This Is Marketing by Seth Godin

Consider the case of Water Health International. When WHI arrives in a village with
its water purification kiosk, a few residents immediately understand the possibility for
impact. They buy a special Jerry can from WHI and then pay to have it refilled every day.
The few pennies spent on clean water are quickly earned back in time saved, increased
productivity, and reduced medical expense.
And yet, not everyone buys the water right away. Most people don’t. In fact, it follows
precisely the same adoption curve as just about everything else, from toys to computers.
The early adopters buy it first. They may be educated enough to realize how powerful an
input clean water is, but it’s more likely that they simply like buying things that are new.
Not only are these early adopters eager to go first, but they’re eager to talk about their
experience. The brightly colored water jugs that WHI requires (so they know that they’re
not refilling an infected vessel) are a badge of honor and an invitation to converse. But
still, the early days are always fairly slow. Changing a multigenerational habit that’s as
close to survival as water is does not happen right away.
Still, the early adopters won’t stop talking about it. It’s not a fad; fresh water is needed
daily, forever. And water is an easy thing to share and talk about.
To further the local shift, WHI sends representatives to the local school. Outfitted with
a microscope projector, the rep works with the teacher and has each student bring in
some water samples from their home.
Projecting the samples on the wall, the microscope tells a vivid story that resonates
with the eight-year-olds in the class. This is what germs look like. This is what parasites
look like. Inevitably, the students go home and tell their parents.
And now status kicks in.
When your young child talks about his neighbors having clean water . . . and you don’t.
When you see the respected members of the village hierarchy carrying the distinctive
Jerry cans. When you hesitate to host someone in your home because you don’t have
clean water to offer them.
This is a ratchet, but not one based on obvious software network effects. It’s based on
the original network effect, the one built around people in proximity. As more and more
people in the village get clean water, those without become socially isolated and feel
stupid as well. Most can afford the water (because of the time and impact savings), but
the emotional shift is the difficult part.
Within months, the water has crossed the local chasm from the early adopters to the
rest of the village.
An aside about B2B marketing
B2B stands for business to business—when a business sells something to another one.
It’s a third or more of many markets. And the marketing of B2B is no different.
It seems complicated, something completely separate. Huge numbers, RFPs, a focus on
meeting spec, a price war, long sales cycles, and no fun at all.
But it’s simpler than that.