May 9 2013
Enchanting Guy Kawasaki Shares Insights On the Art of Marketing
Hello! This is Hope Gibbs, your host for the Inkandescent Entrepreneur Show. We are thrilled to be here to today with marketing master, author, and entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki.
We first met Guy at the Empowered Women’s conference in Miami soon after he published his 2011 book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. In it, he explains: “Enchantment transforms situations and relationships. It converts hostility into civility and civility into affinity. It changes skeptics and cynics into believers and the undecided into the loyal.”
An enchanting premise, for sure.
Indeed, “Enchantment” charmed millions and hit three bestseller lists: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly. So we were keen to share his insights with our readers, and thrilled when Guy agreed to be our Entrepreneur of the Month in the August 2011 issue of our national business magazine for entrepreneurs, Be Inkandescent.
Since then, we have reviewed another one of his fascinating books, “Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition,” which was our Book of the Month in July 2012.
With this tome, which was originally published in 2008, Guy said hits the mark on what he said was his mission for the book—to provide “hardcore information to hardcore people who want to kick ass.”
Amen to that. And these are some of the topics we’ll talk to Guy about today, and also feature in our upcoming book, “PR Rules: The Playbook.”
Welcome to to the Inkandescent Entrepreneur Show, Guy!
Inkandescent: One of our goals on this show, and especially in our book, is to help readers and listeners understand the PR Playing Field. We do that by identifying the difference between PR, marketing, advertising and sales. While these areas are certainly interconnected when it comes to to a strong PR and marketing campaign, each has unique qualities. So tell us—how you define marketing.
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: When it comes to marketing your books, and there have been a dozen of them published, what has worked best—and what hasn’t worked very well?
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: Do you think marketing books is similar to marketing any product or service? Or does the marketing campaign change depending on what you are selling?
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: You worked for Apple in the early days. Clearly, they have launched some of the best marketing campaigns in decades. What do you think is the secret to their marketing success?
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: Your book, Reality Check, is an encyclopedia of essential marketing information and a must-read for any entrepreneur. In fact, it is packed with so much information, that even you admit no one can implement all the recommendations in the book. So you provide a useful 10-step checklist that includes important questions for business owners to ask themselves, including:
- Are you making meaning?
- Does your project jump to, or create, the next curve?
- Is your product Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Elegant, and Emotive?
- Do you have a mantra for what you do?
- Do you have a 10-slide pitch with no font smaller than 30 points that you can give in 20 minutes?
- Have you figured out a way to take your product to market with no budget?
- Are you helping people who cannot help you?
- Can you blow away any audience with a demo of your product?
- Would you hire “imperfect” job candidates who love what you do, as well as people who are better than you are?
- Are you only asking people to do things that you would do, too?
Tell us how answering these essential questions can help you create a powerful marketing campaign.
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: Talk a little about the advice you offer in Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. What is the best way that entrepreneurs can make their marketing enchanting?
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: When it comes to marketing, what do you advise them to avoid?
Guy Kawasaki:
Inkandescent: What it the most realistic, enchanting marketing tip that you can offer our listeners and readers?
Thank you so much for your time, Guy. As always, we are impressed with your thoughtfulness and meaningful insights. We look forward to talking to you again soon.
This is Hope Katz Gibbs, your host for the Inkandescent Entrepreneur Show. We thank you for spending your time listening to the Inkandescent Radio Network: The Voice of Entrepreneurs. Here’s to your incredible, indelible, Inkandescent success. We’ll talk to you soon!