Viral Marketing – The Myth

Certainly we are all aware of some viral campaign or another. I’m sure we are all aware of at least one. The Sunday Times prepared a list of the Top 10 Viral Campaigns in 2007, amazing really, and the content, well it’s different. One of my favorites is the “Will it blend” campaigns.

Viral campaign marketing is a myth, it’s inane to suggest than one marketer or marketing campaign could PLAN for a viral result, it’s just not possible. Going back what made the hula-hoop or the pet rock big sellers?
There is no formula.

Unfortunately for most of us, and most advertisers we need to stick to the basics. As much as we look for the Purple Cow in all we do, our internet marketing and online advertising needs to be about the basics. Our advertising and online goals must be the same.

I take all our clients back to these two issues when discussing their web presence. As far as I can see, there are two objectives, either to sell something, an actual online transaction or in the alternative provide information that will assist in the actual purchase of something. In some cases it can just be about providing information, but let’s remember your marketing and advertising are all about selling something.

I’m constantly reminded that we need to focus on the basics, here’s a brief list to consider on a daily basis.

• Consistent – build your brand, build your image
• Customer – know what they look like and know what they need
• Competitors – know what they look like and know what they provide
• Benefits – promote the emotion of benefits over the features
• Advertise – get the message out, what’s your story

So, once you have the basics in place, whether it be your signage, your business card, your website, your blog, your mobile app, your YouTube video or your mailing piece (yes we recommend them), then you can consider something different, something that might go viral.

As your digital agency, we recommend that you start with the basics; you can stand out, in fact in today’s environment it’s imperative. You need to be different, you need an image that is easy to recall, a website that is easy to navigate. However, building a great campaign is one thing, creating a buzz is another. Going viral is just plain dumb luck.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5 Ltd, December 2010

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