In 2001, Business Week cited advertising for the Blair Witch Project as a striking example of viral marketing.  The advertising campaign insinuated that the footage was “real”, filmed by a group of college students that had disappeared, presumably leaving only their video camera behind.

Teasers were first seen on TV and then posted on the internet.Viewers were highly encouraged to share the footage with all their friends.The film grossed over $248 million and cost only $35,000 for the production.Who wouldn’t want to see sky high profits like that?

Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” was listed in Wired as a highly successful example.Although it is quite difficult to assess the amount of new customers that Burger King has attracted with this specific campaign, it is a popular website.

Some more “down to earth” viral marketing examples for those of you that may be trying to grow your own business are newsletters and automated e-mails campaign.With very minimal software, you can drive visitors to your website to sign up for your newsletter.  That gives you their e-mail address.

With each newsletter, you might ask for the e-mail addresses of friends that would also be interested in your products or services.  You can see how this could increase your contact base relatively quickly.  You don’t have to worry about being called a spammer, because the customer requested the newsletter.

One of the most effective viral marketing examples, according to many experts, is the single line method used by “Hotmail”.They offer people to sign up for free e-mail.At the very bottom of every complimentary email a person sends, there is a single message that reads “Get your private, complimentary email at http://www.hotmail.com”.The website address is essentially a link.

All that they had to do was stand back and wait for thousands and thousands of people to sign up.  People love free stuff.  The most effective campaigns always offer something free, whether it be playing with a virtual chicken or reading a newsletter relevant to their interests.

When you are able to get people to tell their friends about your product or services, the ripple effect spreads like a virus, which is why the phrase was originally coined.There are many viral marketing examples.  Anyone that is not at least trying to do it is not growing their business as much as they could.

It is essentially no different from word of mouth advertising, has parallels to multi-level marketing and it is very effective.  The right campaign for your business depends on what your company sells or the services that you offer.  But there are six basic elements that make up an effective strategy.  First, you have to give something away.

Correct, you are in business to sell items, but people love free give away items.What item you can give away depends on your company.It may be a short piece of information, like a newsletter, delivered via e-mail.You might offer a unique item, like a doormat, but in order to get the “special” doormat, the customer might have to buy it.

Candidates during the recent presidential campaign used this method to get donations.When a person signed up to receive their free bumper sticker, they were directed to tell some of their friends.They entered the e-mail addresses of some of their friends and a viral email marketing strategy was started.

The second element is the ability to transfer the information effortless from one person to the next.E-mails are exactly right for this.With a little software or a dynamic marketing company, the entire system can be automated to the point that you never need to do much of anything.

The third element is to have the ability to handle the increase in business.  What if the virus spreads and you become inundated with new orders that you are unable to fill.  That’s one of the things to think about before you partake in a viral email marketing campaign.

The fourth and fifth points are to take advantage of usual motivations and existing communication networks. Common human motivations would include greed, the need to be loved, as well as popular and understood.

The existing communication networks are those e-mail addresses that nearly everyone has.Sociologists say individuals have a network of at least 8-12 people with whom they communicate with often.Your main goal is to enable each of your customers to provide you with those e-mail addresses or, send your message along to others.

That’s how viral email marketing works and is the last element of the campaign; taking advantage of the resources of others.

Although there are different commercial applications, there are still some of those that could set your website up for success.  Viral Marketing is such an online marketing tool|Viral marketing is such a website marketing service.  Viral marketing has nothing to do with a computer virus.  It just got the name because the way that it multiplies is simililar in efficiancy

Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique based upon the effect you get when people tell other people about the viral product. Marketing companies sometimes promote a product by latching it onto a product that is not based on selling anything that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

Many companies offer incentives such as discounts and rebates when they help in spreading their viral marketing. They rely on the number of recipients a viral marketing gets from one person in determining the amount or number of incentive they can be attributed with.  Whether you are looking to download video capture freeware or even if you are interested in finding out tips on how to do stuff, you should definately look into incorporating viral marketing in your online promotion strategies.

Most every site and companies are catching on to the effectivity of Viral Marketing and Advertising. Not using it could kill your business. Along with other schemes and methods in promoting your site, like Search Engine Optimization and such, viral marketing could easily push you ahead in the rating games.

All it takes is a great idea, a good addicting game, a funny story many ideas are still out there. Create a gossip or a buzz, many movies are promoted by using scandals and gossips to make them moiré popular. Microsoft’s Hotmail were the first known big company to utilize the scheme and it has worked wonders for them.

Act now and reap the benefits. Viral Marketing will provide for you and your sales figures.

How To Rotate

So just what is Viral Marketing?

It’s really just a way to get your information out to a boatload of prospects by using the power of other people e.g. word of mouth. In other words the idea is to spread your message much like a real virus would spread.

Infection in this case is usually can be a fantastic thing; in this context it’s your audience becoming aware of you and your web site.

Now the actual message can be in many formats, ranging from email to videos and everything in between.  The idea is to convince potential prospects who already have your message to share it to people they know, multiplying your message spreading exponentially.

First, let me make it perfectly clear that I am not advocating spamming millions of people.

Apart from the legalities of doing this, sending spam is just dumb, because often not even seen due to smart spam filters, and even if is seen it’s clear that going to spread is it? After all if it makes it past the spam folders and actually makes it into someone’s Inbox, it’s just going to get deleted with haste when and if it is read.

Here we go with what seems the topical phrase of many articles relevant useful content is the key.  Giving value to prospects is absolutely vital.

So how do we get internet users to do your work for you?  How do you get them to do that? Spread your viral content that is.

First things first, it simply must be something relevant and useful.

In other words it has to have real value.  The visitor who has got your information has to fully believe it will give value to someone else otherwise they won’t spread it to anyone else.

