The Purple Cow

A long line of cars, waiting for hours for their turn to continue the journey. Outside the window, close enough to still be seen clearly, a group of cows grazes peacefully, oblivious to traffic and to humanity's problems.

Among the motorists stuck in the queue is Seth Godin, the American writer and entrepreneur, who finds a moment of relief in that scene of nature. He draws his wife and children into it, and for a while they all manage to forget their frustration over the wasted time, focusing instead on those charming animals.

Ten minutes pass, then another ten, and ten more after that, and even the cows begin to seem ordinary. After all, they all look the same, with their spotted brown coats, and they all do more or less the same thing: those that are not grazing are resting somewhere in the meadow.

In short, to capture the group's attention again, something extraordinary would be needed, such as a purple cow.

_{Image by erwin bosman from Pixabay)}

It is with this very anecdote that Seth Godin chose to open his bestseller, Purple Cow, one of the most well-known and highly regarded books in marketing circles. The underlying idea, already hinted at in the opening story, is precisely this: in a world where all cows are brown, finding the purple cow, that unique element capable of standing out from the crowd, can open the door to great opportunities.

Every successful company has, at some point in its history, found its own purple cow. However, the book is not aimed solely at CEOs of large multinational corporations or business owners. Rather, it is intended for anyone who brings a product, an idea, or even just their résumé to the marketplace.

What are the chances of being noticed by the human resources manager of a multinational company with an ordinary résumé, buried among hundreds of others that all seem as though they were copied from the same template? And what if, instead, the résumé were filled with hand-drawn illustrations, distinctive fonts, or even printed on colored paper?

_{Image from Pixabay}

Not every purple cow succeeds, of course, but the chances of finding a niche of enthusiastic early adopters increase dramatically compared to those who simply copy the competition, perhaps trying only to improve on it slightly.

Another interesting insight from Godin's work is that, in the age of extreme digitalization, where we are constantly bombarded with advertising messages, stimuli, and all kinds of information, our brains have developed a sort of self-defense mechanism, losing the ability to pay close attention to these messages.

In this environment, advertising itself has stopped being as effective as it once was, back when people would rush out to buy a product simply because they had seen it promoted on television. Today's consumers are also far more savvy and are less likely to trust automatically the extraordinary claims made in commercials about the various products being advertised.

_{Photo by HolgersFotografie from Pixabay}

Spending the same amount of money on advertising today as companies did a few decades ago produces dramatically different results. This is precisely where the need to stand out with a unique idea, product, or service comes sharply back into focus.

Of course, a hairdresser will always be a hairdresser, a caregiver will always be a caregiver, and a house painter will always be a house painter. But compared to similar advertisements, how much more attention would offers such as "Haircut, styling, cookies, and coffee" or "The Caregiver Librarian," who chooses a different book to read to clients each time, attract?

💡 And here on Steemit? Don't you think we could use a few more purple cows?

If you'd like to read Seth Godin's book, here's the Amazon link. It's an affiliate link, so yes, if you buy it through that link, the price for you won't change, but I might earn around seventy euro cents (roughly 12 STEEM). Not exactly a fortune, but if we're going to start painting cows purple, we've got to start somewhere, don't we?

I'm part of ITALYGAME Team

together with:
@girolamomarotta, @sardrt, @mikitaly, @mad-runner, @famigliacurione

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