Spread the Virus
Word-of-mouth (WOM), or viral marketing, is catching on as a tactic to create demand for a product
By Justine P. Castellon
When a trusted friend, officemate, relative, or acquaintance recommends a product or service to us, we normally won't hesitate to try that product or service the earliest we can. And when someone has had a very good experience with a particular product or service, he or she would most likely turn around and tell as many as 10 people about that good experience. Conversely, however, they would likely tell the same number of people how bad the product or service is if their experience had been negative.
The phenomenon involved in situations like these is called word-of-mouth (WOM) or viral marketing, which has been described as a promotional method "of customers, by customers, and for customers." Viral marketing that brings positive results, such as when loyal and satisfied customers actually brag about how good a product or a company is, is the ultimate dream of every entrepreneur.
The viral spots
There are several ways of doing viral marketing, with each variation operating for different reasons by using different methods to bring in different outcomes. Whatever the variation, however, they largely have the same mechanism at their core—a means for providing customers with quality experiences and for encouraging people to pass the message along.
The entrepreneur can consider using any of the five most common types of viral marketing, namely (1) pass-along, (2) buzz marketing, (3) incentive viral, (4) undercover marketing, and (5) a user-managed database.
Pass-along. This is the type often used by users who do their business on the Internet. It consists of a short note that's automatically attached to the footer of every electronic message when it is sent out to its recipient. A good example of this pass-along viral spot is the one being used by Hotmail.com. It comes in the form of a tag line at the bottom of every outgoing email that reads "Get your free, private e-mail at www.hotmail.com..." The promotion operates on autopilot, with the message automatically spread out by all Hotmail.com users when they use the mail server to send their mail. Through this simple expedient, Hotmail.com was able to rapidly grow a huge subscriber base.
Buzz marketing. This viral type involves getting mass media celebrities to discuss their experience with your product or service, preferably on a provocative but always positive note. The idea is to deliberately create noise and buzz about the product or service among the readers, viewers, or listeners. For instance, Oprah and her choice of Wacoal on her TV choice created buzz on how to alter a woman's figure minus the expensive surgery.
Says Jeffrey Aquilino, corporate planning manager of The Body Shop Philippines: "Hearing Oprah Winfrey saying that Wacoal has the best brassieres certainly convinced me that if because of some virus I suddenly developed a woman's breast, I would want to wear Wacoal."
Incentive viral. This scheme gives people an incentive to pass a viral message or viral object along. To get the reward, the passer of the message must get the user to take the desired action. This type of viral marketing is the primary tool of multilevel marketing companies, some of which have grown from nothing to multibillion-dollar businesses because of some astute use of an incentive viral. "Incentivizing viral messages latches onto a force that's even more effective than broadcast television, yet one that's far less expensive," Aquilino says.
Undercover marketing. This is the most interesting type of viral marketing. "It occurs when people don't know they are being marketed to," Aquilino says. "Such a campaign needs to be camouflaged as a piece of news, without obvious incitements to link or pass along."
He says that undercover marketing is perhaps the most difficult type of viral spot. It has to be made to appear simply trendy or curious, it should not seem to be asking an individual to forward them, and it should create the impression that nothing in particular is being promoted. This, for instance, is exactly what camera-maker Canon Inc. did when it sent out couples to the field, instructing them to pretend to be Japanese tourists politely requesting passersby to take their photos. They would hand a target passerby the newest Canon camera, and this target passerby in the process would subconsciously learn how easy, smart, and fun it is to use the camera.
User-managed database. This refers to a database of prospects that a user generates with the help of online service providers. By inviting other people to join and participate in the user's group, the user creates a viral, self-propagating chain of contacts that grows naturally, thus encouraging others to sign up as well. Two good examples of this self-propagating type of viral chain are online dating services and the highly popular site Friendster.com.
