Why you need a Purple Cow in your business

Author - Miranda Jenkins

---

Why you need a Purple Cow in your business

Do you read business books? Some of them are deadly dull, but occasionally one leaps out at me and catches my attention.

Seth Godin’s ‘Purple Cow: Transform your Business By Being Remarkable’ has been one such book. A little Americanised in its business examples and ideas, it has however set a whole load of lightbulbs flashing in my brain..and it might just do the same for you. I bought my copy second hand online for less than £2…it has been worth every penny and more.

One of the most powerful messages in the book talks about the need for our business marketing approaches to move with the times.

Lets face it, as customers we have all got enough stuff in our homes and businesses…we don’t really need to buy any more. We can access nearly every product that we need already – we know where to go and buy it, or at any rate we know where to go and find out where to buy it.

We are all bombarded continually with different marketing messages all through our day…with the result that we stop watching, listening and taking in the messages.

So how do we make sure that our business stands out? How do we get the attention of our customers and show them the wonderful products and services we have on offer? How do we break through the cacophony of messages that our customers are already zoning out from, to capture their imagination and show them new possibilities? Seth Godin argues that if we keep doing the same old marketing thing we will not succeed. Instead, he advocates, we all need to develop a Purple Cow.

The Purple Cow is remarkable. Imagine that you drove past a field of cows, and one of them was purple. You would notice it…you would turn round in your driving seat and take another look to make sure. You would probably remark on it to your passengers…and may well tell other people about what you have seen.

What would it take for your customers to notice the Purple Cow in your business. What makes you/your product/your service/your business remarkable?

Fitting in and being the same won’t cut the mustard if you want success in your business. Being purple may mean taking risks, being talked about, doing something that no-one in your sector has thought of doing before. It might not work, but if you don’t try you won’t know.

Go on – think what a Purple Cow might look like in your business!