The iFart Marketing Lesson

by Jeremy Schoemaker on January 15, 2009 · 69 comments

First I wrote about it when it launched… mostly taking a shot at the iPhone users (I’m on the Blackberry team).

Then I found out it was Joel Comm’s creation and it was burning up the iStore.

Now it’s the #1 paid application in the Apple iStore.  How insane is that?!

The real lesson in this app is the story…

IT’S THE STORY AND THE MARKETING.  I can’t make that clear or loud enough (no pun intended) .

Now I noticed Joel is giving away $5,000 on iFartmobile where people submit their videos … of … guess what…  to YouTube and they can win 5,000 or a Apple Laptop or an iPod touch….

Absolutely brilliant!

About the author...

– who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

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{ 66 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Affiliate Blogger January 15, 2009 at 5:14 pm

Nice. Just goes to show that you just never know and don’t let others bring your idea down lol – or some people DO know…:)

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2 Taris Janitens January 15, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Thats a helluva prize giveaway!!! wow!!

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3 Free Itouch Give Away Contest January 16, 2009 at 9:12 am

I have to agree with you, I always see alot of negative commentators on new innovations, ideas, etc. but you never know where you might end up being.

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4 Taris Janitens January 17, 2009 at 1:49 pm

When something catches on, no matter how stupid it may seem, there will always be people that will hate and wish they came up with the idea first!!! Such is life though right?? :)

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5 Paul January 15, 2009 at 5:23 pm

Really smart lol.

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6 Zac Johnson January 15, 2009 at 5:25 pm

It’s one of the best success stories around. Who isn’t going to pay a dollar for an app that everyone has. Everyone is picking this one up.

Props to Joel for yet another successful ad campaign ans getting the viral buzz he needed to push it to #1!

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7 Zak Show January 16, 2009 at 8:10 am

Yep, I picked this app too! Perfect marketing strategy from Joel Comm

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8 CA Results January 19, 2009 at 4:15 am

Its tough to make sales unless you know really well to market a product.

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9 Novelty Gifts January 15, 2009 at 5:38 pm

I bought the ifart was quiet cheap wasnt that impressive lol…guitar hero is better =)

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10 Nate Whitehill (Unique Blog Designs) (required) January 15, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Joel Comm is a genius.

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11 Money Academy January 17, 2009 at 5:29 pm

he know what he want and do it perfect !

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12 Sumter SC January 15, 2009 at 5:43 pm

Awesome idea – its amazing to see an idea that looks kind of dumb just take off and go “why didn’t I think of that”

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13 Gina January 15, 2009 at 6:26 pm

I am surprised you being a big Apple fan, you are not discussing Steve Jobs instead of some immature Ifarts deal. I guess you have to remain true to your type of audience though.

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14 Stephen January 15, 2009 at 6:30 pm

Is Steve Jobs taking a leave of absence just another brilliant marketing tactic?

Discuss.

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15 Gina January 15, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Yes, I’m sure he lost all that weight to look like he has cancer as a marketing ploy only to return in July all nice and healthy looking.

Anything it takes in a recession to move product.

I’m sure that’s what is going on.

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16 ethan January 15, 2009 at 8:05 pm

I am not sure he would go that far…

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17 Gina January 15, 2009 at 8:42 pm

Sarcasm

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18 Four20 January 15, 2009 at 7:17 pm

It’s not called the iStore

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19 CPA Affiliates January 15, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Joel is a smart man. :) the key is not just being smart but marketing smart which he does :)

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20 Raja Kamil January 15, 2009 at 8:26 pm

I heard one said this, it is not about the product, it is how you market the product.

I guess Joel make it because of his reputation and of course the marketing strategy. Good post J

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21 Gina January 15, 2009 at 8:44 pm

Is this the Stepford Wives?

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22 Greg Ellison (required) (required) (required) (required) (required) January 15, 2009 at 9:15 pm

I hope his contest gets alot of submissions. Greg Ellison

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23 Earn Extra Money with Jeff January 15, 2009 at 9:46 pm

Crude = viral and many people before him have benefited from this very same principle.

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24 Gina January 15, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Yes, crude is big online. Now go check out my muffy.

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25 Earn Extra Money with Jeff January 17, 2009 at 12:27 am

Oh, nice kitty…looks like a hairless I see :)

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26 Sean of ThinkandSwitch.com January 15, 2009 at 10:40 pm

A lot to be learned from this. The simplest ideas seem to get huge returns.

