Viral marketing - new term for an age-old past time

Viral marketing - new term for an age-old past time

In a climate of economic uncertainty, businesses can learn from the buzz surrounding viral marketing and translate this cost effective online marketing tool for offline purposes.

Steve Hurves 11511x2312l ton initially coined the term 'viral marketing' in a 1997 Netscape newsletter describing the phenomenal success of Hotmail - the free web based e-mail provider. With a budget of $50,000 the site attracted 10 million members in one year. The phenomenon of Hotmail and more recently Napster has shown how companies can attract new users exponentially thanks to the dawning of the cyber age.

The term refers to any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the opportunity for massive exposure and influence of the message. According to Jupiter Communications, a staggering 69% of people who receive a website recommendation from a friend pass it along to at least 2-6 friends.

A spokesperson for the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), says: "On the internet, viral marketing can be done through chat rooms - but as with any marketing you have to look for the right audience, and make sure that the chat room or forum is appropriate. E-mail campaigns can also be successful. It is best to aim for opinion leaders, their influence will make people want the product.

"They are really important as people take their lead from them so efforts should be tailored to reach the trendsetters. Directories may exist but it depends on the market and whether the business is breaking into a new area."

Off the internet, viral marketing has been referred to variously as "word-of-mouth", "creating a buzz" and "networking." If customers have had a positive or even negative experience of a certain product, word spreads fast. The beauty of the internet is the speed at which the message travels. With Hotmail, the recipient of an e-mail merely had to click on the bottom of the e-mail and they would be linked to the hotmail homepage.

However, there are other ways for creating interest offline. "It is about having something to give away, or about having something that people want to talk about - being on the cusp of the industry", adds the CIM.

Green Bohemia, the company that reintroduced the notorious, ultra-potent spirit absinthe to the UK market managed to do exactly this. "From a small business perspective you have to be more inventive. We spent a long time looking at the market and the product," explains George Rowley, managing director.

"To assist in seeding the product we created an image of desirability. It was a hard slog and we did a lot of footwork, networking and getting the trust of the industry leaders. The public want to be in the know, and part of the next trend", he adds

The company decided to market its first product, Hill's Absinth, to market leaders, and held numerous meetings with the most respected cocktail mixers in the top bars in London. The product was launched at the Groucho Club, London, in 1998. The same day, it was released to just 15 other central London bars, where the barmen were under strict instructions to not serve the drink until 9pm in order to generate even more hype.

The CIM comments: "The absinthe marketing was compounded, cleverly, by availability through limited numbers of outlets. This was very clever because it got a wide section of people talking about it and wanting it, but still restricted it to a smaller group - thus perpetuating the legend."

The most creative viral marketing plans use others' resources to get the word out. In this instance, they used the profile of certain well-known nightclubs and bars in London that would attract trendsetters who would in turn spread the word. In the online world, affiliate programmes, for example, place text or graphic links on others' websites to create the same effect.

Green Bohemia realised that clients are more likely to believe their favourite barman than any advert in a glossy magazine.

"As the market has now been flooded by copies of absinthe we decided to go back to its roots, and create La Fé. This has been created with the help of the French absinthe museum and is the original 19th century recipe," says Rowley.

Giving away products or services as part of the product launch attracts immediate attention, and should be looked on as a long-term investment. If a rush of interest is generated, there will be profits to be made in the future. Businesses must also take advantage of existing communication networks.

"Word-of-mouth advertising works all the time. Local businesses survive on the basis of personal recommendation. Children's products can also do well this way - word of mouth in the playground is reckoned to be even more powerful than advertising according to research we've done. Think about the craze for scooters - that didn't take off through TV advertising - it took off through street popularity," adds the CIM.