Marketing
is full of things that seem to be paradoxes, especially for small businesses.
If your business needs to acquire a dedicated following on a budget that may
seem like no more than a few pennies, things like banner campaigns and paid
search results can cause funds to dry up fairly quickly.
How
are you supposed to achieve success without a limitless amount of funding?
One
answer is through the use of viral marketing. You can make your customer (and
even those who aren't customers) do your marketing for you. To get you started
towards your next great viral marketing campaign, here are five of the most
awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping and sometimes risky viral marketing campaigns in
recent history and how you can incorporate some of their principles into your online marketing strategies.
“OK Go”:
Where Treadmills and Cameras Meant Overnight Success
In
classes and books that mention viral marketing, one name always comes up: OK
Go.
Prior
to 2005, OK Go was an indie rock band that had achieved little success and
faced dwindling popularity. Their songs were anything but hits until they
released their music video for “Here It Goes Again.” The video featured an
imaginative choreography that incorporated a new use for treadmills. It was an
overnight hit and enjoyed the collective attention of millions around the world
as it became one of the most viral videos to date.
What
small businesses should take away from this lesson is that simplicity sells.
You don't need to go overboard to make something that people love.
Mentos
and Diet Coke:
Almost
anyone who has spent any amount of time meandering on a video sharing website
has seen at least one video mashing Mentos and Diet Coke together. Though there
has never officially been a partnership between the two companies, the
astounding popularity of a combining two simple and ordinary items for a
volatile reaction is enough to warrant it as an unofficial viral marketing
campaign. The idea was so accessible and amazing that hundreds of thousands of
YouTube videos have been created showcasing the two brands together.
What
you should take away from this is that sometimes you just have to ride the
wave. If a viral campaign breaks out
without your having done anything, just do damage control as necessary and
enjoy the fruits.
Burger
King's 'Subservient Chicken':
Imagine
a marketing campaign that incorporates the popularity of explicit webcams and a
chicken suit.
Now
imagine how crazy a person it must have taken to make such a campaign for the
fast food giant, Burger King. This was a calculated move based off of the
growing popularity of adult webcam sites.
The
lesson to be learned here is to try something new and outrageous. If you can
keep it politically correct, you may be able to capture the hearts of
thousands. Though you have to be careful not to damage the brand by associating
yourself with controversial things. It's
risky, but it can be highly rewarding if you do it right.
Grasshopper's
“Patience, Grasshopper”:
Grasshopper
was small a company that provided virtual phone systems to people. Yet a simple
direct-to-mail campaign quickly brought them into the big leagues in a short
amount of time. They sent 5,000 boxes of chocolate grasshoppers to users and
invited them to post videos of themselves eating their treats on blogs, in
tweets and anywhere else. The result was 250,000 views, 8 different TV news
segments covering the viral marketing campaign's results, over 1,400 tweets and
nearly 200 blog posts. All of this lead to the amount of direct traffic to
Grasshopper's “How It Works” page nearly doubling.
The
lesson to be learned here is that your audience's fascination is the cardinal
focus for making a viral campaign work. Capture their interest and let your
users' imaginations run wild.
Obama's
“Yes We Can!” Campaign:
Barrack
Obama used a viral message in his 2008 campaign to help leverage support for
his presidency. In Will.I.Am's “Yes We Can!” video, a song was sung with clips
from Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention overlaid on it. This
video helped foster the support from celebrities, media personalities and
online audiences around the world. It has even been cited as one of the reasons
that Barrack Obama won his campaign.
The
key note to take away from this video is that you should always seek to not
only sell, but to inspire your audience. Inspiration is the one thing that can
make people look past things like money, which ultimately leads to your small business building a
stronger following in the long run.
Author:
Rianne Hunter (SEO by Gaurav Sharma)
Posted in: Offline marketing
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