When should you go for viral marketing campaigns?

"Don't try and do a viral marketing campaign until your product doesn't suck. Because what will happen is people will tell other people that your product sucks! So don't do that." - Dave McLure

Many builders tend to chase the golden goose of virality/referrals before they get the product right.

This usually backfires because people tend to share the flaws of your product (rightfully so)

🤔 So when should you do viral marketing?

You should first do some qualitative tests to see what your customers think about your product.

➡️ Do a customer survey to find out what your customers think and feel about your core value propositions.

➡️ Find out your NPS score
How many of your customers say they'd recommend you? You have work to do if your NPS is < 50.

➡️ Social mentions
Do your customers already talk favorably about you? Is there high "direct" traffic to your website? This indicates people are talking about you unprompted.

Go for viral marketing campaigns only when you can say with conviction that your current users like your product.

Until then, work on your product.

This sounds obvious, but many tend to miss it. Only for their viral campaigns to not work, or worst, backfire.

Makes sense?