Rating: 
Summary: Go Viral!
Review: Unleashing the Ideavirus is an interesting read. One of the main ideas about this book is that interruption based marketing (radio and TV spots that break the flow of music or a show) is getting less and less effective. As an alternative viral marketing reaches your target audience based on the recommendation of others within your target audiences sphere of influence. The author, Seth Godin, says market to people rather then at people.One of the key take aways from this book is that target market selection (hive) and targeting the correct individuals (sneezers) within this group is of utmost importance. This is because with viral marketing you are depending on people (sneezers) to spread your idea virus. Another interesting concept is that hive selection should happen even before you consider what product or service you would offer the hive. Most businesses consider what the can make or the service they can provide and then back into who might want such a product or service. What are the elements that make up an ideavirus? According to Seth Godin there are many variables that are essential to consider when constructing a virus. Here is Seth's list of variables that make up a virus: Sneezers - the people that you choose to spread your idea virus
Hive - the group you target with your idea virus
Velocity - how fast the idea spreads from one party to another
Vector - pattern of hive adoption (could be geographic or demographic)
Medium - the communication mechanism surrounding the idea virus (tv, web page...)
Smoothness - how easy it is for the user to spread this idea virus
Persistence - how long the idea sticks with a person before it stop influencing them
Amplifier - tool for getting ideavirus to a larger audience Does all this ideavirus stuff work? One of interesting things about this book is the author's choice of distribution. He followed his own advice. The original distribution of this book was as a free e-book to encourage the viral effect. If you want to stop marketing at people and starting marketing to them this book is worth a read. If you are interested in constructing an ideavirus this book has practical advice for going viral.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on viral marketing and "buzz"
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 stars for content & 2 stars for organization
Review: Unleashing the Ideavirus offers practical ideas on how to spread a marketing message without spending alot of money. Some of what Seth Godin describes may be more common sense than revolutionary. However, he does present several fairly sound approaches to marketing and taking advantage of the concepts of Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point (a 5 star book and one of my favorites). My main problem with Unleashing was the organization of the book. Unleashing the Ideavirus was a bit disjointed. It does not flow as nicely as the author's Purple Cow (by way the a 5 star book!) which I would highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Spread the word... on THIS book!
Review: Seth Godin is the master of marketing THINKING. In this fabulous book, which goes deeper than you think it might, Seth takes apart the anatomy of BUZZ... what gets people talking and spreading the word abour products, services, ideas, websites... anything. Far from a brainiac book, Unleashing the Ideavirus is chock full of SPECIFIC and SMART ideas you can implement right now (if you're fast and brave enough) to make a real difference in the marketing profile your company's products and services enjoy. Another classic, and precursor to Purple Cow. You should have both in your library. Period.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not infectious
Review: "If you are looking for mind blowing new ideas, you won't find them in this, or any other marketing book." Seth Godin prefaces his "manifesto" with the truth. My marketing text summed up the essence of this book in less than a page, under the Innovation Diffusion Process, which is "the spread of a new idea from its source of invention or creation to its ultimate users or adopters." This is to say that I felt Unleashing The Idea Virus, at 197 pages, is 196 pages too long winded in explaining that word of mouth marketing is more than just word of mouth marketing. Looking past the repetitiveness of the content, the entertainment value of Idea Virus is what is infectious. A sizeable amount of the book is replete with examples of thriving viruses. From Fast Company to Hilfiger Skull Caps, he supports his claim with a plethora of high profile success stories, demonstrating just how valuable a virus can be. Unleashing the Idea Virus is wordy but interesting. Similar to gossip from your best friend, this book is probably something you could live without, but none the less, it provides a certain amount of entertainment value, intended to spread like wildfire.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and useful concept
