[Book review] 'Purple Cow' & 'Free prize inside'

The two books 'Purple Cow' and 'Free prize inside' by Seth Godin deals about marketing. The underlying presumption of both books is that the traditional way of marketing was based on the old TV-industrial complex. New products and services were created for the masses and then marketed on TV to the masses in order to increase sales and profits. In modern days, consumers stopped listening. Of course this is also because of the increase in number of channels on TV and other media (internet) people spent time on, but it is also a new consumer who actually decides on whether he wants or does not want to listen. The second presumption is that most of people's needs are satisfied, so products and services have to cater to what people want, not what they need. Other people might call this to create a market need/demand.

To overcome this problem, there is only one solution according to Seth Godin: be remarkable. It takes new and innovative products and services to be noticed by people. To be noticed means being worth talking about, which leads to more sales. But the only way this happens if the product/service is remarkable. And what is remarkable today, might be common and boring tomorrow, so to continue having remarkable products and services means to innovate.

Seth Godin suggests marketing companies to stop making remarkable advertisements, but ask their clients if they can be involved in the very design of their products and services, just like the type of companies I talked about in my previous blog post.

When talking about innovation, Seth Godin notes that although most people think about advancement in science and technology, this strategy is risky and expensive. What is cheap (free prize) in contrast is the design of 'soft innovation'. The strategy is to make your product/service remarkable not through new technology but 'to go to the edge'. Do something else than others do and make it remarkable: be cheaper, or more exclusive, or put extra packaging, or remove all packaging, be open 24/7 or be open only on Tuesdays afternoon, etc.

Furthermore he notes (like others have noted) that the only thing that all innovators have in common is that they have nothing in common. They are unique in their sector and doing something remarkable that no one has done before. And to follow them means to be a follower: not innovative and not remarkable. So his message is: be remarkable.

During the Ford industrial complex, blue collar workers were expected to do as they where told. White collar workers nowadays have on the other hand to come up with new ideas and do things different, since they have to work with their minds and cannot be instructed what to do. Therefore it is your job to be remarkable. 'Free prize inside' discusses different strategies and methods for how to be remarkable.