Sneeze marketing

Author: Seth Godin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The core of the "Sneeze Marketing" is to give people a reason to listen, and then to create a mechanism for the spread of concept viruses. The future belongs to marketers who build platforms, establish processes, and allow interested people to market each other. They activate customer networks and then step back, letting customers... Traditional marketing concepts can be simply called disruptive marketing, such as TV ads, direct mail, and commercial emails. However, in Seth Godin's view, this approach is doomed to fail. First, every marketer involved can only benefit by "making a mess," and in an era of extreme information overflow, it is becoming increasingly difficult to capture people's attention while making them believe in your sincerity. Second, costs are soaring, yet the expected results are hard to achieve. Seth Godin proposes a completely different concept—Sneeze Marketing. He refers to the infectious dialogue between customers as "concept viruses," and the highest level of marketing is like a sneeze, letting customers do the marketing for you. Therefore, Godin encourages marketers to create a favorable environment, identify and nurture their "sneeze experts," and guide them effectively to promote your product concepts like spreading a virus. Seth Godin provides a brilliant analysis of Sneeze Marketing cases for different products. These cases cover almost everything, from films and books to cars, perfumes, fashion, and handheld computers. These interesting and persuasive examples vividly describe the operation and mindset of Sneeze Marketing. As said by the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Bernbach, "You can't sell something to someone who doesn't want to listen to you."