Case Study: Seth Godin
Books | Tribes, Purple Cow, The Dip & many others
Primary Tribe | Seth’sBlog
Seth is one of the best recognized thinkers and bloggers in the world of marketing and leadership and is the author of many bestselling books, the latest being NYT bestseller, Tribes. He also happens to be another tireless giver, allocating a subsantial amount of time to helping people and causes.
In Tribes, Seth speaks directly to the changing landscape of marketing and leadership, arguing growth and marketing success in the new economy isn’t about interruption, but rather building powerful, devoted tribes. Obviously, I agree.
When his last book came out, Seth tapped his blogging tribe in a very unique way. He made an offer. Seth set up a private Ning community and invited a limited number of people who pre-ordered his book by a certain date into that exclusive tribe. But, he didn’t blast invites all over the web or purchase display ads. He simply let his giant tribe of blog readers know about it.
Thousands took him up on his offer (me included), driving his amazon rank through the roof two months before release and virtually guaranteeing a giant launch week with thousands of orders stacked into amazon’s system. Add in the good will he’d built through thoughtful daily posts within his online community over a period of years and large numbers of followers piled on once the book was released. Tribes became an instant success.