Transcript Viral Marketing - IMD405

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Introduction to Viral Marketing
 Viral Marketing is a buzz term referring to “techniques
that seek to exploit pre-existing social networks to
produce exponential increases in brand awareness”.
 Viral Marketing introduces a campaign to the public,
then allow individuals to pass it to friends, family,
colleagues, and peers, resulting in rapid information
dissemination and effective adoption of the campaign
ideas.
A Virus Among Us
 Because the marketing message is spread by a trusted
source, recipients of a marketing virus are less
suspicious of the message, and are more likely to pass
it on if they find value in it.
 As the metaphor (a virus) suggests, the marketing
message infects a host who then actively spreads the
message.
 Steve Jurvetson coined the term in 1997 in his
appropriately named article “Viral Marketing”
(http://www.dfj.com/cgibin/artman/publish/steve_tim_may97.shtml), but the
concept of a virus has been around since the age of the
Greeks.
 “Viral Marketing”, Wikipedia. .30 Jan 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing>
Viral Campaigns Do 6 things
 Gives away seemingly valuable products, services or content - FREE
 Provides for effortless transfer to others
 Scales easily from small to very large
 Exploits common motivations and behaviors
 Utilizes existing communication networks
 Takes advantage of the resources of others
 Wilson, Dr. Ralph F. “The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing”. Web
Marketing Today. 1 Feb 2000. <http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viralprinciples-clean.htm>
Some Examples
 One powerful example of a successful marketing
campaign is Hotmail (pre-Microsoft buy out).
 Hotmail gave out free web email and added a small tag
at the bottom of every email message telling email
recipients about the free service and how to sign up.
 The word spread quickly to new customers who
adopted the Hotmail service then proceeded to market
it themselves just by sending more email.
Obey Giant
1989 Viral Marketing
Campaign
Obey Giant
 Viral Marketing is not a web only phenomenon,
though most recent dialog about it almost always
groups the two together.
 The Obey Giant campaign (http://obeygiant.com)
spread rapidly throughout the globe starting in 1989 as
its ambiguous message sparked the curiosity of
millions, enticing them to learn more about its
meaning, and eventually become involved in the
campaign themselves.
Anti Marketing Marketing
 Obey Giant does not try to sell products. The
campaign seeks to draw attention to our environment
and the many forms of propaganda/marketing that
floods it.
 It is an anti-marketing marketing campaign.
 The Obey manifesto describes the campaign with the
term Phenomenology, coined by philosopher Martin
Heidegger, and defined as “"the process of letting
things manifest themselves”.

Fairey, Shepard. “Manifesto”. Obey Giant.. 1990. <http://www.obeygiant.com/main.php?page=articles>
Other Successful Viral Campaigns
 Subservient Chicken
http://www.subservientchicken.com/
 Tupperware parties
 The Blair Witch Project
 Evite http://www.evite.com/
 Ecrush http://www.ecrush.com/
 Star Wars Kid http://ebaumsworld.com/starwarskid.html
 Jib Jab “This Land is My Land” http://www.jibjab.com/
Common qualities to be Successful
 Creativity and originality
 Authenticity, often validated by a third party (awards,
endorsement, etc.)
 Resonance – a place of significance with the consumer
 Measurable call to action

