About a year or so ago, I signed up for a limited edition book from one of my favourite marketing authors. It is of course Seth Godin and the book is a compilation of selected writings from his blog from 2012 to 2016.

It is appropriately titled as is this blog post…

What Does it Sound like when you Change your Mind?

We never think that opening a book can be an experience but it is and this one definitely was.

Seth’s writings have always been about changing how we look at things… how we look at marketing and how we look at the world.

This book is a fitting “naming” of his work and discovering what was inside the package was a fitting experience.

One of the most interesting things about this experience was the simple fact that there was no way to know what was inside the package before you opened it.

It was unconventional. It was interesting and it built my anticipation to the big reveal that was about to happen.

A Book Opening Journey…

I want to recount this book opening journey for you because there’s a lesson in it. We don’t have to do things the way everyone else does… and in fact we shouldn’t. That’s really the essence of marketing… uncovering that point of difference… that way we do things that’s not like how anyone else does it.

I love that Seth Godin found a way to create an experience in simply opening up the package that this book was delivered in.

It’s not what we expect from our books…

The Parcel Arrives…

It was about 9.30am when the mail usually arrives at my desk. And here comes the brave Mary who said to me as she lay the parcel gently down that

Mary stayed with me as we uncovered what was inside the wonderful and unexpected box the book was packaged in.

And yes indeed it was gold… this wonderful titan of a book as Seth puts it.

It was about 28 cm X 37 cm and about 6 cm deep.  And, it weighed 17 pounds…

It’s an experience as indeed all change is 🙂

How to Open a Book.

Did you know there is a “right” way to actually open a book?

I didn’t either until I was doing some work digitising the beautiful works from the Early Printed Books Section in Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland.

Opening one of these books is a ritual and one that should be applied to any book and particularly books you love.

You’ve got to release the spine slowly…

1. Open gently half way
2. Then open each quarter half way
3. and for this size book open one eighth each way.

With a book so large you’ve got to be patient and let it breathe just like a good wine.

Opening it helps to build the experience of discovering what’s inside.

It’s an explosion of colour which forms a wonderful backdrop to such impactful writings as in the current blog and totally worth subscribing to.

• The Bannister Method

• Is snacking learning?

• Low & Slow (vs. fear)

On the inside cover there is a piece that I’ve got to share with you; it’s a reflection on change and an interesting one in our current climate…

That’s worth a Tweet…

Revolutions Make Heroes at Least as much as Heroes Make Revolutions - Seth Godin Click To Tweet

Let’s embrace the change – It helps us see better.

Thank you Seth Godin for this beautiful book.

And consider this…

Can you change how you think about how you package what you do… how you talk about what you do… how you deliver value for your customers…

Be inspired by this amazing box for this Titan of a Book… and start to think outside of the box for your business.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Are you up for sharing? Please do.

Finola Howard

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I love to work with businesses, both large and small to help them create sustainable business dreams... Brand and Strategy are at the heart of everything I do and that gets rolled out digitally and across any channel where your customer lives.