Viral marketing depends upon people not versed in your brand to do the "selling" for you. It is important to carefully craft a message that is strong enough to endure misinterpretations or make your communication brandless.
Association with Unknown Groups
Viral marketing's strength is its potential to spread exponentially from person to person. During this process, it is possible that your message could wind up in the hands of and passed on by someone you would rather not be associated with. The only way to partially counter this is to ahead of time define and limit what information you make available for your viral marketing.
Avoid making Purely Financial-based offer
The best viral campaigns work on the principle of value not greed. If you try to use money as an incentive there is a chance that 1) your offer will be spammed across the web and you'll be broke and left with the nightmare of figuring out who gets what; 2) your offer will be perceived as "too good to be true" and won't work at all.
Spam Threats
If done poorly, viral marketing can lead to large-scale spam issues. Consider a company that pays individuals to email their friends to convince them to buy one of its products. In this case, the individual who receives the email had only given the friend permission to send email of a personal nature. The one friend's receiving an unsolicited commercial email can weaken his or her relationship with the person who sent it. This can lead to the recipient of the email dropping a friend and becoming angry with the marketer for sending an unsolicited message. Flames may result, leading to damage to the advertiser's reputation. In some cases, individuals who want to earn more money simply go out and spam people. This can be problematic for your company image.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Viral Marketing
Definition
•A marketing tactic relying upon some aspect of the system to cause the promotion to propagate itself as initial targets pass the promotion onto others.
•Viral marketing is a way to promote a service or product exponentially. When effectively done one person will give it to several people who in turn will promote it to several other people. This is what makes viral marketing so effective. For instance, if A gave a book, and then B forwarded that book to 10 people, who in turn forwarded that book to 10 people. One hundred people have read that same book. Now if it is forwarded that same way just four more times ONE MILLION PEOPLE have now read that same book. By definition viral marketing gives the consumer something that they can use for free with the intent of gaining that customer to market other products and to create brand name awareness.
Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it's called "viral marketing." While others smarter than I have attempted to rename it, to somehow domesticate and tame it, I won't try. The term "viral marketing" has stuck.
The Classic Hotmail.com Example
The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:
1.Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
2.Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,
3.Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
4.Who see the message,
5.Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
6.Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
Like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble dropped into a pond, a carefully designed viral marketing strategy ripples outward extremely rapidly.
Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy
Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:
1.Gives away products or services
2.Provides for effortless transfer to others
3.Scales easily from small to very large
4.Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5.Utilizes existing communication networks
6.Takes advantage of others' resources
1. Gives Away Valuable Products or Services
"Free" is the most powerful word in a marketer's vocabulary. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention. Free e-mail services, free information, free "cool" buttons, free software programs that perform powerful functions but not as much as you get in the "pro" version. Wilson's Second Law of Web Marketing is "The Law of Giving and Selling"(http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/basic-principles.htm). "Cheap" or "inexpensive" may generate a wave of interest, but "free" will usually do it much faster. Viral marketers practice delayed gratification. They may not profit today, or tomorrow, but if they can generate a groundswell of interest from something free, they know they will profit "soon and for the rest of their lives" (with apologies to "Casablanca"). Patience, my friends. Free attracts eyeballs. Eyeballs then see other desirable things that you are selling, and, presto! You earn money. Eyeballs bring valuable e-mail addresses, advertising revenue, and e-commerce sales opportunities. Give away something, sell something.
2. Provides for Effortless Transfer to Others
Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they're easy to transmit. The medium that carries your marketing message must be easy to transfer and replicate: e-mail, website, graphic, software download. Viral marketing works famously on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. The classic is: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com." The message is compelling, compressed, and copied at the bottom of every free e-mail message.
3. Scales Easily from Small to very Large
To spread like wildfire the transmission method must be rapidly scalable from small to very large. The weakness of the Hotmail model is that a free e-mail service requires its own mail servers to transmit the message. If the strategy is wildly successful, mail servers must be added very quickly or the rapid growth will bog down and die. If the virus multiplies only to kill the host before spreading, nothing is accomplished. So long as you have planned ahead of time how you can add mail servers rapidly you're okay. You must build in scalability to your viral model.
4. Exploits Common Motivations and Behaviors
Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. What proliferated "Netscape Now" buttons in the early days of the Web? The desire to be cool. Greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages. Design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, and you have a winner.
