Marketing in the Participation Age: A Guide to Motivating People to Join, Share, Take Part, Connect, and Engage

Chapter 2

The Catalyst

The Consumer-to-Participant Transformation

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

—Aristotle

Ironically, the process of starting a revolution often begins very simply with a focus on words. Marketers have habits that have been around for more than 50 years, and we have become accustomed to using words as powerful tools in our trade. This began with copywriting. Although I’m merely midway into my second decade of marketing career, I do sometimes consider how much and how little has changed when I watch episodes of AMC’s Mad Men, a television series about one of New York’s most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s.

The purpose in creating change is not just to do something once; it’s about repetitive transformation. When I parted ways with Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2006, I was eager to set off a marketing revolution, and that meant creating a process for the new world of marketing that could stand the test of time. Humans are creatures of repetition, something that became incredibly evident as I learned more and more about marketing. All of us can identify with the idea of short-lived motivation.

Many people start out with a goal and quit within a few weeks. Once the motivation dies down, their actions cease. Of course, they won’t get the desired results once they stop taking action. To become successful and obtain the goals you have set for yourself or your company, you must take the necessary actions to ...