Book Review:"Purple Cow" by Seth Godin

“I’ve never seen a Purple Cow,
  I never hope to see one.
  But I will tell you anyhow,
  I’d rather see than be one.”
      -a poem my father told me as a boy.

“Purple Cow” is an amusing quick read by Seth Godin. Although it doesn’t contain a lot of practical advice for most people, it does have lots of food for thought. It’s short, cheap, and fun and I recommend it. A good airplane book!

Synopsis:

Purple Cow is the act of building things worth noticing into your product or service – i.e. being remarkable. The opposite of remarkable is “very good,” and very good is boring. Boring leads to failure because the “very good” slot is almost always already taken.

Everything having to do with a product or service, from the design to support and everything in between, is marketing. The marketing, that is the total of what you have to offer, has to appeal to “sneezers” – the early adopters who like new stuff and who will hopefully tell everyone else. The sneezers need to find your product remarkable.

Being a Purple Cow is easy – because most people are afraid of the Cow. They are afraid to stand out or be different.

Outrageous is not always remarkable and is not required. Just outrageous doesn’t usually work. You don’t need passion or incredible creativity either – just the realization that only the Cow will work. Being remarkable doesn’t always require big changes. Small things can help you be remarkable: how you answer the phone, price updates, handle complaints, etc.

Be a Cow, explore the limits. Be the fastest, slowest, biggest, smallest, baldest, hairiest, newest, oldest, etc. – just be remarkable.