Seth Godin is a pretty smart guy.
He invented permission marketing, popularized the idea of tribes, and taught us how to become the linchpin of our professional environments.
Among his many good ideas is the concept of the Purple Cow: the idea that being remarkable is the key to attracting attention and success.
In Seth’s words, being remarkable means that you’re unique and different, or “worthy of remark.”
Well, I like Seth as much as the next guy, but in this particular instance, I think he got it wrong.
Would You Eat a Burger Made from Purple Cows?
There are two problems with the Purple Cow concept.
The first problem is that it would take a lot of convincing to get me to try a burger made from one.
In other words, remarkable might get you attention, but that doesn’t mean that it will make sales.
For that, we need more than just attention — we need to be credible, we need to show that we have the solution to a problem, and we need to get attention in a way that doesn’t undermine that solution. (“Yeah, the burger solves my hunger problem, but … it’s purple! I’m not eating that!”)
In other words, we have to be remarkable in a way that is functional. Just being remarkable is what Peter Shankman calls “a stunt for stunt’s sake” … and it isn’t enough.
You’ve got to do better than just remarkable. You need to be remarkably useful.
It’s Gotta Be Remarkably Useful
There are two things that come together to make something remarkably useful:
- It’s gotta be remarkable. As in different, special, or unique.
- It’s gotta be useful. As in valuable, helpful, and interesting.
Remarkable is the sizzle, and useful is the steak (to stretch the purple cow metaphor just a little bit further). For something to be remarkably useful, it has to solve a problem or create value in a way that the other cows just aren’t doing.
This is where most people go wrong.
It’s easy to convince ourselves that a purple cow just needs to be different enough to stand out. The result is that most purple cows aren’t really useful at all. They’re just different. And novelty can seem useful, until it isn’t novel anymore, and then the magic goes away.
The Trap of Chasing Remarkable
A purple cow is only special when all the other cows are black, white, and brown.
If we see another purple cow everywhere we turn, we become as blind to them as we are to all the other cows out there.
In other words, when everybody tries to be remarkable, our field of vision gets filled with noise, but no particular piece of “remarkability” is going to stand out.
The trouble with purple cows is that the most attractive ones are the ones that are easily copied. Which means that pretty soon, everybody’s got one, and it isn’t remarkable anymore.
This process happens in most new markets. One or two people stumble onto an opportunity, and get great returns. Some other people notice, and there’s a gold rush. Everybody rushes in and the returns start diminishing until they’re all gone.
That’s all purple cows are: an untapped market of consumer attention. Except that if you’ve seen an effectively used purple cow, that particular angle isn’t untapped anymore.
Purple Cows As Far As the Eye Can See
There are lots of tactics that were fresh and new when they were first used, but now they’ve been used so much that they aren’t remarkable anymore.
Here are just a few examples:
- Round–up posts of the experts and stars in your industry, and showcasing them on your blog. This has been so overdone, that the effectiveness has dropped to almost zero — unless you do it differently (more on that in a moment).
- Offering a free ebook as an “ethical bribe” in exchange for people’s email addresses, to get them on your mailing list. This used to work a lot better, because a “free ebook” isn’t quite as special when you can get it anywhere.
- Video blogging and podcasting. These methods used to be unique enough that you could get make an impact just by virtue of the medium, but now they’ve become so common that you’re back to being judged on your content.
- Webinars. These are hot right now. They’re the latest version of “easy to do, but high perceived value.” Watch as their effectiveness drops over the next 6 to 24 months.
All of these examples are fairly easy to put together, which is what triggers the gold rush effect — someone did it, and it worked well, so everyone rushes to copy their success.
Which raises the question — is any “purple cow” strategy immune to this effect?
Some Cows Will Always Be Purple
Actually, yes. Some cows will always be purple, in the sense of always being fresh and unique.
For example…
- Epic Content. Content that is awesome and interesting and useful — like Corbett Barr’s Write Epic Shit — will never go out of style.
