Bootstrap marketing 101

Filed in archive Bootstrapper Tips on November 13, 2007

Uber marketer Seth Godin has good news for bootstrap entrepreneurs.

Paying millions for television ads is no longer the key to getting the masses to purchase your product, Godin told those gathered at an Ideas Worth Spreading conference in 2003 in Monterey, CA.

The TV-industrial complex is broken, Godin argues, and the need for creative marketing has given bootstrappers the edge. Here are his suggestions:

• Make your product remarkable (the loudest car speakers, milk that's not milk, a 55 foot tall lava lamp) and get customers' attention without a big advertising budget.
• Find a group with otaku, the quality of one who is obsessed, market to them and let them spread the message to a larger group.
• Don't waste time (or money) marketing to the masses because they're too good at ignoring your message.
• We live in a time of idea diffusion and those who can spread ideas win.
• The riskiest thing you can do is be safe.
• Sell to people who are listening and maybe they'll tell their friends (find out what people want and give it to them)

Seth is now marketing a four DVD eight hour box set of his inspirational message, at $800 a bit steep for bootstrappers. Let him know if you want a copy.