The New Marketer - Viral Marketing Part 3 of 4

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I'm going to throw my iPod in my Blendtec blender.

None of us can deny the iPod is a beautiful piece of technology. In fact some of us may even have emotional attachments to the iPod. It contains our favorite music, and that music makes us feel a certain way.

So when Tom Dickson founder of Blendtec painfully put his own iPod into his blender and filmed it, the impact was pretty amazing. Not just because of his connection to his iPod, but because Tom Dickson will blend just about anything to prove that his blender is the top of the line of blenders. Tom actually puts on an amazing online show called "will it blend". So far, Tom has blended golf balls, marbles, cubic zirconia, credit cards, Barbie dolls, a video camera ... and well, you get the picture.

So, what is so amazing about the fact that this man blends things? The amazing thing is that millions of people watch his videos. People from all over the world send him things to blend. The formula is simple, it's easy, its visual and people want to see it. After watching him blend several golf balls, after saying "that's cool", you also have to say, that's one tough blender!

The premise is simple, and we automatically understand it. There is nothing calculated or complicated. Tom's blender videos have gone viral. They are viewed millions of times on Youtube and on Blendtec's website. They are on blogs and other websites all over the Internet. And people just like you and me send our friends emails saying, "You have got to watch this guy". Check out this link as he blend as Apple iPhone, nearly 3.5 million views so far. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

What is viral marketing? Viral marketing is an idea that is passed through the community much like a common cold. People simply pass along the virus and pretty soon its everywhere and everyone is talking about it. And once again it's usually the simplest ideas, the simplest concepts that work the best.

Visual ideas usually spread best. If the idea requires an effort by the audience, the chances of that idea going viral are small.

So if it's so simple, why don't more companies and major manufacturers incorporate viral marketing into their advertising? Many do try, but they are still bogged down by the old style of marketing. Marketers face a battle against a savvy ad-allergic audience. There is nothing worse than a big company trying to present a viral idea wrapped up in a slick production. Many companies have angered consumers by trying to trick the audience into believing that a skateboarder in a video just happened to be wearing a certain pair of shoes and just happened to fall in front of the camera with the logo bearing soles displayed at the perfect camera angle. Instead of building up goodwill, the consumer will turn on that company and give them a public flogging.
What are some of the key elements needed to create a true viral marketing campaign?

· There has to be enough of a back-story, it has to be something that the consumer is going to understand and be able to identify with.
· Curiosity is a major factor. There has to be a curiosity element involved. Not the same old cliché used over and over. Notice how when there is one good commercial on TV, suddenly all of the other ad agencies jump on it and begin producing commercials with the same format. You need to keep people guessing, where there preconceived ideas are challenged.
· Curiosity is very important, but it is only half of the formula. You need to deliver, there has to be an effective punch line. What good is a joke that gets you hooked and then doesn't deliver at the end? We all feel like we've wasted our time.
· The idea needs to be easy to deliver and to be passed to others. The idea needs to be tempting.
· The idea needs to come from a reliable source. This is why idea viruses are usually spread so quickly. Viruses are spread by word of mouth and friends emailing friends about their new find.
· Visual ideas appeal to the audience. If your audience has to invest a lot of time to comprehend the idea, then most likely your viral campaign will fail.

This is not to say that ALL viral marketing ideas that involve some interaction with the audience will fail. There have been some great viral ideas that have been extremely successful, and that is because of the masterful story telling done by the marketer.

Consider the Blair Witch Project, which costs $22,000 to make, yet grossed $248 million dollars. The marketing behind the Blair Witch Project was masterful. Hale and Monello (the creators of the Blair Witch Project) made us question whether this film was "truth or myth". Online, they started blogs and website forums that fed the audience bits and pieces of the Blair Witch mythology. Items such as police reports, and lost pages from the missing students diaries were posted. They also cut a deal with the Sci Fi channel to run a one-hour pseudo-documentary on the authenticity of the Blair Witch.

To keep the fervor alive until the film was released, they would release more and more of the story yet strategically hiding important details. Soon the media was buzzing about the film, and radio hosts and newspapers began discussing the authenticity of the Blair Witch.

A beautiful viral campaign was run by creating months of back-story, creating a community where one did not previously exist and creating an ongoing element of curiosity, which they painstakingly escalated until the films release.

