Re: [cobalt-users] Save up to $500 on your next Dialtone Internet bill!

[Elmer Fuddpucker <elmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 25 May 2001, Gary Melendez wrote:

} If you looked at the link Dan posted it specifically refers to
} individuals promoting a company's services or goods to other individuals
} via email in return for some consideration from that company.

	I did indeed look at the post. I also noticed that, just
like mine, all of Dan's postings contain a signature which contains
a URL on which income generating services are offered.

	That's viral marketing. In Dan's case he may very well do
this for his health, to stroke his ego, or just because he gets a
kick out of the reactions to some of his posts, but anyone who knows
how to work the Internet knows that the links generated by posting
to quality mailing lists generate traffic, prompt better positioning
on some of the most popular search engines on the Internet and help
build a reputation of some sorts for the poster.

	Quite simply, like it or not, whether he does it for his
health or not, regardless of how he avoids admitting it, and
regardless of how we argue the semantics, Dan is text book example
of a highly motivated and a very professional viral marketer at work.
He may not be doing it as loudly or as unprofessionally as those in
the example that prompted this thread, but the end result is the
same. Marketing is marketing even if the marketing effort is
intended to generate name recognition and/or a reputation rather
than income.

	There's absolutely no shame whatsoever in running a very
effective low pressure marketing program and there isn't any
shame in being good at what one does. Nor need anyone make excuses
for doing what they do in order to make an honest buck.

	Sales is also the oldest profession in the world. There is
another profession which is usually said to be the oldest but it's
actually a subset of sales, and it's also a profession in which
viral marketing is commonly and very effectively used. Truth be
told, nothing happens unless a sale is made. Sales are what puts a
roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes in the closet, money
in our pockets, and how we convince someone to share their lives
with us.

	But unless Dan is and has been working this list for
absolutely nothing more than the sheer joy of working it then, and
as much as it pains me to say this, Dan may very well be the very
best example of a viral marketing guru at work that I've ever had
the pleasure of stumbling upon.

	Brent Sims

	Elmer Fuddpucker's WWW Directory
	http://www.fuddpucker.com/