Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Seth Godin says that the key to success is to find a way to stand out – do be the purple cow in the field of monochrome holsteins.  Godin himself may be the best example of how tho theory works:  The marketing expert is a demigod on the Web, a best-selling author, highly sought after lecturer, successful entrepreneur, respected pundit and high-profile blogger.  He is uniquely respected for his understanding of the Internet, and his essays and opinions are widely read and quoted online and off.

This book is a huge wakeup call for most marketers who read it.  The book title itself is a perfect metaphor for understanding the concept and remembering it.

If every cow was purple, nobody would get excited about seeing one.

The fact is, most businesses and people are just copies and replicas of everyone else.  The common thought has always been, do what everyone else does because that’s how it’s done or that’s what works.  In reality, when the choices are all so similar the default differentiating factor becomes price which only a few (such as Wal-Mart) can compete on and survive.

Seth Godin says “a purple cow is a remarkable cow.”  Being remarkable is doing what is uniques, interesting, and worthy of being talked about.  Being a purple cow is what sets you apart from the competition in a way that is memorable AND ads value to the customer.  Simple gimmickry  can get you noticed, but a true purple cow is one that is based on generating value for the client/customer – not jumping around in a clown suit begging for customers.  Seth Godin shows you what it takes to make it happen.

This is a book that I wrote in 2005 when I began focusing the bulk of my consulting efforts on high-cost products and services.  I was being contacted regularly by small business owners who had great ideas and great products, but there were too many that I couldn’t work with.  It was just too much to respond to every email and talk to every business owner, so I got together with another consultant friend of mine and outlined a book which was picked up by Broadmoore Press later that fall.

This book is the compilation of several key concepts and strategies that any business owner should think about and implement.

Although it is a few years old (I’ve been doing this a long time), the concepts in it are absolutely timeless and can be implemented in any business.

[callout]If you’re an Consultant or sell high-cost products or services, pay special attention to the following sections and chapters:

• Introduction – “The Business You’re In” Explains why you can’t compete long term on product and price alone.
• Chapter 4 “Why People Buy”
• Chapter 6 “The Four Primary Ways to Grow Your Business”
• Chapter 8 “The Skill of Positioning”
• Chapter 9 “Why Should Your Clients Do Business With You, Rather Than Your Competition?”
• Chapter 12 “Establish Preeminence In Your Area of Expertise”
• Chapter 16 “The Three Most Important Things in Advertising” – This applies directly to Pay-Per-Click and Internet Advertising.[/callout]

My new book “Everything Communicates” scheduled for publishing next fall by Broadmoore Press goes deep into marketing and sales in the competitive markets of high-ticket products and services.

[endorsement cite=”Ray Lopez” byline=”Blackhawk Armory”]He re-branded our company, fixed our marketing, and got us noticed and absorbed by an Italian manufacturer. He knows his stuff.[/endorsement]

This is a classic book.  One that I’ve consistently kept on my bookshelf through several moves and “dejunking” exercises at my office.

Published in 1985 it’s pretty old, but the principles he outlines are timeless.  Often overlooked and forgotten in modern advertising thought, David Ogilvy’s ideas have proven to be even more effective in todays world because all of the thoughtless puffery promoted for its “creativity” rather than it’s effectiveness.

[endorsement cite=”David Ogilvy” byline=”Ogilvy & Mather Advertising”]If it doesn’t sell – it isn’t creative.[/endorsement]

David Ogilvy was well known for his blunt and often harsh critiques of the advertising industry.