Purple Cow
You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.
What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?
Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.
Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.
In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.
I'm intrigued.
Coming back from Manhattan on the Long Island Railroad last week a fellow rider suggested I read this book to help market myself as a new author. I usually don’t read books of this nature, but it seemed so interesting, I just had to get it.
Martini Spoken Here...
“Most thieves aren’t smart. If they were, they would be able to think of better ways to make money.”
“If the eyes are the window to the soul, then the mouth is the door to the human persona...
...Whatever goes in or comes out says a lot about someone.”
“Everyone in your life represents energy you can borrow. Take the best of what they have to offer and give back the best of you as payment.”
“Start your journey NOW before the world decides to leave without you.”
"You can decide right now to start being the best you can be. And if you do, every second from this moment on means you are better than the second before.”
"You don’t need to know how to get to your best life. You just have to want it. The universe takes care of the rest.”
“I must have been absent the day they taught entitlement.”
Talk About Family
He said -
“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.”
~ Thomas JeffersonShe said -
“In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.”
~ Margaret LaurenceTalk About Philanthropy
He said -
“Never respect men merely for their riches, but rather for their philanthropy; we do not value the sun for its height, but for its use.”
~ Gamaliel BaileyShe said -
“I don‘t think you ever stop giving. I really don‘t. I think it‘s an on-going process. And it‘s not just about being able to write a check. It‘s being able to touch somebody‘s life.”
~ Oprah WinfreyTalk About Fitness
He said -
“A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I‘m afraid of widths.”
~ Steven WrightShe said -
“Find fitness with fun dancing. It is fun and makes you forget about the dreaded exercise.”
~ Paula AbdulTalk About Forgiveness
He said -
“Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has
crushed it.”
She said -
“Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins
for breakfast.”
Talk About Gratitude
He said -
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
~ John E. SouthardShe said -
“The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father goes forward, not backward. What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.”
~ Nancy FridayTalk About Health
He said -
“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.”
~ Doug LarsonShe said -
“True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it
is lost.”
Talk About Love
He said -
“Do I love you because you‘re beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?”
~ Richard RodgersShe said -
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
~ Mother TeresaTalk About Success
He said -
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man
of value.”
She said -
“There is no point at which you can say, ‘Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap.’ ”
~ Carrie FisherTalk About Kindness
He said -
“If you haven‘t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of
heart trouble.”
She said -
“Open your heart — open it wide; someone is standing outside.”
~ Mary Engelbreit