Big Thought

Because the modern consumer is overwhelmed by information, the most effective way to market is to create products and services that are remarkable and stand out – leading people to want to talk about them.

Ideas, Implications, and Questions

• It’s interesting that Seth focuses on a “holistic” view of marketing: instead of seeing marketing as something separate from the product development, what the product is and how it is marketed are intimately linked.  You can’t just have a humdrum product and expect a glitzy ad campaign to sell it.  “Stop advertising and start innovating.” (pg 4).
• “The post-consumption consumer is out of things to buy.  We have what we need, we want very little, and we’re too busy to spend a lot of time researching something that you’ve worked hard to create for us.” (pg 3)  Which is why traditional advertising, centered around spewing out as much noise around a topic as possible, isn’t working anymore.  People don’t have the time to be interrupted anymore, and they don’t want to listen.
• A critical idea for smaller businesses is differentiation.  Creating a marketing niche is important, especially for service providers, because it helps them avoid being lumped in with “the crowd”.  This is often counterintuitive: the way a company grows larger is by targeting a smaller segment of the market.  It’s worth spending the time and energy up front to understand 1) what makes your company different and 2) how you can communicate that difference.
• Reading Purple Cow is a little schizophrenic, because you realize that there is no single way to create a remarkable product.  Sometimes it’s about being faster, sometimes slower; sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive.  If you’re looking for a blueprint for a Purple Cow, you’ll be disappointed. Seth points out that it’s about experimentation, and trying new ideas – and being OK with failing at some of those ideas.  As he writes, “…if it was easy to become a rockstar everyone would do it!” (pg 49)

Should you read this book?  Who should read this book?

For anyone who is responsible for marketing themselves or someone else, this is a valuable read.  Seth points out why traditional marketing doesn’t work well, and how to explore new ways of creating products and marketing messages that could work in the future.  It’s a great place to go find some inspiration and ideas to try in your business world.

Definitely read Purple Cow if you are:

• In marketing
• A small business owner marketing your own company
• An entrepreneur developing a new product or service

 Read Seth's blog for additional thought-provoking ideas!