MineZone Wiki

Notes on Purple Cow by Seth Godin

• "It is useless to advertise to anyone (except interested sneezers with influence)." - p. 36
• "Differentiate your customers. Fine 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." - p. 41
• "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." - p. 52
• "Do you have the email addresses of the 20 percent 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 www.sethgodin.com and you can sign up for my list and see what happens." - p. 73
• "If you're in an intangibles business, your business card is a big part of what you sell. What if everyone in your company had to carry a second business card? Something that actually sold them (and you). Something remarkable." - p. 89
• "All of a sudden, it's obvious why you need a permission asset. If your company doesn't have one yet, you can start, today, for free, by using Outlook on your PC. Give people an email address to write to. Write back. You're on your way." - p. 95
• "Remarkable isn't always about changing the biggest machine in your factory. It can be the way you answer the phone, launch a new brand, or price a revision to your softwware. Getting in the habit of doing the "unsafe" thing every time you have the opportunity is the best way to learn to project—you get practice at seeing what's working and what's not." - p. 105
• "Explore the limits. What if you're the cheapest, the fastest, the slowest, the hottest, the coldest, the easiest, the most efficient, the loudest, the most hated, the copycat, the outsider, the hardest, the oldest, the newest, the. . . most! If there's a limit, you should (must) test it." - p. 135
• "Think small. One vestige of the TV-industrial complex is a need to think mass. If it doesn't appeal to everyon, the thinking goes, it's not worth it. No longer. Think of the smallest conceivable market, and describe a product that overwhelms it with its remarkability. Go from there." - p. 136
• clip-'n'-save slogans: (p. 140)
  • "Don't Be Boring"
  • "Safe is Risky"
  • "Design Rules Now"
  • "Very Good"

See Also:

• http://www.apricot.com/~curse/blog/archives/000068.shtml