Viral Marketing 101: If you don't use it, your business will go under!

Creativity

This is one of the qualities a website must have in order to survive the merciless competition of the internet business. With so much competition and rivalry, every marketing technique must be utilised. It doesn't matter if you have a brilliantly designed website or an ingenious product; if no one knows you exist, it won't matter and you won't make it big. Worse still, your business could go under.

Even though many e-commerce websites today employ a variety of strategies and concepts, there are still some that can help you gain an edge in the popularity stakes. So-called viral marketing is one of them. While the name viral conjures up images of viruses, a word that all computer users hate, it's not what it seems. You're not using a computer virus to spread the word about your business; on the contrary, it could kill you. Everyone has had their fill of pop-up adverts and spyware.

Overview of viral marketing

Viral marketing, also known as viral advertising, is a marketing strategy for increasing awareness of a product or company. They use a variety of media to reach the public without explicitly marketing the product. Instead, they rely on various types of addictive techniques to captivate people and make them feel obliged or amused to pass it on, coupled with a product or company advert.

In short, companies assume that people who like a piece of media will recommend it to their friends and family. You can sponsor certain media, e.g. a fun flash game, an entertaining film or a funny story that is forwarded with the company's brand or logo, a product description or other content to market the company or its product.

Due to its low cost, viral marketing has become an important form of advertising and marketing. To avoid being labelled as spam, viral marketing relies on a person's willingness to share the product. If a person recognises the sender's name, they will not block the message but open it. Many companies reward their customers with discounts and refunds when they help them promote their viral marketing. The number of incentives they are credited with depends on the number of recipients a viral marketing receives from a single person.

Utilising the advantages of viral marketing

The main advantage of viral marketing is that it generates a lot of attention and publicity for your website and your company. You can create a steady stream of potential customers. You can reach a large number of people and publicise your existence with a little innovation and inspiration as well as some incentives or prizes. The effectiveness of viral marketing and advertising is recognised by almost all websites and businesses. It could be fatal to your business if you don't utilise it.

When you combine viral marketing with other strategies and methods of promoting your website, such as search engine optimisation and the like, it can easily catapult you to the top of the rankings. Viral marketing can be a clever technique to get you and your business noticed. They persuade people to pass on your adverts. They are also so cost-effective that it can be considered corporate suicide not to invest in them.

There are still plenty of ideas. All it takes is a brilliant idea, a nice, addictive game or a funny story. Many films are promoted by using controversy and gossip to make them more popular. Do you remember the film "The Blair Witch Project"?

Many large companies have experimented with viral marketing and have been very successful. Microsoft's Hotmail is a classic example. It was the first well-known large company to utilise this strategy and it has paid off handsomely for the company. Now it's up to you to make viral marketing work for you. Take action today and reap the benefits of viral marketing for you and your business.