The folks at CopyBlogger.com put out a podcast recently that got me thinking. It was about Seth Godin's new book, We Are All Weird:The Myth of Mass and the End of Compliance. In it Seth discusses the end of mass marketing and the emergence of fragmented tribes, and the opportunities that presents.
I'm not reviewing the book, so if you're looking for that go elsewhere. I haven't read the book yet. Still the idea is interesting, and like a lot of Seth's work, the idea is right in the title. We are all weirdos, and being a weirdo is a good thing.
This is why: the mass market appeals, a bit, to everyone, because it's not bad and there used to be no alternative. If you aren't mass market, though, you still have an appeal to someone. The web allows you to be genuine and express yourself. Everyone needs to do this. Now you can.
How do you start? Make something. A product, a service, a website or blog. But, as Guy Kawasaki says, make it for you, not for the customer. It worked for Kawasaki and Steve Jobs at Apple. Maybe you'll make a meatball sundae, but probably not. Chances are you'll create something that someone thinks is good. And it will be noticed.
So ask yourself: what about you is weird? Of course, we need to agree on what weird is, in general. Godin says it's anything that is not mass market or "normal", It's also an opportunity. CopyBlogger's Sonia Simone talks about it as the long tail, which is everyone else in the world who is as weird as you are. It is the result of the fragmentation of our culture. Weird in your small town or high school isn't weird in the great big world.
What makes me weird? It's the things I like: real estate, business, flying, independence, food security, cooperative ventures, alternative energy, history and politics. All of those things inform me in a peculiar way. Some people find it weird. It makes me want to own remote real estate that I can fly to, make off grid, share with others, and use to raise food.
But if that's weird today, imagine how weird it was in 1987. So weird it would almost have been impossible to accomplish. Today, however, I can market those ideas to as many people that share them as I can reach. I'm limited only by my ability to market the ideas and my ability to create a workable business model for them.
Why should anyone even care? You should care because now that the idea has been enunciated it presents you with a choice: are you going to market something that you think the masses want, or are you going to create something that you want and find people who will support you? The possible answers will determine very different paths.
I'm not reviewing the book, so if you're looking for that go elsewhere. I haven't read the book yet. Still the idea is interesting, and like a lot of Seth's work, the idea is right in the title. We are all weirdos, and being a weirdo is a good thing.
This is why: the mass market appeals, a bit, to everyone, because it's not bad and there used to be no alternative. If you aren't mass market, though, you still have an appeal to someone. The web allows you to be genuine and express yourself. Everyone needs to do this. Now you can.
How do you start? Make something. A product, a service, a website or blog. But, as Guy Kawasaki says, make it for you, not for the customer. It worked for Kawasaki and Steve Jobs at Apple. Maybe you'll make a meatball sundae, but probably not. Chances are you'll create something that someone thinks is good. And it will be noticed.
So ask yourself: what about you is weird? Of course, we need to agree on what weird is, in general. Godin says it's anything that is not mass market or "normal", It's also an opportunity. CopyBlogger's Sonia Simone talks about it as the long tail, which is everyone else in the world who is as weird as you are. It is the result of the fragmentation of our culture. Weird in your small town or high school isn't weird in the great big world.
What makes me weird? It's the things I like: real estate, business, flying, independence, food security, cooperative ventures, alternative energy, history and politics. All of those things inform me in a peculiar way. Some people find it weird. It makes me want to own remote real estate that I can fly to, make off grid, share with others, and use to raise food.
But if that's weird today, imagine how weird it was in 1987. So weird it would almost have been impossible to accomplish. Today, however, I can market those ideas to as many people that share them as I can reach. I'm limited only by my ability to market the ideas and my ability to create a workable business model for them.
Why should anyone even care? You should care because now that the idea has been enunciated it presents you with a choice: are you going to market something that you think the masses want, or are you going to create something that you want and find people who will support you? The possible answers will determine very different paths.
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