5. Utilizes Existing Communication Networks
Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. A person's broader network may consist of scores, hundreds, or thousands of people, depending upon her position in society. A waitress, for example, may communicate regularly with hundreds of customers in a given week. Network marketers have long understood the power of these human networks, both the strong, close networks as well as the weaker networked relationships. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.
6. Takes Advantage of others' Resources
The most creative viral marketing plans use others' resources to get the word out. Affiliate programs, for example, place text or graphic links on others' websites. Authors, who give away free articles, seek to position their articles on others' WebPages. A news release can be picked up by hundreds of periodicals and form the basis of articles seen by hundreds of thousands of readers. Now someone else's newsprint or webpage is relaying your marketing message. Someone else's resources are depleted rather than your own.
Advantages of Viral Marketing
The advantages of viral marketing service are high credibility, low costs, great reach, high efficiency and the opportunity to continuous promotion adjustments. The main reasons for the wide popularity of viral marketing are:
•Socializing and networking has now made very closer to the people. So relatives and friends are simply accessible over the net.
•Viral marketing is one of the cost-free methods for promoting a business transaction.
•The time and resources are easily available. In this type of marketing, one person contacting their friends or relatives. They contacted more and more people and the chain goes on. It generates revenue from advertisement.
In spite of the probable risks, viral marketing has the ability to draw the greatest potential audience at a convincingly low cost, raising the reach of your business.
Pitfalls of Viral Marketing
1.Brand Dilution
2.Association with unknown groups
3.Avoid making purely financial-based offer
4.Large-scale spam issues
•A marketing tactic relying upon some aspect of the system to cause the promotion to propagate itself as initial targets pass the promotion onto others.
•Viral marketing is a way to promote a service or product exponentially. When effectively done one person will give it to several people who in turn will promote it to several other people. This is what makes viral marketing so effective. For instance, if A gave a book, and then B forwarded that book to 10 people, who in turn forwarded that book to 10 people. One hundred people have read that same book. Now if it is forwarded that same way just four more times ONE MILLION PEOPLE have now read that same book. By definition viral marketing gives the consumer something that they can use for free with the intent of gaining that customer to market other products and to create brand name awareness.
Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it's called "viral marketing." While others smarter than I have attempted to rename it, to somehow domesticate and tame it, I won't try. The term "viral marketing" has stuck.
The Classic Hotmail.com Example
The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:
1.Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
2.Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,
3.Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
4.Who see the message,
5.Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
6.Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
Like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble dropped into a pond, a carefully designed viral marketing strategy ripples outward extremely rapidly.
Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy
Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:
1.Gives away products or services
2.Provides for effortless transfer to others
3.Scales easily from small to very large
4.Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5.Utilizes existing communication networks
6.Takes advantage of others' resources
1. Gives Away Valuable Products or Services
"Free" is the most powerful word in a marketer's vocabulary. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention. Free e-mail services, free information, free "cool" buttons, free software programs that perform powerful functions but not as much as you get in the "pro" version. Wilson's Second Law of Web Marketing is "The Law of Giving and Selling"(http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/basic-principles.htm). "Cheap" or "inexpensive" may generate a wave of interest, but "free" will usually do it much faster. Viral marketers practice delayed gratification. They may not profit today, or tomorrow, but if they can generate a groundswell of interest from something free, they know they will profit "soon and for the rest of their lives" (with apologies to "Casablanca"). Patience, my friends. Free attracts eyeballs. Eyeballs then see other desirable things that you are selling, and, presto! You earn money. Eyeballs bring valuable e-mail addresses, advertising revenue, and e-commerce sales opportunities. Give away something, sell something.
2. Provides for Effortless Transfer to Others
Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they're easy to transmit. The medium that carries your marketing message must be easy to transfer and replicate: e-mail, website, graphic, software download. Viral marketing works famously on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. The classic is: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com." The message is compelling, compressed, and copied at the bottom of every free e-mail message.
3. Scales Easily from Small to very Large
To spread like wildfire the transmission method must be rapidly scalable from small to very large. The weakness of the Hotmail model is that a free e-mail service requires its own mail servers to transmit the message. If the strategy is wildly successful, mail servers must be added very quickly or the rapid growth will bog down and die. If the virus multiplies only to kill the host before spreading, nothing is accomplished. So long as you have planned ahead of time how you can add mail servers rapidly you're okay. You must build in scalability to your viral model.
