Top 10 Marketing & Business Lessons from Seth Godin's Masterclass
I was lucky enough to attend a live session with Seth last week as part of my #Atomicon25 ticket, and let’s just say - my brain is still buzzing with ideas.
The man is a legend, honestly!
Seth has a way of cutting through the noise (and industry standards) and making you rethink the way you approach marketing, business, and general approach to your business. Whether you’re a freelancer, an agency owner, or growing a brand, his insights were packed with value- and literally ALL of us on the call raved about it!
So, not one to gatekeep, here are my top ten takeaways from the session, with my thoughts on how they apply to your business content strategy.
1. Remarkable isn’t about being loud - It’s about being worth talking about
We often assume that to stand out, we need to be louder, post more often, or come up with a ‘viral’ idea (which is never a good goal in my opinion). But remarkable doesn’t mean noisy - it means worth making a remark about.
Think about brands people genuinely talk about. It’s not because they post every five minutes or use more exclamation marks. It’s because they create something so valuable, interesting, or different that their customers want to talk about it.
💡Ask yourself: Would my audience miss me if I stopped posting tomorrow? If the answer is no, it’s time to rethink how you create impact. Ouch! And if that felt like a kick in the guts, it did to me too, and had me wanting to burn my entire tactics to the ground! I didn’t by the way!, but it did get me thinking more deeply about what content is actually serving my audience. (Which is you- so if you have anything you’d like more/less of, please message me- I’m all ears!)
2. People don’t share your content to help you - They share it to help themselves
I share this with a big caveat, of course some people share content just to support you, and I wouldn’t be anywhere without my cheerleaders (🙏💕) BUT this applies to your general audience.
Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t about you. It’s about them. People share things that make them look good, smart, or connected. They share as it makes them look funny, or clearly demonstrates their values.
If sharing your content boosts their status (e.g. “I saw this trend first”), they’ll share it.
If sharing helps them feel a sense of affiliation (e.g. “This is what my people believe”), they’ll share it.
Marketing works best when your audience has a selfish reason to spread the word. Give them that reason.
3. Direction first, then speed - otherwise, you’re just running in circles
As Seth put it:
"It doesn't matter how fast you're going if you're going in the wrong, so we need to figure out the direction before we worry about getting there fast."
In other words,
💡It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going if you’re heading the wrong way.💡
It’s easy to get caught up in posting more, working longer hours, or ‘hustling’ harder. But if you’re not clear on where you’re heading, all that effort is wasted.
Before you run away with your tactics and ty to get ahead, take a step back.
Are you posting on that platform because it aligns with your strategy - or just because ‘everyone else is’?
Are you launching a new offer because it fits your bigger vision - or just because you feel like you should?
Speed is great - but only when you know the destination.
4. The capacity trap - Why you can’t just “work harder” to scale
When I was at school, my history teacher would say that I’m great at working hard at working. So this one struck a chord! You can’t work hard at scaling if you’re going to reach a capacity trap.
Freelancers and small business owners often hit a ceiling, and its a problem I’ve worked through with my mentors Barbara and John all of last year.
Why do we hit that ceiling? Because we spend so much time delivering work for clients that we have no time left to grow their business. This is also true of creating content on that hamster wheel, that never stops, and then doesn’t allow us space to analyse or reflect.
Growth doesn’t come from working harder - it comes from working smarter.
Cliché you might have heard, and honestly, Seth put it in a much more compelling way that me! But what this means is:
Making time for marketing and business development, even when you're fully booked.
Systemising and outsourcing where possible.
Raising prices or refining your services so you're not maxing out on hours.
If you feel like you’re stuck doing all the things, you might be in the capacity trap.
And I’ll also add, if your goal is to be at capacity and work those hours, and that is success for you, that is awesome. Your goal might be sustainability and not growth, and that is totally valid too. With sustainability you still might have room to work smarter, and this can let you have extra free hours for yourself back. 🥳
5. Sales is just helping the right people solve their problem
As a creative, organised Notion loving team builder who thinks in systems, sales makes the blood drain from my face and feel a bit sick.
But Seth reminds us to reframe that. Sales are a way of you helping and serving. (I’m still working on this one!)
Marketing often gets mistaken for hype, and sales gets mistaken for pressure. (Especially if we’re thinking bro marketing).
