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 From Seth Godin

People need to understand motivation in order to make sense of a story. When we see a person or a business take action, our first move is to try to figure out their motivation. The why. The what's in it for them.

We want to know why someone is acting the way they are. Your customers or your friends or your investors or your boss want to know what makes you tick.

And the reflex explanation is: money.

He works a ton of hours, but that's because he gets paid so much.

A going out of business sale? Oh, they're in pain, so I get to save money.

He recommended that book, but that's because he got a kickback from Amazon.

She wants me to buy that service because she works on commission.

Of course, in a few cases, this is exactly the correct explanation. Except it almost always isn't.

People don't volunteer long hours at the museum or at an online forum for the money. There isn't any.

People don't work nights and weekends at some jobs because they have to... they have colleagues that get paid just as much who work less.

I smiled a bit when I saw a few posts from people who suggested I started the Triiibe group as some sort of grand scheme to sell books. I've gotta tell you, there are far easier ways to sell a few thousand copies of a book than to build and run an online community.

No, people (most people) don't do things only for money. There's usually a minimum threshold that gets someone to pick a job and stick with it, but beyond that, the things we do are expressions of who we are and what we love and the impact we wish to make, not selfish acts designed to earn a few extra bucks. (No one paid you to read this post, I bet).

All other things being equal, people pick what pays the best. All other things being equal, people buy the cheapest one. Fortunately for marketers, all other things are rarely equal. People don't all sign up to work at Goldman Sachs. Most of the meaning and activity in our lives comes from the things we do for free, or the choices we make about work, not the financial exchanges we do to support ourselves.

Next time you catch yourself following the money, it's worth another look. Follow the non-money first.

August 15, 2008
INside Edge
Morning Briefing

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Big Night For Lucas Oil Stadium

More than two thousand sponsors and supporters turned out for the grand opening of Lucas Oil Stadium Thursday night. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra provided the first live performance in the new 63-thousand seat venue. Singer and songwriter Stephen Stills took the stage, along with a surprise visit from Hoosier Rocker John Mellencamp. Midway through the event, the crowd cheered as the retractable roof was opened. Read More Our partners at Network Indiana\WIBC report Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard says Lucas Oil Stadium will have a tremendous economic impact on the city.

Listen

What an event?

Social Networking Explodes Worldwide, Facebook User Base Up 153%

Though the growth in social-networking users in North America is beginning to level off, their numbers are burgeoning in other regions around the world - with Facebook leading the way -Â according to a comScore study of worldwide usage of social networking sites. During the past...

Aug 12-08: Signs of What's to Come, Youth, Online, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Entertainment, Interactive

 

Any surprise here? I don't think so!

A great useful tip form John at Duct Tape Marketing.

Twitter is all the rage with business folks these days, (if you’re a social media butterfly it’s been the rage for you for about a year and a half) but is it useful?

Many business owners find it a bit silly, but still, everybody’s talking about it, right?

There are many practical ways to use Twitter depending upon your online goals, but here’s one that pretty much anyone can benefit from.

Twitter has a search feature found at search.twitter.com that allows you to search through the entire Twitter universe for conversations about any search term. Right off the bat this is a great way to monitor, in very real time, everything that’s being said about you, your brand, your products, your company, your boss, or your industry. I found a chap once asking if anyone knew if John Jantsch was an honest guy - well, who better than me to answer that tweet? You can even subscribe to the RSS feed for your particular searches and read the updates on your RSS reader.

Another great use of this feature is that it allows you to potentially follow and connect with people who are talking about the same things you are interested in. So, if you set-up a search for “marketing” you may easily find other folks who are interested in the same. (Hint: if your search term is more than one word, like your name - put quotes around it. “john jantsch”)

At the end of the day most of the social media tools are about connection as much as they are about communication of anything. Use Twitter to listen and connect before you get too concerned about blasting your own message to the world.