4. Exploits Common Motivations and Behaviors
Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. What proliferated "Netscape Now" buttons in the early days of the Web? The desire to be cool. Greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages. Design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, and you have a winner.
5. Utilizes Existing Communication Networks
Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. A person's broader network may consist of scores, hundreds, or thousands of people, depending upon her position in society. A waitress, for example, may communicate regularly with hundreds of customers in a given week. Network marketers have long understood the power of these human networks, both the strong, close networks as well as the weaker networked relationships. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.
6. Takes Advantage of others' Resources
The most creative viral marketing plans use others' resources to get the word out. Affiliate programs, for example, place text or graphic links on others' websites. Authors, who give away free articles, seek to position their articles on others' WebPages. A news release can be picked up by hundreds of periodicals and form the basis of articles seen by hundreds of thousands of readers. Now someone else's newsprint or webpage is relaying your marketing message. Someone else's resources are depleted rather than your own.
Advantages of Viral Marketing
The advantages of viral marketing service are high credibility, low costs, great reach, high efficiency and the opportunity to continuous promotion adjustments. The main reasons for the wide popularity of viral marketing are:
•Socializing and networking has now made very closer to the people. So relatives and friends are simply accessible over the net.
•Viral marketing is one of the cost-free methods for promoting a business transaction.
•The time and resources are easily available. In this type of marketing, one person contacting their friends or relatives. They contacted more and more people and the chain goes on. It generates revenue from advertisement.
In spite of the probable risks, viral marketing has the ability to draw the greatest potential audience at a convincingly low cost, raising the reach of your business.
Pitfalls of Viral Marketing
1.Brand Dilution
2.Association with unknown groups
3.Avoid making purely financial-based offer
4.Large-scale spam issues
Word of Mouth Marketing
What is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Word of Mouth Marketing can be defined as any unpaid form of promotion in which satisfied customers tell other people, in either verbal or written form, how much they like a business, product or service. For word of mouth marketing to be successful, the satisfied customer needs to be perceived as honest and having no ulterior motives associated with the recommendation
Any time you've recommended a product to a friend, you've engaged in word of mouth advertising. Word of mouth advertising relies on personal recommendations to promote a product or service. Companies often rely heavily on word of mouth advertising to sell their product or service, because it produces good results at a very low cost.
Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth marketing isn't about creating word of mouth -- it's learning how to make it work within a marketing objective.
Word of mouth can be encouraged and facilitated. Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends, and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the good qualities of a product or service.
Companies value word of mouth advertising for several reasons. First of all, if you tell someone how much you like a business, that word of mouth endorsement doesn't cost the business any money. Magazine, television, radio and Internet ads can be expensive, but word of mouth advertising is usually free. The less money the business has to spend on advertising, the more profit they can make.
Word of mouth advertising is also valuable because it tends to produce good results. People are sometimes skeptical of standard advertising. Maybe the ad doesn't appeal to them personally, or they feel like the company is trying to trick them into buying a product that they don't want. A word of mouth testimonial from a friend can be trusted, and it's more likely to produce results.
Even more valuable are the word of mouth endorsements given by people who are presumed to be experts. Companies often offer free products or services to experts in an effort to gain free word of mouth advertising. Reviewers are sent products, or given early tickets to a movie for example, and the word of mouth advertising that is generated when they write a review more than pays for the expense to the company.
It is often said in business that any publicity is good publicity. That is because publicity is essentially word of mouth advertising. If someone hears something about a business, even if it's something bad, they will remember the name. They will likely be curious about the business because of the news. This is word of mouth advertising at work. Any time someone hears about a company and what they sell from a friend or from a news story, word of mouth advertising is helping the company become more familiar to people.
Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It's harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it's acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful.
Below are the five basic Steps for Word of Mouth Marketing to be a Success.
They are as follows:
1.Talkers
2.Topics
3.Tools
4.Taking Part
5.Track
Talkers are not your target customers; instead, they are the people that talk TO your buyers. By way of example, Ferrari’s talkers are not car owners, but 14-year old boys who read car magazines.
Topic is what everyone is buzzing about. This is not your tagline, your brand message or even the name of your store. Your topic should be portable, repeatable and emotional.
