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Marketing Guru Seth Godin Live from New York @ Inman Real Estate Connect 2007

February 13, 2007 · Filed under Agent Tips

Editor’s Note: we were asked to pull this video by the powers that be, so it is no longer available. Sorry!

I got a few snippets (golden nuggets) of Seth Godin’s keynote at Inman Real Estate Connect NYC 2007.

Seth goes back a few (20, 30, 40?) years to find a time when traditional (TV, radio, print, outdoor, coupons, packaging, etc) marketing and advertising worked. How is it possible that these mediums could be so effective for one generation and virtually irrelevant to another?

Clutter! Way back then there was one brand of …pain medication, batteries, sliced bread (and a hell of a lot fewer real estate agents and mortgage brokers), etc. All Proctor & Gamble had to do was let people (with real problems and needs) know where to find their products and a path was beaten to their door. That’s all over now.

As soon as you come up with a clever idea so do ten of your competitors. Case in point - today there are 19 flavors of Oreos and Starbucks offers 19,000 varieties of beverages. People don’t need you, your product or service anymore and they have gotten really good at ignoring you. Today no matter what service or product you’re pushing - ah offering - people have dozens if not hundreds of options to choose from.

So how do you differentiate yourself from the crowd? Check back for Part 2 of Seth’s keynote later this week…

By the way, companies pay Seth ~$20,000 to speak for an hour or two at these things. I attended a day long workshop at Seth’s office once for which the going rate was $800! Ok, I actually didn’t pay the $800, but bought $300 worth of Purple Cow books to get my ticket! I gave the books out to the 50 most influential people I know or wanted to know. Almost all those people now include me in their Rolodex and consider me a resource. That was very Purple of me - Seth would be proud. Of course, Seth got me to “sneeze” his book to 50 influential people - how Purple of him! If you’re asking yourself “what the hell is he talking about?” then read Purple Cow and find out. More valuable content from Trulia:-)