Purple Cow
– Seth Godin

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable is a 2003 book by Seth Godin. The book presents Godin’s personal belief that creative advertising is less effective today because of clutter and advertising avoidance. The book advocates that companies produce remarkable products and target people who are likely to spread word of mouth about the product. USA Today said it “reminds business people of the tried-and-true path to success: Make a great product”.
[From: Wikipedia.com]

“Marketing is a contest for people’s attention.”

You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible.
Make your choice. 

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don’t? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last? 

Face it, the checklist of tired ‘P’s marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren’t working anymore. There’s an exceptionally important ‘P’ that has to be added to the list. It’s Purple Cow. 

“Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person.”

Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won’t forget a Purple Cow. And it’s not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It’s built right in, or it’s not there. Period. 

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It’s a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place. [www.amazon.com]

“Permission marketing is marketing without interruptions.”

 

Seth Godin continues to provide inspirational work. This easy to read book puts together a thesis which we should all consider if we want to grow in this information overload world. Simply speaking, his argument states to win, our products/services/individuality must be remarkable: worth making a remark about. Will you be the best, the most different, the wackiest? The parody? Each of these approaches set you aside from the 50 percentile: those companies who are “justa”, average, standard. If you are remarkable, you are talked about and remembered. Tie a quality product/service with this and you can improve success. Look at Yo Sushi!, Virgin Atlantic, The Geek Squad.
 This book shows he practices what he speaks. A purple performer.  Being purple is inspiring. [From: Amazon.com]