Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cow
by Seth Godin
List Price:
Our Price: $1.13
You Save: $7.82 (87%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Seth GodinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-24
ISBN: 1591841674
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Portfolio Trade
Book Reviews of Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cow
Book Review: Make value not ads
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished reading two books by the prolific marketeer Seth Godin: Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside. I had heard a number of people discussing Godin's latest book and thought I would see what I was missing.
Purple Cow is a battle cry to make remarkable products. It is a passionate plea that a product that tries to be all things to all people will be nothing to everyone. Godin makes a case that a product should leave the happy middle ground. Make the cheapest product, or the most expensive, the most elegant or the simplest. The early adopters are the people that you need to win first and they are not drawn to the average product. A remarkable product, literally one that would make someone remark and take notice, will produce "sneezers" who will distribute your "idea virus".
Free Prize Inside! argues that a series of small incremental changes to your product to add value is better than either a huge marketing or a huge research budget. When Amazon took their large marketing budget and instead spent it on free shipping they created value, a "free prize", for their customers. Give your customers a free prize, give them value, and they will talk about it.
I enjoyed both books even if I did not always relate to the world he was writing about. Having worked in Silicon Valley startup companies for so long I did not relate to some of the information in Free Prize Inside! about how to sell your ideas to a management chain that would clearly be resistant. I did not disagree that this happens, I just did not relate on a personal level. Also I find Godin's terminology like "sneezers" to be something that I am likely to remember but embarrassed to repeat.
My favorite part of both books are the concrete examples that I look for in a book in this genre. I am left with questions like "how would I do something similar for my company, my blog or my podcast?" "What free prize could I provide my customers, my readers or my listeners?" So I am left with questions, but those are exactly the kind of questions I am looking for.
Summary of Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cow
How to find the ?"soft innovation?" that will make your product, service, school, church, or career worth talking aboutWe live in an era of too much noise, too much clutter, too many choices, and too much spam. And as Seth Godin?'s 200,000-copy bestseller Purple Cow taught the business world, the old ways of marketing simply don?'t work anymore. The best way to sell anything these days is through word of mouth?-and the only real way to get word of mouth is to create something remarkable.
Free Prize Inside, the sequel to Purple Cow, explains how to do just that. It?'s jammed with practical ideas you can use right now to make your product or service remarkable, so that it will virtually sell itself.
Remember when cereal came with a free prize inside? Even if you already liked the cereal, it was the little plastic toy that made it irresistible. Godin explains how you can think of a bonus that will make your customers feel just as excited, no matter what business you?'re in. Consider these free prizes:
?.?The Tupperware party, which turned buying plastic bowls into a social event
?.?Flintstones vitamins, which turned a serious product into something fun
?.?The free change-counting machine at every Commerce Bank branch
?.?The little blue box from Tiffany, which makes people happy before they even open it
This book offers a way to create free prizes quickly, cheaply, and reliably?-and persuade others in your organization to help you bring them to life.
According to marketing maven and Purple Cow author Seth Godin, the "Television Industrial Complex"--and its nasty habit of interrupting people with advertisements for things they don't want--is dead. Innovation is cheaper than advertising, advises Godin who defines the "free prize" with diverse examples including swatch watches, frequent flyer miles, dog bakeries, Tupperware parties and portable shredding trucks. He explains "Design matters, style matters, extras matter."
The largest portion of the book is devoted to how to sell an idea to your organization. His specific tactics range from irreverent, (let them pee on your ideas) to practical (how to build a prototype). One standout chapter explains how brainstorming can become boring. His alternative, "edgecraft," involves divergent thinking to add something remarkable to your product. His long grocery list of edges (safety, equality, invisibility, and hours of operation) suggest a genuine marketing manifesto. The ideas are bold and insightful, but can suffer from being presented in less than logical order. The book is also diminished by Godin's self-marketing, from using terminology in his previous books to naming key ideas after himself. These advertisements are unnecessary. This nervy little volume is bound to mother many inventions. --Barbara Mackoff
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Bank Marketing Expert Resources for Bank Marketing
Guerrilla Selling: Unconventional Weapons and Tactics for Increasing Your Salesby Orvel Ray Wilson, William K Gallagher, Jay Conrad Levinson
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 1992-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops:
The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook (Guerrilla Marketing)by Jay Conrad Levinson, Seth Godin
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 1994-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (Guerrilla Marketing)by Jay Conrad Levinson
Houghton Mifflin; Houghton Mifflin; Published: 1998-10-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Find Your Hook. Communicate Your Message. Make Your Mark.by Dan S. Kennedy
Adams Media; Published: 2006-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts!by Jon Spoelstra
Bard Press; Published: 2001-07-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brandsby Kevin Roberts
powerHouse Books; Published: 2005-11-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friendsby Tim Sanders
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2003-07-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PRby Al Ries, Laura Ries
Collins Business; Published: 2004-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops:
Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or Youby Richard Laermer
Bloomberg Press; Published: 2004-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cowby Seth Godin
Portfolio Trade; Published: 2007-04-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.16
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Dieby Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Random House; Published: 2007-01-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?by Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2007-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.25
Price in other shops:
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)by Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2007-05-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.32
Price in other shops:
The Big Moo : Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkableby The Group of 33, Seth Godin
Amazon Remainders Account; Published: 2005-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.03
Price in other shops:
UNLEASHING THE IDEAVIRUSby Seth Godin
Hyperion; Published: 2001-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.52
Price in other shops:
The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Betterby Seth Godin
Free Press; Published: 2002-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops:
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust Worldby Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2005-05-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideasby Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2006-08-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customersby Seth Godin
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1999-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.73
Price in other shops:
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkableby Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2003-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: