Viral marketing is a term used to describe advertising and marketing campaigns that start out small and grow exponentially as the customer base builds and grows.It’s really a form of word of mouth advertising, only it is much more effective today than it was in times past, made popular because of the internet.

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.