Purple Cow

1. The Purple Cow: Be Remarkable or Be Invisible

"In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible."

Be exceptional or fade away. In today's oversaturated market, being good is no longer good enough. Consumers are bombarded with choices and have limited attention spans. To succeed, your product or service must be remarkable – worth talking about, like a purple cow in a field of brown cows.

Remarkable qualities:

• Unique features
• Innovative design
• Exceptional performance
• Surprising elements
• Memorable experiences

The Purple Cow concept applies to all industries and sectors. Whether you're selling software, running a restaurant, or offering professional services, the key to success is creating something that stands out and gets people talking.

2. Safe is Risky: Playing It Safe Is the Riskiest Strategy

"The riskiest thing you can do now is be safe. The safe thing to do is to be at the fringes, be remarkable."

Embrace calculated risks. Counterintuitively, playing it safe in today's market is the riskiest strategy. By trying to appeal to everyone and avoiding controversy, you become unremarkable and easily ignored.

Risk-taking strategies:

• Challenge industry norms
• Adopt unconventional approaches
• Take bold stances
• Experiment with new ideas
• Push boundaries in product design or service delivery

Companies that take calculated risks often reap significant rewards. They capture attention, spark conversations, and create loyal customer bases. While not every risk pays off, the potential for success is much higher than with a "play-it-safe" approach.

3. The Death of the TV-Industrial Complex: Traditional Marketing Is Obsolete

"Marketing in a post-TV world is no longer about making a product attractive or interesting or pretty or funny after it's designed and built—it's about designing the thing to be virus-worthy in the first place."

Integrate marketing into product design. The era of relying solely on mass media advertising to sell average products is over. Today's successful companies build remarkability into their products from the ground up.

Key shifts in marketing:

• From interruption to permission
• From mass appeal to niche focus
• From product-centric to customer-centric
• From one-way communication to engagement and conversation

Marketers must now work closely with product developers, designers, and customer service teams to create offerings that are inherently remarkable and shareable. The product itself becomes the primary marketing tool.

4. Target the Edges: Focus on Early Adopters and Innovators

"Smart marketers realize this, and they work to minimize (but not eliminate) the risk from the process. They know that sometimes it's not going to work, but they accept the fact that that's okay."

Prioritize innovators and early adopters. These groups are more likely to try new things and spread the word about remarkable products. By focusing on the edges of the market, you can gain traction and eventually move towards the mainstream.

Characteristics of early adopters:

• Open to new ideas
• Willing to take risks
• Influential within their networks
• Eager to share discoveries
• Less price-sensitive

Targeting early adopters allows you to refine your product and build buzz before attempting to capture the larger market. This strategy reduces risk and increases the chances of long-term success.

5. Build Remarkability into Your Product

"If being a Purple Cow is such an easy, effective way to break through the clutter, why doesn't everyone do it? Why is it so hard to be Purple?"

Make your offering inherently noteworthy. Remarkability should be a core feature of your product or service, not an afterthought. This requires creativity, courage, and a deep understanding of your target audience.

Ways to build remarkability:

• Solve a problem in an unexpected way
• Offer extreme performance or features
• Create a unique user experience
• Challenge industry conventions
• Combine unrelated concepts

Building remarkability often involves taking risks and making difficult choices. It may mean alienating some potential customers to strongly appeal to others. However, this focused approach is more likely to lead to success in today's crowded marketplace.

6. Embrace the Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

"Ideas that spread are more likely to succeed than those that don't. I call ideas that spread, ideaviruses."

Harness the power of organic spread. In the age of social media and interconnected networks, word-of-mouth has become more powerful than ever. Create products and experiences that people naturally want to share with others.

Elements of shareable ideas:

• Emotional impact
• Practical value
• Social currency
• Triggers for frequent sharing
• Public visibility
• Stories worth retelling

Encourage and facilitate sharing by making it easy for customers to spread the word. Provide exceptional experiences, create shareable content, and engage with your community to fuel organic growth.

7. Create for a Specific Audience, Not the Masses

"The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a huge market."

Focus on a well-defined niche. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, create products or services that deeply resonate with a specific group. This allows you to stand out and build a loyal following.

Benefits of niche focus:

• Easier to become remarkable
• More efficient use of resources
• Higher customer loyalty
• Less direct competition
• Potential for premium pricing

By dominating a niche, you can establish a strong foundation for growth. As you succeed within your niche, you may find opportunities to expand or target adjacent markets.

8. Continuously Innovate to Stay Remarkable

"Once you've managed to create something truly remarkable, the challenge is to do two things simultaneously: Milk the Cow for everything it's worth... [and] Create an environment where you are likely to invent a new Purple Cow in time to replace the first one when its benefits inevitably trail off."

Maintain a culture of innovation. Being remarkable once is not enough. Markets evolve, competitors emerge, and what was once Purple can quickly become brown. Successful companies continuously innovate to stay ahead.

Innovation strategies:

• Invest in research and development
• Encourage creativity and risk-taking
• Listen closely to customer feedback
• Monitor industry trends and disruptors
• Create systems for generating and testing new ideas

Balance exploiting current successes with exploring new opportunities. This dual focus helps ensure long-term relevance and growth.

9. Measure and Optimize Your Remarkability

"If you measure it, it will improve."

Track and refine your efforts. Use data and feedback to assess the impact of your Purple Cow strategies. Continuously optimize your products, services, and marketing approaches based on real-world results.

Key metrics to consider:

• Customer acquisition rates
• Word-of-mouth referrals
• Social media engagement
• Customer lifetime value
• Brand sentiment
• Market share growth

Implement systems for gathering and analyzing data. Use this information to make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and resource allocation.

10. Transform Your Career by Being Remarkable

"In your career, even more than for a brand, being safe is risky. The path to lifetime job security is to be remarkable."

Apply Purple Cow principles to your career. Stand out in your field by developing unique skills, taking on challenging projects, and creating remarkable work. Build a personal brand that makes you indispensable and sought-after.

Career strategies for remarkability:

• Develop a unique combination of skills
• Tackle high-visibility projects
• Share your knowledge and insights
• Build a strong professional network
• Continuously learn and adapt
• Create a distinctive personal brand

By making yourself remarkable, you increase your value in the job market and create opportunities for growth and advancement. Remember that playing it safe in your career can be the riskiest strategy of all.

Last updated: January 22, 2025