| Viral is single word which describes a business which grows at the rate of just over 1 for every new customer added. It just means that its something that is good enough, enjoyable enough, or odd enough that someone who sees it tells other people they should see it too. When your product is not viral, it means for customers don't tell other people to use your product. Or, they do, but the referrals can't figure out how to sign up, make sense of your value proposition, etc. Markets exist for customer acquisition. You are bidding against other companies that are trying to do the same thing, capture your potential customer's attention. Some times those "bidders" are your direct competitors. Other times they are just another company that wants the same ad inventory you do. You have to be able to buy that inventory in a profitable manner, or the bigger you grow (if you are not viral) the closer you will get to failure, because each new customer is losing you money. A perfect world can exist between viral and acquired. Customer acquisition can be done in a calculated manner to get the ball rolling in niches or channels which have not heard of your company. If your product isn't viral, and it isn't all that spectacular (meaning a whole lot of things), eventually someone is going to copy it, and both your growth and margins will vaporize. |