How my diet turned into a marketing virus

publication date: Jun 16, 2010

Hi,

I'm on a diet.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not overweight.

Ok, maybe a little.

But watching the entire 8 seasons of the '24' TV series back to back each night for the past 5 months with a bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate has taken it's toll.

And the fish and chips every Saturday night.

Oh, and the business lunches. And after work beers.

Yes, I know it's piggy and my own fault, but it's so easy to fall into a routine.

But I just had a wake up call. You see, I go on holiday in a few weeks with my sporty brother-in-law and his equally health conscious and willowy wife, so I wanted to make sure I didn't look like a pasty blob.

So, I needed to find a diet that could deliver rapid results AND wouldn't make me feel hungry.

And I've found it!

Now before you roll your eyes, I should point out that I haven't become an affiliate for this diet, but as you're about to see my experience does have a serious money-making lesson behind it.

The diet is based upon the findings of French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan. Essentially it involves having a pure protein diet for the initial phase (about 7 days) followed by alternating pure protein and protein/vegetable days. Ultimately the aim is to retrain your body so that you can indulge in ANY type of food as long as you have one pure protein day per week.

The results? Well pretty amazing - in less than 2 weeks I've lost about 10llbs!

And here's what makes this even more interesting . . .

I told an old school friend about it and he's following it.

I told my parents at the weekend and they bought the book.

My wife told her friends on a 'certain social networking site that she has forbidden me to name' and dozens of them are now 'doing the Dukan'.

I reckon more than 20 people are now following this diet as a direct result of my discovery. Now let's say half of those people stick to the diet and see similar results and each tell another 10 people each.

So in the space of less than 2 weeks around 120 people will have heard first hand testimonial about the effectiveness of this diet. A majority may have even benefited directly.

So how long do you think it would be until that 120 people could have grown to 500 or 1,000?  Not long. Many of them will buy the book and/or signed up to the Dukan website.  The Dukan blurb says '5 million French people can't be wrong" and I suspect that a large portion of those people will have heard about the diet through personal referrals.

And that's the magic of word-of-mouth, testimonial driven viral marketing.

If someone you trust - a friend, family member or work colleague - recommended something to you (it could be anything from a plumber to a diet), you are more likely to take it seriously than if you read about it through traditional marketing channels or media.

There's something about genuine personal referrals that makes them more powerful and persuasive. Of course, marketers have known about this for some time. Some have even taken the idea to ridiculous lengths . . .

Stealth marketing (also known as undercover or ambush marketing) operates on the fringes . . .

According to the Wikipedia definition, stealth marketing is "where consumers do not realise they are being marketed to. For example, a marketing company might pay an actor or socially adept person to use a certain product visibly and convincingly in locations where target consumers congregate.

While there, the actor will also talk up their product to people they befriend in that location, even handing out samples if it is economically feasible. The actor will often be able to sell consumers on their product without those consumers even realizing that they are being marketed to."

I heard recently that these tactics have been used in bars and on London transport with 'patrons' and 'passengers' discussing the merits of one product or another just loud enough for people in their immediate vicinity to hear.  

And only yesterday, 30 young Dutch women wearing orange mini dresses were accused of ambush marketing the World Cup promoting a brewery!

I'm not convinced this is quite ethical and is akin to subliminal advertising where images or persuasive words and phrases are flashed on the screen for just a fraction of a second.

Quite rightly, this is currently outlawed in the UK.

So what about more responsible 'word of mouth' approaches?

If you are on many business opportunity related email lists then you are sure to have seen more and more testimonial-driven promotions. The latest hot technique is to feature video testimonials and all the evidence I've seen shows that it is lifting response in a big way.

So if you have a business product or service, how could you become a champion and create a viral buzz?

- First off, make sure that you use the product or service yourself so that you can legitimately and honestly sing it's praises to people you meet.

- But don't outstay your welcome - there's absolutely no point in talking about a product if they are not likely to buy. So make sure you target your prospective referrers carefully.

- Consider giving away part of your product or service for free to encourage usage - just ask the recipient to provide a testimonial and/or tell their friends.

- If you have a list of customers or prospects, make sure that you make it as easy as possible for them to share your message with others.

- Use social networks and forums - online communities have a tightly knit group of users who could help spread the word. But be careful. Those who join forums and groups with the express desire to sell or promote will quickly get caught out. So make sure you don't fluff it - be subtle and take a genuine interest in the group and their concerns. And it goes without saying, make sure you target your audience.

- An ethical bribe - the original guerrilla marketer, J Conrad Levinson recommends saying something like this to your existing customers - "If I get any customers who mention your name, I'll send you a free gift (or give you discount.)"

Oh and before I go. If you wanted details of that diet (for research purposes of course), you can go direct to Dukan's website for full details http://www.dukandiet.co.uk/

And before I forget, I've just published a brand new weekly eletter that shows you how to make money from writing - it's called, unsurprisingly, 'Write For Profit' and you can register free here .

And as an added incentive there is a great complimentary report that goes with it called 14 Ways To Make £100-£500 A Day From Writing!

It's a cracking read and whether you are a seasoned writer or not, I urge you to take a look.

 

Best regards

Nick