The Dark Side of Viral Marketing: Feeling Like a Filthy Marketing Whore

In theory, the quest for viral marketing appears to be a  pursuit of viral marketing a GREAT way to get “free” marketing without feeling like a filthy marketing whore.  The job of a viral marketing campaign is to create enough “buzz” to elevate a marketing campaign from “ordinary” to “viral” and, as a result, allow others to “pimp” your products and services for you.

On the one hand, it’s every marketer’s dream come true but in Naomi Dunford’s case, she’s definitely seeing the darkside to the whole viral marketing campaign.

I love Naomi’s blog.  She’s wickedly funny and clever, two traits that make her a GREAT blogger.  She uses her blog expertly to gain trust with her readers.  For example, one time she admitted to working shirtless – a fact that one of her clients learned firsthand when she turned on her web cam during a skype consultation.

As a regular reader of the Itty Biz blog, I feel like I know Naomi.  So when I read a blog post by Skellie over at ProBlogger where Naomi was mentioned in 10 Innovative Blog Business Models, I cringed.   Skellie wrote:

If your eBook is expensive then it’s highly likely a potential buyer will think about the purchase for several days and talk themselves out of it. By creating scarcity you can motivate potential buyers to action.

Though there are many blogs funneling into an eBook, I chose IttyBiz as an example because of the clever use of artificial scarcity as a marketing tool. (Though if you emailed Naomi, I bet she’d still sell you a copy!)

Now, if that had been Naomi’s motivation behind stopping the sale of her eBook, she would be loving this kind of press.  The thing is, after reading Naomi’s blog for a while, I’m confident that’s not the case.  See, Naomi originally offered her SEO Ninja ebook with unlimited support.  When you give away something of extreme value, you create a mob.  Naomi definitely created a mob.

So today, Naomi is asking that you NOT email her.  Naomi has titled the post When Something Goes Wrong With Your Small Business.

It doesn’t appear that Naomi Dunford is enjoying her viral marketing success.  She is personally experiencing the dark side of viral marketing -she’s lost control of her message and she’s now trying to make the best of it.

For Naomi’s regular readers, she’s done a great job of building trust through her blog.  However, because of viral marketing, she’s lost control of her message and the the  new introductions being made are painting her – well, like a filthy marketing whore.  Fortunately, she’s got a year’s worth of blog posts to support the fact that she’s not one.

I’m sure this will turn out well for her in the end – but her situation serves as a vivid warning that there is a dark side to Viral Marketing.

If you need a step by step guide to creating truly effective marketing messages for your small business- pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.