Viral marketing is a relatively new Internet marketing technique which has taken the web by storm. When you create a home based business online you’re always looking for new ways to promote your enterprise and viral advertising could be the answer to your traffic woes which most people just starting out on the Internet experience. First of all, for the uninitiated, what exactly is viral marketing?
According to wikipedia: “Viral marketing and viral advertising, (buzzwords), refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of virus or computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, e-books, brandable software, images, or even text messages.”
Simply put a viral campaign usually begins with a message or advertisement delivered by the marketer which is unique or unusual in nature and which the recipient feels they must pass on to others because it’s so interesting. It can be equated to word-of-mouth advertising offline but takes place on the web usually via email. A well executed viral campaign can provide many benefits for your home business including these five perks:
1. Viral advertising is cheap and can be very effective. These are two words, cheap and effective, which are very appealing to all Internet marketers and home business owners online but especially those of you who are just starting out and operating with a limited budget. This technique when employed correctly is one of the fastest traffic generators on the web today.
Word-of-mouth can spread the news about you and your website very quickly while at the same time multiply the number of visitors to your site on a daily basis as it builds momentum. And because it depends on the effort of others who are spreading the word it’s very low cost and can be a no cost form of promotion. An effective viral campaign can be equated to a snow ball rolling down hill, as it continues to roll and builds momentum it keeps getting larger and larger until it finally reaches the end.
2. An effective viral marketing effort can produce highly targeted traffic to your home business site. Because of the nature of the promotion, via word-of-mouth advertising, when someone tells your visitors before hand about your offer when they visit your website they do so because they’re interested in your merchandise and perhaps are intent on buying. So this tactic produces very valuable guests who are potential customers who may soon be paying clients.
3. Because your message is being spread by people from one to another online you will reach prospects who you may otherwise have never reached with your offer. This technique can have a far reaching effect on the web because of its very nature and it helps your business be seen by a much wider audience then you would normally reach with your every day Internet marketing efforts.
4. Because family and friends may be involved by helping spread the word about your home business a feeling of trust begins to build among your visitors because they trust your source more than they would a stranger’s website who they may visit on the web. This trust can translate into sales because the more someone believes in you and your offer the more likely they are to do business with you.
5. Running a successful viral marketing campaign can help you and your home business get established on the web within the e-business world. Because of the immense exposure this marketing effort should produce you will begin to be viewed as a business entity to be dealt with on the Internet. This new found respect will result in more traffic and more future customers for your enterprise.
So, as you can see an effective and well run viral marketing campaign can help put your online home business on the Internet marketing map and help establish you in the e-business world for many years to come.