What do you think about Viral Marketing? Any pros and cons?

Feel free to explain your answers. I'm looking to dig further in this type of marketing.

As in all marketing tactics, it really depends on the product, service, or idea you want to promote.

Viral marketing ideally works in industries and markets that have a lot of clutter or too little exposure. Through viral marketing, you get a grassroots feel from the company. Also, any position or message is more credible since it is not through a seemingly overt "paid advertising" vehicle. Consumers can usually see through marketing messages, so an organic approach can sometimes be refreshing.

Unfortunately, viral marketing can be a bit tedious and subjective. It's hard to pin down variables when you try and prove ROI, so attributing sales growth or traffic increases due to viral marketing can be a stretch. The only way you can prove viral marketing works is through control environment tests, such as testing viral marketing in one market and having a control in a like-market. Even then, there are nuances in each market that can affect your results. Even quantitative results such as sign-ups, click-thrus, etc. can be skewed due to the "authentic" nature of viral marketing.

In many cases, viral marketing is just another form of word of mouth, albeit with better tools and props. A company usually prompts the pseudo salesforce with key points. Even something as simple as "Company A has great customer service" is a form of viral marketing. You just provide the message in the form of a brochure, handout, or some tchotchke that stands for something.

Again, it depends on the type of product, service, or idea you are trying to market. Viral marketing does not make sense for products targeting a mainstream or mass audience. You have specific mass mediums (even though mass mediums are fast becoming extinct) that can reach the target audience more efficiently. Viral marketing is direct. It builds a more personal and intimate bond between the company/product and the customer.

In sum, as much as I hate vagueness, there is no preset rules of engagement for viral marketing. If you must have a pros and cons list, take it with a grain of salt. Marketing is not an exact science as much as we marketers love to say it is.

I hope that helped.

Pros: established a more intimate/personal connection; a good builder for equity; can be used to differentiate from competitors; can be used to break away from the clutter

Cons: can cost a lot per touch/interaction; hard to quantify results; no standard viral marketing practices

Read Seth Goodin's "unleashing the idea virus". Great book on the subject.

What is it? Sounds like just a name for doing a whole lot of cold calling.

For a real business opportunity, write me (jstmother) at yahoo.

I think its evfil and you shouldnt do it. if viral marketing is what I think it is... is it spyware? cuz if it is, no one pays attention to it anyways

Douglas Rushkoff, who coined the term "viral marketing", has written some excellent books on the subject. Most of his comments regarding viral marketing are that it is unethical because most of its efforts try to get "under the radar" of most individual's sense of logic and use subversive, deceptive, and frequently illegal practices to coerce people into purchasing the firm's product. He also notes that such efforts, though occasionally effective in the short term, are usually not effective in the long-term because consumers sooner or later (usually sooner) discover the firm's real intent and/or governmental agencies step in and shut the firm down. Thus, it's probably not a good strategy at all.

However, viral marketing has been referred to by some as just brand building through unconventional methods, like chat rooms or through word-of-mouth. This strategy can be very effective and does not pose the ethical issues that the above strategy can pose.

Pros: It spreads at a really fast pace.
Since it's mouth to mouth, people doesn't feel it as "intrusive" as regular advertising; consumers tend to trust it more often (it's something a friend told me or I read about on the net so nobody is trying to sell me anything).

Cons: One wrong turn and you could damage your product forever (you cannot fully control viral marketing, you plan ahead, you prepare the information, set it loose and hopes everything goes as planned).
It's really hard to start a Viral campaign. Most of them aren't planned and the buzz is created by the consumers without the companies doing anything but have it's product/service in the market.

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