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Ideas4Rent
Marketing
Simple Ways To Make Viral Marketing Work For You
by
Don MacLeod
One of the most misunderstood but often-used marketing
methods is known as Viral Marketing. No, it has nothing to do with spreading
an illness. Instead, this marketing method seeks to duplicate, in a good
way, the process by which a virus is spread.
Before we launch into the “meat” of this article,
there are a couple of things you need to understand. One is a good
definition of Viral Marketing. A common name for this approach is “word of
mouth” marketing. In other words, it is a strategy that includes a
built-in incentive for the recipient to pass along your marketing message to
someone else. The “virus” is your marketing message that drives traffic
to your site.
Next, you should understand exactly what constitutes an
effective viral marketing strategy. Here is where most people who attempt to
use this method “drop the ball.” At the very minimum, your viral
marketing campaign needs to include:
- A
valuable product or service that is being given away
- An
easy means for others to pass along your valuable free product or
service
- A
valuable incentive to strongly persuade others to give your valuable
product or service away
- Plan to place your product in a way that allows for maximum
convenience and distribution
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s examine
some powerful, proven ways to put this method to work for you.
Probably the most-used avenue for viral marketing is an
e-book. Creating a viral e-book isn’t really that difficult; just make
sure that it includes quality information that your target market really
wants. You could survey your own list, or, just by paying attention to the
posts in forums you frequent, you can quickly find out what people want or
what problems they want solved.
Once you’ve found your topic, take the time to do the
best job researching it that you can. Include an ad for a product or service
related to the e-book’s topic and then put your findings into an ebook of
no more than twenty pages. Offer it as a free gift for your list (or forum
members). You might also consider including it in ebook directories.
A second method, which is really just a twist on the
previous one, is a viral newsletter. As with the viral e-book, be sure that
your publication is loaded with valuable quality information. It too, should
be no more than twenty pages.
Once completed, you could choose to publish in one of
three ways: upload it to your website, send it in text format via email, or
publish it in PDF format. You could choose to use all three for maximum
exposure. Include a graphic image for your newsletter, and let your list
members know they can give your newsletter and the graphic away. And be sure
to include a message inviting the reader to forward a copy to a friend.
An idea that might take a bit more effort is offering a
viral service. One of the most effective—and most popular—ways is to
give away free advertising. This could be on a forum, website, blog,
directory, etc. Once you’ve decided on a free service to offer, you’ll
also want a way to monetize your service. A few suggestions include adding a
Pay-Per-Click service or an ad rotator.
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