One thing I have found in this industry is almighty power of joint ventures. It’s a lot easier to get your message out there if you have partners in the industry with large lists of their own.

Let’s say you have released a new Podcast. You currently have a mailing list of 2000 prospects who have expressed an interest or actually purchased something from you in the past.

Your info product would be of course in a related niche so you feel sure you can generate some interest in it from your readers so that is the first place to attack.

You will likely find that some of your prospects will send the offer to their friends if they think it’s worthy.

Ahhh the power of word of mouth advertising, Is there any more powerful force in marketing then getting your customers telling their friends how cool, hip and fantastic you and your products are?  This is a viral marketing campaign on steroids.

If you can get list members telling their family about your info and then once they get value out of it and then tell their friends well you can see that it will take very little time at all to have a dramatic response to your sales message.

You’ll be needing to buy more servers for your site because the old one has crashed with overwhelming web traffic you get.

Take the time to learn more about viral marketing.  I feel confident that you will greatly benefit from using these techniques in your internet marketing.

Most of these services, however, especially those that supply non-exclusive leads, leave a lot to be desired. I’m sure that almost everyone has had the problem of buying a leads list that has already been called on by the competition four or five times already, leaving both those prospects and your sales force feeling both annoyed and let down. Which is why choosing the correct type and kind of referral services for your company is of paramount importance.

Putting money towards something eventually might pay off, but it works quicker if you have basic data about your prospective referral service before you start.

Where are these leads generated from? From their own marketing, or from an amalgamation service such as Monster, are the leads supplied? How many other companies have these already been sold to? Does this service have some sort of return or duplicate policy? When and how often will you be provided with new leads from them? (Not the best choice having a service that supplies 200 fresh leads once a month if you have 5 salesmen to support). Does this service give me thesupport I mahy need in other areas? (A client referral program etc..) Will their referral services be able to expand and grow to support more demand from me, as and when I need it? What are their current clients’ conversion ratio’s, for a similarly priced product or service as yours, when you are the referral services leads?

These questions may seem obvious, but too many people using a service seem to just fall asleep after they sign up. Decide on whether to use a service by applying the most basic form of business equation – will I make more by buying and using this, or not? The same basics apply to whether or not the service is right – Will I get what I pay for and need from them?

It is a known fact that if one person recommends you to another through word of mouth then the person referred is more likely to buy. A referral program similar, except a little more methodical. Basically, it’s a method that allows your clients to recommend numerous people to your services. Remember the Pareto Principal – you’ll get 80% of your business from 20% of your clients. It is impossible to know right off the bat which ones will give the most business.

If this is new to you, it’s worth running over the basics of a referral program. It’s important to make sure that your customers are overjoyed – an unhappy client is not going to refer you ever. When a client sends you a referral, make sure you thank them. That little bit of recognition will have great meaning to a person. Reward your clients for these – it doesn’t have to be something big, or related to your product listings, just a simple form of ‘Thank You” will always be appreciated by people.

Be sincere when you ask for referrals. People usually do not spend time on something other than their own needs, so making it as quick as possible is best. Taking an idea as simple as this and using it properly can have a tremendous effect on a business’s life and growth.

A referral program should ensure that you get quality, actionable contacts to follow up on. It is not written in stone that they must “buy now” but that at some point they will change to active customers, if followed up on well. With all programs, it’s necessary for you to make sure that it’s implemented correctly too. Referral programs offering whatever will work as well if most of your sales get done in person by your sales force, or in a retail store.

Keep things straightforward and simple until you have a great system, remember that what you do well may be specific to your company only. Run the program different ways until you get the desired results – if not, make some small changes until you reach a formula that works the best.

All high level websites have a page with customer testimonials, or referral letters. Here we have people (in some cases, allegedly) who have written in to compliment the site or product – doesn’t sound like much, does it? Over 60% of consumers have remarked that they 1) read user generated comments and 2) that their decisions have being greatly influenced by these testimonials. This is the main reason that many businesses spend large amounts on customer satisfaction and client follow-up.

With the current economic downturn, it’s no wonder that there is a high demand for these programs. Doing the little things has become so necessary that it’s worth mentioning them again briefly.

Make sure you follow up with your clients and prospects; ensure the sales and delivery process goes smoothly and to their satisfaction; follow up, every step of the way. When you’re assured of their satisfaction, then ask for a referral – or ask for a referral letter, depending on the product or service you are offering.

Where your company’s offerings are not in a wide demand setting, that is where referral letters will shine, and help to convert future customers. Knowing what these testimonials can do for your business, it’s something that should be a company mandate – to always ask for a referral, either direct or as a letter.

Integrating these letters into a sales presentation is not always easy or needed, but having them on hand to allow prospects to review an honest assessment by a previous client of your product or service will go a long way to showing that your company holds its responsibilities highly and backs it up. Taking into consideration the effect the referral letter has on sales is not easy and it’s incredibly hard to find metrics to back it up, but it is a known fact that our opinions do affect others, however trivial they may seem to us at the time, and that this influence has a huge impact on every sales arena.

If you are confident in your website and the products that you offer, then there are many companies you could choose from. You can even take a free course or paid class and learn how to “do it yourself”. Take time to do your research and look around. Read about the company’s techniques and see if it is something that you could apply. Try to establish how many people are in the network. Research any available testimonials.

There is one company that operates very quietly, almost hard to notice. The techniques that they use may be ok, but sites like YouTube would not approve of them. Moreover, their services can not be customized. They recommend the same methodology for all of their customers.

If they are to effectively grow your business, a viral marketing agency should tailor their solutions to suit your products or services. They should offer ways to keep in touch with your current clients and turn your clients’ friends into your customers.

