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• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Seth Godin

Portfolio Hardcover, 2003 - 160 pages

average customer review:based on 176 reviews
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   highly recommended  highly recommended






Find yourself a Sneezer...

I've read many books that refer to Seth Godin. Seemed logical to go to the source... Needless to say, this is my first experience reading his work. He's truly 'remarkable' in his approach. I felt compelled to do things I hadn't previously considered - I'll keep that to myself for now:). I almost found myself shadowboxing, like a boxer before a prize fight... I was pumped, to say the least.

Godin discusses the concept that the TV Industrial Complex is old and gone. Rather than wasting tons of money on Traditional TV advertising, he insists that we should focus to create a product/service that early adopters of a niche group will embrace and sell for us. Products that are "remarkable" and solve needs and/or cater to the whims or clearly defined groups need to be placed in the laps of those who have the influence (and desire) to educate members of their respective groups.

I thought his idea behind tag-lines/slogans was very interesting. In my mind, tag-lines were merely memory hooks. Organizations such as Business Network Internation (BNI) influence the use of tag-lines or slogans as memory hooks, and as nothing else. As a result, many companies come up with slogans that don't effectively sell their product. Godin suggests that these little phrases should be thought of as scripts... scripts that our early adopters can use to effectively market our products/services for us. This made perfect sense.

One of the more recent Purple Cows, the iPhone seems to have followed, if not redefined, some of Godin's concepts. Distribute to the Sneezers (Wall Street Journal, for instance) and let them create the buzz. It seems however, they are still taking advantage of the TV Industrial Complex. The iPhone is not relying on TV advertising to compensate for the fact that won't stand up in the marketplace. The difference between this product and others, is that this is a great product in the minds of many. The entire commercial demonstrates how it is used... the phone and a finger. Brilliant. Ironically it goes against Godin's proclamation that the cell phone couldn't go any further. I think we all know better.


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Concise, forward-thinking, unique, REMARKABLE

The best way to make customers talk about your company and products is to give them something to talk about. Seems like common sense, right? But according to Seth Godin, few businesses take the simple steps needed to bring their products to the front of the pack.

In this collection of short essays, or "riffs," as he calls them, author Godin tells you how and why to revamp your product development cycle and marketing efforts to highlight your company's "remarkable" aspects. A must-read for any entrepreneur looking to be the next new thing.









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An Insightful Read

You can't help but love Seth Godin's style, especially for a business book. He writes in a way that keeps your attention and provides several helpful insights. If you're looking for a book with a lot of meat, you might try some of his other books. If you want a gratifying quick read, look no further.


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Tired of Being One of the Herd?

Going along doing the same thing as everyone else? You want to know how to stand out and be distinctive? Seth Godin's book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable is your guide. At the mention of this book's title, you're thinking about what a purple cow would look like, aren't you? Briefly, the explanation of the title is that Seth and his family were on vacation, driving through miles and miles of French pastures, seeing cows, cows and more cows. At first, the cows were interesting and beautiful. After a while though, the next cow looked just the same as the cow before it and it was all pretty boring. But then they thought, a PURPLE cow, now THAT would be something remarkable.
It's the same with businesses and marketing. In order to truly stand out from the rest of the herd, you have to be truly remarkable. And remarkable businesses do not follow or copy someone else's idea of marketing. They are the leaders. He sites examples of businesses such as diverse as Schindler Elevator Corporation, Tombstone Pizza, Sam Adams beer, Yamaha piano and Vanguard mutual funds and how they took existing industries and made radical transformations to them through innovative marketing.
Here's what I think is the biggest take away. Seth says that the opposite of remarkable is "very good." Very good is an everyday occurrence, hardly worth mentioning -- certainly not the basis of breakthrough success. He asks, "are you making very good stuff? How fast can you stop?"
Purple cows are risk takers. There are so few purple cows because people are afraid to have others not like them (there will always be some detractors when you're remarkable), afraid to break the rules, afraid to occasionally be wrong. The more close-minded your market, the more crowded the marketplace and the busier your customers, the more you need a Purple Cow. He urges that dipping a toe in the waters is setting yourself up for failure. You have to go all the way with dramatic improvements to see giant payoffs.
Stop your mooing and read this book!


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Kowtow Purple Cow? Nothing Doing!

Traditional marketing doesn't work anymore. People have everything that they need. TV and regular print advertising don't work. There's too much noise. Old school marketers chose their target market, now people do the choosing. The new way, and the only effective way according to Seth Godin, is to create a remarkable product (a purple cow) and target the early adopters that are willing to chirp about it (i.e. sneezers) spreading the "ideavirus" to the masses.

Seth makes it very clear that the purple cow is not a short cut. In fact, if anything, this new way of marketing is more time consuming and expensive than it used to be. Only now the work and time previously used on print and TV ads after the product has been produced needs to be spent earlier in the product life cycle. Marketing is now the "act of inventing a product, the effort of designing it, and the craft of producing it."

There is quite a bit of valuable information packed into this compact read to include a process for finding a purple cow, Seth's slogan's which include, "Don't be boring, and Safe is Risky," and even some career tips. The organization could be a little better. It was created from a list of blog entries which offers some explanation for that. This, however, does not detract from the abundance of useful information contained in its pages. It can certainly benefit marketers, but it is also an important read for anyone involved in the production of a product or the delivery of a service, from the CEO to the front-line employee.

Nick McCormick - Author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager



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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14



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