By the way are any of you going to submit? Or know anyone that is?

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27 Advertise in NYC for Free January 15, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Great Contest Idea! …

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28 AJ Kumar January 15, 2009 at 10:49 pm

That guy is definitely a genius. He is making bank from farting, something every guy wishes they can do.

He’s totally one of the best viral marketers!

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29 Sky Xavier January 15, 2009 at 10:54 pm

hey thats really a solid and great contest idea. surprisingly its amazing that somebody can make money from farting.

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30 Joel January 15, 2009 at 11:12 pm

I appreciate the comments, but I would like to add one of my own.

iFart didn’t become popular because of my name. I may be known in Internet and affiliate marketing, but the people in the mac community had no idea who I was.

This was primarily guerilla marketing. At some point in the future, I may document the entire process. But for now, the story is still being written. :-)

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31 LolCritters January 15, 2009 at 11:27 pm

You can always count on great information on Shomoney’s blog!

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32 Free Itouch Give Away Contest January 15, 2009 at 11:58 pm

Thats a pretty nice contest cant wait to get my Iphone Unlocked this weekend so i card start using it as well as my BLACKBERRY =)

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33 Goran Website January 16, 2009 at 1:22 am

Great marketing strategy, plus I just love the name. iFart! LMFAO! :-D

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34 Sensei January 16, 2009 at 6:00 am

this is really awesome and I think the contest will really boom

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35 WOMWON January 16, 2009 at 6:43 am

Next application, iSmell.

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36 Dogs January 16, 2009 at 6:49 am

he must be raking in the bucks with that app, i wonder if he has any plans for more “off the cuff” apps?Your Message

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37 Sockmoney January 16, 2009 at 7:59 am

The man is a GD GENIUS. That is all I have to say.

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38 Asher January 16, 2009 at 8:51 am

Hi Jeremy,

Oh yeah, it’s definitely about the story and the marketing… if there’s a buzz going on right now, I’d say that the Best Job in the World by Tourism Queensland is something to look at!

There’s lots of great marketing they’re doing – worth observing for sure~

Asher

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39 Tony January 16, 2009 at 9:30 am

I thought paying for crap was bad enough but paying for the sound of crap is just genius. It surprising what people will pay for during an economic downturn.

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40 BrandC January 16, 2009 at 12:15 pm

wow! 5K? that’s a helluva prize.

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41 seosoeasy January 16, 2009 at 1:13 pm

I beleive -”A good beginning makes a good ending”-congrats for the contest.

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42 Templates Blogger January 16, 2009 at 1:19 pm

Very smart.

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43 HSD January 16, 2009 at 1:31 pm

This is just too funny

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44 oknazzz January 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm

cool, i like it

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45 Robb Sutton January 16, 2009 at 8:19 pm

iFart is marketing genius…from what I understand, he had a really hard time getting it actually on the iTunes app store. He is laughing all the way to the bank now as users laugh at their friends!

Creating laughter and amusement is a great thing to accomplish.

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46 Dennis January 17, 2009 at 12:02 am

amazing giveaway! really great prizze! could probably use that for my car insurance :)

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47 Make Money Online Tips January 17, 2009 at 2:19 am

This guy is obsessed with farting, LOL. I suggest we should also make our own iphone applications, such as iShit, coz the iPhone is shitty indeed. Sorry for being to frank.

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48 CA Results January 19, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Well anyone can sell fart apps for money.

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49 Digital Web Talk January 17, 2009 at 5:55 am

oh.. dats gr8..
he’s kinda one good example of a good marketer… and his will power seemed to be awesome to push up his sales dat much!!

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50 Atniz January 17, 2009 at 7:06 am

First, I thought it is funny and it is cool to make fun with friends… Never thought it can be selling like hot cake..

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51 Money Academy January 17, 2009 at 5:33 pm

Joel have perfect marketing strategy

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52 jtGraphic January 17, 2009 at 9:33 pm

I’ve got a lot of respect for Joel. He know’s his shit. I think a lot of his success has a lot to do with the blogosphere picking him up and embracing the story of the application. Your story here I’m sure was one of many that attributed to it’s success. Oh, and BlackBerry FTW.

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53 Dimitri January 17, 2009 at 10:40 pm

iFart’s not so brilliant, they just copied the Grossinator contest launched days before, heres the Grossinator PR from PRMAC to prove it, check the date http://prmac.com/release-id-4011.htm Kind of bothered me at first, but i guess copying an idea is the sincerest form of flattery.

