Viral Marketing – more complicated than it seems

[Frank Gomez]

First let’s dispel a myth. Viral Marketing is NOT just online. Viral marketing is any marketing that propagates itself rapidly. An person is a person who is already sold on a product or service (infected) “infects” more people. An old example of viral marketing is PEZ collectible candy dispensers. A modern example is Facebook which is growing exponentially.

Viral marketing is often associated with the internet because the internet has many great propagation systems from blogs to videos. Can you just post something on the internet and expect it to go viral? Of course not, it is not that simple.

How can viral marketing work for a small business that doesn’t have thousands of dollars to spend? The sad news is that many emails or videos have gone viral but they don’t always result in more sales. In fact many things that go viral weren’t specifically designed to go viral they just did!

The truth is that you have to start with basic marketing: What is your target market? What are their values ? How can you tap into their emotions? Who is passionate about your store, product and/or service? Are they willing to tell others about their passion? Can you identify a few of these people? If you don’t know any of these people how can you attract them? How can you repeatedly trigger these passionate people to tell others about their passion?

Common techniques used in attempt to get viral results:

• Give away samples or promotional products that get other people’s attention
• Reward your clients for repeat business
• Get your clients to invite friends and reward them if they do
• Create an event
• Create a social network (not necessarily online)

Have you had a successful viral experience with your business that actually increased sales? Please share your story, we would love to hear about it…

Frank Gomez is a graphic designer with Frank's Designs Empowered Marketing: www.FranksDesigns.com

[Frank Gomez]

That is great. I personally am a big fan of testimonials. Even if someone meets you in person it helps a lot when they visit your website and see that others have had great experiences.

[Backyard Getaway (Lisa)]

Frank, All great ideas. We have used all of your suggestions with success. We have an online social network & a "club" that meets monthly, offer free classes & have a frequent shopper discount card. We have also asked some of our customers to write a brief testimonial that we have placed on our website.