Most people think you need a lot of things to start a business. Especially these days, many believe that going viral on YouTube or Instagram is an absolute necessity. Most of my previous articles have also encouraged you to promote your business through social media, especially when considering Why Media Is the Most Powerful Business Leverage in the AI Era. And honestly, social media is still one of the best ways to get your product in front of the world without spending a dime.
But Seth Godin, one of the most respected marketing minds in the world, says all of that is secondary. His argument is simple. If you have an exceptional product at the core, the rest will naturally follow.
The Pizza Worth Talking About
Here is what Seth Godin says.
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| Exceptional quality is the only marketing strategy that truly scales your business |
"We have to stop making average crap. Don't deceive yourself into thinking that we need what you made. We don't need average crap. Being remarkable means it is worth making a remark about. Sometimes someone opens a tiny, humble pizza shop, and people form a long line outside. The reason people line up is not because the shop is good at TikTok. Of course, marketing and promotion are important, but the most important thing is that they made a pizza valuable enough for other people to post it on TikTok. Having one customer truly feel the value of your pizza is infinitely more important than you saying your pizza is valuable a hundred times."
Just like Godin says, business might be much simpler than we think. Make something exceptional that provides real value. Everything else follows.
If you create a product that genuinely moves your customers, those customers will promote it on their own, to their friends and on their own social media. It is the same logic as recommending a movie that blew you away. And once your product spreads that way, investors will start coming to you.
The Formula for an Exceptional Product
So how do you actually create something exceptional?
I personally believe making a great product is very similar to making a great YouTube video or blog post. MrBeast, the most subscribed YouTuber in the world, explains his process this way.
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| Consistent daily improvement is the only secret behind every magical product |
"The way to make a good video is simple. You just improve it every single day, consistently. Because there is no perfect video in this world, you can endlessly improve it. Pacing, editing techniques, storytelling, sound effects, thumbnails, titles: the things you can improve are infinite."
Making a great product works exactly the same way. You slightly improve every single touchpoint that connects with your customer. As you improve these small things every day, they combine into something that feels almost magical.
The method for creating great things is remarkably similar across every field. Even if it is just a tiny bit, you improve it every single day without stopping.
The Da Vinci Standard
Paul Graham, the co-founder of Y Combinator who helped build companies like Airbnb and OpenAI, wrote an essay about great paintings that makes this same point.
"A great painting has to be better than it has to be. It sounds like a paradox. When Leonardo da Vinci painted the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, he painted a juniper bush behind her head and painstakingly depicted every single leaf. Many painters would think, it's just a background, who would look at this so closely? But he was different. Regardless of how closely others would look, he poured his heart and soul into endlessly improving every part of the painting. This is impossible without persistence."
In the end, it all comes full circle. The method to create an exceptional product is surprisingly simple. Get feedback from your customers and keep improving. When you make something truly exceptional, everything else follows on its own.
Run your business with that truth in mind, and great results will come.
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