Purple cow by Seth Godin
Review form Continue to acquaint you with the best business books in the Russian language. In previous articles you learned about a wonderful work — “How to succeed in business by breaking all the rules” by Dan S. Kennedy and world best-seller “be your own MBA. Self-education is 100%” by Josh Kaufman. Today you will meet another Western author Seth Godin and his outstanding book “the Purple cow. Make your business stand out. But, before we get to the book itself, I want to say a few words about how to build a business and why many people still fail at it.
The main problem of most entrepreneurs
Have you ever wondered why the majority (about 90%) of all businesses (at least in our country) disappear within a year after its launch? Someone blames customers, someone sees the problem in their own health, some blame government and laws. But, most often, the problem is not the clients, our mentality, lack of funds or high taxes. Usually the reason is different – the product or service offered by a budding entrepreneur, not stand out against competitors.
If the person renders services of the tutor, it is exactly the same as thousands of other “home-based” teachers. If he makes clothes, it is no different from what is already available in every store. And if he opens a cafe, then the basis is the average catering, with his orders, menu and staff.
The problem is the vast majority of entrepreneurs and businessmen that they are afraid to leave the ordinary, conventional, traditional, and go your own way, ignoring the unpleasant cries. Remember – if you criticize, discuss, you are always at the hearing. So, about you and your product quickly learn all the potential customers. And then, we only offer them a really good product or service.
But if you don’t know how to stand out in its field, the book “the Purple cow. Make your business stand out” Seth Godin will be a real boon for you.
The main idea of the book
Agree, just the name of the book Seth Godin draws attention to itself. Immediately want to look at this book and at least read the summary to it. Then many will want to buy it and read it completely. So, the author managed to carry out his plan – to force you to purchase its “purple cow.”
To better understand what the book is about, try to imagine a green meadow. Now imagine it grazing cows. Presented? Nothing unusual, right? The most familiar rural landscape. Now, fantasize and imagine that among the herds graze one purple, green, blue or maybe yellow cow. Agree, this animal will stand out sharply against the rest.
Now let’s draw a comparison. Green meadow is your business, your market. Grazing cows are the products and services. And you – the observer – is a potential customer. But the yellow or (as the author) purple cow – this is the product (or service) that stands out from the competition and immediately catches the attention of a potential customer.
Seth Godin in his bestseller “Purple cow. Make your business stand out” says one of the most basic laws of marketing. He says something like – “it is much easier to sell a product that people already want to buy”.
The book contains dozens of real-life examples of how business became successful after the company created their own “Purple cow” and offer it to potential customers. Inspired by these examples, you will be able to invent and create their own unique product that already want to buy your customers.
But the idea of creating an outstanding product or service is not the only in the book of Seth Godin. From “Purple cow” you will learn not only how to create but how to enter with their unique offer on the market. Your attention to a book full of stories about how even very promising products are not found (or found, but after a while) its customers because of just one poorly organized marketing and advertising process. That is, you must not only stand out from the competition, but also to make efforts to promote your product or service. How to do it with minimal cost, you’ll learn in the book “the Purple cow. Make your business stand out”.
Many have criticized this book because the author is spinning around the same thoughts over 190 pages of text. Perhaps the idea could be accommodate only a few printed pages. But in this case, readers would not be able to meet with dozens of various examples from the history of world business – the UPS and downs, successes and failures, about the simple products and the “purple cows”.
Recommend “Purple cow” to all those who are just about to launch my first business. By reading the work of Seth Godin, you will save yourself from a lot of possible errors. And experienced entrepreneurs and businessmen book will help you better understand what motivates potential clients and how to further improve your business.