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Purple Cow
Who Cares
You can’t make people listen. But you can figure out who’s
likely to be listening when you talk, and then invent the
right combination of Ps to overwhelm them with the rightness
of your offer.
Even if someone is listening, your offering of “a little bit
cheaper,” “a little bit better,” or “a little bit easier” is just a
waste of time. The influential sneezers, the people with a
problem to solve – they’re open to hearing your story only
if it’s truly remarkable; otherwise, you’re invisible.
The “Who’s listening” question drives not just the success
of individual products, but also the status of entire
markets. Consider classical music for a second.
The classical music industry is now officially moribund.
The big labels are hurting. Orchestras are seeing recording
money dry up. There are virtually no commercially
important new works being written or recorded.
Why
Because no one is listening.
The influential sneezers already have all the music
they’re ever going to buy. Everything old that was worth
recording has been recorded– and quite well, thank you.
So the sneezers have stopped looking.
Because the sneezers have stopped looking, all of those
folks farther down the curve, who seek their advice or listen
to the radio stations, are busy buying cut-rate $8 versions
of the classics. There’s no money there for the
record companies and the orchestras. Because listeners
have stopped looking, composers are turning to film
scores or lawn care as a way to make a living. There’s an
attention blockade, and no player in the music business
has enough money to change the dynamic. Music mar-
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