Viral Marketing: Company's #1 Strategy

Rising costs associated with advertising often lead businesses to research other methods of advertising their products. There is hardly a better way for companies to spread their names while reducing superfluous expenditure of marketing budgets than with word of mouth advertising. With the advent of the World Wide Web and the confluence of user traffic on the internet, viral marketing is gaining momentum in many areas of e- commerce, today.

The strategy

Viral Marketing facilitates the distribution of marketing strategies of many companies. The aim of viral marketing is to establish a value of its marketing that is projected toward a target audience. To elucidate, the strategy to create a viral marketing product should attempt to exude usefulness in the product directed to a target audience. For example, Hotmail is used by many users and the name is included in every email transaction, thus spreading the name through viral marketing while providing a useful service to the end user. As a result, Hotmail is widely used and known by a large portion of internet users.

The methods

With regards to viral marketing, there are two forms: active and frictionless. An active method requires the user of the product to act as a recruiter, thus spreading word to anyone they come in contact with. For example, products like AOL and ICQ are examples of active viral marketing. With a frictionless approach, the product doesn’t require the recipient to interact with the product—much like in the case of Hotmail. So essentially, the message delivery and primary goal of the marketing plan is worked seamlessly into the product or item.

Its effectiveness

A great example of viral marketing is seen in one of Burger King’s marketing strategies: The Subservient Chicken. In this original idea, Burger King fabricates a chicken character that responds to commands that a user inputs, thus doing actions like handstands, dancing, and etc. Users often found this amusing and sent this link to their friends, which was provided in the footer of the site. This type of advertising was very inexpensive and word was spread quickly. This was an effective method of viral marketing.

On the Internet

Right now, many companies and businesses use free online services to spread their names. YouTube.com, as an example, provides companies a free method of advertising. If an idea is entertaining and original enough, in the case of YouTube, it because a hit, thus becoming a marketing success. As a result, many businesses utilize these free technology social hubs to reach potential customers.

More prominence in the future

Again, with the access and low cost of the World Wide Web, meaning a large portion of the population utilizes this service, internet technologies and media sites are becoming a larger focus of marketing. Not to mention, there have been a substantial increase of users accessing the Web. And with products and advertising approaches, like viral marketing, providing success with lesser associated costs, it is becoming the focus of many companies.