A simple but compelling case to think out of the box

books:


	• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable Seth Godin Portfolio Hardcover, 2003 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 182 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Easy to read introduction to 'new marketing'

If you're anything like me, you've probably heard of Seth Godin, maybe picked up some of his big ideas or read some of his writing online. But there's no substitute for reading a book to get into the head of an author, to follow his train of thought, to work though those big ideas and start figuring how they might apply to you and your business.

That's certainly how I felt after reading Purple Cow. It's an enjoyable, easy read but with some big ideas about marketing, innovation and the value of the loyal customer that will challenge the way that you think, and the way you do business.

A book that deserves to be on every business bookshelf.

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A simple but compelling case to think out of the box

Purple Cow is a remarkable little book about the current state of marketing. Seth Godin makes the convincing case that selling ordinary products using traditional advertising no longer works.

Ordinary products are easy to make these days, most of us have everything we need, and we're pretty satisfied with it. No amount of money spent on ads is going to make us change our mind. If customers don't have the problem you're trying to solve, they will not even listen. You are invisible.

Instead, Godin argues, smart companies now spend their money in product design, so that they can come up with remarkable products (purple cows) that influential early adopters can then "sell" to other people through word of mouth. In Purple Cow products, the product and the message are one and the same: the product tells a story that people naturally want to share.

Recently, I was sitting next to a friend during lunch and, while we were waiting to be served he pulled out his new iPhone. I couldn't help but to make a remark about how sleek it looked; he then answered by giving me a passionate demonstration of all of the phone's features. If I were more of a gadget-head, I would have left the restaurant and go buy one immediately. This is a perfect example of a Purple Cow at work.

How does one make a Purple Cow? Seth doesn't have the answer, but offers a good suggestion: look for the edges, explore the limits. Find a product that is "too" something for most people, but absolutely irresistible for a small (but big enough to be profitable) group of people, who will in turn evangelize your product to others.

As usual, Seth uses plenty of compelling case studies to make his points, and writes down his takeaways at the end of each chapter, which makes the concepts covered in the book easier to digest. At 160 small-format pages, the book is a quick and entertaining read, ideal for when you have a couple of hours to kill on a plane or airport.

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Love it

I was suggested this book by the Marketing director at the company I am interning with, and it was very helpful, easy to read, detailed, and down to earth with ideas that you can put to use right away instead of vague generalities for the most part.

Not very engaging, but leaves lasting impressions.

Although books like The Tipping Point, Blink, and Freakonomics are a bit more entertaining, Purple Cow does change the way you look at marketing. My only real issue is its repetitive nature and the relentless critique of current advertising. Perhaps Godin could spend more time inspiring and less time bashing big corporation's TV spots.

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Have a Cow

Twenty years ago, Tom Peters shared the same notion in "The Pursuit of Wow." In "The Purple Cow" Seth Godin explains and expands this "wow factor."

In the new marketing age, consumers are too busy and too flooded with marketing to listen to the typical pitch. So, if your product is not remarkable, if it doesn't stand out by itself (with or without marketing) like a purple cow in a herd of Holsteins, then it will be lost in the proverbial shuffle.

Today's consumer is consumed by attention deficit. So how do you get busy people who have everything they want and who are constantly bombarded with sales pitches to listen to you? The confluence of available choices (high) and available time (low) conspires against today's entrepreneur.

Since consumers today ignore you and insist on permission marketing, the old rule is out: create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing. The new rule is in: create remarkable products that the right people seek out. Be the outlier--the company that's different, that thinks and acts outside the box.

Smashed down and compacted, Godin's whole message is: it's safer to be risky, to pursue the truly remarkable, different product, rather than to try to market a safe, boring product remarkably. Create a fascinating product that stands out from the crowd rather than creating a fascinating ad campaign for your ordinary product.

So what to do? Create idea viruses that spread from the early adopters to the general public. How do you create an idea that spreads? Don't try to make a product for everybody, because that product is for nobody. The everybody products are all taken. The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a huge market. As Godin says in a later book, "small is big."

But here's the key--the product must be built virus ready! The intention of the invention must be niche novelty. You must develop products and services so useful, interesting, outrageous, and noteworthy that your niche market will want to listen to what you have to say.

You can't make people listen. But you can figure out who's likely to be listening when you talk. And when you talk, you're either remarkable or invisible depending on how purple your cow is (not how much purple you use in advertising your cow). So, create a product that dominates a niche. Think small.

But why is the purple cow so rare? Fear. Create something unique and people will criticize it. Criticism comes to those who dare to be different. The timid fit in and go unnoticed--lost in the shuffle of the shuffling herd. Be different. Give the marketing budget to the designer. Innovate a product and introduce it to your sneezers. Launch a new product, not a new slogan. Explore the limit. Ask, "Why not?"

But what if you've already invented? Then redefine what you sell. Go for the edges (niche influencers) and describe in fresh ways what those edges are. Be edgy--the edgier the better, the edgiest the best.

Thus, none of this means that the "slogan" is bad. It just means that the slogan is good for a different reason. It used to be the slogan was good because it fit the 30 second commercial sound bite. Now the slogan is good because the virus can be passed more easily, more succinctly. Your product should shout: "Remarkable boast that's true!" Then it will be worth passing on. The slogan is the story that influencers pass on like a virus.

Where does remarkable originate? From passionate people who make products first for themselves.

But . . . how purple is "The Purple Cow?" True, it's not that novel. But, people bought it. The book itself practiced what it preached. Yes, the savvy entrepreneur already gets this. But Godin's niche is the wanna-be, not-yet-savvy innovator. There are plenty of those out there (to date--250,000 who have bought "The Purple Cow").

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering," "Soul Physicians," and "Spiritual Friends."

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

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