Things that make you go Moo
I mentioned last week that I was reading (and loving) Seth Godin's books Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside. These are fundamentally books about marketing, but there's a lot more, even for someone without a product to market (though, really, aren't we all constantly marketing ourselves?) Purple Cows are the "things" that make a company, or product, or service, remarkable. Stuff like free shipping from Amazon.com or an ice cream shop where you can call the manager at home if you have any problems.
The cool thing about Godin is the way he walks the walk. He made the books I mentioned above remarkable, in part, by packaging them in a milk carton and a cereal box, a little change of pace to make his work stand out (or call it a gimmick, if you're less than impressed by packaging). For his new book, The Big Moo, he's selling discounted copies to people who will talk about the book and pass on the ideas.
Will it work? I don't know, but I'm talking about it because Michael Arrington at TechCrunch (which is on my daily read list to look out for new web-based purple cows) says he'll give me a copy just for mentioning it. And I'll try to come up with a creative way to give that copy away to one of you guys when I finish it. Sounds like it's working already.
August 31st, 2005 at 2:56 am
I would also recommend “The Tipping Point” to anyone who hasn’t read it. It is the de facto standard on business marketing and success. Despite the irony of it, the purple cow book is purposely obtuse and oboxiously colored and sized, and therefore has not found a spot in my bookcase as of yet.