Viral marketing is another word for word of mouth
advertising, or the general buzz that occurs about the
release of a new product or service. Generally, viral
marketing can be provoked, if two requirements are met. You
first need a product that is contagious, and you also need
somebody at your company who can generate buzz and get the
viral marketing campaign going and then can keep it going
over a sustained period of time. Marketing this way allows
your product to spread, like a virus, through the
marketplace.
Viral marketing is no different from other marketing
programs in that it requires a strong plan and an even
stronger champion. You can do a plan for an individual
marketing campaign; you should also include the virus in
your overall strategic marketing plan. How you ultimately
choose to launch the campaign is entirely up to you but be
sure to include in your plans ways that your customers will
share the product and talk about it with others; because
that is at the heart of the marketing virus.
Using unusual (for you) and alternative channels to market and promote your
product or service is an easy way to get attention. If you are a web company,
using offline promotions is more likely to get noticed simply because it is not
your usual way of doing things. But will it spread through word of mouth? The
best way to get the virus to spread is by making it easy for customers to tell
their friends about you.
Another novel option is to set up a message board, a lounge or an online forum
where people can talk about your product. Referrals and awards associated with
these are good campaign pointers. Free memberships, bonus, rebates are freebies
that can be associated with referrals. Adding a tag line akin to the one used by
Hotmail earlier to advertise their products by compelling customers to read the
email signature is also a good
option.
This way, consumers don't have to work hard to be rewarded, and you product is
guaranteed to be spread around the marketplace by word of mouth. A fine example
of how viral marketing is used is in the advertising of new feature films.
While a initial bout of advertising ins undertake, the creators will often count
on the viral marketing kicking in as people who see the film tell others about
it.
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About the author:
Scott F. Geld is the Controller of
Marketing Blaster
Inc, a pay-per-click traffic source that continually
beats the major search engines in ROI and Conversion
Ratios. Stop by and see for yourself at:
www.marketingblaster.com |
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