One of the effective techniques is a regular newsletter, sent to your client’s e-mail address. If you have no clients, you may need to purchase a list of quality email addresses. Some of these lists were compiled by other companies. They ask their customers if they would like to receive information from affiliates. If the customer says “yes”, they become part of the company database.

It is entirely possible to locate a viral marketing agency that provides this sort of list together with their other services. To be most effective, you want the list to be targeted to include people in your niche market. If you are selling a toy, parents would be your target market. It would be wasting everyone’s time to send thousands of emails to seniors.

Some of the easier methods that you can employ include “social networking”. Become a member of an online forum or group, whose members have interests that are similar with your target. If you have yet to identify your niche, you may need a little more help than a viral marketing agency can offer. Everyone has a unique niche. In some cases, it’s just hard to see it, no matter where you stand. Someone outside of your company may be able to help you find your niche and grow your business.

Today’s computing technology is advancing greatly in the automation of tasks. These days, maximizing labor, time and profits and reducing costs is needed to stay in business. Having any strength in this area would require a reliable tool. That is what referral software is all about.

One cost-effective way of promoting the service or product that you sell is via affiliate programs. Managing business affiliations is a tedious process which can take up many hours of your day or night. Using referral software assists with a more convenient solution to keeping track of referral leads. It is simple to sign up to sell and market your company’s products or services. It allows for the optimization of the commissions earned from affiliates.

Referral software provides a solution to referring customers to a merchant’s site. It capitalizes on viral marketing methods and has automated the process. Business associates, friends and family members can form a large list that will grow your site’s database. Your website will be able to achieve a greater level of referral traffic all day long. Incentive delivery is simple and allows for multiple customer lists for different incentives at any given time, who are generating referrals.

STEPS ON HOW IT WORKS

Referral software is a web-based application program that works with set standard for customization and flexibility. The system can conform to whatever type of client of visitor you have. In terms of customization, it makes use of a subject line, email messaging, branding, and advanced referral software features that will make you brand appear everywhere. It works similar to a virus; it will display you ads from every form of page and email messages since it allows multiple referral systems. While it optimizes the number of people that will be led to your website, it still gives your website a uniform professional appearance. The affiliate program includes all the required tools that will help you generate sound e-commerce marketing strategies.

Aside from optimizing the number of people joining your website, the referral software makes the task of affiliate member maintenance an easy task. With that, keeping track of the member’s viewing stats, commissions, reports and configurations will be easier. Highly versatile, this web-based application makes it a great choice over conventional methods of human service delivery.

ADVANTAGES

The referral software allows a business owner to work anywhere since it is web-based. Due to the fact it can be logged in to any hosting facility, you will not have to worry about constant backups. IT costs are greatly reduced and the expenses for the equipment needed is non-existant. It might be about to get in touch with thousands of affiliate websites at flat fees. Even its self replicating page features are proven highly effective in improving a website’s URL search engine ranking. Referral software is wil increase you website’s traffic and using the affiliate members it works with will also increase the popularity of your site. You website’s increased popularity and increased number of clients or customers visiting will mean more profitability at the end of the day.

Why should you bother to get referrals? Referrals are free leads. Each referral you get costs you very little in either money or time, because they are actually part of your compensation for giving your existing clients excellent products and/or excellent service. So, the cost of all of your referrals is actually just the money and time you spend selling to your existing clients. If you have a spectacular product and your service is second to none, they will give you referrals.

Every referral saves you from cold-calling, they are pre-sold on your brand and they were not brought in by paid advertising. Every referral you get has been given, in a way, a testimonial about your company at no cost to you and no effort to you.

It is not hard to figure out that by getting referrals, you are virally growing your business. It works just like that old TV commercial about the great hair shampoo that impressed a woman so much that she told two friendsand they told two friendsand so on, and so on

A referral is someone who wants to talk to you. It is someone who wants to buy specifically from you. It is not an individual who finds your approaching them disturbing. Its not someone you have to spend a lot of precious time trying to qualify.

So, what are some of the ways that you can use to start getting referrals?

1. Ask for them. Make it a habit to ask your clients for referrals every time you have a good reason to contact them either about a new product or to give them customer service. If you compose e-newsletters, have a section in there every time where you always ask them to show anyone they know who could use what you offer.

2. Always give incredible customer service to your existing clients, and always send a thank you notice every time they buy from you.

3. Keep personal relationships with your clients if possible. Remember their birthdays; think of ways to reward them for remaining clients such as by giving them special client discounts off newly released products; and other things that you think of to show that you care.

4. Exchange website links with any of your clients who also run businesses.

Keep in mind that getting lots of referrals is the best method to get your business booming and make tons of cash.

A questions you could ask yourself it do you have a great product or service? Will clients be completely satisfied and refer your service or product to friends and family? if not, then viral marketing campaigns will have little value. 

The dynamic operating behind this type of campaign is that when people have a great experience online, they “tell” up to twelve others about it.  That’s according to the Opinion Research Council. 
Now, if the experience is a bad one, they will be even more inclinded to tell 12 people or more about it. Some people will also go the extra step and publish reviews online. When people have a bad experience, remember that they will often want to share their “pain” with others, especially if they are mad or outraged.

So first, you want to ensure that the majority of your customers or clients will be satisfied. You will never be able to make everyone happy, but you should try your best. 
Think of the possibilities here, if you sell one product and that person tells 12 people, then that person tells another 12, you get the picture. That’s how the virus reproduces and spreads itself.  Some people say that you cannot make this virus happen, that the product must be good enough to create it.  That may be true, but viral marketing products are still useful.

