This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See

“Persistent, consistent, and frequent stories, delivered to an aligned audience, will earn attention, trust, and action.”

“Marketing is our quest to make change on behalf of those we serve, and we do it by understanding the irrational forces that drive each of us.”

“The most important lesson I can share about brand marketing is this: you definitely, certainly, and surely don’t have enough time and money to build a brand for everyone. You can’t. Don’t try. Be specific. Be very specific.”

“If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions, you’ve done something worthwhile. The thing you sell is simply a road to achieve those emotions, and we let everyone down when we focus on the tactics, not the outcomes. Who’s it for and what’s it for are the two questions that guide all of our decisions.”

“The relentless pursuit of mass will make you boring, because mass means average, it means the center of the curve, it requires you to offend no one and satisfy everyone.”

“We sell feelings, status, and connection, not tasks or stuff.”

“They say the best way to complain is to make things better.”

“Marketing is the generous act of helping others become who they seek to become. It involves creating honest stories—stories that resonate and spread.”

“People don’t want what you make They want what it will do for them.”

“Everything gets easier when you walk away from the hubris of everyone. Your work is not for everyone. It’s only for those who signed up for the journey.”

“It’s impossible to create work that both matters and pleases everyone.”

“When in doubt, assume that people will act according to their current irrational urges, ignoring information that runs counter to their beliefs, trading long-term for short-term benefits and most of all, being influenced by the culture they identify with.”

“You do people a service when you make better things and make it easy to talk about them. The best reason someone talks about you is because they’re actually talking about themselves: “Look at how good my taste is.” Or perhaps, “Look at how good I am at spotting important ideas.”

“How many people would reach out and wonder (or complain) if you didn’t send out that next email blast? That’s a metric worth measuring and increasing.”

“The status quo doesn’t shift because you’re right. It shifts because the culture changes. And the engine of culture is status.”

“You’re not running around grabbing every conceivable lock to try out your key. Instead, you’re finding people (the lock), and since you are curious about their dreams and desires, you will create a key just for them, one they’ll happily trade attention for.”

“Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem.”

“Your tactics can make a difference, but your strategy—your commitment to a way of being and a story to be told and a promise to be made—can change everything.”

“Marketing is the act of making change happen. Making is insufficient. You haven’t made an impact until you’ve changed someone.”

“Persistent, consistent, and frequent stories, delivered to an aligned audience, will earn attention, trust, and action. Direct”

“Service to the change they seek to make. Willing to tell a story that resonates with a group that they care enough to serve. There could be an overlap. It’s possible that it’s the way you feel right this minute, but it might not be. The version of you on offer might run many layers deep, but it can’t possibly be all of you, all the time.”

“A lifeguard doesn’t have to spend much time pitching to the drowning person. When you show up with a life buoy, if the drowning person understands what’s at stake, you don’t have to run ads to get them to hold on to it.”

“Yes, the Internet is a discovery tool, but no, you’re not going to get discovered that way. Instead, you will make your impact by uniting those you seek to serve.”

“Marketing is one of our greatest callings. It’s the work of positive change.”

“it’s about being a driver of the market, not simply being market-driven.”

“In the face of so much rejection, it’s easy to sand off the edges and fit in. Fit in all the way. Fit in more than anyone else. Resist. It’s not for them. It’s for the smallest viable audience, the folks you originally set out to serve.”

“Marketing is not a battle, and it’s not a war, or even a contest Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem. It’s a chance to change the culture for the better. Marketing involves very little in the way of shouting, hustling, or coercion. It’s a chance to serve, instead.”

“Everyone always acts in accordance with their internal narratives. You can’t get someone to do something that they don’t want to do, and most of the time, what people want to do is take action (or not take action) that reinforces their internal narratives.”

“Deep change is difficult, and worth it”

“If you hesitate to market your offering properly, it's not that you're being shy. It's not that you're being circumspect. It's that you're stealing, because there's some one who needs to learn from you, engage with you, or buy from you. Someone will benefit from your if you get out of your way and market it. There's a student who's ready to sign up. There's somebody who wants a guide, who wants to go somewhere. If you hesitate to extend yourself with empathy, to hear from them, you're letting us down.”