WEBVTT 00:00.110 --> 00:05.510 With this video, I want to introduce you to one of the great thinkers in marketing today, Seth Godin, 00:05.510 --> 00:07.730 and his idea of the purple cow. 00:07.760 --> 00:09.500 Now, what is the purple cow? 00:09.620 --> 00:12.050 It doesn't exist, actually. 00:12.050 --> 00:20.270 And that is exactly the point of the purple cow, because today we have so many of these Me too copycat 00:20.270 --> 00:21.560 commoditized businesses. 00:21.560 --> 00:26.870 There are many, many agencies, products that kind of all do the same thing. 00:26.870 --> 00:29.410 There are thousands of sameness. 00:29.420 --> 00:35.270 And so if you have a business like an agency or a product and you're trying to stand out or even content 00:35.270 --> 00:42.050 and you're trying to stand out, it's really hard because next to you are thousands of other similar 00:42.050 --> 00:43.670 people, especially online. 00:43.670 --> 00:45.260 It's so hard to stand out. 00:45.260 --> 00:53.240 So Purple Cow is you've got to find how your business can grab that attention with some uniqueness and 00:53.240 --> 00:54.410 something different. 00:54.410 --> 00:58.670 And I'll give you a few examples so that you can start thinking about this. 00:59.300 --> 01:06.410 Years ago, I used to run hiking groups like group hiking for health and exercise regular old hikes. 01:06.420 --> 01:08.460 Nobody would join my hikes. 01:08.460 --> 01:13.350 It would be very it was very hard to get people to my hikes and that was very frustrating. 01:13.350 --> 01:16.140 And then I realized I've got to do the purple cow. 01:16.170 --> 01:17.550 I've got to make them unique. 01:17.550 --> 01:24.240 So I was living in San Francisco at the time, which is a major cosmopolitan city, and I learned that 01:24.240 --> 01:33.000 there are shipwrecks that that of boats that sunk and are below water that you can see during low tide, 01:33.000 --> 01:38.820 multiple shipwrecks, which is a wild thought that feels like almost like out of this world, like Pirates 01:38.820 --> 01:39.630 of the Caribbean. 01:39.630 --> 01:41.270 Like really in San Francisco. 01:41.310 --> 01:41.790 Shipwrecks. 01:41.790 --> 01:42.900 Yeah, there were many. 01:42.900 --> 01:44.880 And so I organized hikes. 01:44.880 --> 01:47.760 Special like low tide hikes. 01:47.760 --> 01:50.610 When you can see these shipwrecks peeking out of the water. 01:50.610 --> 02:00.210 And that hike became so popular just through that headline like shipwreck hunt during low tide, that 02:00.210 --> 02:02.880 was like the best, coolest event in the city that day. 02:02.880 --> 02:04.740 People brought their whole families. 02:04.740 --> 02:09.990 People drove for miles to the event because it because it was unique. 02:09.990 --> 02:14.640 And the local newspaper picked it up and actually ran that story. 02:14.640 --> 02:20.190 And hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people used to come to these hikes after it used to be a struggle. 02:20.190 --> 02:24.690 And then I realized, Oh, I just got to make them cool sounding hikes. 02:24.690 --> 02:28.870 So then I had Yoda and Star Wars themed hikes. 02:28.870 --> 02:31.260 Then I had like military history themed hikes. 02:31.290 --> 02:35.340 They all stood out and they started talking about me on the radio like the NPR. 02:35.370 --> 02:38.910 If you live in the United States, you know, NPR, it's one of the biggest radio. 02:38.910 --> 02:40.650 It's a national radio station. 02:40.650 --> 02:42.570 And it was all unsolicited. 02:42.570 --> 02:44.340 The newspaper was talking about me. 02:44.340 --> 02:45.990 The NPR mentioned me. 02:45.990 --> 02:49.860 I only learned about it because my hikers told me with people who came. 02:49.860 --> 02:54.540 So that was one example of turning something bland that nobody cared because people can go on hikes 02:54.540 --> 02:56.340 on their own to something wild. 02:56.340 --> 02:58.410 It was really similar thing, right? 02:58.410 --> 03:03.270 You just walking on a trail, hiking, getting a little exercise, socializing with people a little 03:03.270 --> 03:06.630 bit, but repositioned with a quirk. 03:06.630 --> 03:08.640 Now, let me give you a different example. 