- Manifestos. Stuff like Chris Guillebeau’s 279 Days to Overnight Success will always be effective, no matter how many more great manifestos are written.
- Books. Putting together an entire book of useful information, and then giving it away for free, will always be effective, too. Like my book, Engagement from Scratch!
What do these strategies all have in common?
In a word: work!
They’re all hard to execute, which means that they will always be protected from the gold–rushers. You can’t write epic content easily on demand, you can’t put together a quality manifesto in a weekend, and you can’t put together a 239–page book without putting a huge amount of time and energy into it.
So how do you come up with the next purple cow? Keep reading.
A Blueprint for Being Remarkably Useful
Cooking up a purple cow is actually pretty simple. Not easy, but simple.
There are only three steps in the entire process:
- Figure out what your audience wants. This shouldn’t be all that difficult, as long as you’re paying attention. Read their comments and their emails. See what they like (what performs well), and what they don’t. Flat out ask them if you have to. What do they really need?
- Figure out how to give it to them. Not the solution that you could build in an hour or two (i.e. an average blog post), but the home run solution that would take you six months to build, and that they would remember forever. If you really know what they want and need, then coming up with the solution shouldn’t be very hard, as long as you don’t constrain yourself with “what can I do in an afternoon” thinking.
- Build it and give it to them. This is the really hard part. Simple, but hard. You just have to do the work. Spend the six months, and write the book or manifesto. Create the solution that they want. And then, when it’s ready … give it to them.
This is exactly the process that I followed to write Engagement from Scratch!
I knew that it would be a lot of work, but hey, you’re going to be doing a lot of work anyway, so you might as well put all that work into something that will get you real results, right?
And remember, it’s not about being remarkable. It’s about being remarkably useful.
Danny Iny (@DannyIny) is an author, strategist, serial entrepreneur, expert marketer, and the Freddy Krueger of Blogging. Together with Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark and Mitch Joel, he wrote the book Engagement From Scratch!
Great post…how does one figure out what “people want” from scratch? In particular, how do you get down deep enough so that someone hasn’t already offered something that’s the same, so that it can in fact be remarkable?
This is something that interests me as well. Without having an audience at all, how do I figure out what an audience wants?
If I look at the audience of other blogs, how can I provide a unique solution for another blogs audience without being like the other blog?
It’s a strange situation, and as of right now the best answer I can think of is, ‘You don’t’ at least not right away.
My best plan of action is, guest posting/networking/getting my message in front of people, getting feedback from people who do visit my space or hear what I say, and refining the process based on that feedback.
Hopefully, in time, everything will begin to ‘click’
That’s part of it, Tim, but the other part is to get to know the audience better, by really exploring. Even if they aren’t your audience just yet, they’re still *an* audience, and they’re voicing their concerns and frustrations somewhere.
You don’t need them to outright tell you, either – look for patterns of what performs well with other blogs. For example, if you look at authority blog X, and analyze the performance of their posts, you might notice that posts on a certain subject tend to perform particularly well. That’s your cue that they are speaking to a need of the audience.
Those are great questions, Iyagi.
If people really want it, then it is remarkable, almost by definition; if someone else is already offering something that addresses the need as well or better, then the audience isn’t likely to care.
So it really comes down to figuring out what the audience wants and needs. There are lots of ways to do that, but it all comes down to really listening to your audience, living in their shoes, and getting to understand what problems they are facing right now.
The longer you spend blogging to a market, and interacting with them, the better a feel you’re likely to get for what is really going on inside their heads.
Nice post, but it’s sad that posts like this are necessary.
Every time a new way of doing something (like video blogs, free e-books or whatever) comes along too many people jump on board to make sure they are among the first doing “it” (whatever it is) rather than taking time to figure out if “it” is appropriate for their niche or product, and if “it” is, how to best use “it” to add value for their customers.
