One of the best ways to make a product viral is to put your branding on your product or service so that when other people see your customers using it, they will learn about you also. Apple does this with their trademark white logo on the back of their laptops. Hotmail does this with the free ad at the bottom of their emails. DropSend does this with their website. (when you use it to share files, those you share with see the logo and learn of the service)

This biggest problem with this strategy for businesses though, is that most businesses don’t want your branding visible to their customers. Your heaviest users in particular – the ones who would most likely spread the word about your – are also the ones who are most willing to pay a little extra to have your branding removed from their site.

Carson Systems, the people behind DropSend, for example, recently introduced a new business plan that costs quite a bit more but offers the option to custom brand your site. Ryan says they’ve seen some great uptake for this new plan, but at what expense?

How do you get small businesses who use your service to tell others about your service without compromising on delivering your customers what they want?