Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Highlights
"Instead of trying to use your technology and expertise to make a better product for your users' standard behavior, experiment with inviting the users to change their behavior to make the product work dramatically better."
"If a product's future is unlikely to be remarkable-if you can't imagine a future in which people are once again fascinated by your product-it's time to realize that the game has changed. Instead of investing in a dying product, take profits and reinvest them in building something new."
"It's not an accident that some products catch on and some don't. When an ideavirus occurs, it's often because all the viral pieces work together. How smooth and easy is it to spread your idea? How often will people sneeze it to their friends? How tightly knit is the group you're targeting-do they talk much? Do they believe each other? How reputable are the people most likely to promote your idea? How persistent is it-is it a fad that has to spread fast before it dies, or will the idea have legs (and thus you can invest in spreading it over time)? Put all of your new product developments through this analysis, and you'll discover which ones are most likely to catch on. Those are the products and ideas worth launching."
"IT IS USELESS TO ADVERTISE TO ANYONE (EXCEPT INTERESTED SNEEZERS WITH INFLUENCE)."
"Differentiate your customers. Find the group that's most profitable. Find the group that's most likely to sneeze. Figure out how to develop/advertise/reward either group. Ignore the rest. Your ads (and your products!) shouldn't cater to the masses. Your ads (and products) should cater to the customers you'd choose if you could choose your customers."
"Make a list of competitors who are not trying to be everything to everyone. Are they outperforming you? If you could pick one underserved niche to target (and to dominate), what would it be? Why not launch a product to compete with your own-a product that does nothing but appeal to this market?"
"What tactics does your firm use that involve following the leader? What if you abandoned them and did something very different instead? If you acknowledge that you'll never catch up by being the same, make a list of ways you can catch up by being different."
"What would happen if you gave the marketing budget for your next three products to the designers? Could you afford a world-class architect/designer/sculptor/director/author?"
"What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get the results? If you can afford it, try it. 'If you measure it, it will improve.'"
"Buy a bottle of Dr. Bronner's. Now, working with your factory and your designers, Bronnify a variation of one of your products."
"Do you have the e-mail addresses of the 20% of your customer base that loves what you do? If not, start getting them. If you do, what could you make for these customers that would be super-special? Visit sethgodin.typepad.com and you can sign up for my blog and get daily updates."
THE MAGIC CYCLE OF THE COW
1. Get permission from people you impressed the first time. Not permission to spam them or sell them leftovers or squeeze extra margins from them. Permission to alert them the next time you might have another Cow.
2. Work with the sneezers in that audience to make it easier for them to help your idea cross the chasm. Give them the tools (and the story) they'll need to sell your idea to a wider audience.
3. Once you've crossed the line from remarkable to profitable business, let a different team milk it. Productize your services, servicize your products, let a thousand variations bloom. But don't believe your own press releases. This is the inevitable downward slide to commodity. Milk it for all it's worth, and fast.
4. Reinvest. Do it again. With a vengeance. Launch another Purple Cow (to the same audience). Fail and fail and fail again. Assume that what was remarkable last time won't be remarkable this time."
SNEEZE!!
Purple Cow History
Highlights
"Instead of trying to use your technology and expertise to make a better product for your users' standard behavior, experiment with inviting the users to change their behavior to make the product work dramatically better."
"If a product's future is unlikely to be remarkable-if you can't imagine a future in which people are once again fascinated by your product-it's time to realize that the game has changed. Instead of investing in a dying product, take profits and reinvest them in building something new."
"It's not an accident that some products catch on and some don't. When an ideavirus occurs, it's often because all the viral pieces work together. How smooth and easy is it to spread your idea? How often will people sneeze it to their friends? How tightly knit is the group you're targeting-do they talk much? Do they believe each other? How reputable are the people most likely to promote your idea? How persistent is it-is it a fad that has to spread fast before it dies, or will the idea have legs (and thus you can invest in spreading it over time)? Put all of your new product developments through this analysis, and you'll discover which ones are most likely to catch on. Those are the products and ideas worth launching."
"IT IS USELESS TO ADVERTISE TO ANYONE (EXCEPT INTERESTED SNEEZERS WITH INFLUENCE)."
"Differentiate your customers. Find the group that's most profitable. Find the group that's most likely to sneeze. Figure out how to develop/advertise/reward either group. Ignore the rest. Your ads (and your products!) shouldn't cater to the masses. Your ads (and products) should cater to the customers you'd choose if you could choose your customers."
"Make a list of competitors who are not trying to be everything to everyone. Are they outperforming you? If you could pick one underserved niche to target (and to dominate), what would it be? Why not launch a product to compete with your own-a product that does nothing but appeal to this market?"
"What tactics does your firm use that involve following the leader? What if you abandoned them and did something very different instead? If you acknowledge that you'll never catch up by being the same, make a list of ways you can catch up by being different."
"What would happen if you gave the marketing budget for your next three products to the designers? Could you afford a world-class architect/designer/sculptor/director/author?"
"What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get the results? If you can afford it, try it. 'If you measure it, it will improve.'"
"Buy a bottle of Dr. Bronner's. Now, working with your factory and your designers, Bronnify a variation of one of your products."
"Do you have the e-mail addresses of the 20% of your customer base that loves what you do? If not, start getting them. If you do, what could you make for these customers that would be super-special? Visit sethgodin.typepad.com and you can sign up for my blog and get daily updates."
THE MAGIC CYCLE OF THE COW
1. Get permission from people you impressed the first time. Not permission to spam them or sell them leftovers or squeeze extra margins from them. Permission to alert them the next time you might have another Cow.
2. Work with the sneezers in that audience to make it easier for them to help your idea cross the chasm. Give them the tools (and the story) they'll need to sell your idea to a wider audience.
3. Once you've crossed the line from remarkable to profitable business, let a different team milk it. Productize your services, servicize your products, let a thousand variations bloom. But don't believe your own press releases. This is the inevitable downward slide to commodity. Milk it for all it's worth, and fast.
4. Reinvest. Do it again. With a vengeance. Launch another Purple Cow (to the same audience). Fail and fail and fail again. Assume that what was remarkable last time won't be remarkable this time."
SNEEZE!!
Purple Cow History