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54 Jeremy Schoemaker January 17, 2009 at 10:52 pm

I think you miss my point… the app is not genius its the marketing that is genius

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55 Joel January 17, 2009 at 11:08 pm

Sorry to disappoint you Dimitri, but I’ve never heard of your app.

And here it my tweet that predates your press release.

http://twitter.com/joelcomm/statuses/1109450257

No need to be bothered. We thought of this on our own. :-)

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56 Dan January 18, 2009 at 1:37 pm

Dimtri, saw your post on our reviews.. you obviously didn’t see Joel Comm’s Tweet on December 17th. http://twitter.com/joelcomm/statuses/1064480297 We’ve been planning the contest for well over a month. Care to change your review?

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57 Ben Pei January 18, 2009 at 1:14 am

Yeah..whats so interesting about this application?

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58 CA Results January 19, 2009 at 4:09 am

People just love to annoy others with fart / pooping sounds.

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59 Article Spinning January 18, 2009 at 11:47 pm

Joel Comm is a brilliant fella. He knows what he’s doing, especially the marketing angle. Yes, Jeremy, you are right. The app might not be genius but the marketing is indeed genius, :)

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60 CA Results January 19, 2009 at 4:09 am

I think the application became popular only after the news rather than before the news.

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61 Roorks January 19, 2009 at 9:38 pm

So Joel Comm has finally done something “legitimate enough” that it will pass the wickedfire litmus test? (Which is a subjective test about what a “real” to sell is.)

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62 contentpig January 23, 2009 at 2:55 pm

marketing genius for sure, all the press including this post helps a great deal, the price point is a major factor, and the simple fact that fart sounds are funny sometimes. I’d say he got an excellent ROI on that app.

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63 Flashes In The Dark January 27, 2009 at 4:17 am

The world is a strange place…

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64 Rick February 5, 2009 at 12:52 pm

No matter how much time I spend trying to figure out the angles, there is always something more to learn.

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65 Daddy Mike February 5, 2009 at 10:36 pm

who in the world would’ve ever thought you could win bigtime by selling farts? If only phones would be able to produce a scent of your choice, i think iDung or iSh!t would go next to this product.

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66 iPhoneTeacher June 1, 2009 at 6:50 am

There is a lot of buzz about some independent developers and newbies who have made between $100,000 to $500,000 by simply creating their first iPhone application and putting it up for sale on the online Apple Store.

Steve Demeter made a simple puzzle game called Trism, and in 2 months he earned $250,000. Last December the app called iFart became the number one app on the App Store. It stayed on the top and raked in $9200 each day in profit after Apple’s cut. Then, Ethan Nicholas, developer of the now famous iShoot game, earns $21,000 per day selling his iPhone app. Ethan quit his day job to work full time on the iPhone and he did not even know how to write Objective-C code before he made iShoot.

These are just some of the stories that are causing a lot of buzz, and people have quit their day jobs to cash in on the opportunity.

However, developing for the iPhone is relatively a new field with a shortage of well structured tutorials and one-on-one mentorship and help. EDUmobile.ORG has been involved with online training in the wireless technology programming field and has launched its iPhone Online Course to meet the shortage of information resources and training.

The course is offered on a once a week basis via Online Video, PDF Documents, One-on-One sessions and Weekly Worksheets. There is also an option to access a remote Mac, for those who do not have access to one.

The iPhone course offered at EDUmobile.ORG is crafted to suite the industry need for beginner and intermediate level developers. After the course completion, developers will be able to create software for iPhone and can optionally distribute their content through EDUmobile.ORG on the online App Store, and immediately start earning. One can also bid to win the large number of growing projects being posted daily on project bidding sites like Elance and RentACoder.

The classes are taught as a combination of various online modules and you get the ability to work on live industry projects, along with an opportunity to be placed in top mobile gaming and mobile application development software companies. A certificate is also offered to all candidates once they complete the course.The Course duration for is between 4 to 12 weeks depending upon the developers past experience in programming.

For those who do not own a Mac, there is a facility offered to remotely login to access a Mac to carry out your programming from a normal PC connected to the Internet. Thus, one does not need to purchase or own a Mac.

The cost for the entire course is $200, and you can optionally avail of a facility to pay in 3 easy installments. Available slots are fast filling up. Visit learn iphone online to sign up.

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