The Art of Strategy – Blog Series
Different is Better Than Better
Imagine standing on a hill, looking down at a field full of black-and-white cows looking for the right one to buy. There are strong cows, weak cows, old and young cows, sick and healthy cows. But from up here, all you can see is black and white cows… hundreds of them.
But then, you see one purple cow. And it turns out you’re looking for a purple cow. The fact that there are stronger, bigger, younger, and healthier cows is irrelevant. There is only one purple cow. That’s the one you’re taking.
That’s how great businesses win: by offering something so remarkable and specific that customers immediately know, “This is exactly what I need.”
In a Crowded Market, Different is Better Than Better.
The Hard Truth About Scale
Most scale-ups fail not because they’re bad, but because they’re forgettable. While you obsess over incremental improvements, your market is drowning in choices that all look the same.
Domino’s didn’t win by making tastier pizza. They won by being the only choice for “pizza in 30 minutes or free.” They weren’t competing on quality—they redesigned the game entirely.
The Purple Cow Formula
To scale rapidly, stop competing on better. Start dominating on different:
- Find Your Purple Niche – Target a specific customer pain so severe they’d pay anything to solve it. Not “small businesses needing accounting software,” but “e-commerce founders losing sleep over inventory forecasting.”
- Make a Purple Promise – One bold, unmistakable statement that makes decision-making dead simple. FedEx didn’t promise “reliable shipping.” They promised: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”
- Command Purple Pricing – If customers hesitate at your premium pricing, your difference isn’t valuable enough. Period.
- Build Purple Operations – Ruthlessly design every system to deliver your promise at 10x your current scale. Domino’s didn’t just market speed—they redesigned store locations, kitchen workflows, and delivery logistics to guarantee it.
The Decision Moment That Determines Your Fate
Scale happens at the moment of customer choice. When your ideal customer needs what you sell, they should think of exactly one company: yours.
When you’re truly different, customers don’t comparison shop. They call you directly.
Your Move
Which matters more: being 5% better than ten competitors, or being the only solution to one burning problem?
Pick one dimension to dominate. Make it impossible for your target customer to choose anyone else.
The market rewards the one thing no one else is offering—not the twentieth business promising “better quality.”
What’s your purple cow?
Taking action
Is your business a purple cow? If not, how will you fix that?
Resources & Tools
- Scale Up X-Ray™. Assess your strategy. Pinpoint where to improve it. Get guidance.
- Strategy Canvas template.
- The Art of Strategy, Chapter 6 and 7. The Art of Strategy.
In the next post, we’ll break down Principle #3: Position Yourself as #1 in the Customer’s Mind: how to make your brand the default choice when customers think of your category.
References:
Inspired by The Purple Cow, Seth Godin. See more in The Art of Scale, Chapter 7.