In Chicago, there's a deli called Perry's which is quite well known. For starters, Perry's sandwiches are enormous; they may in fact be bigger than the famous corned beef sandwich you find at Carnegie's Deli in New York. But that's not the only reason people talk up Perry's. The other buzz-worthy bit is that Perry will kick you out of his restaurant if your cell phone rings. He doesn't care if you're an MD or a Judge on an important trial - no phones - period. Inevitably when you're there some poor diner's phone will ring and the shenanigans that ensue are the epitome of buzz.
Tools enable people to easily share with others. Make it easy for friends to talk about you. That might creating a blog, or establishing a fan base on Facebook. It can be as simple as adding a Forward to a Friend button on your next email campaign.
Taking Part means to engage in the discussion. If you have a blog and someone comments on it, it's okay to post a thank you note. Has someone given your store a negative review on Yelp or a similar service? Chime in, apologize, or solicit more information. Being present means being visible.
Track we all know we need to Track our efforts. In other to take note if it working or not. When something you've done is in fact generating buzz so you can keep doing it!
Five Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies You Can Use For Your Website or Business
Here are some word-of-mouth marketing strategies you can use for your own website or business. All of them are D-I-Y and you don’t need to hire an expensive marketing firm to initiate them, although you should preferably have access to web designers and programmers, along with a basic budget for viral marketing.
1.Leverage Existing Social Networks. Online communities have a tightly knit group of users who can help to increase brand awareness for your product. Tap into these communities with tools or content targeting their specific sub-culture and you are likely to get a lot of attention.
These can include applications for platform-specific websites like Facebook, Firefox and Wordpress, which each have a large body of users. Content which examines mentions or analyzes mini-communities or sites within large overall niches will work as well.
2.Target the Influencers. Look for individuals who are trend-setters or authorities on a specific topic. They should preferably be individuals who have many personal connections or a large and loyal audience.
If these people spread your message, your website or product will very easily be disseminated within a targeted group of potential users.
Identify these influencers, build a relationship with them and market through their existing sphere of social influence. Examples of influencers include celebrities, power users on social websites like Digg and popular webmasters or bloggers with many loyal supporters (e.g. Ashley Qualls).
3.Exclusivity and Scarcity. Many websites or businesses launch virally through the private beta approach by offering a limited number of site invites. Some dangle the bait of limited edition products or temporal discounts. Combine this with influencer marketing and you’ll have an excellent method to disseminate brand awareness for new websites, products or services.
Exclusivity invites curiosity and scarce products generate consistent demand and conversation. Remember how people were incessantly asking for or writing about Gmail, Joost or Pownce invites a while ago?
4.Micro-Market. While online viral marketing leverages the interconnectedness of the web to spread unique content or user-supported promotional schemes, micro-marketing focuses on marketing to the individual by providing highly customizable products.
Nike and Puma’s Mongolian Buffet are examples of micro-marketing schemes which allow you to design and purchase your own unique sneaker online. Micro-marketing can be combined with scarcity and existing social networks to generate word-of-mouth exposure.
5.Industry Marketing. Instead of focusing directly on customers, focus on the people who can build your brand. Instead of seeking for thousands of views from a wide audience, make your mark within a niche community to build relationships and leverage-able connections.
Finally.
Get recommendations from others in the similar industry to be mentioned, promoted or included in an industry-specific ranking or recommendations list. This builds your overall brand within a specific niche, which in turns promotes your site to traditional media and buyers looking in from the outside.
Word of Mouth Marketing can be defined as any unpaid form of promotion in which satisfied customers tell other people, in either verbal or written form, how much they like a business, product or service. For word of mouth marketing to be successful, the satisfied customer needs to be perceived as honest and having no ulterior motives associated with the recommendation
Any time you've recommended a product to a friend, you've engaged in word of mouth advertising. Word of mouth advertising relies on personal recommendations to promote a product or service. Companies often rely heavily on word of mouth advertising to sell their product or service, because it produces good results at a very low cost.
Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth marketing isn't about creating word of mouth -- it's learning how to make it work within a marketing objective.
Word of mouth can be encouraged and facilitated. Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends, and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the good qualities of a product or service.
Companies value word of mouth advertising for several reasons. First of all, if you tell someone how much you like a business, that word of mouth endorsement doesn't cost the business any money. Magazine, television, radio and Internet ads can be expensive, but word of mouth advertising is usually free. The less money the business has to spend on advertising, the more profit they can make.
