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Purple Cow Your Podcast Brand – Episode 103

The unexpected is amusing, delightful and memorable. Being direct assumes your listener cares about your marketing message. She doesn’t. Your listener cares about his or her needs, wants and desires. Attract their attention by doing the unexpected.

In his book “The Purple Cow”, Seth Godin says, “Cows, after you’ve seen one or two or ten, are boring. A purple cow, though … ow that would be something.” Phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting and unbelievable.

If you want to get noticed, you need to stand out. You cannot afford to be a different shade of gray.

BJ Bueno in his book “The Power Of Cult Branding” describes the same. Oprah, Star Trek, Harley Davidson, Apple, Vans shoes. They are cult brands because they are incredibly different. They are not simply a percentage better or brighter or less filling. They are different.

Just a side note, if you would like to support the show, please use my affiliate links to both of these books.

Physical versions:

You can get a free audio book with a free trial to Audible using my affiliate link.  CLICK HERE.

If you are considering either book, I’d love to have you use my link.

To engage your podcast listener and create a relationship, you need to be memorable. In order to be memorable, you must be unique. Be distinct, unusual, and unexpected. If you sound like every other show, you will not stand out and get noticed.

DISTINCT

Be unique. If everyone else is interviewing the popular clique in your niche, make your show different. Stand out. Interview different people. Interview the same people in different ways. Create a different interview style. Instead of interviewing, turn it into an expose or magazine style feature.

Jimmy Fallon is great at “not” interviewing people. He will do a lip sync challenge. Sometimes he will do a skit. He might turn it into a game show. It isn’t the typical interview.

UNUSUAL

Is everyone doing it the same way? Do it differently. You could add listener calls to the show. Don’t wait for them to call you. Reach out to people who e-mail you and ask if you can call and record them.

When I did episode 100 and 101, I didn’t hope people would call a voicemail number. I reached out and set up a call just like I would with an interview. Be proactive.

Apple is unusual. Wikipedia is unusual. Volkswagen is unusual. Stand out. Don’t be a different shade of gray.

There is a car dealer in Omaha that does things differently. Instead of being a little better or different, they have flipped the car buying experience on its head.

The dealership has a customer parking lot clearly marked. You are not attacked by 15 car salesmen the minute you drive on the lot. They hold the door for you. They help you find the person you need.

The dealer also understands that you have a lot of info from the web, so they don’t take an entire day to get the deal done. They have eliminated the games.

They just want to sell more cars. They don’t necessarily need to get every penny out of a deal. They more time they save, the more time they have to sell another car.

By doing things differently, this dealership has become the #1 Nissan dealer in the region. On top of that, they’ve only been open a few years.

UNEXPECTED

Another dealer took it over the top with my service.

My battery wouldn’t hold a charge. I figured it was my alternator. So, I took it to the dealership.

If you have ever had a battery replaced, you know how painful it can be to reset your radio, clock and other electronic features in your car.

When I picked up my car, they had reset my radio, clock and everything else. The first thing the mechanic did when he got into my car was write down my radio stations. Not only was it reprogrammed, it was back on the original station.

This dealership does the unexpected. They are also the #1 Ford F-150 pickup dealer in the country.

Dave Jackson does the unexpected when he interrupts his interviews with interesting asides. He drives the point home by interrupting himself. Who would think of doing that? It goes against every interviewing standard. Well, it adds unexpected surprised to his interviews.

Drop in some audio to surprise your listener. Take the show in a direction that your listener wouldn’t expect. If they think you are going right, go left.

If you can create unique, memorable experiences for your listener by incorporating the unexpected, you begin to create powerful, meaningful relationships.

Are you using cows?

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.