Your goal may be to increase your database and make people aware of the scope of services that you have to offer, as opposed to sending out thousands of email messages every week.  That is one of the services that some of the better companies provide. They make keeping in contact with your existing clients a whole lot easier. They propel your clients to pass along the information with friends, family and even business associates. In doing so, they are able to collect more e-mail addresses, that’s what creates this virus.

It’s not spam, because the only people that get these emails are those that have opted-in or those whose friends have suggested it to them. There are many free services available, and like anything, the value is questionable at best. If the email is going to end up in someone’s spam filter, there is no point in even sending it at all? If the service is free, it may just amount to a big waste of time, which in effect is a waste of money.

If you’re like most business owners, time is valuable, like they say, time is money.  There are some viral marketing products that are worth the money and save you time.

They can generate referrals for you business.  It is primarily your responsibility to convert those referrals into buyers.  Sometimes ad campaigns fail, not because there was not enough traffic driven to a website, but because the website failed to sell the product or service.Before you spend money on a service to encourage traffic to your site, be sure that your website effectively sells your company.

Effective word of mouth advertising ensures that consumers are frequently reminded of your company brand and the services you can offer.  That can be accomplished with regular e-mails that include your company’s name.A few of the better companies generate those e-mails for you, saving you and your employees time and money.

Before you invest in viral marketing tools, be sure that the company will provide a measurable return on your investment.  They should provide detailed reports concerning the number of referrals generated, the click-thru rates and the percentage of customers that buy, using the links that they generate. 

They should also be able to help you retain customers by continuously keeping in contact with them.This also assists in generating new customers.If one of your current customers highly recommends your products or services to a friend, you will often make a quick sale.People are influenced by their friends’ opinions.They are often wary of advertising campaigns.

If it interests you to make your company more “green”, choose some good internet viral marketing tools, rather than direct mailers.  E-mails are paperless and they are likely to be more effective.  It has been estimated that more than 40% of direct mail offers end up in the trash.A good e-mail campaign can generate a 50% referral rate, without cutting down any trees to do it, or generating more waste.

If you select a good company, you can generate another stream of revenue by referring other businesses to their services.It may be as simple as attaching a link to the company’s website on your pages.  The bottom line is that effective viral marketing tools can help you earn in several ways, as long as you choose the right company.

A recent study exemplified that two thirds of online marketing is expected to be done this way next year, which when coupled with the advent in leaps of Web 2.0.0 social networking and social marketing sites point towards promoting your product by word of mouth may be both more cost effective, and have an increasingly better ROI than more “traditional” online advertising media.

Think about the business model of the current social networking sites. There has yet to be a successful site of this type that charges, instead relying as they do on advertising income to turn a profit. While there is not in a real sense a metric that can be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing by word of mouth, it should be noted that there is one method of knowing if your campaign is succeeding – sales.

A company or client should know from their output volume exactly what the difference between before a campaign, during a campaign and after it’s stopped. This gives businesses a measurable statistic to show effectiveness of this type of marketing. It is true that not all businesses need or desire this form of sales technique, but is also through that not one business turns away prospects garnered from the by word of mouth method either.

Whatever your area of expertise, a study completed by Hill and Knowlton this year showed that decision makers are highly influenced by personal experience’s (58%), with recommendations tied at 51%. Coming in lower than expected was direct marketing at 21% with internet advertising lat 17%. These figures may only reflect the purchasing habits of key decision makers, but a young lady in Oregon deciding to buy one car insurance or another IS the key decision maker for that purchase, and her buddy Becky telling her to go with this company over that company will have a greater influence than any gravel-voiced actor pushing the product in a TV advert.

Essentially, this statistic can reflect any industry, any segment, if each purchaser is the key decision maker. This makes the resurgence of the world’s oldest sales tool a given – so get talking or tweeting, but tell everyone!

Reports, trials, tests and getting leads are many of the things they offer. Of course, if you want lots more, you must pay. That’s how this method of advertising campaign works. It is what you decide to do with your company, too.

It doesn't matter what you offer for sale, you need to think of something that you can give away. You might be an expert at carpentry. You might provide do it yourself tips and publish the information on your website or online magazine or even create a newsletter specifically for people that are interested in carpentry. Then find a way to let people know that you offer this information.

The only way to do free viral marketing is to do it on your own. You would need to create or buy a list of e-mail addresses. Join social networks, follow blogs, get on twitter. Post on all relevant forums. You can purchase a list of e-mail addresses and as well, some companies offer a “trial” for free. We know for certain that giving something away free often generates customers and gains interest.

Success of any campaign depends on reaching a big group of people and offering a free item. But, your success depends on the quality of the item or service that you have to offer. Any product only reaches virus levels if people really love it or they think that that it is a "must have" item. The cool aspect wears off. Valuable items usually always stay around.

Actually, I’m giving you free viral marketing advice right now. Do some companies charge for this kind of advice? There are actually classes that you have to pay for and what they teach is what I have just told you. Of course, they go into great detail to make you feel that the seminar was valuable. But, there really is not a lot to learn.

Do businesses charge to do the marketing for you? Yes. You can attempt these kinds of advertising campaigns , but they take up alot of time and effort. Your website might not even possibly be ready for the amount of business that a viral campaign might generate. If you read some more about free viral marketing, you’ll see what I mean.

It is in the nature of a person’s tendency to “tell their friends”. It is really just the terminology that is new. Surveys tell us that the average individual online has at least six close friends they communicate with on a regular basis. If they have a good experience with a product or a service provider, they will tell those six people about it.

Those same surveys tell us that when an internet user finds something valuable, informative, funny, interesting or free on the internet, they will share that with 12 of their “online friends”. Thus the internet is the stage for most viral marketing business models that are successful.

