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I’ve been doing what I can only describe as unofficial focus groups. The “send a voice note and tell me the truth” kind.
I realised that I was focusing on the wrong things. The boxes I “had to tick” versus what makes us remarkable. So I got back to one of my favourite marketing book, Purple Cows, and it helped realising something needed to change.
Here’s how you can do the same - or simply get confident answering to this question: are you a brown cow?
If your marketing feels like shouting into the void, here’s the painful truth: you don’t have a “content” problem. You have a brown cow problem.
You’re blending in. And in 2026, blending in is the riskiest thing you can do.
A Purple Cow is something that’s worth mentioning.
So what does a “Purple Cow” actually mean? It means being worth talking about. Not different for the sake of it. Different in a way your people can’t help but mention.
This book came from an era that was obsessed with ads and mass attention. But the timeless bit still hits: if what you’re putting out is safe and samey, it disappears.
So the goal isn’t “better marketing.” It’s building something so interesting it spreads.
Godin calls your first wave “sneezers”. I’d call them your early adopters. The people who love finding things first and telling everyone about it. Your job isn’t to win over everyone. It’s to wow them so they do the sharing for you.
You don’t need everyone.
You need the right people to be obsessed first. Because once they’re in, they do the sharing for you.
The behind-the-scenes bit (my unofficial focus groups)
Alright, let’s get practical. To find your Purple Cow, start with your smallest viable audience. Who would genuinely miss you if you disappeared tomorrow? Those are your early adopters. Build for them first.
Last week, I spoke to a bunch of marketers and the patterns were so consistent it was almost rude:
People are over box-ticking marketing. It feels like homework.
Credentials as the main hook are starting to feel like a “should”. Not a “want”.
Marketers want confidence and lateral thinking, not another library of information.
And if you squint, this is literally Purple Cow in human language.
Next, identify your remarkable edge. Use Godin’s “edges” idea. Are you the easiest? The most specific? The most rebellious? Your edge is not what you think is clever. It’s what your smallest viable audience values enough to talk about.
At Alt Marketing School, I had to accept that I need to lean deep into the story that we didn’t build “a course platform”.
We built a Marketing Rebels identity. Not just “learn marketing”.
But join a movement where marketers are rockstars again.
That identity is the Purple Cow. It gives people something to join, not just something to buy.
YOUR HOMEWORK ✍️
Message 3 people who already love what you do and ask:
“Why did you choose us over the other options?”
“If you had to describe us in one sentence to a friend, what would you say?”
Do not guide them. Do not add context. Do not jump in to “clarify”.
Just collect the answers, then circle the words they repeat. We are looking for belonging, identity and personality. If your answers feel a bit beige, here is a question to help you sharpen your edge:
"If our brand were a person at a party, what would you want them to be remembered by?"
So that’s the core of Purple Cow: stop blending in and start building something worth talking about for the people who’d actually miss you if you disappeared.
Quick-fire takeaways:
If your marketing feels invisible, you’re probably playing it too safe.
Your edge is not what you think is clever. It’s what your people repeat to their friends.
Start with your early adopters. They’re the ones who spread it.
Action for you: message three customers today and ask, ‘If you had to recommend us in one sentence, what would you say?’ Whatever words they repeat? That’s your Purple Cow.
Always cheering you on, you remarkable being.
Fab
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Fifteen years of marketing experience condensed into one book. The Customer-Driven Marketing Handbook is about building relationships using marketing as your superpower. But also a book about being human in your marketing, regardless of the tools, trends or changes that this crazy world throws at us.