SolveYourProblem Internet Marketing Series
Principles Behind Viral Marketing

      

If you haven’t been employing viral marketing strategies for your online business, you’re missing a world of exposure and profit for your enterprise. Viral marketing, you see, is the most powerful form of advertising in Internet marketing today. Named after a disease-causing organism, viral marketing is always compared to a virus, hence its name, because of the rapid, exponential growth that it causes for your business message. This is similar to how a virus would contaminate a community, spreading from one host to another, and another, and another after that… all at a fast pace that quickly results in a contagion.

Imagine a free product that is truly enjoyable. Imagine further that this free product carried your business message, like a link to your website or affiliate products, or to a sales page of an information product you are selling. Picture yourself distributing this free product to five people, who would come to love it because of its amazing and fun features. Now, think of the possibility that these five people would distribute the said product carrying your business message to the members of their respective networks. If the members of their respective networks fully enjoy the same product, they would spread the same to the members of their own network. This would be a far reaching cycle that would only benefit your business.

From 5 initial “seeds” or persons to whom you will distribute the product which is the carrier of your business message, the number will grow exponentially to 25, to 125, to 625 and so on and so forth, at a pace faster than you would ever expect! Products that could carry your business message include eBooks, special reports, articles, trial versions of programs, free email accounts, free web hosting, screensavers, fonts, wallpapers, animated cursors and the likes.

The root of Viral Marketing is “word-of-mouth” advertising. This is the offline form of viral marketing where products or services are recommended by word of mouth through a person’s social network. Presently, the Internet is responsible for the snowball effect of Viral Marketing. The Internet revolutionized an era where information is quickly disseminated at a click of a button.

Let’s take a look at the principles behind viral marketing:

1. There is a Great, Free Product. “Free” is the most powerful word in marketing. Most Viral Marketing programs give away useful products or services to attract attention. These would be better email services, ring tones, wallpapers, screen savers, etc. Viral Marketing starts a wave of interest from something free.

2. Exploit Human Behavior. A person gets excited when a great product is introduced. He would be excited that he was among the first to know, and he also wants to be the first to let others know about it. He makes the initiative to spread the news around. Knowing, or at the very least, making an educated prediction of certain trends in behavioral patterns would go a long way for the success of your viral marketing campaign, and consequently, the success of your business.

3. Easy Information Dissemination. This simple means that the marketing message should be conveyed easily and effortlessly. Viral Marketing works best on the Internet because the Internet provides a venue for instant communication.

4. Maximize Available Resources. Instant communication means instant transmission of messages and information, personal networks become larger, and wider. Networks within networks are created. Viral marketing takes advantage of these connections by using the latest technologies in getting the message across these vast networks through the use of technology.

Viral marketing is popular because of the ease it provides in executing the marketing campaign. Viral marketing is a low cost strategy with good targeting and high response rate. The main strength of viral marketing is its ability to reach a diverse group and large number of people instantly.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007

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