The Smart Way to Reach Your Customers™

Email marketing is an easy and affordable way to grow your business

Get in touch

Phone: 01573 44 03 55

Fax: 08712 77 23 24

Email: ask@web-workshop.net

The Gyle Shopping Centre

One of Edinburgh's
premier places to shop
...See more

dotBiz

Guide To Viral Marketing - Part 2

dotBiz logo In Part 1, we looked at how viral marketing can benefit your business, using word-of-mouth to spread your message across the Internet and make you sales. One of the quickest and most cost-effective methods is email. It has low distribution costs and can be delivered very quickly - that’s why many businesses use it as their main marketing tool.

You can also use your website just by placing an irresistible offer on it, like a special promotion, competition or free information. Add a 'Tell a friend' link to it and visitors will be able to send it on to their network of friends and family very easily.

Affiliate programmes were initiated by the likes of Amazon, and involve placing a link on an affiliate’s website that drives visitors to yours. The affiliate would then earn a percentage of any sales made by these visitors on your site. These work best when the products or services that your affiliate offers complement yours.

Successful viral marketing campaigns can create huge interest in your company and brand, but getting it right is Holy Grail. You need an understanding of your customers, how they are motivated, and the methods for managing and monitoring your campaign. Here are some of my top tips:

First of all, really get to know your customers. Do some research and analyse any information you already have to hand.
Decide what your offer is going to be. This is the item, message, experience, promotion or product that you incorporate in your email or website page that will prompt your customers to recommend it to others. Viral marketing is most effective when you are providing your customers with something they cannot get anywhere else.
Give people an incentive. If a customer forwards a message to a number of people – say three to five – they’ll receive a gift voucher, discount or entry to a competition.
Make it simple for customers to pass your message on. Don't make the message too long or complicated and keep it straightforward. Ensure that your email, download, logo or content is easy to forward on, such as including a "Tell A Friend" link on the relevant web page so that users can email the page to others.
Monitoring a campaign can be difficult. Try and identify where customers have come from and how many click-throughs and conversions have come from each referral group. By weighing this up against the cost of the campaign, you'll be able to see which deliver the highest return on investment.
As the aim of your campaign is to create as many leads as possible, you must make sure you have scalability. You don't want business to grow so much that you cannot cope. If you're offering a free trial of a product or a service, make sure you are prepared for the demand that your campaign will generate.

So there you have an introduction to viral marketing. Now, go and spread the word.