Viral Marketing tips - The ad your ad could smell like.

Ok, so I am sure you have all seen the Old Spice ad - the man your man could smell like.  If you haven't, carry on playing snake on your 5210 Nokia.

Here it is again - it is worth another watch

We all want an ad campaign that has legs and spreads through the world like chickenpox, but it is not that easy.  Here are some tips to keep in mind when thinking viral marketing. 

The viral marketing concept is based on the thought that interested, funny or valuable material will be passed on from one person to the next.  This is the goal for your ad, to tick a box that creates a desire to share the info.

What are the advantages of Viral Marketing:

Cost effective

High reach to eyeballs

High efficiency

Allows room for follow up ads to be a success

Tips for launching a viral campaign:

Offer an incentive / give a reason to forward.  

It could be financial or it could be to show off to your friends, but there has to be a reason to send it on.  Make the offer a good one and it will spread.  

Personalise Personalise Personlise.   

Readers are more likely to pass along if the message has a personalised element, picture or name.  Recipients are more likely to open it and read it if it has been sent from a friend.  

Check it out.  

Keep track of how the ad is doing using all the monitoring tools you have and adjust the campaign to keep it at maximum performance over time.  Follow up the first burst with more ads and messages to keep the campaign alive.   

Disadvantages of viral ads:

Spam is always an issue so make sure you have the correct formats and your message is worth a forward.  Your brand doesn't need to be seen as spam.  

Brand strength issues.  Even though passed along, make sure your brand message and identity is always present and not lost in the passing.  

I will post some good examples of viral ads later, which are very contagious... 

Stay Viral!