Video: Seth Godin talks titles, transformation, Trump

The countdown to ClickZ Live New York is on and with five weeks to go, our keynote speaker, renowned marketer Seth Godin, stopped by our office for a chat.

With ClickZ Live New York just a month away – you’ll be there, right? – we invited our keynote speaker to come hang out with us. And we filmed it, just because we weren’t sure if you’d believe us when we told you who we got this year.

Seth Godin is a marketing guru (though he’s too humble to accept that term), an entrepreneur and a speaker, as well as the bestselling author of 18 books. We tried to get Godin to tell us about his upcoming presentation; he wants it to be a surprise, though he did give us a little sneak peek. So instead, we talked about a bunch of different things, starting with those books.

His titles are catchy, often seeping into the marketing lexicon. “Permission marketing” has its own Wikipedia page and “purple cow” is so well-known that it was the title of one of our sessions at SES Miami last year. Where do these names come from?

“The purpose of the book is to make its way into the lexicon. That’s why it deserves to be a book. Most people don’t go into a bookstore looking for an idea, but if I give a few people a tool they can bring to the next meeting, they can explain their idea and the easiest way is to give it a name,” explains Godin. “So the name comes first. If there is no name, there is no book. I won’t write a book unless I come up with a way to talk about it.”

We also talked about the inspiration for Godin’s daily blog posts, who inspires him, and digital transformation, which is also the title of our newest (and coolest) track. You can’t talk about digital transformation without talking about disruptors. Companies like Uber, Airbnb and Netflix have turned their respective industries upside-down. Which industry is begging to be disrupted next?

Godin shared with us his prediction of what’s next, as well as his opinion of another big disruptor: Donald Trump. Given what’s happening in the country at the moment, we were curious to hear his thoughts on Trump’s unique campaign and he definitely didn’t hold back.

“I hate to take any shred of the smallest bit of credit for this neanderthal splitting our country into pieces, but it’s like he read all my books,” says Godin.

 

Wow, Seth, tell us how you really feel.

But this video is just a preview of what’s to come. We’re assuming you want more, so we guess we’ll see you next month in New York!