Seth Godin Sundays May 31st 2009

This is the Sunday post that I dedicated to Seth Godin because he is one of my most favorite blogger and mentors on the face of the earth. So each Sunday I am discussing something that will be equally as creative!

A Kreative  Seth Godin Sentence

Once upon a time I discovered the panhandler’s secret to opening acts and rock star. I found out that there was a myth of big salaries (it’s all marketing). All the hype turned out to be nothing. You see I don’t fall for national hype week. Because I know the difference between PR and publicity and the business rules of thumb.

Challenging convention

The smart guys at Contrast came by the office to talk about their thesis of abandoning conventions. It’s the intent of changing what we expect when we use something. Obvious things like the design of a cell phone or subtle things like the design of a door knob. There are terrific benefits to successfully coming up with a solution that invents and leverages a new convention.

I’d argue that there are four things to keep in mind when deciding to challenge a convention. You should incur the costs and hassles of inventing a new way to do things when you can are prepared to deal with all four. The costs can be huge, because a new user convention can slow people down or turn them away. A new financing convention makes it harder to raise money. A new hiring convention causes some people to avoid you…

1. Notice it. When you make a new way to do something, people are going to notice it. We’ll notice it when the volume knob on the radio doesn’t work the way all the other ones do, or when the navigation on your website isn’t where it ‘should’ be. Is your creativity about the convention? For example, if you make a stereo that sounds better, it’s not clear you should also change the way the volume control works. Noticing the shift in interface doesn’t help sell your concept of better sound.
2. Talk about it. Often, a new convention leads to conversations. People need to teach other about the ideas in your product or service, or complain about it or debate it. Again, no point changing the convention unless what you want is people to talk about your new convention.
3. Leverage it. Does the success of the new convention in the marketplace actually help you? Sure, you could invent a new kind of handshake or a new pricing structure. But if it catches on, do you win? Is it at the core of your business model? Which leads to the last one…
4. Protect it. Once the convention catches on, does the new way of doing things reinforce your position in the marketplace and lead to long-term benefits?

Read more on his blog and SUBSCRIBE to it!

PS did you get my favorite book of the year TRIBES??