Reader’s Choice: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Quick Skim
Using a traditional (a.k.a. boring) marketing strategy is one of the riskiest things you can do, as it threatens to make you invisible to the customers you need most to succeed. That’s the main thrust of Seth Godin’s classic Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable (Portfolio, 2002), a quick read of case studies and commentary on how to make your brand something everyone will be talking about. Godin shares lessons from innovators such as Krispy Kreme, Apple, and Starbucks as he inspires you to stop following the herd and find your own way to be remarkable.
From the Book: 5 Ways to Be Remarkable
Do you feel invisible and anonymous when prospecting? Then start searching for a “Purple Cow” you can bring to your business. Unlike boring brown cows, Purple Cows are products or services that have built-in remarkable elements that literally sell themselves. Here are some ideas from the book for making your company stand out from the crowd:
1. Sniff out the sneezers. Godin uses the term “sneezers” to describe people who are so excited about your services that they infect all those around them with information about you and what you have to offer. Spend all your energies pleasing this group and figure out ways that you can grow and reward this group. “Ignore the rest,” Godin writes. “Your ads (and your products!) shouldn’t cater to the masses.” Do you have the e-mail addresses of the 20 percent of your customer base who loves what you do? If not, get them. And then concentrate on making this 20 percent happy.
2. Don’t play it safe. Trying to play it safe is riskier than innovation, Godin writes. Playing follow-the-leader in your industry makes you disappear into the crowd. Innovative companies, by definition, try tactics that competitors don’t use. For example, Herman Miller took a risk when the company introduced the $750 (gasp!) Aeron chair into the office furniture industry in 1994. “They launched a chair that looked different, worked differently, and cost a bunch,” Godin writes. “It was a Purple Cow. Everyone who saw it wanted to sit in it, and everyone who sat in it wanted to talk about it.” What tactics does your company use that follow the leader? You’ll never catch up with your competitors by being the same, so make a list of ways you can succeed by being
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