"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

These are the opening words of Seth Godin's latest book - Poke the Box - and this was the reason that Tim and I seized the opportunity to fly to upstate New York to meet with him. We and 68 others from around the globe were fortunate enough to be invited to share and learn from him in his home town, Hastings-on-Hudson.

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, author and one of the most influential business bloggers in the world.  He offers invaluable insight into the simple notion that in this day and age the way we market to our audience has to change. The formula of interrupting lots of people to tell them about your product or service (e.g. TV, radio, press and so on) simply isn't working any more.

These days, your customer has more choice - the internet revolution has given them the means to search out a supplier or a product.  What Godin maintains is that now the job of marketers is to create something remarkable so that your product or service stands out from the crowd.  In essence to create a 'pre-story', something that will ensure your customer chooses you over the masses of competition that exists. The revolution is not finding customers for your product BUT finding products for your customer!

And  so there you have it!  A very rainy day in Hastings saw 70 of us listen to Seth and share hopes, ideas and frustrations with each other.

Hastings-on-Hudson
Tim Gale and the Hudson River

The trick will be to listen and process the information and then to turn that into action and results for The Product Marketing Company.  It's a challenge both Tim and I look forward to!