Think long and hard before your marketing goes viral

Business Journal of the Triad, November 4, 2005 edition.

You may be looking for ways to invigorate your marketing. You might have been seduced by viral marketing’s home runs – Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, anyone? – into putting it on your marketing to-do list. You may have even allowed yourself the luxury of imagining your company rising to cult icon status, propelled there by word of mouth.

No marketing executive has ever come out and said to me in so many words that they want their company’s name to spring spontaneously from the tongues of would-be customers, but I have sat through many meetings where it was clear that they thought that viral marketing would pave the way to this happening.

Think again.

The world of marketing has perpetuated an unfortunate idea, and it’s clear that many within it have accepted it. It’s this: There is a proven, easily replicated formula for successful viral marketing.

Set down this paper for a moment and Google the phrase “viral marketing.” Or take my word for what you’ll find – millions of results directing you to viral marketing experts, plans, advice and products. Dig deeper and you’ll learn that there are step-by-step directions to creating viral marketing success, viral marketing gurus who claim they can guide you to a winning strategy, and ways to add viral marketing to your existing campaign to give it extra buzz.

It’s easy to succumb to temptation. Viral marketing, at least compared to print and broadcast advertising or direct mail, is relatively inexpensive. It’s sometimes effective at cutting through ad clutter. It can elevate a company or product’s profile or drive up sales. It’s even launched a few cultural icons.

But those are the exceptions.

There is a germ of truth to viral marketing specialists’ claims, though. Viral marketing is based on common principles, and campaigns that take advantage of those principles are the ones that generally succeed.

Viral marketing relies on social networks. Communities defined by common interests are the motive force behind rapidly spreading word of mouth. These communities can either be small or impressively large. Generally, the more limited the appeal of the product being marketed, the more tightly defined the community will be.

Communication among members isn’t random or the product of happenstance. The Internet accelerates the spread of word of mouth and smart marketers build in interactive mechanisms that eliminate obstacles to the exponential growth of the virus (that being the irresistible urge to share news of the product or idea with a fellow community member). The most common is the ubiquitous “Tell a Friend” feature on websites; these encourage people to easily forward viral messages to anyone they like, while preserving the viral campaign’s message and intent.

In viral campaigns, message and intent are intertwined. Good viral marketing resonates emotionally, and establishes a subconscious connection between those emotions and the product being marketed. If it’s successful, the marketer then has permission to get the would-be customer to take action.

That’s not all, though. There’s one final component to viral marketing. The success of viral campaigns hinge on it. It’s also the one piece that many marketers are quickest to discount.

It’s the product or idea that the campaign is all about.

Generally, the problem with failed viral marketing isn’t simply bad products, though that certainly has been the case. It’s that too many companies are used to keeping their customers at arm’s length. Sure, they want customers to buy what they’re selling. But the most effective viral technique, and the one that makes companies the most nervous because it raises dreaded control issues, is inviting your most passionate customers to become collaborators.

Google is the master of inviting the world to collaborate with them. Their email service, Gmail, became buzz-worthy when the company began doling out a limited number of invitations to try an early version of the service. Those who signed up could, in turn, invite friends to use Gmail. The Gmail virus spread as friends invited friends, and as those on the outside – people who wanted to see what the buzz was all about – begged and in some cases bought invitations.

Very quickly, Gmail became the free email service of choice, earning Google another impressive stream of revenue from advertising carried by free emails. Because the product itself was excellent, competitors like Yahoo! were forced to upgrade their services in order to remain viable to consumers.

The lesson: You can create a great product. But make customers your collaborators and let them discover what you’re selling before you take it to the market, and they’ll tell the world for you.

Otherwise, you might learn what many companies have – viral marketing isn’t the simple, inexpensive solution they expected.

© 2005, Business Journal of the Triad. Link: Published article on BizJournals.com.