How Words Struggle to become Viral
No marketing concept has become corrupted as quickly as "viral marketing." My introduction to the idea was through a Fast Company magazine article called Network Effects (August 1999). This marketing system was originally mentioned in an article by Steve Jurvetson and Tim Draper which was written in 1997 as a result of their experience with Hotmail and other internet startups. However, the person who really disentangled the "marketing" issues from the "internet startup" issues was Seth Godin, who clarified the concept in his book, Unleashing the Ideavirus.
Godin pointed out that the miracle of Hotmail was that the email message was its own advertisement, and the opportunities for the product or service to be its own advertisement are rare. He also pointed out that traditional word of mouth decays. For instance, I'm thrilled with my experience at a restaurant and I tell every friend I run into for a couple of days, but they are removed from the experience and are unlikely to tell anyone unless they actually go and buy a meal for themselves.
The secret to getting people to spread the word about your product (whether by mouth or by mouse) is to have a message that's enjoyable to share (an ideavirus, according to Godin). Sumit Roy wrote a terrific article for Inc. magazine in November 2000 about simple things you can do with your business to encourage people to talk about it.
- Don't expect people to repeat an advertising slogan, but do supply them with the everyday adjectives that correctly describe the experience you want your customers to have.
- Choose a brand name that's unique, memorable and easy-to-say, so that people can both remember and recognize it. (Oops, Amazon and eBay are taken.)
- Unique experiences are what people want to talk about. "I got a theater ticket from my dry cleaner on my one-year anniversary as a customer!" "The feed store had a little petting zoo for the kids in the parking lot."
- For this type of marketing system to actually bring you new customers, your business must also be accessible to the people who hear about it. This issue is why Godin says that truly viral marketing comes in the product or service itself--the advertising is an experience of the product. That's why a good "viral email" must get you to click back to the advertisers' web site. Retail operations can benefit from word-of-mouth coupons, and restaurants can generate buzz with off-menu items.
Viral marketing is actually the toughest way to market, with the investment of time, energy and commitment way overshadowing the advantage of not having to buy advertising.
Lucky Starbucks visitors are receiving a surprise gift and being encouraged to share the holiday spirit by recording their good deed on 
By my definition, a viral campaign has to ride along on
borrowed interest. Viral marketing is more than getting a referral. It happens when a
marketing message gets a free ride on an otherwise unrelated
activity. The new Proctor & Gamble campaign for Crest with Scope
Extreme is one of the strongest viral campaigns we've seen recently.
Targeting the segment of adults involved in meeting new people to date,
the company printed ads on cocktail napkins, distributed them in bars
and encouraged people to use their cell phones to play a text-message-based
game called 
"It's not super serious, You can see how a group of people in a bar would try this together," said Carsten Boers, president of Flytxt Inc.
Flytxt is among several firms Procter selected last year to help with a mobile marketing strategy, he said. Such marketing is common in Europe, largely because it is very cost-effective. Though he declined to specify the value of his contract with Procter, Boers said in general mobile campaigns run in the tens of thousands of dollars, plus the cost for products, such as cocktail napkins.
While some advertisers are promoting the fact they have a Super Bowl commercial before it actually airs, Burger King is betting that after their commercial airs, the audience will want to capture and share it with friends.
