August 12, 2015 at 08:16Purple cow
This is another article from a series of articles on the list from milfgard . This time, an article on modern marketing: how the new works and how the old does not work. It will be about the book of Seth Godin's "Purple Cow . "
The author says that there are several standard “P” marketing and suggests adding a new item to this list:
Godin claims that in order for your business to grow, you need something outstanding as much as an outstanding purple cow among ordinary cows. If the word "outstanding" began with "P", the cow would not be needed =) The
time of the television-industrial complex has passed. This time was characterized by the fact that the company first produced a product, and then marketers thought how to tell consumers how they needed this new product. We see a lot of television advertising just ordinary products, but it stops working. We are less and less aware of these intrusive videos and more and more we switch channels in search of deliverance or even go online, trying not to watch anything superfluous.
Before the creation of advertising, there was human rumor. People shared with each other if some product helped solve the problem. This provided sales. After creating the advertisement, everything became different. Now, actors from TV screens broadcast to us about the benefits of tide and the dangers of boiling.
In Crossing the Chasm, Jeffrey Moore described the basic law by which any product moves.
Consider this process on the example of a smartphone. In the distant 2000s, most had phones with a bunch of buttons and small screens. Then, in 2007, Apple released an iPhone, and after it, in 2008, an android came out. Geeks i.e. those who follow the news and buy all the most cutting-edge immediately bought new gadgets and began to praise them among their friends. Then their acquaintances, who are not so much, but also like new products, also followed their example and acquired smartphones. These two groups of people are called “sneezers” by the author: they sneeze and spread the infection. At this time, the majority of people still use push-button telephones, but they begin to pick up a new trend and smartphones are slowly penetrating into this audience.
Thus, a good product is constantly shifting to the right on the gur curve, and we see the result of the smartphone market: now innovators are buying ultramodern devices, most use smartphones, and hopelessly lagging ones use push-button phones with a b / w screen.
Your product should be so outstanding that “sneezers” like it and they move it to the right along the curve.
For the television-industrial complex, a sight in the center of the curve is characteristic: to where most consumers sit. However, in order to promote a really good product, you need to aim at those people who are on the left. As you know, it’s quite difficult to create a really good product that will appeal to the best workers, but this is the only way in the new time.
Why can sneezers spread your ideas? Because these guys are trusted. If you have a friend who understands cars very well, most likely before buying a new novelty from AvtoVAZ you ask him: “Is it okay if I buy a fret-viburnum-II?”. If he answers yes, you are very likely to get this amazing car. The same situation is with other areas: computer equipment, kitchen equipment, building materials, etc.
The author claims that being boring is the riskiest strategy. Yes, if you already have a successful product that hits the middle of the Moore curve, then to some extent everything is in order. However, if you want to bring another boring product to the market, you are at great risk.
The sad thing is that the result of your “purple” thinking is unpredictable and it is never clear beforehand whether your Cow will work. And it is precisely the unpredictability of the result that ensures its success.
Boring products are being developed for the mass market accordingly. Developers smooth out all sharp corners, trying to make their products the most suitable for general consumption. They make the sauce less spicy, the car ordinary, and the extraordinary service less ordinary and cheaper. They listen to the opinions of sales representatives and retailers.
For the release of mass products need a lot of money. If you are doing something on a national or global market, you need a very, very much money. Hollywood, releasing films, spends $ 20 million for each film.
Thus, you have very little chance of launching your mass product on the market, because you most likely have no money for it.
If you have allocated money for mass marketing, then spend it better to hire a world-famous designer or architect and create an outstanding product.
For self control
Purple Cow Cycle
When applying for a job, be a Cow.
Your recommendations and characteristics - this is your best resume. Good professionals do not sit without work. Before you start looking for work, think about what you can do today, so that you will never again look for work, but so that she will look for you herself.
You can stop being an ordinary wide-profile PR specialist and become a narrow-profile PR specialist, for example, in the field of medicine.
Be so competent that everyone who knows you are sure that you are the best electrician in your city.
Something outstanding is not necessarily a change in the entire production process. Start the change with the way you answer the phone, the branding process, and purchase new software.
Find out what no one is doing in your industry, simply because it's not accepted and try to start doing it. For example, you can enter a form of clothing for your customers or give gift vouchers for funeral services. Think about it carefully and you might have a purple calf.
PS: after reading the book, I realized that we are still far from ideal. We will work on it; primarily on issues for self-control.
The author says that there are several standard “P” marketing and suggests adding a new item to this list:
- Product
- Pricing
- Promotion (demand promotion activities)
- Positioning
- Publicity (PR, public relations, publicity)
- Packaging
- Pass-along (communication to the consumer)
- Permission (permission, trust)
- Purple cow
Godin claims that in order for your business to grow, you need something outstanding as much as an outstanding purple cow among ordinary cows. If the word "outstanding" began with "P", the cow would not be needed =) The
time of the television-industrial complex has passed. This time was characterized by the fact that the company first produced a product, and then marketers thought how to tell consumers how they needed this new product. We see a lot of television advertising just ordinary products, but it stops working. We are less and less aware of these intrusive videos and more and more we switch channels in search of deliverance or even go online, trying not to watch anything superfluous.