03:08.640 --> 03:14.910 In New York City, where I used to live for many years, there are all sorts of restaurants and they 03:14.910 --> 03:22.740 have a hard time competing because all the best chefs go to New York and all the great food is there 03:22.740 --> 03:24.510 and how do you compete with that? 03:24.510 --> 03:29.460 So some restaurants started doing something really cool, like there's a chocolate themed restaurant, 03:29.460 --> 03:32.430 you can get any dish, but with a chocolate twist. 03:32.430 --> 03:41.310 And then also different people, chefs who were doing desserts started doing really cool twists on old 03:41.310 --> 03:49.770 foods, like things with cereal and like cocoa pebbles and like old foods that we all know as kids with 03:49.770 --> 03:53.070 new, modern, like kind of sour twist. 03:53.070 --> 03:56.970 And that stood out and got that that got a lot of attention. 03:56.970 --> 04:01.980 Now, another thing you can do, you might have seen something like this on TV, like real estate agents. 04:01.980 --> 04:07.920 There are so many real estate agents, but there's a show like real estate agents that do like reality 04:07.920 --> 04:08.610 show on TV. 04:08.610 --> 04:13.470 They position they position themselves as real estate agents for the stars. 04:13.470 --> 04:14.580 That's purple cow. 04:14.610 --> 04:17.700 You want to know like, what are the stars have that we don't have? 04:17.700 --> 04:18.840 And how can I get that agent? 04:18.840 --> 04:20.940 You know, that agent must be better. 04:20.940 --> 04:23.820 At least can easily get more attention. 04:23.970 --> 04:25.020 What's better? 04:25.200 --> 04:28.590 Real estate agent or real estate agent for the stars? 04:28.590 --> 04:30.000 Which one would you look into next? 04:30.000 --> 04:31.710 Well, there's a million real estate agents. 04:31.720 --> 04:33.870 Doesn't sound any interesting. 04:34.050 --> 04:36.030 Real estate agent for the stars. 04:36.150 --> 04:39.540 That's very curiosity evoking. 04:39.750 --> 04:46.230 So whatever your business is, let's say you have an SEO agency, it's really hard to stand out. 04:47.040 --> 04:47.580 SEO agency. 04:47.580 --> 04:49.560 There's like 10,000 of those. 04:49.710 --> 04:52.470 What about just SEO nerds? 04:52.620 --> 04:54.480 SEO geeks right away? 04:54.480 --> 04:56.190 It's not the greatest. 04:56.430 --> 04:59.820 Purple cow doesn't stand out that much, but it stands out just enough. 04:59.880 --> 05:03.070 Because your customers, they want nerds. 05:03.210 --> 05:04.680 Good SEO nerds, right? 05:04.680 --> 05:05.710 That's who you want to hire. 05:05.730 --> 05:07.850 People who are passionate about SEO SEO. 05:07.920 --> 05:10.320 If you're not familiar, of course, is search engine optimization. 05:11.520 --> 05:16.440 So that would be purple cow for the SEO agency. 05:16.470 --> 05:24.720 Now, your job, of course, is to think about what can your purple cow be because it doesn't come overnight. 05:24.870 --> 05:32.490 That hiking idea, it took me about a month of free form creative thinking, going in walks, mulling 05:32.490 --> 05:34.680 it over, thinking about it, thinking about it. 05:34.680 --> 05:38.970 And just because I was in that space thinking about it, I heard on the radio that there are shipwrecks. 05:38.970 --> 05:41.550 That's how I found out about the shipwrecks myself. 05:41.730 --> 05:49.710 And then suddenly, because I was really thinking hard about how can I make my hikes so unique that, 05:49.710 --> 05:51.150 oh, I heard shipwrecks. 05:51.390 --> 05:53.310 Two plus two came together. 05:53.310 --> 05:54.720 I connected it. 05:54.750 --> 05:57.060 I went to find those shipwrecks myself. 05:57.060 --> 06:00.160 Right after I found them, I started a hike on it. 06:00.460 --> 06:01.630 Same thing with you. 06:01.630 --> 06:03.130 It's not going to come right away. 06:03.160 --> 06:05.590 Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself. 06:05.740 --> 06:13.720 But do put that challenge on the forefront of your mind and start thinking What can your purple cow 06:13.750 --> 06:14.260 be? 06:14.260 --> 06:15.370 How can you stand out? 06:15.370 --> 06:22.810 Because that one difference, the positioning, the more interesting positioning, it seems like a subtle 06:22.810 --> 06:27.430 difference, but it really can make a world of difference. 06:27.430 --> 06:30.630 Like in my case, with the hikes and other businesses I've tried. 06:30.640 --> 06:36.130 So definitely think about it and good luck coming up with your purple cow.