April 17, 2009

Viral marketing is a term used to describe advertising campaigns that start out tiny and grow exponentially as the customer base grows.  It’s really a form of word of mouth advertising, only it is much more effective today than it was in times past, because of the internet.

You can use of email, social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and video websites like You Tube or even message boards.  The most effective systems are automated, so as not to require you to spend a lot of time surfing the internet and posting links to your site. 

In an example, your company might sell a program that offers members specials on cruises.When you get a single customer, you try to get all of their friends, by offering incentives for forwarding along e-mails.  You might offer a free e-book, DVD or other give-away, if the customer sends an e-mail to a group of their friends.

In order to be effective, you need to identify your distinct “target” group.In the cruise example, your target would be individuals that like to travel or are retired.If you were selling something related to NASCAR, your main target group would consist of racing fans.Get an idea?

Viral marketing follows the logic that people will buy things based upon their friends’ recommendations.That assumption is correct.Word of mouth advertising is almost always more effective than any other type.It allows you to increase your customer base exponentially because one person might have five associates to tell.The original five might each have another five, which means you have now expanded from one contact to 25.If every one of those 50 suggested your product or service to just four friends, you would now have 200 contacts.The numbers can grow exponentially.

Theoretically, you would only need to sell a single consumer on your product or services in order to attract millions through viral marketing.Non-profit and special interest groups are deploying this technique to get signatures on petitions and donations.Movie makers and television shows are employing it to attract more viewers.Bands are using it to interest existing fans and create new ones.That highlights how extremely effective this tool can be for nearly any kind of business.

If you don’t want to use of all of the tools that are available, your business will not grow as much as you would like it to.  viral marketing is one of the most effective tools available.

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