Word of mouth advertising is also valuable because it tends to produce good results. People are sometimes skeptical of standard advertising. Maybe the ad doesn't appeal to them personally, or they feel like the company is trying to trick them into buying a product that they don't want. A word of mouth testimonial from a friend can be trusted, and it's more likely to produce results.
Even more valuable are the word of mouth endorsements given by people who are presumed to be experts. Companies often offer free products or services to experts in an effort to gain free word of mouth advertising. Reviewers are sent products, or given early tickets to a movie for example, and the word of mouth advertising that is generated when they write a review more than pays for the expense to the company.
It is often said in business that any publicity is good publicity. That is because publicity is essentially word of mouth advertising. If someone hears something about a business, even if it's something bad, they will remember the name. They will likely be curious about the business because of the news. This is word of mouth advertising at work. Any time someone hears about a company and what they sell from a friend or from a news story, word of mouth advertising is helping the company become more familiar to people.
Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It's harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it's acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful.
Below are the five basic Steps for Word of Mouth Marketing to be a Success.
They are as follows:
1.Talkers
2.Topics
3.Tools
4.Taking Part
5.Track
Talkers are not your target customers; instead, they are the people that talk TO your buyers. By way of example, Ferrari’s talkers are not car owners, but 14-year old boys who read car magazines.
Topic is what everyone is buzzing about. This is not your tagline, your brand message or even the name of your store. Your topic should be portable, repeatable and emotional.
In Chicago, there's a deli called Perry's which is quite well known. For starters, Perry's sandwiches are enormous; they may in fact be bigger than the famous corned beef sandwich you find at Carnegie's Deli in New York. But that's not the only reason people talk up Perry's. The other buzz-worthy bit is that Perry will kick you out of his restaurant if your cell phone rings. He doesn't care if you're an MD or a Judge on an important trial - no phones - period. Inevitably when you're there some poor diner's phone will ring and the shenanigans that ensue are the epitome of buzz.
Tools enable people to easily share with others. Make it easy for friends to talk about you. That might creating a blog, or establishing a fan base on Facebook. It can be as simple as adding a Forward to a Friend button on your next email campaign.
Taking Part means to engage in the discussion. If you have a blog and someone comments on it, it's okay to post a thank you note. Has someone given your store a negative review on Yelp or a similar service? Chime in, apologize, or solicit more information. Being present means being visible.
Track we all know we need to Track our efforts. In other to take note if it working or not. When something you've done is in fact generating buzz so you can keep doing it!
Five Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies You Can Use For Your Website or Business
Here are some word-of-mouth marketing strategies you can use for your own website or business. All of them are D-I-Y and you don’t need to hire an expensive marketing firm to initiate them, although you should preferably have access to web designers and programmers, along with a basic budget for viral marketing.
1.Leverage Existing Social Networks. Online communities have a tightly knit group of users who can help to increase brand awareness for your product. Tap into these communities with tools or content targeting their specific sub-culture and you are likely to get a lot of attention.
These can include applications for platform-specific websites like Facebook, Firefox and Wordpress, which each have a large body of users. Content which examines mentions or analyzes mini-communities or sites within large overall niches will work as well.
2.Target the Influencers. Look for individuals who are trend-setters or authorities on a specific topic. They should preferably be individuals who have many personal connections or a large and loyal audience.
If these people spread your message, your website or product will very easily be disseminated within a targeted group of potential users.
Identify these influencers, build a relationship with them and market through their existing sphere of social influence. Examples of influencers include celebrities, power users on social websites like Digg and popular webmasters or bloggers with many loyal supporters (e.g. Ashley Qualls).
3.Exclusivity and Scarcity. Many websites or businesses launch virally through the private beta approach by offering a limited number of site invites. Some dangle the bait of limited edition products or temporal discounts. Combine this with influencer marketing and you’ll have an excellent method to disseminate brand awareness for new websites, products or services.
Exclusivity invites curiosity and scarce products generate consistent demand and conversation. Remember how people were incessantly asking for or writing about Gmail, Joost or Pownce invites a while ago?
4.Micro-Market. While online viral marketing leverages the interconnectedness of the web to spread unique content or user-supported promotional schemes, micro-marketing focuses on marketing to the individual by providing highly customizable products.
