This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

The standing ovation
How many people are needed to start a standing ovation?
At TED, it only takes three. If Bill and Al and Sunny leap to their feet,
thousands of others will as well.
At a Broadway show, no matter how tepid the response, fifteen strangers
spread throughout the theater might be enough.
And at Mezzrow, the awesome jazz club, it’s probably not possible.
So, what’s going on?
In some audiences, there are few strangers. We recognize and respect
those around us, and our trust of these people, together with our deeply felt
need to fit in, combine to activate a standing ovation. If I desire to be one of
“us” and the leader is standing, well, I’ll stand too.
On the other hand, in a venue of strangers, our desire to fit in is a bit
different. At the Broadway theater, I’m wearing the tourist hat, and tourists
like me respond in ways like this. The venue has a bias.
And the opposite is true among the hardcore jazz fans. They know that
jazz fans don’t give standing ovations, not in a club, and the bias of the
venue is difficult to change.
Roots and shoots

---

Here’s an analogy that helps bring to life the ideas we’ve covered so far:
Your work is a tree. The roots live in the soil of dreams and desires. Not
the dreams and desires of everyone, simply those you seek to serve.
If your work is simply a commodity, a quick response to an obvious
demand, then your roots don’t run deep. It’s unlikely that your tree will
grow, or even if it does, it’s unlikely to be seen as important, useful, or
dominant. It will be crowded out by all the similar trees.
As your tree grows, it creates a beacon for the community. The early
adopters among the people you seek to serve can engage with the tree,
climb it, use it for shade, and, eventually, eat the fruits. And they attract the
others.
If you have planned well, the tree will quickly grow taller, because the
sun isn’t being blocked—there are few other trees in the same area. As the
tree grows, it not only attracts other people, but its height (as the dominant
choice in the neighborhood) blocks out the futile efforts of other, similar
trees. The market likes a winner.
It’s a mistake to show up with an acorn and expect a crowd. Work that
matters for people who care is the shortest, most direct route to making a
difference.

---