Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable - Purple Cow

Sure we (the marketing crowd) all know this already. We know world is getting so fast you have to find a way to be remarkable. We know if we dont find that way we will get lost in the masses and become invisible. But sometimes we forget it in our daily business. I dont necessarily agree with the whole ideavirus idea. But I do believe in being remarkable. I also believe being remarkable is all about creating a relevant remerkable temporary monopoly, and competing on the level where noone else has gone (yet. hence temporary). Is it easy to do? No. Its ok to be reminded of it in a book compact enough to act as a wake up call. Easy read for non-marketing people as well.

I downloaded a kindle version and I was immediately hooked. I liked the case studies of successful and the non successful businesses.
The writing style is very clear and to the point perhaps bordering on being a bit too verbose at times.
Just be remarkable!
Highly recommended.
Deaf Dave.

Seth Godin is a kinder, gentler Tom Peters. Jay Leno to David Letterman. He packs all the "I should have thought of things that way" wallop of a Peters book into a clean, elegant, quick read.
At the end of the day, this isn't a Porter book. This isn't about strategy with a capital "S". Rather, it is a passionate and convincing essay on the business merits of producing remarkable user experiences.

The book has some decent insights, which are all mostly at the beginning. However, there is nothing remarkable or "purple cow" about it. Many of the points outlined in this reading can be found in other books so there is a great lack of originality. In fact, I have a feeling Seth Godin himself learned a great deal of what he wrote in Purple Cow from other authors, not from hellish life experience that comes from enterprising and innovating a business. I was a bit disappointed.

I give it three star because the message is profound, obvious, and clearly articulated. It wasn't a boring read (although it does kinda drag at the end). The knowledge and substance of this book however is not deep.

There seem to be two camps reviewing this book. One say that is brilliant and their favorite book of all time. The other says the book is shallow and void of original ideas. Both are right...and wrong.

The main idea of the book is spot on. If your business is not unique, it will be invisible. Marketing an invisible business is tough.

To the critics who say the basic idea is simple and therefore not ground breaking, I agree. But Godin manages to clarify a simple, very important idea that most business owners overlook. There is an elegance to his clarity.

Godin writes books that have a single core idea. He writes in a conversational tone. His books are short and readable. By the way, all of Godin's books make great audio books because they are in his conversational voice.

There are two categories of business books. There are the big serious tomes about how somebody saved ABC Corporation from disaster and made billions in the process. And then there are books for the rest of us. Purple Cow is a "rest of us" book. Years after reading the book, I still struggle with developing my own purple cow. It isn't easy.

Add this to your library.

Chris Reich
Business Consultant

Consumers are so numbed by constant bombardment by advertising, that it takes something extraordinary to get their attention. Businesses need a product or service that is truly different, something that stands out like a purple cow in a field full of cows.

Great book for the future of marketing. Gets you out of tactics and into more strategic thinking. The only reason I left a star off is that Seth simply republished it with very little new content. The new content he did publish was crowdsourced from his blog comments.

Wow. wow. wowwowowowow. A thousand times wow!! I was already a Seth Godin fan but after reading this book, Seth is the number on authority on marketing for me. Definitely recommendable to anyone that wants to make a remarkable business.

I enjoyed this book so much, from cover to cover. Seth Godin's thoughts are so original. The whole concept of Purple Cow is one that I now am going to adopt into my own usage, because it is such a useful concept. Around the concept of being successful by being a Purple Cow, he wraps several other important marketing concepts that are equally useful. This is a remarkable, fun, relevant book.

This is a quick read with a very simple concept. I have given this book to others for it simplicity. Some may call it "unique selling proposition" - Seth Godin refers to the concept as a purple cow. What ever it takes to spark an idea to get people to differentiate themselves - it worked here!

I am currently still in the process of reading it. So far it has put a lot of things in perspective. This book is great for anyone who is interested in starting their own business or have their own business.

I guess the cheap shipment option with the store precluded the trick packaging. I remember first reading Godin in Fast Company I believe, and then a few years later, participating in one of the Fast Company: Company of Friends groups nearby, one of the enterprising dotcommers said he had met with him.
From this person's description, he was the Dalai Lama of the internet. So, I picked up Permission Marketing and IdeaVirus in the intervening years.
Of course, permission marketing is now just called spam. Anyway, Purple Cow describes how traditional television advertising is no longer effective, and how marketing in the future needs to be conceived when the product is conceived. I guess I buy into that...but I don't think he is the first one to say it. Sergio Zyman comes to mind. He also goes into some examples of viral marketing once again, and in one chapter says Starbucks is passe since it is so large....but then in another chapter praises it for consistency across the world.
I guess you can have it both ways.
That is my quick summary of the book.

Looking for some inspiration? Are you a bit confused as to why your product or service just isn't selling? Read this book and you will learn why. Godin is genius in everything he writes. Purple Cow defines "being remarkable." Differentiating yourself from the rest and being able to grab the consumer's attention.

Highly recommended.