Yesterday, YukaiChou of Viralogy.com posted the article, Social Media Marketing Gurus: Chris Brogan vs Seth Godin and posed the following question: Are you a bigger fan of Chris Brogan or Seth Godin?
The inquiry invites you to choose, pick a “side”, or show your cards so to speak. My decision has been to not choose.
Why I won’t choose
If you were to ask me personally, “What is my favorite food?” I would respond, “I love rice AND ice cream! I love them EQUALLY, but not together.” In the case of Chris Brogan and Seth Godin, I would have to say I love them equally, but their philosophies mirror one another. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. I find it almost offensive that someone dare ask me to choose one over the other, but hey that’s good marketing. 
I find it interesting that I’m posting this a week after I had a two hour conversation on Twitter with Chris Brogan about marketing. During that conversation, when I asked about the marketing funnel Chris immediately referenced permission based marketing as the larger premise. Below is an edited excerpt of this discussion. This will give you an idea of how Seth Godin has influenced what Chris Brogan teaches.
Conversation of Influence
@chrisbrogan what is the goal of your Trust Agent Fan page on FB?
@moniquewade we’ve started a sustained community of conversation around online trust and it’s impact
@moniquewade the idea is this: relationships sell better than typical marketing. If you are PART of Trust Agents, it’s better than selling
[...]
@chrisbrogan I like that – your interaction with others is more powerful – the story of the interaction is more memorable than a billboard
@moniquewade yep. It’s what’s behind “inbound marketing” as a concept. [...]
@chrisbroganthat’s interesting because I thought hubspot was all about setting up your “marketing funnel”
@moniquewade the tools empower that, but the premise of trading value for marketing is their larger theme. See also permission-based.
[...]
@chrisbroganOkay, I see on p227 of Permission Mktg it likens PM to farming – And you’re cultivating that long term relationship with FB
@moniquewade exactly! In fact, we had a trust tenet called “opportunity farmer,” that we renamed to “human artist.”
@moniquewade farming, a la Stephen R Covey, is big in my mind
So, I share with you my personal interaction with Chris Brogan to assert that Chris Brogan, internet marketing, traditional marketing etc. on a grand scale are strongly influenced by Seth Godin’s teachings in his books. I can’t be a fan over the other because they are both so intertwined.
Macro Seth vs. Micro Chris
One key difference in Seth Godin vs. Chris Brogan is my belief that some people prefer strategy over execution. Most people are not good at both. I look at Seth Godin as the 10,000 ft level strategy and Chris Brogan as the more daily operational level execution. CEOs don’t get bogged down with who clocked in on-time everyday. They look at the enterprise as a whole. The front-line managers do more of the microplanning.
Don’t get me wrong Chris Brogan certainly understands the “big picture”, but he has taken his place to fill the unmet need that is left after reading a Seth Godin book. The need is for a step by step, show me what to do to apply the higher level concept to my daily operations.
No Inbound Marketing without Permission Marketing
No Mastodons without Purple Cows
Seth Godin encouraged marketers to flip the funnel. Chris Brogan dissected the funnel.
Two Change Agents – One QUESTION
Will you be BOLD enough to choose or appreciate the differences? Comments welcome.
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