What does a Purple Cow have to do with Marketing?

"Very Good" is not being "Remarkable" is the single biggest thought I will take out of the book 'Purple Cow' by Seth Godin. It has significant implications to my business and will drive me to explore being more remarkable and ingenious in the services we provide as I think we are often Very Good.

'Purple Cow' is about making sure that your business is offering remarkable services.

It talks about traditional advertising basically being less effective and in most cases totally ineffective, and then offers insights into making your business remarkable. It is a thought provoking book and is (by default of marketing generally) targeted more towards product development that service based business. A key quote for me is:

"The opposite of 'Remarkable' is 'Very Good'

Ideas that are remarkable are much more likely to spread than ideas that aren't. Yet so few brave people make remarkable stuff. Why? I think it's because they think that the opposite of 'Remarkable' is 'bad' or 'mediocre' or 'poorly done'. Thus, if they make something very good, they confuse it with being virus worthy.

If you travel on an airline and they get you there safely, you don't tell anyone. That's what's supposed to happen. What makes it remarkable is if it's horrible beyond belief or if the service is so unexpected (they are an hour early or comp my ticket because I'm cute) that you need to share it.

Very good is an everyday occurrence and is hardly worth mentioning.

Are you making or doing very good stuff? How fast can you stop?"

Purple Cow - Page 67

Seth recently had an article in the Guardian which he posted on his blog called "How to be Remarkable". It is a great summary of thoughts from his book and blogs. READ IT!

Book Summary

Purple Cow - Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable ^
Seth Godin - www.sethgodin.com

Genres        Marketing, Business, Product Development
Pages         142
Readability   3 (1 = Easy, 5 = Hard)
Enjoyment    4 (1 = Never Read, 5 = Remarkable)