Thanks for reading, Heather.
In some ways it reminds me of Picasso’s quote, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” What Picasso was getting at is that many artists will simply copy the strategies and tactics of others, similar to how many business people will copy the “it” idea that other people are using successfully. Meanwhile, the great artists will look at what works and “steal” an idea from someone but rather than simply copying what was done before, they take the original idea and make it there own.
There is nothing wrong with podcasts or webinars or free ebooks … or any other marketing or business tactic. If you see something working for someone else, then it’s possible that it could work for you as well. But you can’t simply copy a tactic and expect the outcome to be remarkable. You have to put in work and make it your own. You can steal as many ideas as you want, but they don’t become noteworthy or powerful until you cultivate those ideas in your own head, work with them, and use them to create something useful and compelling.
Just my two cents.
I guess it comes down to reverse-engineering, rather than straight-up copying…
I know exactly what you mean, Heather. My friend Eugene Farber was commenting on this the other day; Google+ recently came out with their business pages, and there are already so many posts about the “right” way of using them, and even an e-book or PDF report here or there. The feature has only been around for a couple of weeks – how can there already be experts???
I never knew of any videos or podcasts that were big just because of the fresh medium. If you look at the YouTube Next program, you see that video blogging is just getting started. Some of these young creators are doing stuff better than what’s on tv.
This why being remarkable is everything: because some people “write off” content based on gold rush theories. The remarkable people will crush it no matter what tools they work with. Unremarkable people are busy on the sidelines judging.
Hey Elliott, thanks for weighing in.
I’m not sure I understand your point, though – I’m not saying that a fresh medium means automatic success, but there is definitely a “share of voice” component at play; when a medium is newer, it’s just a lot easier to do well in it (think Apps…).
Does that mean that once a medium becomes saturated it can’t be used effectively? Of course not – it just means that you have to be remarkable to make it work. Isn’t that something we both agree about?
hello! well there are a lot of complexities to this discussion and i dont think we should nit pick – your post is good because it makes you ponder what the use of remarkable is. however my comment was mainly directed at:
“There are lots of tactics that were fresh and new when they were first used, but now they’ve been used so much that they aren’t remarkable anymore.” that just can’t be true. anyways i get that you used hyperbole to make a point here.
I had to chuckle as I read about webinars being hot right now as it made me think of how many have appeared in the ole inbox.
Interesting how the best results tend to come from the tried-and-true method of creating something that people will find useful and offering it to them, through whatever medium might be available to you. Good thing to keep those sleeves rolled up (and keep a notebook and pen handy so you don’t miss comments that will help guide your work.)
That’s exactly it – the trouble is that the tried and true method of actually creating something that people want (as opposed to something that has high perceived value because of the timing) is actually a lot of work, so too many marketers opt for the supposed easy win of the short game. Too bad for them, but better for the rest of us, right?
Hey Danny,
good to see you at all my favorite blogs..
You seem to be on a guest posting roll…
Thought provoking points.
I would like to add my 2 cents on this..
*The “nature” of what’s remarkable changes when a lot of people start to embrace it. As a result, after a while what was remarkable THEN, usually is overrated and overused NOW.
* What’s important is that we have to be the “trendsetter” and not the trend followers. It’s not easy to come up with unique and fresh ideas but if its caught up with others, it’s remarkable.
regards
Shamelle
Haha, thanks – yeah, I’ve got a lot of guest posts going up in the next little while, coinciding with the launch of my new book.
And yup, I absolutely agree, Shamelle – thanks for adding those two points, they’re both valuable additions to the post!
Great post don’t agree with everything but how do you know if something is a gold rush.
Well, if everyone is jumping on board because of hype about how easy it is do succeed with it (and it’s new), then it’s often a gold rush.
Think about the early days of the iPhone app store, or of any other medium for that matter. The gold doesn’t run out when the rush is over, of course, you just have to dig a bit deeper to get at it.
