Do you have a purple cow?

I've just read a short book called Purple Cow by Seth Godin published in 2003. Talk about a man ahead of his time! It's still very relevant 10 years on.

Here’s a few points I thought worth pondering for your business:

The 5P’s of marketing aren’t enough anymore – they were:
Product, Price, Promotion, Positioning, Packaging

The new P is Purple Cow – the need to stand out and be exceptional/remarkable

Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing into your product or service, not slapping on marketing as a last minute add-on. Understanding that if your offering itself isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible.  Traditional approaches to marketing are obsolete (except maybe for those with lots of $)

The good news for small business is that you’re not missing out because you can’t afford a TV or print campaign!  It probably wouldn’t have worked anyway!

Create remarkable products that the right people seek out and be sure they can find you.

Its safer to be risky – brainstorm to find that remarkable idea to make your product, service, or even your method of marketing – remarkable!

Here’s some of the take away points in summary:
• If your product /service offering is boring – come up with ten ways to change the product to make it appeal to a sliver of your audience
• Think of the smallest conceivable market and describe a product that overwhelms it with its remarkability
• Build and use your database of loyal customers and ask them to come up with ideas or test new ideas on them
• Find the things that are “ just not done “ in your industry and do them
• Ask “ why not “ 

My Purple Cow is offering small businesses the opportunity to "hire me" for a day a month to be their "Marketing Hat".  What's yours?  Promote it here and I will share.

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