Strategy is focus, and focus is strategy. The secret to failure is trying to please everybody.

I just saw a nice example again this morning, as Seth Godin explains why he’s doing just a few things, and not a lot of different things. He calls it the sad truth about marketing shortcuts.

If you have a presence on Twitter, Squidoo, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and 20 other sites, the chances of finding critical mass at any of them is close to zero. But if you dominate, if you’re the go-to person, the king of your hill, magical things happen. One follower in each of twenty places is worthless. Twenty connected followers in one place is a tribe. It’s the foundation for building something that matters.

This is why I don’t have a podcast, a video channel, any activity to speak of on Facebook. It’s why I don’t use Twitter or travel the country visiting bookstores. There are many places to be, and it’s tempting to act like those non-profits and race after the next one. But it doesn’t work.

Good point.

Tim Berry
President and Founder
Palo Alto Software

Tagged as: focus, seth godin, strategy