….and now I’m infected.

Photo courtesy of PaPeR.cLiP

Yesterday I had lunch with a colleague.  At some point the conversation turned to outdoor cooking.

Him: What kind of grill to you have?

Me: A charcoal Webber (of course…that’s what all real grill masters use….right)

Him: I have a Big Green Egg (the sneeze)

Me: err… A what?

He proceeds to tell me this phenomenal story about cooking restaurant quality steaks, cooking temperatures of 800 degrees, how it grills, smokes, slow cooks, and mows his lawn.  It’s the best cooking tool ever.

What does this have to do with viral marketing?

For years I had seen these Big Green Egg things in the mall but they never interested me (the marketing was ineffective on me).

However, one sneeze from a trusted source and now I’m infected.

Symptoms of my infection

I left the restaurant and immediately went over to the mall…looking for a Big Green Egg.  Later that evening I viewed their entire website.

I’m now seeking out the product.

What is ‘Sneezing’

It’s how ideas become viral.  First coined by Marketer Seth Godin, it occurs when a product is so remarkable that early adopters gladly spread the news about it.

Sneezing and sneezers are important today because consumers ignore advertising.  But they listen to their friends, and trusted advisers.

Is your product or service so remarkable that users are ‘Sneezing’ it?

Here’s a little something to make you go…hmm!  I just sneezed on you 🙂