How The Beatles Became Famous And Why We Should Care

On his blog marketing guru Seth Godin takes a look at how The Beatles became famous and calls them a classic marketing success. The Fab Four were no overnight sensations instead hey played tiny dives for years before the media took notice. One of the most misunderstood and misused phrases in marketing (okay, in business) is Malcolm Gladwell’s, "the tipping point." The Beatles didn’t tip. Nothing magical happened. Instead, gradually, they shifted from being the chasers into being the chased."

And when the media did start to look their way "…the Beatles didn’t stop marketing. They didn’t stop doing radio shows at the BBC or flying all night to play a concert in Denver (empty seats) or Kansas. During the transition stage, in fact, the Beatles and their management really poured it on."

But still they kept pushing.  Concerts, recording, interviews, TV and then more of the same again and again.  "It was the Beatles in a frenzy, not sure what was going to come next, but pretty sure that it could all disappear in a heartbeat."

But it was after their biggest early successes that the Beatles proved that the deserved to be the icons that they remain today. "Many organizations reach this stage and stop. They harvest. They take profits and remind themselves that they are geniuses, all powerful and immune to the laws of boredom. Only by pushing through this stage and by using their new found power to create the last stage of their career did the Beatles actually become the Beatles…". 

Powerful stuff worth remembering.  I’ll always remember the stories of an already very famous Mick Jagger calling dozens of individual DJ’s asking for airplay when his solo CD came out or how hard  Madonna worked both in the early years and to this day every time a CD is released.  Success takes talent, but real success also takes a lot of hard work.

Also worth reading are Godin’s suggestions for getting and keeping fans.