We have also been told by the pros that in order to sell something, you need to give something away. I recently read a free e-book about dieting. It made perfect sense. It was written by the marketing department of a supplement manufacturer. He suggested that you share the book with all of your friends. His main motivation was to sell supplements.

He could have sold the book. It contained just as much information as some of the diet books out on the market, but he realized the value of giving something away, what he would get in return would be far greater. Not only do people love give aways, they have a tendency to put trust in people or companies that give them something of perceived value with no strings attached.

You will see countless software programs on the web that offer a free versions and a “ultimate” version. This is another example of a viral marketing business model. If a person sees any free software program, they usually share it with up to 12 people they know would like to try it as well.

Social networking is becoming increasingly popular. People on MySpace and Facebook literally have hundreds of online friends and they “share” things with them on a daily basis. If you can provide something that they want to share, then you may have struck it rich.

There are other elements of a successful viral marketing business model. Coming up with something free that allows individuals to share it with others is the most important.

Keep it simple.  A 30 second clip is perfect.People have very short attention spans.If you have a long clip, shorten it.If you use the correct targeted keywords, parts will show up in the “related videos” area on YouTube. You don’t have to think twice about getting the entire story out.People will look at it, if they have interest in it.

Post all videos that you have together.  The more videos that you have out there, the more likely you are to get a click-thru to your website, which is of course the ultimate goal of viral video marketing.

Try to avoid making an obvious or outright advertisement.People will never share your videos with their friends if it looks like an advertisement.When you get their business, you can use e-mails to bring in friends of friends.Your first goal is to get viewers.

Once people see a thumbnail of your video, the important step is to get them to push the “play” button.You can do that by using a shocking or amusing headline, something that gets their attention.

Viral video marketing works best if “you” have a lot of friends.If you don’t have a Facebook profile and a My Space account, get one.Join chat rooms, clubs, groups and networks.Collect as many friends as you can.  Whenever you have new videos, you share it with all of them.You can include your real friends, you business acquaintances and your existing customers. 

Here’s why this is important. There are so many millions of people that have these types of accounts.Each one of them may have a few hundred close friends.When they come across an interesting or funny video, they will often share it with a large group of friends, who then share it with their entire list of friends.f you can get listed, you can literally reach hundreds of thousands of people in a day or two.

This all takes time and effort, that’s why there are companies that will do your viral video marketing for you.They have created a business out of enhancing your company.  Why not make it easy on yourself?

1. Family and friend recommendations are more infuential when giving out word of mouth information (AdAge).

2. Traffic to a site that posts reviews will typically return to that site nine times, and are twice as likely to purchase from that website than others (source: McKinsey and Co.Jupiter Media Metrix).

3. Consumers trust close friends more than experts or even celebrity endorsements (65%, 27% and 8%, respectively; Yankelovich).

4. A Nielsen worldwide study of some 26,000 users in over 40 markets reported that consumer recommendations were the most credible form of word of mouth information advertising within the 70% plus of respondents.

5. The figure is enourmous, 116 million user generated content was made in the U.S. alone in 2008, with an additional 82 million content creators. With the extended reach and influence of Web 2.0 and social networking, these figures are sure to climb (source: eMarketer.com).

6. Social network users are three times more likely to purchase a product or service on the strength of a recommendation from an associate or friend rather than any other form of advertising. (the source: Jupiter Research).

7. 86% of people asked said they trust a friend’s recommendation over the experts, with 83% saying they trust user generated comments over a critic’s (Marketing Sherpa).

8. 66% of social networkers are more inclined to purchase due to a recommendation, compared to 52% that aren’t social networkers (Royal Mail home shipping tracker).

9. 81% of holiday shoppers read through user reviews prior to purchasing (Nielsen Online).

10. Consumers totaling 86% read reviews on businesses before buying, with over 90% saying that they trust those reviews (Kudzu.com).

11. 49% of shoppers stated that they have made many of their purchases based solely on the strength of consumer reviews. Of this total 53% bought on the strength of user reviews;48% by comparison charts;41% due to editorial reviews and comments;58% due to shared shopping lists.

12. Nearly two thirds (62%) of home-based consumers browsed on line user generated product reviews before making a purchase (Deloitte and Touche) with 62% stating that they would also browse sites with user reviews in order to make entertainment purchases (Marketing Sherpa).

13. 7 out of 10 people who read consumer generated news and reviews are highly likely to share those opinions, which amplifies the impact (Deloitte and Touche).

14. 74% of surveyed consumers state they base purchasing on user generated reviews of their customer rating for a product or company (Society of New Communication Research).

As you can see, word of mouth information coming from trusted sources such as friends, consumers, etc. is the most powerful form of advertising.

There are essentially two methods of using the Internet to generate endless referrals: viral marketing and affiliate marketing. Viral marketing is essentially exclusive to the Internet. Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time, but is made easier and more powerful by the Internet.

Affiliate marketing might be difficult to make work for you if you are offering a product in a niche market. However, if you are offering a product or service that has broad appeal, such as teaching everyday people how to make serious money with minimal risk by investing in e-mini futures contracts on the stock market, then affiliate marketing will work wonders for you.

With affiliate marketing, some of your customers will turn into individuals who send business to you. Once you have great affiliate marketers, they send you most of your new business while you sit back and reap the benefits of the knowledge and training you gave out. They could be paying you a tiny amount of all the new revenues; or, you could set it up so that you pay them a huge commission for every sale they get for you, the balance is yours. So, for instance, every time they sell one of your products for you at $100, they get $40 and you keep $60.

The most important thing with affiliate marketing is that you make it possible for the affiliates to duplicate your own business model exactly, even if they are not the entrepreneurial kind by their nature. You want to have literally thousands of ?offices? open that all run like your original one. A way to get affiliates working for you is to set up the opportunity and list it as a link on your site when starting your business.

