Seth Godin On Marketing Creativity Killers

Seth Godin writing about what kills marketing creativity, identifies two primary culprits: Fear and Lack of Imagination. As part of his piece, Mr. Godin says:

“Basically, most people don’t believe something better can occur. They believe that the status quo is also the best they can do. So they don’t look. They don’t push. They don’t ask, “what else?” and “what now?” They settle.”

It is so easy for a marketing organization to fall into this trap…innovation often creates discomfort throughout a company. And when marketing looses it edge the rest of an organization will follow.

Recently I spoke about a study that divided Midwest manufacturers into Advanced, Progressive, Struggling and Disengaged categories based on their desire to incorporate new technology and systems into their workflow. The largest group – The Disengaged – have lost their vision for change and innovation. Even under extreme economic pressure they fall into the trap Mr. Godin describes so well.

How to escape?

Effective marketing connects your entire company to the marketplace. Marketers with Vision often cause discomfort when they identify weaknesses that need to be addressed, trends that indicate trouble, customer problems that need resolution or radical directions that may turn your entire business model on its head.

When a marketer gives into fear and suffers from a lack of imagination, the discomfort stops…and unfortunatley a critical voice for innovation in your organization is silenced.

Seth Godin’s blog on this subject is at: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/10/the_two_things_.html