There are four kinds of marketing situations, and the approach to each is radically different. Yet most of the time, we lump them together as just plain 'marketing'.
So said Seth Godin a couple of weeks ago.
If you worked in the marketing department of a company, you probably would have read those words already. Seth's Blog is one of the most influential in the blogosphere (as I write this, his blog is ranked 28th among the hundreds of thousands in Technorati), and Godin's dozens of books are bestsellers.
But since you're reading this, you're probably a lawyer or a judge or a trial consultant, and you might not read Seth's Blog, or much else about marketing. If that's true, you're missing useful wisdom. Marketing, like trial work, is persuasion -- except that unlike most lawyers, marketers have to exercise their persuasive powers every single day, and often are paid and promoted largely on the basis of the results. They've thought a lot about this.
One, a few, most, or all?
Seth Godin's take on the four kinds of marketing situations is an example of a marketing idea that should interest lawyers. He explains:
If you are trying to sell a house or fill a job, you only need to persuade one person.
If you want to make your book sell a bunch of copies, your restaurant to be filled on Saturday night or your coaching practice to have a full schedule, you need to sell a few people.
On the other hand, viral bestsellers, killer websites and essential conferences hit their stride when most people in a marketplace have been converted. You can't get elected President (most years, anyway) without persuading most of the people who vote.
Lastly, when the market is defined right, there are situations in which you need to persuade all of the people involved. If you need 51 Senators to agree with you on a bill, or if you need the purchasing committee at a big company to buy your software, then you need a unanimous decision.
Your approach to persuasion is different, Godin continues, depending on how many you need:
ONE: You're a needle, the market is a haystack. Make your needle as sharp as you can, put it in as many haystacks as you can afford. Alternatively, you've already decided on your one (the date for the prom or the perfect job). In that case, throw the haystack out and engage in a custom, one-on-one patient effort to tell your story to the person who needs to hear it.
A FEW: Being exceptional matters most. Stand out, don't fit in. Shun the non-believers.
MOST: Amplify the excitement of the few and make it easy for them to spread the story to the caring majority.
ALL: Compromise. You need to be many things to many people, embraced by the passionate but not offensive to the masses. Sooner or later, the issue for the reluctant part of the buyer community is that it becomes more expensive/risky to stand in the way of the group than it is to go along.
Which are we?
So how many converts does the trial lawyer need? Where unanimity is required, it's "all," of course, but note Godin's point that you don't need to make each juror your advocate to get there. If by the time you sit down your case is "embraced by the passionate" and "not offensive" to the rest, the process of deliberation completes your win while you're down the street having coffee and trying not to stare at your cell phone. When doubting jurors give up and join the group, Godin's prediction -- "it becomes more expensive/risky to stand in the way of the group than it is to go along" -- exactly describes their decision. On this thinking, if you try to instill passion in every single juror, you'll likely overdo it with somebody, and end up with an impassioned holdout.
On the other hand, if you're a criminal defense lawyer whose best hope today is a hung jury, think about Godin's advice for convincing "one" and "a few," and see what it inspires.
(Photo by Paul Downey at Flickr; license details there.)
