Seth Godin has a model I keep coming back to. Picture your product or service in the middle of a set of circles. The outer circle is ads, hype, spin, buzz, clicks, likes – the domain of vanity metrics. The next one in is story and tribe, the kind of thing that makes people actually care. Inside that is usability, support and community, how it feels to actually use what you sell. And right in the centre is the product or service itself.

Most people, when marketing isn’t working, reach straight for the outer circle. Post more. Boost the ad. Chase more likes. It’s the easiest lever to pull, and usually the least effective one.

Godin’s advice: when in doubt, go one circle in. If the ads aren’t converting, the fix probably isn’t a bigger budget, it’s a clearer story. If the story isn’t landing, look at whether the product or the experience of using it is actually any good. The graphic below sets it out better than I can in words.

For a founder-led business, this matters because it’s tempting to treat marketing as something you bolt onto the outside, when it’s actually spin. The real leverage is usually closer to the middle: is the website easy to use, is the onboarding smooth, is the thing itself remarkable enough that people want to talk about it. Get that right and the outer circle gets a lot easier, sometimes you barely need it.

Where do you think your business needs to go one circle in?

Office Hours Wednesday 1pm if you want to talk through your marketing challenges. meet.google.com/qhk-qowa-yvx

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