Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing
But, what does that mean for your small business? Have you ever thought about how you could use this method of marketing to your advantage and what it could do for you? Hotmail is not the only company that has been able to ride its own coattails. With the proper strategy in place, so you could too.
At the very heart of this method lies the idea of offering incentives. What better way to motivate somebody to work for you than offering them something for that work. So, whether you use focus groups, online surveys or other means of market research, what you really need to do is figure out what those incentives would be.
The trick to viral marketing, however, is not just in offering cash incentives, but in really figuring out what your users’ needs are. For instance, in one classic case of viral marketing gone wrong, Sony began a college promotion whereby it offered thousands of dollars worth of its products to college freshmen. After receiving a poor response, it began to focus not just on cash, but on figuring out exactly what the students would want. Soon, Sony switched its gears and instead of just offering cash, offered a dorm room full of their electronic products. Although the value of the second offer was far less than the first, it proved to be much more successful.
The advantage of using this type of marketing is that it doesn’t have to cost entrepreneurs an arm and a leg to perform, and the results can be huge. While not all companies have had the success of Hotmail, or even “The Blair Witch Project,” the possibilities for profits are still there for the rest of us. As long as you can successfully identify what it is that would trigger your existing customers into advocating to others, the formula for success is not that hard.
Viral marketing is likely to become a more important means for companies to promote themselves in the future, especially as more and more people begin to use the Internet. Email has already become a regular part of everyday life for most, and the volume sent increases by the day. Although it is difficult to measure and track, it is likely that greater numbers of marketing agencies will become experts in this field, and thus develop increasingly sophisticated analyzing techniques. Then, we will all be able to quantify and see more clearly the results that the likes of Hotmail have been claiming all these years.
Viral Marketing - To learn more about this author, visit Robin Smyth's Website.
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We’ve all heard about – and, most likely, seen firsthand – the successful effects of the viral marketing campaigns engaged in by the likes of Hotmail. At the end of each and every single one of its free web-based emails that gets sent out on a daily basis, Hotmail has its logo and tagline sitting there. One wonders how many new customers it signs up on a daily basis thanks to all of those millions of emails that get sent out every day.
But, what does that mean for your small business? Have you ever thought about how you could use this method of marketing to your advantage and what it could do for you? Hotmail is not the only company that has been able to ride its own coattails. With the proper strategy in place, so you could too.
At the very heart of this method lies the idea of offering incentives. What better way to motivate somebody to work for you than offering them something for that work. So, whether you use focus groups, online surveys or other means of market research, what you really need to do is figure out what those incentives would be.
The trick to viral marketing, however, is not just in offering cash incentives, but in really figuring out what your users’ needs are. For instance, in one classic case of viral marketing gone wrong, Sony began a college promotion whereby it offered thousands of dollars worth of its products to college freshmen. After receiving a poor response, it began to focus not just on cash, but on figuring out exactly what the students would want. Soon, Sony switched its gears and instead of just offering cash, offered a dorm room full of their electronic products. Although the value of the second offer was far less than the first, it proved to be much more successful.
The advantage of using this type of marketing is that it doesn’t have to cost entrepreneurs an arm and a leg to perform, and the results can be huge. While not all companies have had the success of Hotmail, or even “The Blair Witch Project,” the possibilities for profits are still there for the rest of us. As long as you can successfully identify what it is that would trigger your existing customers into advocating to others, the formula for success is not that hard.
Viral marketing is likely to become a more important means for companies to promote themselves in the future, especially as more and more people begin to use the Internet. Email has already become a regular part of everyday life for most, and the volume sent increases by the day. Although it is difficult to measure and track, it is likely that greater numbers of marketing agencies will become experts in this field, and thus develop increasingly sophisticated analyzing techniques. Then, we will all be able to quantify and see more clearly the results that the likes of Hotmail have been claiming all these years.
Viral Marketing - To learn more about this author, visit Robin Smyth's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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