Before the creation of advertising, there was human rumor. People shared with each other if some product helped solve the problem. This provided sales. After creating the advertisement, everything became different. Now, actors from TV screens broadcast to us about the benefits of tide and the dangers of boiling.
Moore Curve
In Crossing the Chasm, Jeffrey Moore described the basic law by which any product moves.
Consider this process on the example of a smartphone. In the distant 2000s, most had phones with a bunch of buttons and small screens. Then, in 2007, Apple released an iPhone, and after it, in 2008, an android came out. Geeks i.e. those who follow the news and buy all the most cutting-edge immediately bought new gadgets and began to praise them among their friends. Then their acquaintances, who are not so much, but also like new products, also followed their example and acquired smartphones. These two groups of people are called “sneezers” by the author: they sneeze and spread the infection. At this time, the majority of people still use push-button telephones, but they begin to pick up a new trend and smartphones are slowly penetrating into this audience.
Thus, a good product is constantly shifting to the right on the gur curve, and we see the result of the smartphone market: now innovators are buying ultramodern devices, most use smartphones, and hopelessly lagging ones use push-button phones with a b / w screen.
Your product should be so outstanding that “sneezers” like it and they move it to the right along the curve.
For the television-industrial complex, a sight in the center of the curve is characteristic: to where most consumers sit. However, in order to promote a really good product, you need to aim at those people who are on the left. As you know, it’s quite difficult to create a really good product that will appeal to the best workers, but this is the only way in the new time.
Why can sneezers spread your ideas? Because these guys are trusted. If you have a friend who understands cars very well, most likely before buying a new novelty from AvtoVAZ you ask him: “Is it okay if I buy a fret-viburnum-II?”. If he answers yes, you are very likely to get this amazing car. The same situation is with other areas: computer equipment, kitchen equipment, building materials, etc.
The risks
The author claims that being boring is the riskiest strategy. Yes, if you already have a successful product that hits the middle of the Moore curve, then to some extent everything is in order. However, if you want to bring another boring product to the market, you are at great risk.
The sad thing is that the result of your “purple” thinking is unpredictable and it is never clear beforehand whether your Cow will work. And it is precisely the unpredictability of the result that ensures its success.
Boring products are being developed for the mass market accordingly. Developers smooth out all sharp corners, trying to make their products the most suitable for general consumption. They make the sauce less spicy, the car ordinary, and the extraordinary service less ordinary and cheaper. They listen to the opinions of sales representatives and retailers.
For the release of mass products need a lot of money. If you are doing something on a national or global market, you need a very, very much money. Hollywood, releasing films, spends $ 20 million for each film.
Thus, you have very little chance of launching your mass product on the market, because you most likely have no money for it.
If you have allocated money for mass marketing, then spend it better to hire a world-famous designer or architect and create an outstanding product.
For self control
- How can you design your product to be in the next CNews release?
- Do you have email addresses for 20% of customers who like your product? Think about what kind of "super-special" you can offer them.
- Can you release a collectible version of your product
- What will happen if you, along with your designers (designers) do not deal with new products? What could you create after such a vacation?
- To find out who sneezers are, visit specialized events. Start with a collection of science fiction writers: very strange people gather there.
- Do you have a tagline? Can you praise your product for anything? Can rumor pick up your slogan and smash it around the world ?
- If your company has a person who creates the Purple Cow, leave him alone: let him create.
- If you are a marketer, go to design courses, and send designers to marketing courses. It would be nice for all of you to work a week in the production hall.
- Make a list of all the outstanding products in your industry. Who produced them and how?
- Is there someone in your line of business who has repeatedly successfully launched outstanding products? Invite him to your job to learn how to work.
- What happens if you tell the truth about your product?
- If you could make a product that would compete with your own product, but cost 30% less, would you do it?
- Get to the edge and see what's there. What happens if your product is the most expensive or the cheapest or the fastest or slowest? If there is a limit, you must reach it.
Purple Cow Cycle
- Get permission from people who have made a good impression on your product to send them a letter when your new Cow arrives.
- Work with sneezers. Help them communicate your ideas and overcome obstacles.
- Let the thousand varieties of your product bloom. Make a product a service, and a service a product.
- Invest again and again. Launch a new Cow for the same audience.
When applying for a job, be a Cow.
Your recommendations and characteristics - this is your best resume. Good professionals do not sit without work. Before you start looking for work, think about what you can do today, so that you will never again look for work, but so that she will look for you herself.
You can stop being an ordinary wide-profile PR specialist and become a narrow-profile PR specialist, for example, in the field of medicine.
Be so competent that everyone who knows you are sure that you are the best electrician in your city.
Something outstanding is not necessarily a change in the entire production process. Start the change with the way you answer the phone, the branding process, and purchase new software.
Find out what no one is doing in your industry, simply because it's not accepted and try to start doing it. For example, you can enter a form of clothing for your customers or give gift vouchers for funeral services. Think about it carefully and you might have a purple calf.
PS: after reading the book, I realized that we are still far from ideal. We will work on it; primarily on issues for self-control.