How viral marketing enhances the ingredients of a promotional mix

Word-of-mouth publicity is a centuries-old marketing technique. Once customers had a good experience with a product, they would tell their friends, who would often buy and use that product and then tell other friends – dispersing information and recommendations about the product via a social network. Mary Kay Cosmetics and Amway, brands that relied on social networks to inform potential customers about their products, used this technique with great success to build highly recognizable brands. Technology makes the spread of product knowledge from one person to another faster and more efficient. Today, digital media like the Internet are the new word of mouth networks, which act as easy, additional resources for people to spread the word. "The Net amplifies the power and accelerates the speed of feedback from users to potential adopters." "People have always relied on word-of-mouth to spread the news about products and services. The Internet just speeds things along. Word-of-mouth techniques are vital to marketing on the Internet. Consumers say the primary source of credibility that makes them visit a Web site is word-of-mouth referrals, usually an e-mail from a friend. Tim Draper, one of the founding investors for the free e-mail product Hotmail, and a partner with the venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (www.dfj.com), coined the term "viral marketing" in 1997 when he first noticed similarities between the rapid adoption of products via word of mouth and the spread of biological viruses. Draper noted the viral phenomenon after Hotmail went from 0 to 12 million subscribers in just eighteen months, largely because the product included a linked advertisement link for their service at the bottom of every email and offered a compelling service. Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. On the Web, the technique has been called "word-of-modem," "word-of-mouse," "networked-enhanced word of mouth," "grass-roots marketing," and "a highly infectious digital sneeze." A virally-marketed product is often said to have "buzz."

[...] Part of the future of viral marketing may be new and creative permutations of "affiliate programs," in which persons explicitly include promotional materials for and links to a product in their e-mail messages or on their Web sites in exchange for something of value, usually financial incentives. "Stores pay out only for actual sales, but get their logos emblazoned on thousands of sites for free. By tossing in viral marketing, stores hope to have their names inscribed on millions of e-mail messages, too." Also, future viral marketers may hone their efforts to target e-fluentials, those influential persons who help shape the opinions and attitudes of the majority of persons. [...]

[...] An example: A viral marketing campaign for your online business website Use your free viral marketing resources first You already have marketing material and resources to start your viral marketing campaign today: First, you can use the power of every email you send by adding a signature (SIG) to them. A SIG is automatically is included in every email you send. Additionally, put your website on every piece of marketing material you use brochures, letterheads, and business cards. Then develop viral marketing products unique to your website . [...]

[...] THE FUTURE OF VIRAL MARKETING The purpose of this was to provide a brief glimpse of how traditional advertising is slowly becoming lost amid the newer and more innovative alternate executions of viral marketing. There are many opinions regarding its value and whether or not it will be a temporary fad or if it will eventually begin to push other conventional forms of communicating advertising messages to the back of businesses’ minds. The following are a few thoughts from various advertising and marketing professionals. [...]