Bill's PurpleCrayon Blog

A NEW YEAR, A NEW LOOK...EN GARDE!

This is an exciting time for PurpleCrayon Direct.

We're talking to more Artists than ever before, getting involved with an even wider variety of Art forms, discovering more wondrous ideas to explore, meeting new and interesting people and, basically, enjoying the creative life to the hilt.

Two weeks ago, I even started taking fencing lessons, which is a boyhood dream come true. (Okay, I'll admit it: I always wanted to be Errol Flynn, buckling swashes wherever I happen to swagger, flashing my winning smile as often as I brandish my sword.)

In keeping with my renewed vim and vigor, I've decided it's time for a new look for our humble home on the Web. Something sleeker, quicker, and even easier to navigate. It'll still be purple, and it'll still have a purple crayon gracing the pages, but I've turned to a web design professional to give me something hip and fresh. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

Watch for it within the next month.

Keep Purple!


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"SAFE IS RISKY"

Seth Godin is known world-wide as a marketing visionary. A guru among gurus.

His columns appear in Fast Company magazine, his books (including Survival Is Not Enough: Zooming, Evolution and the Future of Your Company, Permission Marketing, and Unleashing the Ideavirus) are bestsellers so innovative that they are often used as textbooks on college campuses. He's in demand as a speaker. And Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable, his most recent book, has become the bible for forward-thinking businesspeople from coast to coast.

In short, Seth Godin is a change agent. Unabashedly so.

I like Seth Godin for many reasons. Foremost because his books aren't chock-full of academic theories or wishful thinking. Despite their shake-up-the-establishment tendencies (he abhors the status quo), his books are practical. They can be put to use immediately, transforming the way people look at their professions, as well as their lives. He walks the talk, too. So when he tells his readers how to stand out from the crowd by being or doing something remarkable, you can bet he's leading by example.

Paradigm shift? Epiphany? Forget about it. After reading one of Seth's books, you'll measure your life in BS (Before Seth) and AS (After Seth) terms.

I also like Seth because, surprisingly, despite his success and celebrity, he is a genuinely nice guy. Approachable. Passionate. And eager to help others become Remarkable, too.

Seth recently set aside time to answer some of my questions regarding the state of the advertising industry, as well as how Artists could make themselves stand out.


PurpleCrayonDirect: Despite the best efforts of visionaries like yourself, and regardless of numerous articles in publications such as Fast Company, the marketplace today seems driven solely by price. Especially here in Michigan where companies are bailing like crazy and sending the work to Mexico or the Deep South or India or somewhere. This trend seems to be happening nation-wide. Who do you think has the most power and/or responsibility to reverse this trend - the businesses themselves? Or consumers?

Seth Godin: Why would consumers try to reverse this trend?

PCD: Are you saying that unemployment and economic instability are good?

SG: Well, I think what I said is that consumers don't care, and the main reason is that they don't see a direct connection between their actions and the outcomes. Do you eat swordfish? Drive any car except a Prius? Eat only organic food raised under humane conditions?

Consumers are selfish. Always have been, always will be, alas.

By the way, it's not price. Black and white TVs are cheap, but they don't sell. It's value and innovation. That comes from companies that aren't afraid.

PCD: When I read reviews on Amazon of your book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable, I see some people totally get what you're saying and others, somehow, do not. Those who do not say something like this: "Too simplistic. Seth tells people to be remarkable by being remarkable. What kind of advice is that?" What does "being remarkable" mean to you in practical terms?

SG: Well, let's start with the reviewers. Have you noticed they are anonymous? Hmmm...

As for being remarkable, it means just one thing to me: worth remarking on. And yes, it's that simple. If you do or make something worth remarking upon, then by definition, people will, and the word will spread.

PCD: The advertising profession is going through major changes. Big agencies are downsizing or disappearing altogether. Small, sometimes very small, "agencies" are taking their place. The market is now flooded with these 1 or 2 person boutiques. I see that happening for two reasons: (1) The advent of desktop publishing, and what appears to be the attitude that anyone with fingers and a keyboard can write copy; and (2) Client no longer value relationships with agencies as much as they do a vendors' ability to produce work quickly and as cheaply as possible. What are the long-term ramifications of this trend?

SG: The long term impact is that if advertising doesn't work, what good are agencies? Agencies must redefine themselves to get into the business of changing the product, not the wrapper.

PCD: In your book Permission Marketing, you make the case that the most effective marketers are those who develop relationships with their customers and treat them as if they're worth their weight in gold. How can companies do that when customers seem less brand-loyal than ever before?

SG: Customers should be less brand loyal, because brands are increasingly meaningless.

PCD: What advice do you have for those in the Arts who want to be remarkable, to stand out from their competitors?

SG: Safe is risky.

PCD: Thanks, Seth. I appreciate your time.


I like that: Safe is risky.

Translation: If you want to get ahead, you have to quit doing things the same old way. You have to become a Purple Cow.

Be remarkable.

When you have a moment, let your mouse do the scurrying over to Seth's Blog. Bookmark it and check back often. His observations are often as entertaining as they are informative.

Oh, and let's not forget: Keep Purple!


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