Four Questions With Guy Kawasaki: Enchantment, Influence, and Marketing to the Rest of Us

Guy Kawasaki's Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions hit me just as I was in the thick of things launching my own book, Killing Giants. But having been neck-deep in both the psychology of influence and the business of marketing, I wanted to dig into a few ideas with Guy and see where the conversation led us.

Enchantment, in case you haven't read it, describes Guy's take on creating an "enchanting" experience—for customers, or for people (in general) apart from business—and it draws heavily on his personal experience as well as the social science behind the often-mysterious "arts of compliance." I found it a valuable read.

Here are my four questions and Guy's responses.

1. Embrace the Nobodies

Stephen Denny: You're probably buried under requests for your endorsement, your presence, and just your time. Clearly, the current mindset, some recent press notwithstanding, is that influencers are greater than nobodies. And yet, you're promoting the idea that embracing the "non-celebrities" is not only smart but better. How would you counsel someone—an author, a budding startup CEO—in this area? Isn't it all about getting the big names to endorse you? Why not? What tips you over to the "nobodies" column?
 
Guy Kawasaki: There are two theories of marketing. One is that there are a small number of influencers, experts, oracles, A-listers, reporters, journalists, and analysts who have the monopoly on insight and intelligence. You have to suck up to them and hope that they like your product and tell the ever-attentive and compliant unwashed masses what to do. If that happens, you are assured of success.
 
My theory is that social media has inverted this pyramid. Now, nobodies are the new somebodies—if enough nobodies like your product, then the somebodies, too, have to pay attention to you. So now the A-listers don't make a product, they report on made products. The key is to get a lot of people to try your product because you don't know who will make your product tip.
 
For example, when publishers introduce a business book, they usually send out about 200 galleys. The hope is that the powerful A-listers like the book and tell everyone to read it. We sent out 1,600 copies of Enchantment—basically to any blogger who wanted it. Now, two weeks after shipping, there are 250 reviews of Enchantment in blogs ranging in topic from beauty products to dog trainers.

2. Thinking Differently About Demand Generation

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