But true sales is just presenting the right solution to the right person at the right time.
Seth used a great car analogy. If someone walks into a Ferrari dealership and asks about seven-seater family cars, the salesperson isn’t going to pressure them into buying a Ferrari. They’re going to say - “That’s not for you, but my brother-in-law runs a Volvo dealership down the street.”
If you try to sell to everyone, you’ll struggle. If you focus on the right people, sales stops feeling like selling - and starts feeling like helping.
6. The fastest way to grow isn’t more clients - it’s better clients*
Often we think the only way to earn more is to take on more clients, and especially when you don’t charge appropriately, its a vicious cycle.
But Seth notes that you don’t scale by working more hours - you scale by working with better clients.
Better clients respect your expertise.
Better clients pay more.
Better clients refer you to more great clients.
So, instead of trying to land as many clients as possible, focus on becoming the kind of agency that top-tier clients want to work with. Focus on serving better, delivering better, and improving what you do, so that you are able to work with the types of clients that you want to.
*I’m loath to use the term ‘better clients,’ as I prefer to think of it as finding clients whose values and ethics align with your own. There are the right clients out there for everyone, and it’s about matching those values to create the best partnerships. 🙂 That said, how Seth defines it does make the point crystal clear!
7. Stop measuring the wrong things - False proxies are killing your growth
Followers aren’t clients. Views aren’t revenue. Traffic isn’t loyalty.
A huge number of followers doesn't pay the bills or your team at the end of the month, but it can be easy to focus on these numbers when you’re trying to prove your ROI.
It’s easy to focus on numbers that feel important but don’t actually impact your business.
Seth says if you’re prioritising growth metrics that don’t translate into actual results - stop. Instead, track things that matter:
How many people engage meaningfully with your content?
How many sales calls come from your posts?
How many clients return or refer you?
Not all numbers matter. Pick the ones that do.
Seth says so!
8. AI is the biggest shift since electricity - But it’s a tool, not a threat
AI isn’t just another trend - it’s a fundamental shift in how we work. And I personally think that although it’s only in the last 18 months we’ve really been talking about the impact of AI as an industry, its actually been used in social media and content for many years. (Back when Jasper was Jarvis!)
The big question that Seth wanted us to consider was: Will you work for AI, or will AI work for you?
If you ignore AI completely, you might find yourself replaced by those who embrace it. But if you learn how to use it as a tool, it can multiply your impact without replacing your creativity.
[This article is a good example- AI helped me with the structure- you didn’t need a Seth fan-girl stream of word vomit… I wanted to curate that stream of word vomit into clear sections so it was helpful!! 😆]
I digress… so, the best approach according to Seth?
Use AI to support your thinking, not replace it.
Let it handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on deep, strategic work.
Learn how to use AI in a way that enhances your value, not diminishes it.
9. The best way to beat the competition? Make the pie bigger
This is something that the industry coined community over competition, and is still a real value of mine. We are better together.
But Seth says that it’s easy to see others in your space as competition. But the reality? Most of them aren’t.
The biggest risk to your business isn’t another freelancer or agency - it’s that your ideal clients don’t see the value in what you do. That is something we can work towards fixing in our content strategy, and doesn’t have to relate to our ‘competition’.
Instead of worrying about getting a bigger slice of the pie, focus on making the pie bigger. (I like Seth’s pie analogy 🙂).
Build relationships instead of competing.
Educate your audience about the problem you solve.
Share knowledge generously - because a rising tide lifts all boats.
10. Confidence comes from taking action - not waiting for it
In Seth’s opinion, the biggest reason people don’t take action?
Fear.
Fear that their content won’t land.
Fear that their service won’t sell.
Fear that they’ll put themselves out there and no one will care.
But confidence doesn’t come first. Action does.
If you wait until you feel ‘ready’, you’ll wait forever. The only way to get confident in your work, your marketing, or your business - is to start. You do really just have to jump in feet first and see what works by giving it a go.
The last bonus point, number 11… Seth really is brilliant. His book ‘This is marketing’ is my all time go-to industry book, and seeing him in our session last week really did solidify him as rightfully the industry thought leader.
There’s so much more I could say about this session, but I’ll leave you with this - marketing isn’t about shouting louder. It’s about creating something worth talking about.
And as my tagline on my website is your voice, only louder, I’m off to work out if I need to change that. 😆