Book Review: Purple Cow by Seth Godin

All of us have ideas and all of us have fears. Usually when our ideas slam headlong into fear, our fears carry the day while simultaneously holding us back.

That’s the crux of Seth Godin’s exceptional book Purple Cow, which is written as a marketing guide yet offers deep perspective about our personal brands. Let me explain…

Whether you like it or not, you’re a sales person of yourself. Family, friends, co-workers, bosses and everyone else in your life relates to you based on who they think you are – or what your personal brand essence is.

Godin’s book states that the best brands are remarkable or memorable, such as a purple cow would be in a field of white and black Holsteins.

Examples of the purple-cow-mentality that Godin espouses include the redesigned VW beetle, Krispy Kreme donuts, Curad’s bandages with cartoon faces as well as the Aeron’s $750 office chair. Beyond products, each of us have the potential to be a purple cow.

The author writes, fear stifles creativity and the possibility of remarkable ideas. To overcome the inertia of fear, he offers four steps to creating a purple cow mentality:

• Get “permission” from people to share your ideas with and possibly your products;
• Always be willing to ask yourself and those around you, “Why not?” as a way to challenge existing thinking;
• Make sure you know what you’re passionate about as the core concept of your purple cow, because without passion you won’t be able to pass along your “idea virus” to others;
• Identify and work with key influencers who will be passionate about your message and carry it to a target audience.

The book is crammed with a lot of other examples and insights. But ultimately it’s a refreshing read that has a much wider application than just selling things.

I posted an extensive summary of the book under the "FREE Stuff" section of this blog’s home page. Did you read it? If so what did you think?