Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 Online marketing is a rapidly changing industry — over the years we’ve seen banner, button and pop-up advertising, text advertising, in-line story advertising, page-turn Flash advertising. As we grow accustomed to each new type of advertising, however, we learn to tune it out. We mute the commercials on TV, scroll past the banner ads without a second glance. Viral Marketing defies all of this.
A viral is passed around from person to person, much like the common cold on a stuffy bus. You’ve seen them — they’re usually videos, short and funny or sexy, packing a punch in less than a minute. You’ve gotten them in your email with a note from a friend (”Check out this hilarious vid!”) and you’ve followed the link to something you didn’t even know was an advertisement.
Well, it was. It was effective, it was interesting, and best of all, it wasn’t annoying. Virals, unlike traditional advertising, can’t be “skipped” or “tuned out”, because each viewer has made an active choice to view the viral. A good viral can reach thousands of people within a few days, without any expensive placement charges. You’re not paying for a spot in the newspaper or a few seconds on TV.
We know how virals work, and we know how to get them out there. By seeding them to the right groups of people, we can get the message out to your target demographic, and from there – who knows where it’ll go? You may pick up attention from areas you didn’t expect. That’s the magic of the viral; once it’s seeded, it advertises itself.
Interested in spreading your own piece of internet wildfire? We’re experts. Check out Memelabs.com for more information on running a Video Contest, or just contact us at viral@invokemedia.com for more information.