Review: This is a readable and engaging little book on marketing that you can really read in just a few sittings since it's such a quick read. It was interesting to learn about some of the more spectacular marketing successes in recent years and how they were achieved, such as Paypal, Hotmail, Napster, and others. If you're an experienced advertising person you may already be familiar with the basic principles here, but if you're new to the area or are looking for some new ideas or a fresh approach, Godin's book is worth a look. Godin's main idea, however, is deceptively simple, and it really can be summed up in just a few words. He believes that the most successful marketing campaigns are those that are simply spread by means of word of mouth, from person to person. The product was so "infectious," in other words, that the marketer didn't have to do anything but just get the initial word out, and it spread from there until it became a virtual epidemic of consumer consumption. There are ways, though, that you can help this process along, such as Steve Jurvetson's idea of including a little promotional message with every person's email advertising their service, which was then sent by all Hotmail customers to everyone they emailed, and it snowballed from there, growing to 12 million users in 18 months. Godin's enthusiasm for marketing is contagious itself, and in fact he discusses the concept of "sneezers," or people who are able to "infect" others and influence their purchasing decisions through their influence. (As someone with occasionally less than impressive immunity, I would have preferred the author not get quite this cute with the terminology, but oh well :-)). He discusses Oprah Winfrey, who he says is the most successful "sneezer" of our generation in her power to influence millions of people to buy the books from her book clubs and other products, not to mention her ability to make comparative unknowns like Dr. Phil successful media personalities just from the exposure gained on her show. My only complaint about the book is that, as I said, the idea is pretty simple, and probably have been explained in a much shorter book rather than the actual 197 pages. A lot of the text is spent discussing various examples, which, although interesting, could have been pared down quite a bit. But overall, this is a well written, interesting, and enjoyable book to read on some of the most wildly successful marketing strategies of recent years with some useful ideas for putting them to work in your own business.
Rating:
Summary: Filled with Lots Great Ideas!
Review: There are lots of really great marketing ideas in this book. To implement them is a different story. You have to have a big imagination, plus lots of creativity to emulate the super successes found in the book. I noticed that many of the other reviews seem to think that Seth is going to give them a step-by-step system how to turn their idea into an idea virus. Reading this book with that expectation you are going to be let down. Every situation is different. You have to connect the dots. You have to apply the ideas in this book, it to make it work for you. You get the idea. (No pun intended) Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: I am not sure what book others read, but this book was aweful. It is unfortunate because the concept is interesting. The execution, however, is best described as a literary train wreck. Afer reviewing this book and looking at these reviews, I think that the author/publisher, applied some of the concepts in the book to mis-lead people looking for real reviews. One of the concepts discussed in the book is to pay people to spead your idea/virus, so that others will become interested, purchase your product. There is clearly a disconnect between many of these reviews and the actual execution of the book itself. In fact, I have never seen such a huge disconnect. I find it difficult to believe that it is only a matter of a difference of opinion based on my experiences with other reviews. Not only is it poorly organized, but the information presented as fact is sometimes clearly wrong (referencing the Prius example used in the book) and recommendations are taken out of context. Proposing solutions without framing them in real-world business context (that is factually accurate) is worthless. Answers work ONLY in the context in which they are applied. I would strongly recommend that you don't buy this book or waste the time to read it. Far better books are on the market dealing with marketing solutions. (This is my first review. I decided to write it to counter some of the oddly positive reviews written by others. If you read these reviews, you will have a better understanding of what the author is trying to say. Some of the reviewers have completed a better, more efficient explanation of the concept in less than 1000 words than the author could do in an entire book.)
Rating:
Summary: Takes the Tipping Point into Business !
Review: If you liked the Tipping Point and you are into business, you will love this book. It is easy and fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: stealth marketing backfires.
Review: This "viral marketing" is, in fact, too often "stealth marketing"...which is an abuse of public trust. "stealth advertising" is when a marketer enters an online chat-forum (or spams via e-mail) and doesn't declare that he's a marketer, working for less than altruistic, honest reasons. It backfires, when the lie is uncovered. The problem arises when marketers enter forums and start "sneezing"...without declaring themselves to BE marketers. Eventually, this backfires on the marketer, and on the product. The users who discover that they've been duped into helping an advertiser, or accepting SPAM into their mailbox, begin to spread negative comments about the marketer and products. Negative word spreads alot faster than positive word, because people are shy to be happy-happy-joy-joy like an advertisement, but eager to "keep things real" by spreading the words that our advertising-overridden world won't: "What's BAD ?" So...see beyond the hype, here. If you're using this book --and "viral marketing"-- as a basis for launching STEALTH ADVERTISING, then DON'T. It'll blow up in your face, causing more harm than good. Declare your advertising AS advertising, or you risk doing more harm to yourselves than good.
| 
