Seth Godin has a big brain. But you already knew that.

What you may not have known is that Seth Godin also has a big heart.

In a blog post this morning, Seth Godin drew attention to his as-yet-to-be-released book called Linchpin. At the same time, he drew attention to the Acumen Fund, a non-profit that helps grow small businesses that serve the poor around the globe.

Seth’s idea was to provide advanced copies of Linchpin to the first 3,000 people who donated $30 to the Acumen Fund. (Yes, I bought a copy — or, rather, I donated to the Acumen Fund and Seth is going to send me a copy of the book as a bonus.)

This is a great idea on several fronts:

1. It builds awareness for the Acumen Fund.
2. It builds awareness for Linchpin.
3. It positions Seth Godin as a man with a big brain (you knew that) and a big heart (you may not have known that).
4. It fulfills Seth’s point of view that books are just a small component of a mix of “souvenirs” that people buy to connect with their favorite Thought Leaders.

All this has been particularly interesting for me to watch because:

• I’m currently writing a soon-to-be-published book on Social Media with Dr. Reshma Shah from Emory University, and
• Dr. Shah and I help run A School Bell Rings, a non-profit that builds schools for impoverished children around the globe.

The big take-away on all this is that people want to connect with brands that have added value above-and-beyond the stated value.

Said another way, people want to buy products (whether that product is Seth Godin or a widget) that are connected to larger, bigger, more important issues like ending poverty, building schools or providing clean water in third world countries.

Seth Godin does it. Does your brand? If not, it should.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009, 2:02 pm   |   General Business, General Marketing, Seth Godin  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback