In Praise of the Purple Cow

Written By: Seth GodinPresented By: Adrianne Johnson

“Five P’s” – Choose Handful

ProductPricing PromotionPositioningPublicityPackagingPass alongPermission

New P to the list- Purple Cow!

Cows In Marketing?

Brown Cow-See them many timesBoring, do not stick out, even if the best cow

Purple Cow-Shines even among excellent cowsIt is remarkable

Must be a leader

Stand out from the herd!

Stand Out I: Going Up!

Schindler Elevator Corp. – The Purple CowTurned every floor into an expressChanged the way elevators were sold

The Sad Truth About Marketing Just About Anything

Most people can’t buy your productOld Rule: Create safe products and combine them with great marketing. Average products for average peopleNew Rue: Create remarkable products that the right people seek out

Stand Out II: Mail Call

“Zip+4”Game changing innovationSingled out a few early adoptersLesson: More crowded the marketplace busier customers more you need a Purple Cow

Why there are so few Purple Cows-Thought that opposite of remarkable is “bad”Rare because people are afraid

Point: Boring always leads to failure!

Stand Out III: The Color of MoneyDutch Boy Paint – New can

Marketing where the marketer changes the product, not the ads.

Why It Pays to Be a Purple CowDon’t have to be great all the time to enjoy benefitsMust do two things after creating something remarkable:1) Milk the cow for everything it’s worth 2) Build environment where a new Purple Cow

will be invented to replace the new one in time

10 Ways to raise a purple cow1) Differentiate your customers2) Pick one underserved niche to target3) Create two teams: inventors and milkers4) Have e-mail addresses of the 20% of the customer

base that loves what you do5) Do “unsafe” things every time you have the chance6) Explore the limits7) Think small8) Do things that are “just not done” in your industry9) Ask, “why not?”10) Tell the truth inside your company and to your

customers