Monday, July 07, 2008

OCC - 'Basics of Viral Marketing'

Most of the things that we use in our daily lives are products from companies ;) hmmm.... Well why do people buy products recommended by others(friends)? why not from a 'local company' or as a result of their own thinking (deciding the product to buy on their own) ?.
Companies build a perception around the product, its like an aura of their product! Its very hard to build a product and
market it successfully. Viral marketing is one of ways to make an emotional connection between the product and the customer. Recently I was present in OCC(Open Coffee Club), here is a brief write-up about it....

On July 07 (2008) ,OCC had organized a talk on "Viral Marketing" by Rashmi Vallabhajosyula from Altius Consulting, This time the turn out was around 30 :-) , Here is a brief excerpt from her speech....

Why Viral Marketing?
  • Interruption marketing just doesn't work anymore(irrelevant ads,impersonal,unanticipated won't break through the data clutter)
  • Stop marketing at people. Get out of the way and let people market products to each other.
What is Viral Marketing?
  • Use Existing Social Networks.
  • To achieve marketing objectives(brand awareness,sales)
  • Through self replicating viral process like a disease.
Is Viral Different from W-O-M?
  • Traditional WOM : Travels Slowly, dies off, eg: recommended a book to some friends.
  • Viral Marketing : Spreads Fast, Travels Far, Exponential growth(amplification).
Evolution of Viral Marketing :
  1. Rumour : psst........ Have you heard? :~
  2. Word of Mouth Marketing.
  3. Viral Marketing.
What makes an Idea Viral?
  • Send if - Want to spread it, Spreading it will enhance power(income, friendship), Effort less than benefit.
To build a Viral Campaign :
  • Idea must be compelling and desirable
  • Easy to try
  • Can try immediately
  • Try without risk
  • Network of close contact people
  • Trial mechanism of product
Keys to implant the virus :
  • Product Difference( Your product should be different from the hive(homogeneous).
  • Re-think about your Decision Tree(check list) and estimate the spread intensity of the virus.
  • Make it easy "smooth" to send :- Ask recipients to forward your e-newslatter, email, or SMS message to friends, Include on your site "E-mail this page to a friend", Make it a fill-in form that allows the visitor to pass it on to a number of people at once(contact finder- sending invites to all your contacts)
  • Go after a demographic or psychographic group where your 'ideavirus' can dominate.
  • Like people hang out together(vidyarthi bhavan, Forum mall, Adigas.....)
  • Target those sympathetic to your cause ( Mercedes dealership don't target Tata Motor owners :p )
Summary :

Viral marketing dwarfs WOM, you have to make a compelling offer and exploit the motivation , make it easy to spread("smooth"), Only influence, don't control.

Thanks to Rashmi for sharing her insights on "Viral Marketing".

**take a look at my old post on OCC-'Open Social Apps'

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You always have some interesting information coming up on your blog. Keep up the good work...

Unknown said...

Wow, I didn't know about this kinda marketing.. sounds really cool. Thnx for d stuff man!

charu said...

hey interesting topic..

i like the keys to implement the virus..sounds practical and reliable..

PS: blog is looking cool... :)

Lakshman Srikanth D said...

@sattvik - Thanks, wish to see more comments from your side :-)

@bubbly - Welcome , yeah this is new stuff! Hope it helps startups...

@charu - nice to see your comments :-) yeah those points are really important....

Anonymous said...

You have a very good news gathering ability from the net as well from people around you. From your collections, it shows that you are well groomed to take the front line in Sales or Marketing. It will also be a good start if you can develop a product on your own or from your group are create an image of your upcoming product from now on. You will definitely reach your goal and reap good results.

Lakshman Srikanth D said...

@u.d nagaraja - Oh yes it was a very helpful session for startups and yes we have a startup , we shall definetely implement these ideas for our marketing... Thanks a lot for comments :-)

Unknown said...

I cant able to attend the session.But got the sense of it by reading ur post.

sreenidhi said...

very informative.thanks.

Anonymous said...

good breifin.. really liked ur post..

i new bout this kinda marketin techniq .. but never knew its called viral marketin..

thanx for sharin this with us.

Lakshman Srikanth D said...

@sreedhar - Oh thats great :-) thanks for the comments.

@ Sreenidhi - thanks :-)

@mithun - oh really? then it was kind of brush-up for your brain :-) thanks a lot :-)

AnushaB said...

hey thr, the other day i was looking for the details for viral marketing, & here it is...thnx for visiting my blog...u hv a gr8 web page...keep coming the information....

Lakshman Srikanth D said...

@ shimmer - Thanks for your comments :-) Please visit again.. :)

Anonymous said...

i had attended the first occ meet.. good to know it is still active and productive