Nike and Puma’s Mongolian Buffet are examples of micro-marketing schemes which allow you to design and purchase your own unique sneaker online. Micro-marketing can be combined with scarcity and existing social networks to generate word-of-mouth exposure.
5.Industry Marketing. Instead of focusing directly on customers, focus on the people who can build your brand. Instead of seeking for thousands of views from a wide audience, make your mark within a niche community to build relationships and leverage-able connections.
Finally.
Get recommendations from others in the similar industry to be mentioned, promoted or included in an industry-specific ranking or recommendations list. This builds your overall brand within a specific niche, which in turns promotes your site to traditional media and buyers looking in from the outside.
Publicity
What is Publicity?
Definitions
•Publicity is an information that attracts attention to a company, product, person, or event.
•Publicity is a type of promotion that relies on public relations effect of a news story carried usually free by mass media. The main objective of publicity is not sales promotion, but creation of an image through editorial or 'independent source' commentary. While the publicist can control the content of the story, he or she may not have any control over it placement or interpretation by the media.
Who is a Publicist?
A Publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book or film. Just like lawyers, most top level publicists work in private practice, handling multiple clients.
What Does a Publicist Do?
Essentially, the job of a publicist is to increase public interest in his client. However, the type of work a publicist does is dependent upon his client’s needs. For example, a publicist who represents a famous actor or actress may spend a large portion of his time doing “damage control” after an unflattering tabloid story appears about his client’s extramarital affair or recent stint in rehab. A publicist who represents an author may be responsible for arranging book tours, sending out review copies, or placing advertising in relevant publications in an attempt to boost reader interest in the book. If the publicist represents a trendy restaurant, he may be promoting the recent hiring of a famous chef and trying to get celebrity guests to be photographed dining at the establishment.
While some publicists work a traditional schedule, most find that regular weekend and evening work is necessary. Publicists are often expected to travel to attend meetings or deliver presentations about a client’s activities. Depending upon the industry, a publicist may essentially be on call around the clock. In addition, since publicists are typically considered salaried employees, there is no overtime pay given for this extra work.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring a Publicist:
Advantages
•Publicists generally have a long list of contacts with news agencies, advertising firms, and others that you don't. This means better access to publicity channels. There are clearly advantages of working with someone who has a relationship with and who talks with the key reporter for your business several times a month, rather than having you try to cold call that person to pitch your story.
•A publicist does this sort of stuff all day long. Good ones know what works, what doesn't, and can probably find new and creative ideas that you never thought of.
•They have time to construct a publicity plan, and implement it. Presumably, you don't. They leave you the time to do the things you do best: run a business, market a business, or lay around on the beach...
•Chances are that the publicist you hire will have multiple clients. They will probably be able to cross-pollinate to get mass publicity for all. This can help you if your name is even remotely associated with other large, well-known, good companies.
•The good ones have mounds of examples and/or experience they can draw upon to generate new ideas to help your company get out of its PR comfort zone, to get you attention.
Disadvantages
•The first and most obvious disadvantage is the cost. Publicists can be very expensive.
•By having a publicist do the work, you don't develop the expertise that could have you doing the work yourself.
•A publicist has little to no inside knowledge of your company. That can present difficulties when your publicity run involves complex information. Making them an expert in your company will cost you, either directly through a billable hour charge or that cost will be embedded in a project's cost so that you won't see it, but it will cost you.
•The publicist gains all the benefits of the personal relationships with the media instead of you. This can be a problem if you decide to leave the publicist and work with the media directly at some future point.
•When the media has questions, who do you want them to call, you or the publicist? You can bet they will call the publicist.
•The quality range of publicists is amazingly diverse. It can be hard to determine how good of a publicist you have hired. A bad publicist is like a dead fish. They stink, badly!
•Some publicists really love to hold huge publicity events, which can cost tons of money and generate either huge amounts of publicity, or possibly, none at all. Just be careful that any agency you hire focuses on the basics first, turning to major splashy events only once the basics are in place.
•Lastly, the bigger the agency, the more likely it will be that you are assigned a low ranking publicist. That doesn't mean they are bad. It just means that they have not had the chances to prove themselves. You need to realize that even though you're paying for a big publicist name, you're actually working with a newbie whose ink on their diploma isn't even dry yet.
