of narrowing your audience more challenging than ever. Despite conveniences like targeted marketing and trackable metrics, advertising online means competing with dozens of other companies also trying to reach the same audience. If you fail to find a basic human need and highlight the way your product or service can help consumers fulfill that need, your message will get lost in all the noise.
As credit union marketers, this concept rings remarkably true. Whether you’re trying to attract new members or market one of your products to existing members, ask yourself these crucial questions:
- Which human need does my product or credit union help fulfill?
- Who is my target audience?
Lesson 2: Create your tribe.
Now that you know who you’re trying to reach, work on connecting with them by speaking their language. Let your marketing efforts reflect their values and highlight the ways your product or service can fulfill their desires.
Godin refers to this process as “creating your tribe.” You’re working on building a community that shares common goals and values and needs your product or service. He recommends sharing stories with your audience and being careful to speak in a tone and language they can relate to and understand. As a credit union marketer, take the time to learn the nuances of your target market’s language, and to incorporate it in all of your marketing efforts.
Lesson 3: Reach the general public by utilizing your initial fan base and their networks.
Once your business has reached a certain level of growth, Godin says, you’ll want to expand your tribe and attract a wider clientele. If you’ve followed the previous two steps, this should be as simple as getting your existing clients to network on your company’s behalf.
For credit unions, this means satisfying your members’ needs and showing that you truly have their best financial interests in mind. When your members are thrilled with your products and services, they’ll be more inclined to talk with everyone they know about how fantastic it is to be a member of your credit union.
Marketing does not have to be complicated or complex. By following the three basic principles laid out in This is Marketing, you can help your credit union continue to thrive and grow.
