Spreading a New VirusPart 1

The Marketing Prescription

that Gives You a Buzz

Viral Marketing

• Avalanche Marketing

• Buzz Marketing

• Cascading Style Marketing

• Centrifugal Marketing

• Digitally-Augmented Word of Mouth

• Exponential Marketing

More Viral Marketing

• Fission Marketing

• Grassroots Marketing

• Organic Marketing

• Person-to-Person Marketing

• Propagation Marketing

• Referral Marketing

Still More Viral Marketing

• Ripple Marketing

• Self-Perpetuating Marketing

• Self-Propagating Marketing

• Wildfire Marketing

• Word-of-Mouse Marketing

• Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Buzzword of the Year - 1998

“The award for Internet marketing buzzword of the year goes to

‘viral marketing.’” --Iconocast, 16 Dec 98

Earliest Citation: 27 Sep 89

• Ernst & Whinney

• Compaqs v. Macintosh SE’s

• People stood in line for the Macs

• “It’s viral marketing,” said John Bownes of City Bank. “You get one or two in and they spread throughout the company.”

--Tim Carrigan

PC User

Viral Marketing I

Viral marketing is the promotion of a service or product by using existing customers to pass along a marketing pitch to friends, family, and colleagues.

--Paul McFedries

The Word Spy

Viral Marketing II

Viral marketing is network-enhanced word of mouth.

--Steve Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Viral Marketing III

Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.

--NetLingo

Viral Marketing IV

Viral marketing is advertising that propagates itself.

--Unknown

Viral Marketing V

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.

--Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Viral Marketing – Our Take

Viral PR and marketing techniques are those that cost little or no money and that, either alone or with careful encouragement, can spread information, virus-like, from recipient to recipient until the information or “buzz” has reached a critical mass.

--CornerBarPR.com

Unfair!

“We believe that the Internet provides an unfair competitive advantage to nimble startup companies. A good idea can spread like wildfire, if its business model maps to the medium. Viral Marketing adds fuel to the fire.”

--Steve Jurvetson & Tim Draper

Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Word of Mouth

For the majority of consumers, TV advertising is not a big influence in their decisions on which car to purchase….

--Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Reported by Mark Ramsey

Radio marketing Nexus

Amazing Stat

Word of mouth was cited as most important by a whopping 71 percent

of respondents.

Direct mail was a distant second at

48 percent. --Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Reported by Mark Ramsey

Radio marketing Nexus

The Good News

• Extremely Low Cost• Great Credibility

– The recipient usually trusts the source• Can grow exponentially• Can quickly knock out or discourage

competitors

Friends and Family

The majority of people rely more than ever on friends and family, rather than advertising or editorial, to decide which restaurants to try, places to visit, prescription drugs to purchase, hotels to stay in, and videos to rent. --Roper Research

Reported by Mark Ramsey

Evangelists

“Produce a superior product, get people enthusiastic, and they’ll become evangelists.” --Advertising Age

Reported by Mark Ramsey

Radio Marketing Nexus

Notebook Computer

Made it around the world in – what? – two days?

Video

So, What’s the Catch?

• Can be slow• Inefficient• Totally out of your control

– You cannot control the message– You have to trust– Your key points may be lost

Guerilla Marketing

Any targetable, far-reaching, high-frequency and low-entry-cost marketing tactic falling outside the realm of television, print, and radio.

--Erik Hauser

Swivel Media

www.SwivelMedia.com

Guerilla Marketing Methods

• Street Teams

• Poster Sniping

• Stenciling

• Product/Service Sampling

• Street Theater

• PR Stunts

• Human Billboards

• Ambush Marketing--Swivel Media

Intel Pentium

Floating Point Division Problem

Yawn

Craigslist.org

Pin Drop

“Care for Nooner?”

• Houlihan’s Restaurants

• Arnold Worldwide-St. Louis

• Double-entendre-laden “Nooner” promo

• www.HaveANooner.com

• Guerilla tactics …– Small ads in alternative weeklies– They simply ask, “Care for Nooner?”

Loose Lips Sink Ships

All together now, …

Wassup?

End of Part 1

Continue to Part 2• http://www.CornerBarPR.com/presentations/StLouis2.ppt