The DNA Of Viral Marketing

Of course all those who know better, know that the ‘viral’ in viral marketing refers to the rate of growth if something simply doubles every day. No doubt you have heard of the weed that doubles every day. If today it covers the entire pond, then a week ago, the weed patch was barely visible! So it is with viral marketing. If everyone who is introduced to a product simply tells two others about it twice in a day, then in a month you will have probably covered the country!

There are ways of maximizing the benefits of such an important marketing technique. We set out to give you a few of these:

• The first step you must take is to locate focus groups on the net. Fortunately this is done rather easily. A simple search will give you a large number of sites, blogs and discussion forums that are interested in the very thing you have on offer. You must become a regular contributor to these sites. There is work to be done here. You will need to read and collect considerable information before you can write with authority. Only when you are accepted, will you be able to influence others with your opinion.
• On your own site, make e-books and other resources available to visitors. Once again ensure that the user gets value and only then pass your message. It is critical to be honest; a pure sales pitch will stick out like a sore thumb. It is not essential that you write the e-book yourself. You can hire an expert to do that for you, it won’t be cheap, but it will be worth it. We are talking of viral advertising, not free advertising!
• Tell buyers that you welcome any referrals. If a referral results in a sale, share a percentage of the profit with them. This way you create a strong incentive for the users of your stuff to introduce new users.

How Internet Scores Over TV And Print

It is but natural that the advertising you create is closely linked with the type of product you are offering. If you are creating something that has value in a limited geographical area then your medium of advertising will differ from a situation where you sell globally. But the Internet can be of great value to you in either case. This is where it scores heavily over both print and TV media. Both of these cannot be applied universally without prohibitive costs. However, with Internet based viral marketing, you can be both local and global at extremely low costs.

On the other hand, even Internet based viral marketing is not a piece of cake. Most of us know that there are billions of pages on the net and these are growing exponentially. Besides this, the average unsolicited e-mail is never opened and more often than not, the sender is blocked as a spammer. How then do you ensure that your message is seen?

Earlier attempts at getting free advertising included hosting free e-mail and including a small banner ad in every e-mail sent. However, this was hardly focused advertising. Everyone got to see the same ad regardless of their interests. Naturally enough, this got very poor results.

A far more successful effort is being seen in the offering of contextual advertisements. If your e-mails are generally about travel, you are offered more ads on travel, ticketing, hotels etc. While it is not being explicitly stated, it means that the ‘free’ hosting service scans your e-mails for keywords and creates ads for you. This is very similar to the Adsense service offered by Google. However, while this is much focused advertising, it is still not viral.

It is not easy to produce such advertising. You have to recognize your users and their demands completely. Software can do a great job but only if you give it the raw information to work with. With properly focused viral marketing you can ensure that the right person gets the right message, every time.

I will give you the example of a servicing station. Every time you got your car serviced in that particular station, you were made to feel as if you were the only customer. They would keep a track of your mileage, your oil change and give you reminders when various schedules were falling due.

Your car was tracked and maintained as if it was the Atlantis out to go into orbit and every time you went there, you were surprised by that little extra. Just before the rains, they would make it a point to check your wipers and tires – mind you they didn’t stock tires – but their concern for your safety showed.

This service station did not advertise its great service. Its patrons did it. I never went anywhere else if I could help it, and guess what; I told everyone I had a car related conversation with, about the service. I am sure that the service station never had a bay empty.

The entire operation was sold on word of mouth advertising, the best kind there is, and was backed up by a service that kept getting better.

If this is a local example, one that applies to a small area, let me give you a global one. Google, the best search engine there is, never put out an ad either online or in any other media saying how good it is. It didn’t have to. The small group that started out first and experienced its great search capabilities passed the word along. That is how I came to know of it.

Viral marketing works best when actual users get involved and spread the good word. There are no shortcuts to this. An advertiser may try umpteen number of times and get links from sites or blogs or produce ghost written articles from ‘users’ saying how good the product is. But it will all be to no avail if the product isn’t really something to write home about.

Even when you have a great product and very satisfied users, you may need to give them a forum which will allow viral marketing to occur. This is best done using a website where actual users can post their comments in a manner that comes out as forthright and honest. Ask them to refer a few friends and contact these people directly, stating clearly how you have obtained the reference and offer the testimonial for reading. This way you can start the viral marketing process even if your patrons are too busy with their own work.