Being a Purple Cow #4
Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Book Review of Seth Godin, No-Tears Marketing 04/10 enhanced by Peter/CXO 1/14
Less Risk & more Wins. The book illustrates that a Purple Cow is not necessarily more risky than traditional marketing strategies/ products. In contradiction: a Purple Cow is often a lot less risky & a lot more likely to gain success than the traditional marketing strategies.
“My goal in Purple Cow is to make it clear that it’s safer to be risky – to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things. Once you see that the old ways have nowhere to go but down, it becomes even more imperative to create things worth talking about.”
The book effectively illustrates and explains the Purple Cow theory to the reader in a very convincing manner. Seth clearly anticipated the doubtful questions that the reader might have. Such as: the reason as to why so few organizations are making use of Purple Cows, if it claims to achieve so much success? Few businesses are willing to risk the chance of a new strategy/idea. They fear the risk of failure & criticism more, than they desire the possibility of a coveted brand success. What most people do not realize (or ignore out of fear for change) is that it is more risky NOT to invest in the development & promotion of a Purple Cow! More money is ignorantly wasted on traditional advertising strategies of products that are just “good”… but not “extraordinary” enough to grab the attention of the mass market that is being focused on.
“I don’t think there’s a shortage of remarkable ideas. It’s the will to execute them.”
“Awareness is not the point”. As Seth points out, stimulating awareness for a product is not a pre-cursor guaranteed to lead to increased sales. Instead, by focusing on creating a niche market of loyal consumers, one will inevitably succeed in ultimately reaching the masses, through the diffusion of the “extraordinary” idea through the market by word-of-mouth. Seeing that consumers are searching for and controlling information that they need, we are not as successful in targeting them anymore by using old marketing techniques. We need to create something that will stand out; break free from the “ordinary”; something that will spread like a virus through the market…
“Marketing in a post-TV world is no longer about making a product attractive or interesting or pretty or funny after it’s designed & built – it’s about designing the thing to be virus-worthy”
One is left with one of two options:
1. To design generic, boring & safe products/brands (something that is considered very risky both financially and ineffective reach of target markets)
2. To design a Purple Cow: [ Continued in next Premium Content + a Strategy Guidance book, The Purple Cow system, etc. ]