I’m sure you have heard the term “viral marketing.” Not really quiet sure what it is or what it means?
One thing is for certain “viral marketing” has nothing to do with computer viruses. It is a term to describe marketing your business with information products that can get passed around the Internet, such as videos, eBooks, podcasts, special reports, forwarded emails, and more. Below I will touch on some viral marketing tips to help you better get your business out there on the web.
When done correctly, these viral marketing tips can be very cost-effective and easy to implement.
To get started, take a moment and think about your target market and what they would find helpful. To get the most out of your viral marketing, try to create something that your target market would enjoy so much they would want to share it with their friends. Hopefully, the people they share it with will also share it with their friends, and so forth.
For example, if you sell food related items, you could create a special report on creating gift baskets. On the cover page as well as the last page of your report, you could include your logo and website address. You could also use this same report as a “freebie” to encourage sign-ups for your newsletter. Once people sign up for your newsletter, you can send them a link that will allow them to download the special report. You can let them know that they can forward the report to family and friends. This is when viral marketing comes into play.
By doing this, you will increase the size of your mailing list, and if the people on your mailing list find your special report to be helpful, they will send it to other people. Since your website URL is on the report, the people who received the report as a forward may become curious and visit your site, which will increase your website traffic.
The key is to keep everything very helpful and light. If you created something that was blatantly advertising your business, some people may automatically disregard the product and will decide not to send it to anyone else. This defeats the whole process of viral marketing.
Some other viral marketing tips and ideas are as follows:
eCourse: An eCourse is similar to a special report, except that it is broken down into several days and each day a new “lesson” is delivered to the subscribers’ email. Ecourses can work great as this process allows you to be able to contact your subscriber several times which in turn gives you an opportunity to build a relationship with them and gain their trust..
eBook: An eBook is longer than a special report, and it is something you could potentially charge people money for. However, if you want to use it as a promotional item, it can definitely work very well.
Top 10 List: Some people do not have time to read an eBook and just want the “Cliff Notes” of a particular topic. A Top 10 list can serve this purpose. For example, depending on whom your target market is and what type of products you sell, you could create a list of creative ways to save money on your next vacation or share tips on eating the right kinds of foods for healthier skin.
These viral marketing tips are easy to apply and anybody can start implementing them today.