Business · Book club
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Purple Cow is Seth Godin's argument that the era of traditional marketing — mass advertising, interruption, and promotion — is effectively over, and that the only reliable route to growth is making something so remarkable that people talk about it without being paid to.
Seth Godin · 2003 · 3h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Godin says safe is risky. Where in your own work or business are you defaulting to ordinary because the remarkable option feels too risky?
- 2.
Think of a product or service in your field that is genuinely remarkable — not just good, but conversation-worthy. What specifically makes it so?
- 3.
Godin argues that remarkable should be baked into the product, not bolted on as a marketing strategy. Can you name a company that bolted on remarkable after the fact successfully?
- 4.
Who are the sneezers in a market you're familiar with? How do you reach them, and what makes them willing to spread something?
- 5.
The purple cow that earns attention today becomes ordinary tomorrow. How do you keep making the cow purple as your market adapts?
- 6.
What does 'remarkable' mean for a B2B product or service with a small, specialized audience? Does it look different from consumer remarkable?
- 7.
Godin says you should target the edges, not the middle. In a market you know, what would the extreme version of the product look like, and who would it be for?
- 8.
What organizational pressures push companies toward ordinary products? How do you fight them?
- 9.
Godin wrote Purple Cow in 2003. Has social media changed the dynamics he describes, or reinforced them?
- 10.
What's the difference between being remarkable and being gimmicky? Where have you seen companies cross that line?
- 11.
Is there a market where ordinary is the best strategy — where being unremarkable is actually a competitive advantage? What would that market look like?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable?
Here are 11 book club questions for Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on marketing, innovation, differentiation.
How long should a book club discussion of Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable?
Marketing, Innovation, Differentiation, Entrepreneurship, Branding. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable or questions for other book club picks.
