Purple Cow by Seth Godin (Top 100 Business Books)

This might be classified as a ‘marketing’ book, but it is much more about innovation. The premise is that the old way of marketing – making okay products and then mass-marketing them – is dead. Instead, you need to be remarkable; to stand out from the crowd. Hence, the title – Purple Cow. A purple cow will certainly get attention, whereas a brown one is simply too ordinary to be noticed.

The book is an easy read with no real structure, other than the 60-odd short chapters. Some might enjoy this, but my brain didn’t like this lack of structure.

?Here are the key concepts:

?1.????Stop advertising, start innovating. Make remarkable products that the right people seek out. Use your marketing budget instead for innovation. This will help you create your very own purple cow.

2.????It’s cheaper to keep a customer than get a new one, and Godin provides an interesting example from the music industry. Did you know that 97% of records produced lose money? That’s an eye-watering number. The band Pearl Jam, however, were able to buck this trend. They released 72 live albums, from 2001–02, that were all available on their website. They made money on all 72 albums. They also kept their loyal fans very happy, while bringing in new fans, and the customer base grew with very little leakage. Differentiate your customers, and then go after those who are most profitable.?

3.????Target the right customer. This is useful when managing change. You need to attract innovators and early adopters. Author and organisation theorist Geoffrey Moore’s Diffusion Curve (pictured), also known as the Innovation Adoption Lifecycle, depicts the theory that people take up new things at a different pace. Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards will adopt things at a different pace. You want to attract the innovators and early adopters who will tell everyone else about it. Godin calls these people “sneezers”.?

4.????It’s useless to advertise to anyone, except interested sneezers with influence.

5.????Nobody gets unanimous praise – ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed, and criticism comes to those who stand out. You need to stand out like a purple cow. To do that you need to take risks and be prepared to be criticised.

6.????Good is the opposite of remarkable. You want to be remarkable but while you are being good you can’t be remarkable. Ridiculous is not the same thing as remarkable, nor is ‘cheap’.

Remember this when considering how to develop your own purple cow, suggests Godin: “Remarkable isn’t always about changing the biggest machine in your factory. It can be the way you answer the phone, launch a new brand, or price a revision to your software. Getting in the habit of doing the ‘unsafe’ thing every time you have the opportunity is the best way to learn to project –?you get practice at seeing what’s working and what’s not.”

Favourite Quotes

?"If you’re remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise–ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.”

Seth Godin

?"Stop advertising and start innovating."

?Seth Godin

“The old rule was this: create safe ordinary products and combine them with great marketing. The new rule is: create remarkable products that the right people seek out.”

?Seth Godin

"The opposite of remarkable is good."

?Seth Godin

“You do not equal the project. Criticism of the project is not criticism of you.”

?Seth Godin

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.”

?Seth Godin

“If you can’t state your position in eight words, you don’t have a position.”

Seth Godin

Glossary

Sneezers ??????

1. Key spreading agents of an ideavirus because they are the “experts”. They tell all their friends and spread the word about the idea.

Ideavirus ?????

1. Ideas that spread. They are more likely to succeed than those that do not.