Lewis, Kent. “Get the Bug: Viral Marketing Unmasked”. Site Point. 12 Sept 2005. <
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get-the-bug-viral-marketing >
A Place of Value
 The information being shared needs to be valuable to
the end users.
 It should be original or a very good spin off on an
original idea (Subservient Chicken has a number of
spin offs such as http://subservientpresident.com and
http://virtualbartender.beer.com).
 It should be informative or entertaining enough to
cause someone to pass it on.
 Many successful viral campaigns do not originally start
out with moneymaking aspirations, but after gaining
popularity introduce some advertising or other means
of cashing in.
 The measurable call to action of a Viral Marketing
campaign can range form a “Tell a Friend” link to a
donation button that helps pay for bandwidth or the
creation of more unique content.
Blogosphere Helps to Spread
 A powerful component of Viral Marketing is the
blogosphere, which continually scours the web, and
madly blogs and re-blogs about various noteworthy
topics.
 Bloggers are early adopters of Viral Marketing,
spreading the message fast.
 A powerful example is Slashdot.com, which allows any
author to post about a wide variety of topics, attracting
millions of readers daily.
 Sites that have done something worthy of a Slash Dot
post instantly receive floods of visitors, often bringing
their servers to a screeching halt from excessive
bandwidth demands.
 Bloggers adopt and spread Viral Marketing because of
the basic human desire to be part of a group, and to be
seen as an important member of a community by
being the first to spread the word. It is a central,
driving factor in the blogging phenomenon.
DIY Viral Marketing Techniques
Some proven web techniques to create the Viral
Marketing buzz include:
 Tell a friend about the site, product, or event (on site
link)
 Tell a friend in rich email with link
 AIM a friend about this item
 RSS
 User comments or reviews
 Print collateral in public places such as stickers, fliers
 Personalized emails to influential bloggers
Analog Marketing
Analog Marketing
 Analog marketing, though often more expensive than
some digital alternatives, remains a very effective
means of letting people know about your site.
 The right print collateral to use entirely depends on
the recipients and the context of your message.
Popular Analogy Techniques…
 Paid print ads in magazines with a similar target audience
 Stickers (great for youth oriented urban campaigns)
 Graffiti (illegal and dangerous as it may damage the
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reputation of a brand)
Post cards
Brochures
Billboards
Radio (yes, radio is still mostly analog) advertising via NPR
or other popular programs
Business cards
What about TV?
 Interesting question, until last year when all stations in
the US switched to Digital it was still analog but it
remains as the highest cost (often highest ROI)
method of advertising.
 TV is bought by a CPM technique similar to the CPC
method of advertising on the web.
 Some experts doubt that TV advertising will ever go
away, but consumer indicate they prefer that it would,
 Technology such as DVR and Tivo allow consumers the
luxury of watching TV without the ads, but they soon
feel “left out” if not exposed to the information they
receive in advertising.
Lot’s of Ways to Market Your Site’s URL
 Of course there are so many more analog marketing options, some
more specialized to target niche markets.
 All of the above methods do offer specialized methods for getting your
URL and brand to your target audience.
 Some resources for getting inexpensive print collateral for a campaign:
 PS Print (brochures, flyers, and much more. Good quality)
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http://psprint.com/
Platinum Cards (post cards, business cards, direct mail campaigns.
Good price and quality) http://www.platinumcards.cc
Sticker Man http://stickerman.com/
Over Night Prints http://www.overnightprints.com/
Vista Print http://www.vistaprint.com
 It is also possible to get free analog marketing by
submitting press releases and soliciting magazines and
newspapers to do articles on your site, product, or
endeavor.
 An important tool for successfully getting free press is
the creation of a Press Kit, which might include:
Press Kit
 A press release (see the sites for detailed info:
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http://www.stetson.edu/~rhansen/prguide.html,
http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp,
http://www.xpresspress.com/PRnotes.html)
High resolution images for print
A cover letter preferably personalized for the recipient
Product or business fact sheet
Biographies or company history
Past press coverage
Contact information
Optional (depending on recipient of press kit): a professionally
produced mock article with imagery in layout clearly
introducing the desired type of press
 More about creating a press kit can be found at
http://www.marketingpower.com/content18917.php.
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 Take a look at some professional examples of
Electronic Press Kits created by AOL at
http://www.corp.aol.com/presskits/index.shtml.
A Few More To Look At…
 http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get-the-bug-viral-
marketing
 http://www.dfj.com/cgi-
bin/artman/publish/steve_tim_may97.shtml
 http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci21
3514,00.html
 http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-A-Great-Press-
Kit---A-Musicians-Guide&id=59384