A few weeks back I was discussing Newton’s Law of Gravitation and the importance of proximity in Marketing. This discussion revolved around the idea of getting close to the customer, and how that can yield huge dividends. Seth Godin has furthered the discussion with this great riff on proximity.
Seth looks at the implications of proximity relative to the pain experienced by the consumer. The closer you are to the consumer, the more you understand their pain. The better you are at relieving that pain, the more value you bring. The more value you bring, the more you can charge for what you do.
Think about how trust and relationships play a role in your purchasing decisions, especially in today’s fast paced world. The modern marketplace is more fragmented than even, and the ability to attract attention through sheer mass becomes more difficult every day. Conversely, it seems that technology is making proximity – which according to Newton is exponentially more important than mass – easier to achieve every day.
