Viral Marketing for the Real World
by Duncan J. Watts, Jonah Peretti
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Book Summary Information
Author: Duncan J. Watts, Jonah PerettiEdition: Digital
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Download: PDF
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 4
Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Book Reviews of Viral Marketing for the Real World
Book Review: All Marketers Need to Learn These Principles
Summary: 4 Stars
The article is a good introduction to viral marketing, particularly for marketers that aren't aware they can exploit these principles to improve their marketing ROI. Watts highlights the amplification effect of even minor virality on boosting the effectiveness of a marketing spend. It focuses on a "big seed marketing" approach, implying that this principle should be leveraged by big budget marketers. However, the article fails to point out that this principle can be leveraged by all marketers, regardless of their budget size. For example, if you have a viral coefficient of .7, each person you acquire through advertising actually results in 3.5 new people. This amplification effect can dramatically improve the ROI of targeted direct response marketing or broad reaching brand advertising.
The other key point he misses is that marketers can actually "tune" their virality to improve their viral coefficient. Each viral element becomes additive enhancing your overall viral coefficient, so a natural first step is to add more viral elements. Additionally variations of each viral element can be A/B tested to optimize their virality. While the ideal goal is to reach the magic 1.0 tipping point, each improvement enhances the ROI of all future marketing investments. This concept is particularly powerful for new web startups as part of an overall go-to-market approach. My Startup-Marketing Blog has more details at www.startup-marketing.com.
BTW, the article is only 1.5 pages of text despite the claim to be four pages. My blog has a link to a longer free version of the article.
Summary of Viral Marketing for the Real World
By combining viral-marketing tools with mass marketing, you can extend your reach at minimal cost.Harvard Business Review Books
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