Marketing List Building
I’m not going to go into some long drawn out dissertation about how Viral Marketing differs from our common conception of it being normal to associate the word “Viral” with viral diseases or a disease causing virus. Just know that Viral Marketing pertains to producing information of interest to a particular niche market that is passed on from one person to another containing links to where the information author wants the readers of the information to go.
When it comes to marketing and viral marketing campaigns, the idea is much simpler and focuses on the fact that most viruses (real or computerized) have the ability to replicate themselves without “outside” assistance. In this case a “viral” marketing campaign is one which allows or stimulates customers who are exposed to the “viral”marketing campaign material to actively help spread the word themselves.
That is, they send your promotion piece on to other potential customers due to their excitement with the product it underscores or because of they found it entertaining as a result of containing something humorous, or worth sharing as the result of a gift or award option associated with the campaign.
Having such a built-in replication capability, just as with real viruses, it has the potential for exponential growth and can quickly spread a message to thousands or even millions of users from a single starting point. Urban myths are a good example of such growth. Even though numerous websites debunk such myths, they continue to circulate widely. More than half the people exposed to them forward them to others even though they’ve heard them already and know they are false. Sooner or later, the myths have spread too far and wide to stop.
One of the greatest examples of this in an actual working scenario was the original hotmail expansion program. Hotmail.com, as one of the first “free” web e-mail service group, began recruiting members by first giving away free e-mail addresses and services, then requiring that every e-mail sent via their service include a simple tagline at the bottom detailing that the receiver could also receive free e-mail by signing up at www.hotmail.com.
Like ripples from a rock flung into a pond, the initial offering quickly spread outward causing exponential growth and a huge list of members to be tapped for marketing other services towards.
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