Run down the list of the start-ups we’ve talked about in this book, from Hotmail to Airbnb to Groupon to Spotify, and see the startling fact: tactics that no one would have previously described as “marketing” turned out to be the marketing steroids behind their business growth. For Hotmail, it was inserting an email signature at the bottom of each message that turned every email sent by one of its users into a pitch for new users. For Airbnb, it was craigslist infiltration, which allowed Airbnb hosts to use the site as a sales platform. For Groupon and LivingSocial, it was referral offers that
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