Seth Godin’s books  and blog are a necessity for continuing my marketing education.  Last week he wrote:

So often, you are not the customer for your product. Yet you market it as if you were. Showing up in your world (or the board’s world your staff’s world) is not nearly as important as showing up in the world of the person you’re actually trying to reach.

Creating a Potemkin Village (online or off) in which people who know you see your product pales in comparison with being present in the world where your customers live.

Goldin reminds me that in order to properly market my product, I have to walk a few miles in my customer’s shoes. If I don’t how my products (and my brand) relate to their lives, I can’t stay relevant. And once I’m irrelevant , they’ll replace me.