Unleashing the Ideavirus Stop Marketing AT People! Turn Your Ideas into Epidemics by Helping Your Customers Do the Marketing thing for You.

by Godin, Seth; Gladwell, Malcolm

• ISBN13: 9780786887170
• ISBN10: 0786887176
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-10
• Publisher: Hachette Books

Summary

Counter to traditional marketing wisdom, which tries to count, measure, and manipulate the spread of information, Seth 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 eggs marketers on to create an environment where their ideas can replicate and spread.

Author Biography

SETH GODIN is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. His book Permission Marketing was an Amazon.com Top 100 bestseller for a year, a Fortune Best Business Book and it spent four months on the Business Week bestseller list. It also appeared on The New York Times business book bestseller list. He lives in Westchester County, New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword	13	(2)
Introduction	15	(2)
SECTION 1: Why Ideas Matter	17	(30)
Farms, Factories And Idea Merchants	17	(11)
Why Are Ideaviruses So Important?	28	(1)
Five Things Ideaviruses Have In Common	28	(1)
Seven Ways An Ideavirus Can Help You	29	(1)
The Sad Decline of Interruption Marketing	30	(1)
We Live In A Winner-Take-Almost-All World	31	(4)
The Traffic Imperative: Why Sites Fail	35	(2)
We Used To Make Food. We Used To Make Stuff. Now We Make Ideas	37	(1)
People Are More Connected Than They Ever Were Before. We Have Dramatically More Friends Of Friends And We Can Connect With Them Faster And More Frequently Than Ever	38	(3)
There's A Tremendous Hunger To Understand The New And To Remain On The Cutting Edge	41	(1)
While Early Adopters (The Nerds Who Always Want To Know About The Cool New Thing In Their Field) Have Always Existed, Now We've Got More Nerds Than Ever Before. If You're Reading This, You're A Nerd!	42	(1)
Ideas Are More Than Just Essays And Books. Everything From New Technology To New Ways Of Creating, To New Products Are Winning Because Of Intelligent Ideavirus Management By Their Creators	43	(1)
The End Of The Zero Sum Game	44	(3)
SECTION 2: How To Unleash An Ideavirus	47	(46)
While It May Appear Accidental, It's Possible To Dramatically Increase The Chances Your Ideavirus Will Catch On And Spread	47	(1)
The Heart Of The Ideavirus: Sneezers	48	(1)
Sneezers Are So Important, We Need To Subdivide Them	49	(6)
The Art Of The Promiscuous	55	(6)
It's More Than Just Word Of Mouth	61	(1)
An Ideavirus Adores A Vacuum	62	(2)
Once It Does Spread, An Ideavirus Follows A Lifecycle. Ignore The Lifecycle And The Ideavirus Dies Out. Feed It Properly And You Can Ride It For A Long Time	64	(1)
Viral Marketing Is An Ideavirus, But Not All Ideaviruses Are Viral Marketing	65	(2)
What Does It Take To Build And Spread An Ideavirus?	67	(3)
There Are Three Key Levers That Determine How Your Ideavirus Will Spread	70	(5)
Thirteen Questions Ideavirus Marketers Want Answered	75	(1)
Five Ways To Unleash An Ideavirus	76	(17)
SECTION 3: The Ideavirus Formula	93	(26)
Managing Digitally-Augmented Word Of Mouth	93	(1)
Tweak The Formula And Make It Work	94	(7)
Advanced Riffs On The Eight Variables You Can Tweak In Building Your Virus	101	(1)
Sneezers	102	(2)
Hive	104	(4)
Velocity	108	(2)
Vector	110	(2)
Medium	112	(2)
Smoothness	114	(2)
Persistence	116	(1)
Amplifier	117	(2)
SECTION 4: Case Studies and Riffs	119	(94)
The Vindigo Case Study	119	(2)
Saving The World With An Ideavirus	121	(3)
Is Unleashing the Ideavirus An Ideavirus?	124	(1)
Moving Private To Public	125	(2)
You're In The Fashion Business!	127	(5)
The Money Paradox	132	(2)
Think Like A Music Executive (Sometimes)	134	(2)
Is That Your Final Answer?	136	(2)
A Dozen Ideaviruses Worth Thinking About	138	(1)
Why I Love Bestseller Lists	139	(3)
How A Parody Of Star Wars Outsold Star Wars	142	(2)
Wassup?	144	(1)
Judging A Book By Its Cover	145	(2)
Being The Most	147	(1)
In Defense Of World Domination	148	(3)
If You're A Member Of The Academy, You Go To Movies For Free	151	(2)
How An Ideavirus Can Drive The Stock Market	153	(4)
Bumper Sticker Marketing	157	(1)
No, You Go First!	158	(2)
Digital Media Wants to Be Free	160	(3)
Van Gogh Lost His Ear To Prove A Point	163	(2)
But How Would We Make Money?	165	(1)
Crossing The Chasm With An Ideavirus	166	(4)
The Myth Of The Tipping Point	170	(2)
The Compounding Effect	172	(2)
Bill Gates' Biggest Nightmare	174	(5)
Hey, Skinny!	179	(1)
Get Big Fast? The Mistake So Many Companies Make	180	(3)
The Heart Of Viral Marketing	183	(3)
The Great Advertising Paradox	186	(3)
Permission: The Missing Ingredient	189	(2)
How A Virus And Permission Team Up To Find Aliens	191	(1)
The Art of Creating an Ideavirus	192	(1)
Is He Really More Evil Than Satan Himself?	193	(1)
Case Study: Why Digimarc Is Going To Fail	194	(3)
Why Are These Cows Laughing?	197	(2)
Never Drink Alone	199	(2)
The Power Of Parody	201	(1)
Bee Stings And The Measles	202	(2)
But Isn't It Obvious?	204	(1)
Your Company's Worst Enemy	205	(4)
Step By Step, Ideavirus Tactics	209	(1)
The Future Of The Ideavirus: What Happens When Everyone Does It?	210	(3)
Acknowledgments	213	(4)
Afterword	217	(6)
Index	223