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MY 35 VIRAL MARKETING TECHNIQUES
2/13/2007

Viral marketing has been around since people have been selling and talking. It was just a matter of time that someone came up with a catchy term for the internet counterpart of word of mouth and rumors. Now we call them things like email and testimonials. The so called "Buzz" of viral marketing is that it spreads like a real contagion and results in increased sales for the product or service in question. By being a part of, or better yet, starting a buzz, you can turn your product or business into the next hot trend. But make no mistake, it will only be a trend, until something buzzier comes along.

For the up and coming or resident internet entrepreneur, having a plan or strategy will keep him/her, the product and the business well ahead of the game. It is possible to create a buzz, ride the wave until it dies and later create a different buzz about the same product or improved/modified product.
What exactly is the definition of viral marketing? I asked this same question when I first heard the term and was rewarded with confusion and controversy on a subject that was truly simple but in which people for some reason or other wanted to make it seem like nuclear physics. This is the definition that I like best:

"Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can harness the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly." wikipedia.com

Nice and simple, at least I think so. If this definition doesn't work for you then you need to find one that makes the light go on in your head, Ding! Plainly and simply, you must generate interest in a product or service so much so that people will love it and recommend it to others who will in turn do the same thing. Eventually though, every virus must die, perhaps to be caught again, but die it must. There are only a limited number of prospects interested in any one product. The buzz you create will end but it really doesn't have to.
Proper planning along with alternative methods to market your product/service and gradual product/service modification, either in the product or the deal, can change a buzz. This is akin to having the common cold which can mutate in to many other

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