Majed Al-Zouabi

The book "Purple Cow" is considered one of the most important books in the field of marketing. It emphasizes the importance of stepping outside the norm amidst the existence of the old framing school of marketing, which is constantly changing and evolving in the modern world. The significance of the book is highlighted by the fact that it has been translated into 36 languages!

The author calls for stepping outside the norm and positively rebelling against habits and values that do not represent principles related to religion. Simply put, the author tries to convey that a purple cow among a herd of cows will catch your attention regardless of its size or health! The author states: when a purple cow is up for sale, you may not even need to advertise it because it will not last long and will sell quickly. You might hear criticisms about its strange color, but you will surely sell it. However, when you present a regular cow, there are hundreds of others offering the same product, so how do you present something different?

The same applies to charitable projects; there are many public needs that have not been addressed by organizations, which still provide services in a traditional manner that lacks distinction and innovation and fails to attract attention.

Indeed, many people fear the risk of introducing a new or strange distinctive product, and many prefer to imitate others and be a copy of them, which is one of the biggest problems facing marketing in general, especially in the non-profit sector. To succeed in your marketing, you must take risks and be prepared for some failure, as most people are not willing to try new things; they tend to try the product through a trusted source, such as a celebrity or a reliable friend.

People can be divided into five types when it comes to donating to your non-profit organization:

20% of them: are enthusiastic innovators or early adopters.

80% of them: the cautious majority, who are waiting to see what others say, and finally, the laggards who insist on avoiding anything new until they are forced to use it.

Focus on selling your product to the 20%, as they will influence the rest of the segments. Therefore, keep these donors engaged; for example, grant them gift shares in one of your endowments, give them special pages to collect donations for your projects in their names, invite them to events promoting your campaigns, programs, and services, or host them on one of your relief trips, or during the distribution of food baskets, for instance. Stay close to them, as they will convey your marketing message to the rest of the segments; here lies the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

The book also emphasizes that the world today produces millions of advertisements daily, so you need a "crazy" idea that makes your ad reach the most people and then have an impact. For example, there are hundreds of non-profit organizations that will be working to raise donations during the days of Eid al-Adha! But which of them can answer the question: what is the attractive element in my campaign? The author believes, without a doubt, that there are two essential factors for your campaign to be successful: a unique idea and exceptional service with high-quality products. It is illogical for an organization without any track record of achievements to want to raise millions of riyals in just 10 days! That is impossible!