Marketing
Ever Seen A Purple Cow ?
By Eugene Omolo
This is always the perfect conversation starter at a pitch ; not the expected opening statement a prospective client would expect but one that draws in the desired level of attention .
“ Purple cow ” is a marketing concept developed by marketer and entrepreneur Seth Godin . In this theory , Mr . Godin states that brands must build things worth noticing into their products or services .
According to Godin , no matter how well-crafted the advertising , a product or service is unlikely to sell if it is not unique and ‘ somehow remarkable ’ like a purple cow . Indeed , if your target audience cannot distinguish you from your competition , then they will have no real reason other than the price to choose you over them .
The audience wants to know what a brand can do to solve their problems and , more importantly , that these brands do understand their issues . The audience - your desired customer - is not interested in you or what you think they want . They will be largely open to hearing about your “ big solution proposition ” when they are convinced that you understand them . So we can easily conclude that strategically focusing on your audience ; letting them know that their voice matters to you , will enhance your brand ’ s position and equity .
The purple cow theory was Godin ' s addition to the traditional five Ps of marketing : product , price , place , promotion , and people . This extra P ensures that one ’ s brand stands out - strategic positioning . Brands should therefore work towards positioning content that their target audience wants to see ; using approaches that make them pay attention .
In an age where the audience ’ s appetite for streaming solutions has led to an increase in cord-cutting ( abandoning one ’ s cable or satellite television subscription in favour of streaming services ), Godin also believes that creative advertising is not enough . The audience is tuning out ; it continues to progressively zip and zap through commercials , as they now have more control over what they consume and when they consume this content .
Enter the buyer persona - that profile that embodies the most important characteristics within your broad audience . Marketing practitioners need to remember that the effective development of buyer personas is the starting point of any sound communications strategy - a clear baseline of the target audience in question . Why ? If we do not know who we ’ re reaching to , the target of our products or services , how will we be able to develop impactful , memorable , and head-turning B2B or B2C content and communications strategies ?
We therefore need to appreciate the profile of that individual who can sway general consumer opinion or who is responsible for influencing and championing decisions within a company . This will ensure that any marketing approach that is employed effectively communicates the value proposition of the product or service , amplifying the unique solutions that should compel sales conversion once a purchase decision has been influenced .
Buyer persona development will enable the brand to successfully implement a “ wow purple cow ” campaign . Creating an effective buyer persona is not rocket science either but it will require one to dedicate time to delve into customer data using in-depth research . Get to immerse yourself into the target customer ’ s ecosystem ; appreciate their day-to-day life or in the case of a company , its dayto-day operations , its pain points , and what it needs to resolve if its sales are to improve . Marketers should always
make time to review sector-specific journals and industry publications to glean the areas of interest or concern in that sector . Marketers should also never shy away from investing in professionally conducted surveys as these audits will bring up salient insights that will inform the most effective direction for one ’ s brand marketing campaigns .
Effective branding has been described as communicating with consumers and responding to their needs through storytelling a series of messages that are clear , relevant , and memorable . Most importantly , they must be consistent with your overall desired perception or the impression you wish to create in the minds of your target audience .
At Creative FCB for example , we believe that activating brands in the short term is critical but so is building brands for the long term . We call it timeless and timely brand building . We have made it our mission to help brands steer clear of the norm , employ the five Ps ( plus the sixth ) to build meaningful engagement , timely positioning , and impactful messaging .
So as marketers , we should strive to paint that cow purple , that dog red , or that horse blue , reframe brand stories , and readjust the approaches we use to execute our campaigns if we are to create awardwinning brand engagement solutions that make impactful consumer sense to our clients .
Eugene Omolo is the Executive Creative Director of Kenyan marketing communications agency , Creative FCB . You can commune with him via mail at : Eugene @ creative . co . ke
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