With viral marketing, you will use the power of social networking on the Internet. This will work if you sell to a niche or not, and may work better in a niche. Viral marketing works on the premise that associates of people who become your customers will listen to their recommendations and want to deal with you. This is an effective assumption.

Viral marketing operations by your making use of sites like Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Yahoo?s Buzz Up, and the ever growing array of other social bookmarking and networking sites to make yourself known in a relate-to-you oriented way rather than a sales and marketing way. People who understand your product offering and find it of interest will become a new customer. Then, they start blabbing to their friends about you, and send them to your website. After a time, your new sales (and repeat business) become effortless?for you are getting endless referrals.

If a customer is pleased with your product or service and tells you so, then is the time to say thanks, if you know of anyone else who might also benefit from what I have to offer, then please give them my contact information. A tiny variation of this is I'm pleased you are happy, perhaps you know someone else who would like to pay off their second mortage.

The above is a perfect scenario, very often people are most happy with what they get, but because we don’t act straight away and ask them, the time has come and gone.Another great way of developing a referral system is with the thank you letter where you thank a person for their business and then end saying that you have enclosed two of your business cards for them to pass on to others.

There are occasions however, when the above methods of developing a referral system do not work, especially in the financial sector. The fact of the matter is that people vary rarely discuss their finances with others, and so wouldn't be sure who might be interested in the services that you have to offer. Keep in mind, there are a couple of approaches to compiling a referral system that are far more likely to work.

Successful business people have realized that it is a must to stay in touch with your clients by asking them if they would like to receive your monthly news letter. This will give them helpful financial tips and at the end you could ask if they know anyone else who might be interested in the information.

You should network with other companies in your area and send out a letter now to try and get people together on the same referral page. When people meet this way, they are far more likely to make referrals to your business. These things are proven methods of building a referral system, but it won’t happen in a day.

If you are going to build a great referral system that will still work in the future, then you need to not rush.

To build a great referral network takes some work in getting people you know well already to understand what you have to offer as far as products and services, then they can refer others to you. Once you have a good network there will be no more cold sales calls because a network will refer people to you. Once you have educated individuals close by, like clients, colleagues and professional friends. When these people know enough about your product then they will be able to direct others towards you.

As you start building a network, you may want to decide what you could offer as an incentive for people to refer friends and family to you. To begin, you should offer new individuals to the network a small referral fee for bringing in new people to your business. What motivates many sales people is the commission check that they receive at the end of the month, offering a referral fee will motivate people to refer more business onto you. A powerful referral network will do almost all of your marketing for you.

Don’t be afraid to ask. If a customer is really happy with your service, they are going to be pleased to assist you with referrals. If there is a discount or a referral fee at the end of it, then they will be even more delighted to help you out. If you want to increase your business and create a powerful network then you must be proactive. nstead of waiting for a referral to you, just get out there and ask for them, most people will lend a hand, especially when that help is reciprocated in some way.

I have found that whenever I face a strange situation, such as asking for referrals, it helps if I write out what I want to say and then practice saying it aloud until it sits comfortably with me. When people see that you are comfortable in asking for their help then they are often more than willing to give it and this is a good way of building up a powerful referral network.

If a client compliments you on your product or service then this is the time to ask them if there is anyone else they know who would benefit from what you have to offer. They will probably be more than happy to refer someone to you when they know that your product or service is what they are looking for. If you stick with it in this way, you will quickly have a powerful referral network that will increase your sales exponentially.

If you tell me something that I think is interesting, I will tell my friends about it. They will tell their friends as well if they like it. They probably know people that I do not. So, growth can literally become exponential. It traditionally was called word of mouth advertising.

The biggest difference between word of mouth advertising and online viral marketing is the potential number of people that anyone at any given time communicates with daily. I can give you a personal example. I speak to my family every day in my personal life. I may speak to my family and friends once per week.

Some of them I haven’t talked to in years, “live”. I communicate to everyone at least once every day or so via e-mail and social networking sites. If something really grabs me that I think my friends will love too, I will share it with at least 30 people.

Surveys indicate that the average person shares this type of thing with 12 people max. So, I may be a little outside of the loop. The point is that the 30 people that I know will share with others. Effortless, this information ripples through this wave of people. Will the wave eventually crash?

If you have an effective online viral marketing strategy, you may be able to generate numerous waves; when one crashes, another forms. There are a number of different strategies, but all of the effective ones include one element. There is something “free” of value for people to share.

In some cases, it is just a well-done, simple commercial. Sony had one some time ago. It was posted on YouTube and people got it out there to people they knew. To date, it has been seen by thousands of people. How many people bought something? Who would possibly know?

The point is this. To reach hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the not so distant past, TV advertising would have been the only option. And, of course, you would have had to buy space on the most popular shows and the costs are prohibitive. With online viral marketing, you can reach that many people for next to nothing.

Offer something of value for no charge. What you choose to give might be simply information, an ebook or even software. One idea is that you might give a free download of a limited function software program. But, in order to get the “premium” version, the customer would have to pay.

Video game providers use this technique to the full extent. You can play their games free on the web, but to get certain features, you must buy their “complete” version. People that enjoy playing the game will usually pay for the full version or upgrade to the extended version. Viral marketing software cannot tell you what to give away. Only you yourself, or a specialized company that offers personalized service could determine that.

Another element is to create a methodology that would enable your free offer to be accepted if others were to receive it. Typically, this is done via e-mail. Surveys show that when a person finds something interesting on the web, they share it with an average of six friends. You can see how the number of people that you can contact grows exponentially, which makes the next element very important.

