Today our video and article focuses on viral marketing
strategies and why viral marketing is more efficient than
other techniques.

Everyone who’s involved in marketing or advertising must
master the art of reaching their target consumers in a
fast, effective, easy and even cheapest way. There are
lots of ways and means on how to touch prospective
clients and the television is proven to be the most
effective yet expensive way. Nevertheless, with the fast
boom of technology, the Internet is now also considered
as one of the easiest to bring about product awareness.

The word “free“, perhaps, is the most compelling word in
a marketer’s vocabulary and this is basically what Viral
Marketing is all about. From the term itself, which is
coined from the word “Virus”, viral marketing is a
marketing technique which is similar to the spread of an
epidemic that can reach others through word of mouth to
increase brand consciousness.

Viral Marketing has been popular because it’s been proven
to be more efficient than the others. It makes advertising
easier, and it can obtain a high and rapid response rate
at a relative low-cost. Remember, if one likes a particular
service, a person will tell it to his friend then his
friend will pass it to her friend, therefore, a word of
mouth marketing starts. However, one main weakness of this
technique is that messages, which are usually sent through
e-mails may look like spam, thus creating a bad impression
on the brand and without knowing it, the promotional
messages will just be sent to the recipient’s spam folder.

One typical example of viral marketing is the Hotmail.com
where the tactic goes like this. They give away free
e-mail service, then every message they sent has a simple
tag at the bottom which says “Get your private, free email
at http://www.hotmail.com”. On the other hand, those who
receives the e-mail will be able to see the note below
the message and it will encourage them to get their own
e-mail address with hotmail since it is just for free then
the list goes on. The message reach a number of recipients
hence increasing social networks.

There are several types of viral messages and methods of
transmission. One type is the pass-along message which
encourages users to pass the message to others. One
example of this is chain letters which prompts readers
at the end of the message to forward the e-mail to a
number of users believing that they’ll get good luck if
forwarded and bad luck if done otherwise. Another form
would be the infamous anonymous matching on ecrush.com
which requires a user to create a list of friends or
acquaintances they secretly have a crush on. A match
only happens if the object of their affection responds
by logging in and does the same. Most of these services
allow users to email anonymous messages notifying them
that a concealed person fancies them. Hopeful romantics
become hooked up on this marketing as they aim to find
out if their crush also feels the same for them.

Also, the process of transmission can occur in various
ways. It may be through word of web where it converts
web-based information into an e-mail. One classic
example is the article from CNN.com where there’s a
link that encourages someone to send a particular
article to a friend. Another sample would be the word
of email, which is considered to be the most common
type. It’s just the simple forwarding and exchanging
of e-mails such as jokes and the like. But perhaps,
the fastest mode of transmission would be through
instant messaging such as Yahoo messenger, ICQ, Google
and MSN since this is the most popular among younger
people and a link referred by a friend is more likely
safe than by some unknown sender through e-mails.

Sometimes marketing companies even offer rewards or
special offers for referring customers, encouraging
the use of these methods. Freebies and discounts can
be music to the ears of everyone especially if
acquiring them is just as easy as counting from one
to three. This is probably one of the main reasons
why marketers prefer this technique among others.

For a viral marketing technique to be successful, an
effortless transfer of a marketing message to others
is important and this works great on the internet
because on the spot transmission is seamless and less
costly. Also, from a marketing point of view, it is
essential that the message to be transferred is
simple to avoid degradation. In short, the principle
of KISS must be followed. Keep it short and simple so
that marketing message would not trigger the recipient
to aim their mouse pointer to the “report as spam”
button.

Best Wishes,

Paul Gallion
Marketing Strategies Group

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