CAPTIVATING CUSTOMERS
Pink Goldfish 2.0 :
8 Unconventional Strategies For Captivating Your Customers And Crushing Your Competition
BY DAVID RENDALL
What would it be worth if prospects and customers truly saw your company as unique ?
In her book , Different : Escaping the Competitive
Herd , Harvard Business School marketing professor Youngme Moon argues that “ the ability to compete is dependent upon the ability to differentiate from competitors .”
However , she goes on to say that “ the number of companies who are truly able to achieve competitive separation is depressingly small .” This is because companies tend to define their strengths and weaknesses using the same measurements and standards as their competitors . This leads to homogeneity , not differentiation .
When everyone is trying to build on the same strengths and eliminate the same weaknesses , all companies start to look the same . Over time , the entire industry looks the same , feels the same , and sounds the same . There are no differences . Nothing distinguishes one brand from another .
SO , HOW CAN YOU CREATE ONE OF THE FEW ORGANIZATIONS THAT BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY ?
Maybe you could practice organizational kintsugi . In the 15th century , the Japanese Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke his favorite tea bowl . When he tried to get it fixed , he was unhappy with the way it was done . So , he gave the craftsmen new instructions . He asked them to highlight the cracks instead of trying to hide them . On the second attempt , lacquer and gold were used to meticulously fill the jagged seams . The result became the art of kintsugi , which highlights the broken as more beautiful than the pristine .
This is the foundation of our differentiation strategy . We believe companies can separate themselves from their competitors by illuminating imperfections instead of eliminating them .
A “ pink goldfish ” is a company that embraces this unconventional approach to differentiation . We gathered more than 300 examples and distilled them into a simple eight-part framework , which starts with flaunting .
1 . FLAUNTING
Flaunt means to parade without shame . Flaunting is being unashamed and unapologetic about your organization ’ s flaws . You take pride in your organization ’ s faults . You emphasize them , accentuate them , feature them , highlight them , call attention to them , and openly display them . You definitely aren ’ t trying to hide them or fix them .
Alt Hotels is a great example of flaunting . They created a campaign that brags about all the things you won ’ t find at their hotels . It ’ s called We Do Less . Each of the five ads focuses on what they don ’ t do , and what they do instead :
We don ’ t have a minibar .
We don ’ t have a concierge .
We don ’ t have a pool .
We don ’ t offer room service .
We don ’ t have a bellman .
We do have a hip lounge .
We do have an app with all the hot spots .
We do have a pool table .
We do have fresh grab-and-go meals .
We do have a versatile , helpful staff .
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