Kawasaki: It's Very Hard to Evangelize Crap

Now that's a great line. I need to tape it to my forehead (even product managament folks like me can never hear this enough.) Below is an excerpt from an interview with Guy Kawasaki, deemed to be the first hired evangelist.

Particularly loved how the interviewer tries their dangest to steer the conversation away from the "have a great product" theme (tell us how publicity and buzz rescues and resuscitates crap?). Kawasaki steers it right back! (If you haven't yet read "Forget Creating a Brand. Build a Great Business", go check it out.)

Guy Kawasaki: Very few companies use evangelism. Sure, they hand out business cards to employees with the title "evangelist," but "evangelist" isn't a title, it's a state of mind.

To start, the key to evangelism is a great product. Very few companies have a great product, and very few companies understand evangelism. Thus, the set of companies that have a great product and understand evangelism is tiny -- about as likely as a professional hockey player from Hawaii.

Some entities that may qualify: Craig's List, Harley Davidson, Nordstrom, JetBlue, Apple, Tivo (Tivo evangelism will last only if they improve their software), and the Linux movement.

Weeks: Years ago you said that the secret to evangelism and PR is to create a great product. But now in 2005, having witnessed the strength of blogging and social media, what do you believe is buzz marketing's future?

Kawasaki: Blogging and social media are forms of evangelism. The goal of a lot of online marketing is to get bloggers and networks talking about a product.

The best way to do this remains creating a great product. Ninety percent of evangelism is finding or creating a great product. It's very hard to evangelize crap. - "Guy Kawasaki Talks Consumer Evangelism", from Consumer Voice and Blogs section, iMediaConnection, November 3, 2005

tags social media fundraising word of mouth wom customer evangelism citizen marketing blogging buzz marketing

Comments

[michael d. pollock]

hey evelyn:

thanks so much for the mention. and in the same post as guy kawasaki. too cool.

best - mp

[gmlk]

The word _evangelist_ comes (by a long way) from Greek _euangelos_ which means _bringing good news_

It's imposible to bring good news if the subject of the news is bad or crap. You're then a liar, not a evangelist.

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Welcome Michael.

Thanks so much for that tidbit on evangelism's roots. That reminds me of something ELSE Kawasaki said on that "good news" theme:

"The [customer evangelism] tactic works because people basically want to make the world a better place, according to Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start and How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. That is the frequent difference, he says, between evangelism and sales. "When you have such a cause, then people will view it as ‘good news' and they will spread this good news," Kawasaki says. "It works because people have other people's best interests at heart.""- The Power of One: Bike Maker Gears Up Customer Evangelists, CMO Magazine, Oct 2005

I used that quote in this post:
http://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/crossroads_dispatches/2005/10/best_interests_.html

[Colleen]

If you're interested in learning more about small business evangelism, visit www.startupnation.com Lots of great information on starting and marketing your dream business. And everything's free!

[steven streight aka vaspers the grate]

How odd that Kawasaki says you can't evangelize crap, yet he advanced the rotten "ship shoddy, but ship first" theory of marketing in his stupid book "Rules for Revolutionaries".

He championed the asinine idea used by some in Silicon Valley to "be first in the market to dominate it" even if it means putting a buggy product on the shelves.

"Don't Worry, Be Crappy" he proclaimed. Apologists claimed he meant don't fuss too much on the details, you can always issue a 2.0 version later.

Kawasaki advocated what I would consider to be consumer fraud in this phase of his writing.

Perhaps he has reformed.