TL;DR: Don’t pour money into marketing a forgettable product. Instead, invest that energy into making your product remarkable—a “Purple Cow” in a field of black and white. We’ll explore how to build this remarkability from the ground up using four foundational pillars: Uniqueness, Naturalness, Quality, and Accessibility. The goal is to create something so good, your customers become your most passionate marketing team.
You feel it, don’t you? The pressure to shout louder, post more, and spend more on ads just to be seen. The digital world is a deafeningly crowded space, and the default strategy has become a brute-force battle for attention. But what if that entire approach is flawed?
What if your marketing budget isn’t a growth engine, but a tax you pay for being boring?
This idea, popularized by marketing legend Seth Godin, is both confronting and liberating. It suggests that the most powerful marketing strategy isn’t a bigger ad spend; it’s a better product. It’s about creating something so inherently interesting, valuable, and unique that it becomes a “Purple Cow”—an idea so remarkable that it naturally compels people to stop, stare, and share the story.
In a world desperate for authenticity and connection, building your own Purple Cow isn’t just a clever tactic; it’s the only sustainable path forward.
The Invisible Burden of “Good Enough”
Most businesses operate in the realm of “good enough.” They offer a decent product, provide acceptable service, and follow industry best practices. They are the sensible, predictable black-and-white cows in the field.
The problem? No one ever drives down the highway, pulls over, and exclaims, “Look, a perfectly adequate cow!”
Safety and predictability are invisible. And in the attention economy, invisibility is a death sentence. When your product is invisible, you’re forced to pay the tax. You pay it with ad spend, with endless content creation, with complex funnels—all in an attempt to manufacture the attention your product couldn’t earn on its own.
Breaking this cycle requires a fundamental shift. You must stop thinking about marketing as something you do to a finished product and start embedding it into the very DNA of what you create.
The Four Pillars of a Remarkable Product
So, how do you build a Purple Cow? It isn’t about gimmicks or flashy features. It’s about a deep, intentional commitment to being different in a way that truly serves a specific audience. At UNQA, we build this remarkability on a foundation of four core principles.
1. Uniqueness: The Courage to Have a Point of View
Being unique isn’t just about what you do; it’s about what you stand for. It’s the courage to serve a specific tribe instead of trying to please everyone.
- Solve a Niche Problem: Instead of building another generic project management tool, what if you built one specifically for independent filmmakers? Specificity is the birthplace of uniqueness.
- Embody a Philosophy: Your product should be an expression of your values. Are you for slow growth in a fast world? For deep work in an age of distraction? Let your product be a flag that your people can rally around.
- Be Vulnerable: Uniqueness comes from the human story behind the product. Share the journey, the struggles, and the “why.” People don’t connect with corporations; they connect with people.
2. Naturalness: Designing for Flow, Not Force
A remarkable product doesn’t feel like a tool; it feels like an extension of the user’s own intent. It fits into their life with an effortless, natural flow.
- Observe, Don’t Prescribe: Watch how people actually solve their problems. Where is the friction? Where do they get stuck? A natural product removes that friction, creating a sense of ease and delight.
- Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication: A Purple Cow isn’t bloated with features. It does one thing exceptionally well. It’s about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful, creating an intuitive experience that requires no instruction manual.
3. Quality: The Experience is Everything
In the modern world, quality is no longer just about durable materials or bug-free code. Quality is the depth and character of the experience.
- Care in Every Detail: From the welcome email to the error message, every touchpoint is an opportunity to show you care. This meticulous attention to detail communicates respect for the user’s time and intelligence.
- Sustainable Value: A high-quality product solves a problem not just for today, but for tomorrow. It empowers users, makes them better, and becomes an indispensable part of their lives. It’s built to last, not to churn.
4. Accessibility: Generously Built for Humans
Remarkability is pointless if it’s confined to an ivory tower. True impact comes from making your unique solution accessible, both functionally and emotionally.
- Inclusivity by Design: Is your product usable by people with different abilities? Does your language resonate with a diverse audience? Building for everyone isn’t about being generic; it’s about being intentionally welcoming.
- Authenticity is Clarity: An accessible product speaks in human terms. It avoids jargon and corporate-speak. This clarity builds trust and makes users feel seen and understood, transforming them from consumers into advocates.
Your First Step: Find Your Ten People
This might all sound great in theory, but where do you start? You don’t start with a massive launch. You start small.
Find ten people. Ten people who represent the absolute heart of the audience you seek to serve. Not ten random people, but ten people whose problem you are uniquely suited to solve. Pour all your energy into delighting them. Talk to them. Co-create with them. If you can’t make them so happy that they spontaneously tell their friends, you don’t have a marketing problem; you have a product problem.
Fix the product. Then, and only then, think about finding the next ten. That is how a remarkable idea begins to spread. Naturally.
Stop Paying the Tax
Building a Purple Cow is an act of defiance. It’s a choice to be generous, to serve a specific few, and to pour your soul into creating something undeniably excellent.
It’s hard work. It requires courage. But the reward is earning the most powerful marketing force on the planet: genuine, enthusiastic word-of-mouth from people who love what you do.
So, take a hard look at your work. Is it remarkable enough? Or are you just paying the tax on being boring?
Is your product remarkable enough? The market won’t wait for you to figure it out. Our Discovery Process is designed to find and amplify your ‘Purple Cow’.