All of the examples of viral marketing involve curiosity and the anticipation of a rewarding delivery at the end. You cannot force feed viral marketing on your audience. Make sure your ideas are simply, easy to understand, are familiar and that they deliver the goods at the end! A good showman always leaves his audience wanting more.

Copyright 2008 FMWebschool Inc. http://www.fmwebschool.com Written by Stephen Knight

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The New Rules of Email Marketing

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Could it be true in the world of cell phone, TV advertisements, blogs, forums, RSS feeds and pod casts that 90% of Internet users and 56% of all Americans still rely on email as their main way of communicating with other individuals. Americans send over 2.4 trillion emails a year. Still, if you use emailing as a marketing tool, you are fighting a battle that may do more harm to your business than good if you are not diligent in following the new rules of email marketing.

In this article, I discuss the ways email marketing has changed, as well as how important it is to engage your customer. You will learn how to actually help your customers benefit from your emails and avoid hammering them over the head to use your products or services.

Point: Over 50% of consumers define SPAM as, "I once gave my permission but I no longer wish to receive emails."

Did you know that the average ROI (Return On Investment) on most email campaign averages about 4%? Open rates have dipped to all time lows, and email recipients are all too ready to push the "report as spam" button. Why is this happening? Why this animosity towards email? Americans are inundated and frustrated with being "talked at" and "sold to". Today's consumer is exceptionally savvy when it comes to marketing. The average US consumer spends 14 hours of week watching TV and then another 14 hours a week surfing the web. For your emails to impact this audience, they have to be engaging and beneficial.

Engagement allows the consumer to take an active role; it's about a two-way dialogue. Engagement allows other customers to interact with other customers, and with you. It allows you to interact with you on their terms not your company's terms. One way we do this is by including discussion links in our emails. This link takes the customer to a forum where they can express their opinions whether it is about the company; the product or whatever is on their mind. This gives the customer an important voice, as well as makes them an integral part of the decision making process. This form of discussion teaches you how your customers want to be approached and how you can fulfill their needs by providing them with valuable resources.

Too many companies focus on building their list. They are consumed with the number of individuals they have on their email list. The reasoning is, the more customers I have on my list, the more people I can sell to. The reasoning seems to make sense, but more numbers does not covert into more sales. ISP Service providers do not like large amounts of emails to be sent out. Companies such as AOL block about 75% of the 2 billion emails it receives daily. Companies need to focus on building a reliable reputation and sending out quality emails. Make sure that you populate your list with individuals that have expressed interest in your products or services – even with this, make sure that they are added to your email list via an opt-in confirmation.

Use a reputable email service such as Constant Contact. Companies such as Constant Contact have many beneficial tools that enable you to monitor your email campaigns. These features include detail reporting on bounces, click-throughs, unsubscribe, links clicked etc. Another very positive opportunity is to watch you web logs for spikes to see when your site consistently has the most traffic. Begin to send out your emails on those days. Using a company like Constant Contact will enable you to automate your email experience and allow you to focus on excellent content.

Another great service that most email services provide is the ability to segment your lists into groups. If you sell multiple products, you do not want to send an email over and over to your entire email list when many of them may have already purchased your product. Segment your email lists into groups and then focus on sending them relevant content. Researches have found that by segmenting groups, there was a 7x increase in open rates and a 14x increase in click through rates. If you are not segmenting your list currently, you may want to start.

An email marketer's nightmare is to make it easy to unsubscribe from their mailing list, but this must be done. Make unsubscribing easy, it is much better than upsetting them and having them report your email as SPAM. Provide you customers with the tools they need to have a positive experience with your company. If they report your email as SPAM, you will most likely have lost the customer for good.

Creativity never hurts, unless your not. Many email companies allow you to send both text and HTML formatted emails. HTML formatting allows you to create some very powerful presentations, simply by including images, audio or video. Researchers have found that well designed emails can increase response rate by up to 75%. The main thing is to get you reader involved in the email and to make your email interactive and unique. Retailers such as Barnes and Nobles and Borders bookstores are perfect examples of advertising done right. Their emails include book reviews, introduction to new books as well as discount coupons. Their emails are informative, engaging, and they have a "call to action". They physically get you to click on a link and print a coupon to take to the store.

By applying some of the new tactics and guidelines above, your emails will not only be read, they will engage the customer in a beneficial way. I wish you great success in your emailing endeavors.

Copyright 2008 FMWebschool Inc. http://www.fmwebschool.com Written by Stephen Knight

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