Viral marketing is any technique or a set of techniques that encourages people to pass on a marketing message to their friends, family or other people in general. The idea of this is that it will produce an increase in the awareness of people towards a particular brand, product or website and enhance the marketing message.
Viral Marketing mainly involves giving away free products or services so the people receiving them will want to share them with other people.
Viral marketing is an extremely easy way to promote your business. It costs very little to implement and if done correctly it could have almost world wide exposure through the mass media.
Recent successful viral marketing campaigns can include the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ?light boards? that were put up all around various American cities displaying characters from the show. Unfortunately in Boston, this was seen as an alleged terrorism attempt.
Whilst it looked bad that the campaign was seen as a terrorism attempt, (It wasn't actually meant to be seen this way) it gained the companies involved world wide exposure for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force brand.
Because of the media buzz around the event, they managed to save millions of dollars which they would have had to spend in advertising to achieve the same effect.
Whilst this wasn't a ?give away free stuff? viral marketing campaign it does show how powerful viral marketing can be.
On the Internet things are done slightly different. A lot of movies have produced strange trailer and or websites to help create a buzz. By allowing people to interact with the viral marketing message (even if it wasn't seen as such to start with) it allows it to be carried more effectively around the Internet.
When people don't actually know they are passing around a marketing message it can get passed on more effectively. This can be a down side if it's a stealth marketing viral message ( a viral marketing campaign that's designed to look like it's coming from the community rather than a marketing company).
A good example of this is to sign up for a free eCard site. They put a link to view the eCard online and encourage you to sign up (for free) and send your own cards in return. This helps them recruit free members and recurring visitors. They generally make their money from advertising but can be a good way to build a list or market other related products on the back-end to their free members.
There are so many different ways in which you can apply viral marketing to your business, more than you can contain in a simple article. Just looking around you, even on the website you're reading right now, you can probably see at least 3 different ways in which viral marketing is being implemented.
First Step
By creating a website you have the opportunity to place testimonials, pricing structure, examples and a list or services you provide.
Because most writers have problems with self-marketing it is important to remember you are not necessarily marketing yourself, you are marketing the time-honored skill of writing. In many cases this assists writers in understanding that they don't need to be prideful they have been given a skill. Writer should be careful to make wise use of their skills for the mutual benefit of writer and client.
Blogging
The use of blogging has become a highly prized self-marketing tool. A blog will allow visitors to see you as a person and enjoy your personal approach to passing along information.
A blog can allow you to pass along services you can provide. You can also use a blog to pass along success stories and provide general examples of recent work you have accepted. You don't want to be too specific and should keep client confidentiality uppermost in your thinking.
Discover Your Strengths
If you are especially gifted in one type of writing make sure you list it as a specialty service you can provide. Never stop learning and improve on even your greatest skills.
Improve Your Weaknesses
If you are weak in an area of writing you can do one of two things, 1) give up and tell clients you can't do the work or, 2) learn the skills needed to become proficient in the skill.
Your clients don't want to hear excuses, they want to perceive you as their go-to writer who can get things taken care of in a professional and timely manner.
Research
Never be afraid of research. In an indirect way research can be used as a marketing tool. This tool can provide information on writing styles and markets to pursue.
Final Word
A writer should never stop learning. Understanding the usefulness of self-marketing is a means of learning a skill that will allow you to write with confidence knowing the skills you possess are connecting with others and fulfilling a genuine need.
Both Chris G Williams & Scott Lindsay are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Chris G Williams has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Online Marketing and Niche Marketing. Chris Williams has been using viral marketing to boost his sales and advertising online. His new site teaches marketers simple and effective ways to use viral marketing techniques in any aspect of their Internet business.. Chris G Williams's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.
Scott Lindsay has sinced written about articles on various topics from Payday Loans, Computers and The Internet and Mens Health. Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters () and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to. Scott Lindsay's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.