Seth Godin is a great marketer. That's not always a compliment if one considers that All Marketers are Liars :)
Seth talks a great game. Question is whether he walks as good a game.
Take his new venture, Squidoo, which got Squashed on TechCrunch in a May 9 review. The article posits the following:
Now here’s the problem. If Squidoo doesn’t work out as planned, and I don’t think it will, Seth loses more than his time and whatever capital he’s put into Squidoo. He also loses credibility as an expert in product marketing. To borrow the metaphor, Squidoo could become an albatross around Seth’s neck.
...and then proceeds to tear the Squid from tentacle to tentacle.
Seth's credibility aside for a moment, Squidoo is looking more like a black sheep than a purple cow. In fairness, it is young and so to call it a dog, as opposed to a puppy might be somewhat premature.
...but what about Seth? I was a little troubled that he has remained conspiciously silent throughout this conversation. This is nary a Seth comment amongst the 118. Hell, even Sam Donaldson weighed in on the debate (a doppleganger perhaps?)
I discuss this further in next week's Across the Sound (ATS #33) and also answer a listener's comparison between Seth and Squidoo, and myself and the sponsor of ATS, [x + 1]
For now, let me plant this seed. Perhaps it's ok for a talker not to be a walker. Me personally, I try and walk my talk whenever I can, for example: UNM2PNM, my Nike Ad, Across the Sound, Jaffe Juice, etc. I don't always hit the ball out of the park, but that's ok. Academics are often lousy practitioners in the "real world" - you know that saying, those who can, do and those who can't, teach. But then again, that doesn't mean that people can't and don't learn from them. Perhaps the same is true for Seth et al
Or perhaps talkers should be judged according to self-proclaimed higher standards. Worse case scenario, they can always talk their way out of it, right?
