How are you “remarkable”? (More on Seth Godin and the Purple Cow)
Adam’s post, Purple Cow in Cairns, on the Hotel Cairns was right on the money. A free car to use? A free room for the night if you spend over $100? Who wouldn’t tell a friend? After telling me how the presentation had gone, he said “Hey Tobes, guess what?!”…
I’ve just finished reading Seth Godin‘s collaboration “The Big Moo”. 33 authors have contributed to the book with their thoughts on the question: “What is remarkable?”. The book is an extension of Seth’s marketing concept of the “Purple Cow” (how a purple cow would stand out in a herd of brown ones!).
One of my favourite quotes is on the back cover (I promise I read the whole book though!!):
Remarkable isn’t up to you. Remarkable is in the eye of the customer. If your customer decides something you do is worth remarking on, then, by definition, it’s remarkable.
Adam clearly thought the free car and the free room offer were remarkable. He’s no doubt told a few of his friends. He’s blogged about it. And that blog post will be sent out to a few thousand people on an email newsletter next time the Bluewire News comes out… Not bad coverage I would say!
I think this is the most important point:
Remarkable is in the eye of the customer.
In my last post, “What is the first priority of YOUR web strategy?” I wrote about 3 questions:
- Who? Are you talking to… (Buyer persona/target market/audience)
- What? Problems are you solving and what actions do you need your Buyer persona to take…
- Why? Would your buyer persona take these actions…
As a very important part of “Why?” you’ll need to consider is the following group of questions:
- Why are you remarkable?
- What makes you stand out?
- How are you truly unique?
And these questions are answered not by what you see, but by what your customers see.
If you say it’s the service, then why will a customer remark on your service?
If you say it’s the quality, then why will a customer remark on your quality?
If you say it’s the price, then why will a customer remark on your price?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying these aren’t the reasons why you are unique, but you need to be absolutely clear what is remarkable about your business, you need to let people know and you need to give them proof that it is truly the case.
Homework: Go and ask your best 5 clients/customers why they think your business is remarkable. Then find a way to get every client thinking like that. They might just spread the word for you.
Remarkable is in eye of the customer.
If you need a hand working out what makes your business remarkable, please call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.