Does that make sense?
Danny,
Love it. Being a Seth Godin freak (funny, I have his latest post up on a tab right now!), the headline got me big time. I was like, “Who’s got the nerve …?” Scrolled down. Oh, Danny Iny.
Of course.
“Remarkable is the sizzle, and useful is the steak.” Great metaphor. The sizzle attracts, I hear it, see it, SMELL it. It looks good. But then I grab the steak knife and … I can’t. cut. it. It’s tasteless, and it’s got A-1 Sauce all over it to try to make it palatable.
Next.
On the other hand, if I find that I can cut the perfectly grilled Kobe steak with a fork, I then savor the workmanship, for hours. No sauce needed.
I respect the work. The time. The attention to detail. The follow through. That’s what counts.
Thanks for the insights Danny.
Haha, thanks, Garry.
It all comes down to real substance – which is something that Seth has always excelled at.
It’s just that in preaching the highlights to the believers, sometimes the hard work and substance tends to fall through the cracks…
It is always important to know what & who your audience is. You then have to make sure what you provide is useful, practical and has your own unique spin. You have to let yourself shine through.
You might want to edit your links James.
Your link to Write Epic Shit took me away from your own epic shit rather than opening in a new window. Never set a link that takes readers away from your page.
This is a great point. You need to be both unique and useful without a doubt. My question is whether Seth Godin was inferring the usefulness (having an underlying assumption that we are talking about useful things), or if he just missed the boat.
Awesome, Danny. This is my first time stumbling upon Passive Panda, and what a great post to start with.
I always look at the usefulness of something whenever I create. There are so many filler posts (ie, done in 2 hours) out there, which I’ve done myself from time to time, but the head down, focused work always gets better received.
It’s a bit like comparing Vista to OS X or even Windows 7. Sure, it was pretty, with gooey GUI, but man what a useless OS it turned out to be.
What’s that phrase again about pigs an lipstick?
Keep up the Remarkable/Useful work, man!
Saying Seth Godin is a great way to get people to come to the page but luckily, you also write epic shit.
He isn’t wrong though, you agree with him all the way but just add some more steak.
Seems like this really comes down to finding your own way to put a unique spin on what’s already there. Look at Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles,” where Jack distilled the lessons of success that many of us have learned from other greats like Napolean Hill and Florence Scoval Shinn. The book Jack wrote rocks because a) it captures so much of that knowledge into one book and b) it’s got Jack’s unique way of seeing that knowledge, plus his way of applying the knowledge to his life, his business, and his success.
It’s not always about creating something brand new, but about your voice and your perspective and how you look at what’s there. That’s what differentiates thought leaders and those who are truly remarkable from those who are, as that Picasso quote suggests, merely thieves.
Knowing Seth and his work pretty well, I think it is safe to say he would never separate out “special” from “useful.”
You did get me to click on the link though with that headline – let’s see how long that tactic works
I agree with the meat of the post, past the Seth part.
And for Tim, if you don’t have any clients or an audience yet, go to places who do have ideal clients (live and online) and ask folks in casual conversation. Through time, you can get a sense of the trends.
All the best,
-Pam
Thanks Danny. The challenge is to keep your focus on adding value to your customers. Then you will stand out. There is no other way. Everyone has a million things vying for their attention at once, and we have become very savvy about weeding out standing out for the sake of standing out versus true value.
I’ve been reading his most recent book Linchpin, I’ve never rated Seth Godin. I reviewed the last book on my Facebook Vlog and as I said there, he recycles the same crud over and over and swaps out a word or two. Last year it was Remarkable, today it’s Linchpins tomorrow it will be Mars rovers.
You’re right, remarkable isn’t always the positive and it certainly is useful that people want. The real trouble I am finding starting out as a freelancer is that I have no way of letting people see how useful, insightful and great at my job I am if they wont invite me in for a chat and prefer cold stock RFPs Pitch emails and the like.