Can you imagine the satisfaction, pride, and profitability you could enjoy if your solo business was something very extraordinary?
Most businesses online these days are comparatively bland. They sell products and services that are accepted by customers and the companies for the most part operate as mirror images of one another.
But once in a great while, a business elevates itself to the apex of its niche because it is so radically different and remarkable as to be incomparable and considered in a league of its own.
Seth Godin, a fun-to-read and accomplished business author makes the case, in his book, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, that your business will either become remarkable or invisible depending upon the choices you make about how you operate and execute your business strategy.
According to the analogy Godin makes, businesses are like cows: you see them everywhere and most look so much alike that you ignore them once you've witnessed just a few.
But what if you saw a purple cow? What if a business showed up that was so different from all the rest it actually stood out like a sore thumb?
Chances are, you'd remember that purple cow. You'd probably go home and tell everyone you came in contact with that you saw something truly amazing, remarkable and unique.
Think what it would mean if you were able to incorporate the "purple cow" principle into every aspect of your business, from product creation, to customer service, to your marketing.
Think how efficient and cost-effective your advertising and marketing would be if you had a small army of "volunteers" (customers and prospects) telling their associates about your purple cow products or business.
Godin says it's a pretty simple and straight-forward process:
- Sell what the customer in your niche is currently buying
- Focus your initial efforts on the "early adopters and sneezers," that first responder group that is passionate about what they have discovered and intent on passing the word on to their associates
- Be sure that your product, service, or business execution is really different and unique enough that people will perk up and pay attention to your offering
- Build systems into your business that will allow the "sneezers" to infect the niche market (something akin to spreading a contagious virus.)
- Give it time to spread into other markets and sectors that you hadn't planned on
This little book of about 160 pages is all about business change.
The most rapidly growing and successful new companies of our time, companies like Apple, Starbucks, KrispyKreme, and JetBlue, all have dared to transform or reinvent their businesses into remarkable selling machines that defy the typical boring business models and bland competitors in their niches.
They don't change by using some gimmick marketing or outrageous selling strategies; the remarkable and unique aspects of these businesses are purposefully and inherently built into everything these companies do.
As you look at the opportunities for your own solo business to stand apart from the crowd of competitors, you would do well to have a copy of Purple Cow at your desk to learn what Godin teaches and incorporates into his own business and marketing products.
