Rethinking Marketing: 11 Takeaways from Purple Goldfish 2.0:

1. Your brand is no longer just what you tell people it is. It’s what your customer experiences, how they feel, and, most importantly—what they tell others about that experience. 

2. There is no such thing as meeting customer expectations. You exceed them . . . or you fall short.

3. Experience design is the next frontier for brand building. Smart brands will find ways to add signature value to their experiences, enhance differentiation, and give customers a reason to share their own stories about brands. 

4. Marketing is about being so remarkable that people can’t help but talk about you. That if you absolutely delight someone—they will not only come back but they’ll bring friends. They become your sales force. 

5. Going forward, marketing will be about achieving customer-getting distinction by differentiating what you do and how you operate.

6. In today’s climate you need to stand out by answering two important questions: What is valued by your customers? Can you deliver on those things that are valued and create some signature elements of added value to create differentiation? 

7. Take care of the customers you have. When you provide them with a memorable experience, they’ll bring you the customers you want. 

8. We judge everyone and everything we encounter on two basic criteria:
– Warmth: What is their intent? 
– Competence: What is their ability to carry out that intent? 
You need to reinforce both through the customer experience.

9. LAGNIAPPE is a creole word meaning “the gift” or “to give more.” The practice originated in Louisiana in the 1840s whereby a merchant would give a customer a little something extra at the time of purchase. It is a signature personal touch by the business that creates goodwill and promotes word of mouth. 

10. A Purple Goldfish is defined as any time a business purposely goes above and beyond to provide a little something extra to differentiate the experience and honor the relationship. 

11. What are your customers talking about after leaving your business, logging off your website, or hanging up the phone? Purple Goldfish Strategy is the idea that the best marketing is first-person word of mouth… your customers. That you should control the things you can control… how you treat your existing customers. And that you need to deliver added value with your product or service… to exceed customer expectations. 

Questions:
– How are you standing out in a sea of sameness? 
– What are your one or two signature differentiators in customer experience?
– Instead of being a “me too,” what is the one special thing your company does that is superior and distinctive in the eyes of your customers? 
– What is that little something extra that is tangible, valuable, and talkable? 

What’s your Purple Goldfish?

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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.

Find Stan’s in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops, and Goldfish tank programs at StanPhelps.com.