What makes great products stand out? For that matter, what makes anything great stand out? The best products, whether they be a web 2.0 startup or a TV show, have something about them that makes them stand out. As Seth Godin puts it, you need a “purple cow.”

The marketing aspect of your business doesn’t come from the physical advertising such as banner ads or TV commercials, but rather the actual marketability of your product. That is, does your product do you marketing for you? Does it make people talk about it and market itself? You can shout your slogan as loud as you want on that megaphone of yours, but if your product isn’t remarkable, then all the other marketing in the world couldn’t help you.

If you’ve ever watched the show, “Home Improvement,” you’re probably familiar with the character of Wilson, Tim’s neighbor. Now what’s funny about how they portray Wilson is that they never fully show his face. They could have easily portrayed him as any old neighbor by not creating a sense of mystery around him by hiding his face, but instead they chose to do something remarkable with his character. Even though Wilson isn’t a major character in the show, it just goes to show that if you do something remarkable, people will remember it. I’m sure that just by doing what they did to Wilson’s character the show got a boost out of people trying to find out what Wilson really looked like.

It just goes to show that in order to be able to market your product efficiently, you have to let your product market itself (kind of like Wilson’s character). In the end, it’s your product marketing for you rather than you marketing your product that’s going to make it a success.

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