Sneezers and the Ideavirus
Find the sneezers who spread ideas, arm them with a remarkable story, and let the virus do your marketing
The Sneezers and Ideavirus framework maps how ideas spread through populations. A brand or product is nothing more than an idea, and ideas that spread are more likely to succeed. Sneezers are the key agents — early adopters with credibility who tell their networks. The strategy is to target a focused niche, engineer the product for spreadability, reach sneezers when they're looking, and let the virus diffuse naturally from left to right across the adoption curve.
- Ideas that spread, win — a brand is nothing more than an idea
- Sneezers are the key spreading agents of an ideavirus and must be found and seduced
- It is useless to advertise to anyone except interested sneezers with influence
- Don't try to make a product for everybody — that is a product for nobody
- The way to break through to the mainstream is to target a niche, not a huge market
- Marketing in a post-TV world is about designing the product to be virus-worthy in the first place
- Identify Your SneezersFind the people in your target market who have both the credibility and the desire to spread ideas. Sneezers are often early adopters but not always. They must have perceived authority and willingness to recommend — an innovator who buys but stays silent is a dead end for spreading an idea.
- Target a Focused NicheSegment off a chunk of the mainstream and create an ideavirus so focused that it overwhelms that small slice. The sneezers in a niche are more likely to talk, the early adopters more eager to listen, and the market is small enough that a few sneezers can create critical mass.
- Engineer Spreadability Into the ProductMake it smooth and easy to spread your idea. Analyze: How often will people sneeze it? How tightly knit is the target group? How reputable are the likely promoters? How persistent is the idea — fad or legs? Products must be engineered to cross the chasm with built-in safety nets for wary consumers.
- Advertise Only to Interested Sneezers with InfluenceIt is useless to advertise to anyone except interested sneezers with influence. Reach them when they are actually looking for help, in places where they'll find you. Google's text ads succeed because they appear at the exact moment someone searches for that item — contextually relevant to people likely to act.
- Let the Virus DiffuseAfter early adopters embrace what you're selling, they are the ones who will sell it to the early majority — not you. Make the advantages obvious, easy to talk about, easy to demonstrate. Digital cameras spread not through ad campaigns but because early adopters showed film-camera users the convenience advantages.
Godin built on Geoffrey Moore's idea diffusion curve from Crossing the Chasm and Malcolm Gladwell's work in The Tipping Point to develop the concept of the ideavirus. He observed that marketers misread these books — thinking virality was organic luck — when in reality the vast majority of product successes are engineered from day one to spread. The key insight: don't make a product for everybody (that's a product for nobody), and invest in sneezers rather than mass advertising.