#42 - The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

For marketers who ship, story tell, and show up

Welcome to issue #42 of The Marketing Newsletter!

Issue #42 — a sacred number for nerds, dreamers, and deep thinkers.
If you're reading this, chances are you appreciate a good Easter egg and know the value of a cleverly placed API reference in a campaign.

Marketing to geeks isn’t about making things look shiny.
It’s about making things clear.
It’s about respecting the intelligence of your audience.

That means:
✅ No jargon for jargon’s sake.
✅ No tricks, just transparency.
✅ And absolutely no stock photos of people high-fiving near a whiteboard.

If you’re building something for developers, your marketing should feel like documentation:
Precise. Useful. Fast.
You’re not selling—you’re inviting collaboration.

Remember: Geeks don’t want to be marketed to. They want to be understood.

---

💬 What Would Seth Godin Do?

Seth Godin doesn’t do marketing.
He does trust-building.
He does storytelling.
He does permission.

“Marketing is the act of making change happen.” — Seth Godin

Here’s Seth’s mindset, in 5 beats:

1. Make something worth talking about.
   If your product isn’t remarkable, no campaign will save it.

2. Focus on the smallest viable audience.
   Don’t try to speak to everyone. Speak to someone.

3. Be consistent.
   Trust isn’t built in a day. It’s built in every blog post, every reply, every landing page.

4. Tell the truth.
   And not just the shiny parts. Truth builds connection.

5. Show up.
   Regularly. Generously. Without a guaranteed reward.

In short:
Market like a human. Be useful. Be brave.

📚 New to Seth Godin? Start here:

• This Is Marketing – A modern classic.

• Purple Cow – On making remarkable products.

• The Practice – For creators who want to keep showing up.

---

🛠️ 10 Marketing Tools That Are Actually Worth Using

These aren’t affiliate links. We don’t get paid. We just think they’re great:

• Fathom Analytics – Clean, fast, privacy-first analytics. Ditch the bloat.

• Beehiiv – The best platform for growing and monetizing your newsletter.

• SparkToro – Audience research made simple. Find out what your people pay attention to.

• Copy.ai – For first drafts that don’t suck (even if you’re not a writer).

• Webflow – No-code design without compromise.

• Loom – Show, don’t tell. Especially for onboarding or demos.

• Carrd – Launch your idea today. No excuses.

• Riverside.fm – Pro-quality podcasting from your browser.

• Airtable – It’s a spreadsheet, but better. Build systems, not chaos.

• AnswerThePublic – See what your audience is asking. Then answer it.

Use the tools.
But don’t let the tools use you.

---

👀 Coming Soon: Marketinguys – Your Watchlist of the Best in the Biz

We’re building something new. It’s called Marketinguys.

Think:
💡 A curated list of the world’s most interesting marketers and creative agencies.
🔍 Discover, compare, and connect with real people doing real work.
📇 Add your profile or explore others. It’s like a directory, but cooler—and useful.

We’re launching in July.
For now, it’s just a watchlist.
But the idea is simple:

Find the right marketer, without the noise.

👉 Join early and we’ll notify you when it goes live.

---

Until next time…

Stay curious.
Ship generously.
And maybe re-read Hitchhiker’s Guide while you're at it.

— The Marketing Newsletter