The question you’d ask first off

I went to a fruit stall today and there was this very interesting and strange looking fruit on sale.

The first question I asked the storekeeper was - “What does this taste like?” That was my immediate reflex; if I knew what the fruit somewhat tasted like, I would roughly know whether to buy it or not

Turns out, I am not the only one…

I’m sure you’d agree with Seth Godin on the question you’d ask first off when you visit a new website, enter a new airport, visit a new store or examine a new book.

I do.

Obvious? Yes. Apparent? No.

I thought about it a lot, but I just couldn’t resist putting up the excerpt from Seth’s blog post here – I just love this paragraph:

<excerpt>

So why do marketers so often miss this shortcut? Before you make what you're going to make, find something you want people to be reminded of. Feel free to discard this model if you want to make a point (the ipod did not remind you of a Sony CD player), but discard it on purpose. If you're writing a book, for example, your goal (probably) isn't to reinvent what it means to be a book. You're merely trying to reinvent the words and ideas. So when it comes to the jacket and the type, steal relentlessly. Your audience will thank you, because it's one less thing to process.

</excerpt>

What do you think?

Oh, and by the way; I still don’t know what that fruit was – only what the storekeeper told me - “It tastes like pear”…

Rohan Thomas | Senior Web Platform and UX Technology Advisor ping me: +603.2179.6834 | mobile: +601.7264.2969 | fax: +603.2179.6834 blogs: internal: https://msblogs/rohant | external: https://blogs.msdn.com/rohant/ follow me: im: rohanthomas@live.com | twitter: rohant | facebook: Rohan Thomas | friendfeed: rohant

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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2008
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