Word of Mouth, Viral Marketing Campaigns
Lets be honest, marketing isn't rocket science!
Unfortunately, a number of marketeers would have you
believe it is. How do they do this? They use jargon that
makes things more complicated.
One of the things that got 10 Yetis started was anger at
the way in which the marketing industry dressed simple
things up to justify costs. I like to think 10 Yetis
doesn't do that, we tell it how it is and try to keep the
jargon to a minimum. Recently though, I have to hold my
hands up and say I fell off the wagon and got sucked into
"jargonism".
It was Viral Marketing that did it... there I go again.
What is Viral Marketing? Well, to you and I and everyone
on the street it is simply "word of mouth". Communicating
with another person to tell them about something you
think they may be interested in. The world of marketing
thinks "word of mouth" is to simplistic though so they
give it the fancy name of Viral Marketing (kind of like
the way supermarkets now call "shelf-stackers", "store
replenishers").
I want to give a few tips and pointers on Word Of Mouth marketing
in this newsletter as I am personally in love with the
online version. I would very much like 10 Yetis to become
an expert in this field and have read up and studied
extensively about what makes it work and yes, we are
looking for clients who want to join us in developing
this area.
It is widely accepted that in the commercial world Word Of Mouth
was first used electronically by Hotmail and the way in
which it ended every email communication with the message
"Get your free email at Hotmail". The following two
statistics prove how successful the Hotmail campaign
was:
1. It is now the largest email service provider in Sweden
and India... and has done no paid-for marketing at all in
those two countries.
2. Hotmail is used in over 220 countries even though it
is only available in one language - English.
Another excellent and more recent success story is
FriendsReunited. At the time of its launch it spent no
money on advertising yet had one of the fastest growing
registration rates of around 10,000 to 15,000 per day. At
present, according to stats from the website it has
around 10 million registered users!
But what are the key elements of a good Word Of Mouth
campaign?
As I said in April's newsletter, before you launch any
campaign you have to make sure you are ready and it is no
different for Word Of Mouth. You must first understand who your
audience is, where they can be found and what methods
need to be used to get them to engage with your
brand/product or service message and then encourage them
to forward it on. As part of my research into Word Of Mouth I read
a great book by Russel Goldsmith called, "Viral Marketing
- getting your audience to do your marketing for you". In
this book are a number statistics showing the most
approachable demographics of people who are most likely
to be influenced by electronic Word Of Mouth messages. Goldsmith
commissioned a survey using Tickbox.net to find out
people attitudes to Word Of Mouth campaigns and the results should
help you to tailor your messages:
UK internet users can no longer live without their email
and Word Of Mouthen are more reliant than men
The most email reliant group is 25-34 yr olds
Over 1/3rd of all UK mobile phone users could not live
without text messaging
Of UK internet users, 90% have opened an attachment to
their email and less than 3% do not receive
attachments
The majority of UK internet users have visited a website
by clicking on a link within an email sent to them by a
friend or work colleague.
By far and away the biggest reason for people passing on
a message to a friend or colleague is to make them
laugh.
I consider the next stat to be vital for helping to
decide what goes into your campaign...
The top three reasons why someone would view an
attachment or click on a link in an email they've
received is because it's (1) a product recommendation,
(2) a chance to win a competition or (3) something funny.
Plus, superstitious chain mails interest hardly
anyone.
I personally believe a short funny video clip, linked to
your product or service, preferably on a landing page
somewhere on your website is the way forward. In today's
fast-paced, lifestyle driven society messages need to be
quick, easy to understand and more importantly simple to
forward on. Whilst some still recommend attachments in
emails I think that as people become more educated to not
open attachments that they don't know the origins of and
as many of your target audiences will be sat behind
company firewalls that prevent your messages getting
through, landing pages on a site are much more
effective.
Word Of Mouth messages also allow you to use a lot more "risky"
messages than you may be allowed in more traditional
advertising methods. At the bottom of this newsletter are
some links to good examples of well known brands using
Word Of Mouth in a way you would not normally see.
Examples of Word Of Mouth
This is an ad that Ford initially claimed that their ad
agency had done without its permission. It was to promote
the new sport Ford Ka (nicknamed "evil twin"). They had
another version that involved a cat being de-capitated
but I am not putting that one on (even though no cats
were harmed) as I will get all the tree-huggers spamming
me!
Ford Sportka's Viral Advert
This ad was produced by VW and distributed via Word Of Mouth
online. Very funny!
VW's Viral Marketing Campaign
Well, enough from me. As ever I hope this helps and
remember if you have any special requests for future
newsletters or are looking for advice and help with
Viral Marketing and PR, please don't hesitate to get in
touch.
A whole year later, in May 2006, we've done a newsletter regarding seeding your viral marketing campaign. Read on if your interested, and as always, for more information get in touch.