Viral Marketing

I came across a blog entry that was quite relevant to my current mindset.

The macro economics side of Web 2.0 marketing efficiencies by ZDNet‘s Dana Gardner — What’s also interesting is that the investment, and — more importantly — the return on the investment you and your clients make in organic search results will remain strong in nearly any macro business environment. That’s right, whether the business cycle is in profit growth mode, revenue growth mode, recession, depression, boom times or flat — your best ticket to keeping the accountants happy is bringing in leads and sales organically, via search-inspired research and inquiry.

Over the last few weeks or so I have been trying to focus on ways to build a financially viable and standalone practice around information architecture. The challenge is age old. How does one correlate any type of architecture–including information architecture– to an increase in profit and not just revenue. Indeed, I can provide a comprehensive information architecture that will enable business processes, improve customer relationships, and increase sales. But if the cost or effort to design, build, and manage this architecture results in higher operating expenses and a more complex operating methodology; then the net result is a break even proposition at best. Business does not buy break even propositions.
One of the easiest ways I have found to achieve this correlation is to use my skills to help organizations participate in “Viral” marketing. As Mr Gader alludes in his blog; successful viral marketing and effective “organic search results” are two of the biggest factors that will help drive a business’s growth in the Web 2.0 world. So to remain relevant as an information architect I choose to have a good story in both these areas.