The New Truth in Marketing

This is a story that you must know if you want to succeed. Apply it to your company, restaurant, products, assignments, yourself... The world already has too many average things. Whatever you do, make it remarkable.

Back in the day, in order to be successful, companies had a specific formula that they followed: manufacturers would make pretty good products with the lowest possible cost and spend a ton of money in advertising. Back in the day, this used to work. It was pretty simple, and consumers believed what the little black box was telling them. Today, the market is cluttered and consumers are faced with thousands of options. If your product is only “pretty good”, it will also be invisible. To make matters worse, since there are so many ads and so many media outlets, often enough advertising is wasteful. Because we are overexposed (we see more ads today in 1 year than a person 50 years ago would in their lifetime), we’ve shielded ourselves from all of the things yelling for our attention. Several studies show that most of the time, people don’t remember an ad that they just watched/read. Today, if your product and ads are “pretty good” your sales will still be pretty bad.

A number of authors, including one of my favorites, Seth Godin, explain that the game of marketing has changed, and your only chance of succeeding is by acting on that. Most big-time corporations still work in the old model, where they manufacture pretty good products and spend a lot of money on ads. These are well known brands that have been with us for a long time, they enjoy top-of-mind awareness and trust from the consumers. Looking forward, if they keep playing the old game with the old rules, what Godin calls “playing safe”, they could quite possibly become extinct. Just ask Target how they are currently doing.

If you keep playing it safe, eventually a game changer will come along. This company will not be tied to the old model, and will have everything to gain by changing the rules. I'm talking about what Google, Amazon, YouTube, iTunes, and others once did. The problem is that normally this company’s products eventually settle, and someone else comes along, starting the cycle all over again.

Want to stay on top? Don't settle! Don't chain yourself to a slow moving model.

Okay, if the old game is over, what now?

Be remarkable. In Purple Cow, Godin uses a cow as a metaphor. He says that if you have a good and healthy cow, no one will really care about it. Today there are millions of other cows just like yours out there. However, if you happen to have a purple cow… wow, that’s suddenly remarkable. I know that if I saw a purple cow, I would Snapchat it, post a picture on Facebook, Instagram it, tweet about it, and tell all my friends: “Everyone, I’m chilling with a purple cow!”

Make yourself, your business, and your products purple. NOW.

Easier said than done

Sure, we all know that being remarkable is important, and it sounds a little obvious. The question is: are we actually giving the necessary attention to this necessity?

 Godin says you should reduce your advertising & marketing budget and instead give it to your design & engineering team. Let them create a purple cow; invert the process. Don’t create an average product and try to do remarkable marketing. Create an awesome product and then marketing becomes easy. People will talk about it, and your marketing team will have a much easier job selling it. I’m a marketing professional and I am saying that reassigning your marketing budget would actually help your sales.

I want to become purple

Cool! Get your creativity flowing and take some chances. No one is going to show you how to get there, and it will be difficult, especially because you are challenging the status quo. It will be one hell of a ride, and possibly a profitable one. :-)

Also, don't be afraid of choosing a niche to lead. This could be the optimal way to start. Mass marketing is dead. Follow Godin's tips:

• Sell what people are buying
• Focus on the early adopters and sneezers
• Make it remarkable enough for them to pay attention
• Make it easy for them to spread
• Let it work its own way to the mass market.

He also provided a few purple examples that are present in the book:

- Lionel Poilane, the person who made the world fall in love with his bread loaf:
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/nov/06/local/me-lionel6

- Dario Cecchini, the internationally acclaimed butcher:
http://www.gourmet.com/travel/2009/08/tuscanys-ultimate-steakhouse

- Starbucks, Apple, IKEA, Google... They are/were all purple cows.

The book gives many other examples, but I'm sure that if you think about it you can come up with examples of your own. The little shop down the street that greets everyone and offers samples of amazing products. That brand that has a strong following within your community. That person that you look up to. You can find purple people everywhere, and it’s time for you to become one too.

Good luck! And thanks for reading.

Best,
Pedro