Re: Viral Marketing

From: Kim Brooks <kbrooks_at_bardo-brooks.com>
Date: Mon 20 Dec 1999 11:27:03 -0800

RICHARD PESTES WROTE:
> Can anyone offer examples or case studies of viral
> marketing campaigns that have worked, or even not
> worked?

Viral marketing is new little buzz, but it's an old
concept and very broad. Here's a laundry list:

- Hotmail, their sigline approach being oft-cited
- Those old "Top 5%" badges that showed off how cool
  your site was & linked back to pointcom.com (remember
  that?)
- Any of those email-a-card or share-this-Flash-movie
  things
- "Send this recipe to a friend" at Epicurious
- "Send this article to a friend" at ZDNet, cnet,
  others
- In a more money-driven, high-admin way, Amazon's
  affiliate program is a kick-back viral plan.
- c|net's new content-sharing program, where anyone can
  use articles if the logo and link are in tact.
- Search engines letting anyone put a search box on
  their site.

A basic description of viral marketing: the idea is to
drive customers to your site through any link or
referral, so get as many links and referrals as
possible. You motivate links and referrals with a
range of incentives: prizes (bring-a-friend, get a
prize), worthwhile service or content
(send-this-article), money (amazon's affiliates),
flattery (the top-5% approach).

All of these examples are big guys. So how can you
translate this to a real-life corporate site or smaller
budget? Think of what you have to offer, then give it
away. Content? Graphics? Games? Searchable
database? Prizes? I've done a few programs for
various clients, some more successful than others - but
the cost has always been lower than the payout. It's a
good thing!

Kim Brooks
kbrooks_at_bardo-brooks.com




Received on Mon Dec 20 1999 - 13:27:03 CST