Seth Godin’s classic little purple book Purple Cow is about transforming your business by being remarkable. Why “Purple Cow?” You’ve probably seen so many cows in your life that they have become boring. You no longer pay attention to them or bubble with excitement when you see one. When is the last time you saw a purple cow? If you saw one, you’d probably pay attention.
Your business will be “purple” and remarkable if you do something different. In Purple Cow, Godin teaches several principles for making your company more successful. Some highlights include:
- Don’t mass market. Focus on a niche. Dominate that area, and then move on to the next niche.
- Forget traditional advertising on TV and other media. Take your advertising budget and sock it into development of a truly remarkable product.
- You need to target innovators and early adopters with your product release. These individuals then spread the word to the mainstream public.
- Don’t be boring. Be remarkable.
- Take a chance on being different.
- Once you get your “Purple Cow,” don’t just sit back and milk the cow. Start working on the next cow.
This book is a very quick read and the information is broken up into one or two page chapters that can easily be digested. Godin provides case studies of Purple Cows in numerous different industries and circumstances. He distills his main points into concise principles that can readily be scanned for later reference.
I think Purple Cow can best be summed up by Godin’s remarks at the very end of his book:
Ask, “Why not?” Almost everything you don’t do has no good reason for it. Almost everything you don’t do is the result of fear or inertia or a historical lack of someone asking, “Why not?”
Start asking “Why not?” and transform your products and services into remarkable Purple Cows.