 [Larger view] | Unleashing the Ideavirus
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| The best book on viral marketing and "buzz" | |
| Seth Godin writes about social observations and then applies them to the world of business. For example, this book is about "viral/word of mouth marketing" whereas his prior book was about permission based marketing and its impact on communications with customers. His recently released book, Survival is not Enough, is about "survival of the fittest" via his Darwinian-like take on business. I read permission marketing some years ago and really enjoyed it as it refreshed my thoughts on customer satisfaction and interaction. Then, this book came out and it really changed my paradigm about the growth aspect of businesses and how "viral marketing" could have a profound impact on an upstart Internet companies growth trajectory. I've read Gladwell's The Tipping Point and I must say, this book is better written and has examples more applicable to business. I found myself reading the book quite quickly as I was consumed by it as it was filled with interesting ideas about how to get people interested in what you have to offer. The principles mentioned in the book could be applied to anything you do in life that you want others to notice but I found the examples on Internet businesses to be fascinating. Counter to traditional marketing wisdom,which tries to count,measure,and manipulate the spread of information, Godin argues that the information can spread most effectively from customer to customer,rather than from business to customer. Godin calls this powerful customer-to-customer dialogue the ideavirus and cheerfully egg marketers on to create and environment where their ideas can replicate. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur this book is not a "how-to" book with a step-by-step approach to marketing but, if you read permission marketing and then this book you will have a VERY THOROUGH understanding about how to market on the Internet and grow your business. Other useful books on marketing that I have read or been recommended include Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Ideavirus (both great reads), the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Jack Trout and All Reis (excellent authors and a good read), Robert Cialdini's Influence and Ogilvy on Advertising or Wizard of Ads for help in sales copying. | |
| A must-have! | |
| This is the newest book by Seth Godin, which is one of the authors that most influenciate my ideas. This book is the continuation of the masterpiece Permission Marketing (which is about how to change the traditional marketing idea of interrupting people by permission marketing). Unleashing the Ideavirus brings the answer to the obviuos question after reading Permission Marketing: "How can I obtain people's permission, since this involves at least one interruption?". The idea behind this book is simple: why spending zillion dollars on TV ads if you can spend much less at word-of-mouth campaings (which the author calls "ideavirus"), and which is more efficient? This book confirms what I am saying for ages: if you have just build up your own company, it is not worth to sepend money on traditional media. The books is full of case studies, with enphasis on internet business. The ideas on which this book is based aren't quite new, but this is the best shot of Godin's work: he can arrange, at just one book, everything you must know in order to understand and make efficient marketing campaings in this new century, without spending time with complicated ideas which doesn't work at pratical levels. The contents of this book are of immediate pratical use, on whichever business your are running: traditional, internet or informal of any kind. | |
| Packed With Knowledge! | |
| In Unleashing the Ideavirus, Seth Godin says your idea is contagious, like the flu. But hold on - he's not being insulting. If you think of your idea as a virus, says he, you can "infect" the marketplace by motivating customers to talk about your product. He stretches this metaphor to explain how to captivate powerful "sneezers" so they will spread the word. Not a pretty picture, if you are a literal type of person, but you get the concept. For the right product or service, this is an alternative to advertising (or, as Godin calls it, "interruption marketing"). Though he builds on multi-level marketing concepts, Godin distances himself from their negative image. He writes in a breezy, easy style, with examples, charts and illustrations. If you want to spread the word about this book, we suggest that you just cough politely on someone in marketing, advertising or sales. |
