The success of viral marketing (through digital channels) demonstrates how this contagious concept can work through traditional marketing channels.
To clarify, I am referencing to organic viral growth, not a viral marketing campaign you pay for.
Viral marketing is the process of gaining rapid adoption through word of mouth “networks” leveraging the internet through e-mail, texting and social networks. Prior to the “digital era” we called it “referral” marketing.
Digital viral growth happens as a side-effect of using the product. It usually involves an embedded or automatic system to spread the word, and doesn’t require evangelists to transmit the message.
A good example is social media networks that automatically email you when you have a new post, request, photo, connection or tweet.
What I’m suggesting is that we can generate these “side-effects” organically, through traditional marketing activities.
But first, let’s examine the most publicized online “viral” success story.
Viral marketing has been around for a while. Tim Draper, founding investor of Hotmail, first coined the term in 1997. We can take a few pages out of their book and apply them off-line. First, some background.
Hotmail, without a big advertising budget, needed creativity to compete against better funded competitors.
Their solution was simple. They added a message to every outbound e-mail their customers sent: “Get your free e-mail at Hotmail.”
Their e-mail postscript performed like an implied endorsement. They made history! Hotmail spent $500,000 against Juno’s $20 million, outperformed them by threefold in half the time, and then got bought out by Microsoft for $500 million.
So, what can we learn from the Hotmail success story that will work for the rest of in our offline marketing efforts?
We can follow some of their principles for creating a “viral” effect.
Remove barriers to adoption: Hotmail discovered and dealt with a “customer perceived” obstacle to subscribing to their service by addressing privacy issues before they launched their postscript. So, what issues stand between you and your prospective customers? Better find out before you launch!
Create barriers to switching: Amazon keeps their customers from competitors by enabling a customizable shopping environment and sending e-mail notifications of interest based on customer preferences and purchasing patterns. How do you keep your customers from “shopping” the competition?
Offer incentives for referrals: Sprint launched an incentive program through Radio Shack that rewarded sales associates for advocating their Zone long distance program. Year-over-year sales grew by 225 percent. What incentives could you offer your best customers to refer your business?
Develop reciprocal relationships: Acrobat Reader — why do they give it away? For millions of hits per week on their (Adobe) website. That little red Acrobat link is on more sites than can be counted.
Who are the noncompeting companies that target the same market you do? Chances are, they’d be as eager as you to cross-promote.
I suggest you follow Tim Draper’s lead. Involve your key associates in a brainstorming session.
Discuss how you can accelerate adoption, block competitors, mine for referrals and build strategic alliances. You’ll likely discovery “viral” opportunities that can grow your database and your sales.
Here is the secret to viral marketing: Whenever a product involves people other than the purchaser, there is an opportunity to market to potential new customers.
Most importantly, viral tactics require customer retention. Without it, nothing about your offer will be contagious. If you don’t have happy customers willing to spread the word, forget about viral marketing and concentrate on customer service. Until next month, see if you can catch a cold.
Andrew Ballard is president of Marketing Solutions, an agency specializing in growth strategies. For more information, call 425-337-1100 or go to www.mktg-solutions.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
