What is viral marketing? It is a promotion that becomes so popular that it takes off “like a virus” and spreads from person to person on its own accord, without the marketer needing to do anything to encourage the process. It is a marketing campaign that takes on a life of its own, which is obviously very desirable for a marketer.
Can you launch your own viral marketing campaign? Here are seven things you can do to increase your chances:
1. Write an e-book and allow it to be given away to others, as long as the advertisement to your own site or product is retained in the e-book.
2. Purchase the rights to brand, or put your own contact information in, an e-book that is already viral or has the potential to become so. Allow this e-book to be given away freely. Your recipients will share it with others, and so will the ones who receive it from them. Hopefully, this will continue until the e-book—and your message—is spread all over the Web.
3. Create discussion board software and allow others to use it on their own websites at no charge. Your payment comes in the form of a banner ad that you place at the top of the board.
4. Do you have a talent for web design or graphics? Create a special section on your site for your own graphics, templates, fonts, web design and so on. Allow people to download your creations and even share them with others, as long as they include a link back to your website. Be sure that you specify this requirement in your copyright notice, along with the requirement that the notice be included with all distributions of your work.
Adobe Illustrator for Mac or PC is a great application for creating Infographics. If that’s a little too pricey for you, try Artboard, Vector Designer or iDraw (pictured above). Each can create crisp vector graphics and each is available for under 30 bucks in the Mac App Store.
5. Along the same lines, create infographics on current events topics and allow reproduction on other blogs and websites, as long as a link is made to your own site. Infographics are a popular way of communicating complex concepts quickly, and they can receive wide distribution, especially if they are on a hot topic.
6. Article writing. Yes, this can be a form of viral marketing. Write articles pertaining to your niche, and allow people to reprint them in their own newsletters, websites and e-books, provided your resource box containing a link to your own site is included. For maximum viral effect, the resource box can encourage others to reprint the article as well.
7. Buy products that offer licensing rights allowing you to distribute them free of charge to others. You can easily find these online. You should choose products that offer “branding rights,” or the right to include your own website and contact information.
You never know what will go viral. Some of these ideas may lead to a viral effect, and some may not. There are no guarantees in life or in marketing. However, the more things you try, the greater your chances of eventually hitting the jackpot!