The key questions you should consider before hiring a Publicist are:
•What kind of relationships do you currently have with the media? If they're weak, that's a point in the publicist's favor.
•Are you spending as much time as you would like in the area of publicity? As you consider the way you actually use your time, is PR getting prioritized or not? If no, perhaps you need a professional working on it for you.
•How much PR success are you having right now? If little, there's another point in their favor.
Definitions
•Publicity is an information that attracts attention to a company, product, person, or event.
•Publicity is a type of promotion that relies on public relations effect of a news story carried usually free by mass media. The main objective of publicity is not sales promotion, but creation of an image through editorial or 'independent source' commentary. While the publicist can control the content of the story, he or she may not have any control over it placement or interpretation by the media.
Who is a Publicist?
A Publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book or film. Just like lawyers, most top level publicists work in private practice, handling multiple clients.
What Does a Publicist Do?
Essentially, the job of a publicist is to increase public interest in his client. However, the type of work a publicist does is dependent upon his client’s needs. For example, a publicist who represents a famous actor or actress may spend a large portion of his time doing “damage control” after an unflattering tabloid story appears about his client’s extramarital affair or recent stint in rehab. A publicist who represents an author may be responsible for arranging book tours, sending out review copies, or placing advertising in relevant publications in an attempt to boost reader interest in the book. If the publicist represents a trendy restaurant, he may be promoting the recent hiring of a famous chef and trying to get celebrity guests to be photographed dining at the establishment.
While some publicists work a traditional schedule, most find that regular weekend and evening work is necessary. Publicists are often expected to travel to attend meetings or deliver presentations about a client’s activities. Depending upon the industry, a publicist may essentially be on call around the clock. In addition, since publicists are typically considered salaried employees, there is no overtime pay given for this extra work.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring a Publicist:
Advantages
•Publicists generally have a long list of contacts with news agencies, advertising firms, and others that you don't. This means better access to publicity channels. There are clearly advantages of working with someone who has a relationship with and who talks with the key reporter for your business several times a month, rather than having you try to cold call that person to pitch your story.
•A publicist does this sort of stuff all day long. Good ones know what works, what doesn't, and can probably find new and creative ideas that you never thought of.
•They have time to construct a publicity plan, and implement it. Presumably, you don't. They leave you the time to do the things you do best: run a business, market a business, or lay around on the beach...
•Chances are that the publicist you hire will have multiple clients. They will probably be able to cross-pollinate to get mass publicity for all. This can help you if your name is even remotely associated with other large, well-known, good companies.
•The good ones have mounds of examples and/or experience they can draw upon to generate new ideas to help your company get out of its PR comfort zone, to get you attention.
Disadvantages
•The first and most obvious disadvantage is the cost. Publicists can be very expensive.
•By having a publicist do the work, you don't develop the expertise that could have you doing the work yourself.
•A publicist has little to no inside knowledge of your company. That can present difficulties when your publicity run involves complex information. Making them an expert in your company will cost you, either directly through a billable hour charge or that cost will be embedded in a project's cost so that you won't see it, but it will cost you.
•The publicist gains all the benefits of the personal relationships with the media instead of you. This can be a problem if you decide to leave the publicist and work with the media directly at some future point.
•When the media has questions, who do you want them to call, you or the publicist? You can bet they will call the publicist.
•The quality range of publicists is amazingly diverse. It can be hard to determine how good of a publicist you have hired. A bad publicist is like a dead fish. They stink, badly!
•Some publicists really love to hold huge publicity events, which can cost tons of money and generate either huge amounts of publicity, or possibly, none at all. Just be careful that any agency you hire focuses on the basics first, turning to major splashy events only once the basics are in place.
•Lastly, the bigger the agency, the more likely it will be that you are assigned a low ranking publicist. That doesn't mean they are bad. It just means that they have not had the chances to prove themselves. You need to realize that even though you're paying for a big publicist name, you're actually working with a newbie whose ink on their diploma isn't even dry yet.
The key questions you should consider before hiring a Publicist are:
•What kind of relationships do you currently have with the media? If they're weak, that's a point in the publicist's favor.
•Are you spending as much time as you would like in the area of publicity? As you consider the way you actually use your time, is PR getting prioritized or not? If no, perhaps you need a professional working on it for you.
•How much PR success are you having right now? If little, there's another point in their favor.
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