Is all marketing evil? How about viral marketing?

[Yogizilla]

As some of you may know, I am retired from the Information Technology field after 15+ years in it. I currently dedicate myself to game design, web dev, and business consulting, marketing services especially. I find that mostly everyoen has the wrong idea of what marketing is all about. Typically, people only know one facet of marketing, which is typically the traditional stuff, such as print ads and telemarketing.

The massive growth of the Internet has lent to many trends. These days, everyone is hopping on the online gaming, social media, and SEM/SEO trends. People figure they can take advantage of the huge growth and get a piece of the action, yet people got most of that stuff all wrong. The biggest thing people have misunderstood is viral marketing (SEM/SEO are close behind that, though).



For most people, viral marketing refers to cool little things, like those colorful toys depicted above, that gain popularity quickly, on their own, without the need for typical marketing amplifiers. This is only partly true.

The nasty connotation that has risen due to the popularity of the Internet is that viral content is all garbage or under-handed advertising. If you look at some of the most-circulated videos out there on YouTube, MetaCafe, StumbleUpon, NewGrounds, and the like, it seems that there are hidden agendas behind everything.

Consider the silly little video of friends throwing sunglasses and having their friend catch them from insane positions. You get all the people with short attention spans passing this along and raving about it. As a society, collectively, we've become numb to anything that is wordy, sales-pitchy, or just too "deep". Little nuggets of content that are fun, smooth, and easy to pass along thus become viral, IF they are worth talking about.

Marketers are finally seeing this trend and are trying to cash in on it. Now viral content sites are seen as the devil by jaded consumers that do not wish to be sold to. What do you think? Is all marketing evil? How about viral marketing? Why or why not?



Chances are you may have had a bad experience with marketing so you are annoyed. Maybe viral marketing killed your brother. If that's the case, I am sorry to hear that. Not all marketing is bad. There are just a lot of people that have great ideas but have NO CLUE when it comes to marketing.

The two biggest mistakes that marketers make is that they try to loosely-connect people and put one-size-fits-all labels on groups they define, or they just try to create their own trend and force it upon people. Marketing is like being a fashion editor, as Seth Godin writes, which means you have to know your place. Don't try to be the fashion designer when that is not your area of "expertise". Of course, marketers and salespeople alike can be too aggressive as well, or they just scream too much, which makes us tune them out.



I find it all interesting because these are things that affect us all, no matter what age and what line of business we may be in. My <b>TGAP</b> (Two Guys & A Pencil) business is dedicated to helping people educate themselves about the very real sides of business and marketing, the stuff that they don't teach you in school, and how to put them to work for you, or at least avoid the common pitfalls.

Just look at all the failed video game programs we have experienced first-hand. Great games that could have been so much more die before they are even really finished. Poor marketing is what kills them.

The beauty of viral marketing is that it forces people to be a bit more creative and deliberate with their efforts. We have so much rehashed shit in the world that it's like people are not even trying, or just hopping on the bandwagon trends. Viral marketing is a good thing, if you ask me. Even so-called hype and buzz marketing are great as well, when done properly.

Surely, the reason these methods seem sneaky or intrusive is because people hate being sold things. The only way people with a cool idea to sell can spread it is by getting folks excited about it so that, when the financial matters come into focus, it won't become a tough sell. I know that, being an indie developer, when I find a tight-knit community that has a killer app, I try to support it. Right now, I am a StumbleUpon sponsor and I love it. I get to give back to a team that has put out something really useful and unique.

Like anything in the world, there are good iterations and bad ones. With viral marketing, people have gotten obsessive about making clever little clips, minigames, videocasts, and podcasts. You have things like Salad Fingers that develop a humble little cult following, which is the good side of it, while other crap like video discussions of Britney Spear's comeback gets massive attention by content consumers, search engines, and key influencers alike.

Any thoughts?

http://yogizilla.wordpress.com - Link on and spread the linktraining love, y0!
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[KiNgY]

Those toys are tits
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[Yogizilla]

[Yogizilla]

Hey, everyone in the Northeast area may want to get up on this promotion. One of the character's from Cloverfield is having a going-away party. Interesting concept...

http://events.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&eventID=396836.74008
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MOTM: NoF currently invading XBox LIVE, Spark, and MORE! Follow us on Twitter - NipplesOfFate and Yogizilla - PLUS join us Yahoo Groups!"
=N4L= | Mein nepohl endst uhn fohgen!

[KiNgY]

Blah i wish
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[Weebo]

Great article Yogi! You should have tried to sell an e-book at the end though, that would have made my day
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The ARC Soundtrack | BattleCity Classic

[Yogizilla]

[KiNgY]

LOL Whats up WEEBO!!!
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