You must be able handle the increased business generated effectively. You may need to have an auto-responder set up or other virtual “assistants” in place. You might need to increase your stock, if you are selling an item or even overhaul your site to handle massive traffic. If you are providing a service, you will need to figure out what your ability is to handle new clients. Is is possible that viral marketing software do that? No.

The fourth element is to use common reactions to your advantage. Think of it this way, a common reaction to a picture of food is to stimulate hunger. If you sell food, you want every photo on your site and in any email communication that appears so tasty looking, it will create a feeling of hunger. Another example is the “what can it do for me” mentality. People don’t care to know every detail showing that a car has reinforced side beams. People just want to know that their family is protected in the automobile in the event of an accident. Show and tell a potential client what your product will do for them and you will have a new customer.

The last element, is to take full advantage of existing communication networks available. That’s the one thing that viral marketing software might be able to do for you. But, it cannot offer everything that you need for your campaign to be a success.

One of the best ways for you to be successful is to make sure that you are using WOMMA to your advantage. This means taking advantage of what word of mouth can do for your business.

In marketing, word of mouth can be everything. Word of mouth is basically what can get you the contract, bring you more customers, and what can help your reputation.

Word of Mouth Marketing Association helps you to capture customer satisfaction and turn it into a marketing advantage. The satisfaction of your customers is very important – chances are good that you know that already – but what you might not know is how important it is to treat those customers with the right type of respect and admiration. You want to be certain that when your customers speak about your business, that they are saying positive things. The more positive that you can make sure they are, the more you are going to get out of the word of mouth marketing association that comes along with them.

WOMMA helps take the pressure off your marketing budget, and allows your customers to work for you.If you want to take advantage of it, you first need to have the right category of customers. They need to be satisfied customers, who have had their expectations exceeded by your service or product. The experience should be something that they are excited to be associated with. You must provide the ultimate experience, because this is what the marketing system is operating on.

Therefore, it is your job to make sure that your customers and clients have the right type of experience that they will enjoy – so that they talk about you. Even though this is your main job – you can use WOMMA to make sure that the job gets done correctly.

When clients and customers are very happy, they are going to be talking about you. This is the part that is going to benefit you – because as they talk about you, they'll be saying good things about you and telling others that they should try you out. This is one of the best ways that you can be sure to draw in more customers – simply by allowing your current ones to tell others about you. These are the main principles that WOMMA will touch on for your business.

It can be combined with other forms of advertising, such as a television ad campaign or a direct mailer.Technically, media can be used in many forms.On the internet, a campaign may be created using video clips, interactive games, static images, and graphics or short emails.Newsletters are used by many companies as a way to start a dialogue.

Now that you know what viral marketing is, you may also want to know how and what makes it a great method.It would work because one person told someone they know about a great product they just experienced, something unique or a great company providing wonderful service.  Through word of mouth recommendations, the company would attract business to their front door.

Surveys have recently shown that when one person finds something interesting or hilarious online, they share it with about 12 friends, who share it with 12 friends and so on.The business brand spreads the way that a real virus spreads, via contact with other people.

So, that covers what is viral marketing and what makes it work.  Now, how can you take advantage of this?  How can you create a virus?There are many things that you can try.

First, you may want to identify your “niche”.  Who are the people that would be interested in your products or services?Are there professional meetings or clubs where you could find customers?  You might consider joining a professional group.The members in the group might eventually be your customers and they could refer your business to their own customers.

You could publish your own online newsletter or invite people to sign up for one on your site.  You can pay for a list of e-mails and get started that way.  There are even some e-mail plans that are free.  Try several different things.There might be a better fit for your business.

Define viral marketing?It is a simple solution that can help you grow your company exponentially.

The truth of the matter is this.There is no proven way to guarantee that your product with create a virus, as many factors are involved.You should always try to reach the largest audience with a uniquely valuable product.

Quality and value sells.Most people like to share great experiences with people they know and associate with.They asssist in growing your company in that manner.Satisfied customers will usually always return to the same businesses, unless they are tempted to give another supplier a try. 

For the most part, they are tempted to try a free product or service.People always love free stuff.  That’s why so many companies on the web offer a free newsletter via e-mail.  How many times have you seen “sign up for our free newsletter”?  That’s a type of viral internet marketing.At least, this is what most businesses hope for. 

Hotmail has been successful, simply because they offered free e-mail services.so if no one had ever heard of their great service, they would have never enjoyed success.They began by advertising on other sites, just as you are most likely doing at this point. 

But, they grew their business by including a simple one-liner at the bottom of every e-mail that any of their users sent out.They are often seen as viral marketing techniques, although the original intention of the company was just to reach out to individuals.  That should be your goal, too.

If you possess a list of customers with email addresses attached to most of them , that is wonderful.Each time that you have a new product to sell, send out an email.  If you don’t already have a list of customers, start with your friends.If your product is lacking or is not good enough to sell to friends, then it may not have the potential to create a virus.

Now, it could be that your friends don’t fit into your target market.  If that’s true, then find a club, group or forum that does fit your market and join.This will take some time, but over time, you could literally have thousands of people visiting your site and reading your posts.

The bottom line is that your success with viral internet marketing depends on the value of what you have to say, provide or sell.The other factor is the perception of the public.

Initally, of course, you need to have a great product or service for sale. You probably already feel that you do have that. Initially, you need to isolate what sets your product or service apart from thousands of others.

Once you identify those features, you should attempt to turn them into benefits for clients. That is how you will write unique content for your site.  You could attract millions of visitors to your website with an internet viral marketing campaign, but if the copy on your website does not “sell” them, then it really won’t increase your business.

If you have a great product and website, the next thing to do is identify your market or niche.You could have many. 

