There are two very good reasons why viral marketing can work well for businesses of any size.
Firstly, people are less trusting of ads than they are of their family, friends or members of on-line communities. And secondly, viral marketing is cheap since the cost is in the idea, not the promotion.
The key to viral marketing success lies fundamentally in the idea so the end product must therefore be something really worth talking about in order for your brand or products to be endorsed optimally.
Use the following as a guide to establishing a concept for your campaigns and for getting your message out.
- You’ve got to laugh! Use humour in your campaigns as it has universal appeal, spreads very quickly and leaves a positive association.
- Know your onions! Demonstrate your knowledge by being a resource that educates and informs.
- Start a debate! Offer a friendly challenge. Done well, this can help gain respect for your brand, services or products.
- The best things in life! Offer free things. Use caution here by only attracting ‘key influencers’ as this may impact your budget.
- Fish where the fish are! Find out where your target market hangs out such as social networking sites, discussion forums and blogs.
- Shout from the rooftops! Getting the word out (seeding) can be done initially by e-mailing family, friends and colleagues or by finding websites, forums and blogs related to your topic.
- Tools for the job! Get ad space without buying an ad. For example, insert widgets on your blog or web pages that link to your videos on YouTube or your pictures on Flickr.
And finally. Remember that ideas spread because they are important to the spreader, not the originator.
Need some inspiration? See some top quality, big brand viral marketing videos.
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I have implemented these types of ideas and they work extremely well, especially in Niche or Target Markets.
Comment by - Paul Bursey Date Posted - May 10, 2008