Getting a Better ROI on Your Marketing Dollar – Online Viral Marketing Techniques
The viral marketing business model was first described by Tim Draper and popularized in 1997 to describe Hotmail’s practice of adding advertising to the outgoing mail of their users. Viral marketing had been around for ages. In so many words, it is word-of-mouth advertising.
It relies on the average person’s tendency to “tell their friends”. The reference or terminology is the only thing that has changed. Surveys tell us that the average person has at least six close friends. If they have a good experience with a product or a service provider, they will tell those six people about it.
Surveys also tell us that when an internet user finds something valuable, informative, funny, interesting or free on the internet, they will share that with 12 other people online. The internet is the platform for the most successful viral marketing business models out there.
Marketing pros insist that in order to sell something, you need to give something away for free. I recently read a free e-book about dieting. It made complete sense. It was designed by the head of a supplement company. He suggested that you share the book with all of your friends. His main motivation was to sell supplements.
He could have sold the book. It contained as much information as many of the diet books out there, but he realized the importance of giving something to get something. Most people have a tendency to like companies that give them something of use, especially when they do not have to pay for it.
You will see countless software programs on the web that offer a free versions and a “ultimate” version. This is another example of a viral marketing business model. When one person sees this free software program, they will tell at least 12 of their friends online about it.
Social networking is becoming increasingly popular. People on MySpace and Facebook literally have hundreds of online friends and they “share” things with them on a daily basis. If you can provide something that they want to share with others, then you may have hit the target.
There are other elements of a successful viral marketing business model. But, coming up with something free that people can share with others is the most important element.
