đŁ Curious Quotes from the Author
âIf youâre remarkable, itâs likely that some people wonât like you. Thatâs part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praiseâever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.â
âIn your career, even more than for a brand, being safe is risky. The path to lifetime job security is to be remarkable.â
âThe old rule was this: CREATE SAFE, ORDINARY PRODUCTS AND COMBINE THEM WITH GREAT MARKETING. The new rule is: CREATE REMARKABLE PRODUCTS THAT THE RIGHT PEOPLE SEEK OUT.â
âAs consumers, weâre too busy to pay attention to advertising, but weâre desperate to find good stuff that solves our problems.â
âIf a productâs future is unlikely to be remarkable â if you canât imagine a future in which people are once again fascinated by your product â itâs time to realize that the game has changed. Instead of investing in a dying product, take profits and reinvest them in building something new.â
âMarketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.â David Packardâ
âDo you have the email addresses of the 20 percent of your customer base that loves what you do? If not, start getting them. If you do, what could you make for these customers that would be superspecial?â
âIn a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.â
âIf you travel on an airline and they get you there safely, you donât tell anyone. Thatâs whatâs supposed to happen. What makes it remarkable is if itâs horrible beyond belief or if the service is so unexpected (they were an hour early! they comped my ticket because I was cute! they served flaming crĂȘpes suzette in first class!) that you need to share it.â
âThe purity of the message makes it even more remarkable. Itâs easy to tell someone about the Leaning Tower. Much harder to tell them about the Pantheon in Rome. So, even though the Pantheon is beautiful, breathtaking, and important, it sees 1 percent of the crowds that the harder-to-get-to Tower in Pisa gets.â
âFor the frequent user, the impact of a cooler, better, easier-to-use input device is profound â so profound that many users are happy to proselytize to their peers. More sneezing of a Purple Cow.â
đ Cognition of the Bookâs Big Idea:
In today's congested economy, there is no room for "ordinary" products or services; you must be extraordinary or die. To become unique, you must take risks and not be afraid of criticism. When you start spreading the word about your exceptional product or service, you should target people who are both willing to try new things and eager to spread the information to others. If you feel that your company is falling behind the industry leader, resist the temptation to simply copy what they are doing. Instead, take a pen and paper and develop a list of ways you can decrease the gap between you and the leader, including items where you do things differently than the leader.
If you are a product designer, consider taking a marketing course. If you are a marketing, consider taking a product design course.
In both circumstances, spend time on the factory floor to learn how the product is manufactured. Purple Cows requires you to design the product with the marketing perspective in mind from the start.
đ ïžFixing the Tech Industry
We all know when we are working out a company and we donât believe in the product. Itâs happened to every Tech Professional whoâs ever lived. Sometimes we might find the right fit, where we both love the company and its product and use it every day, but most donât have that luxury. We all work at a SAAS company selling Enterprise Accounting Software like theyâve done for 20 years.
But within the depths of despair, thereâs hope. Hope that maybe a new product will develop and youâll have discovered it. But it wonât happen unless you first, try and second, convince your company to let you try. Some of the greatest inventions of the 20th century were made by employees of a company for that company. Donât count your own input as useless. Innovate wherever you can.
đ€Collaborate with others with this Social Media Prompt:
Have you ever had an idea to improve a process at work, or program something that would beneficial to your company? What stopped you from making that a reality?
My Software Stack: I use Skool for my Online Community Platform and ClickFunnels for my Landing Pages, Payments, and Email Sequencing. I use Substack for my Newsletter and Taskade for AI Note Taking/Second Brain/Project Management. I use my Personal Amazon Store for Tech and Book Recommendations.