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Viral Marketing – As Easy as Spreading the Flu

Guest post by: Craig Whalen

Article Overview: Okay, so you’re new to the whole ‘internet marketing’ thing and you’ve heard this term ‘viral marketing’ getting thrown around and you’re wondering “What the heck does a virus have to do with marketing?”

Viral Marketing – As Easy as Spreading the Flu

Okay, so you're new to the whole ‘internet marketing' thing and you've heard this term ‘viral marketing' getting thrown around and you're wondering "What the heck does a virus have to do with marketing?" Well, here's the concept: Viral marketing describes a strategy that encourages people to pass on a marketing message to others, whether it's in an email, or an eBook, or blog or an ad on your website. Getting others to share your marketing creates the potential for exponential growth in the exposure and influence of your message. Just like a spreading virus, these strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands or even millions of readers.

Doctors and nurses give instructions during flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. The flu virus spreads so quickly because it's easily transmitted through these methods. In much the same way, a viral marketing campaign can spread quickly on the internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital formats like email and eBooks make forwarding messages easier than spreading the flu.

From a marketing standpoint, you should simplify your message so it can be easily absorbed and forwarded. Shorter and to the point is better. Remember the K.I.S.S. principle...Keep it Simple Stupid. The shorter and easier your message is, the easier it will be to remember and pass along. Long and complicated is likely to not even be read, let alone passed on like a virus.

A clever viral marketing plan takes advantage of common human motivations: the desire to be cool or funny, greed, the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. A marketing campaign that plays on these desires can easily begin to spread virally. The urge of peoples' desire to communicate things that intrigue them produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages.

We as humans are social creatures (though nerdy, pocket protector-wearing computer science grad students may be an exception). Social scientists tell us that each one of us, on average, has a network of 8 to 12 people in their network of close friends, family, and associates. People on the internet develop networks of relationships, too...though more in the tens to hundreds of thousands.

They collect e-mail addresses and bookmark favorite websites. They share common interests, cool and funny messages, whatever they're into at the moment. Learn to place your messages into existing communications between people, and you will rapidly multiply its viral affect.

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Article Tags: email marketing, internet marketing, viral marketing, virus
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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Re: New man with Twitter Studies - Hi Pete, Thanks for your input and the info about the Viral Tweeter Business tool which I have checked out and for the sake of a one off fee for affilaite access at $7 it is worth a punt, regards, Mal.
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