Re: Viral Marketing

From: Marcia Yudkin <75200.1163_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Thu 16 Dec 1999 07:43:35 -0500

RICHARD PESTES WROTE:
> Viral Marketing - Yet another of the latest "buzzwords"
> for online marketing, I've been hearing lots of talk,
> mostly questions, about "viral marketing" lately. It
> seems to be the online marketers' version of creating
> good old fashioned word-of-mouth.

There's a difference. Viral marketing, as I understand
it, is BUILT-IN, NO-EFFORT word of mouth. More
specifically, the person passing word along is not the
one who actually puts out the effort to do so. For
instance, when you enrolled in MCI's Friends & Family
program, MCI did the work of contacting the friends &
family and getting them to sign up. When you sign up
for free e-mail, the advertising gets automatically
inserted and helps sign up new customers every time
you use it.

With traditional word of mouth, the company must depend
on satisfied customers thinking to recommend them. It
doesn't happen automatically.

Marcia Yudkin
Author, Marketing Online, Second Edition
http://www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm




Received on Thu Dec 16 1999 - 06:43:35 CST