A great example is this, let’s say that you have written an fantastic e-book that will help men lose weight while building muscle.  Your target group is men, obviously. More specifically, it is men who search to lose weight or want to build bigger muscles. People that might be interested in your book might also be interested in health and fitness. 

There are many social networking groups you can find.  If you can’t find a group that encompasses your target market, you can create one.  Groups, clubs and forums serve as a backdrop for internet viral marketing.

If you are running an email campaign to a massive audience, be sure that what you have to say is dangerously interesting.  Otherwise, you are wasting your time. Your e-mail should be grammatically correct.  There should be no spelling errors.  If English is not your “forte” get someone to read and edit your communications for you. Some people might not notice, others will. 

While this type of campaign does not require lots of capital, it does require a large amount of your time.  If you don’t have the time to do it, there are companies that can help.  Internet viral marketing can be a great way to grow your business. Be sure you are prepared for it. It can literally blow you away.

You can make use of e-mail, social networks like Facebook, and video websites like You Tube or even message boards.The most efficient systems are entirely automated, they do not require you to spend a lot of time surfing the internet or posting links to your site. 

Here is an example, your company may sell a program that offers its members discounts on cruises.When you get one customer, you should try to get all of their friends, by offering incentives for passing along e-mails.  You might offer a free e-book, DVD or other give-away, if the customer sends an e-mail to a group of their friends.

To be effective, you need to identify your “target” group.  In the cruise example, your target would be people that like to travel or retirees.  If you were selling something related to NASCAR, your target group would be racing fans.Get an idea?

Viral marketing follows the logic that people will buy things based upon their friends’ recommendations.That’s a correct assumption.Word of mouth advertising is almost always more effective than any other type.  It allows you to grow your customer base exponentially because a single person might have five friends to tell.  Those five might each have another five, which means you have now grown from one contact to 25.If each of those 100 suggested your product to just four friends, you would now have 400 contacts.The numbers can grow with no end in sight.

Theoretically, you would only need to sell a single consumer on your product or services in order to attract millions through viral marketing.Non-profit and special interest groups are employing this technique to get signatures on petitions or donations.  Movie makers and television shows are using it to attract viewers.  Bands are using it to interest fans. That highlights how extremely effective this tool can be for nearly any kind of business.

If you don’t make use of all of the tools that are available to you, your business will not grow as much as you would like.  Viral marketing is one of the most effective tools available.

If you want to increase your brand’s popularity and if you want to increase your product sales, you should consider running a viral marketing campaign. If you have never done it before, it is about time you considered doing it. The results will be beyond what you could have imagined possible.

The biggest advantages of this marketing technique include:

1.The cost is very low to run a viral campaign. The USP of these types of campaigns is that they use existing communication networks and reach thousands of people in a short time frame. The marketing message is usually generated and spread via emails marketing, articles, blogs, software, and social networks – all of which are free.

2.These campaigns usually contain an incentive for every user. The campaign is most often created in such a way that the customer who gets the marketing message usually has an incentive to give it to his friends. Use your imagination – from free software programs, to free wallpapers, free email services, free buttons, to free PLR articles, it is unlimited. So, the user gets rewarded for their effort to spread the word. This prompts him to do it again and again – thus widening the scope of the campaign.

3.It is a snap to share a marketing message through a viral marketing campaign. To reiterate, these campaigns use free email services and social networks to reach out to end users. The end user finds it easy to share messages with associates and friends.

4.Viral marketing is all about utilizing many other people’s resources. For example, if you give a free article away to someone and ask him to place it on his website, he will be happy to do this. After all, he gets fresh content to his site which is great for him. The key thing is – you get to place a text link or an image link at the end of your article. In this manner, everyone who reads the article will be tempted to click on that link and visit your site – especially when your article is interesting and informative. This gives you free, highly targeted traffic without spending any cash at all.

As you can see from what I have explained above, a internet viral marketing campaign is probably the best way to put your business on the map. You can create your own campaign if you have the time it will take to launch it and the creativity to make it interesting. If you don’t, you can enlist a great marketing company which will take care of all the details and run a successful viral campaign. So, weigh in your options and make the right decision today.

Remember Mary Kay.  They are overpriced cosmetics that are not any better than anything else on the market. But the company has continued to be highly successful for one reason.Women buy them and then suggest that their friends buy them as well.

In order to be a successful Mary Kay representative, you would believe that the product is better.  You would then tell all of your friends that the product is better.  Next, you would ask your friends to sell the cosmetics.Then, they would tell their friends, and those friends would tell their friends, and so on.

That’s the real definition of viral marketing.  It is word of mouth advertising.You broadcast to your friends.  They tell their friends and the process continues exponentially until you, the business owner, have generated more sales than you might have ever dreamed possible.

It is commonly referred to as a virus, due to the fact that it spreads and multiplies, easily and swiftly throughout the population.Any advertising strategy that invites individuals to pass along your message to others is called a viral marketing strategy.

There are historical examples of this viral marketing strategy.“Hotmail” is one example.They usually offer a free service and every time that an person takes advantage of that service, by sending an e-mail, they also broadcast an advertisement to the recipient, asking them to sign up for their free e-mail service.

People love things that are free.That’s the essence of the definition of viral marketing.  You offer something free, in order to generate sales at a later date.  You have to be willing to wait.  It may take months to see the sales figures climb, but eventually they will.

he free certificates or gifts keep your company’s brand right in front of the consumer.It is not unlike the free calendars that banks, florists and insurance conpanies offered, before the advent of the internet.  All year long, every customer saw that company’s name and anyone that came to their house saw it too.

Currently, you can reach thousands and thousands of your customers with one regular e-mail.What’s real definition of viral marketing?  It is putting your name out there, where everyone can see it.